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What image do certain operatic voices make you think of?

21K views 78 replies 27 participants last post by  PHOENIXFIRERAPTOR 
#1 · (Edited)
what image comes to mind when you hear a certain operatic voice?

I'll start with a few
Anna Moffo: chocolate mousse
Martina Arroyo: purple velvet
Joan Sutherland: an angel queen brandishing a sword and summoning a thunderstorm
Beverly Sills: a fairy
Kirsten Flagstad: liquid gold
Gina Signa: a blizzard
Viorica Cortez: a witch
Ingaborg Hallstein: Christmas bells
Kiri Te Kanawa: black licorice
Sherrill Milnes: cold steel
Elena Obraztsova: a tigress
Jussi Bjorling: mistletoe
June Anderson: Joan Sutherland's baby sister :p
 
#53 · (Edited)
Del Monaco: a volcanic eruption
Warren: the finest steel sword concealed under a velvet cloak until ready to strike
Pavarotti: the first warm, golden spring day after a long, harsh winter
Nilsson: a fully armoured warrior tank who can solo fight a dragon
Salminen: black rocks
Polgár: dark brown velvet with golden embroidery
Furlanetto: black molasses
Imbrailo: just the embodiment of health and youthful virility
Fleming: a young fruit tree in full bloom
Tomlinson: depending on role, a friendly white bear or a venomous but beautifully patterned snake
Tebaldi: actual angel with silver wings
Corelli: mithril armour and a royal blue cape
Tézier: a colour-shifting satin that changes between gold and a reddish brown
Keenlyside: a playful squirrel with so much energy, he probably had 10 coffees
Pape: a cello
Székely: a pipe organ
Milnes: noble yet somehow perpetually melancholy



Ooh, can we do the opera colour thing?


Don Carlo: black with antique gold and flashes of deep red
Traviata: light blue
Tosca: burgundy and gold
M*cbeth: blood red, black and white
Trovatore: not even one colour, just raging fire amplified by Sozin's Comet
Rigoletto: a mix of deep blue and rusty red
Madama Butterfly: pastels, especially pastel pink and light green
Turandot: turquise/aquamarine with a LOT of gold
Tristan und Isolde: cloudy greys and dark blue
Boris Godunov: dark brown, gold and a dark orange
Billy Budd: white and dark blue
Eugene Onegin: starts out with warm colours and goes to white and violet/blue
Parsifal: grey, deep red and a lot of white
Carmen: red and black
Lucia di Lammermoor: white and red against a cool-toned dark background
The Magic Flute: green, white, gold and black with flecks of glitter
Un ballo in maschera: all sorts of purples/violets
 
#57 ·
Juan Diego Flores: red roses....in a masculine way
if you mean "masculine" as in the sound of a teenage boy....sure I guess :/

Claudia Muzio: hydrangeas
ooo! yes, this is fitting!

Victoria de Los Angeles: definitely red roses
agreed

Shirley Verret: a beautiful brown....or the day and night cycle or the soil and the air because of her dark lower register and her brighter airy upper one.
huh? I've never experienced her upper register as particularly "bright" in any capacity, more like PIERCING! beautiful brown works well. personally I get more of a purple velvet or polished mahogany, but that works

Ingeborg Hallstein: a very high and pretty voice....the gates of heaven or heavenly bells
absolutely

Diana Damrau: a pretty iceberg or marble
I'm a bit confused by this one...because an iceberg and marble have little in common. between the two, I think "iceberg" is more fitting. her voice is cold, but glistening, and icy comes to mind immediately, like if you were to do an opera of the movie Frozen. marbles doesn't work as well though, as it's not a voice with much richness in any capacity.

Lucia Popp: [a B]sparkling star[/B] ?
my thoughts exactly, like a comet the color of a pink opal

Beverly Sills: lemon tree flowers or a thin sharp piece of metal coated in light gold
the first works, the second I don't really see

Anna Moffo: silk or chiffon maybe because it's so smooth and beautiful
100%. could listen to that all day

Christina Deutekon: an ice beam
fits quite well, a bit like a more dramatic Damrau with more laser focus
 
#69 ·
Anna Moffo: Chocolate Truffles
Maria Callas: Black Tahitian Pearls
Renata Tebaldi: Crimson Silk Velvet
Rosa Ponselle: Shower of Rubies
Joan Sutherland: River of Blue Diamonds
Beverly Sills: Liquid Mercury
Kirsten Flagstad: Swirling Molten Gold
Nellie Melba: Winter Moonlight
Luisa Tetrazzini: Summer Sunset
Marilyn Horne: Garnets in Firelight
Amelita Galli-Curci: Fireworks at night
Birgit Nilsson: Rays of Sunlight
Selma Kurz: Natural White Pearls
Giulietta Simionato: Ocean Maelstrom
Ebe Stignani: Flowing Lava
 
#70 ·
Anna Moffo: Chocolate Truffles
Maria Callas: Black Tahitian Pearls
Renata Tebaldi: Crimson Silk Velvet
Rosa Ponselle: Shower of Rubies
Joan Sutherland: River of Blue Diamonds
Beverly Sills: Liquid Mercury
Kirsten Flagstad: Swirling Molten Gold
Nellie Melba: Winter Moonlight
Luisa Tetrazzini: Summer Sunset
Marilyn Horne: Garnets in Firelight
Amelita Galli-Curci: Fireworks at night
Birgit Nilsson: Rays of Sunlight
Selma Kurz: Natural White Pearls
Giulietta Simionato: Ocean Maelstrom
Ebe Stignani: Flowing Lava
Why, oh why, is there never an emoji for OMG!!! ??? All the open mouth emojis look like horror instead of surprise. I l LOVE your list.
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#75 ·
I guess I most associate singers voices with colours.

Anna Moffo for example has a lovely dark, purpley sound in her middle register, but when she goes into her upper register the colour doesn’t bloom, it becomes a sort of silvery, less luxurious colour which lets me know there’s not enough girare in her sound. When there is, a singer like Nilsson for example, the colour remains consistent but I begin to imagine it with a gleam, as if the voice is glowing. Oddly, I don’t associate male singers, especially tenors and baritones, with colour in the same way as women and bases.

Milanov’s sound is platinum, sorry Milanov but no, I don’t hear gold, but a lovely platinum with streaks of light purple and silver. Tebaldi is gold, but a light gold, edging more towards pure white gold at the top. Nilsson has a silver voice, but with shades of blue, especially in the upper middle. Callas is a special case, a black-purple voice with shades of blue, dark, dark reds and when singing softer it can be hued with rosy pink. Grace Bumbry’s is a very dark brown, burnished with gold. Simionato is a blue/silver not unlike Nilsson’s but with less brilliance and a softer blue. Barbieri is a dark purple which pales at the top and darkens into a deep purple/black at the bottom. Dominguez is deep red with orange and a gleam of gold especially towards the top, with some vibrant browns right at the bottom. Verrett is a deep brown/black with a streak of silver which becomes more prominent as the voice ascends. Clara Petrella is orange with yellows and reds and a faint silvery gleam. Ponselle is a very rich chocolatey, reddy purple.

As far as men go, Corelli has an orangey sound, with browns and faint strokes of gold, while Del Monaco’s is like gleaming steel all the way through, darker at the bottom, like silver paint mixed with black, but still with a gleam, and brighter at the top. For some reason I rarely see baritones with a colour, and when I do the association is not strong enough for me to write it down. Who knows why. Basses are a bit easier, Siepi is black with slight purples, Neri is a dark grey all the way through. Ghiaurov dark silver and Talvela a lighter purple with some greys and black. Tozzi is the most beautiful black/purple sound with hints of a more reddy purple towards the top, more bluey purples in the middle and more towards black at the bottom.
 
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