# Favorite Amneris



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I was listening to a rebroadcast of a early 70's Aida and was blown away with Bumbry in the role. Here is my order:
1. Bumbry
2. Verrett
3. Horne 
For a contemporary Amneris I would go with Stephanie Blythe, but I bet Jamie Barton could give her a run for the money. In' not sure if she has sung the role yet.
Which mezzos rock Amneris the best for you.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Without any hesitation : Cossotto on the Mutti recording at no 1 .
Followed by Baltsa and Gorr.


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## howlingfantods (Jul 27, 2015)

Bumbry's my favorite too. Been listening to her performance rather a lot on the Leinsdorf with Price and Domingo. I love the way she sings "numi pieta" when she's raging against the priests in Act 4.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Amneris is a fascinating role. It was clearly treasured by Verdi himself (a few more notes, and the opera would have been called "Amneris", instead of "Aida"), that started writing the score having a dramatic soprano in mind, and changed to a mezzo with good top notes in the process.

I'm afraid I have quite a few favorites... . Irene Minghini-Cattaneo, Ebe Stignani, Fedora Barbieri, Giulietta Simionato, Fiorenza Cossotto, Oralia Domínguez... A recent one, Dolora Zajick.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

howlingfantods said:


> Bumbry's my favorite too. Been listening to her performance rather a lot on the Leinsdorf with Price and Domingo. I love the way she sings "numi pieta" when she's raging against the priests in Act 4.


Bumbry's voice works as a whole but her chest notes and high notes were both absolutely thrilling. She was good as a soprano, but fantastic as a mezzo IMHO.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

schigolch said:


> I'm afraid I have quite a few favorites... . Irene Minghini-Cattaneo, Ebe Stignani, Fedora Barbieri, Giulietta Simionato, Fiorenza Cossotto, Oralia Domínguez... A recent one, Dolora Zajick.


One more Amneris for your amazing list: Elena Obraztsova


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Azol said:


> One more Amneris for your amazing list: Elena Obraztsova


This could be very controversial.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Ms. Obraztsova was the owner of a huge, deep voice. However, I'm not a fan of her Amneris, sorry.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

schigolch said:


> Ms. Obraztsova was the owner of a huge, deep voice. However, I'm not a fan of her Amneris, sorry.


I've enjoyed Obraztosova in other roles but never have heard her Amneris. Thanks for all the comments. I would be interested to hear Ewa Podles in the role. She could sing it easily, her voice is amazing, but I can't see her being sexy. Zagick was the best Amneris on the scene for a long time. I would have loved to have heard her huge voice live in it's prime. I love Rise Stevens in Carmen and Dalila but have never heard her Amneris or even if she sang it. God knows she would have been sexy in the role. Are any of you familiar with whether she sang Amneris?


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)




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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

The video is from 1987 as far as I know.
I recommend the studio recording with Domingo instead (1983 I believe)

Haven't been able to find it except for this short fragment


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I've enjoyed Obraztosova in other roles but never have heard her Amneris. Thanks for all the comments. I would be interested to hear Ewa Podles in the role. She could sing it easily, her voice is amazing, but I can't see her being sexy. Zagick was the best Amneris on the scene for a long time. I would have loved to have heard her huge voice live in it's prime. I love Rise Stevens in Carmen and Dalila but have never heard her Amneris or even if she sang it. God knows she would have been sexy in the role. Are any of you familiar with whether she sang Amneris?


S.O.F: Obraztsova can be heard on the Abbado recording , Zajick on Levine with Milo.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Love both of these recordings!


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

I love Marilyn Horne (on the first recording Sutherland made of NORMA), because her voice had a wide enough range and was varied enough in timbre to enable her to sound like an innocent girl. The only other famous Amneris I've heard is Dolora Zajick (live), who was superb as well.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Cosotto and Bumbry.
For once I like the right Singers.


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I was listening to a rebroadcast of a early 70's Aida and was blown away with Bumbry in the role. Here is my order:
> 1. Bumbry
> 2. Verrett
> 3. Horne
> ...


Jamie Barton has sung Amneris at the Met, I believe.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Maybe are we confusing Adalgisa and Amneris, somehow, or is only my perception?.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Bellinilover said:


> Jamie Barton has sung Amneris at the Met, I believe.


I just read where she is still as of 2016 waiting to take on the big Verdi roles. I heard her live and it was the biggest most impressive voice I had ever heard, but I have to point out it was a small theatre. She might sound less loud at the Met.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Stigma I or Simionato both great


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

DavidA said:


> Stigma I or Simionato both great


I think you mean Stignani. I've heard Simionato and she was fabulous.


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## damianjb1 (Jan 1, 2016)

I'm normally a huge Cossotto fan but I'm not a fan of her Amneris on the Muti recording. I find her over-use of her chest voice unpleasant.
It's odd, because it's not how she sang the role on-stage.
Her judgement scene at Leontyne Price's Met farewell in AMAZING!!!!






My favourite is Rita Gorr.



Pugg said:


> Without any hesitation : Cossotto on the Mutti recording at no 1 .
> Followed by Baltsa and Gorr.


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

schigolch said:


> Maybe are we confusing Adalgisa and Amneris, somehow, or is only my perception?.


 You're right -- _I_ was thinking of Adalgisa.

I'm far less familiar with AIDA than with NORMA. Has Rita Gorr been mentioned already? She was on the first Leontyne Price recording. Dolora Zajick and the Russian mezzo whose name I can't recall were the most famous Amnerises of "my time."

Edited to add: Olga Borodina! That's it!


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

Sorry -- post deleted.


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## howlingfantods (Jul 27, 2015)

I only have Gorr's Amneris on the Solti, and I honestly can't tell whether her Amneris underpowered with an unimpressive bottom or whether it's just that Solti insists on drowning her out at all turns. I've never felt that way about her Ortrud or Fricka so I suspect Solti's the culprit.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Bellinilover said:


> You're right -- _I_ was thinking of Adalgisa.
> 
> I'm far less familiar with AIDA than with NORMA. Has Rita Gorr been mentioned already? She was on the first Leontyne Price recording. Dolora Zajick and the Russian mezzo whose name I can't recall were the most famous Amnerises of "my time."
> 
> Edited to add: Olga Borodina! That's it!


Borodina is fine indeed. I heard her sing it on the radio and saw her in Gioconda live at the Met ( my one time there) and she was beautiful and possessing a thrilling voice. It is also amazing that she has such a huge voice and sings the Italian in Algiers so well.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Bellinilover said:


> You're right -- _I_ was thinking of Adalgisa.
> 
> I'm far less familiar with AIDA than with NORMA. Has Rita Gorr been mentioned already? She was on the first Leontyne Price recording. Dolora Zajick and the Russian mezzo whose name I can't recall were the most famous Amnerises of "my time."
> 
> Edited to add: Olga Borodina! That's it!


Yes she was, I did mention Rita Gorr.


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## Speedozz (Dec 24, 2020)

Ebe Stignani.
The voice is superb and she is an absolute force to be reckoned with, even against Gigli's considerable voice live.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

Oralia Dominguez, Irene Minghini-Cattaneo, and Ebe Stignani. There's also a recording of Emmi Leisner singing Amneris in a duet with Helge Rosvaenge in German, and she's sensational, though she was retired from the stage at that point.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

I really like Simionato, Dominguez and Barbieri in the role, but, maybe surprisingly, Baltsa is my favourite as she sounds, for once, like a _young_ princess and a valid rival for Aida. I'm not sure she would have had the requisite power in the theatre (though the voice was pretty large and she had no trouble filling the Royal Opera House) but she's very fine on the Karajan recording.


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## Barelytenor (Nov 19, 2011)

I too love Ebe Stignani, and Horne did a great Amneris many years ago in Dallas opposite the wonderful Gilda Cruz-Romo, as I have written about before. 

Much more recently, the 2018 Live from the Met featured the horrible Alexandrs Antonenko as Radames and a completely miscast Her Nebs as (supposedly) Aïda, but the Amneris of the Georgian mezzo Anita Rachvelishvili absolutely blew me away. I love a mezzo who not only has good high notes but a real chest voice that she's not afraid to use. Rachvelishveli has both and is a good actress, to boot!


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## Granate (Jun 25, 2016)

I think of Agnes Baltsa, but also of Irene Dalis and Brigitte Fassbaender. I think Cossotto did well in the Muti recording and the Abbado Münich performance too. I don't like Bumbry in the studio recording but I'm sure she would perfectly steal the show elsewhere with Amneris.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Granate said:


> I think of Agnes Baltsa, but also of Irene Dalis and Brigitte Fassbaender. I think Cossotto did well in the Muti recording and the Abbado Münich performance too. I don't like Bumbry in the studio recording but I'm sure she would perfectly steal the show elsewhere with Amneris.


As I said above, I too like Baltsa in the role. I do wish however that Verrett had got to make a commercial recording. Especially round the time she recorded Eboli, she'd have been perfect for it.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

*Cossotto* for me, both live and on recordings. I particularly like the way she lurched and staggered around during the orchestral passages in the Judgment scene. In the confrontation with Radames, her chest voice is used with biting effect.






This is not the best version for Cossotto, but it has *Corelli* as Radames.






This is the Judgement Scene, complete


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## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

Tsaraslondon said:


> As I said above, I too like Baltsa in the role. I do wish however that Verrett had got to make a commercial recording. *Especially round the time she recorded Eboli, she'd have been perfect for it.*


I think you are right - there are some video clips from that year which are worth a look





I think I read she was originally due to appear on the Leinsdorf recording with RCA - alongside Leontyne Price, Placido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes - but Grace Bumbry ended up in that recording?

A live audio recording was shared very recently on Youtube in dim sound but the cast can be exciting-

Aida by Giuseppe Verdi performed in Italian
Conductor Nicola Rescigno - 1969(LI)
Orchestra - Dallas Civic Opera
Chorus - Dallas Civic Opera
Aida - Elena Souliotis
Radamès - Amedeo Zambon
*Amneris - Shirley Verrett*
Amonasro - Giangiacomo Guelfi
Ramphis - Luigi Roni
Il Re di Egitto - Nicola Zaccaria
Una Sacerdotessa - Ruth Falcon
Un Messaggero - Rod MacWherter





1:55:59 for 'L'aborrita rivale a me sfuggia'


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I don't remember anyone mentioning Simionato, but she was amazing and built like a brick ***** house. Stephanie Blythe was fantabulous in Seattle as Amneris with a truly gigantic, gorgeous voice and great acting and Speight Jenkins thought she was the greatest since Simionato. His opinion carries a lot of weight.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I don't remember anyone mentioning Simionato, but she was amazing.


I did. Post #29.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Tsaraslondon said:


> I did. Post #29.


Oops. DaviaA also mentioned her. I think I remembered more the stuff you wrote about Baltsa in that post. I have seen the retail district in London decorated for Xmas and it looks amazing! Jealous that you are there.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Oops. DaviaA also mentioned her. I think I remembered more the stuff you wrote about Baltsa in that post. I have seen the retail district in London decorated for Xmas and it looks amazing! Jealous that you are there.


Central London Christmas lights are usually spectacular. Unfortunately, with lockdown we haven't got to see them this year, though local decorations have been lovely too. London is so quiet compared to how it normally is. Rather a strange Christmas this year.


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