Renée Fleming - Verdi - La Traviata - "Sempre Libera" & Interview

This is a radio broadcast recording of Renée Fleming singing "Sempre Libera" at Houston Grand Opera in 2003. I also included a short interview clip where she makes some funny comments about singing the aria. The interview was recorded in 2008 from a Lyric Opera of Chicago radio braodcast and it features Renee Fleming, Thomas Hampson, and Matthew Polenzani.

Fleming's most recent Traviata (2009) will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on April 4, 2011 by opusarte!

http://www.opusarte.com/en/ver-la-traviata-roh.html

Category:

Music

Tags:

• renee fleming
• verdi
• la traviata
• sempre libera
• soprano
• coloratura

[KathrynARyder]

What she means is that she no longer has the high Eflat to sing it. Renee is fibbing about the MET not permitting the high Eflat anymore. I just heard Guleghina twice in NABUCCO interpolate a high Eflat both nights in her big duet.

[asdfopera]

@KathrynARyder

maybe they just won't allow renee to do it, because it is true that guleghina is singing them.

[Judill]

@KathrynARyder I dont think she meant that Eflats were no longer allowed at the Met. I think she just meant that the Met was being considerate of its Violettas in their productions of La Traviata. Sempre Libera is insanely difficult when placed in this particular role; perhaps they were just trying to ease the burden on the performers.

[asdfopera]

@Judill

well, the last couple of violettas at the met (angela gheorghiu and marina poplavskaya) have not sung the e flat. poplavskaya actually couldn't articulate much of the coloratura at all. let's see what dessay does in a few months. dessay is a coloratura soprano so she kind of "obligated" to do it. :)

[operabuffey]

She is a lovely person. She is so honest about the aria. I am surprised at what she said about the Met "not allowing the high note" in Sempre Libera. 

[operabuffey]

@asdfopera What's the big deal how high the notes are? I listen to the overall beauty of the voice and the quality of the singer. Too many fans are stuck on high notes. In its early days, the music was a half tone lower for all. Its the juxtaposition of the intervals and the key which brings out the beauty of the song.

[primohomme]

@asdfopera

He also didn't write the high E or the low F Callas sang in "I Vespri Siciliani" :P

[asdfopera]

@primohomme

You mean Verdi didn't write that Eb6 at the end of the act 3 duet in Nabucco? What was Callas thinking? ;)

[primohomme]

@HeidelbergSoprano

That's true, the highest Verdi wrote for his sopranos was usually high D-flat, and usually never sustained but as part of a fiorature line, the only high D-flat sustained I can remember by Verdi is the pianissimo one for Lady Macbeth. Also, he did write a high E-flat in "Giovanna d'Arco", part of a coloratura line.

Musically it would be more correct in Verdi style to sing a high F instead of high E-flat according to some conductors.

[kgarmaker123]

@KathrynARyder She really never had a good e flat at the end of this cabaletta... It is simply a very high and taxing tessitura, and Fleming is not a coloratura... She likes to slide into notes, and as a matter of fact slides into the E flat when she sings it.. and it does not sound good either. But I agree.with you.

[HeidelbergSoprano]

@KathrynARyder It's not even written in the score by Verdi himself. It's for sopranos trying to show off.