Thursday, April 09, 2009

Might Have Beens

Joan Sutherland, age 23, sings "O hall of song!", better known as "Dich, teure Halle!", in an Australian vocal competition, 1950. Note the fine diction (in the moth-eaten MacFarren translation) and the beautiful, non-droopy line:



The story goes that she discovered her high register when Richard Bonynge had her vocalize up above high C without telling her how high she was singing. After hearing this recording, I don't believe it for a second.

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