Gundula Janowitz - "E Susanna non vien... Dove sono" (1980)

From a wonderful "Le Nozze di Figaro" conducted by Georg Solti at Paris Opera Garnier in 1980.
The very famous stage production by Giorgio Strelher.
Fabulous cast : Jose Van Dam (Figaro), Lucia Popp (Susanna), Gundula Janowitz (Contessa Almaviva), Gabriel Bacquier (Almaviva), Federica Von Stade (Cherubino), Jane Berbié (Marcellina).

[@hecberlioz]

I was 25 in 1980 and heard this cast twice. Unforgettable, especially Janowitz's other worldly timbre. The audience went beserk at the curtain calls and I was hoarse with cheering.

[@SludgeMcPoople]

La Gundula Janowita can stand there like a tree and sing forever like that, as far as I'm concerned. She carries away my heart! Exquisite...!!!

[@tatters1232006]

this is artistry of the very highest level,the sheer control and colouring in the voice is amazing.no wonder she appeared with the greatest conductors

[@OSIR7]

I have never heard a more beautiful soprano. It is perfect to a degree that I would say: It's no more human, it is divine.

[@loredinusa]

This is how Contessa should be done...honesty!

[@soulmach]

I just cannot find any tone as pure and heavenly as hers. I cannot find it. There are many great sopranos but Janowitz leaves me breathless more than anyone else.

La voix céleste de Gundula Janowitch, il n'y a que ça dans cette vidéo et c'est du bonheur. A écouter les yeux fermés....

[@lucluc1000]

Gundula Janowitz is one of the most exquisite singers, this is an exemple.

[@dcheutin]

She looks and sings as an angel!

[@lachezar43]

How noble a behaviour! That is indeed extraordinary version!

[@Luisa5575]

Lo que más admiro de esta mujer ,así como todas las "GRANDES", es el manejo del aire. Gundula es un ejemplo para la nueva generación de cantantes. Necesitamos de estos ejemplos. Gracias!!

[@sfkcbf]

Gundula Janowitz's voice: Such beauty compels me to fantasize that, some how, we could make it immortal, permanent. Such joy in hearing her is in stark contrast to such much ugliness in the world.

[@pawdaw]

My two cents: opera will and always be about VOICE. You're all forgetting that the greatest singers knew how to ACT WITH THE VOICE, which is far more important than just 'acting. That's just what Gundy does here. Brava!

[@dutchfreediver]

Proberly the most beautiful, breathtaking and gorgeous looking woman who walks on this planet who also posesses a voice like an angel.... I am enjoying her voice everytime i listen to her and there is nothing comparable to my knowledge..

[@lvega69]

No me canso de escucharte.Gundula eres exquisita ,la mejor condesa

[@lvega69]

Escucharla y verla es un placer Es incomparable

[@marcocito]

Que voulez-vous de plus? Merveilleuse!

[@jensberlin2011]

Eine unglaublich betörend schöne Stimme, wohl eines der schönsten Sopran-Timbres der Welt, die ich jemals gehört habe und die jemandem "geschenkt" worden sind, von wem auch immer...Selten so excellent gehört wie hier...und das "live"...

[@piratzrule]

Her voice is perfect for this aria. Its like it was written for her. Fantastic performance. Damn sopranos, they get all the good arias.

[@toryisland29]

I was in Paris at the time and missed it. What a cast!

[@lucluc1000]

Great performance and wonderful voice!!!!

[@lucluc1000]

Perfect!!!!!

[@LjubljanaSI]

this is really an excellent interpretation.

[@Burgundia1980]

That's Gundula Janowitz...she DEFINITELY knows what she's singing. You don't headline at the Paris Opera without knowing the libretto inside and out.

[@marcocito]

C'est du grand art!

[@dan1453]

The perfect Contessa

[@lipera]

Absolutely great! You guys should look at yourselves before judging such a wonderful mozartian soprano...she's NOT a mezzo...and a great Countess...and the clothes are just awesome...very epic...I love this production.

[@soprano543]

kel voix pure magnifique

[@urherman1]

definitive glorious Mozart singing

[@Teddyb1939]

Ever!

[@owenboi66]

It's a question of style. Would and eighteenth century countess throw herself around and emote? She puts it all into the music. If you want to see Janowitz "acting" look for the clip from Fidelio - the duet with Vickers.

[@soulmach]

Ahh.. Perfect! P.S. - This is not a broadway musical! :-P

[@egymagyar1111111]

Janowitz is absolutely sublime in this I am going to listen Schwarzkopf immediately after this

[@swanningaround]

Perfect everything voice.

[@mozartjpn137]

I wish I were there!

[@lvega69]

BRAVO

[@operaoaf]

Her legato and silver radiance is just superb!! Few sopranos can ever reach this. However, others have brought more dramatic force in the role and greater clarity in the phrasing of the italian text.

[@ThomasMurphy55]

Not only can this woman turn Mozart's great work into magic, but you really should check out her work with Eugen Joachum and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau on Orff's "Carmina Burana"...she'll knock your socks off.

[@danigrrrl]

Que bela performance! Maravilhoso! Sò não ganha da Kiri na gravação do Solti... mas é quase perfeito!

[@khothye]

Beautifull, very beautifull... If she did some few inexactly notes, as some coments, the all performance is so great that I forgive absolutly the few faults.

[@ravaschieri]

Perfect Mozart (!) Interpretation - I'm Austrian and I know how difficult it is to sing Mozart arias in this way...Le Nozze di Figaro is not a Verdi opera.

[@Seasidefriend]

Beautiful. Effortless. Seasidefriend

[@hazelmsmith]

I would like to think that the voice will always be paramount. I can't see the Met casting someone who is beautiful, dramatic, but can't sing. You might be interested to know that the Met has Voight and Heppner singing Tristan and Isolde next year(an HD presentation). I can't wait.

[@operaoaf]

Her voice is superb. What's missing is the temper and restlessness of a forlorn wife. Someone unfamiliar with the opera might think that she's singing in church. Though, what an angelic voice!!

[@ENIMANOWILATU]

@miaobauaugh You´re not right: In the FIRST part of this aria the countess is absoluty wounded and desperated- for that reason everything should be-like janowitz does- very piano and lento and without power. And in the SECOND part she is in between different feelings: angryness, a little hope to get him back, and the decision to fight for that.

[@vodaplas]

of course she is ,so is the countesses part in Mozart's opera!

[@operaoaf]

I do applaud your view that opera must embrace the stuff of modern entertainment in order to prevent audience heads from being grayer. Although inherent in this scheme is a greater emphasis on sex appeal and a cult of celebrity. I don't complain because Netrebko is a great singer but what will happen to those inspired singers carrying the seeds of musical excellence who ressemble Caballe and Voigt? Will we see them in the primadonna roles in the later stages of the 21st century?

[@domi2020]

Kiri te Kanawa sang in this famous Strehler production too and it would have been very interesting to watch the 2 great Mozartian and Straussians of their generation perform. Sadly apart from Fleming no one is as good as them. I must say as much as I like her voice it is too static a portrayal.

[@melisandedebussy]

her voice is great so sweet, but her performance is a little flat in the recitative, but in the aria super!

[@Homoclassicus]

The voice is absolutely angelic for its creaminess and near-perfect sound. However, as other people noticed, the characterization is very lacking. The aria, which can be very thrilling and full of emotions, sounds just too cool and placid. Everything is just too "correct", as if the words and the changes of mood in the melody couldn't make her singing sound either more languid in that place and then more ardent or hopeful in the other. She could've done better, but it's still excellent.

[@yethica]

@amayzak You must not be a singer. Mozart is, in fact, one of the most vocally CONSIDERATE composers ever for singers. Wagner, vocally inconsiderate. Beethoven, DEFINITELY vocally inconsiderate. Mozart, wonderful and healthy for the voice. And Janowitz was one of the absolute best. Puts Fleming and some of the others to SHAME.

[@baroqueandbeyond]

I don't care about updated stagings, but my goodness, don't pretend that Anna Netrebko is remotely in the same league as Gundula Janowita, vocally. Her diction is atrocious, and she simply cannot sustain her breath. Want proof? Check out her Sempre Libera from the DG release of La Traviata, opposite Villazon.

[@idraote]

very true the interpreter is non existent (and pronunciation flawed) but still better this way that those sopranos who have good ideas about the character but have not the technique to realize them or the musicality or the perfect pitch and sense of style. a pity nonetheless that she wasn't a little more personal

[@operaoaf]

This voice is stunning in its shear beauty of timbre. The legato is effortless and there is no straining heard in this incredibly difficult aria. However, it sounds a little too perfect and stylized like she were singing in a mass since the singing lacks charaterization.

[@aleduffoo]

and better than te kanawa .. fleming!

[@OperaLover84]

Then you haven't heard Kiri or Renee... Gundula is good, but, c'mon...

[@operaoaf]

Some reviewers are absolutely correct. While the voice is flawless and glorious, the characterization is rather lacking. This is an aria which requires both beautiful legato singing but also psychological insight: from apprehension, anger, humiliation, and outrage, to pensive longing, affection, to rallying determination and courage to save her marriage. How many arias pack this much punch? Fleming is amazing because she's able to sing this aria with fine legato while expressing complex feelings

[@kajaDenmark]

Pretty voice for a mezzo soprano... if I hadn't read about her before, I would have thought she maybe was a soprano...

[@lucluc1000]

I agree with Ariodante76, Netbreko sings awful, she is only a marketing...And if you want to see a soprano who sings and acts, see Leyla Gencer...

[@zkool5]

I'm sorry folks, but Janowitz's performance is quite a few notches below that of Barbara Hendricks'. Give that one a listen and you'll know what I'm talking about.

[@fierysensual]

Kenchely Cherubino is a mezzo tessitura while the Countess is soprano ... just shows you are talking above your head dude ... the rest of your statement has no credibility ... case closed

[@Azzenstudent]

This aria is paced too slow. It does give a chance for Janowitz to showcase her creamy soprano. But the aria will flounder without some inner fire. The Countess is a problematic role because there is a mopiness in her self-effacing nobility. While understandable given the libretto and the sublime music, a soprano should risk forcing the characterization if only to make her three-dimensional.

[@hazelmsmith]

The voice is beautiful, no question there. However, the audiences of the 21st century want more than just a beautiful voice. You can no longer just stand in the middle of the stage and sing. If opera wants to continue to be an art form and attract new, younger audiences, it has to appeal to that younger age group. Renee Fleming, Anna Netrebko are sopranos that can both sing and act. Some purists resist this kind of change, but they do it at the peril of all opera and its continued popularity.

[@domi2020]

Beautiful voice but bad italian and lacking altogether some interpretation. She could do better. Sounds like she is singing in a shower.

[@gimaru1]

out of tune...

[@EleniOperaNoir]

This is not good....