I was fortunate to hear this extraordinary Cossotto at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome in 1988. Her magnificent voice rode over the orchestra and reached out to an audience enthralled by not only the pump but the beauty of her singing
Cossotto una de las más grandes Amneris…. Me deja sin palabras su interpretación Brava Fiorenza Bravo Verdi. Gracias por compartir esta joya de música, un verdadero regalo para los oídos y los sentidos …..esta música nos alimenta el alma ❤❤❤
An addendum: listen to the applause after Fiorenza's closing "Anatema su voi": she stopped the show and some in the audience were literally banging on the walls. It was more than memorable and everyone that night knew it. At the end this great artist was showered with confetti and thanked with a large number of bouquets.
I was at Cossotto's debut at the Met in which she sang Amneris, and heard her in the part several times afterwards. She was fabulous. At her debut she stole the show. If I had to pick, she is the best Amneris I have seen. I also saw Obratzova sing the part at the Met and she was also fabulous, with a bigger and deeper voice than Cossotto, but Cossotto's voice pierced straight to the note whereas Obratzova's, magnificent though it was, lacked that directness, plus there was a latin quality she did not posses. I am sorry I never saw Simionato in this part. By the way, Cossotto was also the best Santuzza I ever saw, bar none, soprano or mezzo.
Thank you for posting this video! I remember watching the simulcast in 1985 and thinking that Price was still a joy to watch, MacCracken was a shadow of himself in his prime and then we got to the judgment scene and Cossotto's performance was just legendary. It's hard to cry and hold one's breath at the same time, but I did it that night! Thanks again!
Yes, I also remember watching the original simulcast and being very moved by this performance from Cossotto. Spot on! Perfection. Well acted as well as sung. But I also was thrilled by the wonderfully powerful performance of the orchestra for this scene.
Una de las grandes escenas de la lírica, interpretada magistralmente por la Cossotto. Cuando el maestro Verdi compuso esta obra debió esperar una interpretación como ésta, que combina de manera insuperable la actuación, la presencia escénica y la voz de Fiorenza. Ya han pasado más de 30 años de verla en este rol y mantengo vivo cada momento de su sublime arte.
me inclino ante esta mujer!!! que seguridad y con que naturalidad ella canta!!!. i kneel myself before her presence, what a stage presence and so natural, BRAVA!! one of the best mezzos in the world, her Santuzza was chilling
@crewmantle She still sings occasionally too. She did a concert version of this scene in Japan in 2008 or so. Her voice is gone, high notes are all flat no breath support...but she can STILL convince you of what she is singing about. She's having fun now and doesnot care what critics think...and making a heck of a lot of money doing it.
Indeed. The final curses delivered by Cossotto's Amneris are the culmination of frustrated royal fury which she built throughout the scene. BUT notice how the smallest gesture is reflexed and timed precisely to each note for maximum drama. We are watching a BRILLIANT study of an opera characterisation. The realism is breathtaking. Cossotto brought the house down and this performance has become legendary. Operaphiles around the world knew what happened that night: the very next morning.
The other great Amneris in my memory is Giulietta Simionato. Check the new Opera News - there's a good article about the greatest Santuzzas and Cossotto, Zajick and Simionato are all discussed. Don't forget Fedora Barbieri as one of the greats too.
@chicagomarchingbands they certainly appreciated each other!!! You can see it also in the end at the curtain calls Fiorenza graciously collects a bunch of flowers and gives it to Leontyne!!!
You can play Amneris on a sliding scale either of two ways to make sense of her; at one end as a petulant teenager or the other as a royal princess. Zajick went the first route, Cossotto the other end of the spectrum. Both brilliant Amneris' unrivalled today. Good choice fella! Bravo 2 U for getting it!
To those still peddling the "Cossotto upstaging Callas" story, I invite you to listen to her collaborations with Sutherland and Caballe in Norma. A side-by-side comparison will show you that Cossotto held back during her duets with Callas. Just listen to how she went all out in her singing with Caballe and Joan Sutherland (both in good vocal health at that time) and you'll realize how much she held back when she sang with Callas who was in poor vocal health at that time. So far from being inconsiderate, she was actually VERY thoughtful and giving to her partners. Only when she knows that her partner is in good vocal health does she really go all out (she does get competitive). One can honestly say that her tendency to go all out with some singers sounds quite compelling at times, and at times just sounds tacky and detracts from the singing. Nevertheless, one cannot fault her for being inconsiderate.
sevoflurane oh absolutely, the funny thing also is that cossotto was in fact a dramatci/spinto soprano. With the right technique she may have been even a good Norma.
magnifique Cossotto ,est la plus grande mezzo qui n' est jamais existe pour chanter Amneris .elle est Amneris .Dommage qu'il n 'y est plus de grandes voix comme celle ci ,une des derniere est Zajcick.
This is the great Cossotto! I see some of the critics don't agree! Some believe that finding fault in the great gives them status! It doesn't! In fact mere words from me cannot do this marvelous performance justice!
Well, if Cossoto was in her 50s at the time this performance was made, I believe she had reached the Olimpo of opera singers, with no gracefull favor. See carefully all the video, but pay close attention from 7:00 to the end: she is absolutely perfect as a singer and actress. My God, this is epic !!! From Brazil, JAL
25! WOW quite a great collection I guess! I've just got around 10 (some of then are just highlights) I totally agree with you: Zajick's Amneris has never been unrivalled so far.
The range of emotions is astounding, both in voice and action. She was actually not in the best of voice that night, but who in the audience would have cared? The NYTimes review was not particularly kind.
Do you realize how sadly dated the first 9 words of your comment are? My family was the same way. Sadly, the crap on TV does not seem like the life-altering things we saw back then - operas, recitals, symphony concerts....great plays written expressly for TV.
@Greatfan2011 BUT I wanted to make a difference between color and volume. I know Cossotto voice was very big but she was not a real dramatic like Obraztsova or Fedora Barbieri or Stignani and in the theater she could be exciting but in recordings I am talking of "live" recordings , not disc, if you play any of her "live" Amneris audio CD from the late '60s or early '70s she sounds like a soprano
@Greatfan2011 : I never heard Cossotto live I am 31 but did you ever heard Stignani or Fedora Barbieri live ? I am sure you didn't and and not that you cannot realize as a voice is (beyond the topic you talked about you are right that it seems many times microphone does not like big drammatic voiced sopranos, Nilsson, Tebaldi, etc) and Cossotto though a mezzo it happens the same too, BUT
Scusi perque non scrivo molto bene italiano, sono spagnolo e mi piacce moltisimo Fiorenza Cossotto, Questa mezzo a una voce femenine anchio qui dramatica cossi, non che Obraztsova o Horne con le sue basso masquile, ma veramente questa sua interpretazione di Amneris e unica e se diferenciano sopra tutto perque lei non solo e la figlia dil faraone anchio e prima di tutto e una donna enamorata, questo si puo sentire a la versione di Mutti per la EMI, lei donna cuore e vita a Amneris geniale per me
She was a great singer and amazing Amneris. However, she wasn't a good colleague to work with. I sang with a conductor who worked with her and said it wasn't a pleasant experience. Constantly upstaging (or trying to upstage) other artists all the time.
@Greatfan2011 : I don't agree, yes she could repeat in her dressing room before the performace but it doesn't change my divorce with Fiorenza Cossotto, yes the voice was very big but volume has nothing to do wiht color, Cossotto is very fine Adalgisa, very fine Favorita yes but Amneris ? with what color ? Cossotto's Ameris high notes sounds like Querubino high notes. Elena Obraztsova was a real drammatico, the great drammatic mezzosoprano of her generation
The Callas story, apparently isn't true, and Cossotto herself always said she and Callas were always good friends and coleauges. Opera News had something on it, where they listened to recordings of the performance, and Cossotto NEVER did do what she was accused of, and actually provided perfect support for Callas, who was not in good shape.
Concordo plenamente com sua opinião. Digo mais: há intérpretes que parecem ter nascido para certos papéis. Cossoto não representava bem o papel de Amneris. Cossotto era Amneris, como Maria Chiara era Aida. Nos tempos da escola de música, costumávamos dizer que, com a Cossotto no elenco, se a Aida não fosse uma Maria Chiara, a ópera se chamaria Amneris e náo, Aida.
Zajick (1988) can act even when she is not singing, only hearing, keeping the decision of the priests, thru movements and breathing, showing all the anxiety and desperate of the role. I don't see here with Cossotto, despite her great singing.
Concordo con Usted totalmente. La voz de Cossotto es una voz de Mezzo Soprano pero muy femenina, en Amneris es genial, como dice usted es nacida para ella, me gusta mucho Maria Chiara y tengo su disco en Decca que es muy bueno, pero que tambien tengo la de EMI donde Riccardo Muti dirige a Cossoto junto a Caballé y Domingo, y otros cantantes de primera linea, y solo puedo decir que la historia esta tan bien interpretada que es creible, Cossotto no es hija del Faraon, es una mujer enamorada...
I still vividly remember watching the simulcast of this performance. Although Price and McCracken were fading, the Judgement Scene with Cossotto was one of the most amazing opera experiences I have ever had
There was MUCH chatter before this performance as to whether Cossotto would upstage Price during this farewell taping, as she reputedly did to Callas in the final Paris Norma's. In reality the performances of Price and McCracken in this Aida were SO banal, a second tier mezzo would have upstaged them. The audience at LEAST got their moneys worth from Cossotto, who gave an unrelenting portrayal as the betrayed Egyptian princess. And for that, I say; BRAVA Cossotto!
One more thing fer1179 (couer de lion) I have around 25 Aida's in my collection... knew it for decades, but I never GOT IT until I heard and saw Zajick as Amneris. Zajick RAWKS the casbah.
I read somewhere that she was a spinto soprano with a short top. I wasn't sure if that was her own assessment or someone else's, but even Virginia Zeani once said that Cossotto worked very hard to "become" this singer, the implication being that she was not a natural dramatic mezzo-soprano.
She gave "Norma Desmond" at the end!! Fabulous!!
I was fortunate to hear this extraordinary Cossotto at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome in 1988.
Her magnificent voice rode over the orchestra and reached out to an audience enthralled by not only the pump but the beauty of her singing
Cossotto una de las más grandes Amneris…. Me deja sin palabras su interpretación Brava Fiorenza Bravo Verdi. Gracias por compartir esta joya de música, un verdadero regalo para los oídos y los sentidos …..esta música nos alimenta el alma ❤❤❤
An addendum: listen to the applause after Fiorenza's closing "Anatema su voi": she stopped the show and some in the audience were literally banging on the walls. It was more than memorable and everyone that night knew it. At the end this great artist was showered with confetti and thanked with a large number of bouquets.
I was at Cossotto's debut at the Met in which she sang Amneris, and heard her in the part several times afterwards. She was fabulous. At her debut she stole the show. If I had to pick, she is the best Amneris I have seen. I also saw Obratzova sing the part at the Met and she was also fabulous, with a bigger and deeper voice than Cossotto, but Cossotto's voice pierced straight to the note whereas Obratzova's, magnificent though it was, lacked that directness, plus there was a latin quality she did not posses. I am sorry I never saw Simionato in this part. By the way, Cossotto was also the best Santuzza I ever saw, bar none, soprano or mezzo.
My god , what a performance.... Cosotto is one of the "sacred monsters"of the stage :)
es Magnifica!!!!!!!...por Dios...qué interpretación!!!....Única la Cossotto!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...
Cossotto was an amazing electrical voice , temperamental and generous great voice !!
I had the opportunity to see her in Ballo, Trovatore, Adriana, and La Favorita and in all I was astonished with her performance. Fabulous!
Thank you for posting this video! I remember watching the simulcast in 1985 and thinking that Price was still a joy to watch, MacCracken was a shadow of himself in his prime and then we got to the judgment scene and Cossotto's performance was just legendary. It's hard to cry and hold one's breath at the same time, but I did it that night!
Thanks again!
Yes, I also remember watching the original simulcast and being very moved by this performance from Cossotto. Spot on! Perfection. Well acted as well as sung. But I also was thrilled by the wonderfully powerful performance of the orchestra for this scene.
Interpretazione magistrale, da brividi!!! Grandissima e difficilmente superabile!
🎩🎩🎩🌷
That is one one of the most amazing things I've ever seen or heard. Unbelievable!!!!
Una de las grandes escenas de la lírica, interpretada magistralmente por la Cossotto. Cuando el maestro Verdi compuso esta obra debió esperar una interpretación como ésta, que combina de manera insuperable la actuación, la presencia escénica y la voz de Fiorenza. Ya han pasado más de 30 años de verla en este rol y mantengo vivo cada momento de su sublime arte.
My whole family was around the TV that night and we were like 'WOW' at this performance.
me inclino ante esta mujer!!! que seguridad y con que naturalidad ella canta!!!. i kneel myself before her presence, what a stage presence and so natural, BRAVA!! one of the best mezzos in the world, her Santuzza was chilling
@crewmantle She still sings occasionally too. She did a concert version of this scene in Japan in 2008 or so. Her voice is gone, high notes are all flat no breath support...but she can STILL convince you of what she is singing about. She's having fun now and doesnot care what critics think...and making a heck of a lot of money doing it.
Sublime Fiorenza Cossotto !
Indeed. The final curses delivered by Cossotto's Amneris are the culmination of frustrated royal fury which she built throughout the scene.
BUT notice how the smallest gesture is reflexed and timed precisely to each note for maximum drama. We are watching a BRILLIANT study of an opera characterisation. The realism is breathtaking.
Cossotto brought the house down and this performance has become legendary. Operaphiles around the world knew what happened that night: the very next morning.
The other great Amneris in my memory is Giulietta Simionato. Check the new Opera News - there's a good article about the greatest Santuzzas and Cossotto,
Zajick and Simionato are all discussed.
Don't forget Fedora Barbieri as one of the greats too.
This is so fabulous!
@chicagomarchingbands they certainly appreciated each other!!! You can see it also in the end at the curtain calls Fiorenza graciously collects a bunch of flowers and gives it to Leontyne!!!
I read an article once where Leontyne talked about what great friends they were.
You can play Amneris on a sliding scale either of two ways to make sense of her; at one end as a petulant teenager or the other as a royal princess. Zajick went the first route, Cossotto the other end of the spectrum. Both brilliant Amneris' unrivalled today.
Good choice fella! Bravo 2 U for getting it!
Fantastica! Adoro!!! 💖💖💖
happy birthday!!!
Stunning Cossotto- always in a class of her own.
To those still peddling the "Cossotto upstaging Callas" story, I invite you to listen to her collaborations with Sutherland and Caballe in Norma. A side-by-side comparison will show you that Cossotto held back during her duets with Callas. Just listen to how she went all out in her singing with Caballe and Joan Sutherland (both in good vocal health at that time) and you'll realize how much she held back when she sang with Callas who was in poor vocal health at that time.
So far from being inconsiderate, she was actually VERY thoughtful and giving to her partners. Only when she knows that her partner is in good vocal health does she really go all out (she does get competitive). One can honestly say that her tendency to go all out with some singers sounds quite compelling at times, and at times just sounds tacky and detracts from the singing. Nevertheless, one cannot fault her for being inconsiderate.
even with Dame Joan she often tries to sing louder and longer notes .
The woman had a great voice but was rather stupid
can you imagine her with some of the current Normas hahahahahaa? She would bury them alive!!!
True.
sevoflurane oh absolutely, the funny thing also is that cossotto was in fact a dramatci/spinto soprano. With the right technique she may have been even a good Norma.
Dadacomero
And now we are left with Normas sung by leggeros with the personality of a Clotilde. Sigh.
magnifique Cossotto ,est la plus grande mezzo qui n' est jamais existe pour chanter Amneris .elle est Amneris .Dommage qu'il n 'y est plus de grandes voix comme celle ci ,une des derniere est Zajcick.
This is the great Cossotto! I see some of the critics don't agree! Some believe that finding fault in the great gives them status! It doesn't! In fact mere words from me cannot do this marvelous performance justice!
Semplicemente gigantesca!
You're right. !@#$ing brilliant, esp. at the end!
Well, if Cossoto was in her 50s at the time this performance was made, I believe she had reached the Olimpo of opera singers, with no gracefull favor. See carefully all the video, but pay close attention from 7:00 to the end: she is absolutely perfect as a singer and actress. My God, this is epic !!! From Brazil, JAL
FIORENZE = FANTASTIC.
25! WOW quite a great collection I guess! I've just got around 10 (some of then are just highlights) I totally agree with you: Zajick's Amneris has never been unrivalled so far.
she is amazing
Omfg the acting.
The range of emotions is astounding, both in voice and action. She was actually not in the best of voice that night, but who in the audience would have cared? The NYTimes review was not particularly kind.
The greatest Amneris ever!!!
This is a very moving scene. I saw Mariana Pentcheva performing as Amneris.
Grandissima!!!
Non sono mai stato un suo Fan ma devo ammetterlo : STRAORDINARIA !
@Greatfan2011 : Since around 1973/74 onwards Cossotto started to sing off pitch in the top register
Do you realize how sadly dated the first 9 words of your comment are? My family was the same way. Sadly, the crap on TV does not seem like the life-altering things we saw back then - operas, recitals, symphony concerts....great plays written expressly for TV.
A showstopper!
I wonder if her and Leo Price were good buddies.
@Greatfan2011 BUT I wanted to make a difference between color and volume. I know Cossotto voice was very big but she was not a real dramatic like Obraztsova or Fedora Barbieri or Stignani and in the theater she could be exciting but in recordings I am talking of "live" recordings , not disc, if you play any of her "live" Amneris audio CD from the late '60s or early '70s she sounds like a soprano
GRANDE!
@Greatfan2011 : I never heard Cossotto live I am 31 but did you ever heard Stignani or Fedora Barbieri live ? I am sure you didn't and and not that you cannot realize as a voice is (beyond the topic you talked about you are right that it seems many times microphone does not like big drammatic voiced sopranos, Nilsson, Tebaldi, etc) and Cossotto though a mezzo it happens the same too, BUT
La piu' grande Amneris di tutte.
She is the best Amneris of the XX century to me.
She sing the role not like the Faraon daughter, she sing like a woman in love.
Florencia la UNICA Y GRANDE AMNERIS!
Scusi perque non scrivo molto bene italiano, sono spagnolo e mi piacce moltisimo Fiorenza Cossotto, Questa mezzo a una voce femenine anchio qui dramatica cossi, non che Obraztsova o Horne con le sue basso masquile, ma veramente questa sua interpretazione di Amneris e unica e se diferenciano sopra tutto perque lei non solo e la figlia dil faraone anchio e prima di tutto e una donna enamorata, questo si puo sentire a la versione di Mutti per la EMI, lei donna cuore e vita a Amneris geniale per me
ОСВЕН ГЛАС ИМА ХАРИЗМА И СЦЕНИЧНО ПРИСЪСТВИЕ. ДОБРА АКТРИСА!
She was a great singer and amazing Amneris. However, she wasn't a good colleague to work with. I sang with a conductor who worked with her and said it wasn't a pleasant experience. Constantly upstaging (or trying to upstage) other artists all the time.
Who was the conductor? In my opinion, the tempi are a bit slow.
@Greatfan2011 : I don't agree, yes she could repeat in her dressing room before the performace but it doesn't change my divorce with Fiorenza Cossotto, yes the voice was very big but volume has nothing to do wiht color, Cossotto is very fine Adalgisa, very fine Favorita yes but Amneris ? with what color ? Cossotto's Ameris high notes sounds like Querubino high notes.
Elena Obraztsova was a real drammatico, the great drammatic mezzosoprano of her generation
The Callas story, apparently isn't true, and Cossotto herself always said she and Callas were always good friends and coleauges. Opera News had something on it, where they listened to recordings of the performance, and Cossotto NEVER did do what she was accused of, and actually provided perfect support for Callas, who was not in good shape.
Concordo plenamente com sua opinião. Digo mais: há intérpretes que parecem ter nascido para certos papéis. Cossoto não representava bem o papel de Amneris. Cossotto era Amneris, como Maria Chiara era Aida. Nos tempos da escola de música, costumávamos dizer que, com a Cossotto no elenco, se a Aida não fosse uma Maria Chiara, a ópera se chamaria Amneris e náo, Aida.
Fiorenza Cossotto WAS Amneris - utterly convincing
The greatest Amneris ever.
Zajick (1988) can act even when she is not singing, only hearing, keeping the decision of the priests, thru movements and breathing, showing all the anxiety and desperate of the role. I don't see here with Cossotto, despite her great singing.
date?
She eats up the stage at those last chords!!!!
Awful camera work. Too close to catch the flash of Cossotto's cape as she reacts to the priests' judgment.
Concordo con Usted totalmente.
La voz de Cossotto es una voz de Mezzo Soprano pero muy femenina, en Amneris es genial, como dice usted es nacida para ella, me gusta mucho Maria Chiara y tengo su disco en Decca que es muy bueno, pero que tambien tengo la de EMI donde Riccardo Muti dirige a Cossoto junto a Caballé y Domingo, y otros cantantes de primera linea, y solo puedo decir que la historia esta tan bien interpretada que es creible, Cossotto no es hija del Faraon, es una mujer enamorada...
La UNICA Amneris!!!
What year was this?
+Alison Bolshoi I think it was around 1985. It was Leontyne Price's operatic farwell (so whenever when that was).
Thank you!
I still vividly remember watching the simulcast of this performance. Although Price and McCracken were fading, the Judgement Scene with Cossotto was one of the most amazing opera experiences I have ever had
There was MUCH chatter before this performance as to whether Cossotto would upstage Price during this farewell taping, as she reputedly did to Callas in the final Paris Norma's.
In reality the performances of Price and McCracken in this Aida were SO banal, a second tier mezzo would have upstaged them.
The audience at LEAST got their moneys worth from Cossotto, who gave an unrelenting portrayal as the betrayed Egyptian princess.
And for that, I say; BRAVA Cossotto!
No, she wasn't but she was a professional and never take advantage over her partners on stage.
@MrSkylark1: You're just a tad off--Radames does not sing in this scene, it is the high priest Ramfis...I agree though, his sound is pretty boring
That's how good she was when she wasn't even at her absolute best.
I really liked it, but I still prefer Dolora Zajick's performance.
FLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT.
credo che da quando Fiorenza non la canti più Amneris sia morta! Ma pure la povera Azucena non sta bene!
One more thing fer1179 (couer de lion) I have around 25 Aida's in my collection... knew it for decades, but I never GOT IT until I heard and saw Zajick as Amneris. Zajick RAWKS the casbah.
She is clearly NOT a real dramatic mezzo. She is a resonant lyric mezzo. I hear some struggles with notes here and wobbles too.
I read somewhere that she was a spinto soprano with a short top. I wasn't sure if that was her own assessment or someone else's, but even Virginia Zeani once said that Cossotto worked very hard to "become" this singer, the implication being that she was not a natural dramatic mezzo-soprano.
Ah, the critics! Just cannot enjoy the moment. Pieta.
e desafinatto in acuto finale.....e elementale nel palcoscenico...
tu hai l'udito desafinatto mio caro.
The man singing Rhadames is awful. The sound is hollow without any projection
A fine performance.....but I like the version by Dolora Zaijck way better..... but this one is a very good runner up.
she's the most overrated opera singer ever and nobody's mezzo.