# Round One: Le Prophete.Paunova, Horne



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Taking a chance here! I've tried three times and I cannot get Marilyn. Horne to begin at the correct spot. Can you go to the 6 minute spot to begin. Sorry. I don't know what else to do


----------



## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

I'd never heard of Paunova and there isn't much about her on the internet. She doesn't even warrant a Wikipedia entry. She was born in Bulgaria and originally was a concert pianist, having studied with Arturo Benedetti Michelangli, no less, in Rome and Siena. She began voice studies when she joined the piano faculty at the McGill University in Canada, making her operatic debut im 1977. She seems to have sung quite a bit in the US, and sang Eboli at the Met in 1986. It's an impressive voice, but a bit plummy for my taste, at times reminding me of Dame Clara Butt. Her execution of the florid music is a bit clumsy as well.

The Horne performance is taken from a 1960s recital, pre-dating her complete recording of the opera. Her coloratura is impressively acurate and her actual voice at this time in her career is much more to my taste. Indeed I used to have this recital on LP and always rather liked it. She also gives it a bit more light and shade so it's Horne for me.


----------



## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

For me it is Jackie all the way -- from the richer chest tones to her well learned trill (not an easy thing to do if you are not born with it) and her sound seems more secure to me throughout.
I honor Paunova for attempting her chance-taking last note which didn't quite last as long as she probablywould have liked but was well executed anyway.


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I confess to not knowing what this aria is about. I tried listening to the whole of _Le Prophete_ but found most of it unmemorable. This is its biggest hit, I think, and it clearly requires great agility and range, along with a light touch. Paunova sounds as if she has something in her mouth - or throat, or nose, or somewhere - and I could hardly distinguish a word. Some of the notes are approximations as well. Horne has it all nicely in hand.


----------



## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I saw Marilyn Horne sing this role back in the day but confess to not remembering anything about the opera - par for the course for Meyerbeer and I. The aria, however, I recall due to having listened to it several times in one of Horne’s aria albums. So her traversal of it is a known quantity. I like Paunova’s voice - she sounds like Borodina - but, like others, did not take to her (Paunova’s) singing.


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

This part of the aria is very exciting to me. I don't know what a full opera by Meyerbeer would be like, but I really like select pieces. This was early enough that Horne had the high notes needed for this aria. I wish Verrett had sung it. Two more fun ones to come.
I have a keyboard after having to use the onscreen keyboard for 2 weeks almost!


----------



## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> This part of the aria is very exciting to me. I don't know what a full opera by Meyerbeer would be like, but I really like select pieces. This was early enough that Horne had the high notes needed for this aria. I wish Verrett had sung it. Two more fun ones to come.
> I have a keyboard after having to use the onscreen keyboard for 2 weeks almost!


The only Meyerbeer opera I attended was *L’Africaine *in two different series of productions fifteen years apart, both starring Shirley Verrett and Placido Domingo. *Le Prophète *was one of those Live From The Met television productions starring Marilyn Horne and of course *Les Huguenots *(or *Gli Ugonotti *as it was styled in Italy) was the legendary La Scala production than joined Sutherland, Corelli and Simionato as the protagonists and that reportedly also offered to Callas (Valentin, I think).

I have a peculiar propensity to forget the music of Meyerbeer’s operas following either listening or attending a performance.


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

MAS said:


> The only Meyerbeer opera I attended was *L’Africaine *in two different series of productions fifteen years apart, both starring Shirley Verrett and Placido Domingo. *Le Prophète *was one of those Live From The Met television productions starring Marilyn Horne and of course *Les Huguenots *(or *Gli Ugonotti *as it was styled in Italy) was the legendary La Scala production than joined Sutherland, Corelli and Simionato as the protagonists and that reportedly also offered to Callas (Valentin, I think).
> 
> I have a peculiar propensity to forget the music of Meyerbeer’s operas following either listening or attending a performance.


It would have been memorable to have Sutherland as Adalgisa to Callas around 56 or 57. There is no way Callas would have taken a secondary role and she was way past her prime by the time of the La Scala production.. It would have been interesting. Few could sing O Beau Pais Dis (sp) like Sutherland. I think it is a gorgeous aria but don't know the rest other than the big tenor aria from our contest.


----------



## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

Paunova is a new name for me and I can't stop surprising the quantity of very good singers from Bulgaria. Meyerbeer may be not a great composer, he is rather successful craftsman than a big artist. But this art for art's sake has its own charm. And the performance, both performances are marvelous. I respect Horne deeply, moreover I like her. And I even began to distinguish trills! But here my vote is for Paunova, it's all about beauty of the voice and the way it works on me.


----------



## Shaafee Shameem (Aug 4, 2021)

Seattleoperafan said:


> It would have been memorable to have Sutherland as Adalgisa to Callas around 56 or 57. There is no way Callas would have taken a secondary role and she was way past her prime by the time of the La Scala production.. It would have been interesting. Few could sing O Beau Pais Dis (sp) like Sutherland. I think it is a gorgeous aria but don't know the rest other than the big tenor aria from our contest.


I wonder why Valentine is thought of as a secondary role, when it is longer, and richer musically and dramatically. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when Huguenots was quite popular, leading dramatic sopranos like Lillian Nordica, Rosa Raisa, Ester Mazzoleni etc sang the role.


----------

