donjuansrecklessdaughter:

The breathtaking contralto Kathleen Ferrier singing Roger Quilter’s beautiful song ‘Now sleeps the crimson petal’. 

Impeccable diction, intonation and the most gorgeous variations in tone and vocal expression. She had a warmth and empathy in the voice that could convey anything. An absolute gift to music.

differenceetrepetition:

Brigitte Fassbaender sings Brahms’ Von ewiger Liebe (my flatmate has just shown this to me and I have suddenly lost all desire to hear anything else)

howtheliliesgrow:

Karita Mattila performs Dvořák’s Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém 

May music heal broken hearts and bring peace to those in pain.

ariaoftheday:

Tenor Giuseppe di Stefano sings “Ah! Fuyez douce image” as Le Chevalier des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon.

jtherevelator:

30 day opera challenge, day twenty-eight.

A good character you would like to play in an opera: Cesare inGiulio Cesare in Egitto.

Cesareis some of Handel’s most dramatic and expressive music, and the arias can always be identified by a unique quality from Handel’s other work. The titular character has something like seven arias displaying their own demands for the singer.

In Cesare’s second aria, he responds to the gift of Pompey’s severed head in a box from the emperor Tolomeo before departing for Egypt to confront Tolomeo directly. “Empio, dirò tu sei” is sung here by Dame Janet Baker in English.

"The only thing in this world is music - music and books and one or two pictures. I am going to found a colony where there shall be no marrying - unless you happen to fall in love with a symphony of Beethoven - no human elements at all, except what comes through Art - nothing but ideal peace and endless meditation."

howtheliliesgrow:

Mady Mesple performs Grossmachtige Prinzessin from Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos

Ob. Sessed.

musicologist012:

I found an Opera Store in Graz yesterday ! These are just a few albums :-)

donna-elvira:

Let’s appreciate this.