100 Greatest Singers: CLARA BUTT

THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! Please comment Dame Clara Butt!

Clara Butt, Contralto (1872-1936)

Georg Friedrich Haendel - Alessandro
Ne´ trionfi d´Alessandro... Lusinghe più care
(Recorded 1912)

My personal opinion: What´s to say about Clara Butt? Just listen and you´ll notice the most important difference to other contraltos: Her voice was a real dark contralto without precedent. If you pick Butts recording of Orsinis Brindisi or Haendels Larghetto, the first impression might be: Is this a man?
Indeed her chest register sounded very masculine, she was an exponent of another age of singing and fashion of the time (compare Schumann-Heink!). She´d never sung on the operatic stage, her voice was a real oratorio contralto. Sir Thomas Beecham said: "If the weather´s clear, she will be heard on the other side of the canal!". Butts voice was as big as her body´s size, six feet and two inches tall. I confess, her singing sometimes disturbed me. Her low voice was incredible, unique. Her performance (on record) at times was - may I use this characterization? - grotesque. In Orfeos lamento you´ll notice some strange things. Many phrases are ridiculous uneloquent, for example "dove andro?". But you must experience this vocalist, only to know what a real, thruthfully contralto de facto is. No matter how dark she sounded, there never was a guttural color in it. The projection was perfect and you could wrote down the lines while she sang.
By the way: Her contralto-voice seemed to be predestinated for trouser roles. Well, she never performed in opera, but in private life she loved to wear trousers and smoking cigars. She was, in every sense, an unicum.
I would like to give you the greatly feared coloratur aria "Ne´trionfi d´Alessandro" from Haendels early 18th century masterwork.

THE COMPLETE OVERVIEW: GO TO "ALL SINGERS IN THIS LIST"

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Dame
• Clara
• Butt
• Georg
• Friedrich
• Haendel
• Oratorio
• Alessandro
• Contralto
• Thomas
• Beecham

[paulostroff99]

Never ever imagined her to be this great! Brava!

[rlneesam]

Ombra does it for me. Her voice transcends Handel's wildest dreams. Had she lived in Handel's time he'd have had fits writing music for her . An unearthly voice, angelic, sublime unique.

[MrGer2295]

DAME CLARA ELLEN BUTT (DBE) (1 February 1872 – 23 January 1936), sometimes called Clara Butt-Rumford after her marriage, was an English contralto with a remarkably imposing voice and a surprisingly agile singing technique. Her main career was as a recitalist and concert singer.

MOLTO BELLO!!! Thank you for sharing this video.

[kyokogodai]

I have always loved Dame Clara. Her voice is missed, since you rarely hear that deep contralto in a woman. I love every song I have ever heard recorded by her. Thank you for sharing this with us!

[quakercub]

@rlneesam which counter-tenor? David Daniels, Alfred Deller, Phillipe Jaroussky, Bejun Mehta. Keep up with the times. Counter-tenors are plentiful and cool again.

[MrSkylark1]

@erikschtman

Only behind a counter. Chuckle,

[Zyghnwyr]

She had a unique voice. For its size, it's astonishing to hear what she can do with it in rapid passage work such as in the ALESSANDRO aria. The clarity of the runs is remarkable, and when you think how old this recording is, she must have been even better in the flesh. And the sheer magnificence of the singing is moving. Unforgettable and inimitable.

[Corrie121]

Thank you for sharing this wonderful post.

[pjdonagh]

@CharlotteinWeimar Thank you for this information....this is why I love You Tube...I might have gone to my grave not knowing that Dame N M had performed at least one operatic role. Not life changing information granted; but life enhancing certainly!!

[hoshiesther]

You need to listen to Marian Anderson's version of Hear de Lam's A-Cryin', this song makes Clara's voice sounds like a soprano voice! LOL Marian sing in bass-baritone tone, like she did in the end of Schubert's Der tod und Das Madchen...

Smoking cigarrets makes the voice even lower, I know it bicause I'm a contralto and I smoked for 13 years...I'm a low contralto, or deep contralto, sorry but I'm not used to the american system, I use the latin system, here I'm a contralto profundo

[erikschtman]

"Whoever told counter tenors they sound good singing solo has a lot to answer for!"-Amen, Amen, and yet again-AMEN!