Rosa Ponselle "Bel raggio lusinghier" Semiramide Live 1936

[65attila]

IMO this is one of 3 stunning performances of this ata. The other two are by Joan Sutherland and Lina Pagliughi. All are different and they all satisfy me.

[Bigman240]

As much as I admire her singing, here Ponselle does not give a good example of how to sing fioriture. It's imprecise and the tempo is too fast. The trills are excellent though and the timbre is beautiful

[dziady1]

Sutherland doesn't sing - she yodels - same mushy

sound in whatever she sings -forget words !

[AuthenticFeirce]

@dziady1 Shut up!

[marioegorga]

@dziady1 You obviously don't know much about Bel Canto singing then.If you think Sutherland yodels !!

[nwdixieboy]

The conductor takes the tempo too fast for Rosa to do the coloratura justice towards the end, but other than that, it was a marvelous performance. Heaven would be hearing Sutherland and Ponselle in their primes singing this aria back to back:)

[vocedivinax]

Now a days if you can sing both dramatically and coloratura rep, no one knows what the heck to do wit ya.

[saagua1953]

She was probably unique in her ability to do both dramatic as well as coloatura singing. She could, in fact, do everything. That is part of her greatness.

[operabuff1]

Fantastic, how she can sing this florid music with her big dramatic voice, just incredible.

[kgarmaker123]

This is a beautiful voice, and she had some high notes then too.

[796824]

She was able to do so because she sang on the fundamental tone not on the harmonics as all the bellowing singers are doing today to make their voices larger.

[CharlotteinWeimar]

@796824 Ponselle is truly a wonder with superbly produced sound. But please explain what you mean by "fundamental tone & harmonics" & "bellowing". As a former opera singer myself I have never heard voice production described in that way. I know violinists do clever things with harmonics which vibrate an octave & a fifth higher still etc above a basic note & quite different from singing. Do you mean resonance, which Ponselle clearly uses & which has to be developed to carry over an orchestra?

[agnellodei]

what would I give to have a time machine and be able to go back to the past and record amazing singers such as Rosa, Maria Malibran, Giuditta Pasta, Rubini, Davide, Viardot, Farinelli, Caffarelli, Jenny Lind, etc...with modern multitrack recording and clean sound to preserve it for all eternity.

[neronnenn]

me too...actually I (sigh!) dislike contemporary singers...

[agnellodei]

Oh they are not so bad. I doubt many in the past had the quicksilver agility of a Bartoli or the double creame tone of Flemming. It seems most opera lovers have this weird syndrome, they love the old singers but hate the current ones. Same thing happened with Callas and Joan Sutherland, they were harshly critisized in their time compared to past singers, now they are worshipped and current singers are snobbed.

[neronnenn]

I admire Cecilia, but as you cenrtainly know, she has a "little" voice, the former head of San Francisco's theatre told me that for them was impossible to invite her to perform because of that...I speak in GENERAL, the quality of singers was different, in the 50ties we had plenty of very good tenors, where are they now?

[agnellodei]

Well I have no problem with her little voice, I love her in records, I don't need to see her in big opera houses. For me is about beauty of sound, not volume. I think there are many great tenors now, it's just that other repertoire such as the bel canto as made its revival (at least 10% of it) and it requires different capabilities than what modern technique can offer. I hope one day to be able to sing Elvino in its original key.

[neronnenn]

Ah, that's why .....you are a TENOR...with "testa di tenore"? :)

[agnellodei]

testa di musico contralto ;) got a weird upper extension in head voice. up to the soprano high C in head voice, and higher in whistle/falsetto.

[troppofiato]

Bartoli and Flemming are little lightweights compared to Ponselle - she was the real thing, a dramatic soprano with amazing agility and the most beautiful, lush sound. Also with great musicianship. The bottom of her voice was like a contralto - and apparently she was a very good actress to boot,

[meltzerboy]

And I'd add Patti in her prime, Catalani, Sontag, Grisi, Alboni, Mario, and Lablache as well as Chopin and Liszt playing the piano and Paganini on the violin.

[sirenadellopera]

Back in those days, capable singers could sing so many different roles, without being too constricted to vocal "types" or "Facher" (can't do umlaut, sorry). Ach, ahimè, alas...Those were the days!

[WiseMonki]

Serafins' fav soprano... what a fine voice with super schooling... my thanks.

[olgamarga]

Buen trabajo Onegin,gracias.

[mjmacmtenor]

Ms. Ponselle had a unique voice. No one since has had quite the combination of beauty of tone, fullness and size of voice, and skill in coloratura. Her Norma is legendary. For something really exciting, check out her version of "Ernani, involami" - her trills and staccati in the cabaletta are absolutely breathtaking.

[sirenadellopera]

Yes! Heard it, and it's stupendous.

[allangoo]

And don't forget her faultless Italian vowels.

Especially the AH sound.

Her voice was dark, without any need to use a "covered" sound and "darkened" vowels.

And Wow! How about the three full-voice trills at the end?