Felia Litvinne - D'amor sull'ali rosee

Re-Upload with better sound quality

Lately I've been getting into the tradition of the "assoluta", the divas likes Isabella Colbran, Giuditta Pasta, Giuseppina Ronzi De Begnis, Mary Anne Paton, Maria Malibran, Pauline Viardot, etc that championed the hardest roles written for the female voice in opera. They had the characteristic of having a dark colored voice, being able to alternate tessitura of high soprano as well as contralto (as the greatest castrati were able to do), having a powerful majestic voice, the greatest agility in both liric and heroic coloratura. We don't have recordings of these divas, but we do have recordings of some of those who survived them and kept the tradition such as Felia Litvinne, who was a pupil of Pauline Viardot and was said to have a similar sound to Pasta or Ronzi De Begnis. As Pauline Viardot and the other assolutas, Felicia alternated both soprano roles and mezzo soprano. In this beautiful recording her trills are simply flawless, her high notes are clear and beautiful, her voice possesses a dark hued color almost reminscent of the great assoluta of the 20th century Maria Callas, and she surprises us finishing the aria with the cadenza taking it down to a low A-flat as a contralto would do!!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• assoluta
• soprano
• sfogato
• diva
• dramatic
• coloratura
• maria
• callas
• giuditta
• pasta
• malibran
• pauline
• viardot

[antequem]

Quel dommage que cet air ne soit pas chanté en italien! c'est insupportable aujourd'hui...mais tout de même, sacrée artiste! Bravo!!!

[PonselleLover]

My first time hearing this soprano and I am delighting in the characteristic fluidity, evenness, fluted vibrato of her voice she shares with the Bel Canto heiresses of that time we only can dream of today. As big as were their voices, their singing was never "fat" nor stiff but agile and floating.

[tetrazzini]

Merci, quels trilles !!

[jpbracey]

this one is amazing - I can see why Marcel Ciampi was in love with her in their youth

!!!

[angelamaria1944]

è veramente bella!

[Kievest]

Creamy, liquid voice with stunning flexibility, wonderful resonance and a stately

presence. The top notes do not always ring out with freedom but her middle

and lower registers and their luscious coloration are admirable. Perhaps

she suffers from poor technology, but she scoups and shouts at the top

more than I'd like. Great to hear this historic performance and thanks to

65attila for sharing!

[paulostroff99]

Awesome

[vstasov]

What trills! Thank you.

[robertdonkers]

It may be a beuatiful and dark sound but good is something else

[Angelsulfurico]

Great that what I call dark, beautiful