Shirley Verrett's voice type

Shirley Verrett was born on 31 May 1931.
Some people like the labels for the voices and defined her as a Falcon, but Verrett exceeded this category too. Even if I think that this tessitura was not the only thing that made her so special and rare.
Highlights of l'Africaine, Don Carlo, Médée, Norma, Oedipus Rex, Brahms Serious songs, Il Trovatore, Exultate Jubilate, Orphée & Eurydice, L'Assedio di Corinto, Don Carlo, Ruhe meine Seele, Médée, Aida, Verdi Requiem, Macbeth.

[@KassandraMezzo]

Every voice is unique. Labels make it only worst for singers to find jobs and labels "help" agents to find excuses for not finding them jobs... Every voice is a whole universe. Love her!

[@Nacidodelmar]

This is exactly how I feel about voices! Years ago I was all about the soprano, then I realized how enormously/obtusely I was limiting myself. I think is good to compare in the wake of expanding, delighting, joying, even making " catharsis". Also, I believe it is primordial for the singer to be crudely honest and true about his own nature when a singer is completely honest to face his call with his own truth became an artist and therefore a herald of eternity.

[@jmiller05]

A fabulous hybrid voice. The way she could float the high Db6 in Macbeth's sleepwalking scene and then project low with darkness as Azucena is truly remarkable. The defining falcon of the last century.

[@tonshaad1230]

jmiller05 This is why singers like Verrett and Callas should be studied and appreciated more than what they are from the younger generation. I know a few young kids who look up to these two women and understand what it takes to strive in this business.

[@corneliuswhite5139]

Verrett was just superlative!

[@charlesbrown1934]

She was an artist in the best sense of the word. Her voice was a difficult one to categorize by label, but the important thing is that whatever she sang, she usually gave a stellar performance.

[@danafripp1432]

I am having SO MUCH FUN listening to these excerpts! What a complete artist she was!

[@baritonebynight]

Jessye Norman rejects the label of Falcon or any other label of her voice saying simply "pigeon holes are comfortable only for pigeons".

[@angelabender8132]

baritonebynight Norman has a different voice indeed Not suited for operas, but good for concertoes

[@konan123]

Angela Bender not suited for operas ? Really ?

[@direfranchement]

@@konan123 I think I understand what she is talking about. Jessye's voice was very large but it didn't have that sharp edge needed to cut through on the opera stage...it was kind of like a wall of sound. She really didn't do many operas.

[@paullewis2413]

When I was in my 20’s I saw/heard Shirley Verrett at the RFH/London in a concert performance of Samson & Delilah (Saint-Saens). Totally mesmerising, she commanded your attention for every second, a remarkable artist.

[@ChiaraDBrown]

My favorite voice of all I time, I think. Such a unique quality, so moving and emotional. An ideal to strive for.

[@jmiller05]

It's interesting that she and Simionato could embed their lower register with a very distinctive dark hue, and yet brighten upwards still with power. A defining Falcon characteristic.

[@marcandregingras992]

A legendary voice powerfull and a pure artist!

[@secretofsinging]

foropera.... what you write....is right on !!!! She was equal to Callas and I love Callas too...2 of the greatest singers/musicians !!!!!!! Thank you for these excerpts. Her artistry and voice is superlative. And she was a lovely and a gracious woman.

[@pablonorbertoperdomo6105]

In addition to all the qualities herein mentioned, she had the rare ability to blend her unique voice with sopranos of any type i.e. Sills, Caballe, Moffo, Bumbry, etc. Also, I agree that she was not a Falcon like the great Regina Crespin. La Falcon was a soprano with most of the typical high notes. Her problem was maintain a high tessitura (Norman). On the othet hand, the grand Tebaldi and De los Angeles, could deal well with the tessitura but had some difficulties above high B. Verrett, in my opinion and with great admiration and respect for other great colored stars, has been the greatest of them all. God bless her soul!

[@secretofsinging]

Estoy completamente de acuerdo con VD.

[@eberlinpascal2837]

Vous avez raison ,pour moi aussi elle est égale à Callas .J'admire Callas ,et lorsque j'entends Verret ,je retrouve la même émotion ,et j'entends une artiste unique .Une voix fabuleuse également .

[@giuseppinascapparone5912]

Per me seconda a nessuna!!! Splendida voce e splendida donna. Con ciò che ascoltiamo attualmente altro che rimpiangere la VERRETT! In questo pezzetto di Messa da Requiem è brividi!!!! Grazie immensa Verrett!!!!!!

[@tklogan111809]

shame her favorite role isn't included here, she was SUBLIME as Leonora in La Favorita.

[@viorelbadiceanu8150]

Grozav montajul! Multumim! A avut ambitusul si o tehnica grozava de "acoperire". A fost un Falcon adevarat, daca nu o soprana dramatica din nastere....

[@DCFunBud]

Her singing at 4:19 was the most impressive. (I wish more than one photograph had been used and the music identified.)

[@foropera]

DCFunBud I did put so many photos and titles on each music of Verrett's legacy in my other videos, please. Just have a look in the 30 other vidéos.

[@naturalydecadent]

great,thx

[@EmilyGloeggler7984]

One of my favourite emotive voices.

[@tinamangus3773]

Please add a list of all the arias! I want to hear the whole.

[@sambaranenko]

What is she singing at 8:20?

[@foropera]

sambaranenko, it is the soprano big aria in the Verdi Requiem.

[@sambaranenko]

Omg thank's

[@luisdavidalvarezcorrales8882]

What is the name of the aria starting at 5,51?

[@luisdavidalvarezcorrales8882]

thanks (:

[@draganvidic2039]

Aida is for a dramatic soprano.

[@foropera]

Certainly. What kind of dramatic soprano then...?Flagstadt, Varnay, Marton, Farrell? On the other hand Cossotto's fans call Verrett a lyric soprano badly placed (as an insult).

[@scoobidoo9112]

awesome...."La Nere Callas"

[@franzitaduz]

I get it, but this singer needs no comparison to Callas.« Its time to allow her to stand alone as another American soprano of unique gifts vocally and drmatically that happened to be black. One forgets, Callas successes were limited to the operatic stage. Ms Verrett excelled in concert throughout her career in many languages.

[@keymonmurrah4420]

Very direspectful to continue to mention that "nickname"

[@giudiciadanna4550]

scobi doo...se non c'era la Callas, Verrett e Sutherland prime ad aexaequo.

[@giudiciadanna4550]

Praticamente, quasi come la Callas, questa poteva fare molte cose con una intensita' inaudita. Se avesse avuto pure il Mi Bemolle....

[@iamthebirdfearme]

which aria is at 4:18?

[@pablodemarcos5379]

Il Trovatore, Azucena, mezzo.

[@corneliusbates460]

She was one the greatest sadly racism kept her from getting roles during her career

[@thangvuong9196]

How so? Wasn't she in the same generation as Leontyne Price, Grace Bumbry, Martina Arroyo?

[@jasonblack4208]

This isn't what "excessive chest register" sounds like. It's a very good chest voice, but if anything, it's somewhat understated compared to many of the greats.

[@WilConquer]

I think Shirley Verrett, Florence Quiver; Edda Moser; Regine Crespin are all sfogato's . For Florence Quiver especially to be a mezzo she had one of the most beautiful Eflats, hence why she and mirella freni were the case studies for Audra Mcdonald.

[@Khalid7a]

None of them are actually. Sfogato means a voice that can sing everything as written; to sing coloratura like a pure coloratura not a labored agility, a dramatic like a pure dramatic voice, a mezzo and contralto like pure etc. not a singer who have access to these yet not native to them. Crespin was a pure spinto soprano, Moser a dramatic coloratura (her mezzo range were never good actually), Verret and Quivar are clearly falcons which means a mezzo with a higher extension yet not as of a soprano.

[@joelcaspari9390]

And there were rolls that Verret couldn’t sing... Imagine her as Amina from Sonnambula? Anna Bolena would be a strech too... Abigaille? These are Sfogato roles, but I don’t think these would be good Verrett roles. Even her Norma wasn’t one of her very great hits

[@foropera]

Joel Caspari: of course there were many roles that she couldn't or wouldn't be proposed to sing. In France she sang Medea very well and she could have sung Abigaille. But her temperament was also a soft one and she prefered try Desdemona... And first of all because she was a low dramatic soprano ( Falcon) and not a dramatic coloratura. The concept of Sfogato is a kind of box where people put their fantasies. I laugh when I read the Wikipedia post on this concept. There are no proofs of what the XIXth century voices were really...and how they suceeded in the roles they created. Pasta asked immediately for a lower Casta Diva. Verrett denied being a sfogato soprano. Even Callas rejected all these classifications. But Callas took model on Maria Malibran singing Sonnambula and Puritani ...and these scores were lowered versions by Bellini itself because she was not a pure soprano but rather a high mezzo.

[@foropera]

Khalid Sfogato means a total dream that would be harmed by the real facts if we could check them. Verrett never accepted this name even if flattering. She was in a humble process of evolution and even singing low dramatic soprano roles ( Falcon) constantly mixed with pure mezzos or lyric sopranos such as Madame Lidoine did not decided her to call herself this or that. Verrett sang higher roles than Flagstadt or Tebaldi or Crespin, at particular times. I am afraid that the supreme category aka "assoluta" is such a fantasy, that Mesdames Malibran, Viardot and Pasta would not get in the club, as they were already dead or too old when Nabucco, Tristan and Turandot were composed. And if Malibran was an assoluta why did she have to transpose down Sonnambula, Puritani and maybe other "high lying roles"? Putting Quivar in the same category as Verrett says it all. It is true that Quivar had a wonderful extension, but she never could have stayed in high tessitura for long years like Verrett and Bumbry.

[@draganvidic2039]

foropera Good points there!