# (Gounod) Ave Maria Contest



## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Luciano Pavarotti 





Renata Tebaldi





Alfredo Kraus





Eula Beal


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

First, Schubert, and now its Bach/Gounod.. Oh no.. There should have been a 6th option; "Banish this poll thread to the vocal music subforum."


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I’d never heard Eula Beal before. She sings it so easily and naturally that I can’t vote for anyone else on this contest, though I like Alfredo Kraus’s version. Tebaldi is very disappointing.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

MAS said:


> I'd never heard Eula Beal before. She sings it so easily and naturally that I can't vote for anyone else on this contest, though I like Alfredo Kraus's version. Tebaldi is very disappointing.


I'm not voting until the end, but she is easily my favorite here. I've been a diehard fan since I discovered opera half a lifetime ago.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

hammeredklavier said:


> First, Schubert, and now its Bach/Gounod.. Oh no.. There should have been a 6th option; "Banish this poll thread to the vocal music subforum."


I'm sowie 
I wanted to choose a piece that was "in the ballpark of Christmas-y": enough to be in-season, but not so Christmas-y that it would be weird voting for it after Christmas had past.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Beale by a large margin for me.
But I must add a most touching tenor version as well.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

nina foresti said:


> Beale by a large margin for me.
> But I must add a most touching tenor version as well.


I like the Lanza version as well.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I had an Aunt Eula but she couldn't sing like this. I had never heard of Eula Beale but she took the prize for me.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I had an Aunt Eula but she couldn't sing like this.* I had never heard of Eula Beale* but she took the prize for me.



I am very, VERY happy to have changed that. I might even put her as one of the top 10 voices of the 20th century. 
Merry Christmas!


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

''just take me to the poll results'' .
I think I never laugh so loud on first Christmas morning. :lol:


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Eula's the be-al and end-al.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> I am very, VERY happy to have changed that. I might even put her as one of the top 10 voices of the 20th century.
> Merry Christmas!


The sad thing about her is there is a dearth of her material on Youtube and none of it is from operas. Only stuff like Bach and popular songs. I was exploring using her in a contest but she has a very limited Youtube presence. Shame really.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> The sad thing about her is there is a dearth of her material on Youtube and none of it is from operas. Only stuff like Bach and popular songs. I was exploring using her in a contest but she has a very limited Youtube presence. Shame really.


She had a short career doing concert work but made only a few appearances in opera. It was her choice to retire from regular performing and have a family. There may not be any recordings of opera.

Why does she make me think of Jane Froman?


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> She had a short career doing concert work but made only a few appearances in opera. It was her choice to retire from regular performing and have a family. There may not be any recordings of opera.
> 
> Why does she make me think of Jane Froman?


I hear it. Sutherland was very lucky to travel only with her husband and she could afford a nanny to travel with them so she could be both a mom, a full time wife, and a prima donna. My sister sang only for 15 years and quit to have a family. I think for many women it is a good choice. Even my sister who sang at one theater and almost never travelled, found it really hard to have a career with an au pair girl. I think she wanted more involvement with her child. A side note about my sis. She specialized early in her career in being able to learn a new role in 24 hours and in her early career got on the map by saving many performances where a singer got sick. Eileen Farrell sang mostly recitals as she didn't have to spend lots of time learning a role and could slip off overnight to do a recital and be back to spend most of her week with her family. I think that explains many of the choices she made in her career. You know she never sang a Wagner opera, only pieces like the Immolation Scene.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

We all want more from Farrell, don't we? Yeah, I know, "she had a right to sing the blues." Well, I have a right to bear arms - semiautomatic military weapons, apparently - but...


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> We all want more from Farrell, don't we? Yeah, I know, "she had a right to sing the blues." Well, I have a right to bear arms - semiautomatic military weapons, apparently - but...


I hope you never do…


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> We all want more from Farrell, don't we? Yeah, I know, "she had a right to sing the blues." Well, I have a right to bear arms - semiautomatic military weapons, apparently - but...


Have you been into that Christmas booze again?


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

nina foresti said:


> Have you been into that Christmas booze again?


Never touch the stuff. I'm like this normally.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> Never touch the stuff. I'm like this normally.


I KNEW there was something special I really liked about you!


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Eula Beal's version benefitted from having the original piano accompaniment rather than the overworked adaptations of the Pavarotti and Tebaldi versions. I wasn't particularly taken with any of them. However, Pavarotti had the voice I liked the most and so I voted for him.

N.


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