I saw this live in San Francisco. So moving. I was wrung out emotionally. The power of her acting/singing is even more convincing live. I really have become a big fan of Racette. I think she is a great actor.
I can't help but wonder for how many mothers this aria is true. She sings as if she knows the pain of loss. This is what makes this a beautiful performance.
Heatbreaking and gorgeous. I am trying to prepare it for a little concert, and can barely get through it. May be easier if I didn't have 2 little boys...
Only someone with a really loving spirit (and a killer technique) can make this music sound so memorable and moving. Just beautiful artistry top to bottom!
johntlew we were there for her butterfly a great performance indeed. Arnold Bourbon Amaral also in Chicago for Liu very well done as well. BRAVA PATRICA
I saw this live at the San Francisco Opera and felt it was one of the most emotional things I have ever seen on stage. Her acting is so convincing. I still get chills when I watch this and hear that voice. Truly a magic night on stage. And this was one of 3 rolls she sang that night.
Without question, the most moving, emotional and heartbreaking rendering of this music I have ever heard./seen. It is my favorite opera and I am thrilled to have discovered this video. A heartfelt thank you for posting.
excelente, puccini siempre con esas armonias de todo un poco, impresionismo, y un poco de atonalidad en la escena anterior con la contralto... al mejor estilo de una banda sonora, adelantado a su tiempo, siempre he pensado que Pucini fue el primer compositor de Bandas sonoras, Bravo¡¡
Brava Patricia Brava -- I have loved all of your genuine, musically on target, and to the heart performances -- Never has Suor Angelica been more moving than this, Brava
What a fabulous performance. It was thrillingly acted and sung. I felt the last bit with the son didn't quite come off and could have been more sympathetic.
Best sung, best acted version I have experienced so far. Having to do a pianissimo high C halfway through this scene and then a fortissimo one at the very end...and they were both perfect. Racette sure has got some stamina! And the death throes were really believable, with all the grunts and moans and such. Brava!
This aria is in music and text the equal of one of the greatest works of one of Puccini's greatest contemporaries: the "Kindertotenlieder" by Gustav Mahler!
SUOR ANGELICA (rimasta sola) Senza mamma, o bimbo, tu sei morto! Le tue labbra, senza i baci miei, scoloriron fredde, fredde! E chiudesti, o bimbo, gli occhi belli! Non potendo carezzarmi, le manine componesti in croce! E tu sei morto senza sapere quanto t'amava questa tua mamma! Ora che sei un angelo del cielo, ora tu puoi vederla la tua mamma, (umilmente.) tu puoi scendere giù pel firmamento ed aleggiare in torno a me ti sento. Sei qui, sei qui, mi baci e m'accarezzi. Ah! dimmi, quando in ciel potrò vederti? Quando potrò baciarti? Oh! dolce fine d'ogni mio dolore, quando in cielo con te potrò morire? Quando potrò morire, potrò morire? Dillo alla mamma, creatura bella, con un leggero scintillar di stella. Parlami, parlami, amore, amore, amore!
Patricia just looses herself in this role... Her rendition of Senza mamma is pure pain, she is being extremely measured with the score though and the musicality is so elegant BRAVA!
For those who saw this production in the house or in full, does the production - the direction, the setting, the story - make sense? This little clip left me wondering why nobody in the hospital could hear her cries at the end. Why did the little boy not run to get help? Why didn't Angelica try to go to the doorway and call for someone? There was no sense of salvation, no sense of a miracle, no sense of Heaven, just agony and steely coldness.
I know the piece well. I've appeared in other productions of it, more than once, and as chorister and singing some of the small bit parts. My point is, the story-telling here is not clear at all. We know Angelica's son is dead. What does this director want us to think is happening in these final moments? Has Angelica been redeemed or not? Or was her suicide meaningless? Is she reunited with her son in an afterlife, or was this a delusional act by a depressed nun? Who is that boy is behind the window? The son Angelica is singing about, or a random boy watching a nurse die and doing nothing? If it's Angelica's son now as an angel welcoming her to heaven, then some indication of that would be helpful. If it's Angelica's hallucination and nothing is really there, then some indication of that would be helpful. If it's one of the patient's in the ward who happens to come by at this moment, and does nothing to assist, then some indication of that would be helpful. But to just stand there looking on impassively with no explanation is just that - As it is, it looks like one of the children from the ward got out of bed during the night and is peeking through the window watching a woman die, and showing no reaction at all, either as her dead son or a patient.
It is rather confusing. I saw this same production from Covent Garden, and the implication is that the boy is just one of the hospital patients. There is no miracle or salvation or Madonna. It may be too sentimental, but I prefer to see Scotto, for example, sacrifice her own life to be reunited with her son.
SUOR GENOVIEFFA Sorella, o buona, sorella, la Vergine ha accolto la prece. LE SUORE Sarete contenta, sorella, la Vergine ha fatto grazia. SUOR ANGELICA (si leva come un’esaltazione mistica) La grazia è discesa dal cielo, già tutta, già tutta m'accende, risplende! risplende! Già vedo, sorella, la meta!... Sorelle, son lieta, son lieta! Cantiamo! Già in cielo si canta! Lodiamo la Vergine Santa! TUTTE Cantiamo! Già in cielo si canta! E così sia! TUTTE Lodiamo la Vergine Santa! Lodiam, lodiam! Amen! SUOR ANGELICA La grazia è discesa dal cielo! Suor Angelica ha sempre una ricetta buona fatta coi fiori. Amici fiori, che nel piccol seno racchiudete le stille del veleno. Ah, quante cure v'ho prodigate Ora mi compensate. Per voi miei fior io morirò! Addio buone sorelle, addio, addio! Vi lascio per sempre. M'ha chiamato mio figlio! Dentro un raggio di stelle m'è apparso il suo sorriso, m'ha detto: Mamma, vieni in Paradiso! Addio! Addio! Addio, chiesetta! In te quanto ho pregato! Buona accoglievi preghiere e pianti. E discesa la grazia benedetta! Muoio per lui e in cielo lo rivedrò! Ah!
This aria to the end is really the whole reason to watch this opera. I really hate to have to pick one, but I'd have to say Suor Angelica is probably my least favorite of the Trittico, even though I do love all of them.
Wow. She doesn't sound like this anymore. She was ill-advised to push her lyric instrument into Salome etc. The tone is now spread and she is severely tested by legato.
I think you mean "portamentos" which Puccini actually did NOT like - however, many singers (particularly sopranos) resorted to them to get through their vocal passaggios.
Omg yes- like this… edit-- okay yes but less tension is possible if you breathe in slow and low and EMOTE the acting without the tension real fear/anger/pain causes in the throat- she keeps SUUCKING in air which causes throat tension as she continues. There is a line…. She is dancing circles around the line… that’s probably what is making her late too… hang on here comes the float note….. yep see it’s unclear because she had allowed her acting to go just past the line to where her body can’t do the work she trained it to do. I mean- most of the audience doesn’t care- but other opera singers are always playing the game of “how far can I break rules and still nail it”- we know she lost the game and we want everyone to win it. It’s about “beating the man”. Okay I’ve rambled enough. I’ll get off the soap box now. Thanks if you’re still here. You can go now, Caio-
QUESTA E' LA SCENA FRA TUTTE LE OPERE DI PUCCINI PIU' COMMOVENTE VA A TOCCARE IL PROFONDO DELL'ASCOLTATORE SPCIE QUANDO VIENE INTERPRETRATA COSI DRAMMATICAMENTE
Horrible wobble on too great part of the tessitura, without chest notes support , after 13.20 everything whats left are pure cries as usual for Racette!!! She ruined both Mefistofele and Showboat DVD recordings!!!.
+Detectivefiction Oh, I think there is incipient wobble at the top. There was in the house and also on high notes in Il Tabarro. Still, she was absolutely stunning in this, and wonderfully funny in Gianni Schicchi.
A lovely performance here by Racette. The wobble is ever-widening, however. I saw her as Nedda in Pagliacci at the Met a couple of seasons ago and the wobble was very pronounced. Since then I don't think she has appeared there.
You have to give her credit at least for holding out that high C with the chorus partway through this - facing the back gave the illusion that she was singing it pianissimo without her actually having to do it! Clever collaboration by singer and director here.
