Joan Sutherland sings the last few bars of Lucrezia Borgia, live and in the studio from1972-1989

[@alanhadley1286]

Incomparable. No one before or since can match her in this role. Breathtaking.

[@miguelsalinas4143]

Din duda alguna LA MEJOR SOPRANO DEL MUNDO!!!!❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@Sutherland2]

We won't see her like again. She dominated this repertoire and delivered the goods every time. Her fame and the respect shown by opera lovers only increases with time. God Bless Dame Joan!

[@robertmcnamara5407]

I was at the 1977 production at the Sydney Opera house. 20 years old and my first opera not on an LP. I was smitten from the beginning, then I joined the Australian Opera ballet and got to work with her in Die Fledermaus, Alcina and Adriana Lecouvrer. Such a proud time.

[@arnaudkientz1571]

How could I say something else than Paris 1989 as I was in the theatre and I will never forget this evening for all my life. Even 1 tone lower. Who cares ? She was absolutely amazing and she was a gift for the opera world. Thanks a lot to her and her husband.

[@fan2jnrc]

Who cares? I care, for example.

[@cadoh8143]

​@@fan2jnrc and then?

[@danielintheantipodes6741]

My vote: All of them!

[@jimbuxton2187]

God i love her! What a vocal miracle!

[@fr.jamesjohnson1567]

NOBODY did it like Joanie! Up until the very end. Brava La Stupenda!

[@dougbarker3019]

The one thumbs down (16.5.21) is probably a Callas addict.

[@davidsimmons654]

Always, very strange group

[@antben8992]

Non vedo nessun "pollice in giù". La Sutherland è meravigliosa!

[@Tamerlano1997]

I love Rome 1980. Long pause for a solid breath and then treating the Italians with a superb tone. And they (righteously) respond!

[@wotan10950]

You can actually hear some of the astonished public before she leaves the note! Italians love a great high note!

[@AS-rx4tp]

@@wotan10950Yes indeed. I noticed that too. And the ending of Paris was pretty spectacular too.

[@tjw2469]

here is the moment that you wish there were more people breaking the rule of "no recording during the performance"

[@rossinilove]

There's more than you think.

[@brodereck1]

I heard that 1977 production in Sydney. Never to be forgotten.

[@eberlinpascal2837]

Je crois que lors des derniers extraits proposés ici elle transpose d'un demi ton la cabalette finale .Mais cela reste tout de même tout à fait extraordinaire .C'est pour moi inégalable ,je n'ai rien entendu de mieux dans ce role .Elle est la plus grande Lucrezia Borgia.

[@philipstrumolo5967]

Definitely Paris 1989! Not only did it bring the house down but I burst into tears over such GREATNESS!

[@clefnoteproductions6695]

By 1989 she was probably singing that final scene down a tone, so probably a D or Dflat, as they were in her final Lucia's

[@operabilia]

I was there too. The voice was IMMENSE!

[@blessOTMA]

Greatness is the only word. To be able to do this performance at her age... my God

[@ahogbin2644]

Fascinating to compare: I attended one of the London Lucrezias in 1980. The final Eflat was astonishing and held for what semed like an age. One of the Rome critics where she sang it a few months later called it "a comet"!

[@XPRT10R]

Obviously you attended a different performance in the run than in the video, where it was tentative and decidedly short lived. More like a shooting star than a comet

[@shannonlewis8906]

4:15... I love the pause they started doing. It just gave her the extra couple seconds to gather herself. Superb.

[@wotan10950]

Yes, that became a trademark of her later career. When she hit that pause, you knew a high note was coming. And her famous foot-plant - when she stamped her foot, the public could expect a colossal high note!

[@gadenkrotis540]

@@wotan10950 Yes, I loved the foot-plant! -the fingers of one hand would get a bit twitchy, foot plant, head slightly back, throat exposed, eyebrows up ... Ka-Pow!

[@crisha721]

My favourite is Paris 1989. That final note sounds like an omnidirectional laser beam

[@ThomasDawkins88]

She holds onto it forever! I think singers half her age would be VERY happy to have a finale like that.

[@timtonruben359]

I know there are some people who clutch their pearls because she sang it a tone lower but that final note is jaw droppingly stunning.

[@jimbuxton2187]

@@timtonruben359 I'd rather hear it sung wonderfully and freely a tone down, than right and flat in the original key. People in other times transposed freely . It's no disgrace.

[@SR-jx8yu]

Yes, the power was just extraordinary! Her legend still drove them crazy, whether in the original key or not! A technical questions here.... when a score is transposed down, are there transposed scores available form the music publishers? It's quite a chore to have a transposed version for the whole orchestra!

[@wotan10950]

Who cares what key it’s in? Donizetti wrote the aria against his own will because the prima donna demanded a flashy finale. Who knows what key SHE sang it in, or whether the final note was an Eb? These interpolations were freely transposed and ornamented. It’s hard to believe anyone would begrudge Sutherland an ovation because the final note is lower than she sang in her younger days.

[@joseluislagosmunoz6484]

All was great, unknown date is amazing ❤❤❤👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@ajh3422]

What a treat to come upon this on youtube. I remember her Lucrezia Borgia from 1975, truly a brilliant performance.

[@schneevongestern9898]

the two ones from 1989 are a full tone lower than all the others. C# instead of Eb. and that is exactly why they sound so good. especially the one from paris 1989. i always preferred her C,C# and D over her D#, Eb and E. Her Cs and Ds always had this mighty, obliterating, heroic resonance and power. For a very short period of time also her Eb had it. Her E never had it. Still huge, but not like her C and D. And her Cs and Ds remained rock solid and remarkably huge until the very end. With no shrillness at all. She really took good care of her voice.

[@joshuamcpherson007]

The Ebs were so often written and spoken about, and for good reason, but to me the Db was her bread and butter high note, especially in the latter half of her career. The Db was a reliable crowd thriller of colossal size. It was there to the very end, and she rarely sang a bad one.

[@schneevongestern9898]

@@joshuamcpherson007 true. It thrills me every time. I'd give my life to hear it live one single time.

[@baritonebynight]

There are so crusty queens who feel she should have retired when the E flat in alt started to became unstable. Thankfully, she didn't listen to them, and continued to make people very happy by singing the roles extremely well nearly up to the end of her career.

[@joshuamcpherson007]

@@baritonebynight Yes, she was always more than a mere coloratura. She had a dramatic soprano voice with a great upper extension. She could handle the most florid of music. Her gifts were many, and not confined to a handful of notes above the C. She could bring the house down with the sheer size, projection and resonance of her voice...and never go near an Eb.

[@jimbuxton2187]

You are right! Her high E was always precarious and her Eb sometimes. You have to have a good vocalized Ab to have a solid E...and even then it could be a gamble. She says she never went higher than an F#. Her technique was so solid she could count on the Eb note being there.

[@vanmusician]

I was at her first performance here in Vancouver. What an experience!

[@RobJohnstone]

If I had the chance - I would travel back to the Vancouver '72 production - Brava!

[@gadenkrotis540]

Wonderful - Thank you.

[@ioSonoCallas]

The unknown date is before 1980, probably 1972/73. Despite the transposition after 1986, the performances are phenomenal!

[@williammaddox3339]

I agree I believe the unknown date is probably in the 1970's. I have read she sang the role in Dallas in 1974 and that would be my guess.

[@MrStpendouslvforjo]

My personal favorite was from the "date unknown". (To me it sounded like 1974 or so...) Fun video!

[@kilubialin6222]

She is always my favorite.

[@MrStpendouslvforjo]

@@darylbarclay8037 You are probably right!

[@luisalbertosantoscruz4126]

STUPENDA, BRAVISSIMA

[@vic-iv2ff]

Who can choose? Like getting to heaven and being asked who’s your favorite angel 👼… all of them

[@marktyler2068]

Thanks for this. One can hear and see the work put into her voice and interpreting the piece over the years. Thinking is clearly a very important part of singing.

[@gadenkrotis540]

Totally!

[@toddgraber3675]

Yes the Rome Eb was very secure - good for her! Of course the two 1989 versions were down a whole step in Db...But she still had some solid stuff up there!

[@eric644]

Vancouver debut the clear winner for ease and fullness. The tone on the E flat became less free and more laser beam after about 73. The Rome E flat is pretty commanding, however. To me, D was always her best money note. It was unsurpassed.

[@eloyguevara9447]

de fabula.........................

[@Auxxsr1]

I love it 95 to nothing. You can't get 95 people to agree the earth is round

[@golden-63]

Best Eb: Rome 1980 Best Db: Paris 1989 The truly astonishing thing about this one is that the her Db faltered for just a second, she recovered it beautifully and it became magnificent!

[@PeteBMan]

When Callas said she didn't want to be compared to Sutherland; when Scotto spoke of Joanie's debut recital record as the pinnacle of art and most likely unmatched in her (Renata's) lifetime; when Netrebko mentioned of Joanie's '64 'Norma', in preparation for her own attempt at Bellini, that Sutherland was someone that came along every one hundred years and that she (Netrebko) would have to approach Norma very differently, something closer to Callas which says all there needs to be said - Joan was that anomaly. Not knocking the other aforementioned ladies in anyway as I own many recordings of theirs as well but Sutherland had Wagnerian strength/prowess yet was able to use it for bel canto and the baroque in ways unheard before. More than Luciano called her the voice of the century for a reason.

[@wotan10950]

I’m too young(ish) to have seen Callas (and I’m not a fan anyway), but I did see Sutherland, Scotto, and Netrebko (and Sills, Nilsson, Price, Caballe, Freni) onstage many times. All great artists bring something to the table, but Joan was an out-of-body physical experience. A large voice that got more brilliant as it went higher.

[@shahabispahani3273]

Barcelona ‘89

[@francoisvalois5058]

Paris 89. Aussi parce que j’étais dans la salle.

[@shahabispahani3273]

Actually hearing them again it has to be Paris 1989... just a few months before retiring!

[@alwaysnew189]

😁😁😁❤️❤️❤️🌟🌟🌟

[@frank54838]

molto bene le ultime anche perche' facilitate dall'abbassamento della tonalita', meglio, l'acuto viene fuori piu' fluido e lungo

[@raffaeleviggiano4901]

Strepitosa la più grande vocalista del 900

[@ef7952]

Interesting that 77 seemed to be her weakest, and she even got stronger in later years!

[@СветланаЗайкина-л4б]

Внешность русской дивы из народа Голоса Мансерат Кобаллье и Георга Отса Нельзя ли заменить внешность на обладательница красивого голаса

[@shannonlewis8906]

Ha.. one thumbs down 5/13/21

[@fan2jnrc]

There's nothing here that Mariella Devia did not surpass by far.

[@dougbarker3019]

Ha. This must be a prank comment. Devia - small voice, no trill, limited agility, shrill top notes - was quite competent but never in Joan's league.

[@brunoantony3218]

Devia is a small singer.

[@Feisenbach]

Absolutely agree!

[@Tkimba2]

Ahahhahahahaahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahajjajahajajajajabahahahhahahahahahah

[@jeffsmith6295]

Who?