# Regina Resnik



## Francasacchi (7 mo ago)

Do you think she could have remained a soprano if her early years had not involved singing some heavy repertoire (example, an early Leonore in Fidelio I think under Kleiber)? Critics said her voice soon developed "a quaver." When she switched to mezzo and auditioned again for Bing singing some of the music of Amneris, he said he could not see what was different, not that he's the most insightful source, and he did relegate her then at the Met to character parts, unjustly. I still hear a dramatic soprano top in her commercial recording of O don fatale. Some when she was a soprano compared her voice to Ponselle, who later claimed she may have always been a mezzo with a free upper extension.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

All I know is she sure sounded like a mezzo/ contralto as Klytemnestra with Nilsson on the studio recording. Horne transitioned to mezzo without doing damage to her voice in the wrong repertoire so this is not an isolated case. Varnay is definitely one who epitomizes your tragectory of early heavy parts. I mainly know Resnik through that role mentioned.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I must also point out that mezzo Stephanie Blythe has sung appropriate repertoire for a long time and she has turned into a tenor as far as her range is concerned and has sung tenor roles even. Her voice still sounds very young and healthy but an octave lower.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Francasacchi said:


> Do you think she could have remained a soprano if her early years had not involved singing some heavy repertoire (example, an early Leonore in Fidelio I think under Kleiber)? Critics said her voice soon developed "a quaver." When she switched to mezzo and auditioned again for Bing singing some of the music of Amneris, he said he could not see what was different, not that he's the most insightful source, and he did relegate her then at the Met to character parts, unjustly. I still hear a dramatic soprano top in her commercial recording of O don fatale. Some when she was a soprano compared her voice to Ponselle, who later claimed she may have always been a mezzo with a free upper extension.


Is this the "O don fatale" you mean?






I find her top rather harsh and unpleasant. I also find the lower middle a bit weak and lacking in core until she flips into chest, which has a different quality. I've always felt that Resnik sounded old; I first heard her as Brangaene to Nilsson's isolde on the Decca/Solti recording, and she gave me the impression that Brangaene was Isolde's elderly nurse. The only role I've liked her in is Klytemnestra, where her vocal traits make for a perfect image of dissolution and decadence, but since I don't care for _Elektra_ Resnik is mostly off my radar. I imagine she was an effective countess in _Queen of Spades_, and I suspect Bing's instincts were right when he relegated her to character parts.


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## Francasacchi (7 mo ago)

Woodduck said:


> Is this the "O don fatale" you mean?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yes but it still sounds like a soprano top, howver harsh, yet I admit at that time the registers were splitting apart. It's interesting though in Europe at the same time she was being given major roles, not just character parts, in a multiple large houses.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Francasacchi said:


> Yes but it still sounds like a soprano top, howver harsh, yet I admit at that time the registers were splitting apart. It's interesting though in Europe at the same time she was being given major roles, not just character parts, in a multiple large houses.


I'm under the impression that her acting was good. She must have been quite effective in those character roles, which tend to be more interesting to play than romantic leads.


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## sworley (6 mo ago)

Wasn't she ill when she recorded that Brangaene? I only began to listen to her recently and I was consistently impressed by her vivid characterizations. She had "face" and a great seriousness about her.


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## Francasacchi (7 mo ago)

Her Carmen was renowned in Europe. Whether that qualifies as a character role is open to debate.


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## Francasacchi (7 mo ago)

sworley said:


> Wasn't she ill when she recorded that Brangaene? I only began to listen to her recently and I was consistently impressed by her vivid characterizations. She had "face" and a great seriousness about her.


I had vaguely heard she was, and that she wasn't exactly thrilled with that assignment. Just hearsay.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

She's not right for Eboli if that recording is to go by. The lack of purity in her vowels and the way that the registers are somewhat split in the middle to the top of the voice leads me to think that there's something wrong technically and that makes it difficult to tell whether she is a mezzo or a soprano. Her vocality works better in the lower parts of the aria and that indicates that it is likely she was a mezzo rather than a soprano and just didn't integrate the chest and head registers in the upper half of her voice and so it sounds bright and wild at the top.

I like her Klytemnestra and she is Sieglinde in my favourite Ring (I should give it a listen), she's one of the weaker cast members in that Ring from my memory, but she isn't as out of place as you might think going by that Eboli.

N.


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

Her Carmen sounds in Carlos Saura's "Carmen".


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