Ileana COTRUBAS sings "E strano...Sempre libera"

[@pablobanados6552]

I was a university student in the States in 1977, and listened to her in both Rigoletto and Traviata on live radio broadcastings from New York. I became her fann inmediately.

[@khothye]

How can I say! I agree with all the comments. What a tecnique and domain! she doesn't show any effort; a great singer and actress. I like very much her clair sound and vibrato. There are many few real full lyric sopranos. One of the best gifts to the story of the opera.

[@Vsevolod14]

Wonderful indeed! It was her DG recording that had me falling in love with this opera (and her!). And when she returned to Covent Garden in '85 I queued for hours to get a ticket. i was a student (art) and it cost a fortune. But it was worth every penny - she was superb. Interesting how many Rumanian's conquer this role: Gheorghiu, Miricioiu, Zeani etc. Cotrubas has such a human frailty, such sincerity, such warmth

[@arnoldamaral7406]

A voice one of a kind she owned Traviata but beautiful soprano never to be equaled that rare quality control voice.

[@Ulysses88047]

I spent my childhood and youth in Bucarest, the most of the time in the Opera. There were so many wonderful singers, so talented and such beautiful voices. Cotrubas, Miricioiu, some of them, but also Eugenia Moldoveanu, Maria Slatinaru-Nistor, Silvia Voinea, and recently Angela Gheorghiu. They are all great voices !

[@WelahHomo87]

Gherorgiu didn't conquer it. She was an awful Violetta

[@arnoldamaral7406]

A dazzling vocal display indeed. VIVA COTRUBAS 👑

[@mckavitt]

A soprano who really embodies the sweetness, the sincerity, the difficult straits in which Violetta Valéry finds herself. There are so few.

[@lindsaydenman]

She is the best Violetta and Mimi of all time. Hands down. Heartbreaking. Her Act III "money" scene of this Traviata is stupefying. Watch her say "Taci..." OMG! : (

[@mckavitt]

lindsaydenman I so agree w you. Hands down.

[@arnoldamaral7406]

mckavitt INDEED Arnold Bourbon Amaral

[@stevenmathers6661]

I saw her sing live 3 times. Tatyana (Eugene Onegin), Elisabeth de Valois (Don Carlos) and ... Violetta. She was always incredible. Her Traviata was the pinnacle.

[@mugrad25]

What was the voice like live

[@welington8869]

2020 e me emociono ao ouvi-la. Ileana Cotrubas sempre em meu coração

[@andreea94a]

Her voice is so pure.Wonderful.

[@arnoldamaral3814]

After this performance. She was 1:12 the cover of the magazine Opera News & she commented that she was not in good voice during this performance. I recorded it & she didn't hit the high E flat in sempre libra. Like she usually did. She will always be my favorite lyric soprano & in the 70s she rocked🎉❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ I miss her very unique, beautiful voice.

[@theatrechick288]

I wish I could see her live... She is simply radient

[@mckavitt13]

Radiant. I agree.

[@allegra55]

Wunderschön! Kristallklar, sauber und sicher! Herrlich! Danke Ileana für diese unvergesslichen Momente!

[@juliennegeorgi3922]

allegra55 👍🏻👍🏻 Heute habe ich im BR classik die Aufnahme von La traviata mit Carlos Kleiber als Dirigent gehört. Und ich habe Ileana als Violetta sehr genossen. Wunderbar. 👍🏻👏🏻👌🏻 Danke auch von mir. Und noch viele gute Jahre bei bester Gesundheit Madame. Happy Birthday 🌹🌷🌼🌸🌺🌻💐

[@esterbruno8604]

Stellare! Bellissima e bravissima!!! ❤😻❣❣❣😻

[@jorgealbertojoselettera4829]

Cuánta delicadeza!!!!! Bravisima!!!!!

[@luminitadobrescu]

Superba voce !

[@xcrystalexx]

I saw her debut at the Met as Mimi. She was perfect,beautiful voice.

[@AstriaICOW]

when Alfredo broke out I teared up a little recognizing the beautiful soft voice of Placido Domingo

[@suzanneetmoi]

Brava!! Just lovely!

[@jimbuxton2187]

She had such a beautiful sound with feeling and brilliance but fragile somehow.....

[@davidsimmons654]

Magnificent!!!

[@mabemawi]

Many years ago, this woman, in this part, converted me to opera. What else is there to say? Thank you for posting!

[@mckavitt13]

I believe it. She truly understands the deep, complex woman she portrays here. She has sweetness, generosity, abit of cynicism (here) &, above all, self-knowledge. Vulnerable, disarming, adorable. All of Violetta's music makes sense in the voice, stance, sincerity & representation of this great artist who is Ileana Cotrubas.

[@arnoldamaral7406]

This lady my friend. Take care. Arnold Bourbon Amaral

[@alejandrofrancis5530]

pro trick : you can watch movies on Flixzone. Been using it for watching loads of movies lately.

[@bradleyeddie8429]

@Alejandro Francis Definitely, I've been using Flixzone} for years myself =)

[@Lactoris1]

There is a very fine video of Ileana COTRUBAS in Rossini's GAZZA LADRA. I wonder if someone could put it on "You Tube"? There is more great music in Gazza Ladra than just the well-known overture - and the action is dramatic - seemingly headed for tragedy and then pulled out to a happy ending. It was based on a real-life tragedy in France, where a young women was executed, and then the necklace turned up high on a statue where the "Thieving Magpie" took it -but Rossini makes a happy ending

[@mariasusana80]

Es tan sutil...delicada... Me encanta!!!! Bella canto puro.

[@ximenadore]

VERDADERAMENTE MARAVILLOSA, TAMBIÉN COMO MIMÍ ES ENTRAÑABLE!!!!

[@christinec.6685]

She is exquisite.

[@allender9]

Lovely voice...

[@ahogbin2644]

I guess this is around 1980. She sings this well but she did the Eflat at Covent Garden in the early 80s.

[@mckavitt13]

This is 1981.

[@rozaliairiza9821]

24 Iulie 2013 - O voce deosebita ! Mi-a placut mult !

[@marcelpopa8018]

doar atat ?

[@jhvorotin]

WOW! I know she's amazing but it's always striking!

[@Fiddler0nTheRoof]

the best Violetta..

[@fringelily]

Don't forget her Antonia in "The Tales of Hoffmann" ... also the best presentation of the role. She is a great Violetta, but a great many sopranos have shone in this great role ...some of them very different from each other ...apart from Cortubas, I also love, for different reasons, Callas, Sutherland, Stratas and Netrebko.

[@mckavitt]

fringelily But only Cotrubas can sing & embody the role throughout. The others are great singers, but not wholly convincing as Violetta. In my opinion.

[@arnoldamaral7406]

mckavitt Certainly not Nebtreko she does not have a clue of the greatest ART form in the world. She is beautiful but not a great artist my friends. $$$$$ THE MET HAVE GIVEN HER CARTE BLANCHE BECAUSE OF LACK ADMINISTRATIVE LEADERSHIP @ THE MET. VERY SAD TO SAY. Sincerely Arnold Bourbon Amaral

[@jhvorotin]

the ressemblance is striking between Cotrubas and Gheorghiou, both Roumanian, similar technique and attitude.

[@szilvia2080]

Es normal, porque Cotrubas fue su consejero musical. No sé si fue su profesor, pero consiller sí que fue.

[@michaelalexander2208]

Listen to Eugenia Moldoveanu, Romanian also. Best Butterfly there is!

[@unclealand]

Except Cotrubas isn't over her head with this role.

[@mckavitt]

unclealand Right!

[@KrebSDani]

maybe but Angela´s technique is much better. is more acurate to say cotrubas is from another ...age? ( I would say epoca in spanish?. today´s singers are even better

[@MrSwifts31]

The E Flat is not in Verdi's score. It was interpolated by Nellie Melba and has been used ever since by many Sopranos. If the Soprano does not sing the E Flat(uneducated) audiences think she just cannot sing it. It is their musical ignorance that is at fault not the Soprano. BTW I have seen Cotrubas on several occasions sing Violetta(and Mimi) and she is the best I have ever heard.

[@mckavitt]

A Paradox I agree w you. She is honestly the best Violetta. A soprano who really embodies the sweetness, the sincerity, the difficult straits in which Violetta Valéry finds herself. There are so few.

[@SteveL2012]

Yes but any soprano who reliably has the E flat sings it. It has become de rigueur, so one can validly assume that a soprano who doesn’t sing it doesn’t have it (Fleming, Netrebko mid-career, Scotto mid-career). There is actually a studio recording of the aria with Leontyne Price singing the E flat!

[@CarlosGomes-wi2ti]

@@SteveL2012 unless that who is conducting is Mutti. He doesn't allow any singer to interpolate notes.

[@operaox10]

@@CarlosGomes-wi2ti What's he going to do if they do? Walk away with his baton? There's no a whole lot he can do about it if the soprano throws in a high Eb at the end of Sempre Libera.

[@CarlosGomes-wi2ti]

@@operaox10 no, he wouldn't do anything at the time but she wouldn't work anymore not just with him. Muti is the most powerful and most important opera conductor of the present. Nowadays, it is expected a big sense of discipline and respect from the singers. If it is known in the mestiere that a singer don't follow what the maestro asks, other theaters and conductors will avoid to work with that singer. But if the conductor disrespected is Muti is much worse. He is a legend and the way that he works is well known for five decades. No one ever dare to go against his rules, working with him. Not even the greatest of the past. The time of the prima donnas, where they can act like they want, has passed. Today who has all the power are the conductors and the regisseurs.

[@BrunoLien]

@39Flood It dosn't matter at all whether she sings or not any E flat at the end, as in her recording. What matters is that she is wonderful and distressing.

[@ioany6144]

💞

[@usagiyo2007]

コトルバスはバランスが取れていますね。美しいだけじゃない。歌い手としても一流です。

[@emergency47]

don't forget Mariana Nicolescu et Eugenia Moldoveanu, romanians too

[@operagirl81]

Does anybody know how historically correct this costuming is? I see some "Traviata's" like this every now and then with the bustle skirts and then the rest are mostly the big off-the-shoulder hooped gowns. I saw La Traviata recently at the Detroit Opera and was actually surprised to see they went with the bustle gown theme. I have done research on this and the mid-1800's (opera written in '52) seems to be all about the big hoop skirted gowns. Maybe some productions take the time period up a notch?

[@kpamina]

Traviata has been staged at differnt times.. there is no rule...

[@MrSwifts31]

As Karin so rightly says,Traviata has been staged in many historical periods. If you want to stick strictly to period,then it should probably be around the 1840's when Marie Duplessis(the original inspiration for Violetta) was alive.She died(aged 23) in 1847, like Violetta from TB(then called Consumption). The book by Dumas La dame aux Camélias (1852) The Opera by Verdi (1853) Piave and Verdi wanted to follow Dumas in giving the opera a contemporary setting, but the authorities at La Fenice insisted that it be set in the past, "c. 1700". It was not until the 1880s that the composer and librettist's original wishes were carried out and "realistic" productions were staged

[@kpamina]

Thank’s!

[@robertoramossempere7252]

Cuando se estrenó Traviata, situada en la misma época cuando las óperas se situaban normalmente en épocas pasadas se consideró un escándalo, especialmente tratándose de la historia de una cortesana. Entre la publicación de "La Dama de las Camelias" y el estreno de La Traviata apenas hay 5 cinco años de diferencia. La burguesia veía demasiadoclaramente reflejada su hipocresía en el argumento. Por esa razón se cambió la época del siglo XIX al XVIII en algunos teatros italianos, aunque muchas sopranos adaptaban el vestido del siglo XVIII al del XIX, estilo victoriano, con crinolina. Yo creo que "La Traviata" es una de las pocas óperas que realmente permite traspasarla de época, y en este caso traspasar 25 años más tarde la acción, no afecta para nada a las palabras cantadas ni al argumento, el París de la Belle Époque estaba lleno de cortesanas.

[@chevaliermichel2219]

is it the version directed by James Levine ?

[@arnoldamaral7406]

chevalier michel Yes it is . 1981. Arnold Bourbon Amaral

[@pugh.joseph]

it sure is

[@Erik83474]

The only & one Violetta...

[@luceafarul579]

Erik Vertriest lol no. Anna Moffo. Maria callas is also a way better singer

[@arnoldamaral7406]

Luceafarul Cotrubas ruled in the 70,s my friend. That was common knowledge in the OPERA community. Sincerely Arnold Bourbon Amaral It was her signature role INDEED. 🌍🌎🌏🌿💕💃💙

[@fijones4284]

Teresa Stratas and Placido Domingo in the hands of Zefferelli

[@jasonhurd4379]

@@fijones4284 To a prerecorded soundtrack, not directly comparable to a live performance.

[@jotahuene]

Don't forget Verdi didn't write any spectacularly high notes. Not even in Di queslla lpira

[@mckavitt]

jotahuene It doesn’t matter. If the soprano is really good, as is the case here, the high note doesn’t destroy our notion of Violetta, on the contrary, it enhances it.

[@marcelpopa8018]

Ileana Cotrubas ,poate cea mai buna soprana romanca, daca nu tinem cont de Virginia Zeani. Subliniez ca canto-ul romanesc a dat cele mai bune Violeta Valery. Aici Doamna Cotrubas este sublima,divina ,poate doar Callas......

[@dnsqhd1217]

a sum