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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
 
#2 ·


Maria Callas: gold bullion, spun gold, gold flecks, molten gold, regal gold, silver, platinum, rubies, Tiffany's diamonds, innocent, vulnerable, compassionate, angry, vindictive, sublime, imperious, scheming, flirty, manipulative, penitent, minxy, sexy, dignified, unhinged, highest drama, red blooded, vital, alive, pure bliss. . . 'paradise.'
 
#4 ·
For me singing voices usually evoke colors. Some examples:

Sherrill Milnes: Silver, turquoise blue, or bronze
Renee Fleming: Gold or reddish gold
Placido Domingo: Dark green or chocolate brown
Montserrat Caballe: Black with red glints
Anna Moffo: Red
Anna Netrebko: Red-gold or a dark color with glints of silver and gold
Jennifer Larmore: Jet black, like onyx
Cecilia Bartoli: Brown, gold, silver, red
Joan Sutherland: Silver (earlier recordings), Gold (later recordings)

Fascinating topic! I'll be back.:)
 
#5 · (Edited)
For me singing voices usually evoke colors. Some examples:
I totally get this :p the colors these singers make me think of are

Sherrill Milnes: Silver, turquoise blue, or bronze
silver (though I more metallic silver when compared to the more shimmering silver of June Anderson or early Sutherland)

Renee Fleming: Gold or reddish gold
I would say somewhat of a darker gold. more "roasted oats" as opposed to "goldenrod" if that makes any sense

Montserrat Caballe: Black with red glints
same

Anna Moffo: Red
deep, bronze-ish brown, like an antique lamp or varnished wood

Anna Netrebko: Red-gold or a dark color with glints of silver and gold
brown with pinkish undertones

Jennifer Larmore: Jet black, like onyx
same

Cecilia Bartoli: Brown, gold, silver, red
deep brown

Joan Sutherland: Silver (earlier recordings), Gold (later recordings)
exactly!

I'll add a few:
June Anderson: shimmering silver
Kiri Te Kanawa: jade green with glints of black
Martina Arroyo: purple and gold
Leontyne Price: brown
Annick Massis: midnight blue with glistening stars
 
#6 · (Edited)
BalalakaikaBoy: I've also heard Caballe's voice described as "lilac"!

For me, Arroyo's voice is black satin or black velvet.

Here are some more colors/images:

Victoria de los Angeles: Red roses
Mirella Freni, Nicolai Gedda, and Juan Diego Florez: White wine
Fiorenza Cossotto: Something hard, shiny, and dark-colored (black marble?)
Alessadro Corbelli: Coffee beans
Barbara Frittoli: Amber
Andrea Rost: Something white and sparkly, like white sequins
Ileana Cotrubas: Milk, white flowers
Natalie Dessay: A white lily (like the kind you see at Easter)
Patricia Racette: Beige with some silver and white
Samuel Ramey: Black
 
#7 ·
BalalakaikaBoy: I've also heard Caballe's voice described as "lilac"!
I could see that

For me, Arroyo's voice is black satin or black velvet.
Martina Arroyo's voice (both timbre and vocal style) are more inviting and emotive than anything black, imo. more purple, brown or deep red

Victoria de los Angeles: Red roses
yes

Nicolai Gedda, and Juan Diego Florez: White wine
Gedda: yes! that's perfect
Florez: eh, his voice is more "strawberry daiquiri" imo.

Fiorenza Cossotto: Something hard, shiny, and dark-colored (black marble?)
sounds about right

Ileana Cotrbuas: Milk, white flowers
yes

Natalie Dessay: A white lily (like the kind you see at Easter)
pretty much, though I would throw in an assortment of Easter colors (light blue, pink, light green, etc) coupled with a few accents of deep scarlet (though maybe the last part is more personality, which sharply contrasts with her voice imo)

Samuel Ramey: Black
yup, like onyx
 
#11 ·
Joan Sutherland: an angel queen brandishing a sword and summoning a thunderstorm
actually, more than anything, Joan Sutherland's voice reminds me of storm clouds.
upper register: dramatic flashes of lightning
middle register: rumbling thunder in the distance before a storm
lower register: light drizzle and the last remnants of thunder moving off after the climax of a mighty storm

Sutherland's voice was dramatic and like something coming down from the heavens, but at the same time, there was a distinct gloomy quality to it, to the point where she sounded a bit weird trying to portray happy characters like Rosina or Marie from Fille de Regiment.
 
#15 ·
Christopher Purves = melted 86% cocoa dark chocolate :p
Julia Lezhneva = a clarinet
Zachary Wilder = breath of fresh air

These are just the ones that immediately come to mind. People who know me probably expect me to come up with a list of countertenor voices (which would be tempting) but I find they are harder to describe. But I may post here again. ;)
 
#19 ·
Elena Garanca = some R-rated sultry scenes that are banned here via ToS. Lots of pleasure, put it this way.
 
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#25 · (Edited)
(This is the thread I've always wanted!!)

Maria Callas:
Supernova, silver/white sound waves, laser beams, electromagnetic waves, beach waves, a praying angel... It's the hardest one to describe.
Pretty much something like this


Joan Sutherland: Falling shimmery snowflakes. Sometimes a crone.
Rosa Ponselle: Rose Gold
Brown Font Pattern Magenta Electric blue


Besides, I do associate very particular shades colors with certain composers and some of their Operas:

Verdi

La Traviata
Il Trovatore
Rigoletto
Ernani
Macbeth
Bellini
Norma, Il Pirata, La Sonnambula
I Puritani
Donizetti
Lucia di Lammermoor
Anna Bolena
Mozart
Wagner
Puccini
 
#27 · (Edited)
(This is the thread I've always wanted!!)

Maria Callas:
Supernova, silver/white sound waves, laser beams, electromagnetic waves, beach waves, a praying angel... It's the hardest one to describe.
Pretty much something like this


Joan Sutherland: Falling shimmery snowflakes. Sometimes a crone.
Rosa Ponselle: Rose Gold
View attachment 91188

Besides, I do associate very particular shades colors with certain composers and some of their Operas:

Verdi

La Traviata
Il Trovatore
Rigoletto
Ernani
Macbeth
Bellini
Norma, Il Pirata, La Sonnambula
I Puritani
Donizetti
Lucia di Lammermoor
Anna Bolena
Mozart
Wagner
Puccini
Tuoksu, you may have something called synaesthesia. I do too, and my synaesthesia is the letter-color type:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia

While most of the time, synaesthesiac people perceive their "version" differently (for example, the letter A looks red to one person but seems blue to another), I am so astonished that if I looked at the words you colored (without seeing you colored them), I would still agree with your choice of colors 90% of the time (Macbeth is red, Il Trovatore is light purple, Il Pirata is green, Puritani is light blue, Wagner is brown, Puccini is dark green etc...)
 
#29 ·
No images for me as far as the singers are concerned, but music and water are inextricably linked in my mind. It may be a babbling brook, a mountain stream, waves rippling onto the shore or even Niagara Falls, but it's always water.

Alongside that, the music I enjoy the most evokes curves in my mind's eye. Baroque will forever be a closed book to me as all I can ever see are jagged lines, triangles, squares etc. all of which make me feel edgy and uncomfortable.

I do seem to be out on my own with this though!
 
#33 ·
I'd certainly love to meet someone who has the same imbalance and swap thoughts.

I do actually feel rather sorry for anyone who has both perfect pitch and a perfect sense of rhythm. (I'm not saying that mine's perfect by the way - I have no idea if it is or not.) To be able to hear when someone is slightly off the centre of a note and also when they're slightly off the centre of the beat into the bargain, must make it a rare thing to hear a truly satisfying performance.
 
#36 ·
Some current female singers:
Renee Fleming: the color of butterscotch (do not ask)
Anna Netrebko: (pre-2010) ebony, (post-2010) olive green
Sonya Yoncheva: Reeeeally dark brown (dark chocolate, kind of)
Diana Damrau: Dark yellow
Kristine Opolais: Ice blue
Sondra Radvanovsky: Midnight blue
Pretty Yende: Crimson and white
Joyce DiDonato: Rose gold
Elina Garanca: Misty green
Isabel Leonard: A deep brown

Just my $0.02
 
#46 · (Edited)
Anna Netrebko: something dark and mushy....mud maybe :) (yeah, I'm not a fan of Ms Netrebko)
Angela Gheorghiu: something quite dark, beautiful, and gentle....maybe the night or a black flower
Rene Flemming: molten gold I guess
Kiri Te Kanawa: a particularly beautiful piece of bronze
Elina Garanca: a white rose or a white candle
Maria Callas: a musical note on a piece of paper because it's black and it's so good it's like 'pure music' :)
Renata Tebaldi: orange rose or gladiola
Joan Sutherland: a very dramatic but dry and emotionless voice....thunder on and on and on (no, not a fan of this beloved singer)
Elisabeth Schwartzkopf: lilly of the valley or hyacinth...probably sitting behind a pretty woman's ear.
Kirsten Flagstadt: shimmering metal....a pretty angel or fairy made of shimmering metal
Monsterat Cabale: pianissimo, pianissimo, pianissimo is all I here. Another beloved singer that I'm not a fan of (don't shoot). The petrol gray color
Claudia Muzio: hydrangeas
Victoria de Los Angeles: definitely red roses
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.
Anita Cerquetti: a pure an ephemeral voice....maybe unpolluted spring water or a mayfly
Ileana Cotrubas: I agree with milk....that or white porcelain
Eleanor Steber: a tuning fork because it's vibrant and quite metalic.
Ingeborg Hallstein: a very high and pretty voice....the gates of heaven or heavenly bells
Diana Damrau: a pretty iceberg or marble
Christina Deutekon: an ice beam
Lucia Popp: [a B]sparkling star[/B] ?
Beverly Sills: lemon tree flowers or a thin sharp piece of metal coated in light gold
Anna Moffo: silk or chiffon maybe because it's so smooth and beautiful
Ewa Podles: a cave...in a good way!
Natalie Dessay: gold foil because it's thin, light, and beautiful
Sumi Jo: soft and pretty...a sea anemone or a frangipani perhaps
Philippe Jaroussky: a delicate piece of light gold
Juan Diego Flores: red roses....in a masculine way
Bryn Terfel: the sound that an elephant makes with his trunk only the perfect opera version

And that's enough for today. Let me know if you want my 'review' of a voice that I haven't covered.
 
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