# Favorite of these two sopranos



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Pick which you like best.

Samples, but you don't have to limit to these in making your selection. And these probably are not the best comparative examples anyway.

Mei: 




Devia: 




Very close for me, but I think Mariella Devia has the edge.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

What a choice!

N.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

I find Mei's voice more appealing; just wish she looked better.


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

It's a shame that neither of them included the trills- though I'm not totally sure what Devia _did_ include, as I found it very difficult to concentrate on listening to her. (I played her 'Ah, non credea mirarti' twice and did not listen to the 'Ah, non giunge' at all.) I thought Mei, on the other hand, had an attractive timbre and conveyed the sadness and pathos of the aria very well, helped by the fact that we could see her facial expressions. For me at least she is far preferable to Devia, whose voice seems somewhat ordinary and who seemed to sing with no expression. I should add that I'm not really a soprano person at all and mostly know the aria from Patti's record.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Here is a scene from the DVD that introduced me to Mariella Devia. I don't know much about music, but I think she starts with some trills.





*Another fine performance with Devia*: Lucrezia Borgia Finale

*Eva Mei has some trills here at 3:50*: Don Pasquale


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Florestan said:


> Here is a scene from the DVD that introduced me to Mariella Devia. I don't know much about music, but I think she starts with some trills.


Don't worry, I don't know much about it either! I'm sure some knowledgeable person will come along and enlighten us soon.  I couldn't hear any trills in that Fille du Regiment clip, but modern singers can have such wide vibratos on loud/high notes in particular that it can be difficult to tell if they are trilling or not. Here's what I meant by trills, at 1.42 and 2.52 on this video:


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Gonna take me some time to figure this out:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trill_(music) says,


> The trill (or shake, as it was known from the 16th until the 19th century) is a musical ornament consisting of a rapid alternation between two adjacent notes, usually a semitone or tone apart, which can be identified with the context of the trill.[2] (compare mordent and tremolo).


All so confusing to a novice like me. Thankfully, I don't need to know this to enjoy the singing.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Florestan said:


> Gonna take me some time to figure this out:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trill_(music) says,
> 
> All so confusing to a novice like me. Thankfully, I don't need to know this to enjoy the singing.


Oddly enough, the more you know about singing, and the more you know about music, the harder it can become to enjoy. The trills Patti employs in the *Sonnambula* aria are not actually written into the score, so a singer can be forgiven for not singing them. Was it common practice in Bellini's day? Possibly, yes. Patti was after all born a mere 12 years after Bellini had died, and while Rossini and Donizetti still lived. On the other hand there is that little story of her singing to Rossini himself the aria _Una voce poco fa_, with embellishments by her mentor, Strakosch. "Whose composition was that?" asked Rossini. "Why, it is your own," replied Strakosch. "Oh no, that's not mine. That is Strakoshconnerie," retorted Rossini, punning on the French word _cochonnerie_, meaning garbage.

On the other hand Donizetti did write into the score of *Anna Bolena* a set of rising trills in the final scene in the cabaletta _Coppia iniqua_. When sung correctly, by Callas for instance, the effect is intensely powerful, but I miss them when they are not there, and you certainly won't hear them when the aria is sung by Souliotis or Netrebko for instance.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

I wonder if the trumpet call that Mariella Devia sings in the You Tube I posted above is written into the score. It seems very similar to the trumpet call that Joan Sutherland did, but when I heard the same by Eva Mei, it was very different, so I don't know if Eva just could not do the same trumpet call written into the score, or did her own interpretation.

I have three Anna Bolena: Callas, Theodossiou, and Beverly Sills. I should check them out to see how the rising trills compare (if present in the other two--I'd assume at least Sills has them).


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Florestan said:


> I wonder if the trumpet call that Mariella Devia sings in the You Tube I posted above is written into the score. It seems very similar to the trumpet call that Joan Sutherland did, but when I heard the same by Eva Mei, it was very different, so I don't know if Eva just could not do the same trumpet call written into the score, or did her own interpretation.
> 
> I have three Anna Bolena: Callas, Theodossiou, and Beverly Sills. I should check them out to see how the rising trills compare (if present in the other two--I'd assume at least Sills has them).


Yes, I would assume Sills would sing them. She was a dramatic performer and had an excellent coloratura technique. I just don't think her essentially lightweight voice was suited to some of the roles she sang. I like her Manon, and also her Giulietta in Bellini's *I Capuleti e i Montecchi* with Janet Baker, but, to my ears, she doesn't have the necessary grandeur for roles like Norma and Anna Bolena.

Sutherland sings the rising trills as well of course, if not quite with Callas's dramatic force.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Bulldog said:


> I find Mei's voice more appealing; just wish she looked better.


I looked up some pictures of her after reading this and, honestly, I think she is looking pretty good for 48


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Neither of them is lacking in the looks department:


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

I didn't vote because, to be honest, Mariella Devia leaves me cold, and I've never heard Eva Mei before.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Bellinilover said:


> I didn't vote because, to be honest, Mariella Devia leaves me cold, and I've never heard Eva Mei before.


There is a La Sonnambula DVD with Eva Mei that I posted a video link to in the original post above. That was my intro to Eva. She is wonderful in that DVD. The same cannot be said of the tenor, Jose Bros, in that video though.

Devia still leave you cold even after watching the video posted above from La Fille du Regiment? I think she if fantastic in that video.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Bump. It's been a while. A lot of new people on the site.


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