She never looks strained, stressed, pushed, forced, goaded, prompted....in every video I've seen, ever, she's poised, efficiency, unbreaking in character and uncompromising in flow, ease, and superhuman perfection. The only singer I've ever seen like this, in any genre.
I had the honor hearing this wonderful lady live and to this day I still get goose bumps!!! To hear hat beautiful gorgeous sound live is just breath taking.
I am fortunate to have attended a recital by Leontyne Price in Richmond, VA in the early 1980s. With no microphone, her voice powerfully filled the entire auditorium with clear, luscious, and beautiful sound while conveying every nuance of emotion in the songs. She performed six encores and received seven well deserved standing ovations! Brava Diva Price!
Still stunning. She worked very hard as a young student to perfect a technique that was rock solid. That, coupled with her soulful interpretations are at the core of her well-deserved acclaim and her place in operatic history. Few young people nowadays are willing to put the enormous effort into what is essential to have a career like Price's. She is part of a golden age that, alas, no longer exists. May her legacy last forever!!
Please let her inspire you !!!!I am white and I long for more African-American men to sing in the opera I often imagine and I listen to music God bless you
Well, this had me in tears by the end. Only a champion like Ms. Price could end her recital with three Puccini arias as encores. The Madama Butterfly aria at the end is hair-raising. Beautifully and passionately sung, all of it. There's no one like her singing today.
Take a giant celestial bucket. Ask God to pour all the butter, gold and honey in the heavens into it and what you end up with is this glorious woman's voice.
If only people who think some of our current singers are fantastic could hear this recital...they would understand true greatness. I bow to this incredile America treasure.
I first heard her sing "Chi bel sogno" as an encore at Lewisohn Stadium in NYC in the 60's on a summer night. As she floated out one ravishing note after the other, I thought this can never be surpassed. I still think so.
amo alla follia Leontyne ma in "Vissi d'arte" non ho sentito un solo filato. nel brano "Chi il bel sogno di Doretta" i filati sono assolutamente d'obbligo e lei ne realizza magnificamente solo alcuni e i rimanenti li realizza con "mezze voci". mentre canta con volumi inaccettabili " Tu, tu piccolo iddio ". questo video mostra purtroppo la inarrestabile decadenza della tecnica di questa signora, tecnica che per decenni la distingueva per la perizia e l'intelligenza sempre mostrata nell'usarla .
I had the privilege of hearing one of these recitals in Medford Oregon, when I was a girl. The sound and her presence were so beautiful I wept through the entire performance...just a few tears but constantly. The sound drew it out of me. She was totally moving. I still weep when hearing even these tinny videos because she was so amazingly beautiful. I love all opera singers...they work so hard and sacrifice much of life to bring us such beauty...but she is my special singer. Her humor was marvelous. At the end of that performance she graciously assented to doing two encores. She was tired...we wouldn't sit down or stop applauding...so she motioned us quiet and sang a little third encore more...then suddenly stopped, and sang to a little ditty: "If you want any more you can sing it yourself!" -- And whooshed offstage!! She exited to a hall full of laughter and more applause. Dear Leontyne! 🌹
I am fortunate to have attended a recital by Leontyne Price in Richmond, VA in the early 1980s. With no microphone, her voice powerfully filled the entire auditorium with clear, luscious, and beautiful sound while conveying every nuance of emotion in the songs. She performed six encores and received seven well deserved standing ovations! Brava Diva Price!
I spent my last cash ducats on a ticket to hear Miss Price in recital in Boston, mid 80’s. I was a conservatory student there at the time. I didn’t have money for dinner that night, but I had been fed. She had the audience in the palm of her hand.
I am fortunate to have attended a recital by Leontyne Price in Richmond, VA in the early 1980s. With no microphone, her voice powerfully filled the entire auditorium with clear, luscious, and beautiful sound while conveying every nuance of emotion in the songs. She performed six encores and received seven well deserved standing ovations! Brava Diva Price!
I was fortunate enough to see and hear Price in person several times, in recital, orchestral concerts, and complete operas, including from around this time. These videos capture, better than any others I've seen, how that incredible voice just filled a hall. There's never been another like her. Thrilling.
I recall seeing her in recital about a year or two before this, in Los Angeles, and this tape more than any I've ever seen really gives you a sense of how powerful, gorgeous, and soaring that voice really was in person. Her studio recordings, fabulous as they were, never managed to catch the thrill of what she was able to do in the house. To this day I've never gotten actual chills down my spine in a concert the way I did at hers. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.
I agree that her studio recordings never managed to completely catch the thrill of what she was able to do in the house. I am fortunate to have attended a recital by Leontyne Price in Richmond, VA in the early 1980s. With no microphone, her voice powerfully filled the entire auditorium with clear, luscious, and beautiful sound while conveying every nuance of emotion in the songs. She performed six encores and received seven well deserved standing ovations! Brava Diva Price!
She practically sings a whole Puccini opera's worth of music in the encore. And the voice is just as fresh and glorious. Who amongst today's singer can even dream of coming close to this sort of super excellence?
this is 1979!!! Close to the year of her farewell to the opera!!!! Isn't it unbelievable????? What an artist!!! Too bad we can't see that level of comitment with voice and music anymore! We are in mourning! BRAVA PRICE!
LEONTYNE PRICE EPITOMIZES A TRUE "GOAT." (For those who do not know, acronym for "Greatest Of All Time!") She has been my intro, inspiration, motivator, blessing & hope for the world of music, especially for opera. Brava Diva!!! Thank you for all you have given of yourself and all you gave up for us. What a joy and privilege! ❤
One of the great pirated recordings of all time. I hate when audience members record performances from their seats, but thank God someone did during this one!
"those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end....' I had the great good luck to be at several of her recitals over the years in Minneapolis, New York and San Francisco;. She always did the standard recital format; some italian songs, some german Lied, some french, some american and ending with a spiritual or two. Then came what often felt like another full recital - the arias. Seeing/hearing this takes me back - tears and rapid heartbeat included - to those glorious events.
I heard her sing this in the 80's at Symphony Hall in Boston and it was like hearing the voice of an angel. Even as I write this I have tears in my eyes just thinking about it. Met her after the concert and she is as lovely as her voice.
The Rondine piece was a favorite encore piece which I had the great pleasure of hearing her sing it in Philly, She brought the house down. Her "Rondine" recording on the so called "Blue Album" is arguably the best. What beautiful intense singing here..
Remember, these are the encores!! What i like the most, besides the incredible flow of utterly beautiful sound, is the way she is living and loving what she is doing!!! Oh, Miss Leontyne Price, what a gift. There is no better Butterfly final aria on any recording, anywhere!
george prentice But we Don’t- most of today’s singers don’t have the technique, and are physically singing incorrectly. Why? Because their TEACHERS don’t understand the physicality and physiology of the voice, and don’t know how to teach.
@@michaelmiller1215 Teachers today know more about the physiology of the voice than anyone did in Leontyne’s day. What they don’t understand is artistry, nuance and individuality in singing… Less is more, as Leontyne’s teacher was always telling her. And it takes time. Today, there is no shortage of great vocal material, but few singers are artists-who can produce the authentic frisson of focused artistry. Commercial pressures, a sense of entitlement, the need for long term dedicated relationships of teachers and students, and absurd regietheater productions, stifle and defeat genuine artistry. On top if that, the elaborate supporting structure of agents, impresarios, agents, record producers, writers and critics- many brought up in eastern Europe-and all devoted to classical music- is gone. One day, an artist of genius, in alliance with a great composer, will recover the emotional potential of the trained voice. It’s been lost and recovered before.
Beyond stratospheric......I am privileged to have witnessed her over 50 times in several countries in recital, concert and opera. Had an audience with her a couple of times as well. The ultimate artistic experience....
A private video! A treasure trove of jewels, a lifetimes experience shining through like a vocal beacon! The power of music and of singing! thanks so much!
Какое невероятно сильное драматическое сопрано! Просто мурашки по коже от образа арии, созданного Прайс! Невероятный драматизм! Вот талантище небесное! Спасибо огромное за видео!
Leontyne Price...beauty personified...a voice so identifiable from the moment one hears it. A sound so warm, a tone so sweet, a mature musical understanding. Thank you so much for this wonderful video.
I was fortunate to hear one of these recitals. It was so amazing and inspired my return to complete my own music degree. I feel blessed I was able to hear her many times after as well. So happy these videos exist.
Thank you, StuartLou for posting this piece. This woman's talent fills my heart with joy and happiness. I do not know what happen to these 30 people and their very bad ears. It's truly tragic to hafta go through life and not understand what GREAT music and talent really is😟😰
Puccini places his heroines in situations where the depth of their pain seems inexpressible. Then along comes an artist with unlimited emotional resources of her own; Leontyne Price. And she brings total expression and complete fulfillment to every emotional and vocal demand Puccini might ever have even imagined was possible. In her Death Of Butterfly, Leontyne Price pierces the heart with such force of heartache and beauty that the listener is utterly lost and overwhelmed It is a performance that sears itself in memory forever.
We saw this Great Lady twice in concert in 1974 & 85 after she retired from the operatic stage. IN 75 we were transposed into listening to ABSOLUTE GREATNESS. In 85 after she sang un bel di verdremo I gave her a standing ovation & this dear lady acknowledged me with a nod. The greatest voice to come out of America 🇺🇸 and she is just absolutely radiant & so beautiful. Arnaud Bourbon Amaral
This video is just astounding. Ms. Price was on fire that night, especially with the aria "Tu tu piccolo iddio." Leontyne Price is a national treasure. Thanks so much for posting!
MY GOD THANK U LEONTINE. WHEN I SAW U UP CLOSE IN PARIS & U SMILED INTO MY LARGE BROWN EYES, YOUR SKIN SO AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL --NO PHOTOGRAPH DOES IT JUSTICE-- I DIDN T QUITE UNDERSTAND... YET I KNEW I HAD TO DO ANYTHING TO MAKE IT TO THAT SIGNING. MY... MEMORIES OF THAT MOMENT SAVE ME NOW.... 7-15-18 3:22
Incredible, amazing, wonderfull......the very essence of the art of the operatic singing.... I can't think of better adjectives ... I can't of a better opera soirée. Marvellous Leontyne Price.
Thanks so much for posting this video! It reminds me of why I fell in love with this woman so many years ago. I was fortunate to not only hear her in concert but also to meet her afterward. She is a great American treasure.
I wasnt at this one but have been present at her recitals several times. The last was in 89 or 90 in Iowa City. Well worth the trip. She is magic. A true star
When Lady Price sang her farewell song ( Aida) in 1888, she was almost 62 years old. She had been singing from childhood till her goodbye moment. This month, she will celebrate her 86 birthday. MAY THE GOOD FORCES OF THE UNIVERSE embrace her and keep her healthy and happy! I love you Lady Price!
Thank you so much for posting this. It's truly a very special and unique moment in operatic history. I've been doing a presentation on Ms. Price at my school for the students in honor of Black History Month. It's amazing to see kids who basically know nothing about opera become mesmerized by the magnificence of her voice. Thanx again.
