Joan Sutherland’s Farewell Leonora at the MET (19.12.1987)

The Great 61 Years old Joan Sutherland in her Last operatic Role at the MET in 1987!! Despite her aged Voice, through her technique, she was Amazing and so moving in the role of Leonora! Hope to enjoy the “D’amor sull alli rose” and the Cabaletta after the “Miserere”..”Di te scordarmi di te”

[@fajeartha]

She is just amazing. This is incredible singing for any soprano at any age, let alone at 61! Brava La Stupenda

[@classicii4xh]

Spectacular! Everything that makes Dame Joan the legend that she will undoubtedly always remain, is absolutely in abundant display in this performance. Magical.

[@vincentspinelli9995]

I was in the house. An extraordinary example of her artistry.

[@danielintheantipodes6741]

I have heard some negative comments about these Metropolitan performances. Why? This is WONDERFUL!!!!! Thank you for the video!

[@user-gt7xs1fc6g]

Those comments may be from people like me who heard her in her prime but they have no respect for the achievement that this represents. At an age when most sopranos have been retired for five years she gives a great performance of a difficult role.

[@danielintheantipodes6741]

@@user-gt7xs1fc6g Very likely true. Thank you for your insight.

[@joshuamcpherson007]

Thank you! Those liquid trills, and gorgeous high Dbs, still stunning in the twilight of career.

[@brunopicaude3092]

How many soprani would be able to sing this terrible aria so perfectly at that age ?

[@Sam_Lee_]

Good memories... the Texaco radio broadcasts... i was in college...to be alive and hear this ... priceless... and to hear the packed house respond... glad to have been alive at that time! 🙂💛🎶

[@nolango6160]

Her Trovatore debut in San Francisco in 1975 was still my preferred Trovatore recording (also because of the GREAT cast). The contrast of her high notes and low notes was particularly effective in the Miserere. I think Leonora is one of her underestimated and underdeveloped roles. The role required many things which Dame Joan is perfect in, especially the trills. She is in fact one of my favourite Leonoras (if not actually the most!)

[@davidallen508]

I echo your every word ; Dame Joan’s Leonora seems to give me more with each listening.Zinka Milanov and Leontyne Price are my other two favourites but if I was only allowed one “IL Trovatore” recording , it would have to be Dame Joan’s with Pavarotti.

[@cadoh8143]

​@@davidallen508I totally agree. My favorite Trovatore is with Sutherland/Pavarotti.

[@Antonio-qm3bi]

Wow, Sutherland, Pavarotti and Lady Macbeth (Verrett) Now that's a Trovatore ❤️

[@memilsarsozen9078]

Everything is in place, steel strong notes, extraordinary expression, thrills spectacular as usual 🙏❤️ The one and only Stupenda 😇

[@alfvillanueva]

Absolutely agree ! The voice has aged but every note is in place and her singing so flawless !!!!

[@alfvillanueva]

Dame Joan ! Really great ! As always ! Thanks so much for sharing !!!

[@bastianinicorelli]

I was there! This was Sutherland's farewell to the MET (although it was not announced as such but people knew that she would not be coming back). I was also at the previous performance on Wednesday when she was so bad that I could not imaging how she would possibly sing the last one (on this recording) specially as it was a Saturday matinee performance and was broadcast live around the world. On this last performance she was far better than I ever expected. I am not saying that she was very good; she certainly sang very honorably (for her age) and she seemed to be pleased with her performance: when I went to her dressing room at the end, she was in very good mood and very shatty.

[@shannonlewis8906]

Ok, so who were you to her? “So bad” “not saying she was very good”. And then you go to her dressing room? Ya gotta give us more dude.

[@shannonlewis8906]

Agreed

[@davidwilliams2736]

I so vividly remember this performance! What a thrill even though I only had a standing ‘seat’ to see Dame Sutherland’s final performance. Wow!❤️

[@eloyguevara9447]

una pasada.......................61 años.......................y esa voz.........................estupendamente prodigiosa............hasta dejarte extasiado......................

[@filippofontana-baritono1440]

Che mito!

[@highbaritone]

The last time I heard her was her farewell in Sydney. She had wanted to cancel that as she had not been well leading up to it. But she never really canceled. What hit me between the eyes was the size of the voice. Not so much loud but big. All encompassing. The sound came from everywhere. That was my first impression in the rehearsal hall sixteen years before. God what voice.

[@machovoce6826]

Superb. The lower notes are froggy but she is still the pinnacle of legato poise and expression.

[@aetion]

Ήταν πολύ μεγάλη μέχρι την τελευταία της νότα. Ευχαριστώ, φίλε μου.

[@Un_Gordo_De_Derecha]

Her first and last Manrico, Truly a great artistic couple Pavarotti and Sutherland

[@maxcornise7204]

I love her Trovatore and Traviata but never cared for her Norma after the 60s. This is wonderful!😮😮❤❤❤❤

[@Sutherland2]

She did so much for the Met and they did so little for her. Disgraceful the way Levine ruined her last decade there. Denying her productions she was perfect for, then giving them to Miss Nobody. The Metropolitan Opera Guild gave her a beautiful Farewell Party. No one from the awful Levine regime came. And that production! Nothing but stairs, which a woman her age had an awful time navigating. One of the meanest things I've ever seen done to a great start. The Met under Levine was a very vindictive and treacherous place. Glad he's gone.

[@maxcornise7204]

And he singlehandedly created “The Battle”, to his credit/discredit. Vergognate tutti quanti😮

[@davidramanzini4629]

Aveccene.

[@liedersanger1]

This is not just her farewell Leonora, but her Met farewell period. And it is extraordinary singing for any age and even more so for 61. She really was made of some kind of steel. Frankly, I have admired but never loved Sutherland’s voice, and Im not sure why. I think it bay have to do with her cloudy covered tone, her languid sense of tempo. Still, I find her ease and brilliance and daring here extraordinary. Martin Mayer of Opera magazine said her friends should have talked her out of doing these last Trovatores, but this one is pretty darn good.

[@OperaMyWorld]

She sang in 1989 a recital at the MET! Her stage performance at the MET was ended by the December 1987 with Leonora!

[@liedersanger1]

@@OperaMyWorld Right. This is Sutherland's farewell stage performance. Leontyne Price's final televised Aida is referred to as her farewell to opera--although she sang a recital a few months later.

[@ahogbin2644]

@@liedersanger1 She continued until 1990 in fact. I heard a recital and a concert in 1989. The Newcastle concert was spectacular by any standards!

[@liedersanger1]

@@ahogbin2644 Right, fine, but we were talking about the Met.

[@YortOK]

You're probably right. The same could be said of Callas, outstanding virtuoso, but I can't say I "love" her voice.