AIDA- O PATRIA MIA- 24 HIGH C by 17 sopranos 

Yes Caballé in studio is very good, less in live performance. The way it is written makes this high C terribly difficult. Even for specialists of high piani like Milanov for decades.

J'adore Montsy pour sa musicalité et ses pianissimo mais je doute que la partition soit écrite ainsi ;) Tebaldi 1, Gencer, Zeani, Millo, Milanov 1 et Callas sont mes favorites

He wrote it for a spinto actually. A spinto is considered a dramatic soprano but not to the extent of Turandot. Aida can be sung by both dramatic soprano and spinto but they are different fachs

Exactly, plus it’s at the peak/end of a line marked “crescendo”, so i doubt what he had in mind was a sudden pp.

And today Aida is sung by lyrico coloratura sopranos and all critics praise their high C in Nile scene but do not say anything about their terrible, non-Verdi singing in other parts of the opera.

♥

Unfortunately her voice is too light to sing Aida.

@@beachfanatic2010 Your opinion, but you'll have to tell it to History (which says otherwise) and the thousands of opera goers who bought tickets, recordings and applauded, cheered and delighted in her legendary performances of the role worldwide.

@@jackhamm1745 It is called MARKETING. Just cause I a lot of people want do the wrong things and go to hell does not mean it is a positive place to be. She was a lyric soprano who happened to be black. A lyric soprano who also sang Aida but with more voice and a better technique was Freni and she also had the wrong voice for the role. Overall, Price was the main key to the door opened for the deteriorating of verismo. After Price every other mosquito thought they could sing Puccini and Verdi who are composers designed really only for real spinto and dramatic voice like Callas and Tebaldi.

@@beachfanatic2010 "She was a lyric soprano who happened to be black." Really? That's your conclusion? I'm guessing you'll say the same about an Asian soprano as well. "Oh, they're just giving her props because she's Asian. It's all marketing." Let me tell you something, when Leontyne was commanding 15 minute, 20 minute, 30 minute standing ovations, many of those folks in the audience were as racist as could be, particularly in the U.S. NEWS FLASH: Leontyne came up in a time when race relations in the country were at a low point. However, in those days, people who attended the opera were diehard connoisseurs who knew something about the craft. They could have just as easily booed her, or given her a lukewarm applause to make her feel good. They don't give you 30-minute standing ovations to make you feel good. Now, was her voice perfect, no. I, myself, was shocked that people allowed her to get away with glissando-ing her way up and down scales. Her lower register was a concern for me as well at times. But when you look at the entirety of what the woman brought to the table, it was undeniable. Also, there were other great black sorpranos: Grace Bumbry, Martina Arroyo (half black-half Puerto Rican), and others. But none of them had the same remarkable breath control that Leontyne had. So trust, it ain't just because the woman is black that she is considered one of the best interpreters of Aida. Now, remind me again: how long were your standing ovations? Maybe the press forget to cover them. Don't try it.

@@dmp7252 When I mean she is a lyric soprano that happened to be black is because Aida is a black African princess and even though vocally Price is way off for Aida; She fits the character physically and that’s why she was so famous for it. She was too light for the part. Period!

It’s written ”dolce” in the score

Yes, but what had Verdi in mind to put such a note, in this climax? I was always surprised by this contradiction between the large medium voice the sopranos needs, and this excrutiating climbing when they are breathless and tensed. Btw this clip is rather about these phrases, not the entire role. But even if the strong, solid beauties of Milanov, Tebaldi, Cerquetti are classic icônes, I am always a fan of non placid, hedonist incarnations, even if Aida is a kind if soft profile character.

@@foropera fair enough, tastes differ, you can also like a tigress as Mimi and a pretty girl as Lady Macbeth. Composers, including Verdi, rarely obsessed about single notes as much as fans of singers do. Composers were usually perfectly fine to provide an alternative phrase if the singer found it challenging. Composers care more for the completeness of a role rather than individual effects.

@@Orfeus80, well I'm a singer, and I know Aida from stage experience. I agree on the predominance of totality over detail...but this detail is a little vicious. It becomes a phobia for so many singers that half the time, almost everyone misses. I agree that the highest voices are helped here. And was surprised to see that Caballé, or Margaret Price could miss it. I don't know if Verdi would have let his Voletta, Abigaille, Lady Macbeth, Odabella, Mina adapt the hard lines. I didn't see on my phone the end of your comment, that you mentioned Ponselle, Sweet, Millo. I love them.

@@foropera allow me to speculate that if Verdi knew one note would attract so much attention, he would have changed this romanza. Aida has, unfortunately, become the high C role for many people and naturally this builds up tension for the singers.

excuse me: What Price, Callas and Gencer Cs ? Callas has no great Cs, Gencer even less and Price ok but Price's Cs have no impact. (Aprile Millo in the same basket of Ponselle and Tebaldi? is a joke ?)

I like her very much, she did what she should (in my opinion), exploring all her possibilities (which were enormous)and the following the nature, when you age, like Mödl or Varnay. I 'd like to hear her Medea.

If it was not easy for her, she was not a soprano! @@foropera

@@gr__msk Oh well maybe her limitations were also what allowed her to be what she was. Her splendours were the result of deliberate yet instinctual cultivation of the truly wondrous aspects of her art and this left that which might have given her something approaching the scope of a Callas, whose genius and capacities was limitless, underdeveloped.

@@gr__msk Callas' genesis and trajectory was unique. A prodigy whose instrument was her body, a young female body, going through fundamental morphogenesis. As her discovery of her body and her art literally took shape simultaneously she was afforded a foundational grasp on her instrument. Her work ethic and ambition to master technical requirements worked on this material (her body) when at its most malleable. She said that a singer must start in their teens if they hope to master the art fully. Also the time and place was crucial: Athens amidst World War; isolated and tumultuous everything was in a state of chaos and Opera itself was in contention. She sprang on the scene fully formed like Athena. The establishment had to adapt to her not she to them because she presented them with the Truth of Opera and revealed its Power and Potential. Something they had lost. It was a vision so compelling they had to submit.

Tebaldi always is in tune up top

@@evangeliadimitriadis5706 Certainly not.

@@liedersanger1 instead of writing rotten fish, why don't you show sound documents where Tebaldi is not in the tune up top ? show instead of writing lies. Here Ghena Dimitrova in five (5) different Aidas performances , she does not hit the C if even 1 performance ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7xg-Z3OBh54.html

@@liedersanger1 1.31:38 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-K7hbcsxIqas.html

@lutandomhlalase4416: It certainly is your opinion and not worth too much. But thank you.

@@johnpickford4222 and charlatan should judge the worth of other people's opinions. You truly are first amongst incompetent.

@SilfredoSerrano: “In Verdi’s day” you would not be able to do s compilation like this! But for many of us who enjoy opera, and AIDA, there were only recordings, usually complete ones. Studio recordings do count and if you have evidence where the voice is being manipulated, you should say so and offer proof. For the live recordings, some singers are on and some aren’t. But their performances average out their greatness.

Tebaldi never had the technique to sing this aria properly. I'm surprised she even had a career without a good top C.

Maybe that at Verdi's time there were voices able to sing that, not heavy dark voices, a little bit like Rethberg. And the pitch, the "diapason" was lower. Or he was just dreaming of something but was never satisfied by what he heard.

Head voice! He understood it.

Can u post it?

The C is marked “dolce”, not “pp”.

@@hrvoje14 You're right... and it's not the same !

Oh and btw, to my ears too Milanov 1 comes closest to what Verdi wrote. With Price and Callas not far behind. Zeani is also very good here imho. (Caballe 1 and Radvanovsky definitely sing a dolce C, but disregard the crescendo and sing the whole line+C pp.)@@Toscarpia

@@hrvoje14 Dolce means sweet. How would it not be p, pp or ppp?

Aida is not just this aria. In reality, Aida is a role Verdi wrote for human trumpet who is far from a lyric soprano. Callas is the ultimate Aida but only early in her career. Her Mexico Aidas are living testaments of how the role should be sung.

@Walter Monteagudo Don't you get tired of recycling the same shit over and over again through your multiple accounts? Tebaldi's estate isn't gonna pay your bills anytime soon.

@Walter Monteagudo LOL. Boy, not even Tebaldi struggled with her high Cs as much as you struggle at making sense in English. Your life is literally consumed by a dead celebrity. Go and see a shrink.

Callas's 1951 Aida in Mexico City is probably the ultimate portrayal of this role, and the entire cast is outstanding. When you listen to her duet with Amonasro, Aida is standing in the room with you. She was no wilting flower, but a proud princess put in an awful quandary.

@@Shahrdad She certainly has some very exciting moments in that performance, but when it comes to soft legato singing (e.g. this very aria, especially towards the end), I'd prefer a less acidic timbre.

@BaroneVitellioScarpia1: “Especially Callas”?!?! Read John Ardoin’s book about her underpowered studio recording and the ‘flapping on the high C that would let the entire Egyptian army through’. This is too sedate a piece of music for her talents and purely more vocal. Callas is not the end all of everything she sang.

if how you sang one note no matter how important was what mattered most you might have a point....@@johnpickford4222

@@johnpickford4222Her studio one is bad, but her live 1950 (here), 1951 and 1952/3? are great.

who cares about the aida studio recording when Callas' 1950, 1951 and 1953 aida recordings exist @@johnpickford4222

It would be nice I know. ( when I am retired I'll have more time to do such things). Other sources are available for the "historic versions".

The one posted is young Callas, Mexico 1950. She was 26….

@@stefanodepeppo the one with the high Eflat? love it! that's what I was referring to.

If it's Maria Chiara. I'm impressed

Dimitrova attempt to the C is a disgrace, she is the worst of all

Which one? The first is divine, the second is unacceptable.

Oh you are right, I forgot to name her: the great Virginia Zeani!

@@foropera thanks

Aarf, yes, maybe. My electronic piano was out of order, so the control of each highlight 's pitch may have failed ;-)

That was a tape issue. Half - tone lower. The C is still here.

Gencer is gasthly, Millo is the mediocrity in all sense and a C that is ugly and with irregular vibrations

I have to admit S.R. is really the ONLY one of the modern Aidas that can sing the pianissimi that masterfully.

To my ear, Milanov is the only other who really was able milk the musicality out of the entire thing in the same way Radvonovksy does.

@smurf902: Not so Sweet your comment. And she’ll give ya a break where the sun don’t shine.

Stemme makes me wish I just was listening to the oboe

All of them?