# SOPRANO TOURNAMENT (By Request): Norman vs Flagstad



## Bonetan (Dec 22, 2016)

Jessye Norman, USA, 1945-2019






Kirsten Flagstad, Norway, 1895-1962






Who's singing did you prefer and why?


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I requested this. It is really hard for me to make a decision here. Both are among the supreme interpretations of this famous aria- the only aria in English in our contest as far as I can remember. Both were very famous and highly acclaimed for singing the role onstage. I saw Jessye Norman sing this live in concert after her big weight loss, but here she was in her vocal prime with that glorious lush sound she had in her heavy days when she was young. The Flagstad performance, on the other hand, is from her very last live performance in 1951 in her late 50's. As marvelous as they both are, I think the emotional intensity of Flagstad's final performance gives her the garland. I also prefer the richness of her voice down low in the " thy hand Belinda" bit and I prefer the reduced volume Flagstad takes on the second "Remember me!" I think it is more appropriate at that point. I hope you like this pairing of these two great dramatic sopranos in one of the most beautiful and poignant arias of all time. I also very much love the beautiful version the young Leontyne Price sang in her first Prima Donna Recital from the early 60's when her voice was in it's prime. Is this the most beautiful aria in English? It is certainly one of the two or three most beautiful I think.


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## BachIsBest (Feb 17, 2018)

Is Flagstad human? Was there anything she couldn't do? That was incredible!


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## BachIsBest (Feb 17, 2018)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I requested this. It is really hard for me to make a decision here. Both are among the supreme interpretations of this famous aria- the only aria in English in our contest as far as I can remember. Both were very famous and highly acclaimed for singing the role onstage. I saw Jessye Norman sing this live in concert after her big weight loss, but here she was in her vocal prime with that glorious lush sound she had in her heavy days when she was young. The Flagstad performance, on the other hand, is from her very last live performance in 1951 in her late 50's. As marvelous as they both are, I think the emotional intensity of Flagstad's final performance gives her the garland. I also prefer the richness of her voice down low in the " thy hand Belinda" bit and I prefer the reduced volume Flagstad takes on the second "Remember me!" I think it is more appropriate at that point. I hope you like this pairing of these two great dramatic sopranos in one of the most beautiful and poignant arias of all time. I also very much love the beautiful version the young Leontyne Price sang in her first Prima Donna Recital from the early 60's when her voice was in it's prime. Is this the most beautiful aria in English? It is certainly one of the two or three most beautiful I think.


Thanks for requesting this! Not two singers I'd normally seek out in this repertoire, but based on these recordings, I'm very glad I ended up listening!


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

BachIsBest said:


> Is Flagstad human? Was there anything she couldn't do? That was incredible!


She was also really wonderful in Bach, Bachisbest This just does me in. How can people say Flagstad doesn't give emotional interpretations?


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## Viardots (Oct 4, 2014)

BachIsBest said:


> Is Flagstad human? Was there anything she couldn't do? That was incredible!


Flagstad sang a varied repertoire of lyric and operetta roles in the earlier part of her career before moving to heavier lyric-dramatic roles such as Aida and finally to the Wagner hochdramatische roles, so her versatility is not surprising.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Well of course these are two glorious voices, and, taken in isolation, both give very beautiful renditions of this aria. That said both are a bit too heavy and lugubrious for my taste. Flagstad's version is so slow it's remarkable that she can sustain the line (which she does superbly), and I found her version that bit more heartfelt. Norman evinces a sort of generalised generosity of emotion, but I don't feel it's very specific to the music. On the other hand, her version is stylistically more correct, if not exactly a paragon. Oh, what to do, what to do? I'm going for Flagstad, but it's very close.

I have to say I now prefer original instruments and a more flowing pace, as demonstrated here by the wonderful, late lamented Lorraine Hunt Lieberson.






However, if we stick with modern instruments, then this one tops the lot.






Baker doesn't so much sing the aria as experience it and I find it incredibly moving.

Edited to add that in the recent BBC documentary on Dame Janet Baker, there is a wonderfully moving section with Joyce DiDonato listening to and commentng on this performance, so moved by the singing that she is almost in tears. It was apparently hearing the voice of Janet Baker that made DiDonato decide to become a singer and she has been a life long admirer.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Tsaraslondon said:


> Well of course these are two glorious voices, and, taken in isolation, both give very beautiful renditions of this aria. That said both are a bit too heavy and lugubrious for my taste. Flagstad's version is so slow it's remarkable that she can sustain the line (which she does superbly), and I found her version that bit more heartfelt. Norman evinces a sort of generalised generosity of emotion, but I don't feel it's very specific to the music. On the other hand, her version is stylistically more correct, if not exactly a paragon. Oh, what to do, what to do? I'm going for Flagstad, but it's very close.
> 
> I have to say I now prefer original instruments and a more flowing pace, as demonstrated here by the wonderful, late lamented Lorraine Hunt Lieberson.
> 
> ...


Beautifully written. I can thoroughly understand your preference Lorraine's and Janet's versions! They both have such elegance and intimacy for what is at heart a very intimate aria. I love the period instruments. Still, I think it is very interesting to see what these two famous artists do with the material. I also resonate with your "generalized emotion" take on Jessye Norman's version. I think that critique held up over much of her career but I didn't notice it so much live because her presence onstage was so overwhelming to me and many fans.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Beautifully written. I can thoroughly understand your preference Lorraine's and Janet's versions! They both have such elegance and intimacy for what is at heart a very intimate aria. I love the period instruments. Still, I think it is very interesting to see what these two famous artists do with the material. I also resonate with your "generalized emotion" take on Jessye Norman's version. I think that critique held up over much of her career but I didn't notice it so much live because her presence onstage was so overwhelming to me and many fans.


You might be interested to know that there is one other work that you can compare Flagstad, Norman and Baker in; Wagner's _Wesendonck Lieder_. This is much more Norman and Flagstad repertoire, but Baker's performance (with Sir Adrian Boult) is also wonderful, and I might even prefer it.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

There is no question in choosing this one. I am not familiar with this aria so I do not know what I should be looking for but I do know who touched me with her voice immediately and also had a fine trill and whose high note was more secure, and for me that was clearly Norman.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Tsaraslondon said:


> You might be interested to know that there is one other work that you can compare Flagstad, Norman and Baker in; Wagner's _Wesendonck Lieder_. This is much more Norman and Flagstad repertoire, but Baker's performance (with Sir Adrian Boult) is also wonderful, and I might even prefer it.


Yes, such great performances but not opera. I love the piece about the Mutterlein! So gorgeous!!!! My favorite. There is also Der Manner Sippe which both excel at.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Yes, such great performances but not opera. I love the piece about the Mutterlein! So gorgeous!!!! My favorite. There is also Der Manner Sippe which both excel at.


And of course Norman has sung Isolde's Liebestod (a studio recording under Davis and a live concert performance under Karajan), though she never sang the complete role.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

I'm out of my element here, but I really want to vote for Janet Baker!


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I have heard Flagstad sing this several times in past years, but memories do fade. Listening to Norman, I admired the thoughtfulness of her interpretation, the dynamic variety she brought to it. I was touched by the music as always, and I felt satisfied and almost ready to give her my vote. Then I listened to Flagstad, 56 years old and performing the last stage role she would undertake, and I felt as if I were hearing a human being's actual farewell to life. It tore me apart, and I was lucky that my phone rang during the orchestral coda and I was thus saved from wanting to join Dido in the great beyond. Flagstad's singing, with its fullness and gravity and warm portamenti, is far from what is now thought to be "authentic" Baroque style, and her tempo is almost impossibly slow - almost, but hearing her fill out the phrases, who could wish it otherwise? 

I suspect that this is the role in which Joan Sutherland heard Flagstad, and which moved her to say that it was the greatest voice she had ever heard. I find the sheer sound of it resonating in me long after the music has stopped, as if the earth itself is singing an eternal song, a warm lullaby which I'm sometimes lucky enough to hear beyond the noise of life.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Tsaraslondon said:


> I have to say I now prefer original instruments and a more flowing pace, as demonstrated here by the wonderful, late lamented Lorraine Hunt Lieberson.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Both of these are beautiful. I think Baker was the ideal interpreter of Purcell. I had her doing some of his songs on an LP and was inspired to learn one of them for use in church when I was working as a tenor soloist. My organist was an Englishwoman named Annetta Baldwin, and I recall discussing with her the pronunciation of "deity"; was it "day-i-tee' or "dee-i-tee"? I can't remember what we decided. I think Baker sang "day-i-tee," which I think is a purely British pronunciation.


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Tsaraslondon said:


> Well of course these are two glorious voices, and, taken in isolation, both give very beautiful renditions of this aria. That said both are a bit too heavy and lugubrious for my taste. Flagstad's version is so slow it's remarkable that she can sustain the line (which she does superbly), and I found her version that bit more heartfelt. Norman evinces a sort of generalised generosity of emotion, but I don't feel it's very specific to the music. On the other hand, her version is stylistically more correct, if not exactly a paragon. Oh, what to do, what to do? I'm going for Flagstad, but it's very close.
> 
> I have to say I now prefer original instruments and a more flowing pace, as demonstrated here by the wonderful, late lamented Lorraine Hunt Lieberson.
> 
> ...


The Hunt Lieberson is a delight. I love the slightly quicker pace that she adopts and the period instruments sound just right. I grew up on the Baker and her voice just breaks my heart in this. I would happily have both of these as desert island discs before either the Norman or the Flagstad. Jessye is just too operatic and Kirsten uses way too much portamento as she approaches many of the notes.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> I have heard Flagstad sing this several times in past years, but memories do fade. Listening to Norman, I admired the thoughtfulness of her interpretation, the dynamic variety she brought to it. I was touched by the music as always, and I felt satisfied and almost ready to give her my vote. Then I listened to Flagstad, 56 years old and performing the last stage role she would undertake, and I felt as if I were hearing a human being's actual farewell to life. It tore me apart, and I was lucky that my phone rang during the orchestral coda and I was thus saved from wanting to join Dido in the great beyond. Flagstad's singing, with its fullness and gravity and warm portamenti, is far from what is now thought to be "authentic" Baroque style, and her tempo is almost impossibly slow - almost, but hearing her fill out the phrases, who could wish it otherwise?
> 
> I suspect that this is the role in which Joan Sutherland heard Flagstad, and which moved her to say that it was the greatest voice she had ever heard. I find the sheer sound of it resonating in me long after the music has stopped, as if the earth itself is singing an eternal song, a warm lullaby which I'm sometimes lucky enough to hear beyond the noise of life.


I second the sentiment, but can't write about it as beautifully as you do!!! Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Barbebleu said:


> The Hunt Lieberson is a delight. I love the slightly quicker pace that she adopts and the period instruments sound just right. I grew up on the Baker and her voice just breaks my heart in this. I would happily have both of these as desert island discs before either the Norman or the Flagstad. Jessye is just too operatic and Kirsten use way too much portamento as she approaches many of the notes.


Wouldn't all the '"authenticists" be shocked if they were to travel back to the 18th century and find singers applying portamento liberally!


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> Wouldn't all the '"authenticists" be shocked if they were to travel back to the 18th century and find singers applying portamento liberally!


Of course we don't know whether they applied portamento or not, nor how much. I do feel Flagstad's portamento in this aria sounds styistically a bit wrong, but I have no way of knowing whether I'm right or wrong. It's noteworthy that Callas employed way more portamento in nineteenth century music than she did in Gluck or Cherubini, and one feels that it was instintctive.


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## Dimace (Oct 19, 2018)

VERY difficult this one, my friends.* I went for Jessye,* not so much because of these videos, but for her life time contribution to the opera in roles and Lieder (like The four last Songs) I like very much. The friends went for the GREAT Kirsten made also very well. The woman has DIVINE voice, but Jessye sang the BEST Lieder and took my vote. (unfair...) Thanks for the great games.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

I have no idea whether Flagstad's singing here is good stylistic practice (and I'm skeptical that anyone else does either, though I'm sure there are many scholars who know a lot more about it than I do). I am absolutely certain, however, that it is good music making and great opera singing, and that's much more important to me.


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

Wow. I always thought this aria was kinda overrated, but Flagstad moved me to the brink of tears. I had no idea that so much expression could be extracted from this piece. I’ve listened to the recordings with Baker and Lieberson, but this is something else. Maybe one of the most remarkable bits of singing I’ve ever heard.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Allegro Con Brio said:


> Wow. I always thought this aria was kinda overrated, but Flagstad moved me to the brink of tears. I had no idea that so much expression could be extracted from this piece. I've listened to the recordings with Baker and Lieberson, but this is something else. Maybe one of the most remarkable bits of singing I've ever heard.


I thought so as well and guessed rightly so that most of you had not heard this riveting version at the end of Flagstad's stage career. Glad you saw in it what I did.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

I was absolutely blown away by Norman's version. She has it all in this aria. Nobility and tenderness, expression and restraint. This aria can be approached in a number of ways, its melancholy nature has a monumental character to it and Norman never sounds less than a queen here, whilst never ever doing the grandeur and going beyond the bounds of Purcell's style.

One of my favourite renditions of the aria (though she lacks the grandeur to fully realise the recitative) is the one by De los Angeles, possibly the saddest of all the performances I've heard. Her Dido is a truly broken hearted young woman.

Flagstad is a singer who I often find it difficult to connect with despite acknowledging her vocal prowess. I was blown away here. She has all the nobility of Norman, but this is a true expressive lament. She has perfectly balanced all the interpretative demands of the aria and ticked all boxes. She's as tender as De los Angeles, as noble as Baker and no less intense than Norman herself. Flagstad is the (surprise) winner for me.

N.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

vivalagentenuova said:


> I have no idea whether Flagstad's singing here is good stylistic practice (and I'm skeptical that anyone else does either, though I'm sure there are many scholars who know a lot more about it than I do). I am absolutely certain, however, that it is good music making and great opera singing, and that's much more important to me.


I agree with you up to a point, but style does matter and it's not just about historical authenticity. Singing Bellini in the same way you would sing Puccini is clearly wrong and is one of the reasons so many singers of the _verismo_ era were unable to do justice to the music of the _bel canto_. It's one of the reasons I find Leontyne Price's _Prima Donna_ recitals so unsatisfactory. The range of music she chooses is wide, from Handel, Purcell and Gluck through to Britten, Barber and Menotti, but there is no real difference in her approach to the music, no specificity. Handel sounds much like Verdi or Puccini.

I agree Flagstad's beautiful and heartfelt singing rather transcends matter of style, but I also acknowledge my preference for something closer to historically informed performance. I have a feeling that if Flagstad were singing this a decade or two later, then she too would eschew some of her portamenti.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

The Conte said:


> I was absolutely blown away by Norman's version. She has it all in this aria. Nobility and tenderness, expression and restraint. This aria can be approached in a number of ways, its melancholy nature has a monumental character to it and Norman never sounds less than a queen here, whilst never ever doing the grandeur and going beyond the bounds of Purcell's style.
> 
> One of my favourite renditions of the aria (though she lacks the grandeur to fully realise the recitative) is the one by De los Angeles, possibly the saddest of all the performances I've heard. Her Dido is a truly broken hearted young woman.
> 
> ...


I am not well acquainted with de los Angeles and will have to check her version out. I am so glad you also found these versions of this aria so moving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are both great!


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I am not well acquainted with de los Angeles and will have to check her version out. I am so glad you also found these versions of this aria so moving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are both great!


I love De Los Angeles. Like Schwarzkopf, she was as much a recitalist as an opera singer and indeed carried on giving recitals long after she had given up the stage. Her best recorded opera roles, in my opinion, would be Manon, Marguerite, Butterfly, Mimi and Rosina and she is a wonderful Desdemona on a live relay of *Otello* from the Met, with Del Monaco and Warren.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Tsaraslondon said:


> I love De Los Angeles. Like Schwarzkopf, she was as much a recitalist as an opera singer and indeed carried on giving recitals long after she had given up the stage. Her best recorded opera roles, in my opinion, would be Manon, Marguerite, Butterfly, Mimi and Rosina and she is a wonderful Desdemona on a live relay of *Otello* from the Met, with Del Monaco and Warren.


The most remarkable thing about De los Angeles is the insights she brought to roles that in theory didn't suit her and yet she made them her own. She wouldn't be my first choice for Carmen, Violetta or Elizabeth, but I'd much rather listen to her recordings of those roles than many singers who were supposedly more suited to them. Santuzza was the only recording of hers that I don't think worked at all and I would add her Charlotte, Lauretta and Nedda to your list.

She wasn't really right for Dido and her Mimi-esque take on the part doesn't convince me that she reigns over Carthage, but her singing of the lament has a touching 'little girl' tenderness that I've only heard approached in the Flagstad performance on this thread. However, Flagstad also has the nobility that is lacking in De los Angeles version.

N.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I am not well acquainted with de los Angeles and will have to check her version out. I am so glad you also found these versions of this aria so moving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are both great!


Yes and these are two singers that I find difficult to appreciate, so I am especially grateful that you brought these versions to our attention.

I warn you about De los Angeles' Dido, whilst she is lovely, charming and affecting, she doesn't have the noble grandeur to convince one that she is Queen of Carthage and the set (conducted by Barbirolli) has no hint of early music style, it has the generic classical approach that would have been the practice at the time of the Flagstad performance (so sounds more like Gluck to us in an age where we have experienced the early music revolution).

N.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

The Conte said:


> The most remarkable thing about De los Angeles is the insights she brought to roles that in theory didn't suit her and yet she made them her own. She wouldn't be my first choice for Carmen, Violetta or Elizabeth, but I'd much rather listen to her recordings of those roles than many singers who were supposedly more suited to them. Santuzza was the only recording of hers that I don't think worked at all and I would add her Charlotte, Lauretta and Nedda to your list.
> 
> She wasn't really right for Dido and her Mimi-esque take on the part doesn't convince me that she reigns over Carthage, but her singing of the lament has a touching 'little girl' tenderness that I've only heard approached in the Flagstad performance on this thread. However, Flagstad also has the nobility that is lacking in De los Angeles version.
> 
> N.


How could I forget her Charlotte and Lauretta, my favourite in both roles? I really like her Angelica too.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

The Conte said:


> The most remarkable thing about De los Angeles is the insights she brought to roles that in theory didn't suit her and yet she made them her own. She wouldn't be my first choice for Carmen, Violetta or Elizabeth, but I'd much rather listen to her recordings of those roles than many singers who were supposedly more suited to them. Santuzza was the only recording of hers that I don't think worked at all and I would add her Charlotte, Lauretta and Nedda to your list.
> 
> She wasn't really right for Dido and her Mimi-esque take on the part doesn't convince me that she reigns over Carthage, but her singing of the lament has a touching 'little girl' tenderness that I've only heard approached in the Flagstad performance on this thread. However, Flagstad also has the nobility that is lacking in De los Angeles version.
> 
> N.


Upon your recommendation I listened to de los Angeles's Dido's Lament. If I had put it in with Norman and Flagstad, it would be a toss up as to who would win. Thank you!!!! I have surprising gaps in my knowledge of singers.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I came back to Flagstad's Dido this morning, and after a few wet tissues found myself reflecting on the peculiar qualities of the performance and of Flagstad's singing. It occurs to me that she was essentially a lyric soprano whose voice grew large enough for Isolde. This struck me in the recent "Liebestod" matchup, where she utters the phrases with an unusual gentleness and intimacy, singing softly and tenderly to the dead Tristan or to herself, confident that the voice is large enough to be overheard by those of us in the second balcony. Her Isolde always seemed to me most remarkable for its lyricism, with phrase after phrase sung with a combination of tonal depth, seamless legato, warmth, gentleness, and sheer steadiness unmatched by anyone else on record; her almost supernaturally beautiful "Mir erkoren, mir verloren" and "Er sah mir in die Augen" are permanently etched in my musical memory. 

Flagstad was much loved as a recitalist, where she could scale down the voice with no loss of its tonal fulness and core, and in both voice and art she always seemed unforced, uncontrived, and completely natural. Her temperament was undoubtedly placid and "Nordic" (a stereotype, I know, but what Italian would knit sweaters and mittens between the acts of an opera?), and sometimes we wish for more intensity, more propulsion in her singing. She sang plenty of Italian and other opera in her earlier years (though presumably in translation), and we'll never know what that sounded like. But - to bring this back around - Dido turned out to be a fine choice for her last role (except for Fricka on records). I think the paradoxical mix of Wagnerian weight and lyric gentleness and vulnerability in her vocal makeup, together with the simplicity and naturalness of both her technique and her temperament, help lend Dido's farewell its extraordinary suggestion of mortality, the sense that even the great and noble must die. This is the art that conceals art.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> I think the paradoxical mix of Wagnerian weight and lyric gentleness and vulnerability in her vocal makeup, together with the simplicity and naturalness of both her technique and her temperament, help lend Dido's farewell it's extraordinary suggestion of mortality, the sense that even the great and noble must die. This is the art that conceals art.


What a wonderful way to put it. It is indeed paradoxical. I had always thought that the nobility of Baker's version and the girlish anguish of De los Angeles were mutually exclusive, but both attitudes are present in Flagstad's version. It's even more remarkable that I found hers among the most moving performances of this aria and she is a singer that often leaves me feeling cold.

N.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> I came back to Flagstad's Dido this morning, and after a few wet tissues found myself reflecting on the peculiar qualities of the performance and of Flagstad's singing. It occurs to me that she was essentially a lyric soprano whose voice grew large enough for Isolde. This struck me in the recent "Liebestod" matchup, where she utters the phrases with an unusual gentleness and intimacy, singing softly and tenderly to the dead Tristan or to herself, confident that the voice is large enough to be overheard by those of us in the second balcony. Her Isolde always seemed to me most remarkable for its lyricism, with phrase after phrase sung with a combination of tonal depth, seamless legato, warmth, gentleness, and sheer steadiness unmatched by anyone else on record; her almost supernaturally beautiful "Mir erkoren, mir verloren" and "Er sah mir in die Augen" are permanently etched in my musical memory.
> 
> Flagstad was much loved as a recitalist, where she could scale down the voice with no loss of its tonal fulness and core, and in both voice and art she always seemed unforced, uncontrived, and completely natural. Her temperament was undoubtedly placid and "Nordic" (a stereotype, I know, but what Italian would knit sweaters and mittens between the acts of an opera?), and sometimes we wish for more intensity, more propulsion in her singing. She sang plenty of Italian and other opera in her earlier years (though presumably in translation), and we'll never know what that sounded like. But - to bring this back around - Dido turned out to be a fine choice for her last role (except for Fricka on records). I think the paradoxical mix of Wagnerian weight and lyric gentleness and vulnerability in her vocal makeup, together with the simplicity and naturalness of both her technique and her temperament, help lend Dido's farewell it's extraordinary suggestion of mortality, the sense that even the great and noble must die. This is the art that conceals art.


Marvelous!!!! People who heard her live said in her prime it sounded like a lyric on steroids. It got a bit richer as she aged, but never heavy or weighty. It was never the size of the voice that impressed people in the audience ( although it must have been one of the biggest soprano voices of all time)so much as it sounded like she had a microphone in her throat and that where ever you were in the house, it sounded like she was standing right in front of you. There were just a handful of voices that seemed to be almost supernatural in the effects they could deliver and hers seemed to be one of them.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Marvelous!!!! People who heard her live said in her prime it sounded like a lyric on steroids. It got a bit richer as she aged, but never heavy or weighty. It was never the size of the voice that impressed people in the audience ( although it must have been one of the biggest soprano voices of all time)so much as it sounded like she had a microphone in her throat and that where ever you were in the house, it sounded like she was standing right in front of you. There were just a handful of voices that seemed to be almost supernatural in the effects they could deliver and hers seemed to be one of them.


I'll speculate that this effect has to do with the focus - the clarity, or "purity" - of the sound. The tone seems almost all core, with no roughgness or muffledness, no radio static, no veil or halo of noise around it to confuse our auditory receptors.


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