Coppia Iniqua - Anna Bolena Contest - Olivia Stapp

I have always loved Donizetti's Three Queen Operas, and Anna Bolena is a good place to start. I choose the final cabaletta for this contest Coppia iniquia. Unfortunatly, Anna Bolena isn't very common in the video format, so I had to include two sopranos whos video was part of a highlight collection, and therefore, the arias are not complete, these artists are Devia and Takova. I think this aria makes for an interesting contest. Once again a 1-5 rating for singing and characterization. These are the singers and dates of performances:
Luciana Serra - 1997
Nelly Miricioiu - 1999
Katia Ricciarelli - 1986
Olivia Stapp - 1980
Dimitra Theodossiou - 1999
Darina Takova - 2005
Hyejin Kim - 1997
Leyla Gencer - 1978
Edita Gruberova - 2000
Mariella Devia - 2007

Category:

Music

Tags:

• stapp
• opera
• donizetti
• anna
• bolena

[frankmartinez3]

This aria is extremely difficult and all the more in live performance. This ranks up there with one of the best live performances of this piece. Just watch the others and you will see that she is one of the few sopranos who sings the most notes written in the score with out downward modifications or breaks. She is about to die and music is supposed to be sung abandon and force. She is fabulous.

[wotansings]

@barleggero Not badly sung? OMG, what IS badly sung than???? Even Florence Foster Jenkins sings bette than she does!

She screames the whole time, a festival of flat notes, no legato, no real coloratura, no diction, no trills, nothing. Its no singing at all. A desaster.

Dramatic doesn't mean that there is no music any more. By the way, it's not fierce here, maybe hystrical.

She's not singing but vomiting.

HORRIBLE

[artdanks]

I preferred her in this role live. This is not a good representation of her.

[scribeuisum]

yes, horrible, she looses notes, her declamato is awful, bad expression, bad pronunciation...

[barleggero]

This is not badly sung. It's fierce. Somehow, I don't imagine Anna Bolena as the gentle character Donizetti depicted, I actually imagine a real life coppia iniqua to sound this agressive. She has just been condemned to death because the king got the hots for another woman. The only reason why she didn't curse him when she was killed was because she was, after all, the Queen and she kept her class to the end. However, I'm pretty sure she was feeling all but happy on the inside.

[wotansings]

No music here, just screaming. Horrible

[henrifrombarcelona]

i remember her as Amneris (yes Amneris!!!) in Marseille at the end of the 70th, she was amazing, then she came back to Marseille for Minnie in fanciulla, she got an incredible succcess, Karpo the artistic director of marseille opera house was crazy about her...

[opera1dan2]

Incredible expression 5/5.

[63Attila]

Thrilling

[sschimel]

So let me get this straight. I'm a baritone, so I can't comment on, favorably or not, arias I didn't perform? I happened to enjoy this performance, but I'm sure there will be others in this contest, as there have been in past contests, that I didn't like. But as a baritone, I will never get to sing Anna Bolena except in the shower. It's gorgeous...my singing, not the shower). 4/4