More about this singer can be found not only in her book 'Singing my way' but also in the online Archive of the British based magazine 'Opera' which has a profile, several reviews from her performances of the 1950s and her obituary which states how popular she was with her public. Commentaries on her performances in the 1940s when she would have been in her prime are not easy to trace ( 'Opera' magazine began publication in the 50s.) However this disc and the commentaries we do have help to counterbalance the large amount of negative online comments generated by her unfortunate singing in the D'Oyly Carte Princess Ida recording. Does any collector have the Sladen recording of ' O who shall say that love is cruel?' by Edward German from 'Merrie England?' This was taken from a live radio broadcast of a comedy show - I believe with the comedian Ted Ray - and it was issued on a cassette, but I haven't been able to trace it.
+Jo Burnette There is no doubt that Victoria Sladen was very good. Her Tosca was considered particularly fine, as was her Madama Butterfly and Giorgetta in Il Tabarro. She was a very popular radio entertainer too having spent the early part of her career in concert parties and pantomimes. She actually made the transition from starring at Sadlers Wells Opera to the Covent Garden company where she was very successful as Eva in Wagner's The Mastersingers. Apparently there is a reverse side of this recording ' O my beloved Father' from Gianni Schicchi, but I don't know if anyone can post it.? Sadly the most readily available recording of her is as Princess Ida in Gilbert & Sullivan's operetta with the D'Oyly Carte company. She seems to have suffered a vocal crisis and is at times out of tune or she sounds matronly. Only the Act 3 aria does her any justice. A new remastering of the sound has improved this a little. This has led people to dismiss her, but for the 7 or 8 years that she sang opera she was well known in the UK and appreciated by those who engaged her repeatedly which included the Royal Choral Society for its concerts at the Royal Albert Hall. She sang with the finest singers and conductors. Victoria Sladen originally trained as a mezzo soprano on a Scholarship to Trinity College of Music, but she desperately wanted to become a soprano and because her voice in her young years had a lightish, flexible quality at the top ( which we can hear in this Tosca) as well as depth she succeeded in a wide repertoire. Clearly a fine artist it is a shame that her posthumous reputation should be brought into doubt because of one unfortunate recording
