Beverly Sills - Donizetti: ANNA BOLENA, Mad scene live in a solo concert, 1974

THE SONGBIRD: Beverly Sills (1929 - 2007) was my first diva and the reason I became infatuated with coloratura sopranos and started collecting vocal music. Sills holds a special place in my musical life to this day so I'm happy to share this rare item that is not currently posted on KZbin. Sills first sang Anna Bolena at the New York City Opera on October 13, 1973 and performed the opera with the NYCO 16 times. This recording is from a live concert recital Sills gave in Los Angeles with Zubin Mehta conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She sings the full mad scene herself, sans accompanying singers or chorus. It is not totally complete as there are a few minor trims of a couple measures here or there. This scene was part of Sills' orchestra concert series tour in 1974 and 1975 (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Ann Arbor, San Juan, and Sarasota Springs).
THE MUSIC: "Anna Bolena" is the second of Donizetti's four operas about English Tudor queens. It premiered in Milan in 1830. It's a large-scale work, and the leading soprano role is a grand one, written for Giuditta Pasta. In his book "The Assoluta Voice in Opera, 1797-1847," Geoffrey S. Riggs posits that soprano assoluta roles embody these characteristics: extremely intricate fioratura, widely varied tessitura, a range extending up to at least high B natural and down to at least low B natural, and a dynamic vocal line necessitating completely heroic vocal tone. He writes that while many assoluta roles contain those elements woven throughout the score, "Anna Bolena" is one of the few instances where they are all actually concentrated in just one scene: the final sequence of her long mad scene. The vocal compass in this section is from Low B-flat up to High C, though many coloratura sopranos interpolate more high notes and end on a High E-flat. The challenges of the title role may be the reason for its near disappearance from the repertoire for decades until it was revived at La Scala in 1957 for Maria Callas.

[@brian_bk_keith]

I remember Sills saying the 3 Tudor queen roles cut her career short by 10 years. She gave so much of her soul in these performances

[@baritonebynight]

And something like "if God gave me my voice back just for a day I would say...where is that queen costume?"

[@sergiosanchezsanchez8712]

Sills en Anna Bolena in Live demostrando que era Belcantista pura. Sus ornamentos y trinos son perfectos.

[@wotan10950]

Sills was my first great operatic love. Incredibly, at college I was able to snag tickets for the Donizetti queens, never having seen an opera before. Beverly said of the real Anne Boleyn, “If she had to sing this scene, she would’ve died long before she reached the scaffold!”

[@jjlungdoc7472]

I attended the San Juan concert in 1975 as part of the Casals Festival. It was vocal apotheosis. She could only be faulted for not having encore( s) prepared and given the insistence of the public opted for repeating the opening piece of the concert which was Mozart’s Hallelujah from Exultate. She was at her peak that evening which means no other singer could touch her when singing this repertoire.

[@jimbuxton2187]

That was pretty fantastic!

[@edwardamosbrandwein3583]

Wonderful! Even better than on her recording!

[@vincec8218]

Please check out soprano Kasondra Kazanjian

[@cozene35]

Beautiful

[@vincec8218]

Please check out soprano Kasondra Kazanjian

[@belcantopera4562]

Bravissima!

[@vivianbelissima]

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@mkhmedinaglobal2]

Seeing Sills on PBS introduced me to the world of opera. Seeing her "live" for the first time in her last Los Angeles Manon in '77 was a huge thrill for a 16 yr. old who knew little about vocal production technique. Her star personality and artistry are an indelible cherished memory. Thanks for sharing this performance. Do you also have the Marietta Lied from this concert?

[@frankmartinez2655]

Absolutely incredulous as a singer and actress.

[@songbirdwatcher]

Did you mean incredible?

[@frankmartinez2655]

@@songbirdwatcher It's meant as ,amazing, astonish-singer or just simply an explanation of 'down right amazing'! Get Down Baby!

[@enriquesalinasalcazar9879]

She has had a fantástic opera career do some of the one who dare to crtizise had a career like hers NO so better not say anything

[@Shahrdad]

This scene displays Sills' great virtues as well as few her shortcomings in this repertoire. She's incredibly musical, intelligent, and her voice is incredibly flexible. Her legato and her handling of the long cantilena lines is superb and has a forward momentum even in very slow tempi; her singing never devolves into the "mooning and mooching" one often heard from her more vocally gifted contemporary. The shortcomings are a voice that is by nature thin and lacking the body and natural power necessary for this role, a voice much more suited to roles such as Manon or Louise or Baby Doe. For all her vocal flexibility, none one of the trills ever take full shape and often sound more like a bray than the clean articulations between two notes. And she seems to substitute for the lack of a proper voice by inserting a lot of meretricious ornamentations and unnecessary high notes. This robs the character of her queenly dignity and just turns her into another hysterical woman. I think this role worked much better for her on stage, as she was a very good actress, with a great stage presence.

[@jjlungdoc7472]

It always amazes me how easy it is to confuse fact and subjective opinion. Much of your negative comments are simply your personal opinion. Let’s say for example that what you call “ meretricious “ ornaments I desire to describe them as “ truthful and sincere”. Who can decide which one of us is right or wrong?

[@baritonebynight]

@@jjlungdoc7472 Exactly. The opinions of arm chair critics do not interest me either.

[@師太滅絕]

Donizetti trilogy, which is the fourth opera on Tudor queens? Thanks

[@songbirdwatcher]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_castello_di_Kenilworth

[@師太滅絕]

@@songbirdwatcher Thanks very much.

[@chembaliszt484]

That final top note - shrilled, over-pushed scream, without real power. With all respect, not even close to Sutherland.

[@liedersanger1]

That’s one note. What about all the others?

[@johnc-mk9me]

@@liedersanger1

[@johnc-mk9me]

Yeah Lets not talk about Sutherlands high notes in the last 5 years of HER career

[@kurtgarmaker3719]

Sutherland could not sing a top e flat when she undertook this role.. she transposed this aria down a whole step so the final note was a d flat.. Sutherland's diction was so terrible... How do you display real passion when no one can understand the gibberish she sang.

[@jimbuxton2187]

That's ok... her voice is smaller... so she put all the drama she had in it! I think there is a difference between brilliant and shrilled. Lighter voices have more brilliance....