# Round For the Winner: In Questa Reggia : Cigna or Nilsson



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)




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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

There is no denying that even after hearing Dimitrova's impressive, beautiful voice in the first round, the very first utterance from Nilsson commanded my attention in a way that few other voices of any kind ever could. But, in a strange way, that does not have to work to her advantage. I really do enjoy the impression her voice makes but the fact is that Cigna's voice, taken on its own merits, is a strong voice...strong and beautiful and expressive. She did not wow me with a force of nature instrument and, in a holistic way, that is HER advantage. I wasn't sitting there going "Oh my God, Cigna!" I was listening to a performance I found to be womanly, expressive and I loved the sound. I felt closer to the performance of the character in the music, with Cigna.....I'm guessing Brunnhilde would be a different story!


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I really expected this to be easier. I came in prepared to reward Cigna for the lovely, nuanced way she presents Turandot's unfortunate history, on the charitable assumption that we will thus be drawn to cut the opera's overdressed harpy some slack and realize that she's only human after all. Trouble is, I don't believe it. The truth is that this android princess from the land without smiles is an unnatural, fairy tale creation whose ultimate conversion to something like human status makes a good yarn and inspires some ecstatic music, but never moves any part of my being deeper than my dopamine receptors. Gina Cigna is unmistakably a normal human female possessing a normal, if exceptional, vocal apparatus, and as such she sets Turandot's sad story before us with the sensitivity we would hope to find in an ordinary member of our species. I'd go so far as to say that hers is the nicest, most heart-warming interpretation of "In questa reggia" I've ever heard. More's the pity that such a bid for sympathy, pleasing as it is in the moment, goes to waste in the larger scheme of things. 

With the foregoing constituting a basis for my reaction, the question for me, on hearing anyone sing Turandot, is whether they make a good case for androids being interesting in their own peculiar, inhuman ways, much as Brent Spiner made a marvelous case for the character of Data being at least as interesting as any of the humans around him. And so it remains the voice of Birgit Nilsson which, being a nonrepeatable sport of nature, and being somehow not quite believable no matter how many decades I've been listening to it, is in my experience the authentic voice of Puccini's most gloriously repellent female character. I don't find Nilsson as cold as some people do (though her timbre is certainly not as warm as Cigna's or, closer to home, Flagstad's). What it has is a unique glint of white metal, or white-hot flame, which above the staff intensifies to produce a sound without parallel in this galaxy for coruscating brilliance. But that isn't all that can be said for her portrayal, which is not lacking in nuance where that's appropriate.

For me, Nilsson's Turandot is a match of voice and role which, given the current state of dramatic (or any kind of) singing, I expect not to hear the like of in what's left of my lifetime. I'm happy to give her the prize here. I hope she is smiling in Valhalla.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Unfortunately, I have Nilsson in my mind's ear (along with Franco Corelli) as the perfect embodiment of *Turandot*. In addition I think she herself identifies with the role and that makes her sing it all the better. The only detriment to herself is that she eases up on the consonants on the final high notes, so the words are obscured.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

MAS said:


> ...I have Nilsson in my mind's ear...as the perfect embodiment of *Turandot*. In addition I think she herself identifies with the role and that makes her sing it all the better.


I assume it was the music she identified with and not the character. As far as I know, she and Bertil Niklasson were happily married from 1948 until his death, which was not a result of decapitation.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> I assume it was the music she identified with and not the character. As far as I know, she and Bertil Niklasson were happily married from 1948 until his death, which was not a result of decapitation.


Absolutely, the music of course! Perhaps emasculation, but I'm not certain! :lol::devil:
(I've heard rumors over the years about the husbands of the powerhouse sopranos (Rysanek, Nilsson, Dernesch, Mödl, Varnay, etc.). Dernesch mentioned: "once the men want to cook for me…that's the end."


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I am SO glad ScottK compelled me to do a final contest for this aria that I thought was a cut and dried win for Nilsson as we got some priceless responses and hidden voters at this point are pushing Cigna ahead of Nilsson. I was not prepared for the positive response Cigna made on this crowd. I thought it would be yet another example of a singer I enjoy that leaves everyone else cold LOL I think I can say that so far in the competitions I've created she has been the biggest discovery by the group. After having a very awkward start to this aria's rounds I have personally been really pleased with how it turned out, no matter who ends up winning. Woodduck... thank god for you. I URGE you to get The Last Prima Donna from the library and read her interview. She is truly one of the most fascinating divas of all time. She sang Turandot over 483 times... and lived to sing for a 20 year career until a heart attack cut her career short. She was a very lovely woman. Her voice was supposed to be enormous in the house. Here is a fascinating article about her by the Bel Canto Society. She was a fascinating singer:https://www.belcantosociety.org/cigna/ Here is a short backstage interview with her and Dimitrova in a FABULOUS costume and you can see what a lovely and gracious woman she was. Dimitrova had a huge face but it was dwarfed by the size of Cigna's. 



 I would say that she and Lily Pons were the most famous French sopranos of all time.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Though the ease with which Nilsson encompasses the music is indeed impressive, I found myself preferring Cigna's more human instrument and more human response to the text.

Nilsson's voice has never had much appeal for me. I don't llike the basic timbre and she is not the singer I prefer to listen to as Isolde or Brünnhilde and definitely not as Salome. I can just about take her as Elektra, but I don't like her in Italian opera and *Turandot*, despite its mythical storyline and the superhuman demands of its title role is, after all, Italian opera. I wonder what Puccini would have thought, but as he never heard it we will never know. The role was created by Rosa Raisa and was sung by Claudia Muzio at its Buenos Aires premiere.

It's also interesting to note that Callas sang the role quite a lot in her early career, clocking up twenty-three performances between her first in Venice in 1948 and last in 1949, also in Buenos Aires. Her studio recording of 1957 no doubt caught her too late, although she makes the most psychologically complex heroine of any, almost making us understand Turandot's extreme cruelty. She made a recording of _In questa reggia_ in 1954, post weight loss but still in great voice and it remains my favourite version of the aria.






Nor should we forget Sutherland's studio version under Mehta. She may not have sung the role in the theatre, but listening to this you certainly feel she could have done.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Tsaraslondon said:


> Though the ease with which Nilsson encompasses the music is indeed impressive, I found myself preferring Cigna's more human instrument and more human response to the text.
> 
> Nilsson's voice has never had much appeal for me. I don't llike the basic timbre and she is not the singer I prefer to listen to as Isolde or Brünnhilde and definitely not as Salome. I can just about take her as Elektra, but I don't like her in Italian opera and *Turandot*, despite its mythical storyline and the superhuman demands of its title role is, after all, Italian opera. I wonder what Puccini would have thought, but as he never heard it we will never know. The role was created by Rosa Raisa and was sung by Claudia Muzio at its Buenos Aires premiere.
> 
> ...


If I had known about that recording I would have put her in as a contestant. Her earlier versions have awful sound and I don't like her studio recording as it was too late. Many people really love Sutherland's studio recording including me, but I was skeptical that she would do well in this crowd. Thanks for mentioning her version!!!


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> If I had known about that recording I would have put her in as a contestant. Her earlier versions have awful sound and I don't like her studio recording as it was too late. Many people really love Sutherland's studio recording including me, but I was skeptical that she would do well in this crowd. Thanks for mentioning her version!!!


Sutherland may not have sung Turandot on stage, but Caballé did, though one assumes not too often. Here she is in San Francisco with Pavarotti as Calaf. She copes pretty well, but she doesn't really sound at home in the role.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Tsaraslondon said:


> Sutherland may not have sung Turandot on stage, but Caballé did, though one assumes not too often. Here she is in San Francisco with Pavarotti as Calaf. She copes pretty well, but she doesn't really sound at home in the role.


I actually really like her version. I tried to limit my contest to people who had big careers as Turandot.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I actually really like her version.


I do too, but she doesn't really sound like a natural for the role.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Tsaraslondon said:


> I do too, but she doesn't really sound like a natural for the role.


She can be effective in her upper register, but not so much when she has to stay up there. Her FABULOUS Rossini album was made up mostly of mezzo arias with the exception of the one from Armida.


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## ALT (Mar 1, 2021)

I was ready to once more experience Nilsson destroying all competition as Turandot. But in this round Cigna won me over. As ScottK wrote, Cigna’s voice projects qualities of the character other than ice. And, to boot, her top is glorious here. But if you want an iceberg, and only an iceberg, you go for Nilsson.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Nilsson glides through the music as if it is indeed a "vacation role". However, I went with Cigna as I found her more expressive and I felt slightly sorry for her due to the terrible sound of the transfer when it comes to her version. Is this from her complete studio recording? If so, it can be heard in better sound than this.

N.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

The Conte said:


> Nilsson glides through the music as if it is indeed a "vacation role". However, I went with Cigna as I found her more expressive and I felt slightly sorry for her due to the terrible sound of the transfer when it comes to her version. Is this from her complete studio recording? If so, it can be heard in better sound than this.
> 
> N.


I suspect it is from the complete recording. That superb tenor is, I'm pretty sure, Francesco Merli, who I believe also recorded Otello.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Tsaraslondon said:


> Sutherland may not have sung Turandot on stage, but Caballé did, though one assumes not too often. Here she is in San Francisco with Pavarotti as Calaf. She copes pretty well, but she doesn't really sound at home in the role.


Caballe makes a surprising and musically pointless diminuendo on the line, "Quel grido e quella morte!" It actually made me laugh, as I imagined her saying to herself, "Well, there has to be a place to stick a pianissimo, and if Puccini didn't think of it, I will!"

Something else Puccini either didn't think of - or just didn't care about - is the impossibly of a soprano pronouncing the word "grido" distinctly several ledger lines above the staff. Caballe sensibly doesn't even pretend that there's a word up there, although other singers do at least make a stab at it.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> Caballe makes a surprising and musically pointless diminuendo on the line, "Quel grido e quella morte!" It actually made me laugh, as I imagined her saying to herself, "Well, there has to be a place to stick a pianissimo, and if Puccini didn't think of it, I will!"
> 
> Something else Puccini either didn't think of - or just didn't care about - is the impossibly of a soprano pronouncing the word "grido" distinctly several ledger lines above the staff. Caballe sensibly doesn't even pretend that there's a word up there, although other singers do at least make a stab at it.


I noticed that too, but quite a few of the singers give up on the words at various points when the line gets too high so I let her off. Callas makes a pretty good stab at the word _grido_ and even manages to more or less pronounce the words in the final phrase. Cigna isn't bad either. Turner gives up completely and just sings _ah_.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

The Conte said:


> Nilsson glides through the music as if it is indeed a "vacation role". However, I went with Cigna as I found her more expressive and I felt slightly sorry for her due to the terrible sound of the transfer when it comes to her version. Is this from her complete studio recording? If so, it can be heard in better sound than this.
> 
> N.


It is all that popped up in my search and it got her a win.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> It is all that popped up in my search and it got her a win.


Of course, it isn't your fault, it's wonderful that all these singers are on YouTube at all. I just get frustrated that sometimes studio recordings end up on YouTube with what sounds like a live pirate performance.

N.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

Neither singer is my ideal Turandot, Nilsson for reasons I've stated before, Cigna due to her trouble with the highest notes, of which there are many in this role. Her work in the middle is excellent, and many have rightly commented on her depth of interpretation. To me, this role requires a laser-beam voice, but one with more warmth, a more centered tone, and a more elegant legato line than Nilsson is able to provide. The role was written for Jeritza and Raisa, both singers who fit that bill perfectly but, frustratingly, did not record any arias from the opera. To my mind, the best Turandot is Anne Roselle, whose voice is more lyrical than either Raisa or Jeritza, but who sang the opera to great acclaim in Germany and elsewhere (she created the role in Germany). 





The tight vibrato (at age 54!) is the envy of virtually every Turandot in the world today, as is the phenomenal upper register.

The comparison between Cigna and Nilsson is very interesting though because they represent two different versions of a dramatic soprano. Nilsson's voice is extremely focused and cutting, whereas Cigna's is rounder, warmer, and gives an impression of being consistently large rather than penetrating (though it certainly is that too). I think of these as the laser beam and cannon types of dramatic voice, respectively. It's interesting to note that the same sort of division exists in dramatic tenors. Take Tamagno or Zenatello vs. Zanelli. Both are dramatic tenors, but the former are bright voiced whereas Zanelli has a dark hued voice that moved up from baritone.



> Something else Puccini either didn't think of - or just didn't care about - is the impossibly of a soprano pronouncing the word "grido" distinctly several ledger lines above the staff. Caballe sensibly doesn't even pretend that there's a word up there, although other singers do at least make a stab at it.


I took it as intentional on Puccini's part given what the word "grido" means.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

vivalagentenuova said:


> Neither singer is my ideal Turandot, Nilsson for reasons I've stated before, Cigna due to her trouble with the highest notes, of which there are many in this role. Her work in the middle is excellent, and many have rightly commented on her depth of interpretation. To me, this role requires a laser-beam voice, but one with more warmth, a more centered tone, and a more elegant legato line than Nilsson is able to provide. The role was written for Jeritza and Raisa, both singers who fit that bill perfectly but, frustratingly, did not record any arias from the opera. To my mind, the best Turandot is Anne Roselle, whose voice is more lyrical than either Raisa or Jeritza, but who sang the opera to great acclaim in Germany and elsewhere (she created the role in Germany).
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I'm sorry I had closed this contest as she was sensational. As a consolation to you, I created a new contest that will have her in it for later. I hope you will like it. Tu, tu piccolo iddio"


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

If I had it to do over I would include both Anne Roselle and Inge Borgh in this contest as both were awesome.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Judging by the response my last response got soon I will have a one time contest with these two and one other. If you have a contestant to suggest do so here. You have to be able to follow the will of the people!!! Perhaps Rosa Raisa? If we think we need to compete this winner against the former grand prize winner I'm open to that. We can decide then.


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## Shaafee Shameem (Aug 4, 2021)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Judging by the response my last response got soon I will have a one time contest with these two and one other. If you have a contestant to suggest do so here. You have to be able to follow the will of the people!!! Perhaps Rosa Raisa? If we think we need to compete this winner against the former grand prize winner I'm open to that. We can decide then.


Unfortunately we don't have any recordings from Turandot by Raisa. There are great but underrated renditions of this aria by Maria Cebotari, Maria Nemeth, Paula Takacs and Bianca Stacciati, all who sing more lyrically and with more tenderness and femininity than we usually expect from the Chinese princess. You could also use Callas' 1954 version, in which she portrays Turandot as a sort of schizophrenic, a most interesting interpretation as expected of her. The 1957 version is even more refined, but is quite problematic vocally.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Shaafee Shameem said:


> Unfortunately we don't have any recordings from Turandot by Raisa. There are great but underrated renditions of this aria by Maria Cebotari, Maria Nemeth, Paula Takacs and Bianca Stacciati, all who sing more lyrically and with more tenderness and femininity than we usually expect from the Chinese princess. You could also use Callas' 1954 version, in which she portrays Turandot as a sort of schizophrenic, a most interesting interpretation as expected of her. The 1957 version is even more refined, but is quite problematic vocally.


Thanks. I saw Bianca Stacciati spoken about in an article on pre war singers. Viva wanted Roselle but at the time I had no one to go with her. A friend introduced me to Inge Borgk's version and she blew me away. I'll do some research. Maybe a week out. I just checked Bianca out and she is wonderful. I wonder why singers from that era have vibratos that are faster than singers of today.


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