I don’t remember how I discovered Grace Bumbry, but I was 16 when I became obsessed with her and made my first online purchase: a 5 CD compilation of everything ever: Handel, Gluck, Falla, Verdi (soprano AND mezzo roles!), Brahms, Schubert, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Mascagni, Wagner.
Eight years later, I still don’t know what it is that attracts me to Grace. At her best, her voice is seamless: indestructible chest, easy high notes that come out of nowhere, and this fat, juicy middle voice that’s full of dark, rich colors. Indigo, scarlet, evergreen. At her worst, she is still fearless. I have a recording of NORMA where she tries to take the high D at the end of Act I, and halfway through the note you can hear her think “Oh, nevermind. I’m over it,” and she stops singing.
Grace serves ALL the realness.
10:48 AM
I want to be here so BADLY.
Down another 1.5 pounds!!!
YAY INSANITY!!!!!!
Everyone follow my love, servingoperarealness. He is the most knowledgeable person about opera that I have ever met. Plus he’s hilar. DO IT.
I am always sharing my favorite opera excerpts, old and newly discovered, with my friends on Facebook. Why not do it on tumblr?
This video is one of my absolute favorites. Bellini’s LA SONNAMBULA is one of the most beautiful and effortlessly genuine operas in the repertoire. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most abused for a plot that some consider to be ridiculous and improbable, but I think it is very important to look beyond that and concentrate on the truth of the human experience that is embedded in Bellini’s ephemeral score.
We’ve all experienced the excitement of falling in love for the first time, the sadness of misunderstandings in our relationships, and the painful end to a love that we thought would last longer than it did.
At the end of her career here, Callas is at her most musically eloquent, serving simple sophistication, profound heartbreak, and a thousand colors. Callas makes the most with her diminished means and her half-broken voice comes across as an artistic choice rather than an obstacle. It is perfection.
