# Favorite Operatic Holiday Song



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4y...se to marvel at. Happy Holidays friends. John


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> For me it is HANDS DOWN the great Joan Sutherland singing O Holy Night. *In a recent discussion it was determined she was just a simple lyric coloratura soprano,* but listen to this and not come away believing you just heard a Xmas song sung as if it were In Questa Reggia by a truly great dramatic soprano. It is a tour de force performance at a very high tessitura and with awe inspiring volume!!! Post me somethng else to marvel at. Happy Holidays friends. John


Don't mischaracterize my statements about Sutherland or you'll get a load of coal for Christmas! :scold:

Now, fix your link. You've given us the Big Bang Theory. Yes, she was a big bang, but not that one.

My favorite song for this thread is the same as yours, but by a different singer: Jussi Bjorling, who has been determined to be a simple lyric non-coloratura tenor but in this clip will make you think you've been listening to God.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


>


huh? XD



> For me it is HANDS DOWN the great Joan Sutherland singing O Holy Night.* In a recent discussion it was determined she was just a simple lyric coloratura soprano*, but listen to this and not come away believing you just heard a Xmas song sung as if it were In Questa Reggia by a truly great dramatic soprano. It is a tour de force performance at a very high tessitura and with awe inspiring volume!!! Post me somethng else to marvel at. Happy Holidays friends. John


:lol::lol::lol::lol:

anyway, mine are:
Robert Merrill: O Holy Night (Sutherland is a close second, but Merrill's version is just.....WOW!)





Eula Beal: Ave Maria (Gounod)





Joan Sutherland: Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Oh Divine Redeemer and Ave Maria (Schubert) 













Kirsten Flagstad: Silent Night


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## Balthazar (Aug 30, 2014)

Act IV of Werther with Jonas Kaufmann.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

As much as I love Dame Joan, this is unbeatable


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Without a single doubt for me it's....





Oops! Sorry Woodduck. I didn't see that you chose my favorite before me.
At least we have good ears!!


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

nina foresti said:


> Without a single doubt for me it's....
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It can't be played too often, can it? When I first discovered it I just played it over and over in disbelief at its simple fervor and thrilling vocal perfection. I don't know Swedish, yet Bjorling's sincerity and pure beauty give the song more meaning for me than anyone's version in English or French I've ever heard or expect to hear. Apparently it's practically the International Anthem of Scandinavia at Christmas time; even the Norwegians are happy to be honorary Swedes when they listen to it!


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> Don't mischaracterize my statements about Sutherland or you'll get a load of coal for Christmas! :scold:
> 
> Now, fix your link. You've given us the Big Bang Theory. Yes, she was a big bang, but not that one.
> 
> My favorite song for this thread is the same as yours, but by a different singer: Jussi Bjorling, who has been determined to be a simple lyric non-coloratura tenor but in this clip will make you think you've been listening to God.


You crack me up, friend. Link is fixed by the way. Thanks. That was one of the best things I've heard Bjorling do, but my goodness, the conductor drags that piece out!!!! Thanks for the link.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> huh? XD
> 
> :lol::lol::lol::lol:
> 
> ...


I LUV Sutherland's Ave Maria and went on a binge playing it all afternoon last Xmas. I never have heard Flagstad's Silent Night. Jez that woman had a gorgeous voice. The Jew from Brooklyn sang the pants off of O Holy Night!!! What a gorgeous voice... so full of personality!! I forgot how handsome he was as a young man. Thanks!!!!


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Pugg said:


> As much as I love Dame Joan, this is unbeatable


Lawd, she makes me proud to be from Mississippi! Her voice was so glorious when she was young and this is sung with so much feeling it almost makes this agnostic boy BELIEVE!!!


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> You crack me up, friend. Link is fixed by the way. Thanks. *That was one of the best things I've heard Bjorling do*, but my goodness, the conductor drags that piece out!!!! Thanks for the link.


You need to listen to more Bjorling! He did so many things that were the best things he ever did, and often the best things _anyone_ ever did. How about his Rodolfo?






How could Renata not fall in love with that?


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> You need to listen to more Bjorling! He did so many things that were the best things he ever did, and often the best things _anyone_ ever did. How about his Rodolfo?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I've heard quite a bit of him and actually they play a number of matinee at the Met performances with Bjorling on Sirius Met Radio. I have him as Calaf. He and Corelli battle it out for my favorite tenor. Corelli is cuter, though.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Lawd, she makes me proud to be from Mississippi! Her voice was so glorious when she was young and this is sung with so much feeling it almost makes this agnostic boy BELIEVE!!!


The whole record is 40 minutes of stunning music.:tiphat:
(Recorded in mid summer at the famous Tosca sessions)


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> Eula Beal: Ave Maria (Gounod)
> 
> 
> 
> ...


What a couple of glorious voices! A pity Eula Beale wasn't around longer. This is perfection.

And Kirsten - here in her 60s! You can still hear why Sutherland said Flagstad's was the greatest voice she ever heard. (I hate that arrangement, though. Weird harmony.)


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I've heard quite a bit of him and actually they play a number of matinee at the Met performances with Bjorling on Sirius Met Radio. I have him as Calaf. He and Corelli battle it out for my favorite tenor. Corelli is cuter, though.


If Bjorling had looked like Corelli be he'd be my favorite human being in the history of the world.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Sorry! Post deleted


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> If Bjorling had looked like Corelli be he'd be my favorite human being in the history of the world.


That's an amen brother!


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4y...h. I'll have to see if Youtube still has it.


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)




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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Pugg said:


> As much as I love Dame Joan, this is unbeatable


Quite so, 'Queen Leontyne' was the perfect accompaniment to today's Champagne and smoked salmon and caviar tarts.

N.


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## gellio (Nov 7, 2013)

Varnay in the opening of ACT II of the '57 Kna Ring. It's all I want to hear these days.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

gellio said:


> Varnay in the opening of ACT II of the '57 Kna Ring. It's all I want to hear these days.


Do not go overboard please , this is about Christmas :cheers:


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Pugg said:


> Do not go overboard please , this is about Christmas :cheers:


It's OK! Wotan has asked Brunnhilde to sing 

"The Valkyrie Christmas Song."

_[to the tune of "Jingle Bells"]_

*Dashing through the sky
On horses that can fly, 
Through the air we go -
Hey! Ho-jo-to-ho!

Corpses o'er our steeds,
Slain in hero's deeds,
Oh what fun it is to bring
Them sex and honeyed mead! 

Ho! -

Jo-to-ho, hei-ja-hei,
Hear our battle cry!
Oh what fun it is to be
A buxom valkyrie!*

*Heiaha! Hoo-hoo-wee!
Hear our savage glee!
Oh what fun it is to be
A big - fat - val - kyr - rie!*


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