Now for something completely different. Here is a portion of the Queen of the Night’s aria sung by the late Menino. She (?he) does it better than some sopranos I’ve heard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo6tb6kj8MA
Here’s Diana Damrau singing the aria.
Definitely better than Florence Foster Jenkins:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtf2Q4yyuJ0
More on her career http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_jenkins
“At the age of 76 she finally yielded to public demand and performed at Carnegie Hall on October 25, 1944. Tickets for the event sold out weeks in advance.”
Yet one might ask whether any other performance of the Queen of the Night aria from almost 70 years ago is still listened to as frequently or provides more enjoyment. That being said, the clip of Diana Damrau is lovely.
I wonder what Anna Russell would have done with this?? I did see her live panning Nabucco, and Lily Pons was in the audience. (can’t stand Damrau)