Kathleen Battle - Messiah - Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion

[betenoireindustries]

SO wonderful. just pure joy.

[SchrodingerHatedCats]

I'm a soprano, a coloratura. Admittedly, many sopranos are considered 'divas', so I'll say this humbly. I've been compared to Kathleen Battle in the past. I sincerely hope that comparison was meant about my voice, not my temperament. In that light, meaning voice-- I consider that an exceptional honor, for there IS no comparison IMHO. She's one of my training models. I certainly HOPE I never develop a reputation for being a "Battle Axe"!

[dtothebld]

This is a superb performance!

[ohmusic25]

Kathleen Battle is the one!!! Her version of this Handel is definitive!!!Beautifully done!

[only4miami]

My favorite part of the whole song is at 3:15

[slackergirl22]

I love her tone. Its clean and crisp like the smell in the air after a spring rain shower. I know I a weirdo for thinking that. No one has to tell me.

[MeredithWaters]

@slackergirl22 It's interesting you speak of Battle's voice reminding you of an after-rain scent. All music brings up such associations for me, sometimes visuals, scents, flavors (low piano keys in forte taste like burnt brownies?), etc. which I've repressed. I was just thinking lately maybe it's not weird but a special musical sense that allows us to tell if we or others have properly captured an emotion in music. So, possibly cool & useful?

[Bahia82]

@MeredithWaters LOL, you dont have a "special musical sense" U "slackergirl22" & iamDamitajo have a condition called Synethesia, where the 5 senses get combined and mixed up, its rare and makes you very unique enjoy it and embrace it =)

[iamDamitaJo7]

@slackergirl22 your not a weirdo...i have been there many of times. Mostly with colors, really vivid ones.

That's the Gift of Music....Music is Life.

[Bahia82]

@iamDamitaJo7 You have a condition called synethesia look it up, rare and unique

[iamDamitaJo7]

@Bahia82 i just received your comment and i hope it's not a bad thing, Lol...i never heard of it before.

thank you in advance, take care!!

[Bahia82]

@iamDamitaJo7 No problem google it , they even had a association for people to join with your condition. Def not a bad thing!

[bobdylan23220]

Having worked with Ms. Battle personally, I can tell you that she is quite talented but more obnoxious than any other singer I have met to try to do anything with. She will absolutely not stand for a performance being any other way than how she wants it, even walking off the stage in the middle of an act during a performance and threatening to not go back onstage. While I admire her voice, she needs to get real and stop treating the very talented people that she surrounds herself with like shit.

[nohpiano]

@bobdylan23220

Yes well....even as a student , she was insufferable. Her pianist once got stuck in a snow storm and I stepped in real fast, on sight, and played for her in a contest. I missed maybe three notes of a horribly hard Bach reduction - AT SIGHT - and she was an insufferable bitch about it. I literally threw the music back at her once we were in the hall and told her she would not have many friends in future. Pity I was so right. With that voice, she does not need to be like that.

[ajb1776]

She has the voice of a nightingale but the personality of a hysterical hyena.

[bullycatmom]

@ajb1776 LOL

[bbwaters100]

Pure soprano just beautiful!!!

[axelfalk1]

What an utterly gorgeous voice and what a stunning woman!

[LadyOlivia35]

Her voice is a blessing. She may have had personality conflicts, but it's never okay to call someone names based on his or her race. On the other hand, she has to remain professional and not be unhelpfully critical of other cast members. She's very talented, and it's a loss that she quit performing operas. Luckily, we can still hear her concertize.

[jsbaines1]

I'm not sure if it gets any better than this. Her ornaments and melismas are unparalled

[sairamnagarajan]

Hey, do you know if Battle has recorded Endless Pleasure from Semele? I'm pretty sure I saw a version up on youtube with the cover of Battle : A Portrait. Sadly, it's been removed and nowhere to be found. Are you aware if she recorded it at all? Any help would be appreciated.

[lipera]

@sairamnagarajan I think she has recorded it. 

[marzanjp1]

@sairamnagarajan yes she has.

[sairamnagarajan]

@marzanjp1 Thanks! :D

[kinddude]

@sairamnagarajan She recorded the entire Opera with Marilyn Horne, Sam Ramey, Sylvia McNair, and John Nelson conducting. The album (or individual mp3s) are available at Amazon.com, for example. Happy hunting!

[bravissima1]

@sairamnagarajan She recorded the entire role of Semele on the Deutsche Grammophon lable @1993

[1ngmar8ergman]

@sairamnagarajan Yes, She's on a splendid Deutsche Grammophon recording, and I love the way she does it!

[dreamcritic]

THIS was the kind of voice handel was writing for i'm pretty sure. renee has her place, but its not with handel.

[hutchy1456]

great performance. her top B flat is breath taking. well done :)

[bbbartolo]

I have the young Kathleen singing in the complete Messiah, but I'd bet this is a later concert rendition. Both are ravishing.

[littlebrabbel]

How boring. Nice technique. But nothing more. No feelings.

[nichtsleezy]

@littlebrabbel Do you know anything about this genre of music??? What do you mean by feelings??? The feelings are in the words!

[chrismo1984]

wow wow wow. stunning.

[musiccoloratura]

WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Beautiful, perfect !

It's so light and joyful, I love how it's different from the other versions with " big voices "

[classyteacherdiva]

It is always a pleasure, a sheer joy, and a delight to hear this beloved aria from the fairest diva of them all!

[mradaChris]

Marvelous singing

[MarishaSPb]

Perfect!!!!

What necessity for good diction on such high notes?! I would like to ask! :-)

[cleanmyroomforme]

@MarishaSPb ... the truth is.. it's handel. and the singer is going to sing the words over and over again in the song, so the audience knows what she's saying. just give us a pretty tone on B's and above please! almost any sound or word should be obtainable on A and below, just make sure not to focus ont he consonant too much. a turn your "seeks" into "sehks" and open up!!

[blairisqueenforever]

that cadenza is flawless. all i got to say.

[woofer0doofer]

She's Kathleen Battle and she can shit all over anyone she wants.

[ElegantPaws01]

Who cares about attitude...I believe this genre invented the word DIVA lol! The woman's voice was glorious! Thanks for sharing.

[ldavilmontenegro]

He leído sobre sus problemas de actitud (I knowed about her bad attitude) pero su voz es hermosa (her voice is wonderful) Sylvia McNair y K.Battle son los mejor que he escuchado (both are the best)

[Mensajera26]

Que bonito y melodiosos, la verdad una de las mejores interpretaciones wow! felcidades! y gracias al q puso este bello canto, me he quedado super sorprendida nunca habia oida de esta forma ta melódica es como para aparender aacatar uno tb as´. Bueno q Dios os bendiga adios...

[classyteacherdiva]

Is she saying "behold thy king cometh unto dee or thee?"

[lipera]

unto thee...

[JhayeStar]

lol a little bad diction at the end thats all

[xpt20x]

@classyteacherdiva haha it does sound like she's saying dee in some spots. That's weird. Good catch. It's a shame she has such a bad attitude to match her small voice. She could be a great artist if she got out of her own way. I have much more respect for Renee Fleming who makes up for her lack of clarity in tone with her shiny personality. I'd much rather listen to someone with great passion and musicality than someone with a bad attitude who happens to be a great technician like Ms. Battle.

[BirchBarlow]

...but Levine's the only one who'll work with her. Oh, well.

[BirchBarlow]

...Strauss' father was a brass player in many, many performances of Wagner.

At any rate, she dropped out of the show nine days before opening night. They were able to get Barbara Hendricks to take the role, and Kathleen got her ass fired. She still performs, but she's about sixty now, and you really can't do a whole bunch when a list of frightened conductors break their silence. At this point in her career, she would probably do recital work, teach, curate...

[BirchBarlow]

In 1994, she was fired from The Met by Joseph Volpe. Their falling out (not that they were even 'in') was highly publicized. In a TIME article, a lot of Battle's previous antics came to the fore, and it was ugly.

-She considered orchestra members and other staff to be 'underlings', and as such, were not allow to speak or make eye contact with her.

-On one occasion, rather than ask her limo driver to turn down the air conditioning, she phoned Volpe, who had to phone the agency so...

[BirchBarlow]

Oh, this response is all out of order, Sorry jabber, my fingers aren't very smart today. So, dropping out, okay?

-The final straw was in 1994. She was to take the ingenue role in Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier. I don't know if you know that work, but Strauss? The poster boy for late-Romantic excess. I say it not to slight him (even if everyone knows Salome is way better *wink*) but to underline the hugeness of work. It's five hours long, and though it's more restrained than some other stuff...

[wilmingfun]

It is so amazing.  I just wish she was a nice person

[nclysander]

I just wish she had behaved herself so we could still be enjoying her fabulous singing!

[jabberwockygirl]

I didn't know she wasn't a nice person! What is she supposedly like? She had such a nice voice though

[BirchBarlow]

...the agency could phone the driver, to tell him to turn down the air conditioning,

-sometimes combative in interviews, but to be fair, a lot of interviewers would play, 'What Makes Kathleen Tick?' Journalistic ethics? Boring.

-People who always fill The Met to capacity are treated very well, and are indulged. That's fine, but she had a habit of staying in one room, getting bored with the colour (only one colour allowed per room) within hours, and have to be taken to another one...

[BirchBarlow]

...and this would sometimes happen several times a day. The Met doesn't like it when you egregiously waste their money.

-She was pretty abusive to her instrumental colleagues. So much so, that when she was fired, they had T-Shirts printed that said, 'I Survived the Battle',

-Being late for, or skipping rehearsals is one thing. Being late for, or skipping PERFORMANCES? Not a good move.

-She also had a habit of dropping out of productions with no explanation or warning. Most notoriously...

[lmsubramaniam]

Can I ask what performances she missed? I'm curious

[cleanmyroomforme]

@wilmingfun oh she's just a diva. can you imagine all the crap she had to get through to get to where she is at? performers always have to have their shields.

[couturesixfour]

@cleanmyroomforme she was called the UN at the Met as i have read...that stood for Uppity Negro!! how nice would you be in that situation?

[FoggyRoad81]

@couturesixfour She was called that after years of being very abusive to her colleagues and every staff member she encountered with rare exceptions. I am black and do not justify people using racial slurs, two wrongs do not make a right. However, Battle made her own bed in the music industry. Stars as big as her are afforded a LOT of slack, but she took it to a whole new level. The famous rumors are nothing compared to just the daily grind of just having to work with someone like that.

[couturesixfour]

@FoggyRoad81 while i have read of the praise and adulation that has ever been thrown at white divas! even in the documentary on divas, one speaks of how they are tolerated because they deliver such talent. i am not speaking up for her antics. i am highlighted the fact that she was called this name, her talent was deduced and she was immediately seen as the "negro"! meaning...she was out of "place"! that is my perspective!

[coutureorganist]

why, is she not a nice person???

[darm15]

que padre voz!!

[GCE101]

Kathleen, You ARE One of a Kind!

[OperaLover84]

what year is this?

[lipera]

I don't know the year, it's from the cd "Kathleen Battle - Portrait". So, I guess it's the same year she recorded this album..

[nclysander]

Actually, it originally comes from her "Grace" CD ("Portrait" is a compilation), which makes it a 1997 recording. Lovely, isn't it?

[liyysopr]

Wonderful, this woman has something that makes me feel goosebumps

[jaibright]

SING!!!