Best Sopranos Ever Lived

[immanueljoseph]

Dear all,

I've listed 30 names of world-renowned sopranos that ever lived, please list for me from the best to the least. If you any other best sopranos, please list down for me. Thank you so much.

Sincerely,
Joseph

[Que]

Do some checking!

I'd never heard of Dolores Ziegler, and she turns out to be a MEZZO soprano!

Besides that, the list only includes post-war sopranos.
Ever heard of Rosa Ponselle or Claudia Muzio? Elisabeth Rethberg? Lotte Lehman?

And even important post-war sopranos are missing: Irmgard Seefried? Sena Jurinác? Régine Crespin?

Here is a more comprehensive list! 

Q

[Harry]

And behold no HIP sopranos, G allmighty that's a colossal omission.
And for the rest there are a awful lot of sopranos missing as Que said.

[Harry]

Do some checking!

I'd never heard of Dolores Ziegler, and she turns out to be a MEZZO soprano!

Besides that, the list only includes post-war sopranos.
Ever heard of Rosa Ponselle or Claudia Muzio? Elisabeth Rethberg? Lotte Lehman?

And even important post-war sopranos are missing: Irmgard Seefried? Sena Jurinác? Régine Crespin?

Here is a more comprehensive list! 

Q

And that list is not complete either dear friend.............

[Que]

And behold no HIP sopranos, G allmighty that's a colossal omission.
And for the rest there are a awful lot of sopranos missing as Que said.

Even your favourite!

And that list is not complete either dear friend.............

Indeed, my friend - more comprehensive is what I said...

Q

[Tsaraslondon]

Well I put in a vote for Callas, unsurprisingly, but what a weird list. Quite a few mezzos. No pre-war sopranos - Ponselle, Leider, Muzio, Lehmann, Rethberg, Melba (not my cup of tea, but important), Galli-Curci etc etc. Of post war sopranos - no Leontyne Price, Margaret Price, Crespin, De Los Angeles, Janowitz, Steber, Welitsch, Fleming, Gheorghiu, or, as someone else pointed out, HIP sopranos (though again not really my thing) etc etc.

And then if we are going to talk about the best sopranos who ever lived, then what about all those famous sopranos who lived before the age of recording? Pasta, Malibran, Viardot, Grisi (Giulia and Giuditta), Cuzzoni etc etc.

No, a very strange list.

[FideLeo]

Ruth Ziesak often works with HIP ensembles (Her Exultate jubilate is on DHM)
Sylvie McNair sings in a sighing, eroticised way no matter it is HIP or not.  

 

[Harry]

Ruth Ziesak often works with HIP ensembles (Her Exultate jubilate is on DHM)
Sylvie McNair sings in a sighing, eroticised way no matter it is HIP or not.  

 

Ruth Ziesak is a mixed blessing, but granted she sings quite often in HIP recordings, allthough not as vibratoless as I might wish.
And McNair, well I rather have Meg Ryan in Harry loves Sally, that sort of eroticism is much more effective. , and that's very Hip.........

[Harry]

Not forgetting Suzy......

[Que]

Not forgetting Suzy......

I think you should switch allegiances from Emma to Suzie, Harry!

Q

[Harry]

I think you should switch allegiances from Emma to Suzie, Harry!

Q

Yes, she is a gorgeous female huh!
In the singing department they are even, I think.
Once very long ago I sponsored a concert of hers in my home town, she was much younger then.......

[AnthonyAthletic]

[Harry]

Who's that ugly guy, go away...........

[Harry]

Well she is also one of my..... Annette Markert....Mezzo, lovely!

[The new erato]

Who's that ugly guy, go away...........

You call big T ugly? Now you're in deep trouble, pray they don't know where you live.

[Harry]

You call big T ugly? Now you're in deep trouble, pray they don't know where you live.

I have a large Russian circle of friends from the most excellent sort......
Let them come. they are ready..

[Tsaraslondon]

Ruth Ziesak is a mixed blessing, but granted she sings quite often in HIP recordings, allthough not as vibratoless as I might wish.
And McNair, well I rather have Meg Ryan in Harry loves Sally, that sort of eroticism is much more effective. , and that's very Hip.........

I'm afraid I will never understand your obsession with vibrato, or the lack of it, Harry. Vibrato is the very life blood of a voice. Of course, many singers use it for expression. Schwarzkopf, for instance could vary hers depending on the music, and often sang totally without, if that is what the expression required. I find vibratoless voices, of the Kirkby variety, monochrome, dull, sexless and boring, and I am so pleased to see that many HIP singers now also use vibrato as a means of expression. Vibrato, of course, should not be confused with wobble or unsteadiness. This is what happens when vibrato cannot be controlled and may be what you are allergic to.

[Anne]

Tony, our hero!

[Harry]

I'm afraid I will never understand your obsession with vibrato, or the lack of it, Harry. Vibrato is the very life blood of a voice. Of course, many singers use it for expression. Schwarzkopf, for instance could vary hers depending on the music, and often sang totally without, if that is what the expression required. I find vibratoless voices, of the Kirkby variety, monochrome, dull, sexless and boring, and I am so pleased to see that many HIP singers now also use vibrato as a means of expression. Vibrato, of course, should not be confused with wobble or unsteadiness. This is what happens when vibrato cannot be controlled and may be what you are allergic to.

I am well versed into the knowledge of the voice, I sing myself and conduct a choir, one with mixed voices and one all male.
It is not a obsession this vibrato what I am complaining about. Natural vibrato is always there and that is fine with me, but most of the time vibrato used as a means to expression is a horror to me, I simply dislike it. I know the difference between wobble or unsteadiness as you call it. It is okay you thinking Kirkby not your cup of soup, but I can use the same words you use, and apply it to my choices of sopranos.

[Tsaraslondon]

I am well versed into the knowledge of the voice, I sing myself and conduct a choir, one with mixed voices and one all male.
It is not a obsession this vibrato what I am complaining about. Natural vibrato is always there and that is fine with me, but most of the time vibrato used as a means to expression is a horror to me, I simply dislike it. I know the difference between wobble or unsteadiness as you call it. It is okay you thinking Kirkby not your cup of soup, but I can use the same words you use, and apply it to my choices of sopranos.

Sorry, Harry. I certainly didn't mean to offend. I'd somehow got the impression that you were totally allergic to anything but the totally vibratoless voices of such as Kirkby, who, it has to be admitted, produces a very white sound, which is not to my taste, though I quite appreciate many love it. However even I  don't like vibrato when it becomes intrusive. I find the vibrations in the voice of say Michelle De Young on Davis's 2nd Les Troyens altogether too, well vibrant, though I quite accept that they may be exaggerated by the microphone. On the other hand, the fast, natural vibrato of a tenor like Joseph Calleja I find very atractive.

Incidentally, do you also object to the use of vibrato in string playing? I ask because this was something of an ongoing debate in The Gramophone for a while. I have always thought of it as part of a string player's armoury, a device that good string players would use altogether more chastely in early music than they would in the Romantic repertoire. I'm sure I read somewhere that vibrato was a device that both singers and instrumentalists would use to help them project over a larger orchestra and into larger halls, which is why it started to be used more in the nineteenth century onwards.