Legendary Sopranos and Their Signature High Notes

A highlight reel of the some of the most renown sopranos hitting some of their best notes.
Featured artists and recordings:
0:00 Astrid Varnay - A♭5
1) Salome - 1953
2) Elektra - 1975
3) Die Walküre - 1941
4) Don Carlo - 1951
5) Tristan und Isolde - 1954
1:12 Rosa Ponselle - A5
1) Suor Angelica 'Senza mamma' - 1952
2) Don Giovanni - 1934
3) Aida - 1923
4) La bohème - 1923
5) Cavalleria rusticana - 1936
2:29 Kirsten Flagstad - B♭5
1) Parsifal - 1950
2) Tristan und Isolde - 1951
3) Götterdämmerung - 1939
4) Götterdämmerung - 1956
4:08 Renata Tebaldi - B5
1) Giovanna d'Arco - 1951
2) Manon Lescaut - 1959
3) Simon Boccanegra - 1960
4) Andrea Chénier - 1966
5) La Gioconda - 1967
6) Tosca - 1968
7) La Fanciulla del West - 1970
8) Andrea Chénier - 1970
9) Otello - 1973
6:35 Birgit Nilsson - C6
1) Un Ballo in Maschera - 1955
2) Götterdämmerung - 1963
3) Tosca - 1964
4) Aida - 1965
5) Elektra - 1966
6) Macbeth - 1970
7) Siegfried - 1975
8) Tristan und Isolde - 1981
8:49 Zinka Milanov - D♭6
1) Il trovatore - 1938
2) Il trovatore - 1939
3) Il trovatore - 1944
4) Il trovatore - 1945
5) Il trovatore - 1947
9:53 Joan Sutherland - D6
1) Norma - 1978
2) Maria Stuarda - 1971
3) Esclarmonde - 1983
4) Anna Bolena - 1985
5) I puritani - 1986
6) La fille du régiment - 1986
11:15 Maria Callas - E♭6
1) Rigoletto - 1955
2) La traviata - 1952
3) Aida - 1950
4) Proch 'Deh torna mio bene' - 1951
5) I puritani - 1949
6) La sonnambula - 1955
Some disclaimers as usual:
- As with all of my 'best of' compilation videos, I do not claim this list to be scripture or all-encompassing in any way. It was simply what I could produce in a reasonable amount of time. If you have other suggestions, please share them in the comments!
- If I missed an obvious moment, it may be that it is already showcased in another one of my videos.
- There is some 'liberty' taken on the note associations (besides clear choices for Nilsson and Callas), this was to allow for each note to be covered by a different soprano. Please do not read to much into it.
- I do not yet have permission share the Flagstad 'Vissi d'arte' recording. It is not complete anyhow.
- If someone could help me out with filling in the missing dates in the recordings (or correcting where necessary), it would be much appreciated!
Special thanks to ‪@omarsomehow69‬ for providing many of these clips. Thank you also to ‪@JoanSutherlandFan‬, who's channel I used extensively for finding Sutherland clips as I am not particularly familiar with her or her repertoire.

[@crisha721]

3:00 I almost sh*t myself. Flagstad's vocal attack was so powerful and magnificent. Birgit's C is explosive, while Joan's D is like an overwhelming and beautiful wave of sound. Callas high E feels like a comet in space. All singers presented here are wonderful, love 'em all!

[@theoperatripleaxel5417]

Callas... Callas... You can never get enought of her... I wish i could be as good as her doing anything...

[@MarioMio]

I was fortunate enough to see Tebaldi, Nilsson and Sutherland perform live in many of their signature roles. Each was spectacular in their own unique way, and ALL made the walls of the Met reverberate from their immense top notes.

[@MiguelRuiz-xq7pn]

Callas Eb6 from I Puritani is from her first studio recording: the first recital recorded in 1949.

[@user-ge5th1ix1p]

Astrid Varnay has a very big voice with strong high notes and the greatest contralto bottom.

[@draganvidic2039]

No secret she was a mezzo but so well trained and ambitious she could sing dramatic soprano roles.

[@dramaticsoprano5168]

Do you know of any recordings where she showcases her contralto? I would love to hear that!

[@andrewgoretsky9654]

@@dramaticsoprano5168 mostly in Verdi's Macbeth, but there's a short example: in Salome (recording with Silja) there is a Herodias' monologue "Ha-ha, dieser Prophet schwatz wie ein Betrunkener" (ca. 50 min of the opera). She shows magnificent middle A in chest voice. I've never heard anything like this. Upd: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bnKbknyJlLeXp7Msi=6CsQujnvw-oUCouj&t=3180 You can also hear this in 1952 recording of her Walkure with Keliberh in "Was hast du erdacht, dass ich erdulde?" from the 3rd Act.

[@dramaticsoprano5168]

@@andrewgoretsky9654 Very impressive, thank you for sharing these! I was wondering if there were any really low notes she took as well? I know she sang many mezzo roles but I am not really familiar enough with them to know if they go particularly low. I know she sang the role of the nurse in Die Frau which has a low E-flat but I'm not sure if she ever took the note.

[@andrewgoretsky9654]

@@dramaticsoprano5168 Also in Parsifal in 1955 with Stiedry and in 1966 with Boulez. There are many low notes, but the most impressive is low As in phrase «ein Sünder sinkt mir in die Arme!». As I remember it's a part of «Grausamer!» monologue. Unfortunately I don't know very well Enufa und can't tell if there are any.

[@omarsomehow69]

La Nilsson - the essential queen of high C

[@draganvidic2039]

And for a reason. So well produced and strong!

[@saverioorlando]

Birgit at la Scala reached Db6 as Lady

[@ER1CwC]

Amazing control from Ponselle in the ending of Senza mamma. That crescendo was seamless. I would've gone with more excerpts of Tebaldi from the 1950s. As for Callas, I think Dave Hurwitz got it right in a review of her Norma: "Here's the thing with Callas people and the universe of Maria Callas. If you never liked Maria Callas... then you are not going to like her whether she is young, old, in the middle...." Thanks for yet another great video.

[@cmarley4259]

Wow! They are all extraordinary but in my mind Ponselle, Flagstad and Nilsson are just a step above - perfection!

[@evangeliadimitriadis5706]

Ponselle step above in high notes ? never

[@cmarley4259]

Well, I meant in general but I don't see why not with regards to the high notes either! Listen to the control on the A in Senza mamma! This is a lower and richer voice than the likes of Tebaldi, Sutherland and Callas (who are all great too, but should not be a point of comparison for dramatic sopranos).@@evangeliadimitriadis5706

[@johnojvind7641]

No one thought about it before ? This is the way how to disperse a troubling crowd, more efficient than the police siren 😄 !

[@Francesco12345671]

Eb6 is more of a signature note for Sutherland than D6 I would say

[@jondavwal13]

Yeah, 20 years earlier. They have all clips from when she was old.

[@fr.jamesjohnson1567]

❤ Thank you!

[@rugby8-Philadelphia]

Thanks for putting this together! 😎😎😎

[@davidsimmons654]

Beautiful!!!!!

[@dottot937]

I hope they give you to post Flagstad Vissi d'arte... Great content as always

[@anonymous-cq7wj]

please do a norma high d comparison video!

[@frb1808]

Ooohhh... That Nilssonian C!

[@davideferrari5702]

L'estensione della Tebaldi...bella e piena...

[@saverioorlando]

meno di alcuni mezzo,Stignami Simionato,un tempo

[@davideferrari5702]

@@saverioorlando cercherò di sopravvivere...

[@saverioorlando]

@@davideferrari5702 certo,la Tebaldi l'ho ammirata in Otello e Tosca alla Scala,era grandissima e poi-poco evidenziata-un'' intonazione naturalmente felice,una dizione meravigliosa,un timbro unico al mondo A parte questo,qui manca la Caballè....

[@certified_modernschoolhater]

Callas has the best top notes of these. Ponselle and Flagstad are really good as well. But Sutherland is the worst of them she is the very definition of the modern school.

[@golden-63]

I didn't know Ponselle sany any Mozart!

[@jamescantorne3720]

3:30 vissi darte?

[@Matthew9.__]

I liked the video a lot and the notes that were used apart from Milanov. I don't think her signature note is Db6. And all of the clips were from the same opera and same exact part. I prefer Milanov's B5s over Tebaldi's and I would put Milanov in B5. But I understand that Tebaldi is your favourite and you wanted to put her into such common high note

[@omarsomehow69]

The answer is pretty simple - it has to be there. I mean, it make little sense since Db was Milanov's upper limit on the record, but some other singers woudn't make much impact either (Callas is simply not soaring, wobbly, shrill/Sutherland - fissa, white in color, "spready"/Deutekom - great voice, but not exactly huge one etc)

[@Matthew9.__]

Callas has many great C#6s/Db6s that are soaring and not wobbly/shrill. But of course Eb6 is much more memorable and signature note for her than her Db6.@@omarsomehow69

[@Matthew9.__]

I just found it kinda bad cause it's like " I have to put Milanov somewhere to praise her " but I'm not giving her the B5 because I prefer Tebaldi and I want to put her in a much more memorable note (B5) compared to Db6. But great video and I loved all the other choices! @@omarsomehow69

[@Matthew9.__]

you should stop thinking that all Callas notes have wobble and they are shrill and pushed. @@omarsomehow69

[@omarsomehow69]

@@Matthew9.__ well, commerce also plays a role

[@WotanKlingsor]

Varnay having the longest voice span of them all.... there is literally no difference between the 1951 Ab quality and the 1975 Ab...

[@omarsomehow69]

ACtually, Varnay had one of the quickly aged voices among Wagnerian sopranos of her reputation. Too many Brunnhildes, Isoldes and Elektras at such young age.

[@WotanKlingsor]

@@omarsomehow69 but was that a problem?? I don't think so

[@WotanKlingsor]

@@omarsomehow69 clearly her voice was mature, but it always worked and functioned

[@omarsomehow69]

@@WotanKlingsor I don't think that quickly aged voice can be considered as a greatly preserved voice. In fact, it exactly opposite.

[@WotanKlingsor]

@@omarsomehow69 who cares?? The voice was mature, dark, beautiful and colourful

[@jondavwal13]

All of the Sutherland notes from the late 70s and 80s. Nonsense. LOL. She was famous for her Eb6, not her D6. It's obvious what the point of this video is.

[@mariomazzi7894]

Tebaldi’s high notes are just ugly screams!

[@evangeliadimitriadis5706]

Actually what Tebaldi brought to opera was the novelty to sing high notes without shrilling and screeching or shrieking like all the other sopranos before her, Caniglia, Cigna, etc. Tebaldi never was strident, Callas's high notes are strident and very ugly and clear in color. Varnay is an excited screamer, she simply does not how to sing and does know how to sing high notes

[@ginopietracupa4305]

I'm sorry to puncture your balloon, but the one who screams is Maria Callas, Callas high notes have a detriment in timbre, Callas's voice loses quality in the high notes, it becomes very strident and shrill. Tebaldi, on the other hand, Tebaldi's voice does not lose its quality in the high notes in full voice, her timbre is not impoverished nor does it ever hurt, but is powerful.

[@mariomazzi7894]

@@ginopietracupa4305 Don't worry about "puncturing my balloon." Instead, you should worry about puncturing your ear drums with the screamed and very flat high-notes attempts by the mezzo-soprano, Tebaldi.. Not only is your hearing off, but your vision is also sketchy.

[@ginopietracupa4305]

@@mariomazzi7894 You are very ignorant, do not expose yourself so much, you are very exposed to your lack of knowledge. Don't you realize that it's embarrassing to say that Tebaldi is a mezzo soprano? Tebaldi was the finest Italian soprano in history, she became famous for having one of the most perfect soprano voices. There are two voices that were the best. Flagstad and Tebaldi and Ponselle in third place. Tebaldi's voice was perfect in the entire range, with equality in the registers, a voice that never hollows out and one of her characteristics is precisely that the voice does not lose quality even in smorzaturas. , it is never opaque, not even in the high notes in full voice, his high notes are never disarmed ,and her vibrato is so unwavering that it has no irregular vibrations, never shouted, not flat, but clean high notes

[@mariomazzi7894]

It's obvious that you are not only a crazed Tebaldi sycophant, but you are stupid and musically deaf. I have perfect pitch but anyone with any kind of hearing can tell you that Tebaldi's high notes were just pushed and ugly. Ponselle had a beautiful voice which was much better than the late mezzo, Tebaldi. Go back under your rock, bimbo! @@ginopietracupa4305