Actually, she was a Jazz Singer before the buckled down and became a serious Opera Singer. She had to make the choice between being great at one thing or being okay at two.
I disagree, this song is written in the context that she sings it. It is originally sung like this (in an operatic vocal production). I understand what you mean but she sings it more historically correct. P.S. I do not really even like Renee Fleming but she does a great job on this rendition.
I whotleheartedly agree; she butchered this song up and down the place. It's way to pop and jazzy for me. Kathleen Battle and Leontyne Price do a MUCH better job!!!!!!
Renee Fleming is just fierce!! It's amazing how she effortlessly sustained that altissimo concert B at a piano dynamic level. She makes it looks so easy.
The original song was by George Gershwin for his OPERA: Porgy & Bess. NOT Janis Joplin. This is how the song was originally intended. Although, Janis Joplin as well as Ella Fitzgerald DID make FABULOUS covers of this song too, just in the style of jazz and blues.
Renee, you sound fantastic, as usual. Love your interpretation of Summertime. I love your Sacred Songs CD...it is just beautiful. Your voice is so rich and colorful...in all registers!! BRAVA!
why such hostility! She does a great job! This is her interpretation! she sings flat for a second who cares, it happens in live music, it happens to all the greats. even singers with perfect pitch have pitch problems. not because they cant hear the right pitch but because its a resonance issue. Look at a score both Clara and Bess sing the song. Bess sings an abbr. version after Clara is killed in the hurricaine.
To be truly honest, I really hate this song, but Renee Fleming is one of my favorite singers anyway. This song, in my opinion, is truly freakish and annoying. Just my opinion though. I'll stick to classical. Miss Fleming sings all her songs well, but I don't enjoy her more "modern" selections, like this song.
i agree i thought i was the only one who ever noticed that.!!!!!?.. at 1:25) she sounds soooo french when she sings "DONT" ITS FUNNY but i like her... at 2:04 she does it again when she sings "take" lol
I agree. Opera should not be in English. I don't know what Porgy and Bess is or what it is about. I just know it is English. Either way, I can't understand anything that Miss Fleming is singing. Renee Fleming on her own is a good singer but this gendre isn't good for her. She should stick to classical.
yes it is clara that sings this summertime in b minor bess's is in a minor, i also have perfect pitch and am probably the most humble musician you'll ever meet.
um sweetheart i have perfect pitch too nd b4 she started to bring her vibrato out she was flat....geeze i feel bad singling out 1 wrong note in the whole piece...
stating that you have perfect pitch is like stating that you have 11 toes. People are only born with perfect pitch, and this has no bearing on what type of musician you will become. In my experience, the people with perfect pitch are also the cocky annoying ones.
I guess i feel like as a black person... Its difficult for me to listen to, a white persons (Gershwin) interpretation of "black southern speech" whether "artistic" or otherwise given the history of racism in this country. How could Gershwin possibly know understand or be able to characterize accurately a culture which he himself is NOT privy to. Thats my point. and then to see Renee sing it ...a white woman... just puts a whole 'nother slant on it its like...
But I also do not think that the blues belongs to a single race or that the blues is stereotypical. Its universal. To suggest that white folks cant feel and express the blues is perhaps also suggest that black folks or Chinese folks cant play of feel European classical music. Dont tell that to Yoyo Ma.
It feeels very removed from the aactual experience of the people in that culture... her performanc feels like a characterization of a characterization... you know what i mean? where ithe realness in delivering a message that? Thats my other point. ---- africans when they came here did not know english...agreed? as they learned it and picked up words here and there... and influenced the language with their culture... they spoke "broken english" or "stylized speech" because of a lack of education
when i hear what you are calling stylized speech, even though it is being expressed by a people raped of their language hence their culture, i still hear the sounds of a resilliant people expressing themselves, through survival and perserverance. Who has time to worry about speech when they are trying to survive. The result is however, a language all it's own. I don't understand what is wrong with the speech of black southerners in an artistict sense. True artists interpret & deliver msg.
Babs22h --- Would you say the same thing if it were a Sicillian, Italian, etc. opera aria? These stereotypic images are beautiful and should be interpreted in a positive light/reference. What's wrong with Black southern speech and life? Porgy and Bess is a story of love and survival and interpretation of its' text and dialect should be handled as carefully as you would any other Italian, French, German, or Latin work.
first.. i appreciate your comments and opinions.yes i think it should be handled as carefully as any other aria... but first realized the history... this "stylized speech" it is based on racism and a soci-economic structure that forced people from their lands, and raped them of their culture. This "stylized speech" is an attempt to learn a complelty foreign language. It is not "black southern speech" in my opinion ... it is stereotypic speech of black southerners... see the difference?:-)
Why can't people here show some respect for the artists and for other youtubers? Come on! If you don't like it, just say you don't. You don't have to say it's awful,that the artist sucks or that other people are deaf, stupid, etc... I'm fed up with this kind of rude comments here.
this is horrible, LOL! who ever like this must be deaf or such a Fleeming fan that it blinds you from the truth, only 1 opera singer can sing this right and her name is Jessye Norman, any other opera singer needs to sit down
Gershwin wrote some operas to represent black culture in all its forms, including the soul like texture and the language that they use, also don't insult his talent, he wrote rhapsody in blue.... try contesting that on a musical level.
He is one of the most under recognized civil rights activist of the 20th c. ; the best part is he did it through music. Gershwin, as an american took note of what was going on musically speaking in the black community, and then sets it the traditionally white genre of opera. It was a total culture clash, and brilliantly done. Without this particular work, I am inclinded to think that classically trained african-amer. singers would be not where we are today.
i'm not certain you mean stereotypical speech and life! For the lives of the African Americans that lived in this era the speech and life was real life. You can read books about the dialect and life of the people that lived in the islands of SC and hear samples of the dialect. It was a reality and for some the dialect still is a reality. Geechy and Gullah...look it up! Plus what about Floyd's Suzannah is there too much stereotyipical white speech and life no: for some its real. trust me someone
i guess sure its a reality --wedidntknow-but its also a reality the economic social and political circumstances that keep people with these "stereotyped speech patterns and lives" (on display in this song and other songs written by white men for white culture...HELLO?:-)) disenfranchised and out power. Its telling I think that the most famous "black" opera isnt by a black person and it contains stereotypic images of them! is that not clear?
Thats where you should read your history! what kept their way of life so unique was geography. I'm not saying that many things dont display stereotypes but in the case of Porgy and Bess i don't feel it does. the Color Purple directed by Speilburg. Is one of our celebrated works it was through the eyes of a white man. At the time of Porgy and Bess a black man wasn't allowed to get the same funding and recognition as a Gershwin. So just as Alice walkers "the Color Purple". the story was put out
How can you look at this on a musical level only. It was on of the 1st primarily black casts. And to say that race doesn't play a factor is silly. Black opera singers are traditionally known for their richer warmer timbres. Think I am baised. Check out Aida's Brothers & Sisters. The only roles we could sing (and this is very rare to find) were Othello, and Aida. So to look at this work in a strictly musical level is so sad.
Ms. Flemming is not black, obviously. But that should not eliminate this aria from her rep. She convey's the same emotions through her talent and artistic lic. that any other black singer could. Opera is sometimes fictional. And sometimes fiction asks us to suspend our beliefs. How many women sing pants roles? Do we really believe that people can fall in love by looking at a picture only? Are people really birds? It's just a story, so role with it
its funny that you should mention that because my vocal teacher tells me sometimes to imagine there is a ball in the back of my throt to get a more open sound which is necassary stylistically for an open sound and free vocal instrument
Summertime comes form the opera Porgy and Bess. Summertime is orignally done in opera. This particular piece has also been done in Jazz, Blues, and Soul. The original is opera.
TopdollarStudio - You sing it if you can do better. Stop being so negative. People always want to say the negative before the positive. No matter what, Renee has a gift and she is blessing others with it.
Um...You REALLY don't know what you're talking about. She's singing using proper diction and pronunciation. Just because it doesn't sound "American", as you most likely want, that doesn't make it bad English.
And seriously, do you honestly think that SO many people are wrong, and that your opinion is just magically correct out of so many opposing viewpoints?
No. No, I didn't. I've only heard bits and pieces of this Aria before finally taking the time to listen to it all the way. This was the first performance I've seen by anyone singing this all the way. I have to say that I easily understood everything she sang.
It may not sound good to YOU because you're not used to it, but it's correct, and has been seen as such for generations.
Just wanted 2 clear up something bout this aria & the opera. You need 2 remember the context / time of the music. This is supposed 2 b sung in an African American dialect of the early 1900s, specifically located in the Charleston, SC region, which probably spoke in the Gullah dialect. This dialect is a mixture of English and perhaps some parts of West African cultures of the slaves living in those regions. There are very similar dialects also intended to be sung when singing Negro Spirituals.
Just wanted 2 clear up something bout this aria & the opera. You need 2 remember the context / time of the music. This is supposed 2 b sung in an African American dialect of the early 1900s, specifically located in the Charleston, SC region, which probably spoke in the Gullah dialect. This dialect is a mixture of English and perhaps some parts of West African cultures of the slaves living in those regions. There are very similar dialects also intended to be sung when singing Negro Spirituals.
As you can see from the lyrics - DuBose Hayward intends the singer to imitate the dialect So he wrote it out phonetically: Summertime, And the livin' is easy Fish are jumpin' And the cotton is high Your daddy's rich And your mamma's good lookin' So hush little baby Don't you cry So, if you hear a singer sing any song from Porgy and Bess in perfect 'English', you should know that it is the INCORRECT way to sing the music! Blessings!
I love Reme Fleming ..but I think this is the wrong song at the wrong time for her...to forced ..without the relaxed sensual sexual.feelings required ......I have heard her interpret Classical arias better than she did this...I am a Baritone/tenor
the best interpretation I heard live was Barbara Hendricks on the academy awards show many years ago...I think she got it right hear as close as she can for an Operatic Soprano
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
Ugly voice. Im just a listener, not an expert in opera or jazz, but I think, that the voice must fly like a bird in a sky instead of climbing to the mountain in hurricane (even with incredible technique)
Of course not, according to Wikipedia, the original Clara was Abbie Mitchell. Renee Fleming delivered an excellent rendition of this aria nonetheless. (The legato, crescendo and diminuendo towards the end are perfect)
Muy buena voz para cantar Aida, lucia di lammermour, etc... pero esto es un espiritual negro y encima canción de cuna... el estilo es un desastre, los gorgoritos para los clásicos, sólo las mujeres de color tienen voz para cantar esta partitura, cantara muy bien esta mujer, pero este estilo se le queda enormemente grande.
Has anyone noticed that the announcer makes a mistake when he said it was Bess who cradles her baby as she sings Summertime. It was Clara who sang this song....anyways this version is amazing. I wish I had her voice.
It's amazing to me, an amateur who appreciates opera and classical music in general, how so many (self-designated) experts, waste their time and space here to place comments that make no sense whatsoever!!!.The fact is, regardless all that talk (white, black, jazz , opera.. etc..).The piece is beautiful, satisfying and Fleming is just all around beautiful..I feel sorry for the "experts" who just can't enjoy!!!!
Completely agree. Its nice to know there are still people in this world that can take the music and appreciate it as the art form that it is as opposed to dissecting it into what it should/should not be.
outstanding ending! love the way she clings to standing "by" the the glissando after she holds it forever and the way the sound sweeps to a tapered ending she makes it seem like she could just hold it 4ever.... yay to talent!
Amen to that lol. She is amazing. I love how she makes the song her own & doesnt follow everyone else in her interpretation. Well done & beautifully so!
so this is gonna sound terrible of me too say but..... i thought this was not at all good(not the terrible part yet), because it just does not sound right to me when a white person sings i( that was it) it doesnt have the same emotion. and i don't like it as an operatic aria, it sounds better as a jazz song
pretty much right there. I never really liked operas and I don't like her voice too. "Black" persons, jazz persons... It's natural what they have, I can't deny that fact.
i'm partial to opera singers too, as i have been training as one for 3 years, and i generally prefer the operatic voice to to others. but i still think that this sounds better as a jazz song
What I meant was you would protest the idea of someone praising Luciano Pavarotti for singing Baby Got Back. This aria is from the OPERA Porgy and Bess; this is how the composer intended the performance to be. I'm not sure how the jazz version came about and I'm utmost unsure how the baby will sleep either with that jazz approach. Not trying to dispute your comment, just wanna to make sure you are aware of what you're talking about; please don't be offended. Cheers !
well, we all have our different opinions. i, personally, prefer the opera version. but that's just because i'm in opera fanatic. i'm not dissin the jazz fans, because i like jazz too. i just love how miss fleming performs this.
i love how when she sings "spread your wings" she moves her arms out and the wind catches her jacket and it wraps itself around her :P i love it.. LOVE IT!!
'...with daddy an' mammy standin' by...' nothing short of magical... a human most moment... a glimpse into divinity!
loris692 2 years ago
Soooooooooo good.
blackkat005 2 years ago
I nearly cried i felt something spiritual within this performance wowo brava!!!
immature0916 2 years ago
One of my favorite renditions
khamikins 2 years ago
she never ceases to amaze me. beautiful!
5caitlin31 2 years ago
Independent Renee Fleming is a opera singer,she make a wonderful interpretation .
JorPove 2 years ago
It's sensational. There's really no more to discuss at all. We're done here.
sagalat 2 years ago
she is not a damn jazz singer!
baby1loe 2 years ago
Actually, she was a Jazz Singer before the buckled down and became a serious Opera Singer. She had to make the choice between being great at one thing or being okay at two.
rsalinas1 2 years ago
she was at one point
immature0916 2 years ago
Lovely. Thank you for this Renee and for your autobiography, "The Inner Voice" which I am reading right now.
AltaDelphinium 2 years ago
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am i the only one who thinks that only a jazz singer should do this? ...i think she's using too much power.. so much it seems almost clumsy.
marcuscorrentus 2 years ago
Actually, the most proper person to sing this is a coloratura (operatic) soprano, as George Gershwin wrote this as an opera.
MinistahB 2 years ago 4
mm..i see. oh well, then it's a matter of personal taste! cheers
marcuscorrentus 2 years ago 2
She is a jazz singer!!!!
Singingnurse81 2 years ago
I disagree, this song is written in the context that she sings it. It is originally sung like this (in an operatic vocal production). I understand what you mean but she sings it more historically correct. P.S. I do not really even like Renee Fleming but she does a great job on this rendition.
bigdigger87 2 years ago 6
i understand what youre saying. ive only heard it in a jazz style but bigdigger87 is right. i was written for an opera style.
OperaticRockstar 2 years ago 2
I whotleheartedly agree; she butchered this song up and down the place. It's way to pop and jazzy for me. Kathleen Battle and Leontyne Price do a MUCH better job!!!!!!
classyteacherdiva 2 years ago
how the hell did she butcher this song if she sang it stylistically according to the way gershwin WROTE it lol.
BOOLsheet 2 years ago 2
Very very beautiful. She sings it so effortlessly, it's astonishing! Thank you, Renee.
rbocanegra62 2 years ago 2
wow this song is beautiful!!!!! my mom sang this to me when i was a little girl
grapejellybeans5 2 years ago
Just beautiful. Hypnotic.
Sha1Lmarie 2 years ago
Bess. And Sidney Poitier.
bocataz 2 years ago
Renee Fleming is just fierce!! It's amazing how she effortlessly sustained that altissimo concert B at a piano dynamic level. She makes it looks so easy.
FIERCE10IFY 2 years ago
So beautiful, I'm all verklempt.
TheaterMarine88 2 years ago
The original song was by George Gershwin for his OPERA: Porgy & Bess. NOT Janis Joplin. This is how the song was originally intended. Although, Janis Joplin as well as Ella Fitzgerald DID make FABULOUS covers of this song too, just in the style of jazz and blues.
TadakoXIII 2 years ago 2
janis joplin????
koalakeavy 2 years ago
yup...she did a version too but it sounds all scratchy to me. My favorite version is Eva Cassidy's.
ronkerbonks 2 years ago
guauuuu cover de jamis joplin????
koalakeavy 2 years ago
Worst ever. Hard to believe this performance ever happened.
saintansele 2 years ago
Renee, you sound fantastic, as usual. Love your interpretation of Summertime. I love your Sacred Songs CD...it is just beautiful. Your voice is so rich and colorful...in all registers!! BRAVA!
105snow 2 years ago
why such hostility! She does a great job! This is her interpretation! she sings flat for a second who cares, it happens in live music, it happens to all the greats. even singers with perfect pitch have pitch problems. not because they cant hear the right pitch but because its a resonance issue. Look at a score both Clara and Bess sing the song. Bess sings an abbr. version after Clara is killed in the hurricaine.
wedidntknow 2 years ago
To be truly honest, I really hate this song, but Renee Fleming is one of my favorite singers anyway. This song, in my opinion, is truly freakish and annoying. Just my opinion though. I'll stick to classical. Miss Fleming sings all her songs well, but I don't enjoy her more "modern" selections, like this song.
strauss12345 2 years ago
what's with the eastern european accent that fleming always sings with?
TreblRebl 2 years ago
i agree i thought i was the only one who ever noticed that.!!!!!?.. at 1:25) she sounds soooo french when she sings "DONT" ITS FUNNY but i like her... at 2:04 she does it again when she sings "take" lol
Babs22h 2 years ago
I love Renee...but I cant understand a word she is saying.....opera shouldnt be sung in english
fpngan 2 years ago 2
.there are English art songs...it's up to the artist to excercise diction. Opera should be sung in every language..it's a beautiful genre.
jaibright 2 years ago
I agree. Opera should not be in English. I don't know what Porgy and Bess is or what it is about. I just know it is English. Either way, I can't understand anything that Miss Fleming is singing. Renee Fleming on her own is a good singer but this gendre isn't good for her. She should stick to classical.
strauss12345 2 years ago
I agree. She is a wonderfull singer, but I just think opera sounds and flows much better in French, Italian..ect then it does in English
fpngan 2 years ago
the opera was written in english, so I dont understand what your talking about.
yumyumwhatzohai 2 years ago
yes it is clara that sings this summertime in b minor bess's is in a minor, i also have perfect pitch and am probably the most humble musician you'll ever meet.
musickmajor225 2 years ago
this is good but when kathleen battle sang it...she didnt go flat at the end...
i like and respect both of them though
malorie1693 2 years ago
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violinist1990 2 years ago
"I have perfect pitch". Full of yourself much? Neither of those people you mention could even come close to Leontyne Price's version.
bigdjindustriez 2 years ago
um sweetheart i have perfect pitch too nd b4 she started to bring her vibrato out she was flat....geeze i feel bad singling out 1 wrong note in the whole piece...
malorie1693 2 years ago
stating that you have perfect pitch is like stating that you have 11 toes. People are only born with perfect pitch, and this has no bearing on what type of musician you will become. In my experience, the people with perfect pitch are also the cocky annoying ones.
htothenan 2 years ago 2
Um...It's Not Bess Who Sings To The Child! It's Clara... EVERYBODY Knows That.
lafonta 2 years ago
LOL..I was saying the same thing..lol,this isn't Bess..lol
jaibright 2 years ago
I disagree with your statement that this stylized speech is a result to learn a foreign language from a cultural and artistic perspective.
CAdagoo 2 years ago
hey... this convo is interesting!
I guess i feel like as a black person... Its difficult for me to listen to, a white persons (Gershwin) interpretation of "black southern speech" whether "artistic" or otherwise given the history of racism in this country. How could Gershwin possibly know understand or be able to characterize accurately a culture which he himself is NOT privy to. Thats my point. and then to see Renee sing it ...a white woman... just puts a whole 'nother slant on it its like...
Babs22h 2 years ago
You are forgetting that Dubois Heywood wrote the song. Gershwin wrote the music.
EJSlothrop 2 years ago
i didnt know that thank you for the info!;-)
Babs22h 2 years ago
But I also do not think that the blues belongs to a single race or that the blues is stereotypical. Its universal. To suggest that white folks cant feel and express the blues is perhaps also suggest that black folks or Chinese folks cant play of feel European classical music. Dont tell that to Yoyo Ma.
EJSlothrop 2 years ago 4
It feeels very removed from the aactual experience of the people in that culture... her performanc feels like a characterization of a characterization... you know what i mean? where ithe realness in delivering a message that? Thats my other point. ---- africans when they came here did not know english...agreed? as they learned it and picked up words here and there... and influenced the language with their culture... they spoke "broken english" or "stylized speech" because of a lack of education
Babs22h 2 years ago
when i hear what you are calling stylized speech, even though it is being expressed by a people raped of their language hence their culture, i still hear the sounds of a resilliant people expressing themselves, through survival and perserverance. Who has time to worry about speech when they are trying to survive. The result is however, a language all it's own. I don't understand what is wrong with the speech of black southerners in an artistict sense. True artists interpret & deliver msg.
CAdagoo 2 years ago
Babs22h --- Would you say the same thing if it were a Sicillian, Italian, etc. opera aria? These stereotypic images are beautiful and should be interpreted in a positive light/reference. What's wrong with Black southern speech and life? Porgy and Bess is a story of love and survival and interpretation of its' text and dialect should be handled as carefully as you would any other Italian, French, German, or Latin work.
CAdagoo 2 years ago
first.. i appreciate your comments and opinions.yes i think it should be handled as carefully as any other aria... but first realized the history... this "stylized speech" it is based on racism and a soci-economic structure that forced people from their lands, and raped them of their culture. This "stylized speech" is an attempt to learn a complelty foreign language. It is not "black southern speech" in my opinion ... it is stereotypic speech of black southerners... see the difference?:-)
Babs22h 2 years ago
Oh Renee`
You are so beautiful- can I sing with you????
Tony
tonyvillecco 2 years ago 3
Hot! Really hot.......ooooh.
Slidecommander 2 years ago
This is lovely, but give me Ms Price in this
Houndentenor1998 3 years ago
chills ALLLLL up and down my spineee
soo good to me.
roweman2 3 years ago 3
Man, she gives me chills.
sukuiichuu 3 years ago
Excellent!!! As always...
tokyolover86 3 years ago
Her eye makeup is really distracting. Whoever did it could have done a much more flattering job.
lightyears2005 3 years ago
wtf.....
lafranccuatti 2 years ago
She looks perpetually surprised through the whole thing.
lightyears2005 2 years ago
I love Renee Fleming she is my idol the one thing I would change is through breathy pick notes that sometimes seem extremely sloppy
classicalgal14 3 years ago
now this, THIS is professional singing.
does anybody in this comment section know how hard it is to do what she is doing with her voice? it takes YEARS to get it to that level! GORGEOUS!!!
*woot woot* ^(^0^)^
OperaGuru 3 years ago
say what you think, but I'm a singer and I really, really love her version of the song...
BLooDyErY 3 years ago
not bad! i'm pleasantly surprised considering i tend to dislike women singing opera.
dancemachine1919 3 years ago
Ah, by the way, I loved it! lol
guiradobrasil 3 years ago
Why can't people here show some respect for the artists and for other youtubers? Come on! If you don't like it, just say you don't. You don't have to say it's awful,that the artist sucks or that other people are deaf, stupid, etc... I'm fed up with this kind of rude comments here.
guiradobrasil 3 years ago 3
I have a video of the lovely Renée Fleming singing at the Inauguration concert @ Lincoln Memorial. She is flawless. Love her!
winti77 3 years ago
this is horrible, LOL! who ever like this must be deaf or such a Fleeming fan that it blinds you from the truth, only 1 opera singer can sing this right and her name is Jessye Norman, any other opera singer needs to sit down
Bahia82 3 years ago
Who ever wrote this needs a grammer lesson and an education in opera.
DivaLaMistress79 3 years ago
Never dis George Gershwin.
musicuseit 3 years ago
I wasn't...I was refering to another comment that had something where too was spelled to and they said Renee sucked
DivaLaMistress79 3 years ago
Gershwin wrote some operas to represent black culture in all its forms, including the soul like texture and the language that they use, also don't insult his talent, he wrote rhapsody in blue.... try contesting that on a musical level.
keretceres 3 years ago
He is one of the most under recognized civil rights activist of the 20th c. ; the best part is he did it through music. Gershwin, as an american took note of what was going on musically speaking in the black community, and then sets it the traditionally white genre of opera. It was a total culture clash, and brilliantly done. Without this particular work, I am inclinded to think that classically trained african-amer. singers would be not where we are today.
DivaLaMistress79 3 years ago
i think the work of porgy and bess though amazing is rife with steretypic images of Black southern speech and life... just my two cents...
Babs22h 3 years ago
Sure, but then, it was written in the 30s, not the 60s.
officialnut 3 years ago
i'm not certain you mean stereotypical speech and life! For the lives of the African Americans that lived in this era the speech and life was real life. You can read books about the dialect and life of the people that lived in the islands of SC and hear samples of the dialect. It was a reality and for some the dialect still is a reality. Geechy and Gullah...look it up! Plus what about Floyd's Suzannah is there too much stereotyipical white speech and life no: for some its real. trust me someone
wedidntknow 2 years ago
has lived the lives of porgy and bess. Just as someone has lived the lives of Suzannah and Sam!
wedidntknow 2 years ago
hi!
i guess sure its a reality --wedidntknow-but its also a reality the economic social and political circumstances that keep people with these "stereotyped speech patterns and lives" (on display in this song and other songs written by white men for white culture...HELLO?:-)) disenfranchised and out power. Its telling I think that the most famous "black" opera isnt by a black person and it contains stereotypic images of them! is that not clear?
Babs22h 2 years ago
Thats where you should read your history! what kept their way of life so unique was geography. I'm not saying that many things dont display stereotypes but in the case of Porgy and Bess i don't feel it does. the Color Purple directed by Speilburg. Is one of our celebrated works it was through the eyes of a white man. At the time of Porgy and Bess a black man wasn't allowed to get the same funding and recognition as a Gershwin. So just as Alice walkers "the Color Purple". the story was put out
wedidntknow 2 years ago
How can you look at this on a musical level only. It was on of the 1st primarily black casts. And to say that race doesn't play a factor is silly. Black opera singers are traditionally known for their richer warmer timbres. Think I am baised. Check out Aida's Brothers & Sisters. The only roles we could sing (and this is very rare to find) were Othello, and Aida. So to look at this work in a strictly musical level is so sad.
DivaLaMistress79 3 years ago
One more and I am done!
Ms. Flemming is not black, obviously. But that should not eliminate this aria from her rep. She convey's the same emotions through her talent and artistic lic. that any other black singer could. Opera is sometimes fictional. And sometimes fiction asks us to suspend our beliefs. How many women sing pants roles? Do we really believe that people can fall in love by looking at a picture only? Are people really birds? It's just a story, so role with it
DivaLaMistress79 3 years ago 3
haha. your references to magic flute made me laugh since i'm singing papageno right now in my university's production of "flute".
tiernan87 2 years ago
...haha would you believe I'm the First Lady in my college's production?
rootedinfaith3 2 years ago
Leotyne Price????
musicuseit 3 years ago
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que fea versioon,,prefiero la de charlotte church
greensoulyeahyeah 3 years ago
charlotte churh es horrible
miguelvasquez3 3 years ago
I really like her voice..But not in this song. It seems that she gets an orange on her throat.
JoannKiausass 3 years ago
its funny that you should mention that because my vocal teacher tells me sometimes to imagine there is a ball in the back of my throt to get a more open sound which is necassary stylistically for an open sound and free vocal instrument
Babs22h 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
i am not trying to disrespect her but this sucks.
magicpie77 3 years ago
It's like I always said "those who can play and those can't sing."
bluemonk82 3 years ago
Fleming has probably sung this song as a jazz standard as well. Let's say she has this down.
shmoco 3 years ago
Summertime comes form the opera Porgy and Bess. Summertime is orignally done in opera. This particular piece has also been done in Jazz, Blues, and Soul. The original is opera.
TopdollarStudio - You sing it if you can do better. Stop being so negative. People always want to say the negative before the positive. No matter what, Renee has a gift and she is blessing others with it.
mezzolaurice 3 years ago 3
this is a different interpretation of the song there are many ways to sing this beautiful song
i like this version operas cool
vickone32 3 years ago
her voice DOES NOT match this song AT ALL.
TopdollarStudio 3 years ago
Except that her voice COMPLETELY matches this ARIA, not song.
It's from an Opera. She's an Opera singer. Do the math.
ArrSee 3 years ago 3
that may be true, but her diction is still bad it doesn't even sound like english.
TopdollarStudio 3 years ago
Um...You REALLY don't know what you're talking about. She's singing using proper diction and pronunciation. Just because it doesn't sound "American", as you most likely want, that doesn't make it bad English.
And seriously, do you honestly think that SO many people are wrong, and that your opinion is just magically correct out of so many opposing viewpoints?
ArrSee 3 years ago
Oh, and I can understand her just fine. I don't know what you're having a difficult time with.
ArrSee 3 years ago
then you probably already know the words. If that's proper diction, than there's something wrong with that because it doesn't sound good.
And I can understand why people would like this, I just have my opinion and I would enjoy it more if she changed a few things.
TopdollarStudio 3 years ago
No. No, I didn't. I've only heard bits and pieces of this Aria before finally taking the time to listen to it all the way. This was the first performance I've seen by anyone singing this all the way. I have to say that I easily understood everything she sang.
It may not sound good to YOU because you're not used to it, but it's correct, and has been seen as such for generations.
ArrSee 3 years ago
Upon listening to this again, I really don't know why you're having a hard time comprehending what she's singing?
Every word is clear as a bell.
ArrSee 3 years ago
Just wanted 2 clear up something bout this aria & the opera. You need 2 remember the context / time of the music. This is supposed 2 b sung in an African American dialect of the early 1900s, specifically located in the Charleston, SC region, which probably spoke in the Gullah dialect. This dialect is a mixture of English and perhaps some parts of West African cultures of the slaves living in those regions. There are very similar dialects also intended to be sung when singing Negro Spirituals.
sosefo 3 years ago 2
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Just wanted 2 clear up something bout this aria & the opera. You need 2 remember the context / time of the music. This is supposed 2 b sung in an African American dialect of the early 1900s, specifically located in the Charleston, SC region, which probably spoke in the Gullah dialect. This dialect is a mixture of English and perhaps some parts of West African cultures of the slaves living in those regions. There are very similar dialects also intended to be sung when singing Negro Spirituals.
sosefo 3 years ago
sosefo 3 years ago
this gets my stamp of approval
scarbo86 3 years ago
puajjj
marcaperez 3 years ago
too much gas peddle singing.
BBmarg30 3 years ago
I love Reme Fleming ..but I think this is the wrong song at the wrong time for her...to forced ..without the relaxed sensual sexual.feelings required ......I have heard her interpret Classical arias better than she did this...I am a Baritone/tenor
rcb1011 3 years ago
the best interpretation I heard live was Barbara Hendricks on the academy awards show many years ago...I think she got it right hear as close as she can for an Operatic Soprano
rcb1011 3 years ago
Leona Lewis? Are you kidding me??
Apples and oranges, mate!
mavismcdavis 3 years ago 2
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i am sorry but Leona Lewis' version is the best I've ever heard!! youtubeit
OoMASEoO 3 years ago
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I can not understand how people can listen to this? honestly! this must be the worst summertime interpretation ever.
loveallmusic100 3 years ago
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Ugly voice. Im just a listener, not an expert in opera or jazz, but I think, that the voice must fly like a bird in a sky instead of climbing to the mountain in hurricane (even with incredible technique)
Brmafuzfafailio 3 years ago
God would come down to hear this Himself. This is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT in its interpretation and execution.
thebadtenor 3 years ago 2
is she the original singer of this song??
jamm210 3 years ago
Of course not, according to Wikipedia, the original Clara was Abbie Mitchell. Renee Fleming delivered an excellent rendition of this aria nonetheless. (The legato, crescendo and diminuendo towards the end are perfect)
kngiht84 3 years ago
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Eew, she sounds like 7 cats being hurled around in a potato sack
mlleross 3 years ago
Gosh she is so amazing!
violinist1990 3 years ago 3
gorgeous voice, but she doesn't sound american, something in her diction. anyone else hear it?
gibraltarrr 3 years ago
She is not singing it as the lullaby that is is, she is accenting it with a blues idiom,
dramatic license for effect, not sung as an aria in the true sense of Gershwin's score. She also slows it down tremendously. Nice job.
mm9913 3 years ago
sounds American to me, in fact very American (and that's a good thing for this aria)
BernardProfitendieu 3 years ago
loved it.
SieglindeMoos 3 years ago
Somewhat creepy actually...
davidandeymard 3 years ago
Muy buena voz para cantar Aida, lucia di lammermour, etc... pero esto es un espiritual negro y encima canción de cuna... el estilo es un desastre, los gorgoritos para los clásicos, sólo las mujeres de color tienen voz para cantar esta partitura, cantara muy bien esta mujer, pero este estilo se le queda enormemente grande.
redalert2323 3 years ago
Convengo con usted
prbyv 3 years ago
wooooooooooow!!!!eso estuvo muy bueno
flemingqueen 3 years ago
Awsome!!!
lmario97 3 years ago
CHILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
urthanjell 3 years ago 2
The ultimate version, I am not a big fan of Renee but this is IT.
kngiht84 3 years ago 2
awesome!!!
CIRXIO15 3 years ago 2
luv renee!
chiyochan84 3 years ago
Has anyone noticed that the announcer makes a mistake when he said it was Bess who cradles her baby as she sings Summertime. It was Clara who sang this song....anyways this version is amazing. I wish I had her voice.
LadyofShalott08 3 years ago 2
I love Renee's version..but also love the raw and unique Janis Joplin version..heart wrenching..
RMS1103 3 years ago
THAT is how it should be sung (if you're doing it in an opera voice that is, jazz is completely different).
LaFeeVerte1209 3 years ago
I am in love with her voice. She has such control. She can just pull back so beautifully but has such power. I just adore this version.
musicorganman 3 years ago
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Out of tune, hooked and pushed and just plain wrong. Anybody can compose....
redbonemix84 3 years ago
It's amazing to me, an amateur who appreciates opera and classical music in general, how so many (self-designated) experts, waste their time and space here to place comments that make no sense whatsoever!!!.The fact is, regardless all that talk (white, black, jazz , opera.. etc..).The piece is beautiful, satisfying and Fleming is just all around beautiful..I feel sorry for the "experts" who just can't enjoy!!!!
dimmingrays 3 years ago
Completely agree. Its nice to know there are still people in this world that can take the music and appreciate it as the art form that it is as opposed to dissecting it into what it should/should not be.
madison3660 3 years ago
I am a huge fan of Fleming but I don't think this is her best...not her Fach at all...
She can sing better with Mozart, Dvorak...even Handel but this is so not her forte
materialmyra 3 years ago
outstanding ending! love the way she clings to standing "by" the the glissando after she holds it forever and the way the sound sweeps to a tapered ending she makes it seem like she could just hold it 4ever.... yay to talent!
Babs22h 3 years ago
Amen to that lol. She is amazing. I love how she makes the song her own & doesnt follow everyone else in her interpretation. Well done & beautifully so!
ReneeObrien 3 years ago
she has a very beautiful voice
clarinette09 3 years ago
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benniumut01 3 years ago
so this is gonna sound terrible of me too say but..... i thought this was not at all good(not the terrible part yet), because it just does not sound right to me when a white person sings i( that was it) it doesnt have the same emotion. and i don't like it as an operatic aria, it sounds better as a jazz song
tenor220 3 years ago
You know it was written as an opera piece, right?
leeantony 3 years ago
yes i'm well aware of the fact that it was written as an opera, i just prefer it as a jazz song.
tenor220 3 years ago
pretty much right there. I never really liked operas and I don't like her voice too. "Black" persons, jazz persons... It's natural what they have, I can't deny that fact.
governementblindsU 3 years ago
I prefer it sung by opera singers. But than I'm partial to opera singers.
cgjcks 3 years ago
i'm partial to opera singers too, as i have been training as one for 3 years, and i generally prefer the operatic voice to to others. but i still think that this sounds better as a jazz song
tenor220 3 years ago
You should listen to Renee Olstead...
jazziesax 3 years ago
I was about to suggest it...
Renee Olstead has everything : the voice, the talent, the charisma, the beauty.
Her version is unbelievable. All the more that she was only 15 when she recorded it.
PS: There's no way the baby is going to fall asleep with Renee Fleming singing like this...
opheliecanta 3 years ago
Forgot where this is from, right ?
kngiht84 3 years ago
What do you mean ?
opheliecanta 3 years ago
What I meant was you would protest the idea of someone praising Luciano Pavarotti for singing Baby Got Back. This aria is from the OPERA Porgy and Bess; this is how the composer intended the performance to be. I'm not sure how the jazz version came about and I'm utmost unsure how the baby will sleep either with that jazz approach. Not trying to dispute your comment, just wanna to make sure you are aware of what you're talking about; please don't be offended. Cheers !
kngiht84 3 years ago
I'm not offended at all.
Otherwise I wouln't have simply asked you what you meant. I probably would have added something lol.
I know that Summertime is from Porgy and Bess but I hate it when sung with an "operatic" voice.
It might fit the composer's idea but I find that it REALLY doesn't fit the song.
It's just a matter of taste.
opheliecanta 3 years ago
if it weren't for the operatic version, none of the other versions would have existed. this is the original. OF COURSE IT FITS THE SONG.
gibraltarrr 3 years ago 4
just brava
angelkin89 3 years ago
self-conscious. lazy. not rising to meet the legendary status of the piece. anything but transcendent.
her tone is great.
TheMostDivineOne 3 years ago
well, we all have our different opinions. i, personally, prefer the opera version. but that's just because i'm in opera fanatic. i'm not dissin the jazz fans, because i like jazz too. i just love how miss fleming performs this.
Lonnie814 3 years ago
I like Ella's version the best, so I guess I prefer the jazz version.
kives1985 3 years ago
i love how when she sings "spread your wings" she moves her arms out and the wind catches her jacket and it wraps itself around her :P i love it.. LOVE IT!!
trekkie2006 3 years ago
Moments sublime; the ethereal beauty of Renee Fleming: stunning, timeless, shimmering... transcendant in every aspect.
jeteyefix 3 years ago
tesekkur ederim :) bravo
bazfanv5 3 years ago
Gracias Renee por tu maravillosa voz.
No sabes lo que me has ayudado a estudiar!!.
Gracias
lolitapina 3 years ago
i am a huuuuuuuge renee fan, but i cannot deny the fact that leontyne price does this better! sorry renee!
Josmery16 3 years ago