Joan Sutherland, Tragic Actress

From Sutherland's debut as Beatrice di Tenda

Though not an outstanding actress as a rule, at her best Joan Sutherland's acting (& esp. vocal acting) could be more than convincing. This performance, given on the night her mother passed away, is one of her most moving.

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isZKjrtZW3c

0:00 Nulla io dissi...
4:00 Angiol di pace...
9:11 Ah! se un'urna é a me concessa

Beatrice di Tenda ... Joan Sutherland
Agnese del Maino ... Marilyn Horne
Orombello ... Richard Cassilly

Conductor: Nicola Rescigno
American Opera Society, Town Hall
New York, February 21, 1961

(I don't have many pictures of Sutherland as Beatrice, so I threw in a few of her in other Bellini roles.)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• opera
• Vincenzo Bellini

[DanRobSo]

This performance marked both Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne's New York concerts debuts (prior to Joan's Met debut in November of 1961, Jackie's wasn't until 1970). It was just before this performance that Joan learned of her mother's passing back home in Australia. She decided to go ahead and sing the performance - that's what her mother would have wanted her to do.

[CaptFitzbattleaxe]

@DanRobSo All true; this is one of my favorite live performances -- it's among the most beautiful pieces of opera's history.

[Caballefans]

Where is possible found this performance?

[CaptFitzbattleaxe]

@Caballefans A CD release comes up as the third result on Amazon for "Beatrice di Tenda," the one with the American Opera Society. Thanks for watching.

[Homoclassicus]

I think we must distinguish between being a good actress on stage and having an outstanding vocal expressivity and ability to sound dramatically convincing through the voice. Sutherland was in many of her performances extremely effective in the later ability (especially in her Beatrice, Esclarmonde, Stuarda, Lucia, the Hoffmann heroines and some others). As for being an actress, she wasn't a natural one but acquired reasonable skills in comparison with what I see in most Opera singers.

[CaptFitzbattleaxe]

@Homoclassicus Well spoken.

Sutherland's more than competent, subtle acting is preferable to overacting -- of which more than one opera star today is guilty, I think.

[Eiswirth1]

She had the most brilliant, thrilling, beautiful sound of any singer I can recall. Even with the poor quality of this recording one can sense the huge size of the voice and control she possessed. In her glory years (and those can be argued extending another 10) no one could touch her. She remains the pinnacle of greatness, IMO. As for acting, I'll go to the theatre. Opera is all about the quality of sound to me, and in that regard she was untouchable.

[ajhiflyer]

What we hear here is a relatively poor recorded sound. Can you imagine how it must have sounded in the theatre? Breathtakingly awesome!!

[canpete1]

outrageous, outstanding, impeccable

[LyricoSpinto]

Great posting - thanks, so many now find "theatrics" and body parts flinging, as in a present day Lucia with breasts a flying, LOL to be "acting" and to hell with the vocal production and pitch! It all begins with the voice. Again, thanks for the posting

[Homoclassicus]

@CaptFitzbattleaxe Yes, that's for sure. Sutherland could be very subtle as to make people used to more "veristic" approaches to Opera think she was "too warm", but in fact she was just using the subtle, very musical dramatic expressivity she handled perfectly throughout a huge repertoire, conveying the bucolic melancholy of Händel as well as the vulnerability of Bel Canto heroines or the despair of Suor Angelica. Many singers used/use the much easier overacting to sound "intense".