[Better sound] Joan Sutherland as the Queen of the Night: O zittre nicht • Der Hölle Rache (arias)

Joan Sutherland live at the Covent Garden (1962) sings one of the most impressive renditions of the 2 arias of the Queen of the Night, "O zittre nicht" and "Der Hölle rache" (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Die Zauberflöte, a.k.a. The Magic Flute).
Her singing has that unique combination of amazing power, dramatic bite, lyrical beauty and almost unbelievably fast and accurate coloratura. Except for those who view those two arias basically as a showcase for the highest notes and little else, Sutherland's Queen of the Night is revealing in that what she may have lacked in a High F (a High F according to contemporary, not 18th century pitch, of course), she more than made up for in almost superhuman singing and sheer dramatic power.

[@ebenezeradjierteh2498]

How is this even remotely possible...Joan forever

[@SteveL2012]

This is the best recording of this that I have ever heard. Agree about that the heft of her voice fits the role better than the voices who usually sing this. You can hear the entire range clearly throughout the aria. Not a JS fanatic, but this is great singing.

[@johnpickford4222]

Day or Night, Joan Sutherland will always be the Queen!

[@wilsonwatt9283]

No matter the lowered pitch and the fact that the conductor is a little slow, this is a spectacularly dramatic rendering of the role. The little birds who often sing it simply cannot provide the goddess strength which must support the words in this role. Remember she is the female opposite of Sarastro and so must have as much weight in her soprano as he has in his deep bass.

[@carlberg7503]

Forget the low pitch, forget the sluggish rhythms, forget the sloppy diction, let's just pretend it's perfect and that words in opera don't matter.

[@zhamiralamoan9184]

@@carlberg7503oh stop! Just following what others say as if you’re fluent

[@Homoclassicus]

​@@carlberg7503i get what she is singing just as much as with most other performers especially in the higher phrases. Are you just parroting the usual complaint or do you really speak German and know the lyrics?

[@carlberg7503]

@@Homoclassicus Yes, I know German. Yes, I know the lyrics, and I am sorry to inform you that I am not a parrot and you are not a "homo classicus."

[@jackduncan4228]

She was the most extraordinarily gifted artiste. This is so beautiful it could make me weep. I know the Magic Flute so well and have seen it performed by many different productions. I know people will say this isn’t her best performance, and I’d agree, but there is no artifice in this recording and she still manages to make it sound dramatic and beautiful.

[@MrQbenDanny]

BRAVO!!! She could have indulged her army of fans with the famous note, but chose not to. Our loss. That said, her rendition here is gorgeous.

[@ahogbin2644]

I'd be surprised if these were ever sung by a weightier or more opulent voice! The slight lowering of pitch doesn't bother me at all - it's around where Mozart would have heard it in any event.

[@kid926]

Non so piu´cosa dire della Sutherland , una vera super ed e´sempre un piacere ascoltarla

[@MrStpendouslvforjo]

I heard once on an album with a pink-like cover (that had Dame Joan in a black and white picture as the Israelite woman from Sampson) - I heard these two arias from the 1962 Covent Garden performance where Joan sang the first aria in the original pitch with the high F - but the second aria a half step lower... You know - in my opinion , the Queen should be sung by a DRAMATIC coloratura - like Joan Sutherland . The fact that the pitch is HIGHER now than in Mozart's time is unfair to the dramatic coloratura voice. I need the heft of a dramatic - like Dame Joan.

[@jasonhurd4379]

She transposed the Act I aria down a half step, and the Act II aria down a whole step. To be fair, this was common practice before WW II, and even for some years after, so she was only one of many sopranos who did this. It's a pretty shameful practice, though. If you can't sing the notes, don't sing the role. And the pitch is not THAT much higher today. Mozart's tuning fork vibrated at A=432, which is not even a quarter tone lower than A=440.

[@josephhapp9]

Jason Hurd ???please quote research source when you state Mozarts Tuning Fork was set at A432herz.

[@marchesano]

@@josephhapp9 which it actually was not.

[@richardholmesmusic2128]

@@josephhapp9 I have sung many performances of Mozart using period instruments and the pitch at which they performed was A=415, a full half-step or more below modern pitch. This pitch is often specified when you receive a contract.

[@mctv7822]

Listen to the majestic Erika Miklosa, now 😏✨

[@rakellcolotta3675]

I love this. I love everything she sang. Can't think of another SOPRANO with voice big enough to sing Wagner who could have sung this so heroically and beautifully.

[@techwiz7947]

Sutherland's Königin der Nacht is up there with Cristina Deutekom..

[@rodrigoalberto4171]

I wish there were recordings with better quality so I could know her voice exactly how it was😢

[@carlfranzensvocalstudio9826]

Magnificent

[@MMotta-mk8uq]

Perfeita!

[@billc1195]

she was so versatile!

[@65attila]

Stunning.

[@jondavwal13]

I just wish there existed one Zerbinetta from very early in her career. That would have been fascinating. To my knowledge she never sang it.

[@baritonebynight]

Dame Joan specialized in the Bel Canto repertoire of the late 19th century as well as Handel and Mozart. She did sing some Puccini and some Wagner but to my knowledge she never sang Richard Strauss.

[@williammaddox3339]

@@baritonebynight In the 1950's she sang a small role in Electra.

[@ER1CwC]

@@baritonebynight She started off trying to be a dramatic soprano. She made a U-turn after meeting Richard Bonynge.

[@WilsonWatt-q2e]

@@baritonebynight Not the late 19th Century. The Bel Canto composers [Bellini, Donizetti, and Rossini] composed between 1805 and 1840. By the late 19th Century, they were considered old fashioned and mostly replaced by Verdi, Wagner, and the Verismo composers, except for occasional performances of Lucia and Norma. You are correct that she did not sing Strauss at all.

[@WilsonWatt-q2e]

The only other KZbin rendition which is a true vocal picture of the Queen is Edda Moser's , which frankly is better than this by a small margin.

[@krowapaulinka4351]

Well, actually isn't this more period-accurate? In Mozart's times high Fs were more high Es by today standards... Either way I like these better than the studio recordings.

[@ramongerman6440]

Sutherland have a very weight voice, cuz she were soprano dramatic of coloratura, magic flute is for light voices

[@yanairisfernandez6947]

No .. Fué creada para sopranos dramáticas con coloratura, nada de ligeras... Pero resulta que es una voz más difícil de encontrar y las sopranos ligeras pueden asumirlo

[@DavidHughes-op6zl]

Much as I love Sutherland I couldn't believe the evidence of my ears in this piece for on at least three occasions the top notes are less than perfect and I never thought I'd say that about her. But, as others have opined, the aria doesn't suit her at all, not one little bit actually. (I suppose it's why Pavarotti never sang leider. Wise man. "And now ladies and gentlemen Mr Pavarotti will sing Schubert's 'An die Musik' ". Haha.)

[@Wolfsky9]

Amazing !!--------------------------------WolfSky9

[@elenadalmoro2536]

I absolutely agree 😊!

[@stealthy3000]

I typed in Eminem and this came up, I’m converted!

[@paulvesely4773]

she may have lacked in a High F - The ability to hit high notes is over rated. There are so many attributes that make a wonderful opera singer . Those who merchandise classical music seem to be clueless at times . I remember as a young man seeing an album for Luciano Pavarotti titled " King of the High C's " He like Joan Sutherland was so much more.

[@brunospoleti7318]

" SUPERLATIVA " !!!

[@LohengrinO]

She does sing the F6 in the studio O zitre nicht, no?

[@Homoclassicus]

Yes, she did it in studio. I think she didn't feel self-confident to sing it live even though she sang the note twice live, but never really sustained (not that it's necessary in "O zittre nicht", anyway).

[@LohengrinO]

in Mdm Herz u mean... I think that if Sutherland had sung the F6s live, which she could have, she would have been the only truly first class Norma to ever sing the Queen live which is a feat yet to be achieved... It is said that when a singer can reach and sustain a note, she can sing the above note at least as stacatto. Since both Callas and Sutherland had sustained E6s several times live in their careers, I really wonder WHY none of them attempted the Queen's F6s live (since the F6 we hear in Sventurata in Callas' Armida is supposedly an E6 played faster). And my even greater question is why Sutherland never sang Ach ich liebte's 24 C6s and 12 D6s which were notes as easy as drinking water in her early years at least... I will never forgive her for not singing Kostanze (not sure if I must not forgive her or her hubby)

[@Homoclassicus]

Yeah, I know, I myself am struggling to forgive her yet, hehe. She sang an amazing Elettra at the same year (1979) she was supposed to have performed Konstanze at the Met. It was certainly a big loss. The role was ideal for her voice even as late as '79. As for the High F, my final conclusion about this is that here we were dealing with a matter more of confidence and unwillingness to expose oneself to unnecessary risks that they knew would be readily used against them if they failed (I can imagine the headlines "Mme. Meneghini-Callas crashes at the highest notes. Scandal!" and "Soprano dubbed La Stupenda fails and her dogma of infallibility is broken to shreads". hahaha!). P.S.: Lilli Lehmann did sing both the QoN and Norma and was supposedly first-class in both roles, though, I must say, in totally different phases of her voice and career.

[@LohengrinO]

yes but I do not consider a Norma first class unless I hear her with my own ears because quite many say that Cigna and Ponselle were great Normas but to my ears they were both mediocre... especially Cigna (not to mention Milanov)... do we know any quote of Milanov about Lehmann? because when the silly B Sills commented that Norma is nothing compared to the Queen of the Night, Milanov responded: Norma is easy dear, the way YOU sing it :D

[@LohengrinO]

regarding Kostanze.. I think it would be extremely easy for Sutherland in the 60s but almost impossible in the 70s. Instead we have endless Baroque nonsense sung in her Golden Era... just like Callas was recording Pagliacci and Cavaleria when she was singing like Armida and Lady Macbeth as a Goddess, Sutherland was singing silly Baroque when she were able to give the greatest Kostanze of the Centuries (which goes to Gruberova I think up to now)

[@caninbar]

The aria has been lowered a whole tone.

[@SR-jx8yu]

Why was Der Holle Rach transposed down?!

[@crazyorganist1609]

Because she could sing high E easier

[@stuartlee6622]

Because AOC and The Squad demanded it.

[@baritonebynight]

@@stuartlee6622 You can take that comment and climb up into Putin's behind where your boy Trump likes to hide out.

[@vickiw3335]

Cristina Deutekom owns this aria! JMHO.

[@baritonebynight]

She quickly dropped the Queen of the Night from her repertoire. It wasn't her thing.

[@meltzerboy]

Most coloratura sopranos, whether dramatic or lyric, drop the Queen of the Night as they get older, because the role, though brief, is of high tessitura besides having all those high notes. Sills, Peters, Pons, and Popp also dropped the role early on in their career.

[@ransomcoates546]

@@meltzerboy She disliked the role, true, but she also became much too expensive to hire for so little music.

[@johnpickford4222]

@@ransomcoates546 Well, she could have lowered her price accordingly per note. When Bing asked Callas to sing the role, she responded that it didn’t make sense to pay her so much for so little music. Well sing for less, said Bing

[@ER1CwC]

​@@johnpickford4222 The practice then was a flat fee for each performance within one's contract, regardless of which opera one sang. (I don't know if that's still the case nowadays.) The real reason why Callas didn't sing the QOTN was that Mozart was simply not her thing, musically and vocally. Both arias were also too high for her; the second would have been transposed down a whole tone to accomodate her tessitura and range. Moreover, she tended to only choose operas where her role was undisputedly the star female role. (The QOTN is not just a short role, but also ultimately quite unmemorable, unless the second aria floats your boat.) I agree with Ransom Coates in regarding Sutherland.

[@Echoes-t1u]

@@ER1CwC yes but callas sang pagliacci and the soprano role does not steal the show there or anything. On the contrary, the tenor and the baritone roles do

[@MrJazzmeaux]

She felt obliged to sing the 3 live performances if I remember her autobiography correctly. Her voice was too big and heavy to heft up so high. I don’t like it. Her early Donna Anna though is altogether a different story.

[@Homoclassicus]

Yes, indeed, it's a very high role, but it requires ideally a dramatic and darker voice like Sutherland's (it's a mother, a queen, a vengeful villain, after all)... but dramatic coloratura voices very rarely are comfortable singing many High Fs and a continuously too high tessitura. It's a tricky part rarely heard in its ideal form (maybe Deuekom and Moser only?), though a huge crowd of leggero and lyric leggero sopranos have sung it very correctly and even impressively. I really wish Sutherland had sung Konstanze in her early prime (1957-1967), though, and I bet she would've been marvelous singing Fiordigili (especially in her later, darker voice from the early 1970s). Her Donna Anna, as well as her Vitellia sung for the BBC in 1956, suggests she would've been great in other heftier Mozart roles.

[@enricolambrusco2449]

The lower key is because the recording is at the wrong speed. I saw her sing this live. In the correct key.

[@MiguelRuiz-xq7pn]

Are you for real? You saw her live, in person, in 1962? :0

[@correasilvio2010]

One tone mi b

[@ransomcoates546]

The second aria sounds very labored and difficult for her. No wonder she hated the part. The voice is too big for it.

[@crazyorganist1609]

I kinda agree with you. It wasn't her thing

[@cliffgaither]

_These arias seem to be great favorites of the fans._ _AND EVERYONE has an equally favorite singer performing the music._ _Whatever is said about J.S.'s voice, her upper register was great, even better earlier, earlier-on -- maybe BEFORE R.B. ?_ _But her voice doesn't have very much tonal-beauty in the middle AND lower parts. They sound so cloudy, murky -- a lack of pristine quality in those areas AND, at times, sounding as if she was singing in a tunnel ; but because her voice was appreciated ... we all overlook the flaws of singers we like, but the middle AND lower parts of a singer's voice -- ( the middle ) -- where they sing most, has to be sustainable with some kind of resplendent transition-of-sound to "carry" listeners to the next high note ; in fact, do high notes really matter if the other parts of the voice are beautiful ? Great Baritones, Basses, Mezzo-Sopranos & Contraltos are constantly emitting melodious sounds. ( Would anyone have cared if Pavarotti never performed high notes ? The overall sound of his voice was personified tonal-beauty. Would anyone really care to hear [ 📌 ] Jose Carreras' high notes_ _after hearing his Shakespearean / Polished / Graceful Movements of the words of Rossini's Recititives ? )_ _The greatness of J.S. may push others aside AND one of those "pushed" is June Anderson. NO ONE SINGS these Arias, especially the last one, with the force AND command AND dazzling sound as Anderson AND her upper register ( higher than J.S.'s ), "cut-offs" AND breath-control ARE phenomenal. The dramatic weight she gives to the music AND the incredible delivery of the duet-recititive before the second aria ; although I can't tell if that's Anderson "speaking" German or a Vocal-Language Actress who must have created that powerful language. She [ Anderson ] deserves vocal-credit for being the best AND most dramatic in this music !_ _[ 📌 ] " Elisabetta, Regina d' Inghilterra "_ _Recitative of Leicester ::_ _" Alta Regina, invano ... "_

[@emilsenhuitron]

No las llega

[@annemburada6265]

Qué quiere decir "no las llega" ?

[@soyemanuel5884]

Las notas, pero si las llegó F

[@ramongerman6440]

Al contrario las llega demás, lo qué pasa es que la flauta mágica es para voces más ligeras no para voces pesadas como las de Sutherland y con todo eso la domino por su capacidad vocal, ella tiene el mismo tipo de voz que callas soprano dramática de coloratura.

[@emilsenhuitron]

@@ramongerman6440 Gracias

[@Operafreak9]

E for effort.

[@carolkristian1146]

And you are whom? I'll give you a f for, well, nevermind.

[@Operafreak9]

@@carolkristian1146 Who, not whom. Sorry. Taught English eons ago. She just bores me. Can't help it.

[@mehmethac7168]

@@Operafreak9 it seems like a you problem

[@Zarathustra86]

Buuu

[@yanairisfernandez6947]

Hágalo usted a ver si le sale...