# Singers and their greatest roles



## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

I'd be interesting in seeing what people think are the greatest roles of their favourite singers. Off the top of my head:

Flagstad - Isolde
Callas - Norma, Medea, Traviata
Tebaldi - Leonora (forza), Tosca
Bruna Rasa - Santuzza
Petrella - Manon Lescaut, Butterfly
Sutherland - Semiramide
Milanov - Gioconda
Varnay - Elektra, Ortrud
Nilsson - Brunnhilde, Turandot, Elektra
Cigna - Turandot, Aida
Caniglia - Leonora (forza)
Grummer - Agathe
Stella - Elisabetta
Caballe - Maria Stuarda
Mancini - Abigaille
De Los Angeles - Lauretta
Gavazzi - Adriana Lecouvreur
Pobbe - Francesca da Rimini
Cerquetti - Elvira (Ernani)
Sayao - Adina
Freni - Micaëla, Mimi
Hernandez - Gioconda
Subrtova - Rusalka
Pagliughi - Lucia di Lammermoor
Zeani - Desdemona (Rossini), Violetta
Rethberg - Desdemona, Donna Anna
Steber - Donna Anna
Modl - Kundry
Rysanek - Kaiserin
Albanese - Mimi
Olivero - Liu
Pampanini - Nedda
Dominguez - Amneris, Arnalta
Stignani - Azucena
Simionato - Eboli, Leonora (Favorita)
Cernei - Dalila
Barbieri - Azucena
Castagna - Amneris
Cernay - Carmen
Branzell - Brangaene
Klose - Ortrud
Obraztsova - Eboli
Verrett - Dalila
Bumbry - Amneris, Eruidice
Elmo - Quickly
Del Monaco - Alvaro, Chenier, Otello
Martinelli - Otello
Corelli - Calaf, Dick Johnson
Penno - Manrico, Ernani
Di Stefano - Faust, Des Grieux (Massenet)
Gigli - Rodolfo
Vinay - Otello, Siegmund
Svanholm - Siegfried (Siegfried)
Lorenz - Seigfried (Gotterfammerung)
Pavarotti - Rodolfo
Valetti - Fenton
Merli - Calaf
Vickers - Siegmund
Melchior - Tristan, Tannhauser
Volker - Lohengrin
Ralf - Walther
Bjorling - Faust (Gounod)
Melandri - Faust (Boito)
Thill - Werther
Campora - Paolo
Bastianini - Renato
Gobbi - Scarpia
Tibbett - Iago, Boccanegra
Warren - Rigoletto, Di Luna
Galeffi - Gérard
Silveri - Ford
Stracciari - Rigoletto
Janssen - Wolfram
Bechi - Alfio
Taddei - Amonasro, Falstaff
Stabile - Falstaff
Guelfi - Rance
Merrill - Di Luna
Basiola - Di Luna
Tajo - Figaro
Pinza - Don Giovanni
Uhde - Telramund
Schorr - Wotan
Nissen - Dutchman
Hotter - Dutchman, Gurnemanz
London - Wotan (Rheingold), Amfortas
Weber - Hagen, Gurnemanz
Siepi - Don Giovanni, Philippe
De Angelis - Mefistofele
Ghiaurov - Fiesco
Neri - Mefistofele, Inquisitore
Ramey - Mefistofele


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Sutherland: Lucia ( a towering achievement over 3 decades) Daughter of the Regiment ( a light opera admittedly but it showed off her delightful comic personality closest to her own) Semiramide ( unequaled). Esclarmonde ( who else can sing this????????????)
Jessye Norman: Ariadne, Cassandra, Sieglinde ( not really the right voice for the part BUT so beautifully sung and the taking of the sword is so thrilling), Elsa, Judith
Stephanie Blythe has nothing recorded on Youtube but Rossini and Handel pretty much and her great forte was an Amneris that shook the walls and was lit from within but not saved for posterity. Only briefly in Carmen do you get even a hint of the jawdropping size of her beautiful voice. Such a loss.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

I don't think I could produce such a list, though there are certain singers I wouldn't necessarily call favourites, whom I do like in certain roles, but that's not quite the same thing. How many favourite singers do I have anyway? I did do a post on my blog some years ago which enumerated the ten Singers Who Changed My Life but some of these (Maggie Teyte, for instance) are more noted for their recital work than their operatic roles. I also note that I don't have as much regard for Domingo as I once did, though I still aver he became a powerful stage performer.

Of these ten then,
Callas - Norma, Violetta, Medea obviously, but I also think her Leonora in *Il Trovatore* musically one of her greatest roles ("a miracle" according to Schwarzkopf), nor has any other singer really come close to her Anna Bolena; and actually I find it hard to get her out of my head in any of the roles she sang.
Schwarzkopf - the Marschallin
Janet Baker - Dido (both Purcell and Berlioz)
Wunderlich - Tamino
Vickers - Florestan, Grimes, Tristan, Otello
De Los Angeles - Manon, Mimi
Gobbi - Scarpia, Rigoletto, Boccanegra
David Daniels - Ariodante
Teyte - Périchole (based on her fabulous recording of _Tu n'es pas beau)_
Domingo - Otello

Some of my also rans, mostly because I've heard them live either in recital or in opera.

Dernesch - Leonore, the Marschallin
Baltsa - Eboli, Carmen
DiDonato - Dejanira
Gheorghiu - Violetta
Cotrubas - Violetta
Alagna - Roméo
Te Kanawa - Fiordiligi
Fleming - Blanche (Previn's *A Streetcar Named Desire*)
Hunt Lieberson - Irene
Valerie Masterson - Cleopatra, Semele


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

Tsaraslondon said:


> I also note that I don't have as much regard for Domingo as I once did, though I still aver he became a powerful stage performer


 Your observation of Domingo definitely caught my eye. Since you chose his Otello I am going to assume that your comment about him becoming a powerful stage performer has a good bit to do with his performance of that role, which I have heard others praise highly. But I saw him many times through the years and found him to be the most generic stage performer using the same set of expressions again and again and again. PS... I just discovered your blog and I'm looking forward to perusing in the cold months ahead!


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Magda Olivero in Adriana Lecouvreur
Neil Shicoff in La Juive
Sondra Radvanovsky in Medea
Maria Callas in Tosca
Vickers in Otello


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

nina foresti said:


> Magda Olivero in Adriana Lecouvreur
> Neil Shicoff in La Juive
> Sondra Radvanovsky in Medea
> Maria Callas in Tosca
> Vickers in Otello


Yup!!!...That looks like a Nina list  !!!


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

ScottK said:


> Your observation of Domingo definitely caught my eye. Since you chose his Otello I am going to assume that your comment about him becoming a powerful stage performer has a good bit to do with his performance of that role, which I have heard others praise highly. But I saw him many times through the years and found him to be the most generic stage performer using the same set of expressions again and again and again. PS... I just discovered your blog and I'm looking forward to perusing in the cold months ahead!


You'll enjoy it. No wonder he is so good here.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

This is going to be a Callas fest, since I think she is unsurpassed in several of the roles she sang: *Norma, Medea, *Lady Macbeth, Abigaille, Leonora (*Il Trovatore*), Amina in *La Sonnambula, La Traviata*, *Armida, Anna Bolena*, Imogene in *Il Pirata, Tosca*.
Other singers who I admire in other roles that I consider definitive:
Joan Sutherland: *Esclarmonde*, *Semiramide*,* Alcina*
Marilyn Horne: Arsace (*Semiramide*), Händel’s *Orlando*, Vivaldi’s *Orlando Furioso*
Kirsten Flagstad: *Tristan und Isolde*, Brunhilde (*Die Walküre, Siegfried, Gotterdammerung*).
Fritz Wunderlich: Tamino (*Die Zauberflöte*) Belmonte in *Der Entführung aus dem Serail *
Franco Corelli: Calaf (*Turandot*). Manrico in *Il Trovatore*, Alvaro in *La Forza del destino*, Cavaradossi in *Tosca*, *Don Carlo*, *Andrea Chénier*
Magda Olivero: *Adriana Lecouvreur*
Birgit Nilsson: *Turandot*, *Elektra*, *Brunhilde*, Die Färberin in *Die Frau Ohne Schatten 
*Leonie Rysanek: Kaiserin, Chrysothemis
Roberto Alagna as the most adorable Roméo in *Roméo et Juliette
*Rolando Villazon as the most believable Alfredo in a SF *La traviata*.
Tatiana Troyanos as an unbelievably sexy Poppea in *L’incoronazione di Poppea *and a butch Caesar in *Julius Caesar 
*Valerie Masterson as a complete and variegated kittenish Cleopatra in the same *Julius Caesar. *


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

MAS said:


> This is going to be a Callas fest, since I think she is unsurpassed in several of the roles she sang: *Norma, Medea, *Lady Macbeth, Abigaille, Leonora (*Il Trovatore*), Amina in *La Sonnambula, La Traviata*, *Armida, Anna Bolena*, Imogene in *Il Pirata, Tosca*.
> Other singers who I admire in other roles that I consider definitive:
> Joan Sutherland: *Esclarmonde*, *Semiramide*,* Alcina*
> Marilyn Horne: Arsace (*Semiramide*), Händel’s *Orlando*, Vivaldi’s *Orlando Furioso*
> ...


I agree with Mas on all of these. I have the Sutherland and Horne Semiramide and it was amazing. I wished Callas had recorded it early before 52 as she would have also been amazing in the role. In her prime she was the only person who could have been serious competition for Sutherland with both the heroic character and dexterity needed for Bel Raggio, but correct me if I am wrong but it was an opera that had opera arias done in recitals but they never started performing it until after Sutherland and Bonynge resurrected it.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

Only including singers for whom we have complete recordings, the following singers are my favorites in these roles -- and I think they are the best I've heard in these roles:

Del Monaco -- Johnson, Andrea Chenier, Otello
Flagstad -- Isolde, Dido
Moffo -- Violetta
Freni -- Mimi
Tebaldi -- Minnie
Melchior -- Tristan, Siegmund, Siegfried
Kirsten -- Butterfly
Vickers -- Canio
Petrella -- Giorgetta
Clabassi -- Rodolfo, Timur
Bechi -- Gerard, Riccardo

Some of these singers left excerpts of other roles that I like the best -- for example, Reinmar's Abschied is my favorite recording of any of Wotan's music, but it's not complete; I like Tamagno and Melchior's Otello's better than Del Monaco's, but they're just excerpts.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I agree with Mas on all of these. I have the Sutherland and Horne Semiramide and it was amazing. I wished Callas had recorded it early before 52 as she would have also been amazing in the role. In her prime she was the only person who could have been serious competition for Sutherland with both the heroic character and dexterity needed for Bel Raggio, but correct me if I am wrong but it was an opera that had opera arias done in recitals but they never started performing it until after Sutherland and Bonynge resurrected it.


I think that's probably right. Before that you might have heard _Bel raggio_ in a recital but I don't think you'd have come across the complete opera anywhere. Bonynge made quite a few cuts and adapted some of the role of Semiramide to capitalise on Sutherland's spectacular top register, but he certainly put it back in the repertoire. The complete opera (I have a recording on Naxos) is about one hour longer.


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Tsaraslondon said:


> I think that's probably right. Before that you might have heard _Bel raggio_ in a recital but I don't think you'd have come across the complete opera anywhere. Bonynge made quite a few cuts and adapted some of the role of Semiramide to capitalise on Sutherland's spectacular top register, but he certainly put it back in the repertoire. The complete opera (I have a recording on Naxos) is about one hour longer.


There was a 1940 production in Naples, I think. Led by Serafin but I’m not sure who was in the cast.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Op.123 said:


> There was a 1940 production in Naples, I think. Led by Serafin but I’m not sure who was in the cast.


A 1940 revival at the _Maggo musicale Fiorentino _with Gabriella Gatti as *Semiramide*, Ebe Stignani as Arsace, Ferruccio Tagliavini as Idreno, Tancredi Pasero as Assur. There is no conductor mentioned (!). The source is the liner notes by Giorgio Migliavacca from Nightingale‘s recording of that opera with Edita Gruberova.









SEMIRAMIDE'S APOGEE, DECLINE AND RENAISSANCE: THE TRUE PHOENIX OF BELCANTO


These liner notes begin with a profile of Semiramis as a prominent monarch of antiquity and the numerous librettos and operas that she inspired, the most important being Rossini's belcanto masterpiece. He created this role for his wife, Isabella



www.academia.edu


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

MAS said:


> A 1940 revival at the _Maggo musicale Fiorentino _with Gabriella Gatti as *Semiramide*, Ebe Stignani as Arsace, Ferruccio Tagliavini as Idreno, Tancredi Pasero as Assur. There is no conductor mentioned (!). The source is the liner notes by Giorgio Migliavacca from Nightingale‘s recording of that opera with Edita Gruberova.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Sounds like an interesting production. Gatti had a nice Lyric voice with an attractive timbre, maybe a lighter voice than ideal in the role, but would be good to hear.


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## gsdkfasdf (11 mo ago)

I agree with so many of the posts here, wanted to add a few of mine

Galina Vishnevskaya as Tatiana
Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Onegin
Natalie Dessay as Zerbinetta and Lakme
Sondra Radvanovsky as the Trovatore Leonora

Probably a few somewhat controversial additions ig


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

gsdkfasdf said:


> I agree with so many of the posts here, wanted to add a few of mine
> 
> Galina Vishnevskaya as Tatiana
> Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Onegin
> ...


Not at all - I should have at least nominated Vishnevskaya for the Tatiana to which I was just listening a few days ago. The Zerbinetta is more difficult as I was impressed by many over the years. One Zerbinetta? More difficult - I like the very early Gruberova way back then, Battle, Dessay for her fearlessness, and Laura Claycomb who sang the s*** out if it one night in San Francisco - assured, fearless, soaring…absolutely magnificent.
I loved Sondra’s Leonora (even compared to Callas, my benchmark) singing with Hvorotovsky also in SF.
as far as the ultimate Onegin for me…jury’s still out and I’m not a baritone guy.


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## ewilkros (8 mo ago)

Op.123 said:


> There was a 1940 production in Naples, I think. Led by Serafin but I’m not sure who was in the cast.


There were a pair of 78's from the Soviet Union around 1950 -- Arsace's _Ah quel giorno_, in Italian, with the wonderful mezzo (or contralto) coloratura Zara Dolukhanova--





and the duet _Serbami ognor_, in Russian, by Dolukhanova and Galina Sakharova --






--and that served in the West as a preview of coming attractions until an actual staging should come along. I don't know if there was a USSR production of _Semiramide_, but they certainly give a *performance*, no read-throughs here.

In other news, Bidú Sayão's _Bel raggio_ ....






This served as the Lesson Scene in a Met broadcast of Barbiere di Siviglia, Apr 10 1943. Legend has it that Lily Pons heard that Sayão was penciled in for the role that season, and said (in front of The Press) something like "Dear Bidú, she's so _sweet_, but Rosina is really a role for a coloratura"--and Sayão said to herself, "We'll see about that".

(Pons' last Lesson Scene had been Dell'Acqua's _Villanelle_ and _Ach, ich liebte_ (in Italian) from _Entführung.)_


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## Viardots (Oct 4, 2014)

My choices consist of favourite singers with extant recordings of entire roles in complete opera recordings, whether live or studio, or extensive excerpts available in the form of airchecks or studio recordings:

Maria Callas: Norma, Violetta, Medea, Anna Bolena
Elisabeth Grümmer: Agathe, Eva, Elsa
Victoria de los Angeles: Manon, Mimi
Janet Baker: Dido (Purcell and Berlioz)
Sena Jurinac: Octavian, The Marschallin, Fidelio
Fritz Wunderlich: Tamino, Belmonte, Alfredo Germont
Frida Leider: Isolde
Tito Gobbi: Scarpia, Rigoletto, Rodrigo - Marquis di Posa (Don Carlo)
Friedrich Schorr: Hans Sachs
Giovanni Martinelli: Otello
Conchita Supervia: Carmen
Ezio Pinza: Don Giovanni, Fiesco (Simon Boccanegra)


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Callas - Norma, Medea, Traviata, Tosca, all her bel canto roles.
Tebaldi - Leonora (forza)
Sutherland - Alcina, Marguerite de Valois
Varnay - Ortrud, Klytemnestra
Nilsson - Brunnhilde, Turandot, Elektra
Cigna - Turandot, Aida
Grummer - Agathe, Elsa
Caballe - Maria Stuarda, Lucrezia Borgia, Elisabetta (Don Carlo and Roberto Deveraux)
De Los Angeles - Lauretta, Mimi, Butterfly, Manon, Charlotte
Gavazzi - Adriana Lecouvreur, Nedda
Freni - Mimi, Norina, Desdemona
Zeani - Violetta
Modl - Kundry, Brunhilde
Olivero - Liu, Minnie, Adriana Lecouvreur, Fedora
Studer - Elisabeth, Elsa, Sieglinde, Chrysosthemis, Salome, Nozze Countess, Queen of the Night
Schwarzkopf - Marschallin, Capriccio, Donna Elvira
Varady - Arabella, Kaiserin
Souliotis - Abigaille, Lady Macbeth
Theodossiou - Anna Bolena, Griselda
Dominguez - Amneris
Stignani - Azucena
Simionato - Azucena, Amneris, Valentine, Seymour,
Verrett - Dalila, Elisabetta (Maria Stuarda), Eboli
Del Monaco - Enzo, Otello
Martinelli - Otello
Corelli - Calaf, Manrico, Canio, Radames, Chenier, Cavaradossi
Di Stefano - Edgardo, Rodolfo
Pavarotti - Rodolfo, Tonio (Fille), Arturo
Valetti - Alfredo
Vickers - Siegmund, Otello, Giasone
Melchior - All his Wagner
Bjorling - Pinkerton, Rodolfo
Gobbi - Scarpia, Rigoletto, Boccanegra, Gianni Schichi, Iago
Panerai - Di Luna, Enrico
Tibbett - Iago, Boccanegra, Rigoletto
Stracciari - Rigoletto
Guelfi - Rance, Doge Foscari
Ghiaurov - Fiesco
Neri - Mefistofele, Inquisitore

I'm sure there are others, but that's my list adapted from the opening post (I'm lazy like that.)

N.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Tsaraslondon said:


> I don't think I could produce such a list, though there are certain singers I wouldn't necessarily call favourites, whom I do like in certain roles, but that's not quite the same thing.


I found it difficult too and I was tempted to produce a list of my favourite opera roles and who I think was best for them (which is another question entirely). I also found it difficult to whittle it down when it came to Callas, De los Angeles (I was tempted to put all her recorded roles except Santuzza), Corelli and Studer.

N.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

MAS said:


> A 1940 revival at the _Maggo musicale Fiorentino _with Gabriella Gatti as *Semiramide*, Ebe Stignani as Arsace, Ferruccio Tagliavini as Idreno, Tancredi Pasero as Assur. There is no conductor mentioned (!). The source is the liner notes by Giorgio Migliavacca from Nightingale‘s recording of that opera with Edita Gruberova.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The Bonynge studio recording was made in 1965-66 and Bonynge conducted it with Sutherland and Horne in Boston before that. However, apart from the Florence 1940 performances, Santini conducted it at La Scala in 1962 with Sutherland and Simionato (also in a highly cut edition, but significantly different from the ones in the Bonynge studio set). The Santini performances were offered to Callas but she turned the role of Semiramide down at that point.

N.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

MAS said:


> Not at all - I should have at least nominated Vishnevskaya for the Tatiana to which I was just listening a few days ago. The Zerbinetta is more difficult as I was impressed by many over the years. One Zerbinetta? More difficult - I like the very early Gruberova way back then, Battle, Dessay for her fearlessness, and Laura Claycomb who sang the s*** out if it one night in San Francisco - assured, fearless, soaring…absolutely magnificent.
> I loved Sondra’s Leonora (even compared to Callas, my benchmark) singing with Hvorotovsky also in SF.
> as far as the ultimate Onegin for me…jury’s still out and I’m not a baritone guy.


I adore the tenors and baritones first, then the sopranos. Hvorostovsky's Onegin with Fleming was simply stunning.
Sondra's Leonora was delicious but outstanding and memory-making in her Medea and Norma.
Two lesser mentioned singers that I found to be unique and fascinating in their interpretations and visual expressions were Shicoff and Poplavskaya. Their performances always kept my eyes riveted.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Cecilia Bartoli - Donna Elvira


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## Agamenon (Apr 22, 2019)

Just two short lists:

Flagstad -Isolde.
Nilsson -Brünnhilde, Elektra.
Callas -Norma, Leonora (trovatore).
Sutherland -Lucia.
Caballé -Maria Stuarda, Elizabeth.
Tebaldi -Leonora (forza).
Rysanek -Ortrud.
Meier - Kundry.

Vinay -Tristan.
King -Siegmund.
Windgassen -Siegfried.
Del Monaco -Alvaro.
Bergonzi -Alfredo, Manrico, Radamés,
Corelli -Calaf.
Pavarotti -Rodolfo.
Vickers -Otello.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Just 1 Lo-o-o-ong One
Callas- Norma/Medea/Tosca
Olivero - Adriana Lecouvreur/Margherita
Shicoff - Eleazar/Rodolfo/Lenski
Gheorghiu - Violetta
Vickers - Otello/Canio
Radvanovsky - Leonora/Medea/Norma
Villazon - Romeo
Hvorostovsky - Onegin/Count di Luna/Posa
Corelli - Don Alvaro/Manrico/Maurizio/Chenier
Sills - Lucia
Grigolo - Romeo
Alagna - Romeo/Don Jose
Pavarotti - Cavaradossi
Zeani - Violetta
Netrebko - Juliette
Ramey - Mefistofele
Tucker - Rodolfo
Tebaldi - Minnie
Bruna Rasa - Santuzza
Gigli - Turiddu
Bechi - Alfio
Pape - KIng Philippe
Gobbi - Rigoletto/Scarpia
Poplavskaya - Marguerite


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