# Second Round: Son vergin vezzosa: Pagliughi, Barrientos, Scotto



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

See the introduction to the singers next post


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Lina Pagliughi was the dubbed voice for Snow White in the Italian version of the Disney Film, which calls for coloratura singing. She was a very successful singer but only in Italy but she made quite a number of complete recordings in the 30’s and 40’s. Too much spaghetti made playing girlish roles less and less believable as she aged.
Maria Barientos made her stage debut at 15 in Spain whereupon she was an instant success and had a very successful career. Could this be the youngest stage debut in opera for an adult role??? She sang many lyric coloratura roles at the Met from 1916 to 20.
Scotto began her career singing bel canto roles and got her career break replacing Callas as Amina .She was an overnight success! I really like her singing Bel Canto.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Scotto began her career singing bel canto roles and got her career break replacing Callas as Amina who was sick. She was an overnight success! I really like her singing Bel Canto.


The reason was not that Callas was sick but that the management of La Scala sprang an extra performance on her without getting her permission and she refused to sing it. She sang all of her contracted performances.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Shudder shudder shudder, this kind on mindless warbling drives me batty. There is another Barrientos video with slightly better sound on YouTube, but still with piano. I'll take Pagliughi for her smoother _acuti_. Scotto is way too screechy.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I'm guess I am too declasse for this crowd as I really enjoyed Pagliughi and Barrientos but I take heart that they were popular in their day. I like the inventive decorations they did to the coloratura.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I'm guess I am too declasse for this crowd as I really enjoyed Pagliughi and Barrientos but I take heart that they were popular in their day. I like the inventive decorations they did to the coloratura.


I just have an antipathy for the squeaky-voiced coloraturas of old, but I loved Kathleen Battle and Judith Blegen; and Roberta Peters was my first *Lucia di Lammermoor*, on a budget label, before I could afford the full-priced Callas recordings.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

For me Scotto is the only one to make this sound like music and not just mindless warbling. Pagliughi has the loveliest voice, but Scotto gives the music much more shape and character. I obviously hear voice differently from MAS because Scotto doesn't sound screechy to me, though I'd admit she's the least comfortable with the tessitura. Even so, I prefer her more thoughtful take on the music.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

It's easiest to compare the two BC (Before Callas) warblers first. Scotto gives us a more modern take on the aria. Pagliughi is lovely, but uninteresting. Barrientos does more with the music and isn't much less accomplished technically, although I'm not sure about the wisdom of some of her choices.

Scotto being an AC (After Callas) singer approaches the aria somewhat differently and yet is still up to its demands. None of these three beats early Sutherland (I'm fussy with this opera and only have recordings with Callas and Sutherland). I'm going to go with Scotto as she has better technique and taste than Barrientos, but is more interesting than Pagliughi.

N.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I wonder what Barrientos actually sounded like. I hear some nuances that make me suspect there's more there than meets the ear. Pagliughi sounds pretty but not interesting, Scotto a little more interesting but not so pretty. I think I might find Barrientos a happy medium if only I could hear the real timbre of her voice. Oh well... I'll sit this one out.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

Listened in the car with the tune in my head and pretty sure it was from Puritani. Launch into Pagliughi and she's so perky it made me think of Disney...like I should be watching some animated character straighten a nursery or sipping porridge! But she tossed it off and sounded good. Barrientos slower tempo gave me more time to appreciate the coloratura turns and I enjoyed that. Scotto for me was always Verdi and verismo so this was a fun journey into her early music, I assume. Strangely, she almost seemed laid back compared to the other two, not a phrase I think of for Renata. 

Somewhere along the line I saw that it was Puritani and when I came home and looked at the lyrics, they didn't tell me much about which approach had more dramatic justification. I really liked everyone but since Pagliughi had the most personality and such a decided approach - which I'm assuming had some validity - I'm going with her.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

ScottK said:


> Listened in the car with the tune in my head and pretty sure it was from Puritani. Launch into Pagliughi and she's so perky it made me think of Disney...like I should be watching some animated character straighten a nursery or sipping porridge! But she tossed it off and sounded good. Barrientos slower tempo gave me more time to appreciate the coloratura turns and I enjoyed that. Scotto for me was always Verdi and verismo so this was a fun journey into her early music, I assume. Strangely, she almost seemed laid back compared to the other two, not a phrase I think of for Renata.
> 
> Somewhere along the line I saw that it was Puritani and when I came home and looked at the lyrics, they didn't tell me much about which approach had more dramatic justification. I really liked everyone but since Pagliughi had the most personality and such a decided approach - which I'm assuming had some validity - I'm going with her.


Pagliughi WAS the voice of Snow White in the Italian version of the Disney classic.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Pagliughi WAS the voice of Snow White in the Italian version of the Disney classic.


I read your post after posting my response and got such a kick out of that!


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Easy peasy for me. Pagliughi takes the bouquet of roses.
It just seems to me like that aria was tailor made for her voice.


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