Having listened to this again, i still think the voice sounds too heavy and laboured. She breaks the line somewhat when tackling the Ab's, and generally her middle to low register in the passagio isn't entirely fluid, which should be the case in Bel Canto.
I always thought of Price's voice being quite lyrically flexible despite being a spinto, and this opera would've pushed her voice to uncomfortable limits.
if you want to know how wonderful she was try to find her in verddi´s "ernani", recorded.. i think december 1961 in the N.Y. Met with Bergonzi, Tozzi and Mcneil i can´t understand why so many people don´t know that opera, i have a recording from "classic radio" contact me if are interested, maybe i will upload an example, let´s say "tutto sprezzo" you will love it, after that you will ask "who is callas?"
No soy tan "entendido" sobre perfecciones líricas pero esta dama me conmueve sin vuelta de hoja. El aria es hermoso y a mis gusto lo hace muy bien y si una voz me llega a las vísceras es suficiente para mi.
Stunning. I love all this stuff. People who work and train all their lives to produce music that leaves me on the floor weeping and ecstatic. Another amazing rendition of Casta Diva. (But as a massive insult to the likes of Price,Sutherland and Callas, youtube, in all its wisdom, has, at the top of this page "Nana Mouskouri - Casta Diva" How sarcastic can I get?)
how this can fall short of anyones expectations amazes me almost as much as the singing does.Listen to that upper register the ease and beauty rival sutherland,and just about any italian and remember this is an american singer. to sing trhis most difficult of arias to the highest standard while not having done the role on stage , what more can any of us normal human beings want.
Thanks Onegin for posting. Soooo beautiful and outstanding!!! I don't know what the words mean but makes me want to cry. Such clarity of tone, pitch and I love the heaviness in places (fits perfectly) and then she makes it light. Such control!!!
Of course an extraordinary amd most beautiful voice and her rendition of Casta Diva is excellent within the limitations of the aria, I like it but it falls short of my expectation. Bravo Ms. Price!
ok, this opera is about illicit sex. sleeping with the enemy. against 19th centre bourgeois culture. people who went to watch this were of the establishment. we have traitress who produced some offspring. ms price sings it wonderfully lazily. very sexy. the high notes are like rca machine. nice but only a cherry on the cake. the secret is in bbeauty of
I love my fellow "opera diva" zealots... and I think you're all insane! LOL My God, I haven't heard anything like this in years since the "fach debates" of my undergrad years... sigh... brings me back.
Leontyne's middle-register compliments Norma quite well, but she is vastly unequipped in other aspects of this opera. There's no way she could withstand the coloratura passages and heavy lower notes consistently on stage. The upper register is of least concern in Norma IMO.
you kidding me with her low register? she had a fabulous low register FABULOUS. After listening the last 20 years all the Coloratura Stupidi singing Norma with no more than 7-8 notes, transposing everything upwards you comment that Price's low register would be inadequate? Then Gruberova and SiIls should have been thrown tomatoes when they sang Norma?
As for Price's coloratura it is was more than adequate
@LohengrinT Price was not a bel canto and she knew it. Norma is a heavy, heavy role. It's a question of stamina that Price never had a problem with in the Verdi, Puccini roles. Bel Canto is music for the ears, but a battle for the performer. And please, Price's coloratura was heavy at best. Often discoloured and lumbered through them.
And I suppose you conside the coloratura ridicules who sang Norma Bel Canto experts? (Sills, Gruberova, even Damrau will sing Norma).
I'd rather have 100 times a 3 octave Divine voice like Price's sing Norma with a few coloratura inaccuracies (which I highly doubt she would have) rather than the coloraturas who cannot sing 80% of the writtten notes.
I heard Price's Mira O Norma"" with Horne yesterday for the first time and my jaw fell to the floor from the beauty of the singing!
@LohengrinT You're under the assumption that i think coloratura is the essential quality for this opera. It's not, but it plays a key role in shaping the music and character of Norma. It's also about expression and fluency in the line, maintaining diction, musicality ( i hate that word but whatever) and supreme stamina. There's a reason why Caballe, Callas were amazing Normas and why Price didn't even try to attempt the role. I am a big fan of Price though, don't get me wrong. The queen of Verdi
@lallanzinho How do you equate a decision on whether to sing a cabaletta with a singer's "humility?" A cabaletta is a not just an empty showcase for the voice but a way to excite audiences. Who doesn't thrill to a cabaletta when done with consummate skill and passion? Ms. Price's choice to avoid a cabaletta may or may not have anything to do with "humility," but if it does, it's because she understood how important it was to sing with her strengths and WITHIN her limitations.
@lallanzinho On the contrary, the cabaletta is also included in this recording. It is not as impressively sung as the cavatina, but it is immensely better than the recordings of many other sopranos such as Gina Cigna, Zinka Milanov and Renata Tebaldi....all of whom I greatly admire.
@lallanzinho Actually, Price does sing the cabaletta and to incomparably beautiful and powerful effect, I might add. This posting simply does not include it. It is found on the Prima Donna #5 recording. The entire performance is fabulously sung and, in the unique Price voice and technique, it is an emotional powerhouse.
you know another role I would have loved to hear that voice in. Maddalena from "Andrea Chenier." I know that (verismo) role is a killer as well but I'd have loved to have heard her on those big duets particularly 'vicino a te.' she recorded the main aria 'la mamma morta' quite well.
Miss Price's voice is hauntingly beautiful and mystical. Unlike many other singers, her sound is never shrill but always rich and sonorous. Truly one of the most treasured singers of all time.
None belcanto role is killer. Sills & Sutherland had not low notes and sang Norma without spoiling their voice . If Miss Price didn't sing Norma, would be for other reasons. She is a Top singer
@wpunderlich Leontyne Price was fairly conservative in her choice of onstage roles, actually decreasing her repertoire over the years, but she was far more adventurous in her choice of material for recitals and recordings. These cover a VERY wide range of repertoire and hint and many interesting roles (such as Norma) that she might have sung or recorded complete. Despite her smaller stage repertoire, her recordings and recitals demonstrate the incredible range of her singing.
what a versatile singer. when i first saw the name of this video I thought it would be rather rough, but it was not. It was beautiful. And yes, the part might not really suit her voice, but she delivers the aria better than most sopranos. Brava!
@Onegin65-You're right! Susanna is a very, very long role, though it doesn't require anywhere near the Godzillian power and strength of Norma, Gioconda, Abigaille, Lady Macbeth, Butterfly, Turandot, etc. Susanna is a lovely lyric soprano role, and has been done beautifully by sopranos like Peters, Guden, Popp, etc.
Onegin65: Of course you are correct. However, neither the roles Donna Leonora or Elvira are anywhere NEAR the length of Norma. The only soprano role that I know of that is longer than Norma is Isolde. Norma requires tremendous stamina and staying power. Perhaps you can envision a Price Norma. I simply can't imagine that such a thing would have been possible. Moreover, I think La Price knew this as well and completely abjured the role. Besides, low notes were never the glory of Price.
@Zva26 : Totally mistaken your thoughts. Norma doesn't requires tremendous stamina and great power. A coloratura soprano can sing it.Of course it is not easy but in Norma the tessitura is everthing high and Bellini orchestra is small, all the instruments are chords.
The most difficult and heavy parts for a soprano are Isolde and Aìda ! and after that, it comes Forza del destino much closer, a very demanding part in all sense.
Another very demanding parts are Butterfly and Elektra
@maipisimo67 =You are certainly entitled to your opinion, which I respect. That said, my professors at the Conservatory instructed us that the four most difficult roles in the entire soprano repertoire were Isolde, Norma, Turandot, and Salome. Incredibly enough, I've read the same things in many musical journals, as well as in singer biographies. Few have been the sopranos who would undertake Norma internationally -- Ponselle, Milanov, Callas, Sutherland, and Caballe. Study the score and see.
@Zva26 : According to Gina Cigna , the three "capolavoro" for a soprano are Turandot, Gioconda and Norma.
Gioconda and Norma ok , both are very demaning if different, Norma requires coloratura and to sing free in the higher tessitura and Gioconda requires great power and stamina, BUT I don't think Turandot is so difficult at all !
Madama Butterfly and Fanciulla del west both are more difficult than Turandot
@maipisimo67 - Butterfly IS a killer. I don't know how Albanese managed to sing it for so many years with her small lyric soprano voice. Turandot? The music is written high, and it's cruel to the voice. Small wonder that only Nilsson and Dimitrova were completely comfortable with it. Too often one is concentrating on whether the soprano will get through the role without causing a vocal chord to burst. I love the opera, but think that Puccini wrote the role for a non-Italian soprano.
@Zva26 : Yes but if you have the voice well placed in the upper register it is not SO difficult Turandot because the soprano sings only about 30 minutes (Equally I would never compare Nilsson beautiful tops with Ghena Dimitrova who had an ugly voice with a sheep vibrato on top). Gioconda is as heavy as Turandot but more exhausting because the role is much longer and full of octave jumps!
@Zva26 Yes Butterfly is killer role. Not only because the soprano sings all the time, also because Puccini orchestra is very BIG and Cio Cio San is always singing in the passaggio .
Another very but very difficult role is Leonora/Forza.The are not Cs BUT there are lots of Bs natural and all the tessitura is high and requires legato and legato and requieres reserves of longbreathing. Very long duet with the soprano and the bass is very very difficult
@maipisimo67- You've hit a nerve! For me, the "Forza" Leonora is the ultimate. I own all four of Milanov's Met broadcasts of the opera, and I sometimes feel like Verdi wrote this opera for her. To me, it's her greatest role. You're right about the Gioonda jumps - they're mean. Turandot? About 34 minutes singing time (if it were any longer, the soprano would probably have to be placed in an Intensive Care Unit!) Amazing that the few great Turandots wre all non-Italians.
@Zva26 : I don't want to ofend you but what do you have into your ears? Just all Forzas with Zinka Milanov, she is terrible in all her '50s "live" Forzas. I listened her '53 New Orleans Forza and the final Bflat in Pace mio Dio is a little scream that dies in 3 seconds.On '56 Met Forza she is terrible, did you listened well her screamy Bs in convent scene ? And in her '58 studio Forza ? She is in very poor voice! How can you say Verdi wrote it for her ?
@maipisimo67 No offense taken. The 1952 broadcast is the best. Milanov was a highly erratic singer, but when she was in great form, and her voice was "spinning", she was, to my ears, magnificent. A soprano who had a thirty year career as leading dramatic soprano at the Metropolitan had to have SOMETHING. Whatever, music is so subjective. I have other Forza performances recordings with Tebaldi, Callas, Caballe', and Price. Each one of them has a special something that makes them an artist.
@belcunto - You hit a bull's eye. All of these stupid comparisons between such great artists. None of these comparisons go anywhere. What Price, Callas, and Milanov had is so far beyond that of anyone else even today. The only one today that comes close to Milanov (and could equal her) is Sondra Radvanovsky, whom I will see in Verdi's "Ballo" on November 21st.
@Zva26 To your point that Price knew her vocal limitations in singing this role on the operatic stage. I remember reading an interview she gave in 1976 in the magazine After Dark, where she quite candidly admitted that Norma was one of the most dangerous roles ever written for the soprano voice. She also admitted that she would never sing the role of Norma on stage, as the role had destroyed voices of more than a few sopranos of her generation.
Leontyne Price had one of the most gorgeous voices of the Twentieth Century, and she sings this "Casta Diva" beautifully, as she does on her famous Prima Donna RCA recording. That said, she unfortunately lacked the weight in the bottom notes which is so necessary in executing the complete role of Norma. The role has got to have forceful and vengeful low notes to handle the angry and commanding declamatory passages. Leontyne Price knew she lacked this, and smartly avoided attempting the role.
I never knew Leontyne Price recorded "Casta Diva"! What a great surprise this is, especially since she sings this challenging aria with great beauty, expression, and technical prowess. Thanks so much for sharing.
Thanks for shatring and to Onegin65 for posting. I have this on RCA LP
"Prima Donna Vol. 5"
This is a beautiful performance as the music lies in the upper middle and
upper part of the voice which are Price's strengths. The entire role has many excursions into the lower middle and low registers where her voice is weak, I do not think a complete Norma would have been wise - apparently neither did she.
Leontyne's Casta Diva is so beautiful and emotional. She has turned this aria into a true Prayer; expressing with her rich, lyric tones a plea for peace. There's a touch of spirituality and magic in her singing of this aria that makes it stand out from all other versions. It's like Gospel singing. She has such a God-given talent for singing with her heart and I always cry when I hear this. It's so beautiful.
Mother is one of the greatest and SMARTEST singers of all time..she made wise decisions about what and when she sang everything. Thats why your hard pressed to find a "bad" recording of hers anywhere
Tout à fait d'accord, Illfurter : Price demeure incomparable, elle est la diva de toutes les divas, on m'a offert ce dvd où elle chante avec une maîtrise et un talent qui vous laisse, c'est le cas de le dire : sans voix !
moi, malgré toutes les critiques emises , je suis un inconditionnel de la Price personne , même Callas n'a fait sentir dans sa voix une pareille sensualité, elle m'a toujours donné "la chair de poule"
Miss Price does sing this brillantly. She said herself, however, that she couldn't go the whole journey with Norma. That is why she never sang the role in its entirety. She probably made the right decision.
This aria is well outside of Price's normal repertoire for the opera house, but she made a habit of singing a lot of arias from roles she would never essay onstage, both in recital and in recordings. This performance is particularly radiant and highlights Price's brilliant command of line, phrasing, and breath control, not to mention the always gorgeous and sumptuous sound of her voice.
As an aria in itself, Leontyne sings great. It's a recital piece as well and Leontyne was one of the most sucessful recitalists. She knew just how to prepare for ONE ARIA of great operas - like this one - or Salome's Final Aria (etc). This is beautiful, not rushed, not strained, flowing, spiritual and like a prayer...excellent job Miss Price!
well, i dont' know if she sang the entire role, but she sang it in concerts and recitals fairly frequently. it's on an album of hers. i dont' remember which....but it is simply stunning.
Her entire career! This was one of Callas' most famous roles. But I am very impressed with Price's rendition. Never heard it before. Does anyone know if she ever did the entire opera?
Leontyne never sang the whole opera. Norma is fiendishly difficult and back in Price's time only Sutherland and Caballe took the risk of singing Norma and had success. The black sopranos Bumbry and Verrett also sang it successfully. However Norma was not suited for Leontyne's voice. She sang Casta Diva a lot in recital.
It's not true that she sang this piece in recital EVER. She sang it only once in public, as far as I know,. with the S.F. Symphony in the late 1980s. (And none too successfully, unfortunately, according to the reviews.) I believe she could have sung and acted the role very well in the late 60s.
Well we have to check up on that. She also RECORDED the aria CASTA DIVA and it's on the Prima Donna Collection album. That one is not a live performance but a recorded aria. She also recorded the aria that follows "Ah bello a mi ritorno". She did a marvelous job. I don't know the year of that recording..
@jerzkid87 Norma was probably Callas' greatest role. She sang it almost 90 timers and it's one of the roles for which she's remembered. There are two complete studio recordings of her Norma, as well as at least four live ones --- Mexico in 1950, London, 1952, RAI in 1955, La Scala in 1955, For many, Callas WAS Norma.
Voilà une opulente prêtresse terrienne qui inspire le respect et la distance. On a envie d'avoir la même religion qu'elle pour communier aux arbres et aux sources...
Par contre, on cherchera les gammes éthériques ailleurs, car cette prêtresse-là n'est pas divine, mais SANGUINE, SENSUELLE, entière faite de chair et d'os !
Je suis fière d'être une femme Verseau comme Madame Price, elle fait vraiment honneur à son signe !!!
@justkeesha I hope you will survey more of her recordings here on YOutube !!! Leontyne Price possesses one of the most beautiful voices of the century !!! Enjoy !!! I agree with your assessement !!!
@justkeesha How nice--you have so many beautiful recordings to look forward to! My grandmother, who introduced Price's voice to me when I was ten, said she had the most beautiful voice she had heard since Emmy Destinn's--and Destinn flourished in the 19-teens!
Price was a DIVA, of course. But I prefer her at other roles. This one is for Callas, Caballé, Ponselle... In spite of that, she sings superb!! WE do not have this kind of singers today, (cry for that!).
La voz de Callas no se arruinó por su forma de cantar. Se arruinó por sus cambios emocionales y por, finalmente, la menopausia que le perjudicó mucho. PEro, al mismo tiempo, por dejar de cantar, algo que no se puede hacer a cierta edad. En su época no había reemplazo hormonal.
la menopausia no tiene nada k ver con la voz, la voz de la callas se arruino perke, en primer lugar estaba deprimida, en segundo por los cambios drasticos de registro y de ruolos k hacia, de partes de mezzo soprano k son partes bastantes potentes y donde se necesita un registro medio potente, a otras donde entraba en las notas de coloratura, llego a una cierta edad donde la deprecion termino de darle el ultimo golpe
Creo que usted no me leyó completo. Dije que los cambis emocionales producto de su relación con Onassis. Pero perm´tame decirle que la menopausia disminuye el nivel de estradiol en la sangre de un 85% de las mujeres que la sufren. Algunas llegan a tener 0 estradiol. Esto hace que se debiliten las cuerdas vocales. La falta de entrenamiento acaba con los músculos tensores de los aritenoides.
Cantar roles de otra cuerda se puede hacer perfectamente si hay técnica. Ella tenía técnica. El resultado puede ser bueno o malo desde el punto de vista artístico. PEro no arruina si no se esfuerza el sonido. Ella no esforzaba su sonido, solo lo aprovechaba muy bien. Al dejar de cantar el aparato vocal se desmoronó, aunado a la menopausia que la llevó a un deterioro total de su organismo. (Soy médico especialista en endocrinología).
Segundo depoimento de sua amiga Nadia Stancioff, Callas se alimentava basicamente de carne vermelha. Com o que sabemos hoje sobre os efeitos do colesterol, podemos deduzir o estado de saude dela e a sua morte prematura.
Mme. Callas fue un ejemplo de genio artístico en un momento oportuno (Guerra Mundial y una Europa arrasada y titubeante). Pero era una mujer "casi" sola imponiéndose al mundo. Nunca tuvo un equipo gigante de trabajo. Hoy vemos "equipos gigantes" para enanos del arte. El equipo principal de Callas era su agresiva madre (¿?) que la impulsaba negativamente. ¡Dios! Hizo demasiado y bien. Cuándo tendremoa a otra mujer sola con madre agresiva cantar lo que no debe y hacerlo bien.
Price sings "Casta Diva" with splendor, but lacks belcantismo. Any way, you can rejoice with her singing, but it is not wise to follow her late example. What you hear is a lesson in "production of the voice" but not a good example in flexibility. But tell me where she would do this again and I will go and pay for the ticket without hesitation.
cmmenah:No estoy muy de acuerdo contigo porque los tiempos han cambiado. Yo, por ejemplo conoci a una cantante de esa època que ahora tiene 89 primaveras y me contaba que en aqella època quien sabia cantar cantaba. Y si eras como la Callas tu talento andaba adelante!Los cantantes casi no necesitaban representantes y los llamaban si cantaban bien. Ahora es todo un bussines mas que nunca
es lo que traté de expresar. Ahora ese equipo de business impone a un cantante. Por eso les llaman "imposta" en italia (y no precisamente por "impostar" la voz..... De todas formas, Callas fue y sigue siendo excepcional. Price también lo fue, en otro orden de canto.
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
You should definitly listen to Beverly Sills and Leyla Gencer's recordings of Norma. Sills does an amazing Norma with incredible power, lightness and fantastic thrills, that crusches both Sutherland and Callas attempt do make a thrill. And above them all, La Gencer. She is the only who does the role properly, she was the only real bel canto singer during the golden age, that's why her Norma is different and the only one " right and correct"
You should try getting over yourself - I'm sure it will be hard for you. You think because you prefer La Gencer's rendition that it is right and correct? You are hopelessly ridiculous.
Wow! I forgot how wonderful this was. Splendid singing and phrasing. Another role she might have left her mark on had she chosen to sing it. But...making careful choices is what allowed us to have her so long. Brava diva!
Beautiful,of course (always her timbre) but maybe she tries to control too much the vibrato to clean the line and it does not sound at all like HER usual vibrato, it's a bit strange.
I know what you mean "for opera" about the vibrato. But her voice sounds to me like a rejuvenated, well-kept older voice, which it was (she as 52!), on a very good day.
Leontyne's Casta Diva is definitive divine vocal glory, interior and exterior suffering and power. Lord, that sound. But listen to the entire performance of this on her Prima Donna recording to be utterly blown away. This is just the beginning of the fireworks.
Yeay I can! Not only I can, I'd love to listen to her the whole day. And I'd kill to have the chance to listen to her (live) in her golden years. For me the best timbre ever for a Spinto soprano! Beautiful, gorgeous, rich and magnificent!
For her 1980 "older" voice, this is fantastic; the voice is well preserved, beautiful and fully lyric and although Norma is not a role suited to Leontyne Price's lyrico-spinto "Verdi" or "Puccini" voice, her Casta Diva is among the best ever recorded. Check it out in her "Prima Donna" album featuring dramatic arias she was able to sing even late in her career.
For those of us who don't speak spanish, just know that gigli80 is racist and dumb to boot. He relates vocal expressiveness to race in a show of unparalleled stupidity.
Que pena por tí que el resto del mundo no comparta tu opinión de mierda...la voz del negro continua definiendo como Uds. deberían cantar. Si el mundo de opera no hubiera sido tan racista, el blanco se habría hallado luchando para competir con el sonido chocolateado...un sonido que Uds no son capaces de crear. ¿Dulzura y ternura? Deja que el publico decida.
Price knew, more than anyone else, that some roles were simply not suited to her ravishing lirico-spinto soprano. She made only one mistake, Fanciulla del West, and learned her lesson. Her voice was not suited to Norma, Traviata, Macbeth, and other roles represented in her Prima Donna collection. She waited until the end of her illustrious career to "experiment" with isolated arias not in her active repertoire. The results were magnificent.
Isn't it interesting that many of our favorite artists have sung in whatever fachs they chose, with disastrous results (Scotto as Norma, Violetta), or somewhat questionable results (Freni as Ernani's Elvira, Aida), or been allowed to at least experiment and spread there artistic wings successfully (Caballe as Sieglinde, Turandot), but then there are some artists that appear to be held to a higher standard. Hmmm...
That is true. I think Karajan was partially responsible for Freni's Aida. Elena Souliotis, who wrecked her voice singing Abigaille and other inappropriate roles, also comes to mind.
You are absolutely right. In fact, in a wonderful After Dark article (1977) Price spoke at length about the dangers and pitfalls of Norma for a voice like hers. I agree with all of your observations about the other roles she did not attempt. We are all the better for it. You have my utmost respect and regards.
I'm not sure that you can find the article. The publication, After Dark (1977) went out of circulation in the early 80's. It was a fascinating interview as evidence by the fact that it is seared into my memory, now 31 years later.
Callas actually had quite a long career. Starting to sing in theatres at 15, before the 2nd wold war and retiring in 1965 makes it definately a period that lasted longer than many other singers careers. Unfortunately the voice as an instrument reacts not only to the repertoire we may sing,it also part of our emotions and if one is heartbroken/depressed or unhealthy, the voice simply can not work as it used too.
Having listened to this again, i still think the voice sounds too heavy and laboured. She breaks the line somewhat when tackling the Ab's, and generally her middle to low register in the passagio isn't entirely fluid, which should be the case in Bel Canto.
I always thought of Price's voice being quite lyrically flexible despite being a spinto, and this opera would've pushed her voice to uncomfortable limits.
jmiller05 4 days ago
if you want to know how wonderful she was try to find her in verddi´s "ernani", recorded.. i think december 1961 in the N.Y. Met with Bergonzi, Tozzi and Mcneil i can´t understand why so many people don´t know that opera, i have a recording from "classic radio" contact me if are interested, maybe i will upload an example, let´s say "tutto sprezzo" you will love it, after that you will ask "who is callas?"
friederich66 3 weeks ago
@Bolshoi34 Poor little fool
StruGGle1991 3 weeks ago
tout simplement MAGNIFIQUE..
hubertdebahia 1 month ago
Simply Marvelous!
esquire2K11 1 month ago
Porqué traducen tan mal?
reypetiso 1 month ago
No soy tan "entendido" sobre perfecciones líricas pero esta dama me conmueve sin vuelta de hoja. El aria es hermoso y a mis gusto lo hace muy bien y si una voz me llega a las vísceras es suficiente para mi.
reypetiso 1 month ago
this is the best version in the best voice ever....and the pronounciation of italian in this woman is amazing....
jjilly 2 months ago
Did she record the whole opera?
Qbendanny 3 months ago
Onegin65, thanks for all this beauty you're bringing to us !
billcarr54 3 months ago
It did not take long to fill my eyes with tears listening her.
dcpotomac20850 3 months ago
Stunning. I love all this stuff. People who work and train all their lives to produce music that leaves me on the floor weeping and ecstatic. Another amazing rendition of Casta Diva. (But as a massive insult to the likes of Price,Sutherland and Callas, youtube, in all its wisdom, has, at the top of this page "Nana Mouskouri - Casta Diva" How sarcastic can I get?)
steelpower179 4 months ago
1:23 Shivers. Fabulous singing.
Stefano94x 4 months ago
how this can fall short of anyones expectations amazes me almost as much as the singing does.Listen to that upper register the ease and beauty rival sutherland,and just about any italian and remember this is an american singer. to sing trhis most difficult of arias to the highest standard while not having done the role on stage , what more can any of us normal human beings want.
TheValdoro 4 months ago
Thanks Onegin for posting. Soooo beautiful and outstanding!!! I don't know what the words mean but makes me want to cry. Such clarity of tone, pitch and I love the heaviness in places (fits perfectly) and then she makes it light. Such control!!!
Gary2837 4 months ago
She is one of the greatest singers in the world.
higharch 5 months ago 13
ottima Casta Diva:)bravissima
sttar1982 5 months ago
Of course an extraordinary amd most beautiful voice and her rendition of Casta Diva is excellent within the limitations of the aria, I like it but it falls short of my expectation. Bravo Ms. Price!
FRANKHODGES39 7 months ago
non la conoscevo!! è stupenda *__*
Glendolina 7 months ago 2
ok, this opera is about illicit sex. sleeping with the enemy. against 19th centre bourgeois culture. people who went to watch this were of the establishment. we have traitress who produced some offspring. ms price sings it wonderfully lazily. very sexy. the high notes are like rca machine. nice but only a cherry on the cake. the secret is in bbeauty of
keesslager 8 months ago
perfect voice
etoiledelkirov 8 months ago 3
I love my fellow "opera diva" zealots... and I think you're all insane! LOL My God, I haven't heard anything like this in years since the "fach debates" of my undergrad years... sigh... brings me back.
Michaelsburg 9 months ago
Leontyne's middle-register compliments Norma quite well, but she is vastly unequipped in other aspects of this opera. There's no way she could withstand the coloratura passages and heavy lower notes consistently on stage. The upper register is of least concern in Norma IMO.
jmiller05 10 months ago
@jmiller05
you kidding me with her low register? she had a fabulous low register FABULOUS. After listening the last 20 years all the Coloratura Stupidi singing Norma with no more than 7-8 notes, transposing everything upwards you comment that Price's low register would be inadequate? Then Gruberova and SiIls should have been thrown tomatoes when they sang Norma?
As for Price's coloratura it is was more than adequate
LohengrinT 10 months ago
@LohengrinT Price was not a bel canto and she knew it. Norma is a heavy, heavy role. It's a question of stamina that Price never had a problem with in the Verdi, Puccini roles. Bel Canto is music for the ears, but a battle for the performer. And please, Price's coloratura was heavy at best. Often discoloured and lumbered through them.
jmiller05 10 months ago
@jmiller05
And I suppose you conside the coloratura ridicules who sang Norma Bel Canto experts? (Sills, Gruberova, even Damrau will sing Norma).
I'd rather have 100 times a 3 octave Divine voice like Price's sing Norma with a few coloratura inaccuracies (which I highly doubt she would have) rather than the coloraturas who cannot sing 80% of the writtten notes.
I heard Price's Mira O Norma"" with Horne yesterday for the first time and my jaw fell to the floor from the beauty of the singing!
LohengrinT 10 months ago 2
@LohengrinT You're under the assumption that i think coloratura is the essential quality for this opera. It's not, but it plays a key role in shaping the music and character of Norma. It's also about expression and fluency in the line, maintaining diction, musicality ( i hate that word but whatever) and supreme stamina. There's a reason why Caballe, Callas were amazing Normas and why Price didn't even try to attempt the role. I am a big fan of Price though, don't get me wrong. The queen of Verdi
jmiller05 10 months ago
@jmiller05
start rottening your tomatoes for the new Coloratura Stupido Diana Damraw who will be singing Norma in 2016 :))
LohengrinT 10 months ago
PIĘKNIE,SUPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
bogusia8888 11 months ago
Please upload the cabaletta!
Duncan456 11 months ago
Miss L. Price is a divine singer and humble enough to avoid singing "Cabalettas".
Performing Norma it's not about vocal range (which, by the way, helps a lot) but mastering the "bel canto technique".
lallanzinho 11 months ago
@lallanzinho How do you equate a decision on whether to sing a cabaletta with a singer's "humility?" A cabaletta is a not just an empty showcase for the voice but a way to excite audiences. Who doesn't thrill to a cabaletta when done with consummate skill and passion? Ms. Price's choice to avoid a cabaletta may or may not have anything to do with "humility," but if it does, it's because she understood how important it was to sing with her strengths and WITHIN her limitations.
Michaelsburg 9 months ago
Comment removed
Michaelsburg 9 months ago
@lallanzinho On the contrary, the cabaletta is also included in this recording. It is not as impressively sung as the cavatina, but it is immensely better than the recordings of many other sopranos such as Gina Cigna, Zinka Milanov and Renata Tebaldi....all of whom I greatly admire.
4114224 8 months ago
@lallanzinho Actually, Price does sing the cabaletta and to incomparably beautiful and powerful effect, I might add. This posting simply does not include it. It is found on the Prima Donna #5 recording. The entire performance is fabulously sung and, in the unique Price voice and technique, it is an emotional powerhouse.
Trinite33 2 weeks ago
There will never be another voice's like hers. Sigh. It's glorious.
violiner2000 11 months ago 2
A unique voice, hauntingly beautiful.
waspman1633 11 months ago
you know another role I would have loved to hear that voice in. Maddalena from "Andrea Chenier." I know that (verismo) role is a killer as well but I'd have loved to have heard her on those big duets particularly 'vicino a te.' she recorded the main aria 'la mamma morta' quite well.
ShawDAMAN 1 year ago
Miss Price's voice is hauntingly beautiful and mystical. Unlike many other singers, her sound is never shrill but always rich and sonorous. Truly one of the most treasured singers of all time.
waspman1633 1 year ago
None belcanto role is killer. Sills & Sutherland had not low notes and sang Norma without spoiling their voice . If Miss Price didn't sing Norma, would be for other reasons. She is a Top singer
wpunderlich 1 year ago 9
@wpunderlich Leontyne Price was fairly conservative in her choice of onstage roles, actually decreasing her repertoire over the years, but she was far more adventurous in her choice of material for recitals and recordings. These cover a VERY wide range of repertoire and hint and many interesting roles (such as Norma) that she might have sung or recorded complete. Despite her smaller stage repertoire, her recordings and recitals demonstrate the incredible range of her singing.
mjmacmtenor 1 month ago 3
@mjmacmtenor Indeed! This is what I mean
wpunderlich 1 month ago
Price sounds gorgeous, but she knew doing the complete opera would destroy her gift. anyway Brava
Lederius18 1 year ago
@Onegin65 Also she sang Ariadne.... Strauss has some low notes...
TerrancePogue 1 year ago
Don't you just hope there is an entire recording of her singing this role somewhere?
higharch 1 year ago
what a versatile singer. when i first saw the name of this video I thought it would be rather rough, but it was not. It was beautiful. And yes, the part might not really suit her voice, but she delivers the aria better than most sopranos. Brava!
jorgepda 1 year ago
Brava my darling Leontyne!!
georgerannie 1 year ago
@Onegin65-You're right! Susanna is a very, very long role, though it doesn't require anywhere near the Godzillian power and strength of Norma, Gioconda, Abigaille, Lady Macbeth, Butterfly, Turandot, etc. Susanna is a lovely lyric soprano role, and has been done beautifully by sopranos like Peters, Guden, Popp, etc.
Zva26 1 year ago
Luxury !!!!!
irina4447 1 year ago
Stunning!
fairlytaleofnewyork 1 year ago 2
Onegin65: Of course you are correct. However, neither the roles Donna Leonora or Elvira are anywhere NEAR the length of Norma. The only soprano role that I know of that is longer than Norma is Isolde. Norma requires tremendous stamina and staying power. Perhaps you can envision a Price Norma. I simply can't imagine that such a thing would have been possible. Moreover, I think La Price knew this as well and completely abjured the role. Besides, low notes were never the glory of Price.
Zva26 1 year ago
@Zva26 : Totally mistaken your thoughts. Norma doesn't requires tremendous stamina and great power. A coloratura soprano can sing it.Of course it is not easy but in Norma the tessitura is everthing high and Bellini orchestra is small, all the instruments are chords.
The most difficult and heavy parts for a soprano are Isolde and Aìda ! and after that, it comes Forza del destino much closer, a very demanding part in all sense.
Another very demanding parts are Butterfly and Elektra
maipisimo67 1 year ago
@maipisimo67 =You are certainly entitled to your opinion, which I respect. That said, my professors at the Conservatory instructed us that the four most difficult roles in the entire soprano repertoire were Isolde, Norma, Turandot, and Salome. Incredibly enough, I've read the same things in many musical journals, as well as in singer biographies. Few have been the sopranos who would undertake Norma internationally -- Ponselle, Milanov, Callas, Sutherland, and Caballe. Study the score and see.
Zva26 1 year ago
@Zva26 : According to Gina Cigna , the three "capolavoro" for a soprano are Turandot, Gioconda and Norma.
Gioconda and Norma ok , both are very demaning if different, Norma requires coloratura and to sing free in the higher tessitura and Gioconda requires great power and stamina, BUT I don't think Turandot is so difficult at all !
Madama Butterfly and Fanciulla del west both are more difficult than Turandot
maipisimo67 1 year ago
@maipisimo67 - Butterfly IS a killer. I don't know how Albanese managed to sing it for so many years with her small lyric soprano voice. Turandot? The music is written high, and it's cruel to the voice. Small wonder that only Nilsson and Dimitrova were completely comfortable with it. Too often one is concentrating on whether the soprano will get through the role without causing a vocal chord to burst. I love the opera, but think that Puccini wrote the role for a non-Italian soprano.
Zva26 1 year ago
@Zva26 : Yes but if you have the voice well placed in the upper register it is not SO difficult Turandot because the soprano sings only about 30 minutes (Equally I would never compare Nilsson beautiful tops with Ghena Dimitrova who had an ugly voice with a sheep vibrato on top). Gioconda is as heavy as Turandot but more exhausting because the role is much longer and full of octave jumps!
maipisimo67 1 year ago
@Zva26 Yes Butterfly is killer role. Not only because the soprano sings all the time, also because Puccini orchestra is very BIG and Cio Cio San is always singing in the passaggio .
Another very but very difficult role is Leonora/Forza.The are not Cs BUT there are lots of Bs natural and all the tessitura is high and requires legato and legato and requieres reserves of longbreathing. Very long duet with the soprano and the bass is very very difficult
maipisimo67 1 year ago
@maipisimo67- You've hit a nerve! For me, the "Forza" Leonora is the ultimate. I own all four of Milanov's Met broadcasts of the opera, and I sometimes feel like Verdi wrote this opera for her. To me, it's her greatest role. You're right about the Gioonda jumps - they're mean. Turandot? About 34 minutes singing time (if it were any longer, the soprano would probably have to be placed in an Intensive Care Unit!) Amazing that the few great Turandots wre all non-Italians.
Zva26 1 year ago
@Zva26 : I don't want to ofend you but what do you have into your ears? Just all Forzas with Zinka Milanov, she is terrible in all her '50s "live" Forzas. I listened her '53 New Orleans Forza and the final Bflat in Pace mio Dio is a little scream that dies in 3 seconds.On '56 Met Forza she is terrible, did you listened well her screamy Bs in convent scene ? And in her '58 studio Forza ? She is in very poor voice! How can you say Verdi wrote it for her ?
maipisimo67 1 year ago
@maipisimo67 No offense taken. The 1952 broadcast is the best. Milanov was a highly erratic singer, but when she was in great form, and her voice was "spinning", she was, to my ears, magnificent. A soprano who had a thirty year career as leading dramatic soprano at the Metropolitan had to have SOMETHING. Whatever, music is so subjective. I have other Forza performances recordings with Tebaldi, Callas, Caballe', and Price. Each one of them has a special something that makes them an artist.
Zva26 1 year ago
@Zva26 EXACTLY - i wish people would stop their silly comparisons. Try to see great singers as different colours. Now, is red better than blue?
belcunto 1 year ago
@belcunto - You hit a bull's eye. All of these stupid comparisons between such great artists. None of these comparisons go anywhere. What Price, Callas, and Milanov had is so far beyond that of anyone else even today. The only one today that comes close to Milanov (and could equal her) is Sondra Radvanovsky, whom I will see in Verdi's "Ballo" on November 21st.
Zva26 1 year ago
@Zva26 .I think Verdi would have felt injured if he would have listened any Zinka Milanov "live" or studio Forzas.
Don't be angry with me I am only sincere.Don't want to offend you
maipisimo67 1 year ago
@maipisimo67 According to Callas norma is much more difficult.
FeelinMinnesota 1 year ago
@Zva26 To your point that Price knew her vocal limitations in singing this role on the operatic stage. I remember reading an interview she gave in 1976 in the magazine After Dark, where she quite candidly admitted that Norma was one of the most dangerous roles ever written for the soprano voice. She also admitted that she would never sing the role of Norma on stage, as the role had destroyed voices of more than a few sopranos of her generation.
Arnold3135 1 year ago
Leontyne Price had one of the most gorgeous voices of the Twentieth Century, and she sings this "Casta Diva" beautifully, as she does on her famous Prima Donna RCA recording. That said, she unfortunately lacked the weight in the bottom notes which is so necessary in executing the complete role of Norma. The role has got to have forceful and vengeful low notes to handle the angry and commanding declamatory passages. Leontyne Price knew she lacked this, and smartly avoided attempting the role.
Zva26 1 year ago
I never knew Leontyne Price recorded "Casta Diva"! What a great surprise this is, especially since she sings this challenging aria with great beauty, expression, and technical prowess. Thanks so much for sharing.
meltzerboy 1 year ago 2
@meltzerboy
Very, very wonderful... many thanks to Onegin65 for posting, and to Nate for sharing!
CurzonRoad 1 year ago
@meltzerboy
Thanks for shatring and to Onegin65 for posting. I have this on RCA LP
"Prima Donna Vol. 5"
This is a beautiful performance as the music lies in the upper middle and
upper part of the voice which are Price's strengths. The entire role has many excursions into the lower middle and low registers where her voice is weak, I do not think a complete Norma would have been wise - apparently neither did she.
John
65attila 1 year ago
So wonderful !!!
Ellevius 1 year ago
Leontyne's Casta Diva is so beautiful and emotional. She has turned this aria into a true Prayer; expressing with her rich, lyric tones a plea for peace. There's a touch of spirituality and magic in her singing of this aria that makes it stand out from all other versions. It's like Gospel singing. She has such a God-given talent for singing with her heart and I always cry when I hear this. It's so beautiful.
MastersoftheOpera 1 year ago 2
Mother is one of the greatest and SMARTEST singers of all time..she made wise decisions about what and when she sang everything. Thats why your hard pressed to find a "bad" recording of hers anywhere
dapro06 1 year ago 2
25 MILLION HITS PLEASE!!
wazonu 1 year ago
Absolutely stunning.The breath of the Lord.
arissss1962 1 year ago 18
Tout à fait d'accord, Illfurter : Price demeure incomparable, elle est la diva de toutes les divas, on m'a offert ce dvd où elle chante avec une maîtrise et un talent qui vous laisse, c'est le cas de le dire : sans voix !
Mais la sienne est unique !
lumieredusud 1 year ago 5
moi, malgré toutes les critiques emises , je suis un inconditionnel de la Price personne , même Callas n'a fait sentir dans sa voix une pareille sensualité, elle m'a toujours donné "la chair de poule"
illfurter 2 years ago 4
Her breath controlis unhuman. Her command in legatto is unmatched.
My only objection is...Why didn't she try to sing the full opera on stage?
Some people said it wasn'tr suited for her but I bet she could do an outstanding Norma!
yodavidnavarro 2 years ago 6
Miss Price does sing this brillantly. She said herself, however, that she couldn't go the whole journey with Norma. That is why she never sang the role in its entirety. She probably made the right decision.
basie8 2 years ago
Why? Because I think she has the power and the range.
yodavidnavarro 2 years ago
just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you should. particularly in opera.
tiernan87 1 year ago
I think totally different. For me is a waste to avoid a place you could totally fulfill.
yodavidnavarro 1 year ago
I respect her for not doing it. It's a lot better than people singing roles they shouldn't.
KatherineXIX 2 years ago 2
This aria is well outside of Price's normal repertoire for the opera house, but she made a habit of singing a lot of arias from roles she would never essay onstage, both in recital and in recordings. This performance is particularly radiant and highlights Price's brilliant command of line, phrasing, and breath control, not to mention the always gorgeous and sumptuous sound of her voice.
AndySchrei 2 years ago 8
Beautiful - Price's sense of line and phrase is exquisite, and her vocal command is truly impressive.
paulprocopolis 2 years ago 4
She would have been a great Norma sul palcoscenico...how tender she sings this beautiful aria. Not easy for a soprano like she was. Brava Leontyne!!!
Schollistico 2 years ago 2
As an aria in itself, Leontyne sings great. It's a recital piece as well and Leontyne was one of the most sucessful recitalists. She knew just how to prepare for ONE ARIA of great operas - like this one - or Salome's Final Aria (etc). This is beautiful, not rushed, not strained, flowing, spiritual and like a prayer...excellent job Miss Price!
MastersoftheOpera 2 years ago 7
this is masterful and simply STUNNING, but for me, there will ever be only ONE diva....LA DIVINA! Callas now and forever!
tiernan87 2 years ago
when did callas sing this?
jerzkid87 2 years ago
well, i dont' know if she sang the entire role, but she sang it in concerts and recitals fairly frequently. it's on an album of hers. i dont' remember which....but it is simply stunning.
tiernan87 2 years ago
and by "it" i mean this aria.....
tiernan87 2 years ago
Her entire career! This was one of Callas' most famous roles. But I am very impressed with Price's rendition. Never heard it before. Does anyone know if she ever did the entire opera?
artdanks 2 years ago 5
Leontyne never sang the whole opera. Norma is fiendishly difficult and back in Price's time only Sutherland and Caballe took the risk of singing Norma and had success. The black sopranos Bumbry and Verrett also sang it successfully. However Norma was not suited for Leontyne's voice. She sang Casta Diva a lot in recital.
MastersoftheOpera 2 years ago
It's not true that she sang this piece in recital EVER. She sang it only once in public, as far as I know,. with the S.F. Symphony in the late 1980s. (And none too successfully, unfortunately, according to the reviews.) I believe she could have sung and acted the role very well in the late 60s.
liedersanger1 2 years ago
Well we have to check up on that. She also RECORDED the aria CASTA DIVA and it's on the Prima Donna Collection album. That one is not a live performance but a recorded aria. She also recorded the aria that follows "Ah bello a mi ritorno". She did a marvelous job. I don't know the year of that recording..
MastersoftheOpera 2 years ago
That was 1979, on Prima Donna No. 5, later included in the Prima Donna Collection.
liedersanger1 2 years ago
ha ha ha love it!
tirayi 2 years ago
LOL
yodavidnavarro 2 years ago
@jerzkid87 Norma was probably Callas' greatest role. She sang it almost 90 timers and it's one of the roles for which she's remembered. There are two complete studio recordings of her Norma, as well as at least four live ones --- Mexico in 1950, London, 1952, RAI in 1955, La Scala in 1955, For many, Callas WAS Norma.
Zva26 1 year ago 2
I agree. Callas IS the eternal archetype. Although I like Price more than Montserrat...
kostasmitros1 2 years ago 2
This comment has received too many negative votes show
try sills
0o0doir0o0 2 years ago
Sill's good!
yodavidnavarro 2 years ago
Miss Price was always mistress of the legato line.
She's great here!
Houndentenor1998 2 years ago 4
I can't say it in better words!
yodavidnavarro 2 years ago
Voilà une opulente prêtresse terrienne qui inspire le respect et la distance. On a envie d'avoir la même religion qu'elle pour communier aux arbres et aux sources...
Par contre, on cherchera les gammes éthériques ailleurs, car cette prêtresse-là n'est pas divine, mais SANGUINE, SENSUELLE, entière faite de chair et d'os !
Je suis fière d'être une femme Verseau comme Madame Price, elle fait vraiment honneur à son signe !!!
Encore merci Onegin !!!
mariasarda 2 years ago 3
Gorgeous legato line! Brava Price!
organdude44 2 years ago 3
I think this is ny new favorite version of this aria. Eat that, Callas!!
Bondodevil 2 years ago
She is great but I prefer June Anderson's version, even more than Callas, Caballe, Tebaldi, Milanov, and many others. Anyway BRAVA!!!!
alvarito45 2 years ago
I've never heard of this beautiful woman before. I kind of stumbled upon her. I just think this is the most beautiful voice I've ever heard!
justkeesha 2 years ago 29
OMG you have no idea! Try to listen to her recordings eith Bjoerling and Distefano. She is a goddess
jst2k09 2 years ago 3
to think she once sang beside Bjoerling and Di Stefano, and long after they've went she's still singing!
Drelnis 2 years ago
@justkeesha I hope you will survey more of her recordings here on YOutube !!! Leontyne Price possesses one of the most beautiful voices of the century !!! Enjoy !!! I agree with your assessement !!!
silvanero 1 year ago
@justkeesha You are so right. She always makes me cry from sheer joy.
igitur229 1 year ago
@justkeesha How nice--you have so many beautiful recordings to look forward to! My grandmother, who introduced Price's voice to me when I was ten, said she had the most beautiful voice she had heard since Emmy Destinn's--and Destinn flourished in the 19-teens!
Raggedy9 1 year ago
@justkeesha Welcome to La Price :)
khamikins 1 year ago
@justkeesha
one of the greatest voices i ever heard
shalomavner 8 months ago 2
@justkeesha Thank God for YouTube, so that you may know.
Chasson0318 5 months ago
As if the voice comes from a deep well. I feel this rendition is too calculated. Too beautiful to be in complete identification with the character.
Fairpavel 3 years ago
Price was a DIVA, of course. But I prefer her at other roles. This one is for Callas, Caballé, Ponselle... In spite of that, she sings superb!! WE do not have this kind of singers today, (cry for that!).
cmmenah 3 years ago 3
La voz de Callas no se arruinó por su forma de cantar. Se arruinó por sus cambios emocionales y por, finalmente, la menopausia que le perjudicó mucho. PEro, al mismo tiempo, por dejar de cantar, algo que no se puede hacer a cierta edad. En su época no había reemplazo hormonal.
cmmenah 3 years ago
la menopausia no tiene nada k ver con la voz, la voz de la callas se arruino perke, en primer lugar estaba deprimida, en segundo por los cambios drasticos de registro y de ruolos k hacia, de partes de mezzo soprano k son partes bastantes potentes y donde se necesita un registro medio potente, a otras donde entraba en las notas de coloratura, llego a una cierta edad donde la deprecion termino de darle el ultimo golpe
rockandbluesboy 2 years ago
Creo que usted no me leyó completo. Dije que los cambis emocionales producto de su relación con Onassis. Pero perm´tame decirle que la menopausia disminuye el nivel de estradiol en la sangre de un 85% de las mujeres que la sufren. Algunas llegan a tener 0 estradiol. Esto hace que se debiliten las cuerdas vocales. La falta de entrenamiento acaba con los músculos tensores de los aritenoides.
cmmenah 2 years ago
Cantar roles de otra cuerda se puede hacer perfectamente si hay técnica. Ella tenía técnica. El resultado puede ser bueno o malo desde el punto de vista artístico. PEro no arruina si no se esfuerza el sonido. Ella no esforzaba su sonido, solo lo aprovechaba muy bien. Al dejar de cantar el aparato vocal se desmoronó, aunado a la menopausia que la llevó a un deterioro total de su organismo. (Soy médico especialista en endocrinología).
cmmenah 2 years ago
Segundo depoimento de sua amiga Nadia Stancioff, Callas se alimentava basicamente de carne vermelha. Com o que sabemos hoje sobre os efeitos do colesterol, podemos deduzir o estado de saude dela e a sua morte prematura.
yglofmi 2 years ago
Mme. Callas fue un ejemplo de genio artístico en un momento oportuno (Guerra Mundial y una Europa arrasada y titubeante). Pero era una mujer "casi" sola imponiéndose al mundo. Nunca tuvo un equipo gigante de trabajo. Hoy vemos "equipos gigantes" para enanos del arte. El equipo principal de Callas era su agresiva madre (¿?) que la impulsaba negativamente. ¡Dios! Hizo demasiado y bien. Cuándo tendremoa a otra mujer sola con madre agresiva cantar lo que no debe y hacerlo bien.
cmmenah 2 years ago
Price sings "Casta Diva" with splendor, but lacks belcantismo. Any way, you can rejoice with her singing, but it is not wise to follow her late example. What you hear is a lesson in "production of the voice" but not a good example in flexibility. But tell me where she would do this again and I will go and pay for the ticket without hesitation.
cmmenah 2 years ago
cmmenah:No estoy muy de acuerdo contigo porque los tiempos han cambiado. Yo, por ejemplo conoci a una cantante de esa època que ahora tiene 89 primaveras y me contaba que en aqella època quien sabia cantar cantaba. Y si eras como la Callas tu talento andaba adelante!Los cantantes casi no necesitaban representantes y los llamaban si cantaban bien. Ahora es todo un bussines mas que nunca
oboistCONDUCTOR 2 years ago 2
es lo que traté de expresar. Ahora ese equipo de business impone a un cantante. Por eso les llaman "imposta" en italia (y no precisamente por "impostar" la voz..... De todas formas, Callas fue y sigue siendo excepcional. Price también lo fue, en otro orden de canto.
cmmenah 2 years ago
It touches my soul ...Toca mi alma... elle a touché mon aime apres de long temps . Merci beaucoup Leontyne, merci beaucoup Onegin 65. Thanks a lot.
Jaimemonaime 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
You should definitly listen to Beverly Sills and Leyla Gencer's recordings of Norma. Sills does an amazing Norma with incredible power, lightness and fantastic thrills, that crusches both Sutherland and Callas attempt do make a thrill. And above them all, La Gencer. She is the only who does the role properly, she was the only real bel canto singer during the golden age, that's why her Norma is different and the only one " right and correct"
hypnotizeed 3 years ago
You should try getting over yourself - I'm sure it will be hard for you. You think because you prefer La Gencer's rendition that it is right and correct? You are hopelessly ridiculous.
thekaliko 3 years ago
ella es la reina de reinas,la raza superior la negra vivaaaaaaa un millon para elle la mejor del mundo.
shadowbreaks 3 years ago 3
Esta mujer se llevò toda la voz de las demàs cantantes! que barbaraaaaa, vozarròn.
Janibeva 3 years ago 5
THANK YOU, YOU TUBE!!!!!!!
MusicMagnet80 3 years ago
I dont know much stuff about opera technics, but this voice gives me chills!!!!!!!
Bravo, bellissimo, splendido!!!!!
elyushik 3 years ago 4
listen to Cabelle's version in orange amazing best ever almost as good as callas if not better!
ahmad123987 3 years ago
Wow! I forgot how wonderful this was. Splendid singing and phrasing. Another role she might have left her mark on had she chosen to sing it. But...making careful choices is what allowed us to have her so long. Brava diva!
markhh 3 years ago 5
Beautiful,of course (always her timbre) but maybe she tries to control too much the vibrato to clean the line and it does not sound at all like HER usual vibrato, it's a bit strange.
foropera 3 years ago
I know what you mean "for opera" about the vibrato. But her voice sounds to me like a rejuvenated, well-kept older voice, which it was (she as 52!), on a very good day.
liedersanger1 2 years ago
the timbre of her voice is perfect... she is Norma in this recording.
isinglouderthanu 3 years ago 5
IMMACULATE, SUPERB vocal range and style! There's no other words that can complement Miss Leontyne Price's vocal arrangements.
yodavidnavarro 3 years ago 3
Ravishingly done - what phrasing, what breath control and what clarity in the melismas! Netrebko eat your heart out!
paulprocopolis 3 years ago 5
Leontyne's Casta Diva is definitive divine vocal glory, interior and exterior suffering and power. Lord, that sound. But listen to the entire performance of this on her Prima Donna recording to be utterly blown away. This is just the beginning of the fireworks.
trinte33 3 years ago 5
splendid reading. she always did have exquisite taste.
benjaminvox 3 years ago 2
This comment has received too many negative votes show
really can you listen to her voice for more than 1mn... I really wish I could...
callasexperience 3 years ago
Yeay I can! Not only I can, I'd love to listen to her the whole day. And I'd kill to have the chance to listen to her (live) in her golden years. For me the best timbre ever for a Spinto soprano! Beautiful, gorgeous, rich and magnificent!
yodavidnavarro 3 years ago 4
100 percent agreed!
juankmilo1980curro 3 years ago 3
For her 1980 "older" voice, this is fantastic; the voice is well preserved, beautiful and fully lyric and although Norma is not a role suited to Leontyne Price's lyrico-spinto "Verdi" or "Puccini" voice, her Casta Diva is among the best ever recorded. Check it out in her "Prima Donna" album featuring dramatic arias she was able to sing even late in her career.
AmericanEvita 3 years ago 3
The Divine Miss Price. Vocal perfection. If Callas, who had the fire, had had this instrument, no one need ever have sung soprano again!
sfbirdclub 3 years ago 7
ma che bellissima voce mi piace molto ha una voce piena ronda sensuella fantastica brava
just WOW
fiorentino08 3 years ago 4
I love this! Beautiful!
DIVOTENOR 3 years ago 4
This has been flagged as spam show
No esta mal para ser una voz negra. Pero le falta dulzura y ternura (voces blancas). Te la votare de todas formas.
gigli80 3 years ago
estas loco? la has oido bien?
xxxocolate 3 years ago 7
no le falta nada.
pinkstrawberrypuding 3 years ago 6
For those of us who don't speak spanish, just know that gigli80 is racist and dumb to boot. He relates vocal expressiveness to race in a show of unparalleled stupidity.
chloric1 3 years ago 8
Those of us who don't speak Spanish can use Altavista's Babelfish translator and decide for ourselves, thankyou chloric1.
33blueberries 3 years ago
Que pena por tí que el resto del mundo no comparta tu opinión de mierda...la voz del negro continua definiendo como Uds. deberían cantar. Si el mundo de opera no hubiera sido tan racista, el blanco se habría hallado luchando para competir con el sonido chocolateado...un sonido que Uds no son capaces de crear. ¿Dulzura y ternura? Deja que el publico decida.
InformedListener 3 years ago 2
To gigle80-you are completely stupid!!Why are you alive?
nichtsleezy 3 years ago
Ja Ja Ja...Nunca había escuchado algo tan estúpido en mi vida! Leontyne podía hecerlo todo!
yodavidnavarro 3 years ago
idiot.
LEECHAMBERLIN 3 years ago
Price knew, more than anyone else, that some roles were simply not suited to her ravishing lirico-spinto soprano. She made only one mistake, Fanciulla del West, and learned her lesson. Her voice was not suited to Norma, Traviata, Macbeth, and other roles represented in her Prima Donna collection. She waited until the end of her illustrious career to "experiment" with isolated arias not in her active repertoire. The results were magnificent.
osvaldito55 3 years ago 6
Isn't it interesting that many of our favorite artists have sung in whatever fachs they chose, with disastrous results (Scotto as Norma, Violetta), or somewhat questionable results (Freni as Ernani's Elvira, Aida), or been allowed to at least experiment and spread there artistic wings successfully (Caballe as Sieglinde, Turandot), but then there are some artists that appear to be held to a higher standard. Hmmm...
tenornmd 3 years ago 3
That is true. I think Karajan was partially responsible for Freni's Aida. Elena Souliotis, who wrecked her voice singing Abigaille and other inappropriate roles, also comes to mind.
osvaldito55 3 years ago 3
You are absolutely right. In fact, in a wonderful After Dark article (1977) Price spoke at length about the dangers and pitfalls of Norma for a voice like hers. I agree with all of your observations about the other roles she did not attempt. We are all the better for it. You have my utmost respect and regards.
Arnold3135 3 years ago 4
Where can I find this article? I'd like to read it...Please can you tell me?
yodavidnavarro 3 years ago
I'm not sure that you can find the article. The publication, After Dark (1977) went out of circulation in the early 80's. It was a fascinating interview as evidence by the fact that it is seared into my memory, now 31 years later.
Arnold3135 3 years ago
Callas sang all great! And Callas did all wrong 'cause her voice was ruined up for ever. But she gave us more than a decade of splendor.
yodavidnavarro 3 years ago
Callas actually had quite a long career. Starting to sing in theatres at 15, before the 2nd wold war and retiring in 1965 makes it definately a period that lasted longer than many other singers careers. Unfortunately the voice as an instrument reacts not only to the repertoire we may sing,it also part of our emotions and if one is heartbroken/depressed or unhealthy, the voice simply can not work as it used too.
robertdonkers 3 years ago
that's deeply true... are you a singer as well?
rockandbluesboy 2 years ago
Well, I tried but soon realised that I was not the next greatest thing x
robertdonkers 2 years ago
Why never wanted sing Norma? This is at the end of her career and she is excellent!!!
jeffchester 3 years ago 12