Cheryl Studer as Contessa sings "Dove sono" from Nozze

[Dregliboy81]

I love how this orchestra really is "feeling" the notes and dont rush it. The part between 1:32 - 1:37 really is so beutiful an powerful, simple notes that turn to magic when performed in the right tempo!

[lalalauren409]

my grandma knows her!!!!!!

[operaoaf]

What a consummate artist! perfection.

[opera75frfr]

Que s'est-il passé pour elle? Ce talent fou et une carrière trop météorique. Chante-t-elle encore.

Les quelques où je l'ai entendue en scène je l'ai trouvée formidable, engagée. Et la dernière fois, hélas, récital à Gaveau, devant une salle à moitié vide.... Dove sono....

[isabelle070209]

Il y a des moments où il faut juste se taire et laisser faire les anges.

[amata2000]

Simply amazing!

[operaoaf]

This is beautiful legato. It is great to listen to her in something other than Wagner. Clearly, she has immense versatility.

[Merlin1940]

I once owned a Revox (~1969-1980)... and yes Cheryl shows once more a wonderful voice here, at least in the Dove sono itself (1:52 on).

Wed 30 Jul 2008 01:13 GMT

[Heraopera]

this is strange and not un soprano for this stuff! She is Susannavoice! But today we have a new singer in Munich: Anja Harteros, she reminds me on Ch. Studer! Both of them are pushed in Munich to dramatic roles and Spinto and then Studer started to think she is the one and only... After a short career she lost her voice! This will hapen with lyrics who think they are spinto/dramatic...Or do they think they will become Heroines like Callas or Nilsson or Lotte Lehmann? HaHaHa!

[bassfanne45]

@Heraopera I'm much afraid that Harteros will damage her voice, also. When I heard her as Violetta in Traviata in San Diego in2004, I thought she was the finest new sopranos I had ever heard. Since then she has been singing much heavier Verdi roles and even a Wagner or two. She will return to San Diego next year as the Marschallin in Rosenkavalier. I'm anticipating and dreading her performance at the same tie. I fear I'm going to hear a damaged voice.

[bassfanne45]

@Heraopera Harteros is scheduled to sing in San Diego next season. I haven't heard her live since 2005. I'm looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time. I fear that her lovely voice may have been damaged because of the heavier roles that she has been singing for the last few years.

[afpuv85]

I think she's not the best soprano to perform this aria... I prefer Kiri Te Kanawa, Margaret Price or even Jessye Norman.

Studer is very talented but Abbado made a huge mistake choosing her...

[SMMHELDENTENOR]

she really conveys the pathos and yearning in this arai; really impressive...very touching: she literally 'sobs' the opening phrasing...as la contessa should be, lamenting...brava la Studer!

[OperaLover84]

Love my Studer, but Renee will always and forever take the cake on this piece!

[tenore23]

As for the Queen, it was not until Eda moser, Gruberoba and Deutekom that the queen was casted with a big voiced soprano. Before them, it was true Lyric coloraturas who sang the role: Lipp, Peters, Mado Robin, Erna Berger, Pons, Popp. It is well documented that after Deutekom and the like started singing the role, the Met was anxious about having Peters do it and she proved that she more than had the chops for it. Listen to the 70 b-cast with her.

[naters81]

I am sorry but you are re-writing history. Josepha Weber, the original queen and Mozart's sister-in-law for whom he wrote the role, was a dramatic coloratura by all historical accounts and known for her very high tessitura with a dramatic rough edge.

[tenore23]

Come on, are you serious? Did you hear JW sing the queen? cause if you didn't, you are only speculating, and tastes change with history.

A Dramatic rough edge can mean just about anything, from poorly produced coloratura to good acting skills.

If you notice the list of singers that I wrote, all of them sand the role in generations past, and if you look at the way the role was cast in Germany and elsewhere, you will notice the pattern.

[naters81]

Hey I'm just repeating what the music historians say about documents from back then. The evidence leans towards a dramatic coloratura soprano as the original.

[tenore23]

I understand that, but while you are going all the way back to a singer nobody in the XXI century has heard, I am going to the singers cast in the role after the 1900, some of which left recordings of the role. Up until the coming of Deutekom, most of the singers who recorded and performed the queen were lyric coloraturas like the ones named already. The casting changed, but not until a true dramaric coloratura come to light.

[naters81]

I think you are assuming a little too much there as you can't possibly be familiar with every recording ever made of the aria from that period or more importantly the casting practices of every theater during that time. Furthermore, the role is listed under the "Dramatischer Koloratursopran" in the German fach system and has been since the 19th century which again proves my point. Casting practices, in German houses anyway, have always leaned towards the dramatic coloratura voice for this role.

[Merlin1940]

I agree naters81. The ultra-powerful score (up to F6, 4 times!) and lyrics ("The hellish revenge burns in my heart! Death and destitution to the traitor I hate! Strike him with this deadly weapon! Or you are not my daughter! never more and forever! Go away, ungrateful! Ungrateful! Everything is broken between us until he gives back his villain soul!") prove that this has been designed from start for a dramatic coloratura - as everyone knows.

Wed 30 Jul 2008 01:05 GMT

[tenore23]

She has said that she trained as a coloratura and when she went on an audition tour in germany her rep was Gilda Violetta and the rest. it was out of necessity that she moved into the Wagner rep, otherwise she was not going to be casted.

After she made a name, she went back to the coloratura rep that she thought was/ should have been her meat and potatoes.

[naters81]

Studer is just lovely on this piece. She doesn't have the smooth creamy sound of Fleming or Kanawa but her voice has a dramatic intensity that is just perfect for the role.

[tenore23]

The only piece where I have been able to stomach her unsupported sound. Brava!

[naters81]

Studer had vocal problems starting in the mid 90s and only got over them in recent years. The "unsupported sound" you are talking about comes from that period of time. You should listen to her recording from about 1986-1994. They are quite good for the most part, although some of the roles she has played I think were poor casting choices. A particular favorite of mine is Studer as the Queen of the Night under Solti. She is the best queen I have ever heard.

[tenore23]

Then you need to continue listening. Studer's ambition to be Callas got the best of her. She first started as a coloratura, then goes for the Wagnerian rep; goes back to coloratura and then attempts the Spinto Verdi rep. Ultimately, she found herself with no vocal home and no voice.

The sound in the early years was obviously youthful and pretty, but if she had the technique, she would have not had the decline she did. With Queens like Gruberoba, Peters and Deutekom, Studer loses in comparison

[naters81]

I still think you are overly critical. She sounds lovely on all of her Mozart recordings (which are considerable) and on her Rossini recordings. She also gives one of the best Verdi Requiem performances I have heard. As for the Queens, I think Studer is better than all of the ones you mentioned. Peters lacks the dramatic sense, Deutekom has horrible diction and poor phrasing, and Gruberova has intonation problems at the top.

[naters81]

Also I don't think Studer was ever trying to be Callas. For one thing Callas never really got into the German rep., which is where Studer has focused most of her career. Second, if you look at Studer's career she got her start doing Wagner (her 1st role was Helmwige in Wagner's Die Walküre at the Bavarian State Opera- 1981). She didn't sing hardly any coloratura roles (with the exception of one Violetta) until the late 1980s sticking with Wagner mostly and lyric roles like Pamina and Micaela.

[Merlin1940]

I agree. I have Der Hölle Rache from her with Neville Marriner, she is near top and clearly beats all the ones cited around in purity, exactitude - which greatly helps producing the incredible wrath×beauty that masterpiece requires. Gruberova (whom I love in "Mein Herr Marquis" e.g.) is far, far behind Studer as Queen. Deutekom as well.

Wed 30 Jul 2008 00:51 GMT

[FloridaFFEMT]

Cheryl has always had a wonderful voice with incredible flexibility. I hear others create the note, where Cheryl owns it.

Michael

[starvirus1]

just perfect!

[djs259]

Voice is ok, but I especially like watching her big, lusty boobs heave up and down as she inhales between lines.

[jm960]

ich finde es sehr oft matt und ungestütz. die stimme greift nicht. dieses singen kann man unmöglich mit te kanawa vergleichen. auch erschreckend ist wie träge abbado ist.....valium musizieren für meine ohren.

[swanningaround]

Sorry to disagree. Studer is the best. She has a completely unique voice which I think is better than the Americans Battle or Callas. Kiri is also good, but has a completely different technique.

[ezayitas]

How ignorant!... Callas?

[hillevifan]

Cheryl Studer is wonderful Contessa. The fact that she can switch from Wagner-> Strauss -> Mozart is exceptional. Listen to her performance of Chrysothemis in Elektra (available on CD AND DVD) and you will see her genius.

[aleduffoo]

i don't like it =( i love fleming and if i have to campare with te kanawa.. i love te kanawa too

[miloliv]

great singer indeed! ...but not for mozart!! or at least not for this part.

[operadonna]

She is a great singer. I just dislike this trademark flutter in her voice. It's an acquired taste I suppose.

[lungdoc]

Quite respectable rendition.

[zacharybr]

I like both Fleming and Struder. They're both amazing. :) Thanks for posting this.

[jmahlon]

what year is this from?

[Scalatti]

Theater an der Wien, Vienna, May 1991

Wiener Philharmoniker

Claudio Abbado, conductor

Sony Classical (VHS and LaserDisc; on DVD?)

La contessa Almaviva: Cheryl Studer

Il conte Almaviva: Ruggero Raimondi

Suzanna: Marie McLaughlin

Figaro: Lucio Gallo

Cherubino: Gabriele Sima

This is the Jonathan Miller production which premiered in this theater with this same cast and which years later traveled to the Met.