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Helen Traubel and Eileen Farrell
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johnrsa...@live.com
May 13, 2012, 3:15:44 AM5/13/12
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Both of these women had among the best dramatic soprano voices I've ever heard. I will go further and say that to my ear both sounded similar and both had short tops through much of their careers. Does anyone else hear this similarity?
alcindoro
May 13, 2012, 3:40:27 PM5/13/12
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On May 13, 3:15 am, johnrsayshe...@live.com wrote:
> Both of these women had among the best dramatic soprano voices I've ever heard. I will go further and say that to my ear both sounded similar and both had short tops through much of their careers. Does anyone else hear this similarity?
I suppose there is a similarity although I can certainly tell them
> Both of these women had among the best dramatic soprano voices I've ever heard. I will go further and say that to my ear both sounded similar and both had short tops through much of their careers. Does anyone else hear this similarity?
apart. Farrell had an easier top IMO, especially in her younger
days. Traubel was known to just leave out the high notes, or take
alternate options. Traubel of course sang a lot of complete
staged Wagner, while Farrell never sang a complete Wagner role but did
sing excerpts and TRISTAN Act II in concert only.
I think Farrell had a more complete and solid technique, very good
agility. I've never heard Traubel sing florid music. Both
also sang pop, though Farrell did in a much more idiomatic way, and
could have been a great big band singer if she had
wanted to.
wkasimer
May 14, 2012, 9:21:50 AM5/14/12
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On May 13, 3:40 pm, alcindoro <alcind...@aol.com> wrote:
> while Farrell never sang a complete Wagner role
She recorded the Siegfried Brunnhilde complete, since she only sings
> while Farrell never sang a complete Wagner role
in Act 3, and only the last half of that:
http://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Wesendonck-Lieder-Act-3-Siegfried/dp/B001B42DP4/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1337001650&sr=1-1
Bill
chsiii
May 15, 2012, 12:57:15 PM5/15/12
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There are studio recordings of Traubel doing the two Donna Anna arias - I
don't know about agility - more like a train going full speed and anything
that gets in the way, like sixteenth notes, better get OUT of the way -
heroic readings nonetheless, and the voice is huge and gorgeous. She can be
heard live in the Met 1951 Siegfried and Gotterdammerung, but the top is
virtually gone - however, up to an A she is still grand and great. I have
also heard her debut role, Mary Rutledge in "A Man Without a Country" of
Walter Damrosch, but it made no impression on me. I notice that the critics
of the day - 1937 - already were commenting on the shortness of her upper
range, but still predicted she would be an Isolde and Brunnhilde. Her only
essays outside Wagner at the Met were the aforementioned Damrosch work, and
then late, 1951, four performances of Rosenkavalier(!), none broadcast.
That, I would like to hear. I first saw Ms. Traubel as Miss Helen N.
Wellenmellon - look it up - and later as Mother in a great Peter Gunn movie.
There's a lot of her on YouTube.
"alcindoro" wrote in message
news:d2b1c94a-c57d-4957...@a10g2000yqf.googlegroups.com...
don't know about agility - more like a train going full speed and anything
that gets in the way, like sixteenth notes, better get OUT of the way -
heroic readings nonetheless, and the voice is huge and gorgeous. She can be
heard live in the Met 1951 Siegfried and Gotterdammerung, but the top is
virtually gone - however, up to an A she is still grand and great. I have
also heard her debut role, Mary Rutledge in "A Man Without a Country" of
Walter Damrosch, but it made no impression on me. I notice that the critics
of the day - 1937 - already were commenting on the shortness of her upper
range, but still predicted she would be an Isolde and Brunnhilde. Her only
essays outside Wagner at the Met were the aforementioned Damrosch work, and
then late, 1951, four performances of Rosenkavalier(!), none broadcast.
That, I would like to hear. I first saw Ms. Traubel as Miss Helen N.
Wellenmellon - look it up - and later as Mother in a great Peter Gunn movie.
There's a lot of her on YouTube.
"alcindoro" wrote in message
news:d2b1c94a-c57d-4957...@a10g2000yqf.googlegroups.com...
edo...@gmail.com
May 15, 2012, 2:45:42 PM5/15/12
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Farrell when she came to the Met in 1960 or so, for six years. By that
time her top was extremely shrill and she simply didn't "sing out"
enough in many big moments of Forza, Cav, Gioconda. One could always
hear her, but she didn't "give" in these operas as I was used to from
Milanov and Tebaldi, to name the two greatest I saw. When Farrell sang
Gioconda, the running gag was "she's saving for Act 5."
Of course, I have heard recordings and live broadcasts of concerts
with Farrell going back in at least 1947, and the voice sounded much
different than it did by the time she arrived at the Met.
I only heard Traubel live in the show "Pipe Dream" and I was too young
to even know who she was. She sings nothing above an F I believe. I
now have the original cast album on my Itunes.
Ed
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