This honestly makes me really sad. As listeners, I think it's natural to want to make critical comments when we hear that an artist does not sound how they used to, but I think we should try to be more kind. Imagine how it must make a singer feel to realize that the they can no longer perform to the level they are accustomed to. People who make professional careers in music, especially classical music, do it because they love it with every fiber of their being. It is an extremely difficult career path and we are truly at the mercy of our own bodies. It would be horrible to realize that your voice is wearing out prematurely. It would be emotionally difficult to step away, but one would also have to consider the financial consequences of retiring from singing. Someone with a highly successful operatic career that started at a young age might not have another career to fall back on. Before making nasty comments about an artist, I would suggest kindly thinking about stepping into these people's shoes.
I saw her singing this aria in Seoul last month, and it was definitely amazing. This video and all the other videos cannot present Damrau's real voice. Her belcanto style is not standard and her coloratura technique is worse than her prime time, of course. But she still has extremely rich, bright, refined, and elegant voice. At the age of 52, it is very hard to sing high C# for a coloratura soprano who started from leggiero - dramatico sound, but she did it! And she made her vocalization much more stable than 2020~2021. Thank you for this video.
I don't think it's so much the voice as the technique. Look at her face and where all the attention is going. If that were corrected.... listen to Mariella Devia in her late 60s and early 70s singing circles around Ms Damrau. Edita Gruberova damaged her voice in a similar way. It's unfortunate many singers are taught to sing this way. They all develop wobbles in their voices. It's unfortunate.
People continue to praise her Queen of the Night but, to achieve that “full, dramatic” sound, even in 2003 one can clearly hear the tension her voice was under. Then all those endless Lucias and Traviatas… Gruberova started to push her boundaries in her 60s for certain but even near her death her voice retained that youthful timbre and distinctly transparent colour.
She’s actually doing a lot better than the last time I heard her sing. Yes her bottom notes fade away but it sounds like she’s working on reconnecting them. Her fioratura is the clearest it’s been in a while and her high notes are super grounded. She’s always had a screamy/metallic timber to her voice which is why she made a perfect Queen of the night/ dramatic coloratura soprano. It’s not perfect but all that mask singing crap takes a toll on the voice because it’s not correct. That is why we hear modern coloratura sopranos “aging” out and the older ones were singing till they dropped dead.
I agree! I think she has finally overcome the worst part of her crisis and stabilised. Although belcanto doesn't really suit her, we can still enjoy all the clear coloraturas, pitch and evenness of her voice.
Ich höre mir lieber Maria Callas oder Leyla Gencer in dieser Rolle an!Ich kann auch die Gestik nicht nachvollziehen!!Was man nicht mehr in der Anlage der Stimme hat,macht man durch Gestik wett-nein diese Gleichung geht nicht auf- leider!!!
This is horrifying !! Poor people ears!! She is 52!! After her 40s she can’t even execute proper scales, trills and high notes! Why to sing this repertoire?
I do enjoy Miss Damrau. But lets be perfectly honest. Brutally honest. The voice is starting to go. She can't hit high D's or E's anymore. Colouraturas only last for so many yrs, then the high notes dry up. Sad but true. The very best at this aria is June Anderson. She hits everything high note with power. Flawlessly done. Look it up. In her hey day Damrau had the best Queen of the Night. Another Colouratura who in her heyday was on top Natalie Dessay. But it broke my heart to hear her in the end of her career to Handels Juluis Caesar. Dessays voice was tired, breathy and could not do the high notes anymore. In my heart i will always hold Damrau and Dessay in their heydays to the best that they did. This is my humble opinion. BREATHE.
