# Is she taking up Marilyn Horne's mantel? Elizabeth Deshong!



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I saw her in the recent Semiramide from the Met. She really impressed me. It was the right size for this heroic role and she had a beautiful voice, spot on coloratura, and a very integrated chest voice that seemed one with the rest of her voice. The low voice is not booming, but is all of one piece with her other singing. If you see her on the program for an opera, I think you can be confident she will sing marvelously for you. It is not as unique a sound as Horne or Powdles, but think you will be impressed with her top notch singing. Sorry "mantle" it should have been spelled in the title, but I can't change it. This is the corrected link:


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I saw her in the recent Semiramide from the Met. She really impressed me. It was the right size for this heroic role and she had a beautiful voice, spot on coloratura, and a very integrated chest voice that seemed one with the rest of her voice. The low voice is not booming, but is all of one piece with her other singing. If you see her on the program for an opera, I think you can be confident she will sing marvelously for you. It is not as unique a sound as Horne or Powdles, but think you will be impressed with her top notch singing.
> 
> 
> 
> . Sorry "mantle" it should have been spelled in the title, but I can't change it.


The link took me to Ponselle singing the _Blue Danube Waltz_, which was wonderful.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Tsaraslondon said:


> The link took me to Ponselle singing the _Blue Danube Waltz_, which was wonderful.


Sorry.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I think she’s just inheriting the ridiculous faux “manly” costumes :lol:


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I guess I got overenthusiastic over the wrong singer this time. I quite liked her.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I guess I got overenthusiastic over the wrong singer this time. I quite liked her.


I don't think she's quite in the world-beater class, but de Shong does a decent job of the aria. She doesn't, however, plunge into the lower register like Horne (and some others) used to do and, somehow, I miss that. The long cape and high headdress fail to disguise de Shong's abbreviated figure - a problem she shares with Miss Horne who wore ridiculously high heels and strode around awkwardly in a very butch way.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

I'm growing senile. I was all excited to see who was taking up Marilyn *Monroe's* mantle.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

MAS said:


> I don't think she's quite in the world-beater class, but de Shong does a decent job of the aria. She doesn't, however, plunge into the lower register like Horne (and some others) used to do and, somehow, I miss that. The long cape and high headdress fail to disguise de Shong's abbreviated figure - a problem she shares with Miss Horne who wore ridiculously high heels and strode around awkwardly in a very butch way.


I only heard Horne sing lieder, where she was very restrained. I wish I could have heard her sing Rossini to see if the voice was as big as it sounded on disc. You are right that Deshong doesn't have that extra punch down low, but considering the state of big voices today, I might have been over enthusiastic. Hearing in a house could give a better impression. I heard Stephanie Blythe sing Rossini and she did real well, but she didn't dazzle with her coloratura even if it was a big glorious voice. My favorites here are Verrett, Horne and Podles. I thought Franco Faggioli was also fabulous, but I never have gotten feedback on the size of his voice from people who heard him live. you don't a sergeant in a general role here vocally.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I only heard Horne sing lieder, where she was very restrained. I wish I could have heard her sing Rossini to see if the voice was as big as it sounded on disc. You are right that Deshong doesn't have that extra punch down low, but considering the state of big voices today, I might have been over enthusiastic. Hearing in a house could give a better impression. I heard Stephanie Blythe sing Rossini and she did real well, but she didn't dazzle with her coloratura even if it was a big glorious voice. My favorites here are Verrett, Horne and Podles. I thought Franco Faggioli was also fabulous, but I never have gotten feedback on the size of his voice from people who heard him live. you don't a sergeant in a general role here vocally.


I only once heard Horne live, in *L'Italiana in Algieri* but it was towards the end of her career, and a the friend who took me (a huge Horne fan by the way) told me her voice was much reduced in volume. She was also a bit hammy and nowhere near as funny as Baltsa had been in the same production the previous year. Baltsa's voice was huge by the way.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I was fortunate rough to see her in San Francisco in *Tancredi*, *Orlando * (Handel), *Orlando Furioso* (Vivaldi), *La Cenerentola*, *Sansom et Dalila*, *Norma*, *Semiramide*, *Falstaff*, *Maometto II*, *L'Italiana in Algeri*. The lapses from trouser roles were refreshing, especially Mistress Quickly in *Falstaff*, which everyone enjoyed. Imagine the "reverenza."

With all that, I was never a fan though I enjoyed the performances. I avoided the recitals she gave. A friend of mine, who was close to Horne insisted in dragging me to Horne's dressing room after the performances to meet her or greet her. I always felt awkward because I didn't know what to say and didn't want to pretend to be thrilled.

As for the voice, it was quite well projected and audible at all times; she kept up with Sutherland whenever they sang together (Norma in 1982), though I wouldn't say it was a huge voice.

P.S. Marilyn Horne had an interesting career in San Francisco. Her earliest appearance was in 1961 in *Gianni Schicchi* in a student production; then on the main stage as Marie in *Wozzeck*. 
She had a more varied repertoire in the 50s and 60s. *A Midsummer Night's Dream*. *Fidelio*, *Boris Godunov*, *Carmen*, *La Boheme* (Musetta), *Pagliacci*, *Il Barbiere di Siviglia*. All this was before my time and before she became a bel-canto specialist.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

MAS said:


> I was fortunate rough to see her in San Francisco in *Tancredi*, *Orlando * (Handel), *Orlando Furioso* (Vivaldi), *La Cenerentola*, *Sansom et Dalila*, *Norma*, *Semiramide*, *Falstaff*, *Maometto II*, *L'Italiana in Algeri*. The lapses from trouser roles were refreshing, especially Mistress Quickly in *Falstaff*, which everyone enjoyed. Imagine the "reverenza."
> 
> With all that, I was never a fan though I enjoyed the performances. I avoided the recitals she gave. A friend of mine, who was close to Horne insisted in dragging me to Horne's dressing room after the performances to meet her or greet her. I always felt awkward because I didn't know what to say and didn't want to pretend to be thrilled.
> 
> ...


Bless you. What I was looking for! What a rich operatic past you have! Her recital was a let down to me.
You know who gave a really good recital? I saw Debbie Voigt in the early years after the weight loss before the voice really went down hill, and she had a very good program that gave you a sense of what she could do. All those really heavy Wagner roles took a toll on her voice after I heard her. She was very pretty, had a lot of personality and played the piano and sang for an encore that was fantabulous: " I love a piano!".
The other was Jamie Barton in a a small 300 seat auditorium. In there she sounded like you would have thought Flagstad must have sounded: IT WAS ENORMOUS! The walls shook! Very beautiful, sung with passion and tons and tons of personality!!!! She doesn't look as heavy in person as she does on TV. She is just built like a tank. A real singing machine body: no neck and a barrel chest! She also had an all lied performance that still gave a sense of what she must have sounded like in opera. She sang a Hebrew fantasy that had the scale of Wagner.
I only saw Jessye Norman in recitals, but one time she sang a tribute to great queens of the opera ( the other type) in a spectacular all aria program with the piano and a simply glorious gown in her new slimmer body. I was on the front row and it was everything I wanted it to be. I just wish I had heard her when she looked like a float and the voice was better. It was almost like seeing her in an opera. It was a practice run for a bigger version for PBS with an orchestra.The other time I heard her she sang Schubert's Death and the Maiden with a low D that was full voiced and reminded you of Ponselle. A pipe organ came to mind.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

amfortas said:


> I'm growing senile. I was all excited to see who was taking up Marilyn *Monroe's* mantle.


Or maybe taking it off?


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## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

Tsaraslondon said:


> I only once heard Horne live, in *L'Italiana in Algieri* but it was towards the end of her career, and a the friend who took me (a huge Horne fan by the way) told me her voice was much reduced in volume. *She was also a bit hammy and nowhere near as funny as Baltsa had been in the same production the previous year.*


I've got happy memories of the Deutsche Grammophon recording of _L'Italiana in Algeri_ with Baltsa, Raimondi, Lopardo conducted by Abbado. That was one of the first opera recordings I ever bought after I enjoyed a Met Broadcast (in 2002 I think?) with Borodina and Florez.



> Baltsa's voice was huge by the way.


Reading about Horne and Baltsa - I've not heard them live - I would think that Baltsa got a better press in heavy roles such as Amneris and Eboli?

Based on your experience, do you think this would this tally with Baltsa having a bigger voice? Based just on recordings, I thought Baltsa was possibly a more exciting, dramatic performer.


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## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

MAS said:


> I was fortunate rough to see her in San Francisco in *Tancredi*, *Orlando * (Handel), *Orlando Furioso* (Vivaldi), *La Cenerentola*, *Sansom et Dalila*, *Norma*, *Semiramide*, *Falstaff*, *Maometto II*, *L'Italiana in Algeri*. The lapses from trouser roles were refreshing, especially Mistress Quickly in *Falstaff*, which everyone enjoyed. Imagine the "reverenza."
> 
> With all that, I was never a fan though I enjoyed the performances. I avoided the recitals she gave. A friend of mine, who was close to Horne insisted in dragging me to Horne's dressing room after the performances to meet her or greet her. I always felt awkward because I didn't know what to say and didn't want to pretend to be thrilled.
> 
> ...


Thanks for sharing your experiences.

Horne does not seem to have made an overwhelming impression on you - a bit "meh"? perhaps I'm overstating it?

I'm glad you still enjoyed the performances, and it says something for the surrounding casts and productions that they were worth a listen.

I wondered if you were conscious of her soprano 'origins' when listening to her sing? Was there a sense that this was a soprano-singing-low?


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Revitalized Classics said:


> Thanks for sharing your experiences.
> 
> Horne does not seem to have made an overwhelming impression on you - a bit "meh"? perhaps I'm overstating it?
> 
> ...


I did a speech on her recently that totally blew my Toastmaster Club away! Even the straight jocks were blown away with her voice. I read up a lot of her. The critics said that when she sang soprano the top thinned out towards C. Giving birth can change a singer's voice and she shifted downward after her child was born. She always had the bottom voice after puberty. I think at first doing mezzo parts she sounded like a soprano with a strong chest voice, but past her 40's her voice darkened and the freedom at the top went away. There was no way she could sing soprano after she started singing Verdi .Her concert was okay but it was not the Horne I really liked who sang Arsace, etc. Very restrained.


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## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Bless you. What I was looking for! What a rich operatic past you have! Her recital was a let down to me.
> You know who gave a really good recital? I saw Debbie Voigt in the early years after the weight loss before the voice really went down hill, and she had a very good program that gave you a sense of what she could do. All those really heavy Wagner roles took a toll on her voice after I heard her. She was very pretty, had a lot of personality and played the piano and sang for an encore that was fantabulous: " I love a piano!".
> The other was Jamie Barton in a a small 300 seat auditorium. In there she sounded like you would have thought Flagstad must have sounded: IT WAS ENORMOUS! The walls shook! Very beautiful, sung with passion and tons and tons of personality!!!! She doesn't look as heavy in person as she does on TV. She is just built like a tank. A real singing machine body: no neck and a barrel chest! She also had an all lied performance that still gave a sense of what she must have sounded like in opera. She sang a Hebrew fantasy that had the scale of Wagner.
> I only saw Jessye Norman in recitals, but one time she sang a tribute to great queens of the opera ( the other type) in a spectacular all aria program with the piano and a simply glorious gown in her new slimmer body. I was on the front row and it was everything I wanted it to be. I just wish I had heard her when she looked like a float and the voice was better. It was almost like seeing her in an opera. It was a practice run for a bigger version for PBS with an orchestra.The other time I heard her she sang Schubert's Death and the Maiden with a low D that was full voiced and reminded you of Ponselle. A pipe organ came to mind.


This is all really enjoyable to read.

You mentioned Debbie Voigt returning to those big Wagner roles after the weight loss. Do you have a sense of what roles you would have preferred to hear her sing, which might have suited her better at that point in her career/regimen?

Regarding Jamie Barton, talking about the scale of her voice there are a few interesting projects planned for her: Fricka in Walkure, Waltraute/Zweite Norn in Gotterdammerung, Eboli in Don Carlo, Orfeo, Bragane in Tristan und Isolde...

Source: https://www.operabase.com/artists/jamie-barton-7774/en

Do any of these seem particularly tempting based on what you heard live?

Thanks.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Revitalized Classics said:


> I've got happy memories of the Deutsche Grammophon recording of _L'Italiana in Algeri_ with Baltsa, Raimondi, Lopardo conducted by Abbado. That was one of the first opera recordings I ever bought after I enjoyed a Met Broadcast (in 2002 I think?) with Borodina and Florez.
> 
> Reading about Horne and Baltsa - I've not heard them live - I would think that Baltsa got a better press in heavy roles such as Amneris and Eboli?
> 
> Based on your experience, do you think this would this tally with Baltsa having a bigger voice? Based just on recordings, I thought Baltsa was possibly a more exciting, dramatic performer.


I saw Baltsa live as Dorabella, Adalgisa, Carmen, Eboli and Isabella and she was fabulous every time. You might be surprised to hear that she was a terrific comedienne and was very funny both as Dorabella and Isabella. Her _O don fatale_ in *Don Carlo* stopped the show - absolutely thrilling - and her Carmen, which I saw soon after she had first taken the role, was riveting. Her Adalgisa was also beautifully sung and she easily overshadowed the Norma of the variable Sylvia Sass.

I heard her sing _Les nuits d'été_ under Muti and in the Verdi Requiem (again superb). She was always a thrilling performer and, as I said, the voice was quite big. She was very slim, so it just goes to show that you don't need to be fat to have a big voice.

I'm talking about her in the past tense, but she is still alive, though I assume she must have retired by now.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Revitalized Classics said:


> Thanks for sharing your experiences.
> 
> Horne does not seem to have made an overwhelming impression on you - a bit "meh"? perhaps I'm overstating it?
> 
> ...


I had, of course, read of her singing soprano in her early career with a chorus, but by the 70s when I first heard her she was a mezzo. Her voice had settled and the center was lower than in her soprano days. She did like to punch to the top of her compass in her cadenzas; she'd start on a midrange note, then use a _portamento_ to swing up to her top note (A or B?).

The issue I had with her is that it all seemed mapped out and there was no sense of spontaneity (she's a Capricorn and everything was planned...). As the repertoire she sang was built on singing tremendously taxing coloratura, it is not surprising that she had to ensure that she knew where all her notes were at every point. But it makes for rather boring listening/watching. When Joan and Jackie got together, they were like two singing machines, note perfect, thrilling in it's way, but in effect, tedious.

How ungrateful I must sound to those who didn't have the privilege I did. I suppose I got jaded seeing all of those greats year after year! Truthfully, while I was going through it, I was a neophyte and everything was exciting (what, Joan was going to sing Marie in *La Fille du Régiment* next year? ) I and all of the other belcantists were ecstatic.

It is in hindsight that I make these pronouncements - and my boredom shows. I was ushering then almost every night, and there was always something interesting on. The bel canto nights were almost always sold out, and there were standees three-deep. Sutherland or Horne would draw out huge crowds (never mind me, though I was there too) and lots of screaming (bravos).


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## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

Tsaraslondon said:


> I saw Baltsa live as Dorabella, Adalgisa, Carmen, Eboli and Isabella and she was fabulous every time. You might be surprised to hear that she was a terrific comedienne and was very funny both as Dorabella and Isabella. Her _O don fatale_ in *Don Carlo* stopped the show - absolutely thrilling - and her Carmen, which I saw soon after she had first taken the role, was riveting. Her Adalgisa was also beautifully sung and she easily overshadowed the Norma of the variable Sylvia Sass.
> 
> I heard her sing _Les nuits d'été_ under Muti and in the Verdi Requiem (again superb). She was always a thrilling performer and, as I said, the voice was quite big. She was very slim, so it just goes to show that you don't need to be fat to have a big voice.
> 
> I'm talking about her in the past tense, but she is still alive, though I assume she must have retired by now.


That's terrific - and versatile! Glad you have such enjoyable memories of her: It's nice to know that the impression she often makes on records was a true reflection of how exciting she could sound in real life.


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## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

MAS said:


> I had, of course, read of her singing soprano in her early career with a chorus, but by the 70s when I first heard her she was a mezzo. Her voice had settled and the center was lower than in her soprano days. She did like to punch to the top of her compass in her cadenzas; she'd start on a midrange note, then use a _portamento_ to swing up to her top note (A or B?).
> 
> *The issue I had with her is that it all seemed mapped out and there was no sense of spontaneity (she's a Capricorn and everything was planned...).* As the repertoire she sang was built on singing tremendously taxing coloratura, it is not surprising that she had to ensure that she knew where all her notes were at every point. But it makes for rather boring listening/watching. When Joan and Jackie got together, they were like two singing machines, note perfect, thrilling in it's way, but in effect, tedious.


A lot of interesting observations here. Where you mention spontaneity, that makes a lot of sense and it helps me understand a bit why I find her less magnetic than you might reasonably expect given her voice and technique.

I'd guess there is also a knock-on effect that if she was not awfully spontaneous at the opera _to begin with_, when it came to recitals and making recordings in a studio - activities which can be a bit formal and sterile at the best of times - they might lack a bit of sparkle.



> How ungrateful I must sound to those who didn't have the privilege I did. I suppose I got jaded seeing all of those greats year after year! Truthfully, while I was going through it, I was a neophyte and everything was exciting (what, Joan was going to sing Marie in *La Fille du Régiment* next year? ) I and all of the other belcantists were ecstatic.
> 
> It is in hindsight that I make these pronouncements - and my boredom shows. I was ushering then almost every night, and there was always something interesting on. The bel canto nights were almost always sold out, and there were standees three-deep. Sutherland or Horne would draw out huge crowds (never mind me, though I was there too) and lots of screaming (bravos).


The thing is, there was no reason at the time to assume that the well might dry up. I'd have loved to hear Joan Sutherland live.

Something I envy - even just reading archived opera magazines from the 50s, 60s, 70s - is the prospect that if you didn't find a performance/recording/broadcast you fancied that month then there was always the promise that something interesting would turn up shortly which was interesting. Sounds a bit drastic when you can say that hasn't really been the case this millennium :lol:

Thanks for sharing your memories.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Revitalized Classics said:


> This is all really enjoyable to read.
> 
> You mentioned Debbie Voigt returning to those big Wagner roles after the weight loss. Do you have a sense of what roles you would have preferred to hear her sing, which might have suited her better at that point in her career/regimen?
> 
> ...


Eboli and Brangaene would be awesome as well as Orfeo if she could do the coloratura extra arias. She is my favorite current singer. Have you heard her do High C??? Astonishing.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Revitalized Classics said:


> A lot of interesting observations here. Where you mention spontaneity, that makes a lot of sense and it helps me understand a bit why I find her less magnetic than you might reasonably expect given her voice and technique.
> 
> I'd guess there is also a knock-on effect that if she was not awfully spontaneous at the opera _to begin with_, when it came to recitals and making recordings in a studio - activities which can be a bit formal and sterile at the best of times - they might lack a bit of sparkle.
> 
> ...


I'm glad to share these long ago memories, as they bring back the excitement in those days. It's also sad that the standard of great singing has diminished so much over the last few decades. Of course, there are still good singers around, but then there were dozens of them. Nowadays if you get Kaufman during your season it's a big deal, or Netrebko even. Then in one season, you could get Sutherland, Te Kanawa, Shirley Verrett, Sills, Judith Blegen, Dorothy Kirsten, Von Stade, Irina Arkhipova, Toirangeau, Regina Resnik, Birgit Nilsson, Berti Lindholm, Jess Thomas, and Placido, Pavarotti, in an 11-opera season in SF. And it's "and," not "or."
Those were the days!

I think I didn't mention the operas *Norma*, *Der Ring* operas, *Le Nozze di Figaro*, *Tosca*, *Lucia di Lammermoor*, *The Visit of the Old Lady*, *Aida*, *L'Africaine*, *Il Barbiere di Siviglia *, *L'Orfeo*, and *Ausfieg und Fall Der Stadt Mahagonny*. 1972/1973 Season.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Revitalized Classics said:


> This is all really enjoyable to read.
> 
> You mentioned Debbie Voigt returning to those big Wagner roles after the weight loss. Do you have a sense of what roles you would have preferred to hear her sing, which might have suited her better at that point in her career/regimen?
> 
> ...


She was a wonderful Chrysothemis. Ariadne, Salome, Forza, Aida, Elsa,Tosca, Minnie, and Salome would have been better than Bruinhilde and Isolde. You have to support the voice for such a long time in those roles and I am certain her breath support suffered after losing so much weight. She retired from singing pretty much by around 50, which is young for many singers. But she likely had many more years to live than if she had remained heavy.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> She was a wonderful Chrysothemis. Ariadne, Salome, Forza, Aida, Elsa,Tosca, Minnie, and Salome would have been better than Bruinhilde and Isolde. You have to support the voice for such a long time in those roles and I am certain her breath support suffered after losing so much weight. She retired from singing pretty much by around 50, which is young for many singers. But she likely had many more years to live than if she had remained heavy.


Voigt herself said that she _had to remind herself to breathe at certain spots_ otherwise her breaths _would stack_ and she had to release them. An interesting point of how instinctive or autimatic her breathing was _before she lost the weight _.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> . But she likely had many more years to live than if she had remained heavy.


I'm not sure whether you meant Deborah Voigt had *not* many years to live if she'd remained heavy, or that she would've had many more years *to sing* well. The incident of the Little Black Dress was what supposedly spurred her on to have the stomach bypass surgery. As we learned, it ended a career a few years later, the voice shrinking and becoming raucous and losing its shine and creaminess, as well as its attractive quality and heft.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

MAS said:


> I'm not sure whether you meant Deborah Voigt had *not* many years to live if she'd remained heavy, or that she would've had many more years *to sing* well. The incident of the Little Black Dress was what supposedly spurred her on to have the stomach bypass surgery. As we learned, it ended a career a few years later, the voice shrinking and becoming raucous and losing its shine and creaminess, as well as its attractive quality and heft.


She was so heavy it could have seriously impacted her health in the long run.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

MAS said:


> I'm not sure whether you meant Deborah Voigt had *not* many years to live if she'd remained heavy, or that she would've had many more years *to sing* well. The incident of the Little Black Dress was what supposedly spurred her on to have the stomach bypass surgery. As we learned, it ended a career a few years later, the voice shrinking and becoming raucous and losing its shine and creaminess, as well as its attractive quality and heft.


Debbie Voigt had the surgery in 2005 when she was 45 and at her vocal peak. I heard her 2 years later and she still sounded okay, although some of the bloom at the top was gone by then. She was similar to Callas after the weight loss, who still sang really well for several years after her weight loss with her glorious year of 1955 when she had so many triumphs. Voigt sang for around 10 more years, dropped out of ever doing Isolde again in 2012 seven years after the surgery and took on much less. By the time she was filming the big Wagner roles at the Met she sounded like a very different singer from her vocal glory. She was nearing 57 by the time she quit singing, did not look it at all and was a beautiful woman, but no longer had the voice of her glory days. Nilsson still sounded like Nilsson at 57. Debbie's voice was unrecognizable to me by then. You can't say she didn't have a long career in retrospect, but that last 5 to 7 years when her career was doing well was not singing with a voice you'd want to remember in my opinion. She sounded like a completely different and diminished singer. You listen to her Wagner duets with Domingo in the early 2000's and then her Met videos as Brunhilde and Isolde, and it is a totally diffferent voice with a completely different placement. In the former, her high notes in the Siegfried duet are huge, completely round and full of glorious overtones. Alas!


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Debbie Voigt had the surgery in 2005 when she was 45 and at her vocal peak. I heard her 2 years later and she still sounded okay, although some of the bloom at the top was gone by then. She was similar to Callas after the weight loss, who still sang really well for several years after her weight loss with her glorious year of 1955 when she had so many triumphs. Voigt sang for around 10 more years, dropped out of ever doing Isolde again in 2012 seven years after the surgery and took on much less. By the time she was filming the big Wagner roles at the Met she sounded like a very different singer from her vocal glory. She was nearing 57 by the time she quit singing, did not look it at all and was a beautiful woman, but no longer had the voice of her glory days. Nilsson still sounded like Nilsson at 57. Debbie's voice was unrecognizable to me by then. You can't say she didn't have a long career in retrospect, but that last 5 to 7 years when her career was doing well was not singing with a voice you'd want to remember in my opinion. She sounded like a completely different and diminished singer. You listen to her Wagner duets with Domingo in the early 2000's and then her Met videos as Brunhilde and Isolde, and it is a totally diffferent voice with a completely different placement. In the former, her high notes in the Siegfried duet are huge, completely round and full of glorious overtones. Alas!


It seemed to me that her career after surgery was far shorter. Time flies indeed. But I wasn't quite following her career after the gastric bypass surgery, so when she appeared in *Der Ring*, it seemed like the day after (metaphorically)!


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

MAS said:


> It seemed to me that her career after surgery was far shorter. Time flies indeed. But I wasn't quite following her career after the gastric bypass surgery, so when she appeared in *Der Ring*, it seemed like the day after (metaphorically)!


It was 6 years after the gastic bypass when she took up the Ring on DVD at the Met in 2011. It sounded like 14.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Tsaraslondon said:


> I saw Baltsa live as Dorabella, Adalgisa, Carmen, Eboli and Isabella and she was fabulous every time. You might be surprised to hear that she was a terrific comedienne and was very funny both as Dorabella and Isabella. Her _O don fatale_ in *Don Carlo* stopped the show - absolutely thrilling


This performance. Karajan is lethargic, but Baltsa just KILLS.






By the way, it was Baltsa who make the character of Preziosilla really shine. This is intense!!






P.S. As for Elizabeth Deshong, I think Marilyn Horne's mantle (or was it her mantelpiece?) is quite safe for now.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Azol said:


> This performance. Karajan is lethargic, but Baltsa just KILLS.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The best thing for me in this tread is it got me interested in Agnes Baltza, who I was unaquainted with and I was mightily impressed with her! Thanks!


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Two things:

1) I always thought that Jennifer Larmore took on Horne's mantel.

2) Baltsa was quite a different artist to both Horne and Larmore and I consider it a total tragedy that her Don Carlo and Aida are ruined by Karajan and the odd distant accoustic on those studio recordings. (I was hoping that the live performance from Salzburg would offer a different soundscape and a more thrilling performance overall, but no, it's not much different from the studio version.) Baltsa is a diamond in a plastic necklace on those sets.

N.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

The Conte said:


> Two things:
> 
> 1) I always thought that Jennifer Larmore took on Horne's mantel.
> 
> ...


I was mad for Jennifer Larmore and she was pretty as a beauty contest winner.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I was mad for Jennifer Larmore and she was pretty as a beauty contest winner.


I love Larmore's *Giulio Cesare* - a great assumption. The passage work floored me when I first heard it.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

MAS said:


> I love Larmore's *Giulio Cesare* - a great assumption. The passage work floored me when I first heard it.


Snap! (I wish she'd recorded more Handel.)

Her Bianca e Fernando on Opera Rara (and she also recorded a few other operas for them) shows her passage work off to astounding success too.

N.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

The Conte said:


> Two things:
> 
> 1) I always thought that Jennifer Larmore took on Horne's mantel.
> 
> ...


I only mentioned Baltsa because I had seen Horne and Baltsa in the same role (Isabella) in the same production at Covent Garden. Horne was at the end of her career and her voice was much reduced in volume and her acting was somewhat hammy. Baltsa, who had played Isabella in the first run of performances was a powerhouse vocally and very, very funny in the role. It being the first and only time I ever heard Horne live, it was somethig of a disappointment.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

The Conte said:


> Snap! (I wish she'd recorded more Handel.)
> 
> Her Bianca e Fernando on Opera Rara (and she also recorded a few other operas for them) shows her passage work off to astounding success too.
> 
> N.






 Cara Sposa is perhaps my favorite Handel aria and I think she might have the most beautiful version of it. I had her Handel disc 20 odd years ago and wore this cut out. The rest is beautiful, too. Sometimes i do show good taste in singers LOL. She had such a chocolaty lower register with soaring high notes. She even recorded Juliet's Waltz with a D6 I believe once.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Cara Sposa is perhaps my favorite Handel aria and I think she might have the most beautiful version of it. I had her Handel disc 20 odd years ago and wore this cut out. The rest is beautiful, too. Sometimes i do show good taste in singers LOL. She had such a chocolaty lower register with soaring high notes. She even recorded Juliet's Waltz with a D6 I believe once.


Indeed she did! It's on the only album of hers that I don't have because the recordings are sung in English.

N.


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