Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
Categories:
Cart 0

Your cart is empty

Victoria de los Angeles

Her smiling face, her generosity and her simplicity have won the hearts of all those who have seen this great singer from afar or close up; a singer who could never be mistaken for a diva.  No caprices, no bouts of rage, no outrageous demands: she simply sang. It was the Geneva International Music Competition, which she won with such great success in 1947, that propelled the young Spanish singer to the front of the world stage. Right away, she was enlisted to sing La Vida Breve by Manuel de Falla in London, and then Paris invited her to play Marguerite in Gounod's Faust at the Opéra, before becoming Mimi (La Bohème by Puccini), under the direction of Sir Thomas Beecham at Covent Garden. Salzburg, New York, Milan, Vienna and Buenos Aires followed. A coloratura soprano first and foremost, she sang roles from Rossini with agility. As the years went by, she expanded her voice and her repertoire, becoming a much sought-after lyric soprano. Thanks to her particular gift for languages, she has been Agathe in Weber's Freischütz, Desdemona in Verdi's Othello, Eva in Die Meistersinger by Wagner, or a touching Mélisande. She is a wily and spiteful Rosina (Barber of Seville), a simple and moving Mimi.


Victoria de los Angeles's voice (a stage name she chose for herself in order to get away from her less-glamorous family name, Lopez-Garcia) was natural, easy, sunny, with a suppleness that allowed her to overcome difficulties without apparent effort. She was the foremost post-war Spanish singers, before the emergence of her colleagues Teresa Berganza and Montserrat Caballé. But throughout her career she has remained in touch with her deep Catalan roots. At recitals, she would often sing Xavier Montsalvatge or Federico Mompou, who accompanied her in 1971 for a broadcast on Télévision Française. She also sang German Lieder with Gerald Moore, and to be sure, the zarzuela of Madrid, of which she made numerous recordings.  The record commemorates the precious moment in the great English pianist's farewell concert, in which Victoria de los Angeles sang Cats' Duet (incorrectly attributed to Rossini) with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.


Surely her Carmen counts amongst those of her roles which will always remain famous: she made a celebrated recording in Paris with the French National Orchestra, directed by Sir Thomas Beecham. More seductive than femme fatale, singing the French impeccably with a trace of a Spanish accent which sits well with the work, she is surrounded by a dream billing: Ernest Blanc, Nicolaï Gedda and Ernest Blanc make this a real point of reference for the style of French singing. With the same Beecham, she recorded a very beautiful Bohème by Puccini, with the great Swedish tenor Jussi Björling.


This angelic voice remained intact until a very advanced age, which allowed Victoria de los Angeles to continue singing until late in life. She left the stage in 1979; but she continued to give recitals until the age of 75, in 1998, in which she would foreground a repertoire which she could still sing very well, and almost every time she would give an encore of Carmen, as if to offer a wink at the heroine who had assured her lasting fame.


© FH / Qobuz
Listen

Similar artists

Renato Cellini
Gerald Moore
Lisa Della Casa
Gabriella Tucci
Kiri Te Kanawa
Renata Tebaldi
Birgit Nilsson
Renata Scotto
Nicolai Gedda
Ileana Cotrubas
Teresa Berganza
Maria Bayo
Gianandrea Gavazzeni
Licia Albanese
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Mirella Freni
Montserrat Caballé
Maria Callas
Consuelo Rubio
Elly Ameling
Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos
Teresa Stratas
Geoffrey Parsons
Marilyn Horne
Tullio Serafin
Bidù Sayao
Beverly Sills
Fedora Barbieri
Pilar Lorengar
Dame Joan Sutherland
Antonietta Stella
Tito Gobbi
Roberta Peters
Mady Mesplé
Rosanna Carteri
Lucine Amara
Leontyne Price
Jussi Björling
Anna Moffo
Cecilia Bartoli

Discography

163 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller

1 2 3 4 5 ... 8

My favourites

Cet élément a bien été <span>ajouté / retiré</span> de vos favoris.

Sort and filter releases