Steber was a fabulous singer. A great talent , great voice , great technique, great sense of style and feeling. She sang a huge repertoire incredibly well. Her autobiography is one of the most honest I have ever read. She does not hide her difficulties and takes responsability for her struggles which led to a difficult relationship with Bing at the Met. However it has to be said that she came up trumps for the Met on many occasions. She never refused to go on the company tour as some other big names did. She was the star of the Met Cosi Fan Tutte for several seasons . She gave hundreds of performances with the company. It is a shame that Bing refused to cast her in La Fanciulla Del West - he could have organized a production after her big success in the role in Florence. When he eventually asked her to take over the role as a last minute stand in for one performance her best singing years were past. Yet still she gave a fine performance and I like to think that the audience's warm response to having her back in the house was a comfort to her.
Absolutely gorgeous, incredible and all the superlatives one can think of. She is as exciting here as when I saw her do Sophie at the Old Met as a fifteen year old. I fell madly in love with her that evening - her looks - her voice - her stage presence, and I have never stopped loving listening to her these past sixty odd years or so. Thanks for posting.
A shame it's in English, but what a recording! I adore Eleanor Steber; there's a particularly fierce recital disc from 1956-58 that's amazing. Here, she is almost unbelievably good.
Thanks for the wonderful photos of Ms. Steber and of course this wonderful example of her singing. Thank you! The younger generation of singers need to know of her accomplishments and wonderful singing!
Pity that rating have been disabled,even if five stars wereb't enough - there should have been at least ten, fifteen... who cares if it's in english or albanian? Steber is amazing more than ever, and this Come scoglio is on the edge of PERFECTION!
Steber was also the Konstanze in the Met's first production of Entführung in the 1940s and left a first rate recording of Martern aller Arten, also in English. So eminent a Mozartean as Bruno Walter was one of her admirers.
@Dogaradodia You might be right in some cases like that. But besides that, Steber was a great Mozart singer. Especially in this aria she reminds me of her German colleague Elisabeth Grümmer, who is also amongst my most admired singers.
Oh my goodness. Amazing bravura singing. Could be in Croatian for all I care. A finely honed instrument used with flair, taste and style. Not likely to hear its equal today.
@cleanears: Absolutely correct on the point of singing opera in languages other than the original. I normally detest it, and see it as disrespectful to the composer; and, would place myself firmly in the camp against opera in translation. However, with Steber's artistry I frankly could care less what language it's in; it is always perfection regardless of the language choice. A goddess.
I was fortunate enough to be accepted as her student at Curtis in the late sixties. Circumstances forced me to discontinue my study. I was not familiar with her at this time and this recording of Mozart’s most challenging soprano aria makes me very regretful that I did not follow thru on being a student with such an unbelievable talent! No one touches her Fiordiligi! I think Mozart must have known this voice would come along someday to do this magnificent aria justice!
Shame it's not in the original language... Because I seriously think this is amongst the two very best existing versions of this aria, together with Danela Dessì. Really, really stunningly beautiful.
Hello! I also adore Steber. I was wondering, did you, or anyone you know, ever here, or hear of, a tenor, Giovanni Rufini, at the old Met? He did Chenier, and he was my teacher's father. We are looking for recordings or programs...He was there in the late 20's, I think...(I don't know your age...!)
Both Callas and Wagner wanted their works to be understood and Wagner for one oh his early operas when not being able to get it produced was ready to go to England to make a translation into English. The Germanophile Pope Pius XII declared to Maria Callas that it was a shame she did not sing Wagner in German and she argued back that opera should be sung to be understood, she sang Wagner in Italian. So the argument that it is an insult to the composer is ridiculous. I prefer the Italian operas in Italian for the simple reason that you can not make "Quando m'en vo'" into when I walk down the street. or worse the Queen of the Night, "If through your efforts Sarastro does not stop breathing!" well.....need I say more. Rudolf Bing who commanded the Met and was responsible for translations wanted the Met to be the most important opera company in the world he was of course from Vienna and had worked at Glynbourne so better credentials than that...who is to talk against the translations. Still, I am fluent in 5 languages and some years ago went to see the revival of Giorgio Strehler's production of Cosi Fan Tutte in a small intimate theatre here in Rome. I learned from much of the audience that they were glad there were surtitles as they did not understand the Italian themselves. There were no foreigners in the audience!
Well...I doubt that most operas would survive a literal word-for-word translation into English, or any language different than the original intended. They would try to come as close to the meaning as possible without tampering too much with note values, as you would see in most of these Schirmer or Dover editions.
Qué lástima teniendo la voz para cantar el aria perfectamente y lo arruinaron con el idioma inglés...:S, que lástima, pero ante todo, ella es una diosaa y mozart le quedaba bellisímo.
Oh yeah, english translation for Così fan tutte is so ugly and unappropriate, that's true... but her singing is so unbelievably beautiful, that I really don't care about it, despite I'm italian.
The English translation doesn’t bother me but the lack of appoggiaturas does. Fortunately Bruno Walter makes her sing them correctly on their Italian versions of Mozart arias.
@@marymargaretblumhorst5359 I'm Italian and I would enjoy Steber singing this wonderful Come scoglio even if it was in Japanese. (By the way I have this whole recording of Così fan tutte and the translation isn't bad at all considering that it was for people to enjoy the theatrical force of the opera when surtitles didn't exist).
Steber was a fabulous singer. A great talent , great voice , great technique, great sense of style and feeling. She sang a huge repertoire incredibly well. Her autobiography is one of the most honest I have ever read. She does not hide her difficulties and takes responsability for her struggles which led to a difficult relationship with Bing at the Met.
However it has to be said that she came up trumps for the Met on many occasions. She never refused to go on the company tour as some other big names did. She was the star of the Met Cosi Fan Tutte for several seasons . She gave hundreds of performances with the company.
It is a shame that Bing refused to cast her in La Fanciulla Del West - he could have organized a production after her big success in the role in Florence. When he eventually asked her to take over the role as a last minute stand in for one performance her best singing years were past. Yet still she gave a fine performance and I like to think that the audience's warm response to having her back in the house was a comfort to her.
I quote every word of your wonderful comment
Simply put, Steber is the greatest Fiordiligi ever and one of the greatest Mozart sopranos ever.
That Eleanor Steber could do this in ENGLISH, and still maintain that necessary clean Mozartian line, and perfect coloratura is AMAZING!
Absolutely gorgeous, incredible and all the superlatives one can think of. She is as exciting here as when I saw her do Sophie at the Old Met as a fifteen year old. I fell madly in love with her that evening - her looks - her voice - her stage presence, and I have never stopped loving listening to her these past sixty odd years or so. Thanks for posting.
A shame it's in English, but what a recording! I adore Eleanor Steber; there's a particularly fierce recital disc from 1956-58 that's amazing. Here, she is almost unbelievably good.
Thanks for the wonderful photos of Ms. Steber and of course this wonderful example of her singing. Thank you! The younger generation of singers need to know of her accomplishments and wonderful singing!
One of the best performances of this aria. Even throughout the range. Very nice lower register. Exceptional performance
Probably the best chest notes of any Fiordiligi on record.
Pity that rating have been disabled,even if five stars wereb't enough - there should have been at least ten, fifteen... who cares if it's in english or albanian? Steber is amazing more than ever, and this Come scoglio is on the edge of PERFECTION!
Fantastic!even if it is a little extrage to listen in another language than italian. elena
She's a beautiful person.
Steber was also the Konstanze in the Met's first production of Entführung in the 1940s and left a first rate recording of Martern aller Arten, also in English. So eminent a Mozartean as Bruno Walter was one of her admirers.
@Dogaradodia You might be right in some cases like that.
But besides that, Steber was a great Mozart singer. Especially in this aria she reminds me of her German colleague Elisabeth Grümmer, who is also amongst my most admired singers.
@DptOpCat3 Gruemmer was my artistic credo and l am a string player, like her husband, although certainly not in the same class...
And mine too!
Oh my goodness. Amazing bravura singing. Could be in Croatian for all I care. A finely honed instrument used with flair, taste and style. Not likely to hear its equal today.
DptOpCat3 Nope! Not compared to Steber
@cleanears: Absolutely correct on the point of singing opera in languages other than the original. I normally detest it, and see it as disrespectful to the composer; and, would place myself firmly in the camp against opera in translation. However, with Steber's artistry I frankly could care less what language it's in; it is always perfection regardless of the language choice. A goddess.
I was fortunate enough to be accepted as her student at Curtis in the late sixties. Circumstances forced me to discontinue my study. I was not familiar with her at this time and this recording of Mozart’s most challenging soprano aria makes me very regretful that I did not follow thru on being a student with such an unbelievable talent! No one touches her Fiordiligi! I think Mozart must have known this voice would come along someday to do this magnificent aria justice!
Shame it's not in the original language... Because I seriously think this is amongst the two very best existing versions of this aria, together with Danela Dessì. Really, really stunningly beautiful.
Caballe for me is the second best
@horndiapason Hee-hee. Very glad that you are so modest. A bad translation can turn Mozart into Gilbert & Sullivan.
Hello! I also adore Steber. I was wondering, did you, or anyone you know, ever here, or hear of, a tenor, Giovanni Rufini, at the old Met? He did Chenier, and he was my teacher's father. We are looking for recordings or programs...He was there in the late 20's, I think...(I don't know your age...!)
No such name in the Archives. Only Giovanni Ruffini (1807-81), the librettist of DON PASQUALE
whoa...thankyou!
she is great,, yet this english...german on the other hand sounds soo good
Don’t you mean Italian? This is Cosi.
She was an incredible singer! And, made her career primarily without Europe!
When recorded please?
Lovely, lovely, lovely. But oh! The English translation is so horrid.
Both Callas and Wagner wanted their works to be understood and Wagner for one oh his early operas when not being able to get it produced was ready to go to England to make a translation into English. The Germanophile Pope Pius XII declared to Maria Callas that it was a shame she did not sing Wagner in German and she argued back that opera should be sung to be understood, she sang Wagner in Italian. So the argument that it is an insult to the composer is ridiculous. I prefer the Italian operas in Italian for the simple reason that you can not make "Quando m'en vo'" into when I walk down the street. or worse the Queen of the Night, "If through your efforts Sarastro does not stop breathing!" well.....need I say more. Rudolf Bing who commanded the Met and was responsible for translations wanted the Met to be the most important opera company in the world he was of course from Vienna and had worked at Glynbourne so better credentials than that...who is to talk against the translations. Still, I am fluent in 5 languages and some years ago went to see the revival of Giorgio Strehler's production of Cosi Fan Tutte in a small intimate theatre here in Rome. I learned from much of the audience that they were glad there were surtitles as they did not understand the Italian themselves. There were no foreigners in the audience!
BRAVO !
Well...I doubt that most operas would survive a literal word-for-word translation into English, or any language different than the original intended. They would try to come as close to the meaning as possible without tampering too much with note values, as you would see in most of these Schirmer or Dover editions.
Hi v! I tried to respond to your email, but could not...anyway, thanks!
Qué lástima teniendo la voz para cantar el aria perfectamente y lo arruinaron con el idioma inglés...:S, que lástima, pero ante todo, ella es una diosaa y mozart le quedaba bellisímo.
English operas : killing Mozart.
Oh yeah, english translation for Così fan tutte is so ugly and unappropriate, that's true... but her singing is so unbelievably beautiful, that I really don't care about it, despite I'm italian.
The English translation doesn’t bother me but the lack of appoggiaturas does. Fortunately Bruno Walter makes her sing them correctly on their Italian versions of Mozart arias.
@@pierdomenicosommati443 It must be so sad to hear ugliness in such beauty, simply because of a language.
@@marymargaretblumhorst5359 I'm Italian and I would enjoy Steber singing this wonderful Come scoglio even if it was in Japanese. (By the way I have this whole recording of Così fan tutte and the translation isn't bad at all considering that it was for people to enjoy the theatrical force of the opera when surtitles didn't exist).