Joan Sutherland sings the ending of Sempre Libera from La Traviata 1960-1988

Joan Sutherland sings the ending of Sempre Libera from La Traviata 1960-1988. There was an old video of this once on YT, but it got removed, thus I've created an updated version! I would like to thank everyone who posted their clips of Sempre Libera making this competition possible. I also like to thank La Stupenda Joan Sutherland for providing me with a year for the Ed Sullivan Show Sempre Libera performance. These aren't all of Sutherland's Sempre Libera performances, only what I could get ahold of. A majority are here. Enjoy!

[@crisha721]

It's really interesting to see how her instrument evolved. You can notice an evident change already from 1960 to 1962, when she started using more vowel modification and the sound got darker. The bell like tone on the final high note was kept intact until 1969. From 1970 onwards her voice grew even more, it was less dreamy and more explosive. The agility on the incredibly fast passages was kept until 1979. Diction improved a little around 1975-1979 maybe because the sound was more squillante and forward projected. On the 80's there was a slight loss in agility but the final high note grew in size, not bell like at all, but really piercing. I really like the studio versions from 1962 and 1979 because they include de "Il mio pensier" part before the final note. She had become accostumed to the pause before the high notes. My favourites are 1960, 1965 live Australia, 1969 live Hollywood bowl and 1979 Lincoln center. Thanks for the video. Hope you do more

[@jimbuxton2187]

Wow you really know your sutherland! Thank you for all your study and in depth information.

[@crisha721]

@@jimbuxton2187 you're welcome :)

[@jimbuxton2187]

​@@crisha721❤❤😊

[@wotan10950]

Dame Joan always maintained that Violetta (and Norma) were her favorite roles. She especially loved Violetta because she’s “a real woman, not a symbol or a two-dimensional character like many of my roles.”

[@joshuamcpherson007]

So many incredible performances, all over the globe, BUT the televised version, from 1966...complete mastery of the music, delivered without a trace of effort.😍

[@jorgealbertojoselettera4829]

Cómo se extrañan esas voces y esa técnica!!!! Bravísima Joan Sutherland!!!!

[@ben-hurjudha3648]

Her voice is so beautiful. It is like good shape human.Especially early years of her ,high not is like a bell ,not too cold and look like intense, homogeneous sound. I believe her technic is great also.

[@DiomedesDioscuro]

One can criticize some aspects of her singing, but, come on, noone can say she wasn't a prodigious!

[@nostoon4332]

I really love the 13 (?) staccato notes, which is something that I have only heard Luisa Tetrazzini do. Why can't voices today sing coloratura like that? Every recording where Sutherland sings those notes is just marvelous.

[@wallenstein72]

Technically speaking, singing these notes staccato is less challenging than singing sustained notes (if you trained your staccato, of course). One reason, why few singers join this tradition might be stylistic concerns, foremost from conductors.

[@haroldgaffney246]

Heard her at the Met. She had the flexibility,of a lyric coloration combined with the power of a Wagnerian Brunhilde. Incredible voice

[@YortOK]

I don't think it's any coincidence that as a young woman her favourite sopranos were Flagstad and Galli-Curci.

[@Sutherland2]

Thank you so much for this! I listened with such awe and humility, having seen Our Joan in the house from 1962 to the last Met Trovatores. Unforgettable greatness, astounding consistency. She NEVER gave a bad performance. So many singers (then and now) peak too early, encounter problems due to poor technique, or just sing themselves out early. Joan Sutherland was a true diva in that she always guarded her voice, and as she said herself, never sang on the principle, only the interest. She never flagged, never tired, always gave her very best no matter what. How great to have lived during this Golden Age!

[@jimbuxton2187]

Wow 28 years of high Ebs. She really knew what she was doing. And to think all the sinus, female and back problems she had is amazing she could sing at all!

[@AkaiGX]

If you were one of the 4 people to see the first upload, I had to repost due to an editing mistake 😅

[@josephhapp9]

🌹🙏🌹

[@filipposdrolias3611]

Unpopular opinion: Joan Sutherland's best period was 1972-1979 not the 60s

[@AulicExclusiva]

It depends what's "best" for you!

[@ChrisStockslager]

Interesting! Share your opinions as to why. 😀

[@wotan10950]

Those are the years I saw her onstage, actually up until 1987. The 1960s were vocally perfect, but with little warmth or characterization. Of course, her 1970s Hoffmanns were way more brilliant than the final Trovatores I saw, but she was still remarkable at that late date.

[@stefanovizioli]

1974 if this is the picture of the show it should be London because the costume and the sets seems very much the Visconti production ( the "Audrey Beardsley production")

[@AkaiGX]

For the Philadelphia performance I didn't put the picture from the performance. I couldn't find any Philadelphia pictures, and I didn't want to assume which 1974 performance it was. This picture is 100% from Covent Garden 1974. There was a met performance in 1974 and a Covent Garden performance in 1974. The audio could be from either. The original source didn't specify.

[@richardholmesmusic2128]

@@AkaiGX just a slight correction. First, the was no Traviata with Joan at the Met in 1974. In fact, she never sang a complete Traviata at the Met after the several in autumn of 1970 (some of which are in this compilation). After that, her only Violettas WITH the Met were in Tokyo 1975. She did some a few Traviatas in 1974 in Lisbon with Kraus. The Covent Garden Traviata from which the "Beardsley" costume stems was in January 1975, not 1974--I attended the final dress there in early January. The tenor in that run was Kraus, and this does not sound like Kraus to me. However, a short time later, in March 1975, she sang Traviata in Philadelphia, where her Alfredo was Frank Little. Just my guess, but I think the unknown "1974" performance is Philadelphia 1975. Thank you for this wonderful and exhilarating montage!

[@AkaiGX]

@@richardholmesmusic2128 @Richard Holmes Music Thanks for the correction. I wasn't sure if I grabbed the Lisbon performance thus labeled it as 1974. A month later I realized I hadn't grabbed the Lisbon performance but a random performance I didn't know. As for the picture, I just put a picture of the Covent Garden performance just to have a picture. Thanks again!