Vocal pyrotechnics abound with high Cs, trills and singing techniques that leave you breathless. At their best are Joan Sutherland, Alfred Deller, Lucia Popp, Sigrid Onegin, and Magda Olivero.
A Coloratura Spectacular
Illustration from the 1881 premiere of Jacques Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann, showing the Olympia act
Playlist
Purcell: The Fairy Queen, “Hark, How All Things With One Sound Rejoice”
Alfred Deller with String Orchestra and Harpsichord
Recorded in London 1953
EMI 2 36087 2
Mozart: Die Zauberflote, “Aria of the Queen of the Night”
Lucia Popp with the Philharmonia Orchestra
Conducted by Otto Klemperer
Recorded in London in 1964
EMI 2 28952 2
Meyerbeer: Le Prophete “Prison Scene”
Sigrid Onegin with Orchestra
Recorded in New York in 1929
EMI 2 36839 2
Verdi: La Traviata “Sempre Libera”
Magda Olivero with Orchestra
Heard in performance in 1950
LEGATO CLASSICS LCD-161-1
Donizetti: Linda di Chamounix, “O Luce di Quest’ Anima”
Joan Sutherland with the Orchestre de la Societe des
Concerts du Conservtoire
Conducted by Nello Santi
Recorded in Paris in 1959
LONDON 421 305-2
