# Leontyne Price



## ldiat (Jan 27, 2016)

from Twitter:
A very happy birthday to soprano Leontyne Price, who celebrates her 93rd dazzling year on this earth today! Toi, toi, toi!


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## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

ldiat said:


> from Twitter:
> A very happy birthday to soprano Leontyne Price, who celebrates her 93rd dazzling year on this earth today! Toi, toi, toi!


That's nice news - thanks for sharing!

Incredible to think of not just the performances she gave but the interesting people she has known - what a life.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Such a major talent. I give thanks to Rudolf Bing for being the one to finally crush the color line when he insisted on bringing Price on board.
Happy Natal Day!


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

ldiat said:


> from Twitter:
> A very happy birthday to soprano Leontyne Price, who celebrates her 93rd dazzling year on this earth today! Toi, toi, toi!


Thanks for sharing chef.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

From the Michigan Opera Theater:



> 60 years ago, soprano Leontyne Price and tenor Franco Corelli made their joint debuts in Verdi's opera Il Trovatore at the Metropolitan Opera House. Critics and audience members alike showered the two with high praise and endless ovations. In later years Miss Price often spoke of her 42 minute ovation and countless curtain calls that evening.
> 
> With her gloriously spun top notes, which seem to hang in the air, and his virile and ringing High B-flats, audiences were sent into a frenzy whenever the two appeared together over the next decade.
> 
> ...


https://michiganopera.org/celebration-of-leontyne-prices-94th-birthday/


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Kurt Herbert Adler brought her to San Francisco in 1957 and in the first two seasons she sang the expected *Aida*, then in the U.S. premiere of *Dialogues of the Carmelites*, the next year included *Die Kluge*, but soon mostly in middle Verdi, with the odd excursion to *Madama Butterfly*, and *Don Giovanni* and Liu in *Turandot*. My first sight of her was in *I'll Tabarro*, as Giorgietta to Gabriel Bacquier. Then to Verdi in *Il Trovatore*, *Aida, Forza*, and an unexpected appearance as *Aida*, subbing for _Margaret_ Price, opposite Luciano Pavarotti (she insisted and got $1.00 more than he did).
Meanwhile she tried out *Ariadne auf Naxos* and *Manon Lescaut*, neither a success. She repeated *Dialogues of the Carmelites* two and a half decades after her first appearance in the opera, opposite sopranos who participated in the _premières_ in Italy, France, and the U.S., namely Virginia Zeani, Régine Crespin, and herself as Madame Lidoine. Her final *Aida*s in San Francisco were in 1984. She could still spin the ethereal notes in the Nile Scene. A solo recital ended her tenure here.


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## mparta (Sep 29, 2020)

There's a very late Ch'il bel sogno di Doretta on YouTube with Levine in concert. Exquisite.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

64 and still the best at "Zweite Brautnacht. Great C#. Many talented singers assail the peak of this aria, but she is the queen.


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

Yesterday I just realized how unfortunate it was that I had previously neglected this singer. I heard her in Verdi’s Requiem in the 1960 Reiner recording. Wow! As sheer voice her sound is simply luxurious, almost ethereal. And she infused the Requiem finale with incredible attention to the text, as if she was truly praying with blood-sweating passion. Incredible, what an artist.


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## mparta (Sep 29, 2020)

Allegro Con Brio said:


> Yesterday I just realized how unfortunate it was that I had previously neglected this singer. I heard her in Verdi's Requiem in the 1960 Reiner recording. Wow! As sheer voice her sound is simply luxurious, almost ethereal. And she infused the Requiem finale with incredible attention to the text, as if she was truly praying with blood-sweating passion. Incredible, what an artist.


Worth watching her do it with von Karajan, nothing greater. I like that Reiner performance also, Bjoerling also I think. But for sheer beauty of voice and dramatic intent she is the one.


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## OffPitchNeb (Jun 6, 2016)

I am baffled by her voice. When she blasts the high notes, they come out as very bright in color to me. It sounds to me that the "smokey" attribute of her middle voice was the result of artificial darkening. 

Take Rosa Ponselle as a counterexample. This is a true dark voice. Even the top notes are also "dark" in color.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

OffPitchNeb said:


> I am baffled by her voice. When she blasts the high notes, they come out as very bright in color to me. It sounds to me that the "smokey" attribute of her middle voice was the result of artificial darkening.
> 
> Take Rosa Ponselle as a counterexample. This is a true dark voice. Even the top notes are also "dark" in color.


She has a rich, dark, black woman voice in the middle that becomes a bright lyric voice at the top. She was a lyric spinto up to G5 but a lyric above that. Ponselle's top notes were dark but limited and she tried to avoid high C's wherever possible and they were not the glory of her voice. Price's lyric top went up and up all the way to a gorgeous E6, which was not in Ponselle's arsenal of tricks. Price is most definitely not a favorite among the opera forum people. She is from my home state so is a sentimental favorite with me and she did great recitals. People may not like her but I will include her in at least one contest.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Good on you, she is a very fine singer , I am glad I bought that box from RCA wit complete operas :angel:


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Rogerx said:


> Good on you, she is a very fine singer , I am glad I bought that box from RCA wit complete operas :angel:


Thanks. There are more insightful singers, but, damn, that voice can be so beautiful at times. Extraordinarily so! With me, beauty counts. We could sure use a Verdi voice like that TODAY.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Leontyne Price in Interview Amsterdam 1996
The introduction is in Dutch, the interview is in English , enjoy .


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I read that the microphones never caught her voice properly. I don't have recordings of her _live_, but heard her in the 1970s and 1980s, including *Aida * in San Francisco, where she subbed for Margaret Price (whom she called a _vanilla_ Price and herself a _chocolate_ Price - she said this in a private conversation with Kurt Hebert Adler, _Intendant_ at San Francisco Opera) - she was in town singing Leonora in*Il Trovatore* in the 1981 season. As always, the glory of the voice was in its high reaches, spun out in glorious sounds, or in cutting sounds, as she wished.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

MAS said:


> I read that the microphones never caught her voice properly. I don't have recordings of her _live_, but heard her in the 1970s and 1980s, including *Aida * in San Francisco, where she subbed for Margaret Price (whom she called a _vanilla_ Price and herself a _chocolate_ Price - she said this in a private conversation with Kurt Hebert Adler, _Intendant_ at San Francisco Opera) - she was in town singing Leonora in*Il Trovatore* in the 1981 season. As always, the glory of the voice was in its high reaches, spun out in glorious sounds, or in cutting sounds, as she wished.


I'm jealous you heard her in an opera and she was most famous for Aida. Personally I would have loved best to have heard her in Il Trovatore, for which her voice was tailor made. I am also a big fan of Margaret Price, who has the best Mozart recital disc I know of. I think most have forgotten her today. They know her from her Isolde, which was the wrong role for her.


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## OffPitchNeb (Jun 6, 2016)

MAS said:


> I read that the microphones never caught her voice properly. I don't have recordings of her _live_, but heard her in the 1970s and 1980s, including *Aida * in San Francisco, where she subbed for Margaret Price (whom she called a _vanilla_ Price and herself a _chocolate_ Price - she said this in a private conversation with Kurt Hebert Adler, _Intendant_ at San Francisco Opera) - she was in town singing Leonora in*Il Trovatore* in the 1981 season. As always, the glory of the voice was in its high reaches, spun out in glorious sounds, or in cutting sounds, as she wished.


I do admire her upper register. I can't recall any post-1950 soprano, with the exception of Sutherland, having such generous and glorious Cs, Ds, and Es. Even so, her breathy, woofy, artificially-darkened sound in the middle register is a distraction for me, at least in Italian operas.

In her early recitals, I find the Mirror arias in Thais and the grand aria of Mdme. Lidoine in Dialogues of the Carmelites very well done (minus the accents). Perhaps she could have fared very well in French operas?


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

OffPitchNeb said:


> I do admire her upper register. I can't recall any post-1950 soprano, with the exception of Sutherland, having such generous and glorious Cs, Ds, and Es. Even so, her breathy, woofy, artificially-darkened sound in the middle register is a distraction for me, at least in Italian operas.
> 
> In her early recitals, I find the Mirror arias in Thais and the grand aria of Mdme. Lidoine in Dialogues of the Carmelites very well done (minus the accents). Perhaps she could have fared very well in French operas?


I think her sound was too luscious for French opera roles, but she herself was attracted to Richard Strauss, though when she sang *Ariadne auf Naxos * in the San Francisco Opera's 1977-1978 season, the voice had thickened and was rather unwieldy and it was not a success.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

I heard her Aida in 76 and Trovatore early 80's and she was phenomenal! The place went nuts. A friend said that her video of Aida, I think quite late, shows crazy unbalance between head and chest. But all I remember of that Trovatore was at each aria, her heading down center, singing it like she was in her youthful prime, and driving the place absolutely nuts! The sound was ravishing.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

ScottK said:


> I heard her Aida in 76 and Trovatore early 80's and she was phenomenal! The place went nuts. A friend said that her video of Aida, I think quite late, shows crazy unbalance between head and chest. But all I remember of that Trovatore was at each aria, her heading down center, singing it like she was in her youthful prime, and driving the place absolutely nuts! The sound was ravishing.


Gosh, it sounds like it was amazing. She had to be really good to break the color barrier of the 60's.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Gosh, it sounds like it was amazing. She had to be really good to break the color barrier of the 60's.


It was! And you're right! Marian Anderson got to the Met late in her career. The idea that there was someone like Price ready to step up after her and take her place, not just as a great American Soprano but as one of the greatest international sopranos, has to have meant so much to the act of seeing to it that once the door was open it did not close! And we all benefit.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

ScottK said:


> It was! And you're right! Marian Anderson got to the Met late in her career. The idea that there was someone like Price ready to step up after her and take her place, not just as a great American Soprano but as one of the greatest international sopranos, has to have meant so much to the act of seeing to it that once the door was open it did not close! And we all benefit.


But we had a few after that, Grace Bumbry -Jessye Norman-Lawrence Brownlee-Pretty Yende right now the last two.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I'm jealous you heard her in an opera and she was most famous for Aida. Personally I would have loved best to have heard her in Il Trovatore, for which her voice was tailor made. I am also a big fan of Margaret Price, who has the best Mozart recital disc I know of. I think most have forgotten her today. They know her from her Isolde, which was the wrong role for her.


Leontyne Price also sang *Trovatore* in SF in 1971. On the night for which I had tickets, an announcement was made that the tenor, James king, was indisposed and would be replaced by a tenor I hadn't heard of by the name of Plácido Domingo. He was in tremendous form and the rest were inspired by his performance. . Leontyne was superb and those high notes were especially ethereal in her arias. Margarita Lilova was Azucena. This was my first *Trovatore* and it made a deep impression. I bought the RCA set immediately, and my opera companion and I wrote to Plácido inviting him for dinner; we got no reply, alas!

I love the Margaret Price Mozart Arias. I played it to death and I still have it on CD, now coupled with the Concert Arias. I've always loved her voice. In my time, she sang *Cosi fan tutte*, *Otello*, *Falstaff*, *Simone Bocanegra*. I still remember her enormous trills in the Council Chamber Scene that were flung all the way to the back of the house!


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

MAS said:


> Leontyne Price also sang *Trovatore* in SF in 1971. On the night for which I had tickets, an announcement was made that the tenor, James king, was indisposed and would be replaced by a tenor I hadn't heard of by the name of Plácido Domingo. He was in tremendous form and the rest we're inspired by his performance. . Leontyne was on superb and those high notes were especially ethereal in her arias. Margarita Lilova was Azucena. This was my first *Trovatore* and it made a deep impression. I bought the RCA set immediately, and my opera companion and I wrote to Plácido inviting him for dinner; we got no reply, alas!
> 
> I love the Margaret Price Mozart Arias. I played it to death and I still have it on CD, now coupled with the Concert Arias. I've always loved her voice. In my time, she sang *Cosi fan tutte*, *Otello*, *Falstaff*, *Simone Bocanegra*. I still remember her enormous trills in the Council Chamber Scene that were flung all the way to the back of the house!


Sounds marvelous. On one of my Margaret Price discs she sang some Liszt that was amazing. I am jealous of all you have seen and heard in SF over the years. What an opportunity you had!!!!!!! I still had a lot of fun up here in Seattle, but SF is a notch up from us.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Sounds marvelous. On one of my Margaret Price discs she sang some Liszt that was amazing. I am jealous of all you have seen and heard in SF over the years. What an opportunity you had!!!!!!! I still had a lot of fun up here in Seattle, but SF is a notch up from us.


I was very lucky we had a company that was able to attract the very best during the 1970s and 1980s. Helga Dernesch, who we befriended, said that singing here was like a vacation for her. We had a very friendly rehearsal department, who were like family. She could often be found on the roof terrace of the building she was staying in, sunbathing with the local musclemen, some of whom could also be found onstage during the season's *Salome* production in which she sang Herodias. The guys played the musclebound guards at the decadent court of King Herod, more than half-naked. The makeup people happily applied "tans" to every nook and cranny.

Coincidentally, that same production travelled to Rio de Janeiro the following year, where, unbeknownst to me, she met my best friend from childhood who squired her around, showing her the sights. I didn't know this until years later and Helga never knew. Helga's costume in that production in San Francisco was a rich green and, in Brazil, yellow. She later said to us that here she looked like an avocado; in Rio, a banana!

Gwyneth Jones sang Salome here. In one of the scenes, Herodias was supposed to slowly walk away behind Jones after Herodia's short phrase - the set was like a curved catwalk. Gwyneth objected to that and said Herodias should only walk partway behind her and stop when Salome started her phrases. So Helga had to just stand still while Gwyneth sang. In performance all eyes were on Dernesch/Herodias standing in a statuesque pose, she had such charisma.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

Rogerx said:


> But we had a few after that, Grace Bumbry -Jessye Norman-Lawrence Brownlee-Pretty Yende right now the last two.


Shirley Verrett, Martina Arroyo, George Shirley, Kathleen Battle, Simon Estes, Eric Owens, Isola Jones, Denyce Graves, Seth McCoy and Maria Ewing who just died. Those off the top of my head and those are folks who sang leads, many of them stars. There must be many more I don't know or am forgetting at the moment. I'm not an historian who can lay out the journey but the beginning with people of the stature of Anderson and Price must have been very important.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

ScottK said:


> Shirley Verrett, Martina Arroyo, George Shirley, Kathleen Battle, Simon Estes, Eric Owens, Isola Jones, Denyce Graves, Seth McCoy and Maria Ewing who just died. Those off the top of my head and those are folks who sang leads, many of them stars. There must be many more I don't know or am forgetting at the moment. I'm not an historian who can lay out the journey but the beginning with people of the stature of Anderson and Price must have been very important.


You are right, it was just a little example from way back and now. I am sure I saw recently on a competition more afro American singers.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I think we used to have more big name Black sopranos/mezzos than now. Price, Bumbry, Verrett and Arroyo were all singing at the same time and were all world class. I wonder if the music programs in Black churches have changed as back in the day most of our great Black divas got their starts in churches. Gospel has changed so much and now so much is done with microphones. I know the same thing has happened in the white churches. Our Baptist church taught us to sing in parts and we sang classical oratorios such as Elijah and the Messiah. Now no hymnals, words are projected over head and no part singing in even the big churches. I am in debt to the church I grew up in for the great musical education it gave me.


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