7:52
Contralto Eula Beal sings Bach's "Erbarme Dich"
Contralto Eula Beal sings Bach's "Erbarme Dich"
Contralto Contralto Eula Beal sings Bach's "Erbarme Dich" as "Lord Have Mercy on Me" from the St. Matthew Passion, conducted by Antal Dorati and with Yehudi Menuhin playing the violin solos
10:11
Ewa Podles' Cara Sposa (sung in the low key)
Ewa Podles' Cara Sposa (sung in the low key)
Cara sposa sung in the low key by one of the greatest singers of all times, Ewa Podles At 8:52 a fabulous cadenza at the end of which (9:12) her miraculous sigh/gasp falls upon the cemballo cords in a truly Divine moment
3:31
Contralto Eula Beal sings "None but the lonely heart"
Contralto Eula Beal sings "None but the lonely heart"
Contralto Eula Beal sings Tchaikovsky's "None but the loney heart", accompanied by Marguerite Campbell
5:35
Karen Clark, Contralto, performs Brahm's "Geistliches Wiegenlied"
Karen Clark, Contralto, performs Brahm's "Geistliches Wiegenlied"
Karen Clark, Contralto, performs Brahm's "Geistliches Wiegenlied" with Kronos Quartet's Hank Dutt and pianist, Marilyn Thompson. Old First Church Concerts, San Francisco, April 2009. Brought to you by Triple Spiral Productions, Northern California. Triple Spiral Productions can be contacted at www.triplespiralproductions.com (c) 2009 Triple Spiral Productions, all rights reserved.
3:49
Contralto Eula Beal sings Schubert's "Erlkoenig"
Contralto Eula Beal sings Schubert's "Erlkoenig"
Contralto Eula Beal sings Schubert's "Erlkoenig", accompanied by Marguerite Campbell
6:51
Contralto (Lumineux) Marie-Nicole Lemieux
Contralto (Lumineux) Marie-Nicole Lemieux
Vivaldi : Farnace Aria :Dite che v'ho fatt'io...Dividete o giusti dei
3:51
YODELING operatic contralto - SCHUMANN-HEINK - Millocker
YODELING operatic contralto - SCHUMANN-HEINK - Millocker
A PARTY RECORD for your opera buddies! Schumann-Heink lets down her hair to yodel! Ernestine Schumann-Heink (1861-1936) sings a little-known Alpine YODELING song by Millocker, "I und mei Bua," recorded for Victor Sept. 29, 1908. One wonders when and why Schumann-Heink learned to yodel...and whether she had 2nd thoughts about having recorded this gem, as it didn't remain in the Victor catalog all that long. Shumann-Heink was born as Tini Rössler to a German-speaking family in the town of Lieben, near Prague, now in the Czech Republic but then part of the Austrian Empire. Her father Hans Rössler was a shoemaker. The family moved to Graz when Tini was thirteen. Here she met Marietta von LeClair, a retired opera singer who agreed to give her voice lessons. In 1877 she made her first professional performance, in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Graz. Tini made her operatic debut at Dresden's Royal Opera House on October 15, 1878 as Azucena in Il Trovatore—at age 17. The photo in the video, showing the THIN young contralto, was taken when she was 18, in 1879. In 1882 she married Ernest Heink, secretary of the Dresden Opera, with whom she had four children; this violated the terms of their contracts, and both were abruptly terminated from their positions. Heink took a job at the local customs house and was soon transferred to Hamburg. Ernestine remained in Dresden to pursue her career, and eventually rejoined her husband when she secured a position at the Hamburg Opera. Ernest <b>...</b>
9:56
Pop Music's Top 10 Alto-Range Vocalists
Pop Music's Top 10 Alto-Range Vocalists
Visit TheLavaLizard.com! Quiet; do you hear that? Put your ear to wind of the night and you will hear the purring, cooing, growling and whispering of the sensual vocals of some of the most talented singers in world. They are the women who can match their male counterparts note-for-note; they are the awesome divas who have mastered the rare Contralto range. Feel their milky timbres soothe your aches and pull you into cloudy thoughts of passion and soul. Turn up your speakers and give them your full attention!
3:53
British Contralto Carmen Hill ~ The Green Hills o' Somerset (1913)
British Contralto Carmen Hill ~ The Green Hills o' Somerset (1913)
British Contralto Carmen Hill (1883-?) / The Green Hills o' Somerset (Eric Coates) / Recorded: 1913) -- THE GREEN HILLS 'O SOMERSET (Eric Coates) Oh the green hills o' Somerset Go rolling to the shore; `Twas there we said that we'd get wed, When spring came round once more. `Twas there we kissed and said goodbye Beside the kirkyard wall, And the song the blackbird sang to us Was the sweetest song of all. Green hills o' Somerset! Green hills o' Somerset! When shall we walk by you, Green hills, once more! Oh the green hills o' Somerset Go rolling to the sea, And still today the violets Are blooming there for me. The shadows kiss the waving grass, Beside the kirkyard wall, But the song the blackbird sings to me Is the saddest song of all. Green hills o' Somerset! Green hills o' Somerset! No more we'll walk by you, Green hills, once more! ****************************** The Record of Singing by Michael Scott (Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc. - 1979) We need to look no further than one of her many records to find an eloquent advocate for the inclusion of Carmen Hill (1883---) in these pages. Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, she came to London to study with Frederick King at the Royal Academy of Music. Her first important engagement was as a supporting artist to Emma Albani on one of the diva's, as it seemed, endless tours in search of solvency after the ravages her fortune sustained as a result of the financial adventures of her husband. Hill ventured on stage only once, in Beecham's <b>...</b>
4:29
American Contralto Claramae Turner ~ Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix (1950)
American Contralto Claramae Turner ~ Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix (1950)
American contralto Claramae Turner (1920--) / Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix / Samson et Dalila (Saint- Saëns) / Recorded: 1950 / Special Thanks and Good Cheer to "operamark1" for suggesting and providing the sound file -- Claramae Turner (born October 28, 1920) is an American opera singer. She was made very famous by singing the song "You'll Never Walk Alone" in the musical Carousel. Born in Dinuba, California, she was a contralto with the Metropolitan Opera during the late 1940's and early 1950's, and also sang with the New York City Opera. She created the role of Madame Flora in Gian Carlo Menotti's The Medium, reprising it in an episode of Omnibus on television. She also recorded the role of Ma Moss in Aaron Copland's The Tender Land (opposite Joy Clements and Norman Treigle), and one of her roles at the Met was that of Gertrud in an English version of Engelbert Humperdinck's opera Hänsel und Gretel, starring Risë Stevens and Nadine Conner. This performance was one of the first Metropolitan Opera record albums of a complete opera ever released (by Columbia Masterworks Records). Miss Turner reprised the role on television in an installment of "NBC Television Opera Theatre". All of these early television appearances were live, not done on film or videotape.Turner also sang the role of the Nurse in the Met's famous 1946 production of Charles Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, starring Jussi Björling and Bidu Sayão. On radio, she sang the role of Ulrica in conductor Arturo <b>...</b>
3:56
coloratura contralto - SCHUMANN-HEINK -- Arditi ditty - 1907
coloratura contralto - SCHUMANN-HEINK -- Arditi ditty - 1907
Ernestine Schumann-Heink (1861-1936) sings Luigi Arditi's "Leggero Invisible." Lest anyone think that a contralto who devoted most of her career to heavy roles in Wagner couldn't shed her Rhein Maiden garb and take to the boards to sing an Arditi coloratura ditty, MAGNIFICANTLY, listen carefully to this recording. Schumann-Heink often included it in her concerts. She recorded it twice---on July 24, 1907--and again about 20 years later as an electric Victor Orthophonic. Shumann-Heink was born as Tini Rössler to a German-speaking family in the town of Lieben, near Prague, now in the Czech Republic but then part of the Austrian Empire. Her father Hans Rössler was a shoemaker. The family moved to Graz when Tini was thirteen. Here she met Marietta von LeClair, a retired opera singer, who agreed to give her voice lessons. In 1877 she made her first professional performance, in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Graz. Tini made her operatic debut at Dresden's Royal Opera House on October 15, 1878 as Azucena in Il Trovatore—at age 17. The photo in the video, showing the THIN young contralto, was taken when she was 18, in 1879. In 1882 she married Ernest Heink, secretary of the Dresden Opera, with whom she had four children; this violated the terms of their contracts, and both were abruptly terminated from their positions. Heink took a job at the local customs house and was soon transferred to Hamburg. Ernestine remained in Dresden to pursue her career, and eventually rejoined her <b>...</b>
4:06
British Contralto Clara Butt ~ Land of Hope and Glory (1930)
British Contralto Clara Butt ~ Land of Hope and Glory (1930)
British contralto Clara Butt (1872-1936) / Land of Hope and Glory (Benson/Elgar) / Recorded: June 25, 1930 -- ITEM: (BLASTING) There are moments when the 1930 technology is clearly on overload. I've yet to hear a copy of this recording that isn't marred by both near and out-and-out blasting. CLARA BUTT (via wikipedia) Clara Butt was born in Southwick, Sussex. Her father was Henry Albert Butt who was a sea captain and who was born in 1848 in Saint Martin, Jersey, Channel Islands. He married Clara Hook in 1869, who was born in Shoreham, the daughter of Joseph Hook, mariner (1861 and 1871 census, in 1881 in New Shoreham workhouse). In 1880 the family moved to Bristol and Clara was educated at South Bristol High School, where her singing talent was recognised and encouraged. At the request of her headmistress, she was trained by the bass Daniel Rootham and joined the Bristol Festival Chorus, of which he was musical director. In January 1890 she won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music. In her fourth year she spent three months studying in Paris at the expense of Queen Victoria. She also studied in Berlin and Italy. She made her professional début at the Royal Albert Hall in London in Sir Arthur Sullivans The Golden Legend on December 7, 1892. Three days later she appeared as Orfeo in Glucks Orfeo ed Euridice at the Lyceum Theatre. Bernard Shaw wrote in The World that she far surpassed the utmost expectations that could reasonably be entertained (December 14, 1892). She <b>...</b>
7:22
American Contralto Claramae Turner ~ Music from Carousel (1962)
American Contralto Claramae Turner ~ Music from Carousel (1962)
For "opertutto" & "sospello" / American contralto Claramae Turner (1920--) / June is Bustin' Out All Over; This Was a Real Nice Clambake; You'll Never Walk Alone / Carousel (Rodgers & Hammerstein) / Recorded: 1962 / Special thanks to "opertutto" who provided the sound files and photograph, and to "operamark1" for first suggesting Ms. Turner be posted to youtube -- Claramae Turner (born October 28, 1920) is an American opera singer. She was made very famous by singing the song "You'll Never Walk Alone" in the musical Carousel. Born in Dinuba, California, she was a contralto with the Metropolitan Opera during the late 1940's and early 1950's, and also sang with the New York City Opera. She created the role of Madame Flora in Gian Carlo Menotti's The Medium, reprising it in an episode of Omnibus on television. She also recorded the role of Ma Moss in Aaron Copland's The Tender Land (opposite Joy Clements and Norman Treigle), and one of her roles at the Met was that of Gertrud in an English version of Engelbert Humperdinck's opera Hänsel und Gretel, starring Risë Stevens and Nadine Conner. This performance was one of the first Metropolitan Opera record albums of a complete opera ever released (by Columbia Masterworks Records). Miss Turner reprised the role on television in an installment of "NBC Television Opera Theatre". All of these early television appearances were live, not done on film or videotape.Turner also sang the role of the Nurse in the Met's famous 1946 <b>...</b>
3:49
British Contralto Clara Butt ~ Ombra mai fu (1917)
British Contralto Clara Butt ~ Ombra mai fu (1917)
British contralto Clara Butt (1872-1936) / Ombra mai fu / Serse (Handel) / Recorded: 1917 -- CLARA BUTT (via wikipedia) Clara Butt was born in Southwick, Sussex. Her father was Henry Albert Butt who was a sea captain and who was born in 1848 in Saint Martin, Jersey, Channel Islands. He married Clara Hook in 1869, who was born in Shoreham, the daughter of Joseph Hook, mariner (1861 and 1871 census, in 1881 in New Shoreham workhouse). In 1880 the family moved to Bristol and Clara was educated at South Bristol High School, where her singing talent was recognised and encouraged. At the request of her headmistress, she was trained by the bass Daniel Rootham and joined the Bristol Festival Chorus, of which he was musical director. In January 1890 she won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music. In her fourth year she spent three months studying in Paris at the expense of Queen Victoria. She also studied in Berlin and Italy. She made her professional début at the Royal Albert Hall in London in Sir Arthur Sullivans The Golden Legend on December 7, 1892. Three days later she appeared as Orfeo in Glucks Orfeo ed Euridice at the Lyceum Theatre. Bernard Shaw wrote in The World that she far surpassed the utmost expectations that could reasonably be entertained (December 14, 1892). She returned to Paris and made further studies with Jacques Bouhy (the teacher of Louise Homer and Louise Kirkby Lunn) and later with the soprano Etelka Gerster in Berlin. Camille Saint-Saëns wanted her <b>...</b>
4:30
Kaddisch - Maurice Ravel - Amadea Leonore (Contralto)
Kaddisch - Maurice Ravel - Amadea Leonore (Contralto)
In Memory of my grandfather - Yosef. Live Recording of the "Kaddisch" by Maurice Ravel with Amadea Leonore (Contralto) and Jens Holzkamp (Piano). Ravel's "Kaddisch" was sung in the Herz Jesu Kirche - Berlin on January 27, 2010 in a Memorial Concert in Honour of the Liberation of the Concentration Camp, Auschwitz. Transliteration and Translation: Yitgadal v'yitkadash sh'mei rabah (Amen) b'allmah dee v'rah chir'utei v'amlich malchutei, b'chayeichon, uvyomeichon, uvchayei d'chol beit yisrael, ba'agalah u'vizman kariv. V'imru: Amen. Yithbarach, v'yishtabach, v'yitpaeir, v'yitromam, v'yitnasei, v'yithadar, v'yitaleh, v'yithalal sh'mei d'khudishah b'rich hu. L'ailah min kol bichatah v'shiratah, tushb'chatah v'nechamatah, da'aminran b'olmah. V'imru: Amen. Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! V'imru: Amen... May his name - that is great - be magnified and sanctified He, that created according to his will (in his image) in the world, and may he give reign to his people in your lifetimes and in your days and in the lifetime of all of the House of Israel speedily and in our time. And, we say: Amen. May you bless and laud and glorify and uplift and extol and honour and make high and praise the name of the Holy One, blessed is he, to the One higher than all, your blessings and your songs, your praises and your consolations that are spoken - Ah! - in this world. Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! And let us say: Amen...
7:06
French Contralto Jeanne Gerville-Réache ~ Samson et Dalila (1909 & 1913)
French Contralto Jeanne Gerville-Réache ~ Samson et Dalila (1909 & 1913)
French contralto Jeanne Gerville-Reache (1882-1915) / Samson et Dalila (Saint-Saens) / Printemps qui commence / Recorded: April 12, 1909 / Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix / Recorded: December 1, 1913 -- French contralto Jeanne Gerville-Réach (born March 26, 1882, Orthez, France - died January 15, 1915, New York). Her father was governor of Martinique and Guadaloupe and she came to Paris when she was 15 to study singing with Rosine Laborde. Through the intercession of Emma Calve, he was able to finish her studies with Pauline Viardot-Garcia. In 1899 she had a successful debut at the Opera-Comique in the title role of Orphee et Eurydice, and on April 30, 1902 she created the role of Genevieve in Pelleas et Melisande there. In 1901 she made guest appearances at the Brussels Opera and in 1905 at Covent Garden. In 1907 she came to the Manhattan Opera. Thereafter she was uncommonly successful in the United States. She also sang in Boston and Philadelphia, Chicago and Montreal. In 1910 she married the director of the Pasteur Institute in New York, Georges Ribier Rambaud. She had a sumptuous, warm-timbered contralto voice of great dynamic quality. She died at the early age of 32 from food poisoning in New York City, leaving behind her husband and two sons. She has a great-great grandson and granddaughter living in America. (Sources: Kutsch & Riemens Concise Biographical Dictionary of Singers / Chilton Book Company / 1969; wikipedia) ******************************
8:13
Leyla Gencer - Assoluta - from Lyric Colorature to Contralto
Leyla Gencer - Assoluta - from Lyric Colorature to Contralto
Leyla Gencer, one of the greatest sopranos of all time. She had a voice of all three female voice types to a degree including agility of a colorature. Enjoy the most underrated assoluta singer of the 20th century... Assoluta soprano(soprano sfogato): By definition, the soprano sfogato is linked to the mezzo/contralto. It possesses a dark timbre with a rich and strong low register, as well the high notes of a soprano and occasionally a coloratura soprano. Those voices are typically strong, dramatic and agile, supported by an excellent bel canto technique and an ability to sing in the soprano tessitura as well as in the contralto tessitura with great ease, such as was said of Giuditta Pasta.
4:01
British Contralto Clara Butt ~ Love's Old Sweet Song (1923)
British Contralto Clara Butt ~ Love's Old Sweet Song (1923)
For "raymo51" / British contralto Clara Butt (1872-1936) / Love's Old Sweet Song (Molloy) / Recorded: April 25, 1923 (take 4) / Dame Clara Butt Complete Discography : www.trevormidgley.com/ClaraButt --
8:21
Ralph Vaughan Williams - Magnificat, for contralto, solo flute, female choir and orchestra (1/2)
Ralph Vaughan Williams - Magnificat, for contralto, solo flute, female choir and orchestra (1/2)
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) Magnificat in A for contralto, solo flute, female choir and orchestra (1932) Helen Watts, contraltalto Ambrosian Singers Christopher Hyde-Smith, flute Orchestra Nova of London/Meredith Davies "When Gustav Holst died in 1934, Vaughan Williams lost his greatest friend. He missed Holst for the rest of his life and, in my opinion, invoked his spirit in several works of the 1930s and 1940s. This is one, written in 1932. It looks back to the Holst of The Hymn of Jesus - spare, concerned with both the otherness and timelessness of the religious past. For contralto, solo flute (appearing as the Holy Ghost), women's choir, and orchestra. The work has made it to recording very rarely, the Hyperion recording seems to be the only one currently in print." -- Steve Schwartz
10:24
Kathleen Ferrier - Brahms for contralto, viola and piano
Kathleen Ferrier - Brahms for contralto, viola and piano
1) Gestille Sehnsucht Op. 91 No 1 2) Geistliches Wiegenlied Op. 91 No 2 Performers: Contralto: Kathleen Ferrier, Viola: Max Gilbert and Piano: Phyllis Spurr Rec. 1949
3:10
Contralto Dorothy HORTON ~ His Eye Is On The Sparrow (1975)
Contralto Dorothy HORTON ~ His Eye Is On The Sparrow (1975)
Dorothy Monson Horton (1926-2008) / His Eye Is On The Sparrow (lyricist Civilla D. Martin & composer Charles H. Gabriel) / Recorded May 18, 1975 during a live performance at DAR Constitution Hall, Washington, DC. DOROTHY MONSON HORTON, a church soloist whose appearance sparked racial controversy at a Washington, DC church in 1965. After arriving in the Washington area in 1954, Mrs. Horton was a featured soloist at many large churches, including Asbury United Methodist Church, St. John's Episcopal Church and St. Paul's Episcopal Church, all in the District. She also performed with the Camarata Chorus and the Evelyn White Chorale. In 1965, Mrs. Horton, who was African American, was engaged as a substitute soloist at the predominantly white Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church in Northwest Washington. When the church pastor, Edward G. Latch, barred her from singing with the choir, he was denounced by the church's district superintendent. Mrs. Horton refused to sing at the church until Latch apologized. On November 21, 1965, after the pastor's apology, she appeared at the church and performed a solo in a work by Beethoven. "Several members of the congregation came down to the choir room afterward to say they were glad she sang," a Washington Post article noted. Latch, who later became chaplain of the US House of Representatives, preached a sermon on sin and forgiveness, saying, "We are all sinners. We have all fallen short of the glory of God." Mrs. Horton was born <b>...</b>
