Beverly Sills - 1973 - Son vergin vezzosa

Beverly Sills sings I Puritani "Son vergin vezzosa"

[@petelovesbevsills]

She just happened to be billed as the "fastest voice alive".Bellini did write the word "cadenza" in his score and most importantly, Beverly was very happy with her performance as were the audience.

[@bedwardb]

Dear "asdfopera" - Ms. Sills did more to expand the opera audience on the Tonight Show than probably any other human being. Her "dabs" of opera no doubt were carefully chosen (along with embelishments) to be just enough to hold interest in what then was still a very elite art form. You should be praising her for an eloquent delivery which i have NO DOUBT she was pleased with. (thanks Pete for your note!!) How many opera singers are on the Tonight Show these days?

[@sutherland9]

It's odd that she's transposing this aria down a whole tone to C major. In 1973 she was still at her peak.

[@petelovesbevsills]

No wonder the audience went insane when Bev made her debut as Elvira!! Vincenzo Bellini's hands must have been raw from clapping too!

[@caltrask51]

You try singing an aria like that in a little over a minute. It's a talk-show... everything had a time limit.

[@sutherland9]

Why in C major rather than the usual D major?

[@petelovesbevsills]

A total of NONE. Beverly was determined to put opera on the map and she suceeded so perfectly. Today we have a dismal array of ho dee hum, oh my gosh, oopsy daisy, useless singers who would faint at the thought of being on a show like this! THEY would never dream of humanising opera. Brava Diva and well done irrespective of what "adsfopera" says,(who cares anyway?)