Leona Mitchell - Luciano Pavarotti - Tosca duet act III

[baribonbonbloc]

Jeez....Pavarotti....what squillo....incredible....Maybe­ the greatest after all....

[ThePavafan]

Pavarotti holds back his voice in this video in order not to drown leona.

[TsarBovov]

@ThePavafan Idiot. Listen to my Pavarotti video to hear the truth about Pavarotti.

[candide43201]

@ThePavafan Trust me..If you ever heard Leona Live..he did not have to hold back.. This woman's voice was a cannon in the House

[DIVAWON]

Beautifully sung!

[MrSammyscroll]

Prolong4291" Take the cotton out of your ears, my friend.....you must have a whole bale of it......I'm wasting my time......

[MrSammyscroll]

The tears are flowing, flowing...just magnificent, beautiful melding of two of the greatest voices of the century.......bravo a thousasnd times over....

[Starz723]

I was a part of the Collegiate Chorale during this performance. It was a magnificent performance by Maestro Pavarotti and Leona Mitchell. What an honor to be on the same stage as Pavarotti. I miss his spectacular voice.l

[argonortor]

i like it

[prolong4291]

about a note and a half flat, other than that, simply gorgeous.

[nichtsleezy]

@prolong4291 Obviously, you are tone deaf!!! Her "C" was on pitch, just vibrations off!!!!

[BravoLucero]

Amazing singer . Sure would like to hear more of her today at the Met.

[silvanero]

They are both in Great voice during this performance !!!! The days of these voices is GONE !!!!

[GylchrisSprauve]

Thanks so much for posting...oh, wow...at 2:33 Pav does his thing, that so many of us tenors pray to God to help us to do just even 1/3 as well as the great Italian master did. Such vibrant sensitive singing...it's like discovering his voice all over again!

[gustavoanmosura]

esto es una joya...amar a Leona con todos sus excesos :-) Luciano ahora que ha muerto siempre me fa piange

[mozart230647]

No es de las arias más populares...Otras llegan mucho antes al público menos entendido...La destaco para reivindicar la figura de Leona Mitchel, una gran soprano norteamericana...

[HU1914]

What a gift this is to her Leona singing the hell out of this Tosca. The beauty and breath of these gorgeous tones are to die for. Also just to see her face and the way she gets into the text and makes it so believable through this stellar singing is such a joy to see and hear, especially since we have not had a chance to hear her much on disk. Thank God we have these videos of her to record for history this incredible artist.

[cdivo39]

She was indeed a PUCCINI HEROINE as the cover of Opera News stated in the early 80's! BRAVA! She's better than Pavarotti!

[ThePavafan]

@cdivo39 Pavarotti is way better than her.

[prolong4291]

indeed I was wrong. sorry, diva.

[DragTas]

@prolong4291 It is ever so slightly flat...great voice though.

[LivaDena]

Are you listening to this video.

There is no note that is not perfecfly on.

[prolong4291]

i love leona mitchell, but she always seems labored and short of breath. and she totally misses the high note @2:05.

[silvanero]

Missed what high note @2:05? I heard it why didn't you? Sounded great to me!!!

[halavey]

I first heard her in 1979, Boheme, she sang Mimi with neil shicoff in chicago, both making their debuts in the big 3,700 seat opera house to good reviews from claudia cassidy and also ramey was making his chicago debut-- it was in oct. I think and I heard several performances. Neil and Leona did very well and went on and then she was in the pavoratti movie also.

[silvanero]

Her voice is absolutely gorgeous in this music. I love her....

[naga22041980]

real lirico - spinto voice, she has

[fdh1004]

Amazing voice and wonderful artist. It's a shame she did'nt record more than she did.

[HU1914]

I am always amazed a these racist comments about Miss Mitchell's Text. Miss Mitchell worked all thouhout Italy and performed with the greatest Italian Conductors and coaches. Having sung in Rome, Firenze, Parma, Verona, she was never chastised by the Italians for not understanding her text. As a matter of fact, The Premier Newspaper, Corriere della Sera, acutally loved her Aida and likend her performance to a Callas's.

In Rome, they loved her Ballo and Tosca as well.

[tootallstud]

I agree with you. I am actually the great nephew of Leona Mitchell and as an African American opera singer, I have had to endure ignorance throughout my entire career.

[silvanero]

Dear Tootallstud !!

I am so in love with your Great Aunt !! I am saddened by the fact that I have never met nor heard her live. She is my favorite soprano. I think I have everything possible that I can find of hers singing. Do you know of any upcoming concerts of hers or if she will be appearing in opera somewhere in the future? I would love to finally meet her. What a gorgeous voice and such a beautiful and stunning lady.

[BeauTenor]

Why does a comment about diction mean that one is making a racist comment? A comment about diction is a comment about just that. American singers aren't exactly known for having idiomatic diction in any language, no matter what color their skin is. Why would you have to make it into an issue of race when no one else has done so?

[mauriciomille]

@HU1914 what's the name of the aria?... from act three from tosca?, thanks

[Bigman240]

Can you understand a word she's saying?

[silvanero]

Yes Dear I can understand her words. Dear, if you were singing all of those high notes, I would hope that your diction would be a bit modified. If not, it could interfere with the vocal production.

[fiercejarret]

Exactly!! Most Sopranos Modify. You can't understand Joan Sutherland either!

[silvanero]

Thanks FierceJarret !!! I couldn't image what the sound would be like if she didnt relax the articulation in her upper register. I think it is glorious as is and absolutely gorgeous. When have we heard such a passionate, full throated, portrayal of Puccini's music sung so beautifully?! I'm glad somebody understands !!!

[Chasson0318]

This is when Leona was starting to get her game going!

[loveluciano1]

bravo maestro pavarotti you are wonderful, as always. i will love you forever.

[johndlabella]

I think the voice is of a type *similar* to Leontyne Price, but solidly unique. However, she sounds as if she is imitating some of the techniques Price used for a period to make the voice heavier. There is a resulting decrease in spin and connection through the entire race. L. Price went back to singing less heavy - and the voice became *stunning* once again. I don't know if Mitchell did the same; aside from L. Price, few have gone too heavy and recovered. There is great pressure to be big.

[powerinpraise2000]

OMG OMG OMG!!! Is this what we've been missing from Leona Mitchell!?!? This is around the time she stopped singing at the met regularly...I wonder why...this is exceptionally beautiful and large!

[silvanero]

I think Mitchell sings a "bella" Tosca here. She is a gorgeous woman with a beautiful voice. Its good to hear her sing this. I am so sorry I never heard the voice live. Does anyone own live broadcast tape of her Bess from the MET? I would love a copy of it. Brava !!!! Leona....By the way, she sounds NOTHING like Leontyne Price!! Their voices are like night and day, apples and oranges. They both are unique and beautiful !!!!!

[cdivo39]

Leona sounds wonderful here and sings this beautifully. She ws a much better in Puccini roles than she was ain Verdi. Puccini fit her voice much better. And she still sounds good today.

[mm9913]

Mitchell was fantastic in Aida several years ago, her voice has now changed as age does to all voices, she did well in her era, not too many great new spinto voices on the scene , too bad.

[foropera]

I like her rare velvety voice very much whatever comparisons with others might say...

[gransasso101]

Pav is OPERA GOD! She's great too, seriously

[jmahlon]

She does a lot of little trick to fabricate a bigger sound. This is prolly what made her burn out so quickly.

[HU1914]

Miss Mitchell is not burned out. We heard her this year and her voice is a beautiful and wonderful as ever. We miss you. Please return to the Met and the World.

HU1914

[dulcamara66]

Inoltre Leona imita (senza riuscirci) Leontyne Price.. ma Leontyne è unica ...

[dulcamara66]

Luciano è stupendo ma Leona Mitchell è calante sugli acuti ed esagera nelle note di petto quasi volesse "far voce" nel centro.

[FSebastiano]

A cui si aggiunge una dizione orrenza , il fiato corto, la pronuncia oscena. Per carità...

[avidwilliams]

one MUST find the verrett and pavarotti duet. SHe handles this duet like nothing...she found that axis in the voice to shift betwix the two voices.

[benderpm]

Leona sounds very good hear! Brava, Diva. Sounds somwhat like My Price.

[silvanusjla]

Well as you know people develop and over time they get better, but one thing that we can not argue is that she has and AMAZING instrument

[operaficionado]

This is really really good. The best I've heard Mitchell

[courtneybaritone01]

I have to disagree with your statement (though I respect it). She actually doesn't shade things any more by this point. Listen to her Manon Lescaut, Liu, Mimi, et al pre 1987 roles. She was stunning. Here she's just loud. Her technique had dramatically changed as well. The breath is lower an more stable, but not crazy about how she uses it.

[avidwilliams]

You do have a point. That High C wasnt shining like her previous ones...but she did SCREAM!!!LOL...at least she is there, would rather better form but hey..thats life!

[talmagedotson2]

Leona Mitchell and Luciano Pavarotti!! I rember this broadcast and I was very impressed with their singing of this act 3 duet.