I heard her many years ago at Hofstra college. I personally put her in the same greatness as Flagstad and Nilsson. A true dramatic soprano. I believe she enjoyed singing popular music which Bing didn't approve.
Farrell was a force of nature. And a lovely person. My father had to audit her taxes, in the mid-1960s. They lived on Staten Island, and i accompanied him to their house. Her husband answered the door, they got down to business, and Miss Farrell gave me an iced tea. We heard tinkling on the piano in the other room. My dad was a classical music buff, and Farrell noticed his interest. She said, “you wanna come into the music room and meet Lenny?” Can you believe it! So I met Farrell and Bernstein in one day. But I was too young to understand the significance.
That is a lovely reminiscence. It's great you understand the significance now. I consider these kinds of memories as lovely ways to remember what my parents gave me. Sort of presents along the way.
@@chocolatesouljah Thank you. I can still remember her accent - a mixture of New Yawk and New England! Her husband was a no-nonsense guy, but very pleasant, and obviously very proud of his wife.
@@wotan10950 somehow I could imagine how she sounded when you reference her combination of accents. Also, I think the combination of your childhood sense of wonder is something that feels palpable! Once again, lovely reminiscence.🙌🏾
At a concert at the Auditorium in Chicago Farrell filled the massive theater completely with her sumptuous sound. In the director's box were Birgit Nilsson, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, and 'Dietrich Fischer Dieskau. Only a singer as great as Farrell could have drawn them to a concert.
Franco Corelli said Farrell's was the biggest voice. Pucini's aria from Turandot, In Questa Reggia, was towering. When she took it to a place where you thought a voice couldn't possibly give anymore, she gives more. Amazing. One of the Verdi operas that has a colloratura passage in an aria for either a Verismo voice or dramatic soprano she acquits herself wonderfully with trills and melismatic passages clean as can be.
Well, she actually had a very successful career in radio, concerts, recitals, television. The Met’s Rudolph Bing disliked her, as he did other American artists including Sills, and basically shut her out of a Met career. She was underrated only by Bing. Everyone else thought she was fabulous!
Wagner's soprano roles were made for her voice and vice versa. Too bad she wasn't more interested in his music she would have probably been the greatest Wagnerian soprano ever.
Yes, she could’ve given Birgit quite a run for her money, but the Met (specifically Rudolph Bing) stiffed her, and she wasn’t too keen on an opera career anyway.
@@wotan10950Bing had a systematic bias against Americans. He ran Steber out of town, made Horne wait until the 70s, and never let Sills in. I think Tucker and Merrill are the exceptions. It was good that he welcomed Price and Anderson in though.
@@wotan10950 I have often wondered what if might have been like if Bing had embraced Farrell. Imagine a Ring with Nilsson as Brunnhilde and Farrell as Sieglinde or even one where they alternated in the two roles.
@@user-gt7xs1fc6g Farrell might very well have been favoured in Walkure as Brunnhilde because she had a warmer and fuller lower voice. The Hojotohos of course favour Nilsson. Probably Siegfried and Gotterdammerung favour Nilsson. But Farrell (if I recall correctly from her book) favoured Italian opera, so she probably wouldn't have wanted to be pegged as a Wagnerian.
Naturally with her sumptuous sound…plus a great cross over artist too!!!!
I heard her many years ago at Hofstra college. I personally put her in the same greatness as Flagstad and Nilsson. A true dramatic soprano. I believe she enjoyed singing popular music which Bing didn't approve.
Farrell was a force of nature. And a lovely person. My father had to audit her taxes, in the mid-1960s. They lived on Staten Island, and i accompanied him to their house. Her husband answered the door, they got down to business, and Miss Farrell gave me an iced tea. We heard tinkling on the piano in the other room. My dad was a classical music buff, and Farrell noticed his interest. She said, “you wanna come into the music room and meet Lenny?” Can you believe it! So I met Farrell and Bernstein in one day. But I was too young to understand the significance.
That is a lovely reminiscence. It's great you understand the significance now. I consider these kinds of memories as lovely ways to remember what my parents gave me. Sort of presents along the way.
@@chocolatesouljah Thank you. I can still remember her accent - a mixture of New Yawk and New England! Her husband was a no-nonsense guy, but very pleasant, and obviously very proud of his wife.
@@wotan10950 somehow I could imagine how she sounded when you reference her combination of accents. Also, I think the combination of your childhood sense of wonder is something that feels palpable! Once again, lovely reminiscence.🙌🏾
At a concert at the Auditorium in Chicago Farrell filled the massive theater completely with her sumptuous sound. In the director's box were Birgit Nilsson, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, and 'Dietrich Fischer Dieskau. Only a singer as great as Farrell could have drawn them to a concert.
I was there. My mother took me. I cannot describe the overwhelming warmth and size of this voice. She was a force of nature.
Surely one of the greatest voices to have come from America and one fo the greatest singers!
I only heard her live once with the New York Philharmonic on tour back in the mid seventies. A voice of easy power and richness.
Franco Corelli said Farrell's was the biggest voice. Pucini's aria from Turandot, In Questa Reggia, was towering. When she took it to a place where you thought a voice couldn't possibly give anymore, she gives more. Amazing. One of the Verdi operas that has a colloratura passage in an aria for either a Verismo voice or dramatic soprano she acquits herself wonderfully with trills and melismatic passages clean as can be.
Spectacular. She brings the technique and passion here - it is a joy to hear her.
The perfect warm, yet dramatic, voice for Sieglinde IMO.
Immense voice
I can hear how good she is, way better than most and of course than everybody today.
Yet not a favourite voice of mine but that’s only taste.
An another underrated great singer!
Well, she actually had a very successful career in radio, concerts, recitals, television. The Met’s Rudolph Bing disliked her, as he did other American artists including Sills, and basically shut her out of a Met career. She was underrated only by Bing. Everyone else thought she was fabulous!
Perfect Sieglinde
Wagner's soprano roles were made for her voice and vice versa. Too bad she wasn't more interested in his music she would have probably been the greatest Wagnerian soprano ever.
Wow! If ever a voice was made to sing Wagner, it was Farrell. Yet she wasnt that keen on being a " Wagnerian"
Yes, she could’ve given Birgit quite a run for her money, but the Met (specifically Rudolph Bing) stiffed her, and she wasn’t too keen on an opera career anyway.
@@wotan10950Bing had a systematic bias against Americans. He ran Steber out of town, made Horne wait until the 70s, and never let Sills in. I think Tucker and Merrill are the exceptions. It was good that he welcomed Price and Anderson in though.
@@wotan10950 I have often wondered what if might have been like if Bing had embraced Farrell. Imagine a Ring with Nilsson as Brunnhilde and Farrell as Sieglinde or even one where they alternated in the two roles.
@@user-gt7xs1fc6g Farrell might very well have been favoured in Walkure as Brunnhilde because she had a warmer and fuller lower voice. The Hojotohos of course favour Nilsson. Probably Siegfried and Gotterdammerung favour Nilsson. But Farrell (if I recall correctly from her book) favoured Italian opera, so she probably wouldn't have wanted to be pegged as a Wagnerian.