Favorite arias

I always loved Nessun Dorma, but they had to go and ruin it by introducing it to the rabble.

I mean...

A special favorite of mine--Meyerbeer's "Shadow Song."

This is still my favorite recording of this lovely aria.

OP, here's another of Dalila's lovely arias from the Saint-Saens opera.

Love Shirley Verrett.

"The Willow Song" from Douglas Moore's "The Ballad of Baby Doe."

"Why Miss Sills, you ARE Baby Doe." -- Douglas Moore at her audition

I'm partial to "Comfort ye … Ev'ry valley" from the Messiah, known in this recording as "Tröstet Zion! … Alle Tale"

Jody Arias

“I Am the Wife of Mao Tse-tung” from Nixon in China sung by Kathleen Kim

Have too many favorites to list. But I'm very partial to Handel, because he's able to communicate and express deep emotions using very simple means. Two of my favorites are Lascia ch'io pianga and Ombre mai fu

Ombre mai fu

And from two centuries later, Must the Winter come so soon from Vanessa by Samuel Barber

How about an aria for a man? I love this sung by a bass, but it's especially thrilling to hear it sung by a countertenor.

I USED to like Queen of the Night from the Magic Flute until Volvo got its meathooks on it for their stupid commercial and ruined it for all time. Thanks, Volvo.

Fuckers.

Natalie Dessay's voice was perfect for Gounod's Juliette.

Janet Baker, all the live long day

Cool thread! Impossible to choose, but I'll go with Che faro senza Euridice (Kathleen Ferrier)

For me it's Liebestod from Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" It has to be Margaret Price's version. My favourite all the recordings.

PS thanks for thread. Should hopefully be plenty of arias that I need to hear. Reply 18 x

Few arias are more sublime than the Flower Duet from Léo Delibes' 1883 opera Lakmé. Heavenly. Inspired.

Love Joan Sutherland...

For a more recent take, Sabine Devieilhe:

What would this thread be without the gorgeous German tenor Jonas Kaufmann?

My favorite of all his roles is Massenet's Werther. Here is is singing "Une autre est son epoux!" ("Another man is her husband!"), as he realizes his beloved Charlotte is no longer his. He has a lovely voice, but what I most admire about him is his acting, and this is one of the most dramatic arias in the tenor repertoire.

And while we're doing Massenet, here is Renée Fleming singing Salome's exquisite "Il est doux, il est bon" ("He is sweet, he is good") from "Hérodiade."

In this version of the story, Salome is a convert of John the Baptist who gets manipulated by her mother, the title character; here towards the beginning of the opera, she sings of the her ecstasy of meeting the prophet.

This is one of Fleming's signature arias--it is perfect for her beautiful pillowy voice.

Elīna Garanča: "Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix". C. Saint Saëns

Monserrat Caballe - O Mio Babbino

The best opera singer ever singing the best aria ever.

,,,,

This I just love, and if you've never seen it before, you are in for a treat:

This is the Doll Song from Offenbach's "Tales of Hoffmann," with Natlie Dessay doing one of HER signature roles as Olimpia, the mechanical doll (whom the hero/poet Hoffmann mistakenly thinks is a real woman). For this incredible outdoor production in Lyon, they had Dessay sing while dancing with 12 foot tall dolls dressed exactly like her, manipulated by unseen puppeteers. It is really a wonder, and she is in beautiful voice.

The aria begins at 3:31.

Pearlfisher's Duet , "Au Fond du Temple Saint". Most beautiful male duet ever. Jussi Bjorling was peerless.

The first link didn't post. Hope this one works. Bjorling and Merrill.

Cabelle': Vivaldi's "Sposa non desprezzata", from Bajazet. Try not to cum in your pants. And by the way, Opera Queens, does anyone know why she is slyly parking her considerable right elbow on top of the grand piano during this live recital? Is it a damping trick? Thanks in advance. My God, this is good.

[quote] Try not to cum in your pants.

How vivid...

For sheer drama, I love "Schweig! damit dich Niemand warnt" from Der Freischütz. Years ago, I saw a production where they had the evil Kaspar dressed like a vampire and climbing the walls (all while singing). At the end of the aria he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Years later, when I saw the trilogy Lord of the Rings, Gollum reminded me of that Kaspar.

Hold on to your magic flutes

“I Should Be So Lucky” - Lucia Poop, Renata von Trapp, and Sarah Walker

O don fatale

Katerina's aria from Act 1 of Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District.

Les Troyens - Chanson d'Hylas: "Vallon sonore" - Berlioz

R31/R32 In the 80s I had a therapist who talked about his life in NYC in the 70s... how all the gay guys would stake out a territory in the top balcony at the Met to let their whole gay-self go, in community, at the operatic stimulation. Translated = just before Callas would hit the highest notes of the usual arias there would be a cracking of many amyl nitrate capsules and the whole balcony would be drenched in the smell of poppers.

DIVINITES DU STYX

I think the Fifties, Sixties, and the Seventies were the greatest time for opera queens, and they as a group were genuinely a dominant force in US and European gay culture then. Now there are so few left, and they are not nearly as fierce or as passionate as they used to be.

I'm not sure that's a bad thing. Opera queens had their fun side, and Wayne Koestenbaum's "The Queen's Throat" is a fun and intelligent (if ultimately fatuous) look at that culture. It was a lot like how the diva camps of today line up (as with the Madonna vs. Janet wars on DL today), but it was if anything even fiercer and meaner. It also became very much about extreme technical things, so if you liked someone who had technical difficulties (like Beverly Sills after 1975), then beware: you would get sliced to ribbons. The exception to that rule was Callas, who voice started to fall apart in the late fifties and was pretty much a mess throughout the Sixties (until even she had to retire): her fans were so passionate about her it was like a cult, and anything she did could be excused because she was thought to have been touched by God. In her heyday, she certainly WAS really something (she was certainly one of the most intelligent singers of all time, and one of the best actors), although I never counted her among my own personal favorites because of the harshness and plangency of her tone (which her diehard fans always justify)--I personally always liked the divas with the prettier tones, like Sutherland and de los Angeles, even though they were inferior actors compared to Callas.

Opera queens could be ruthless and very cruel to one another, and treated their obsessions and rivalries like religious fanatics. (I don't think I've ever been treated more rudely to my face by anyone since junior high school as I have been by opera queens if I voiced an opinion they disagreed with--and this was in the 80s, well after the heyday of opera queens.) For a lot of gay men, especially in NYC, opera fandom once gave their lives genuine meaning where there would not have been as much. I am still not entirely clear why it died off so much in US gay culture, although its demise seemed to coincide more-or-less with Stonewall.

Speaking of Massenet, "Ô souverain, ô juge, ô pére" is lovely.

That should have been père.

Je dis que rien ne m'épouvante

Carmen

This is Leontina Vaduva

hold on to those velvet cushions bitches, cause we going on a fucking trip

His version of Purcell's "Cold Song" is great too...and scary in its implications at the time.

Oh, this is fun! Here's a great one: Stuart Burrows in his signature Mozart role. Have a careful listen starting at about 1'35", with a bit of a run up to the high A. But it is what follows next that is even better: starting at 1'40" Burrows sings an impossibly long, melismatic phrase in one breath, and I've never heard another singer able to match it. And he sounds great doing it!

Sorry, missed the link.

And speaking of melisma, here's Luigi Alva in the great La Scala Barber under Abbado. Talk about agility.

Leontyne Price sing Doretta's song: "Chi il bel signo di Doretta" from La Rondine.

Those high notes are spectacular, utterly unmatched in their velvety warmth.

R5, Shirley Verrett is fucking FIERCE as Lady Macbeth!

How about Bubbles at her bubbliest? (Special for r42).

Every performance here deserves a standing ovation, so here's the best one ever.

Hold my light saber.

While we’re at it...

For the record, please state your age with all posts.

For ageist bitch R57

r54, truly one of the greatest moments ever on TV. I was in high school when that was on, and so many people from our school watched it and talked about it the next day.

Her phrasing alone was legendary--but the warmth, the passion, the technique--WOW

R58 I've got 22 years on you.

At you're age, you're just a little bitchette.

"Di Provenza il mar il suol" - Sherrill Milnes (the one I imprinted on, but I like any version, really)

La Callas, Paris 1958. Una voce poco fa.

The last third is a master class in the art of the coloratura.

R62 that Callas clip was fabulous. A Master Class indeed!

Janet Baker singing Schubert's An Die Musik--not an aria but a lied. Baker was so serious that some Brit music critic dubbed her "Dame Granite"! Too bad she never did opera in the States. Her Carnegie Hall Orfeo in 1988 was the most moving singing I've ever heard.

[quote] For the record, please state your age with all posts.

Nope.

Tatiana Troyanos as the Princess Eboli in Don Carlo. Was at her Carnegie Hall recital debut in 1978 and she was so nervous that she had to start the first aria over. Vicious queens backstage at the Met started the rumor that she had contracted AIDS. The day she died in Lenox Hill hospital she sang for fellow patients. Her Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos was so consumed by the music and lyrics that I thought she might fall into the pit. One of the all-time greats.

r64: Another Janet Baker fan here. I think she's still alive isn't she? There was something so unique about her voice. Her version of Purcell's "Now I am Laid in Earth," (from Dido & Aeneas natch) has to be the best there is. I saw her live a few times when I was a teenager (my mother was an opera and lieder fan).

Dame Janet is still alive. Here's a 2013 interview with her conducted by badly educated American inanity ("wow" "tacky"), Joyce DiDonato.

I used to like Joyce DiDonato’s fioritura and her support of young singers but she should only sing the light mezzo rep. Her Composer’s aria from Ariadne was horrendous and totally out of tune.

Sills singing Piangero from Handel’s Julio Cesare. I never expected her to exude such pathos

Janet Baker in conversation with Simon Callow, from September last year

Joan Sutherland was a power. house singer. Doing a staccato on an Eb as she does at 1:25 is insanity.

R72 Sutherland was phenomenal and it will be an enteral battle between her and Callas as to who was the best dramatic soprano of the 20th century. Personally, I always though that Callas was the better performer but Sutherland was the better singer. She is hands the down the best Lucia in history. Sutherland's voice remained in peak form right until the later half of the 1980s when she started transposing a lot of her roles down a tone or so, but even then she was better than most sopranos today at their peak. Fact, she wanted to retire in 1982s after reprising Lucia at the MET, but her husband pushed her to keep going an she retired in 1990 just as her aging voice became almost impossible to hide.

Sutherland hates black people

[quote] She is hands the down the best Lucia in history.

How can you possibly claim that? We do not have access to 19th century singers' performances, and the technological quality for capturing early 20th century singers voices was not very strong. We have no recordings of Adelina Patti singing it in her prime, for example, yet she was famous in Europe and the Americas for her performance in the role in the mid 19th century.

R75 Clam down henny! I'm sure R73 meant in recorded history, or the 20th century. Sutherland's Lucia remains the gold standard

"Clam down henny!"???

translation: calm down, Mary

Joan's singing clams me up sometimes.

Joan was (in) famous for her poor diction. She was probably too busy singing to enunciate (plus she spoke "Strine" I guess). I have always loved her voice though.

R80 Yes her diction was poor I agree. She even makes fun of it in this clip. However, she is the best bel canto singer of the 20th century IMO. Her technique was beyond reproach.

Joan's voice aged strangely. Her upper register remained very well preserved right up to the end of career. It was her mid-range that really started to weaken by the early 80s and became increasingly "wobbly" at the end of her career. One interesting fact, in her autobiography she reveals that she was forced to stop singing Ebs after 1986 because she burst an ear drum while hitting her final Eb during a performance of Lucia in Sydney.

I agree r14. My grandmother took us to see The Magic Flute in the 60s. I was in awe of the Queen of the Night's aria, Der Hölle Rache. After she was done, my cousin said (loudly), "Play it again!" Laughter ensued.

I'm never quite sold on Callas' voice, but her "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana" is sublime...

This one.

Elina Garanca as Carmen is fabulous.

Sutherland’s diction sounded too mushy to me in her later years to enjoy

For all of you who love Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix this is my favorite performance of that aria. While it may not be perfect , I like Verrett's emotional tenderness as she sings it. Sometimes it ain't always about which tessitura fit what role best. Sometimes it's just good because :D !

Aria Grande

I made the previous post , purely to post my favorite singer of that one particular aria.

Since the thread calls for one's favorite arias I will post some more of mine ( I have many) . Someone posted Leontyne Price 's Chi il be sogno di Doretta which is THE song that made me a fan of hers. I hated her voice until then. I ended up getting this a suggestion on YouTube:

Care Selve

I can't even articulate why I like this :( , I just know I do.

Caro Nome (Rigoletto - Verdi), by Maria Callas

Sutherland's last Lucia at the MET. This was 1982 and she was 56 at this point. Her voice is still fantastic given her age.

What the fuck language is Sutherland singing? Notes are great; diction is horrid.

I get what people are saying about Sutherland's diction, but how many of us are actually fluent in Italian and ever understand what they singer is actually saying? To me it's not so much what is being sung but rather the emotion behind it.

Which ones had to take a slobber facial from Flaccido Blowmongo?

Flaccido was hiding in plain sight in that Met Gala from 1991.

Musetta's Waltz from "La Boheme" is my favorite. Is that considered an "aria"?

I don't know a lot about opera.

r98: Yes, that's an aria. Arias are essentially songs. In between the arias are sung-spoken dialogue sections called recitative. They are singing not talking the dialogue (unlike musicals).

Is the guy copping a feel of her breasts & butt in the OP's video? Damn.

I’ve always had a fondness for this aria from La Wally. Wilhelmina Wiggins knocked it out of the park in the film “Diva”

^ Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez

I'm glad Shirley Verrett is getting so much love here.

She basically owns the sleepwalking aria from "Macbeth"--only Callas and Nilsson can compare, and I think she's even better. The aria was perfectly written for her with her dark chest notes, her lovely pianissima at the end, and her exquisite phrasing throughout. She just acts the hell out of it--you understand what a truly horrible, horrible thing she knows she has done in killing the king ("Chi poteva in quel vegiardo / Tanto sangue immaginar?"<<< "But who would have thought the old man had so much blood in him?")

R103 Verrett owned Lady Macbeth, with Nilsson coming in second.

As for Sutherland her diction became very "muddy" later in her career. Interestingly Leontyne Price adopted similar muddy diction later in her career so I think it may have partly been a technique thing to preserve their aging voices.

People talk about Sutherland's best role being Lucia but I actually think it was Lucrezia Borgia!

Anyone here heard about Kathryn Lewek going at the critics over being ‘fat shamed’ for her performance in Salzburg? My husband is a singer and he supports her in her calling out the critics.

who was the Bulgarian soprano that the WSJ called a "sofa'?

I've never seen Lewek before. That's fat? Caballe' really did look like a sofa, always wearing those enormous velvet gowns, but boy, that's a voice you don't forget. But sofas were in style in those days. She must have been very beautiful when young though.

Do the Andrew Sisters count?

Régine Crespin owning Le Spectre de la rose, a mélodie by Berlioz.

The color choice of this corset is not flattering to her but the scenes i have seen from the above mentioned production of the Offenbach show her to be a convincing singer/actress

she's not even that fat, just stocky.

I'm a huge Callas fan but Claudia Muzio's La Mamma Morta leaves everyone else in the dust. One of the greatest singers well worth knowing.

For Handel Norman Treigle singing Aure deh per pieta. Unfortunately now it's sung by mezzos and counter tenors who sound as much like a roman emperor as Truman Capote.

R104 Sutherland came to Borgia later in career which is why I think it's often overlooked but I agree she slayed it. I'm dating myself but I saw Sutherland in Norma in Toronto around 86. Sadly Sutherland was battling strep throat and was not in her usual voice. This rendition is one of the best I've ever heard, and that Eb is glass shattering.

Speaking of Joan Sutherland, wasn't her husband a big homo?

Suicidio! I love women with strong chest voices.

R115 I have never met anyone who likes the Suicidio . I always find myself being the only person who mentions it among my old university friends. I like that woman you posted, but for me it's the one aria I think Callas shows why she is so celebrated. The intensity and emotion in her signing in that one particular aria is artistry defined to me. I say this as someone who is not a Callas fan in the slightest.

I often find myself picking Callas as a #2 in a lot of the bel canto (and similar) repertoire . Callas is my second favorite Lucia, Norma, and her Carmen is a fiery one.

I never like Suicidio. But I have a friend who does. And he put me through the ordeal one evening of listening to 11 versions. I wanted to yell at him stop that!

Vedro con mio diletto - Giustino, Vivaldi

Lascia Ch'io Pianga, Cara Sposa, Venti Turbini - Rinaldo, Haendel

Scherza, infida - Ariodante, Haendel

the duet of Violetta and the father in La Traviata

You really need to hear this

I don't like a deep contralto

Or a man whose voice is alto

Zip

I'm a heterosexual.

R114 Yes, there have been rumours for decades that Joan's husband Richard Bonynge is gay. I've heard that since Joan's death he's been living with a male companion. Although they did have son together, it's believed their marriage was one based more on friendship and professional benefits above all else. Even Joan admitted in her autobiogprahy that theirs was not a passionate relationship but more of a gradual pairing. Bonynge was rumoured to have had a number of affairs with men during their marriage, but Joan simply looked the other way. Bonynge and his son are not on good terms as their son feels Bonynge was terrible to Joan and pressured her into things she didn't want to do. For example, Joan desperately wanted to retire in 1982 with her performance of Lucia at the MET being her final gig, but Richard allegedly pressured her to continue. It wasn't well known at the time, but Joan was already suffering from heart problems by the mid-1980s, and their son was upset that Richard was putting Joan's health at risk.

There have been some rumours that Joan may have been a lesbian but I personally don't believe that. She was an amazing singer and not a diva by any account but very dull. A total frau in real life who preferred needle point almost above signing.

I love deep altos and mezzos for castrati arias because they are able to go deeper and give more drama to the music. Countertenors try to keep it as high as possible and lose range. Try this:

R121 Richard Bonynge is still alive, nearly 90, and makes regular public appearances usually for events surrounding Joan. I believe he continues to live at their house in Switzerland. There has been gossip about Richard over the years and within opera circles. Allegedly, Joan's male secretary and part-time cook was also Richard's long-time partner. Those who knew Joan have said that she differed to Richard on virtually everything and turned a blind eye to his indiscretions. Joan was very introverted and awkward tending to keep to herself. In many ways she was a frau and according to friends nothing made her happier than going home and vacuuming the house.

Return my love!

Always gets my vote; both the aria and film "Diva".

One of my all time favorite films; Aria was released in 1986. Must have gone several times, then finally got it on VCR.

Trailer for film Aria.

I like La Wally but it's got one of the more ludicrous opera plots which is really saying something.

La Wally is rarely performed if ever nowadays. Something about that final avalanche being difficult to stage......

Jussi Bjorling - Che Gelida Manina

I'm partial to this one.

I'm still fresh to the world of the opera (first heard one in College, didn't start seriously listening until years later), but so far 'Je vole, Amour' (Air d'Argie) from LES PALADINS is my aria bias. It has a lush, ripe, pastoral ecstacy in it that I haven't heard in anything else yet.

I think the ballets & Baroques are going to end up being my lifelong favorites, though I'm also piqued by modern composers like Eotvos. Perhaps DL could signpost me to underrated gems similar to the works of Lully, Rameau, Charpentier etc.?

Well for Lully you might want to see the dvd of Atys with Les Arts Florissants. I haven't seen it myself but I saw the production with the same cast out in Brooklyn and it was one of the greatest theatrical experiences I've had in my life. I have though no idea if the impact could be carried over to video.

The Harnoncourt recording of Rameau's Castor and Pollux is fabulous.

Charpentier's Medee and Te Deum are among his most popular works.

Their wonderful dance music, an integral part of their operas, is available in many recordings. An excellent sampling for Rameau is the Currentzis 'The Sound of Light.'

beautiful

I’m on the hunt for baby/kindergartner-friendly Opera cuts for a parent & child music appreciation class. Ideally I’d need a few energetic numbers with rambunctious silly energy to start, then quieter soothing songs for a wind-down. Suggestions gracefully received.

The only one I can think of off the top of my head that might do is ‘Dis donc, dis donc pourquoi?’ from i.iv in Rameau’s PLATÉE. It’s funny & rhythmically simple enough for children to engage with and clap/dance along to, I think.

Lucia Popp — Ruhe Sanft, Mein Holdes Leben from Mozart’s unfinished opera, Zaide.

r136: Lucia Popp's version of The Song to the Moon from Rusalka is up there at the very top. She died way too young!

Mozart's Voi Che Sapete from Marriage of Figaro is a very lovely pretty tune (outside of being a great aria) that a parent and child I think could enjoy together.

Also Mozart's Der Vogelfanger Bin Ich Ja from The Magic Flute.

From Humperdink's Hansel and Gretel the first act duet in english Brother Come and Dance With Me.

R135, have you considered anything from Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel? It has a few tunes that children might enjoy. The play song in Act 1 might be something you are looking for. Gretel teaches Hansel how to dance and play.

Here is a short excerpt from the Met production. This particular version is not child friendly, but the old production had a more innocent and playful spirit. This new production has a rather dark aura to it, where as the old one was a more old fashioned fairy tale. Judith Blegen and Frederica von Stade.

"Pourquoi me réveiller" is lovely. Very expressive and lyrical, works great with a good voice.

I was never the biggest Alagna fan but saw him do the role of Werther at the Met. It was stunning. I will always remember his performance.

Va Tosca sung by Ruggero Raimondi (Scarpia).

An evil man lustfully singing about his plans for judicial murder and sexual fulfillment in church while a Te Deum is being sung.

OP Thank you for this thread. Beautiful!