Topic: Mirella Freni 1935-2020

[André]

Soprano Mirella Freni died February 9, 2020. She would have turned 85 later this month.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/mirella-freni-showstopping-opera-star-for-more-than-five-decades-dies-at-84/2020/02/09/1d9d5b1e-613e-11e9-bfad-36a7eb36cb60_story.html

She was an authentic prima donna. She knew her limitations (her ‘boxing category’, as she liked to say) and was quick to turn away from the wrong roles. Her voice was easily recognisable. I’ve never really cared for her Micaela (her French was kind of awful) but it was one of her favourite roles. She even named her only child by that name. Although she was taxed by the heavy Verdi roles Karajan threw at her in the seventies, I find her one of the most believable Elisabetta, Desdemona and even Aida on record. Best of all though were her Manon Lescaut (Sinopoli) and Butterfly (Karajan, Sinopoli), roles that were a hair away from being outside her ‘boxing range’, but which she infused with superb emotional intensity.

RIP a great singer

[mc ukrneal]

Very sad indeed. A wonderful singer, who had a wonderful instrument.

[Marc]

I loved her voice.
My favourite Freni parts were Butterfly, Adina (Donizetti's L’elisir d’amore) and Susanna in Mozart's Figaro...

May she rest in peace.

[André]

She remains my favourite soprano soloist in Verdi’s Requiem. I have dozens of versions of this work, but this one (under Karajan) is the only one where I feel the soprano is at one with the work, the other soloists and the conductor. She does not stand out, she simply lives the part. And her Susanna, her Nanetta ...

In case the Washington Post article does not show or is blocked by some pay wall, here are some other links that the main article provides.


https://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/Archive/1942_-_1990/1990/9/Features/Mirella_s_Secret.html


https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-11-10-ca-3844-story.html


https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-10-23-9410230139-story.html

This one is very nice:


https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/23/arts/it-s-not-over-for-one-diva-who-is-back-at-the-met.html