# LA TRAVIATA revisited (Studer, Kraus, Chernov)



## ALT (Mar 1, 2021)

Greetings again. This series of tracks were taped IN-HOUSE at the Metropolitan Opera and while in subpar sound (although vastly improved from the previous), the great artistry of the performers unquestionably shines through.

Alfredo Kraus as Alfredo Germont needs no introduction as he was Callas' partner in the famous Lisbon Traviata dating back to 1958. Fast forward 33 years to 1991 when this performance was taped and the man has lost little of his patent elegance and lyricism.

In Act I, Cheryl Studer showcases the required coloratura flexibility for a soaring _Sempre libera_. But hers is not a tweety bird coloratura but, rather, that of a spinto-dramatic, adding another layer of excitement to her singing, even if she eschews the final (unwritten) Eb. The three uploads of this act start with the Brindisi.
















In Act II, Vladimir Chernov displays his sonorous and beautiful baritone to great effect, making him an ideal father figure. He and Studer create compelling drama in _Dite alla giovine_, with Studer generating all the pathos required of the moment, as Violeta's character evolves.






In Act III, we hear Studer in a gorgeous and moving _Teneste la promessa ... Addio, del passato_, clearly conveying the fragility and instability that Violetta is experiencing.






One more upload follows.


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## ALT (Mar 1, 2021)

The final Act III upload






Your thoughts?


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## ALT (Mar 1, 2021)

Well? Has anyone taken the time to listen and, if so, care to contribute to the conversation?


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

ALT said:


> Well? Has anyone taken the time to listen and, if so, care to contribute to the conversation?


I am afraid I am not much qualified to make commentary on singers' skills as I do not understand much about music and the nuances of finer operatic voices. I do like Studer and appreciate your working on this. I would love a Studer Traviata apart from the commercial release with Pavarotti (for some reason Pavarotti does not do much for me). My only criterion are decent sound quality and that I generally like the quality of the voices/singing (whether they sing all the right notes I would not be able to discern), and some of the samples you put up (here or in a different thread I think, were pretty good). I hope some of our opera connoisseurs will provide some comprehensive commentary on this.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Studer and Kraus were excellent singers and fine artists and they show their stuff here. It was a good night at the Met. Too bad the sound isn't better; Studer's voice sounds shallow and metallic. I wouldn't agree that she was a spinto-dramatic - a strong lyric would be more like it - but Violetta doesn't require that. Her characterization was probably quite effective in the theater, but purely as a listener I think she works a little too hard at times, externalizing Violetta's emotions and physical debility in a way that strikes me as slightly melodramatic. Kraus sounds like a well-preserved senior citizen, which he was; I never much liked his rather dry timbre to begin with, but that's my issue.


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## ALT (Mar 1, 2021)

Woodduck said:


> Studer and Kraus were excellent singers and fine artists and they show their stuff here. It was a good night at the Met. Too bad the sound isn't better; Studer's voice sounds shallow and metallic. I wouldn't agree that she was a spinto-dramatic - a strong lyric would be more like it - but Violetta doesn't require that. Her characterization was probably quite effective in the theater, but purely as a listener I think she works a little too hard at times, externalizing Violetta's emotions and physical debility in a way that strikes me as a slightly melodramatic. Kraus sounds like a well-preserved senior citizen, which he was; I never much liked his rather dry timbre to begin with, but that's my issue.


To me, the way Studer opens up, and how!, her highly discernible sound is reason enough to rejoice in these excerpts. It was an in-house artifact after all, which means the sound wasn't captured by professional recording engineers. But it is a testament on how enormous Studer's voice was then. I may end up uploading the entire night, start to finish, someday. Very often we decry, and with good reason, the disappearance of opera singing in melodramatic fashion. So it strikes me as curious that someone would consider that as something negative. In fact, melodramatic didn't cross my mind at all as I heard these excerpts, save during the _Sempre libera_, in which she truly let it rip even as she skipped interpolating a final high Eb. I think she truly hit the bull's eye in bringing the diverse vocal aspects of the role to life. Honestly, she gives Callas a run for her money. But has anyone characterized Callas' Violetta as too melodramatic? Talk about showboating with that unwritten/interpolated high Eb of hers. I haven't encountered the criticism, unless I missed it.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

ALT said:


> To me, the way Studer opens up, and how!, her highly discernible sound is reason enough to rejoice in these excerpts. It was an in-house artifact after all, which means the sound wasn't captured by professional recording engineers. But it is a testament on how enormous Studer's voice was then. I may end up uploading the entire night, start to finish, someday. Very often we decry, and with good reason, the disappearance of opera singing in melodramatic fashion. So it strikes me as curious that someone would consider that as something negative. In fact, melodramatic didn't cross my mind at all as I heard these excerpts, save during the _Sempre libera_, in which she truly let it rip even as she skipped interpolating a final high Eb. I think she truly hit the bull's eye in bringing the diverse vocal aspects of the role to life.* Honestly, she gives Callas a run for her money. * But has anyone characterized Callas' Violetta as too melodramatic? Talk about showboating with that unwritten/interpolated high Eb of hers. I haven't encountered the criticism, unless I missed it.


Is that some kind of joke?


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

ALT said:


> To me, the way Studer opens up, and how!, her highly discernible sound is reason enough to rejoice in these excerpts. It was an in-house artifact after all, which means the sound wasn't captured by professional recording engineers. But it is a testament on how enormous Studer's voice was then. I may end up uploading the entire night, start to finish, someday. Very often we decry, and with good reason, the disappearance of opera singing in melodramatic fashion. So it strikes me as curious that someone would consider that as something negative. In fact, melodramatic didn't cross my mind at all as I heard these excerpts, save during the _Sempre libera_, in which she truly let it rip even as she skipped interpolating a final high Eb. I think she truly hit the bull's eye in bringing the diverse vocal aspects of the role to life. Honestly, she gives Callas a run for her money. But has anyone characterized Callas' Violetta as too melodramatic? Talk about showboating with that unwritten/interpolated high Eb of hers. I haven't encountered the criticism, unless I missed it.


I wasn't going to mention Callas, particularly since some people here feel she gets too much attention. But now that you've brought her up I'll say that Callas had an infallible sense of the classical line, and the ability to find her expression inside it without an overlay of expressive "effects" that might compromise its tensile strength. She also had a range of coloristic possibilities in her timbre few singers have, and she knew how to draw on them. Studer is excellent but not Callas's equal in either of the above respects; she's vocally solid and dramatically apt here, but I'm oddly unmoved, whereas Callas can create a specific emotion for me with just a few notes. Studer's voice always sounds a little anonymous to me, and for all the many things she did well, she Kraus are both singers I respect more than love.

I'm sure the poor recording doesn't help. But, as I said, this is a fine performance and I'd have been very pleased to experience it in the opera house. It's certainly better than any _Traviata_ I've heard recently from the Met.


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## ALT (Mar 1, 2021)

nina foresti said:


> Is that some kind of joke?


No, not at all.


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## ALT (Mar 1, 2021)

Woodduck said:


> I wasn't going to mention Callas, particularly since some people here feel she gets too much attention. But now that you've brought her up I'll say that Callas had an infallible sense of the classical line, and the ability to find her expression inside it without an overlay of expressive "effects" that might compromise its tensile strength. She also had a range of coloristic possibilities in her timbre few singers have, and she knew how to draw on them. Studer is excellent but not Callas's equal in either of the above respects; she's vocally solid and dramatically apt here, but I'm oddly unmoved, whereas Callas can create a specific emotion for me with just a few notes. Studer's voice always sounds a little anonymous to me, and for all the many things she did well, she Kraus are both singers I respect more than love.
> 
> I'm sure the poor recording doesn't help. But, as I said, this is a fine performance and I'd have been very pleased to experience it in the opera house. It's certainly better than any _Traviata_ I've heard recently from the Met.


We all hear differently, of course. But I can certainly identify Studer's voice into a mere two notes of her singing anything. By the way, as I can, too, Callas'. So anonymity in relation to Studer's voice just does not apply to me. In any case, I am glad you also think this was a better Traviata than anything we've heard from the Met stage in recent times. For me, that lapse spans 30 years, and counting. Cheers.


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## ALT (Mar 1, 2021)

Adding Studer and Kraus' "Amami, Alfredo!", from Act II.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> Studer and Kraus were excellent singers and fine artists and they show their stuff here. It was a good night at the Met. Too bad the sound isn't better; Studer's voice sounds shallow and metallic. I wouldn't agree that she was a spinto-dramatic - a strong lyric would be more like it - but Violetta doesn't require that. Her characterization was probably quite effective in the theater, but purely as a listener I think she works a little too hard at times, externalizing Violetta's emotions and physical debility in a way that strikes me as slightly melodramatic. Kraus sounds like a well-preserved senior citizen, which he was; I never much liked his rather dry timbre to begin with, but that's my issue.


I enjoyed her very much live. I think she is a fine singer, but I agree with a statement of yours: she often tries too hard. She very much has an American spirit to her singing: both good and bad. I think she was a large lyric but because she had fine resonators in her mask and great vocal placement was able to project that voice well over an orchestra. She had a quality you seem to value: during her peak years she had a youthful sounding voice, which was particularly effective in Salome, Sieglinde and Elsa. She was good at coloratura, but no equal to Callas or Sutherland. I do very much enjoy her singing the killer aria from Attila on the DVD.


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## ALT (Mar 1, 2021)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I enjoyed her very much live. I think she is a fine singer, but I agree with a statement of yours: she often tries too hard. She very much has an American spirit to her singing: both good and bad. I think she was a large lyric but because she had fine resonators in her mask and great vocal placement was able to project that voice well over an orchestra. She had a quality you seem to value: during her peak years she had a youthful sounding voice, which was particularly effective in Salome, Sieglinde and Elsa. She was good at coloratura, but no equal to Callas or Sutherland. I do very much enjoy her singing the killer aria from Attila on the DVD.


Interesting, this "trying too hard" thing. Could you please be more explicit because I don't quite hear, let alone understand, what you mean? How is her Violetta "trying too hard" relative to other exponents? Callas naturally comes to mind. Or do we hold separate standards so that what comes across to some listeners as trying too hard for some singers is defined differently for other singers who try just as hard.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

ALT said:


> Interesting, this "trying too hard" thing. Could you please be more explicit because I don't quite hear, let alone understand, what you mean? How is her Violetta "trying too hard" relative to other exponents? Callas naturally comes to mind. Or do we hold separate standards so that what comes across to some listeners as trying too hard for some singers is defined differently for other singers who try just as hard.


It is just an impression of over eagerness in her personality that comes across in how I perceive her often, not necessarily as Violetta. I don't want to rain on your parade. I enjoyed many things by her. Many people are very very critical of singers I hold dear and one learns to deal with it. Hardly anyone here shares my enthusiasm for Joan Sutherland and I don't go around thinking I am wrong in my enthusiasm. My sister the opera singer/ voice teacher thinks Sutherland is the best, and my sister hardly ever enjoys any opera singer I play for her without picking everything apart in their singing. My favorite thing of Studer is Ain't It a Pretty Night and she does the best version of it in my opinion:


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## ALT (Mar 1, 2021)

Seattleoperafan said:


> It is just an impression of over eagerness in her personality that comes across in how I perceive her often, not necessarily as Violetta. I don't want to rain on your parade. I enjoyed many things by her. Many people are very very critical of singers I hold dear and one learns to deal with it. Hardly anyone here shares my enthusiasm for Joan Sutherland and I don't go around thinking I am wrong in my enthusiasm. My sister the opera singer/ voice teacher thinks Sutherland is the best, and my sister hardly ever enjoys any opera singer I play for her without picking everything apart in their singing. My favorite thing of Studer is Ain't It a Pretty Night and she does the best version of it in my opinion:


Still vague and evasive. But ok.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

ALT said:


> Still vague and evasive. But ok.


I think Woodduck has neatly summed up what Seattleoperafan means in his posts #5 and #8. Studer reminds me a little of Fleming, whom I saw in the role here at Covent Garden. Vocally excellent and dramatically aware of what she was doing, her Violetta left me unmoved because the emotions seemed applied rather than felt from within. There was an air of calculation about the performance. I saw Cotrubas in the role at Covent Garden too and she was shattering. Gheorghiu in her first Violettas was also very moving. Later on her portrayal lost some of its spontaneity. Moffo is another singer, both on record and video, where she looks absolutely ravishing, who tends to skate over the roles deeper emotions. She too fails to move me.


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## ALT (Mar 1, 2021)

Tsaraslondon said:


> I think Woodduck has neatly summed up what Seattleoperafan means in his posts #5 and #8. Studer reminds me a little of Fleming, whom I saw in the role here at Covent Garden. Vocally excellent and dramatically aware of what she was doing, her Violetta left me unmoved because the emotions seemed applied rather than felt from within. There was an air of calculation about the performance. I saw Cotrubas in the role at Covent Garden too and she was shattering. Gheorghiu in her first Violettas was also very moving. Later on her portrayal lost some of its spontaneity. Moffo is another singer, both on record and video, where she looks absolutely ravishing, is a singer who tends to skate over the roles deeper emotions. She too fails to move me.


About finding Fleming in the same sentence with Studer …. I can't even go there, and won't.

It is kind of funny to often hear about the Romanians having a monopoly over Violetta: Zeani (which you didn't mention), Cotrubas and Gheorghiu.

As for Callas, sarcasm alert: How soon some of us forget that she WAS Violetta in real time, in day to day life, black and blue and tubercular and all. So when she went onstage all she had to do was BE, thereby removing all suspicions, real or imagined, of ever "trying too hard".


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

What is your problem with Callas? It is childish and annoying.


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## ALT (Mar 1, 2021)

nina foresti said:


> What is your problem with Callas? It is childish and annoying.


That there is more, much much more, and far less lazy, than her in opera-narrative-universe.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

ALT said:


> About finding Fleming in the same sentence with Studer …. I can't even go there, and won't.
> 
> It is kind of funny to often hear about the Romanians having a monopoly over Violetta: Zeani (which you didn't mention), Cotrubas and Gheorghiu.
> 
> As for Callas, sarcasm alert: How soon some of us forget that she WAS Violetta in real time, in day to day life, black and blue and tubercular and all. So when she went onstage all she had to do was BE, thereby removing all suspicions, real or imagined, of ever "trying too hard".


I didn't mention Callas actually, but as you briing her up . Callas may have been Violetta _on stage_, but how, pray, was she Violetta in real life? Was she also (sarcasm alert) Norma or Lady Macbeth or Lucia or Medea. If anything she was closer to Tosca, though she professed a dislike of the opera and the character.

As for your quip about the Romanians, surely it's pure coincidence that Zeani, Cotrubas and Gheorghiu were appreciable Violettas. Nobody is saying that you have to be Romanian in order to play Violetta.

I won't comment on your swipe at Fleming, other than to say she is a fine singer with a beautiful instrument, who had a tendency to overthink some of her roles, which occasionally gave her performances an air of calculation.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I enjoyed her very much live. I think she is a fine singer, but I agree with a statement of yours: she often tries too hard. She very much has an American spirit to her singing: both good and bad. I think she was a large lyric but because she had fine resonators in her mask and great vocal placement was able to project that voice well over an orchestra. She had a quality you seem to value: during her peak years she had a youthful sounding voice, which was particularly effective in Salome, Sieglinde and Elsa. She was good at coloratura, but no equal to Callas or Sutherland. I do very much enjoy her singing the killer aria from Attila on the DVD.


The underlined comment here is very insightful, I'd never quite thought about it like that, but I know exactly what you mean. I haven't listened to this Traviata yet (but I will do when I can). However, the main reason I was such a Studer fan when she was singing, was exactly _because_ she was one of the few singers of the 80s and 90s who was actually trying to put some emotion into all her roles. I also found her voice much more recognisable than the conveyor belt of anonymous lyrics who were around during her career. Her voice may not have been as individual as her predecessors, but other than Gheorghiu who else could equal her from the same period?

I like her studio recording of Traviata, but it isn't one of my absolute faves. Like many here Callas owns Violetta for me and I would probably turn to Gheorghiu, Ponselle or De los Angeles before putting the Studer set on.

N.


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