I knew someone who was a Moffo queen. No one but Anna for him. I love Caballe, but she was her best before '66, with the exception of her live Norma DVD from L'Orange in the early 70's. Her best recordings are her Verdi and Rossini Rarities and her duets with Verrett, both from the early 60's. She was actually comparatively much smaller then and very pretty. I love Tebaldi but get tired of her flat high notes, which happen often.
Magda Olivero - she has the most incredible soul and ability to live the role she plays, she took an average voice and made it spectacular due to the most phenominal technique!
Rosa Ponselle - the greatest American soprano since Lillian Nordica with a seamless voice and a sound of pure velvety gold.
Claudia Muzio - a fabulous singer who understood the concept of verismo and used her voice to express the emotions related to the music.
Maria Callas - an imperfect voice [some people consider it ugly, I don't] with a perfect instinct to make opera the living drama it is supposed to be.
Here I am in a quandry - I would have to say Leyla Gencer because of her superb technique, unique and beautiful voice, and her willingness to throw it all away for the sake of the drama. She was never dull and never worried about perfect vocalization, she concentrated on making the opera truly a "living opera".
My alternate #5 is Cristina Deutekom. To me she has a ravishing voice and gave what I consider the perfect performance of Lucia. It was in Verona along with her partner, Pavarotti. That performance is unique!
1. L. Price (in no order)
2. Freni
3. Tebaldi
4. Scotto
I guess these are my Puccini and Verdi Heroines...the voices i grew up with and learnt about opera.But these are probably the most recorded hence why i put them down. I also like slightly meatier voices.
Not sure who would be 5 on my list....de los Angeles, Milanov, Caballe, Gruberova, Varnay, or Albanese?
Reserve list would also include Polaski, Marton, Matilla, Silja
Modern day soprano's would be Petibon, Denoke, Schafer
1. Joan Sutherland =D She is one of the most amazing people ever.
2. Maria Callas - also very amazing. =D
3. Mado Robin - highest notes ever!
4. Mady Mesple - what can I say
5. Diana Damrau - she rocks the queen of the night aria
I have a few others, just refuse to participate further in X number of top anythings, let alone rank them by number.
But there ya go, one of the most consummate musician / singers "of all time."
Maria Callas
Joan Sutherland
Birgit Nilsson
Renee Fleming
...no. 5 is tough. it's out of
Kirsten Flagstad
Mirella Freni
Renate Tebaldi
Elizabeth Schwartzkopf
All this obviously displays my ignorance of earlier great singers.
1) Ever and always, Natalie Dessay
2) Maria Callas
3) Anna Moffo
4) Diana Damrau
5) Birgit Nilsson
Although 5 could also be Kiri Te Kanawa, depending on the day and my mood
As this thread is wandering along in a somewhat desultory fashion I thought I'd add another lot.
Adelina Patti, probably the greatest of the ones we can actually hear.
Nellie Melba.
Florence Austral.
Antonina Nezhdanova.
Geraldine Farrar.
Eleanor Steber.
Darn it that's six,but not a mezzo among them and I've avoided baritones for the moment at least.
I heard Steber as a boy in the wrestling arena in Jackson, MS. Same place I saw Liberace. I came to love her later and think she was underrated because she was American.
In my view Caballé's best years were from 1965 to 1976.
After that, there were too many routine nights, the top notes started to not being always there, and when they were, rather disconnected from the rest of the voice. Also, a certain disinterest towards the drama, the text, sacrificed to the beauty of the sound, that was there from the beginning of her career, was more and more usual in her later years.
However, she was still capable of great singing. I heard her live for the first time in the early 1980s, in a recital, and there were some incredible moments.
I think that singing Giocondas or Turandots were not really good for her voice, anyway.
Let me think: Callas for ever, and also Gheorghiu, Damrau, Caballe, Cotrubas...amazing sopranos. Maybe tomorrow I'll swap one or two. There are so many wonderful sopranos, so that's not easy to chose just five.
1. Maria Callas - a total musician, not just a voice, with the ability to make the music sound as if it were coming new minted from her lips, and yet somehow strictly adhering to the score.
2. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf - also a total musician, though not always able to conceal the art behind her interpretations.
3. Maggie Teyte - A singer with a most individual voice, particularly wonderful in French opera and song
4. Victoria De Los Angeles - Charm and beauty in a wide range of different music
5. Renee Fleming - Again a singer with a large repertoire, but, for me, the supreme Mozart and Strauss singer of our time.
what do you think about Sumi Jo? she was once mentioned on this thread. She is super nice but sometimes I'm annoyed by her style of fading away phrases and notes...
This list doesn't mean that I think they are necessarily the best singers (like Renee Fleming for example), but they are the ones that touch my heart.
Magda Olivero
Eleanor Steber
Mirella Freni
Maria Callas (early)
Angela Gheorghiu
Also ran: Sondra Radvanovsky
Choosing only from those I've seen live:
Joan Sutherland
Maria Callas (alas only in recital)
Mirella Freni
Catherine Malfitano
Kiri Te Kanawa
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