Incredible to think she was 59 in this recording!
That's technique! There was no skimping back then: if you wanted to sing opera, you acquired all the skills. I always marvel at the fact that on these recordings of aging singers born in the 19th century there isn't a trace of the big vibratos (wobbles) we so often hear even in younger singers now. They knew how to control the pressure on their vocal chords, and they mastered the independence of the muscles involved in tone production and verbal articulation. Their voices aged, but rarely broke down.
Indeed. And the reason I started this thread in the first place is because I'm amazed by the ridiculous decline of the quality of singing today, although many refuse to admit it, and are dismissing it just as simply "nostalgia" or "pessimism" (well, I'm only 23 and I'm not a pessimist.) Angela Meade for instance is a very young singer who's already wobbling. And here we hear a 59-year-old maestra execute one of the most fiendishly difficult arias ever written with ease and accuracy that can't be matched today. The decline of singing quality (and the public's standards for that matter) is a fact and I guess the "teachers" and mass media are to blame.
A lot of reasons are suggested for the decline in technical standards. I don't have a firm opinion on this, but I notice a few things when I listen to "golden age" singers (always keeping in mind that recordings of the time don't reveal everything). I notice an evenness of tone production, an absence of forcing, a firm legato, an ability to swell and diminish the sound evenly on any pitch, and a clarity of diction with the words seeming to "float" on the tone and leave the flow of sound unaffected. These seem to have been vocal ideals of the 19th century - of "bel canto" - and I suspect it was the advent of "realistic" operatic music - Wagner and "verismo" - that gave singers license to go for vocal effects inconsistent with vocal purity. The greatest singers have striven to maintain the ideals of bel canto regardless of repertoire - listen to Flagstad and Melchior sing the heaviest music of Wagner with tonal consistency, legato, and no need to force their voices- but to a great extent those ideals seem to have gone by the wayside and most singers now seem to be working pretty hard to sound "impressive."
The trill to end all trills. And she's still on pitch when the piano comes in at the end!
This thread is paying off. I've been terribly missing out as I've never heard of Sembrich, Alma Gluck or Ada Sari before and they're ridiculously awesome. Sari's mad scene is spectacular. My god, that cadenza!I think the following coloratura soprano records are interesting because, despite them mainly being much-recorded arias and scenes, the performances are exciting, not always tasteful, but characterful. At the same time they are also clearly enunciated and often beautiful-sounding:
Marcella Sembrich born 1858, Merce, dilette amiche recorded 1908
Celestina Boninsegna born 1877, Bel raggio lusinghier recorded 1910
Maria Galvany born 1878, Fado Portuguez recorded 1908
Alma Gluck born 1884, Lo Here The Gentle Lark recorded 1912
Ada Sari born 1886, Il dolce suono recorded 1925
Given the recording technology, Boninsegna must have had not only superb technique but also an incredibly powerful and brilliant sound, sort of like Marilyn Horne.
Boninsegna is an amazing Verdi Soprano
What do you mean by chest vibrato? She does have a strong chest voice.
