November 7 - Joan Sutherland (The Musical Birthday Series, 4th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for November 7th are here: Joan Sutherland; Joni Mitchell (2019), Al Hirt (2020), and Joan Sutherland (2021)

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Joan Sutherland (7 November 1926 – 10 October 2010) was a supremely great Australian coloratura soprano.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three Limericks for "La Stupenda"

Doing What Comes Naturally

"I worked very much in the middle area of my voice, learning the scales and arpeggios and even the dreaded trill without thinking about it. The birds could trill, so why not I?" – Joan Sutherland 

While other sopranos would kill

To equal Joan Sutherland’s trill,

They could drive themselves crazy

With Vaccai and Marchesi,

And still remain run-of-the-mill.

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Remembrances of an Old Fan

 

I’m sufficiently old to recall

The excitement pervading the hall

When Sutherland sang

With the bel canto gang, –

E.g. Horne, Pavarotti, et al.

 

 

It became a predictable fact

When her high notes concluded an act,

That one couldn’t find fault

With her singing in alt,

Which was thrilling, intense, and exact.

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