# Suor Angelica



## cato (Dec 2, 2006)

Jenn79 was looking for a tragic, sad opera, and this really fits the bill!  

I just discovered this opera a few days ago.  

I was in Barnes & Noble, in their CD section, when I came across this opera, which is really different many other Puccini operas.

First, it is a one act opera, and second, there are no men in this opera!  

This CD has Joan Sutherland in the title role of Sister Angelica, with The National Philhamonic Orchestra, on the London label, and was recorded back in 1978.

I love this one act opera!  

The emtional power behind Joan Sutherland singing has to be heard to be believed. When Sister Angelica learns that the son she was forced to give up when she was forced into the convent, is dead, she screams and sobs in a maner I have never heard in an opera.

I got chills down my spine, my skin crawled, and I felt like sobing along with her.

This is a wonderful CD, and at the buget price of $12.00 (U.S.) it is one of the best opera buys you will ever make. And the analog to digital transfer is top rate, it is a crisp, clear sound sound, that will make you forget that it was recorded on analog tape.

Buy it, love it, and have a good cry along with Sister Angelica.


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## Saturnus (Nov 7, 2006)

This was the first opera I saw in an opera house (although it was only three weeks ago). What an experience! This opera is the perfect choice for someone looking for a tragic, sad opera.


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## cmb (Dec 20, 2006)

try a recording with Renata Scotto.


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## Guest (Apr 19, 2007)

Thank you so much: i didn’t know this opera, and it is really sublime! 

And like you, I got chills down my spine, my skin crawled, and I felt like sobing along with her.

To recommend absolutely!


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## Frasier (Mar 10, 2007)

I'll try to give this a listen (or watch, if a DVD is available at the library). I was never happy with Puccini's operas - the music is nice, sure, but the plots...no comment. I did try - Boheme and Madam Butterfly and got completely put off, more by the latter which I saw at the ENO a long time ago. However, I'm always ready to have my mind changed! 

EF


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## cato (Dec 2, 2006)

Daffodylls.... you are very welcome!  I'm gald I could introduce you to this wonderful opera.  

Frasier..... Thanks for keeping an open mind.  

You may or may not like this opera. If you don't like Puccini's other operas, you may not like this one. (It's the same late 19th centuary romantic music that Puccini is famous for.)

However, there are some real differences that sets this opera apart from his others.

First, it is a one act opera, under an hour of listening time, so you don't have to spend a lot of time trying it out.

Second, unlike Puccini's other operas, there are NO MEN in this opera. All you hear are the sweet voices of woman, especially, Sister Angelica.

Third, unlike say, La Boheme (which is pure romance and tragedy), this opera seems to be making a social statement about the Church, and how women who had out of wedlock births were treated in the 19th century. When I first heard it, I got the feeling that Puccini was making a thinly viled attack upon The Church, which took a lot of courage on his part coming from 19th centuary Italy. I could be wrong, but that is how the opera sounds to me. 

Oh, and CMB..... I will try that version of the opera. Thanks!


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

This is a wonderful opera.


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

cato said:


> First, it is a one act opera, under an hour of listening time, so you don't have to spend a lot of time trying it out.


It's one of the "Il Trittico" opera's - a trilogy of one act operas that Puccini intended to be performed on the same evening, although they are often performed seperately. They are "Il Tabarro", "Suor Angelica" is the second of the series, and the last one is "Gianni Schicchi" - a brilliant comedy unique among Puccini's creations. It's sorta his "Falstaff.


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## Elgarian (Jul 30, 2008)

Opinion seems divided on _Suor Angelica_. There are those who find the concluding section cloyingly sentimental, though I'm not one of them. It seems to me that Puccini leaves the question open about what's really happening: is Angelica experiencing a hallucination, or a genuine vision of a deeper reality? Is she really reunited with her son? We don't know. The music, though, lets us experience it with her.

I have three versions of _Suor Angelica_, and I agree that Joan Sutherland's version is very fine. However, for me, by far the most intensely moving version is sung by the less well-known Cristina Gallardo-Domas, conducted by Pappano. Unfortunately, it's not available separately, but only as part of this set:










There are samples here - scroll down to disc 2.


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

I don't understand why some people dismiss it as "overly sentimental" given how over the top most other tragic opera plots are.


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## Elgarian (Jul 30, 2008)

Sonata said:


> I don't understand why some people dismiss it as "overly sentimental" given how over the top most other tragic opera plots are.


It walks a narrow line, I think, in an area where many people have low tolerance. It's not just a matter of being 'over the top', but the fact that to some people Angelica's vision at the end seems like a contrived piece of religiosity. As I said, I don't see it like that myself, but I can understand how some might. For myself, I find it extremely moving and deeply human; and I think Puccini leaves it sufficiently open for us each to interpret the ending how we choose.


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

Well stated Elgarian.


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## Siedler (Aug 3, 2011)

I just saw it in a live performance and indeed I love it, the music itself is just _so_ beautiful.


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## BalloinMaschera (Apr 4, 2011)

While this is certainly not my favorite opera by any stretch of the imagination, to me, the success of any production or recording of SA is largely dependent upon the characterization and performance of the Zia Principessa. No matter how outstanding the sop Angelica may be, if the mezzo role does not deliver the needed frisson (sans creating a caricature), the opera falls flat. 

as an aside, I feel the same way about the Countess; vis-a-vis Pique Dame.


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

cato said:


> Jenn79 was looking for a tragic, sad opera, and this really fits the bill!
> 
> I just discovered this opera a few days ago.
> 
> ...


Joan Sutherland could sing Jingle bells and would sound terrific.

I like this opera...but it is too sad....ridiculously sad...very Puccini style. *The woman as a victim*...Indeed, since his maid (Doria Manfredi) died (she commited suicide because Puccini's wife pestered her...she thought she was having an affair with her husband). The same for La Bohème, Manon Lescault, Madama Butterfly and Liu in Turandot...Sister Angelica kills herself and asks for God's forgiveness. Contrary to Catholic religion, she IS forgiven.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

myaskovsky2002 said:


> Sister Angelica kills herself and asks for God's forgiveness. Contrary to Catholic religion, she IS forgiven.


God 1, church 0.


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## Yashin (Jul 22, 2011)

I agree that the Pappano set of Il Triticco is the best available. Sadly, not much to recommend on DVD. I really love Sour Angelica. Have a look on youtube for some great finale's from this opera - Scotto, Frittoli, Nizza, Malfitano and a terrific Soviero - just stunning. I would jump to the scotto and Soviero if you want to be moved like never before by an opera.


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## JimC (Oct 27, 2011)

Yashin said:


> I agree that the Pappano set of Il Triticco is the best available. Sadly, not much to recommend on DVD. I really love Sour Angelica. Have a look on youtube for some great finale's from this opera - Scotto, Frittoli, Nizza, Malfitano and a terrific Soviero - just stunning. I would jump to the scotto and Soviero if you want to be moved like never before by an opera.


This is a wonderful, moving and even unique opera, with its setting in a convent and a verismo plot which leads to a dramatic and even ecstatic ending. Listeners who have no sensitivity to this story simply will have to wait until there is a cure for Aspergers.


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## HumphreyAppleby (Apr 11, 2013)

myaskovsky2002 said:


> Joan Sutherland could sing Jingle bells and would sound terrific.
> 
> I like this opera...but it is too sad....ridiculously sad...very Puccini style. *The woman as a victim*...Indeed, since his maid (Doria Manfredi) died (she commited suicide because Puccini's wife pestered her...she thought she was having an affair with her husband). The same for La Bohème, Manon Lescault, Madama Butterfly and Liu in Turandot...Sister Angelica kills herself and asks for God's forgiveness. Contrary to Catholic religion, she IS forgiven.


I am convinced that Puccini was a feminist. Look at _La fanciulla del west_. The ending, where Minnie saves her lover, not by pleading but by at first threatening with a shotgun and finally using a persuasive moral argument, and redeems the entire community, was entirely Puccini's invention. Also look at _La rondine_, where the woman leaves the man, and it is the man left in tears on the stage. As for Angelica, well, her suicide has more to do with maternal feelings than with victim-hood. And Liu's death is symbolic of something much greater... Puccini's art makes the argument for the feminine influence in society.

Also, in the case of _Turandot_, the ending, butchered in this sense by Alfano, is about the redemption of Turandot, not the conquest of her by Calaf. The ending is supposed to be happy _because_ the two end the opera as equals. In earlier Puccini operas, the heroine often dies for love, though so does Cavaradossi. If the first half of Puccini's career is about the suffering caused by love, then the second half is about the redemption of love from it's baser iterations, those that cause death. Liu's death is the death of the idea of that kind of heroine.


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## HumphreyAppleby (Apr 11, 2013)

Great opera, although I disagree with those who say that it is a tragedy. I think it's about hope.


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