@@flannerymonaghan-morris1317 Je partage votre point de vue. On a ici l'incarnation d'une mère possessive donc abusive, magnifiquement interprétée par Natalie Dessay !
I have just started listening to opera seriously and I have to say I am just blown away by the caliber of talent amongst most opera "divas." Natalie Dessay is certainly at the top of that list!! Thanks so much for uploading this!! So much passion!
Haha, I love her for that! This is her comment on moving while singing: "Definitely, because if you want to sing without moving around, all you have to do is give concerts." It's from her interview with Operanet.
I believe that it is the best interpretation of the queen of the night in the network. When I saw this Natalie's interpretation for the first time the eyes filled me with tears, I believe that it expresses pefectamente the surrealistic and emotional environment of this Mozar's aria. The best ;)
A mio parere son brave entrambe, poi che il loro canto e la loro interpretazione siano diverse è logico, son due soprano diversi! Questa Regina della Notte, interiormente appare più combattuta tra la sua decisione di ripudiare la figlia e l'amore che prova per essa. La Regina della Notte della Damrau no è più decisa e determinata!
@@joeleferri8026 Secondo me dipende molto da come si percepisce la parte dell'acuto: forse per i gusti, oggi pare allegra ai più ma io ci sento piuttosto il pianto disperato di una madre (cosa che la dessay interpreta alla perfezione, secondo me) che non la risata isterica di una pazza omicida. Però forse è solo un modo di leggere l'opera, dovrei approfondire😅
I love Natalie Dessay! She is an amazing singer and what an energy! I love her voice her technique and interpretation. This is the best version since Christina Deutecom! And she was the best in my opinion! FANTASTIC NATALIE!!!!
After watching this video i have reconciliated with Dessay. I've always thought she is one of the greatest but too light-weight in the acting for this role. She is not the cruellest Queen of the night (Damrau is for sure) but i love the way she performs here. She is expressing the conflict of her wish for vengeance and her love as a mother. Brava Dessay!!
Oh dear! Dessay is the best Köning since Edita Gruberova! I've been waiting a new Köning for so long ! :D Dessay has also very good dramatic skills: she has created a strong character with convincing psychological aspects. And her voice has huge scale: she sings the high notes without difficulty or hoarseness (which is very common to other singer to this role..) Love her!!!!
@daniloxx I remember reading somewhere that this is specifically Dessay's own interpretation on her part - she doesn't feel the Queen of the Night is a villain, and acts as such (as opposed to Damrau's version).
Damrau's performance is absolutely the best. Not only because of her voice and acting but the whole production. Dessay is brilliant, but I like the savagery of Damrau. What I think is wonderful and awesome, that we can listen to these great divas, and argue about their excellence. They are all divine, I wish I could do one thing as brilliantly as they did.
Just unbelievable! I heared a lot of very good performances on this part of the "Zauberflöte" but she is really fantastic. great voice an additionally great acting!
I love this. Ranks among the very best. Great interpretation. Opera is musical theatre at its best. In all theatre, performers need to transport the hearts, minds, souls into an ecstatic virtual reality experience of the fantasy portrayed in the libretto. Singing, acting, charisma, involving the audience are all very important. It has to be a total experience. Opera requires very high standards of singing, but it cannot be effective unless it moves hearts and souls of the audience.
Though Dessay's acting leaves much to be desired, her impeccable voice, both nimble and effortless, shines brilliantly in this aria. My only complaint is that she performs it too sweetly. Stephie Pahlavi Zan
I was first unnerved that all someone could come up with was "I like her better"... Then I watched and listened to a clip with her. ***WOW***. No comment - she's got it all, and more. Now I'm THANKFUL TO YOU for pointing her out to me !!!!!!
My favorite version. Damrau creates a better and more menacing character, but she struggles too much with the high notes. Dessay sings them with such ease and perfection that it's just overwhelming.
If Damrau struggles in the high notes then Dessay struggles with the whale song till the high notes. She does not has power at all, her voice on mid notes is incredibly boring, and the higher notes is not as powerful as Damrau's are.
@@direitonoturno2248 you just need an audition help. Dessay reaches the higher notes with no cut when Damrau reaches her voice limits. This is quite clear, just ear. I Heard Damrau in differents register session and she struggle each Time to reach the higher notes when Dessay passed it so easely
Absolutely stunning. Just an incrdible voice and superb acting too. OK she's not pure evil but she is believable and remember she is not trying to convince a stranger - but her own daughter so she plays on that. I think she's great. Thanks for the upload.
@reinehcreinehc I was in the opera house, I've always been a fan of the magic flute. Then the lead singer [I forget her name, I'm sorry] sings this aria. My hand to god, it felt like Mozart himself was talking to me. The best musical experience of my life. This is music for the ages.
So many shades and colours, apart from flawless technique and stunning musicality. She seems so genuine and so human and yet completely convincing in her role.! Brava!
wow, what a wonderful interpretation! i have never seen a mother in this legendary role. only shouting and showing off... that's the way IMHO Pamina's mother would sing this lyrics! bravo!!!
I've always seen the QoN as having gone over the edge at this point of the opera. Nathalie's fluttering gestures and looking around during that first bout of high C's really caught it!
Daniel Ramírez de Gastón: I agree that both Dessay and Damrau are amazing. But, I have been really looking at them closely in this role the past several says and I have to say what I feel. Perhaps it is just the direction they were given, but I much prefer Damrau's interpretation. Dessay has a beautiful voice, and she makes this sound so easy, which we all know is not the case! But theatrically, it doesn't make sense to me. She plays it as if it's killing her to tell her daughter to kill Sarastro, that it's breaking her heart to disown her child if she doesn't murder someone. And it doesn't work for me. It goes against the text she is singing. She says, more or less, "Kill this man. If you don't do it, I will disown you, breaking all natural bonds between a mother and child. This man must die at your hands, or you will mean nothing to me." She's asking her daughter to choose between a man, and her own mother. And, to me, it just doesn't seem in character to be so overwrought with guilt and pain, or even shame, for someone who could be so cold blooded as to plot a murder such as this, and ask that it be done in such a way, by her own daughter's hand. This is only my opinion, but I just feel Damrau nails the interpretation. She's pissed off and it shows. She is dedicated to her cause and will let nothing stop her, even the maternal bond, the bond of nature! Theatrically, it makes more sense to me.
I totally agree with you. And if I may add, their physical characteristics also play a part in the impression. First, Damrau has a bit of a heavier voice, and she's sort of Bulky, with those piercing ice blue eyes, while Dessay has a much brighter. «inoffensive» tone and a tiny stature. She could probably not scare a sparrow if she tried, she looks too nice. She's more fit to play nice roles.
I saw a few sopranos doing the speaking part of this scene smiling, that didn't make much sense. I read the Libretto and it clearly says that they're supposed to embrace, Damrau seems to ignore the script and it makes sense to me. When I watched the full opera there's a part where the dialogue goes something like this: QON: Die eigeweiten? Pamina: Ja (and then even the singer playing Pamina realises she should probably have said she doesn't know where Tamino is, because her mother would be less angry. I call it the 'oh shit!' moment in the opera). I don't remember who played Pamina, it's the one with the ROH... (Yes I know my German sucks!)
@@murderoustendencies I thought Diana Damrau did a great performance of Europa in Salieri's Europa Riconosciuta (an opera that should be performed more).
i agree! natalie dessay preforms this song in a different way than most other preformers do, and makes you think twice about the REAL intentions of the queen of the night! very cool!
Fantastic! I've heard this aria from a lot of sopranos (Damrau, Serra, Moser, Devielhe, Deutekom and many others) but Dessay is by far the best: perfect pitch and brilliant tone in every single note and impressive acting.
That's the second fragment of what looks like the same production that hits the right note with me. The french subtitles really helped me understand the german. Now I really understand why this should be a display of pain and torment. Well done!
The best version on RU-vid, no doubt. Quite stunning that so much voice can emerge from someone so tiny. And unlike Damrau, she doesn't have to "assume the position" to hit those Cs. Just amazing.
Vous trouvez Natalie petite ?? Pourtant, elle n'a rien d'une femme liliputienne. Que de mépris et de malveillance ! Auriez-vous un complexe d'infériorité pour votre propre taille insuffisante ?
I just admire this women so much. Having to sing this difficult aria in front of a whole audience and cameras, carrying the weight of the whole thing, since people always expect to listen to a perfect rendition. They all deserve to be admire. If I had to stand on stage in front of an audience I could only get to fart at most, which I'd do surely, since I'd be dead nervous.
I have just recently discovered this artist...and,I have to say that her expression is amazing. It's also amazing that she can do all of those actions and not have her pitch suffer.
Agreed, a fine and absorbing interpretation highlighting the sublime music of this particular opera and the courage of Mozart to go beyond the rigours of the Viennese conventions of the day.
Vocally I feel that Dessay nails the difficult coloratura but scoops a lot of the notes in other passages. Her acting talent, on the other hand, is unmatched and is powerful storytelling at its finest. If we could have a savage voice like Diana Damrau with the acting prowess of Dessay, that would be beyond epic.
At the festival of Aix-en-Provence, Dessay first performed the role of "Queen of the Night" in Mozart's The Magic Flute. Although she was hesitant to perform the role, saying that she didn't want to play any "evil" characters, director convinced her that this Queen would be different -- almost a sister to Pamina. Dessay agreed to do the role, claiming it would be a one-time series of performances. There followed a years-long series of "final" performances of the "Queen of the Night".
Génial. La posture de la mère avec sa fille est puissamment étudiée et mise en scène. Les coiffures sont excellentes aussi (en plus du son qui est parfait pour moi).
