Lily Pons: Mad Scene From Lucia
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- Опубліковано 14 вер 2013
- The great coloratura in a signature role. For me, this is what Lucia should sound like. We have gone through a period in operatic history where for many conductors, stage managers and theater directors, only the voice mattered, and we have been treated, as a result, to what are supposed to be early teen-aged girls (I'm thinking of Lucia and Cho-cho san) who come off sounding like Aida and looking like they are embarking on a 3rd or 4th marriage. The operas-Lucia in particular-gain so much when the leading role can be sung by an actual teen-ager (unheard of today, but Adelina Patti did it at 16) or at the very least someone who sounds and looks like a girl, not a matron. The diminutive Lily Pons actually did look like a girl, and a little girl at that, and her vocal approach reflects that child-like simplicity. And that sound, to my ear, is near-perfect. This recording demonstrates what I would contend is a moving portrayal of the tragic child Lucia, and without any startling vocal tricks, extravagant fioratura, or roof-raising notes. A simple portrayal of a heart-broken child. Period. That's what the Mad Scene, at its aesthetic best, is about.
I had the pleasure of hearing Pons sing "Estrellita" on the 'Merv Griffin Show' in the 70s, and I was moved by her superb vocalism.
Brighter and finer than the flute, Simply wonderful
Awesome voice and interpretation, beautiful!
Timbro e coloratura : perfetti !
Grazie
Merci Annie, vous avez écrit ce que je m'apprêtai à rajouter. Sills est parfaitement jeune fille, amoureuse dans une grande souffrance de coeur, et sur la limite de la faille psychique. Tout en étant d'une merveilleuse virtuosité, bien sur. C'est à dire, que sa virtuosité est là pour exprimer sa souffrance psychique, la morbidezza, même si elle est belle à entendre. La vérité est chez Sills.
Mais pour rester dans notre sujet, Pons est et reste époustouflante. C'est incontestable!
I studied voice at LSU until I changed to sociology. Legend has it that Pons sang an outdoor concert on the grounds of LSU when a bug of some sort flew into her mouth, ruining the concert. She never returned to this campus, much to the sorrow of her fans. I never heard her sing until You Tube. She is just magnificent. Thanks to whoever made this wonderful performance available to us
A bug flew into her mouth and she never returned to LSU? Not much of a trooper, I'd say.
Beverly Sills swallowed a Mosquito.... could it have been her?
the great french coloratura sopra
no. lily. pons!!brava lily!!brava diva!!
Brawississimo ! Wunderschone interpretation !
Brava
Comme toujours, mon ami,vous vous exprime avec une grande clarté et d'élégance, et je comprends tout à fait votre point de vue.Le lieu principal où nous différons est dans notre interprétation de la façon simple et clair dans lequel Pons chante.Où voyez-vous le manque de désir et de drame, je vois innocence enfantine qui, lorsqu'il a trahi, provoquer un chagrin qui est, en soi, tragique. Cependant, votre point de vue est probablement beaucoup plus commun que le mien. Merci pour le commentaire!
Grazie a Lei, amico!
Encore merci Edmund :-)
Merci beaucoup, mon ami!
Her impeccable musicianship was due to being a pianist as well as being married to a conductor. Her SUPERIOR vocal placement has no connection to the present operatic scenario or is it musical comedy today?
Starting with breathing and ending with musical proper taste-everything is done to make sure opera does not sound like opera.....I don't know where are we heading ....very sad! And there are some people who even dare to criticize Lily Pons or find flat notes.....just ridiculous how death they became that cannot appreciate this wonderful singer.
Wir leben eben in einer Zeit kultureller Dekadenz...
My father's favorite soprano. I heard this on an old 78rpm record. My little voice tried to sing along.
Maravilloso
A fabulous voice - much overlooked, and not appreciated nearly enough …
Cuánto le gustaba a mi madre esta versión!
N'ai-je pas dit qu'elle chantait divinement? Ma contestation, en toute politesse et en respect total pour les choix esthétiques de notre ami Edmund, tient à la charge dramatique de l'interprète, à l'incarnation du rôle.
Que voulez-vous, c'est ainsi! Le bel canto a été ressuscité par Maria Callas, en style, en technique et en vérité dramatique. Les précurseurs qui nous parviennent ne sont pas de mauvais chanteurs, c'est évident, mais les planches où ils sont juchés restent de glace.
Merci Julien pour cette brillante synthèse. Je vous suis à ...95 %!!
Vous avez raison: laissons les chanter, et chacun reconnaîtra son idole. Tout ce qu'il faut, c'est que le chant reste du chant, et que l'oeuvre reste celle du compositeur.
Et puisque c'est ma remarque qui a déclenché une telle discussion, je remercie Edmund pour sa délicieuse courtoisie, et Lily Pons pour ses vocalises impeccables...
Monsieur est trop bon.
Singing has changed radically over the years. My thought about Lily Pons in this recording is that while she sounds like a child, she sound very happy, not distressed as the aria requires. Her technique truly is impeccable. who can sing a high F so easily today? Coloraturas today sound like spintos. Voices like Pons' would not be hired today...
She's happy because she went mad....
Lily was the only one in her time to perform this in the original key of F major. Even the most famous sopranos in the world sang it a while tone lower in Eb major.....
When most of what you've got is this lite little flute thing.. you need to be able to get up there! a charming and very successful soprano in her day.. who made it work for her mainly because she got into movies!!
No, she made it into movies and only for a short time because she had already established herself as an immensely popular operatic and concert singer, not the other way around.
While I do agree, to some extent, with Matthieu's opinion that she sings somewhat "mechanically", I can't help but be impressed by Pons' sheer capacity to do anything - technically speaking - with that impeccable coloratura of hers. And her timbre is so pleasant, never shrill or forced as with so many coloraturas, I enjoy listening to her very much, even though Beverly Sills' Mad Scene is far more full of blood and guts!.
Merci, Edmund, pour votre intéressante introduction. Je vous comprends, mais je ne vous suis pas. Garder l'innocence, la fraîcheur de la jeunesse, soit, mais il faut aussi sentir le drame, le déchirement du coeur et de la psyché. A la fin, il faut sentir que Lucia devient FOLLE, et folle d'amour. Pour moi, Lily Pons est un modèle de "mal canto", c'est-à-dire qu'elle chante divinement comme le rossignol mécanique du conte d'Andersen, mais elle ne m'émeut pas. Elle n'a ni chair ni sang, ni désir.
Lovely performance - but why no high F at the end of "Spargi d'amaro pianto"?
Bonjour Monsieur
Je me permets de vous aborder sur le sujet "mal canto" de Lily Pons . C'est vrai qu'il y a une différence de sensibilité entre Madame Sills et Madame Pons, mais de là à parler de mal chanter ... Au fait, que mettez vous en ligne, vous ???
Salutations .
Mr Austell is absolutely correct about PONS and Lucia, Calla's recording with Von Karajan, is just adequate, due no doubt
to the conductor's necessary autocratic demands about phrasing, but her wobbly voice and weighty instrument do not enhance the role. PONS IS LUCIA.
MrSkylark1 the wobble came into surface after 55. The drastic weight lost contributed to the vocal decline. 55 downwards was a vocal astonishment. It cannot be denied that Lily Pons is often flat.
@@ms.chaewon9231 I am glad you mentioned Pons' intonation problems. I heard one of her renditions of the Bell Song, and in places it sounded like Schoenberg. I was beginning to think there was something wrong with my ears.
from what year is this recording?
1930
Terrain d'entente trouvé : Madame Callas .
Les "choix esthétiques", la comparaison sont ils vraiment indispensables, vu que le "bel canto" est production humaine, donc imparfait ??? C'est vrai que Madame Pons, ainsi que Doria, Robin, Jourfier etc ... appartiennent à une école .
Au jour d'aujourd'hui, et vu ce que la scène nous propose, j'aurai tendance à "encenser" ces voix, malheureusement éteintes, celà ne souffre pas la comparaison .
La recherche de perfection tue-t-elle l'art lyrique ?
The criticisms that l read below are absolutely ridiculous, what snobs! -James Aschmann
It’s nice, but she’s no JOAN SUTHERLAND. 😅
Ah, Joan!! I was fortunate to see her, Marilyn Horne, Luciano Pavarotti, and many others, back in the day.
Often it's comedy, but unintentionally!
Good thing she didn't sing the high F on the last part. She's often flat.
Samuel Pedrosa get your hearing checked
@@bobsweeney6807 lt's fine. Have yours checked or better clean it with a vacuum.
Samuel Pedrosa III is correct. Pons often had intonation problems, like Galli-Curci.
that is what you found the most important in her singing?? Maybe you can be better? Try. Criticizing is easy.
Ghastly! Thank goodness God gave us Callas. And Donizetti must have heaved a sigh of relief when this incredibly superficial kind of performance went out of vogue.
Indeed. This is precisely the sort of performance that gave rise to the term 'canary'. It took Callas to demonstrate the drama and intensity inherent in the Bel Canto roles.
@@jasonhurd4379 I agree entirely, Jason. Listening to Pons is a waste of time. One will learn nothing about Lucia or about Donizetti by listening to her--only about "tradition" in the 1940s.
@@jamesnickoloff6692 Not quite on topic, but I have always regretted that Karajan did not delve deeper into bel canto. In the Berlin Lucia with Callas, his conducting is as revelatory as her singing. He began a studio recording of Norma with Ricciarelli and Freni, but it was never completed. At the time of his death he was contracted with Deutsche Grammophon to record Norma with Lella Cuberli. A studio Traviata from Karajan would have been magnificent, judging from the La Scala pirate with Freni.
@@jasonhurd4379 Intriguing possibilities. I don't know Lella Cuberli but will look her up. Speaking of "Traviata," how about a Karajan-Callas recording of that sometime between 1954 and 1956--exactly when they were working together on stage (Lucia at La Scala, Berlin, and Vienna) and in the studio (Trovatore and Butterfly)?
Going even further afield: one of my regrets is that Callas recorded so many things with Tullio Serafin whose painfully slow tempi almost make Verdi and Bellini unlistenable for me. (Check Richard Tucker almost grinding to a halt in the Callas-Serafin "Forza del Destino.") I know Callas always expressed gratitude to Serafin for his influence on her career, but I really think that very slow pacing wrecks the drama of bel canto. Her best (because most exciting) performances of Norma were with Votto (Trieste 1953 and La Scala 1955). And the contrast between her "Medea" with Bernstein at La Scala 1953 and with Serafin in the studio in 1957 is dramatic. As you say, conductors do make a difference.
@@jamesnickoloff6692 Serafin's penchant for nickel-and-dime-ing a score to death with niggling cuts is what really irritated me. Largely because of him, bel canto operas were performed for decades in 'editions' that slashed the operas to ribbons. It was a state of affairs we are still trying to remedy today.