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Post being replied to

Ronstadt was an outstanding voice in her prime... by Kbyrnes

...A very wide range of pitch, timbre, and emotion delivered with memorable impact.

I guess Faustina Bordoni won't be on anyone's list today, but she had a great run in the 18th century.

There are all kinds of great female voices in recent times across all genres. Here are a couple in the classical mode, one chosen for the season, and one because you may have heard the tune in a current car commercial.

1. "September," from Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs) by Richard Strauss, who wrote them in 1948 at age 82. The poem is by Hermann Hesse. Here is the text as used by Strauss with my literalistic translation, which will sound a bit like Yoda speaking:


Der Garten trauert,
kühl sinkt in die Blumen der Regen.
Der Sommer schauert
still seinem Ende entgegen.

Golden tropft Blatt um Blatt
nieder vom hohen Akazienbaum.
Sommer lächelt erstaunt und matt
in den sterbenden Gartentraum.

Lange noch bei den Rosen
bleibt er stehen, sehnt sich nach Ruh.
Langsam tut er die müdgewordnen Augen zu.


(The garden mourns,
Coolly sinks into the flowers the rain.
The summer shivers
quietly its end against.

Golden drop leaf upon leaf,
down from the high acacia tree.
Summer smiles astonished and wan
in the dying garden dream.

Long still by the roses,
remains it standing [ugh--stehenbleiben is best translated "stay a while" here], longs it for peace.
Slowly puts it the weary-become eyes to [slowly it closes its weary eyes. German throws the prefixes of separable verbs, in their finite forms, to the end. Shows up in English in phrase like "Are you taking these out?" where the verb is "to take out" but in German would be as if it were "outtaken"].

Sung by Lisa Della Casa, a great singer (RIP), with the Vienna Phil flying at tempos quicker than the versions by Schwatzkopf, Flagsted, et al. but supposedly in line with what Strauss wanted.



2. "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" ("The wrath of hell cooks in my heart"), Mozart, from The Magic Flute. Volvo uses this in a sweet, soft rendition that is completely contrary to the emotion of the text. Here it is in English:

Hell's vengeance boils in my heart;
Death and despair blaze around me!
If Sarastro does not feel the pain of death because of you,
Then you will be my daughter nevermore.

Disowned be forever,
Forsaken be forever,
Shattered be forever
All the bonds of nature
If Sarastro does not turn pale [in death] because of you!
Hear, gods of vengeance, hear the mother's oath!

Sung by Patricia Petibon, a French soprano, here in a rehearsal.



Singing something like this takes tremendous physical exertion and contortions of the head, neck, and really your whole body in order to make sounds that resemble music...kind of like putting together a good golf swing, I guess.