Joan Sutherland - “Sediziose Voci..Casta diva..Ah bello a me ritorna” (MET, 19/12/1970)

Here is the complete recitative, aria and cabaletta of Norma in Act I of Bellini’s Norma sang by the Great Joan Sutherland Live at the MET Broadcast on 19 December 1970!! The sound is excellent! The cover was created by me! Enjoy!!

[@lawrenceallen6508]

Simply put absolutely GLORIOUS. Sutherland and Bonynge a duo which I doubt will ever be repeated or replaced .

[@thrust682]

There were two broadcasts of Norma with Joan in 70, I was at the one with Bergonzi, Horne and Siepi. All were wonderful throughout. She and Carlo though were fabulous in the last act. Her voice sounded huge! One of the greatest demonstration of vocal excellence and dramatic conviction, by Joan and Carlo, I ever experienced at the Met

[@katimwong2623]

Amazing and incomparable voice!

[@prestydog]

Back in the day, when we actually had real Opera singers

[@cadoh8143]

👏👏👏👏 voz perfeita, vocalização ideal. Puro bel canto!!!! Bravi Sutherland e Bonynge!!!

[@mariateresapitarque1703]

Siempre enriquecedor escuchar esta melodía!!!! 👏👏👏👏😁😁😁😁

[@rosslarkin6742]

Love hearing her do Casta Diva in the key of G instead of F

[@ahogbin2644]

Wonderful bel canto singing. I have not heard this version before for which many thanks. Any chance we could have the entire performance?

[@MrMin316]

The greatest Norma (Vocally)

[@Distefano5]

Vocally very far from being a good Norma, artistically she did her best which I respect.

[@OperaMyWorld]

@@Distefano5 Vocally far from being a Good Norma? I don’t think so…dramatically ok she was not as dramatic as other sopranos but Vocally she was superb!

[@Distefano5]

@@OperaMyWorld Norma is too complex for a straightforward coloratura, she didn't have the legato or chest register, let alone the lack of temperament and clear dictions. The only other good Normas after Callas are Caballé and Milanov. Sutherland was a lovely in Lucia, Elvira and Amina though.

[@richardholmesmusic2128]

@@Distefano5 nonsense. Sutherland had an incredible legato and used a mixed chest that was most effective. Norma isn’t Santuzza. Joan played Norma HER way and made her points. Milanov? Have you HEARD her broadcasts? Rough, messy, frequently sharp, little feeling. Caballe was not a Norma to my taste (too much crooning, sloppy details), but she sang some gorgeous pianissimi, which was all her fans wanted.

[@Distefano5]

@@richardholmesmusic2128 Sutherland had an incredible legato and used mixed chest? Clearly you don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about.

[@michaeldelos2863]

Best not to feed the troll . . . . When Milanov is held up as some sort of standard for how to sing NORMA, you just realize it's pointless.

[@Distefano5]

Seems Your elevator doesn't go all the way up does it?

[@jackhamm1745]

🤣🤣🤣 "When Milanov is held up as some sort of standard for how to sing NORMA" or held up as some sort of standard to sing ANYTHING, you just realize it's pointless. Sutherland is beyond fabulous here!

[@Distefano5]

​@@jackhamm1745 Anyone who thinks Milanov isn't a standard of good singing shouldn't be giving opinions. You can enjoy mediocre coloraturas with nothing but high notes all you want but keep your opinions where they belong. Thank you.

[@jackhamm1745]

@@Distefano5 I'm sure she is as good as you claim: It is too bad she doesn't sound good.

[@Distefano5]

@@jackhamm1745 Understandable, this happens when you're used to mediocre sopranos, they ruin your taste, just like junk food.

[@jackhamm1745]

A magnificent display of what true bel canto is, and if not, this displays what bel canto should be. It is a shame she was not partnered with a first rate conductor, as I find "Mr. Sutherland" atrocious, to put it mildly.

[@ahogbin2644]

I realize that Bonynge was no Solti or Karajan but without his imagination in the 50s Sutherland would in all likelihood have been used as a utility soprano by Covent Garden and be unknown today. In the theatre he kept the large orchestra well balanced and although he had a tendency to be indulgent to singers, especially his wife, one always sensed he loved the music. Unlike a disastrously loud performance of Don Pasquale at Covent Garden I attended this week where one got the impression it was all about the (second rate) conductor.

[@artdanks4846]

@@ahogbin2644 Extremely well stated! THANK YOU! Although there's much that could be said that may be negative about Bonynge (after all, NONE of us are perfect), I whole heartedly agree that the greatest thing he did was true nurture the Sutherland voice to become what it was, and thus giving Sutherland's voice to the world! THAT was pure genius on his part!!

[@jondavwal13]

@@artdanks4846 Although one wishes he would have stopped nurturing it so much after about 1961. She was perfect at that point and he still thought she needed to change. What was melancholy and exquisite became a bit droopy thereafter. And aside from his pushing her into Esclarmonde, which was like singing Bellini and Wagner in the same opera, her recordings of the Verdi Requiem and Turandot show what she possibly could have done if she let others conduct her.

[@tarejso5632]

I respect DJS...this is a good display of her great voice. But what on earth was at the end? That ending...someone though he could do better than Bellini...god Richard was mad...

[@maxcornise7204]

Her opening phrase “seditziosi voci” is anti-Italian! It’s say-deetz-ee-aw-zee not “ditzi”😂😂😂

[@jondavwal13]

As a native Italian speaker I find it way less offensive than you do. Pretentious much? I listened to it again. Your comment is nonsense.

[@maxcornise7204]

I much prefer her early Normas to this one. Tempi are rushed and uneven, intonation is arbitrary and kind of impulsive and unrhythmic. And the second verse of Bello was absolutely wretched. Anti-Bellini! Listen to Callas 1955 La Scala version after listening to this. Callas is 20 x the artist to this hackneyed Bonynge version!😢

[@machovoce6826]

The later performances are much preferred as she matured with the role. Callas never sang it in the original key, so what kind of an "artist" is that? Overrated.

[@jondavwal13]

@@machovoce6826 The original key was not really a thing for Bellini. Pasta, the original Norma, didn't even sing it in the original key. That being said, Callas never sang the repeat in "A bello a me ritorna" either. That didn't become standard until Sutherland. Callas was not an overrated artist. She was a slightly overrated singer. As an artist she was peerless. Sutherland was peerless as a singer. I prefer to listen to singers when I listen or go to the opera. I go to the theater for artists. I never go to the opera anymore. EVERYBODY has forgotten how to sing. It's actually quite revolting. They all sound like the great singers of the past starting out past their prime.