Casta Diva by Marian Anderson

[@msstevens7481]

Her presence has a unique magnetic pulling to me. Though she is gone. Something about her still draws me. May her current family be forever blessed. Because of her.

[@barbarasoprano5269]

This is fabulous! Thank you for posting this. We have gotten so hung up on voice “types” and then putting people into further categories...Greatness doesn’t fit in a box! That’s what’s wrong with our beloved art form today. Giudita Pasta, the creator of the role of Norma, was considered a “contralto” in her own time (early 19th century. These were the female voice who had the greatest vocal ranges and who also had the greatest virtuosity. Roles were written for individual singers, tailored to their specific talents...NOT for voice “types”. Brava Mme. Anderson.

[@ileanamuntean7338]

It's such a shame. My daughter (RCM graduate) type-cast as a "mezzo" says the same thing.

[@RichardWagner-hi4zn]

Good luck singing a tenor role when you are a bass. lol

[@erikfantome6862]

@@RichardWagner-hi4zn I think female voices are usually more wide-ranged and flexible. My wife can sing both contralto, mezzosoprano and dramatic soprano parts (but not high lyric or coloratura soprano). I myself am a tenor and sometimes sing baritone parts but I surely cannot sing any lower baritone/bass parts!

[@RichardWagner-hi4zn]

@@erikfantome6862 Yes, you might reach tones, but there is an area where your voice is best. Melchior was not great as baritone which he started from. And a dramatic soprano cannot excel like Marga Höffgen. The First Norn cannot be Brünnhilde.

[@erikfantome6862]

@@RichardWagner-hi4zn Yes, most of heldentenors were trained as baritones at the beginning.

[@reginaltedbrown]

The glory of her voice makes me wonder if I have passed away.

[@stephenhetzel8437]

Yes....as though one we're literally in heaven

[@direfranchement]

This is a beautiful rendition...and her voice is quite rich. Her range is legendary--I believe when she was first approached with performing in an opera, the role proposed was Aida, but she was resistant saying "I knew I was a contralto--so why Aida?" She was blessed with many years as were we to have her consummate grace and beauty for a world treasure.

[@donaldlevine1420]

She was asked to do Amneris, not Aida. Or at least, I've never heard about Aida,, only Amneris and Azucena.

[@direfranchement]

She was asked to do Aida. She wrote about it.

[@pilouetmissiou]

But why Aida ? So for Amneris what kind of voice ??​@@direfranchement

[@terencedove5047]

Marian’s masterful control of her trills at the end of this aria reminds me of Leontyne’s famous aria that brought down the house at her Met debut. Unbelievable control backed up with a superb breath technique. Perhaps it’s a crazy wish; but just imagine what the world of opera would have gained if they had both debuted at the Met together…

[@donaldlevine1420]

That would have been a problem as Anderson was 30 years Prices senior and by the time of her Met debut in 1955, Anderson was years past her best.

[@charlesbrown1934]

Her long delayed invitation, finally, to sing at the Metropolitan Opera was our great loss.

[@RichardWagner-hi4zn]

Those who could have seen her earlier there - are all dead.

[@Orfeus80]

What a beautiful, warm and expressive voice.

[@ritafair]

The quality of this voice transcends any of the problems of recording technology, the exaggerated expression that seems de rigueur for modern singers. Love this.

[@godivapaw]

MAGNIFICENT! My finger slipped and I accidentally clicked 1 star instead of my intended five. If there were any higher rating, she would get it from me anyday!

[@ciaraskeleton]

I dont understand how contralto is how she was labelled just due to her ability to reach low notes in head voice. She had RANGE!!! she clearly had it all! That's amazing 👏 😍

[@BaroneVitellioScarpia1]

Beautiful voice!

[@oliverdelica2289]

And remarkable figure

[@Twentythousandlps]

Bellini's original key was G,which he eventually changed to F. Anderson sings it in E flat, and handles it like a mezzo soprano. It would not work for certain other contraltos. But she also handled contralto music like a contralto.

[@cubdaddy40]

She was a remarkable woman with an extraordinary voice.

[@reginaltedbrown]

MARIAN proves one need not die to be in HEAVEN.

[@fernandoa.9742]

I feel a little bit the same. Thanks for putting it in words.

[@madeleinegrannec7757]

ADORABLE MARIA ON PEUT RESTER L'ECOUTER ET TOUT EST TRANSFORME AUTOUR DE NOUS PAR CETTE BEAUTE et ce CHARISME QU'elle savait faire rayonner autour d'elle. A PERPETUITE JE VOUS ADORE;

[@1operamom]

My voice teachers teacher heard Marian Anderson in concert and said that at that time she was billed as a soprano. Because she had such an amazing lower range, she billed herself as a contralto as that was a rarer voice type. I love her voice, her vocal artistic interpretations are so breathtaking.

[@baritonebynight]

I have read a biography of Mrs. Anderson and her manager once wanted her to bill herself as a soprano which she NEVER was. She was a true contralto.

[@alexanderzaphir721]

@@baritonebynight exactly.if she were a soprano ,she didn't have to lower the aria by a tone. People can easily understand, that it's never a matter of range ,but of register .Tourangeau had a very long voice,but she was a mezzo.Stignani was able at home with her pianist to sing Norma,but she knew she was a mezzo.The same thing for Rankin & Simionato .They weren't stupid.

[@BellaFirenze]

Glorious singing. An American treasure.

[@pilouetmissiou]

amazing....

[@lagunagreg]

I would never have imagined somen like Anderson singing this, and it's amazing! The coloratura is spot on!

[@waterfordwinstons]

I love it, that is the problem today with singers no one want to risk singing something that is so called not in there voice. i loved it thank

[@RichardWagner-hi4zn]

Well, the price will be a short career!

[@EmilyGloeggler7984]

She sings this better than many sopranos with healthy technique but without any emotion or realistic declamation. Even though she is a contralto, she is on par with the great soprano interpreters like Rosa Ponselle, etc.

[@juanmsotog]

Hermosa!!!! La verdad no tengo palabras para describir lo maravillosa que era Marian Anderson

[@tidaliumpelo]

i just want to say that the professionals are more tolerants with the others singers than a lot of comments that i read on that kind of forum

[@paulostroff99]

Gorgeous singing! Brava!

[@petergraham8681]

There has frequently been a question as to whether she might have been really a true contralto. Her voice was certainly rich enough in texture but one wonders in hearing CASTA DIVAA whether she might have been able to move into mezzo-soprano Repertoire or even higher. It really does not matter in the long run since she had a unique instrument however one wishes to categorize it. Her contralto recordings are among the best anyway & she seemed perfectly happy remaining in this repertoire.

[@annbenson2050]

She was really a soprano but because of racism they did not let her.

[@direfranchement]

She was not a soprano. Please stop.

[@majahandlovu2050]

I personally believe she was a mezzo and not a true contralto

[@terrycloth6380]

Actually this is very good, even lowered and faster paced than usually. Always a sense of musicality

[@ceciliaortiz2375]

Agradezco que se conserven estas joyas!❤

[@ioSonoCallas]

Elle chante le Casta diva de la version "Malibran" et elle le chante fort bien. Cette magnifique artiste a dû en raison de la ségrégation attendre l'âge de 58 ans en 1955 pour se produire dans un rôle d'opéra, celui de Ulrica du Bal masqué de Verdi au Met de New-York. Avant cela elle se produisait uniquement en concert car il était impensable à l'époque qu'elle donne la réplique à des chanteurs blancs!!! Son Casta diva est d'autant plus étonnant qu'il est antérieur à 1955 et elle capte dans cette cavatine tout l'esprit de Norma!

[@papapegna7775]

What a perfect voice

[@Johnny1206]

what a beautiful voice!!!

[@GwenAYF]

I was a child when Andeson was singing. It is amazing to read someone who knows nothing of her and her career criticize her work, and with less than correct language ( "there" for their;"rolls" for roles.) My college age son said, "My generation is ahistorical." Sadly so.

[@teresabarrero3290]

Qué belleza!!!

[@giovic9802]

Perfect diction

[@pietronardella-dellova8883]

BRAVISSIMAAAAAAAA ! SPETTACOLARE ! MERAVIGLIOSA !!

[@norahangelicabianchi3244]

Maravilloso

[@christinec.6685]

Gorgeous phrases. Love the tempo.

[@marypoplin3752]

I got goosebumps listening to her. So beautiful!

[@joetursi9573]

Toscanini said hers was the greatest voice he had ever heard. It's so...perfecet. Tone, control.

[@catchersmitt0]

Someplace, find a recording of Marian Anderson singing Shubert's Ave Maria... it's quite chillling, quite beautiful. There's just something about her voice that is so plaintive.

[@orlandopratts4382]

Just beautiful! I don’t understand why she was catalogues as a contra alto. She’s clearly a soprano. On my opinion. Such beautiful. I’m in love. 😍🥰🥰😍

[@direfranchement]

She was not a soprano. Please listen to her catalog. She was never a soprano. At best one may have been able to categorize her as a mezzo, but the masculinity and strength of her lower register would even make that questionable. You clearly haven’t heard enough of her. Do some more listening.

[@KajiVocals]

@@direfranchement She is a mezzo-soprano.

[@nicolaimitakys6349]

Beautiful voice

[@markusschunzel9225]

Marian Anderson: I like her soulful singing classical songs more than what most of the other great opera singers can deliver.

[@DominickDrayke]

Yup.

[@donnachurch6884]

beautiful

[@OgemaryNweke]

God🥺 This is heaven❤️

[@104gramophone]

Bravo

[@joanabanyeres]

Do you know that diapason was much lower. And Bellini did what he wanted with Malibran, she was almost a Mezzo.

[@rochellewarren5008]

💜

[@coralarch]

Yes, there ARE contraltos- I'm one.

[@marypoplin3752]

Now this is what you call singing.

[@ciroalb3]

very nice. has the right mood for this portion. I would have preferred it a little slower, more stately, and more trill at the end. Waht year? 30s?

[@PonselleLover]

You "caught my words from the mouth" as we say in french : I'm fond of her Dalila too.

[@bradoperaman]

This voice makes me want to cry.

[@adolfoderizans3084]

I just cried...

[@alexvalencic8942]

💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛

[@jfsanin]

I always had heard Anderson as a very low contralto. If well, here she is not a soprando, she got high notes and a very good melody. Good and strange Juan Fernando Sanin E

[@nailju28]

Ya no quedan altos puras como Anderson. Solo muchas sopranos, de las que es raro encontrar alguna que no sea una grulla.

[@acacia-bloom]

Suherland &co sing it in the original key, (F) Callas&co sang it a tone down (E-flat). Anderson sings it a 3rd down (i.e D-flat). What key did Patti sing it in? I doubt as low as Anderson. Other comments about Anderson (as much as I admire her) being an "ideal" Norma, are therefore in the light of the extreme liberty taken with tansposition, a little far fetched.

[@baritonebynight]

Anderson would have never have attempted the role of Norma. Adalgisa would be beyond her as well as it is for a high mezzo or soprano. I'm glad we have this recording however to show the voice in repertoire in which she was not associated with but what she could have done with it had she been a soprano and had the opportunities. Patti was a soprano so no she would not have transposed it down at all.

[@ferdecla]

no sabes cuanto coincido contigo!!! Yo soy profesional y todos los dias leo enyoutube horribles comentario de GRANDES canatntes!!!!! Imagino que seran comentario de cantantes fracasados que no lograron llegar a nada... si no, no lo entiendo!!!

[@PonselleLover]

But Patti must have been very old when she recorded it, no ? That would explain why she coud not stand anymore the tessiture.

[@mariopinot9884]

Nice

[@franrat]

further to the unclear delimitation of voice types for Norma, Caballe recorded Adalgisa to Sutherland's Norma, and Freni as Norma recorded the duets with Scotto as Adalgisa, all with documented historical justification

[@macksawyer6221]

Giulia Grisi, the first Adalgisa, was years later the first Elvira in I Puritani.

[@tidaliumpelo]

you make me laught with your considerations on singing,i'm a french professional singer ,and it's very funny to read the "specialists" who i'm sure, never have sung professionaly .about the key ,she doesn't sing the complete opera she just sing the aria,at this time it was not a problem, and even now we have seen Jessy norman recording cesar franck's panis angelicus writed for a tenor

[@FranzBlumVan1890]

XD

[@evgeny9965]

Bellini would have approved.

[@direfranchement]

Oh did you know him?

[@acacia-bloom]

Imagine what a hoo-ha it would cause if someone sang the Queen of the Night (or Aida, Traviata or Brünhilde for that matter) transposed down a third!

[@franrat]

the style is dated but the voice and the singing are wonderful. As to the transpoaition , Cecilia Bartoli just released an "hommage to Malibran" album where she sings Casta Diva in the key Malibran used. A mezzo/contralto voice seems strange to us after Sutherland and Caballe, but the result is beautiful.

[@FranzBlumVan1890]

before bartoli was Horne I think she sang in better way the original key, near to Malibran and pasta

[@vkaminsky]

I agree; to make racist/bigoted statements against whites while discussion Marion Anderson is particularly galling and insulting to her memory.

[@melinat9584]

Beautiful but not incredible because it is Anderson singing!

[@skarlita19]

her vibrato is too fast... i dont like it, but she has a good voice

[@fernandoa.9742]

¨A good voice¨, hahahahahaha....

[@Paddy818]

LOL! Like...legendary good voice!

[@direfranchement]

Her vibrato was definitely one of the weaknesses of her voice…and as the voice declined, it became even more of an issue.

[@Corneliusvoice1]

@@direfranchement The recording is ancient and may have made the vibrato sound faster..There are numerous later recordings of her where the tonal qualities are richer and warmer.. The vibrato comes from the vocal folds vibrating against each other... Wider or wobbly vibrati can be due to a number of issues such as acid reflux conditions or where the mechanism has no stability and bobs up and down....

[@robertoramossempere7252]

@@Corneliusvoice1 Que verguenza de comentarios! Parce mentira que se haya olvidado como llegó Marian Anderson a ser una de las mejores contraltos de la historia, la única que tenía un registro grave parecido al de Clara Butt. Pero al contrario que la Butt, Anderson era negra y pobre en un país extremadamente racista y fué además la que abrió el camino a todas las otras; Price, Verrett, Bumbry, Norman,etc y a base de mezclar hitos y humillaciones. Pero lo más importante és que llegó a ser grande por una voz natural de resgistro de contralto y una extensión de tres octavas, por que no pudo tener estudios en el conservatorio ni fue alumna de una gran cantante como Callas, Tebaldi o Gencer. Estudio como pudo y cuando pudo, eso le impidió desarrollar correctamente una buena técnica para una voz excepcional, por tanto hay que considerar todo eso cuando se critica a Marian Anderson. Por último recordar dos cosas; la primera que grandes cantantes adoradas mundialmente han tenido un vibrato más exagerado que Anderson, entre otras, Supervía y Olivero; la segunda repetir las palabras de Toscanini: "una voz como la suya se oye una vez cada 100 años" Las "contraltos" de hoy en día son pajaritos al lado de Marian Anderson. La última gran y auténtica contralto.

[@rochellewarren6219]

💜