I watch this video often. It's sounds from heaven. Miss Sills owns this song. God bless her soul.

Beverly Sills rendition of this heavenly aria, is the gold standard for me. All I have to do is close my eyes and I am immediately transported to where she wants to take me. Love it. Just love it.

Back in the day when new operas where BEAUTIFUL... Dialogues of the Carmelites, Baby Doe, The Rakes Progress, Susanna, Candide and others...

I am happy that I lived during the time when Beverly Sills got to sing The Ballad Of Baby Doe. To me, there was never a more perfect fit than her voice and this role. Her singing is so silvery and exquisite and brimming with emotion.

I saw a Sills performance of "Baby Doe" at City Opera. It was so wonderful - and at the end, I was sobbing so much, that I tried to clap and clap and clap so the curtain calls wouldn't end for the house lights to come up with me sobbing. Well - the curtain calls ended - at last - and when the house lights came up - everyone around me was crying. It was a great great emotional theater going experience. One I will never forget.

Sills told a very funny story on herself about the recording of this aria for the complete set. She was very pregnant at the time and every time she hit the high note (a D, I believe) the baby would kick her! What a voice! She is very much missed.

I only discovered the art of Beverly Sills in 1973, so I missed much of her early career. But I was lucky enough to see her Three Queens, Lucia, Manon, so many others. She was really a gift to the world.

Perfection---Absolutely beautiful

We used to have this on television all the time, My heart breaks for how far we have come down.

I know it is said a lot but how can ANYONE tick the unlike box for this, she has the voice of someone not of this world, this is a beautiful piece also, I honestly believe she sings this better than anyone in the world, and I don't only mean that fantastic D6 that she sings almost effortlessly, although it is wonderful lol

She was a great artist. May she rest in peace.

I grew up listening to experts like Beverly Sills. This Ballard of Baby Doe is one of the love songs I remember from that time. Beverly Sills is one of the greatest opera singers of all times. If everyone only knew the great things Beverly could and did do with her voice.

I cannot speak!!!...This is so beautiful...the "sincerity" both of expression and tone..without any artfulness...If I didn't love Beverly before....I sure do now!!!...........Wowser!!!

Ms. Sills was a great singer but she was more than just a great voice. Her demeanor, interpretation, expressiveness where all wonderful. The only American soprano who makes me cry when singing pieces like this.

So many speak of the"D". To me, the way she descends off that note to the next shows true and rare technical mastery. Not to mention how her singing has a rare pathos that goes straight to one's heart.

Has there EVER been another soprano who could FLOAT their notes in the same way that Ms Sills was able to do? I cannot think of ONE! And yes Windstorm1000 I totally agree with you that the delicacy of emotion Ms Sills had, not only in this aria, but in EVERYTHING she sang just seared the heart and pierced one to the very core! How we miss you Maestra and rest in peace.

Sills at her very best! I never tire of this breathtaking song. God I miss her.

The MET was so dumb not to hire Ms. Sills earlier---what a waste of a national resource! This is so moving. Sills voice at her silvery best with such delicate emotion that sears.

My appreciation cannot be expressed. A gorgeous American opera, with its modern nuances and interpretation from the classic venues, sung as genuinely and femininely, truly, as it was meant to be sung. Irreplaceable and never better and definitive in the true sense. Dare one say it, perfection.

How have we lost all that style and talent! Absolute perfection!

This excerpt, more than anything, shows her at her finest and why she became a star. The smile on Douglas Moore's face at the finish says it all.

So pure and unaffected (in voice per se and also in singing as a whole)! True artistry. Her high pianissimi were always unbelievably good. She's in really prime voice here.

Always one of my very favorite singers....she had something I have never heard before, or since.

I miss her. She touched hearts across America. People who didn't know opera....learned about it from her. She was on Carol Burnett!! America loved her. I so miss her and her legacy. She was my idol.

She is so perfect here. She considered Roberto Devereaux her greatest achievement, but I think Baby Doe was the greatest thing she did. It fit her voice so perfectly, whereas much of the other roles (such as Three Queens) were several sizes too big for her delicate, silvery instrument. Her Baby Doe is simply breathtaking.

Good job Sills. Very rare to find someone who can sing clearly in English.

My divine bev you were and will always be right at the top.. love you forever.

Wow. Just wow. The world will miss her and remember her a long time, especially because we have recordings to prove that, yes, she WAS that good.

Just beautiful, don't know anyone else who can sing this as well, Brava Beverly, you are truly missed!

Perfect. A perfect marriage of timbre, style, and music. With that special presence that was hers alone.

Such a beautiful D, how tenderly and loving she hit it, amazing.

Totally my desert island piece. Oh the sheer joy!

Sills is incredible here. Just the best!

not find this Heaven sent - is to miss the whole point of music, and beauty. This is pure Heaven...... Bless Sills' soul..........

At college, one day many, many years ago, a friend was listening to a record in one of the music rooms. He saw me and motioned me to come and listen to what he was listening to. It was this aria and that moment is etched in my memory forever.

Listen to how steady the voice is without motion or jaw wiggling or turning her head to the side to reach the high notes like she did later on...this is total perfect singing! The rock hard steadiness of her sound here is a totally different voice than she had 10 years later

I had the great honor and joy to be on the stage with Miss Sills at the City Center Opera during performances of SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR. She had two arias and in both she held a toy poodle in her arms...she was the leading soprano of the story...and when she went up to hit the high notes, the dog went right up with her. She was wonderful. Paul Vincent

Speechless am I. And weeping..........divine Beverly!!!!

Beverly Sills had the most beautiful ever.

It defies belief that Beverly Sills remained on the back burner for another 4 years before she was catapulted into superstardom! Pristine, priime and sublime Beverly at her pinnacle! Brava la Sills, and thank you StuartLou!!

Never having heard this song before, could it have premiered in my heart with any more skill and lilting love of musical greatness? I don't think so!

No role Sills ever sang was as suited to her voice and personality as Baby Doe. She had everything the role demanded. As Douglas Moore told her after he first hears her sing the Willow Song for him during her audition, "Miss Sills, you ARE Baby Doe".

MOORE did more here for American musical arts than could ever be acknowledged appropriately. He was a supremely accomplished businessperson and musician. He'll always be noted by the pundit.

It is so strange that she sang like this for so long without great notice, and when her fame came in 'Giulio Cesare' she was close to the end of her prime. I sometimes think I am just getting old and mean when I trash today’s singers, but no, when I listen to this I still get goosebumps and have to suppress a tear. This kind of great singing is just dead today, and, I fear, unlikely to be revived.

What sublime perfection in everything! We MISS you Ms Sills. Bravissima!

Bubbles!! The full recording of this is amazing! Brava!

Thank you from bottom of my heart for posting it! I have already watched ( listened) it more than hundred times and every time I have tears in my eyes... Her voice and singing touch my heart!

yes, its the whole package--she's so 'present'--one with the song--it makes me cry to hear this, too.

How could there possibly be three "dislikes" for this?

I heard this aria for the first time in Performance Seminar at the University, and I just had to hear it again. It was this very video that introduced me to the artistry of Beverly Sills....I’ve been smitten ever since. Thank you!

Tears of joy...

The most beautiful D ever

Omg i SO WISH I COULD HAVE SEEN HER PERFORM BABY DOE

Hers was a full-spectrum voice, so many overtones filling in the sound.

I absolutely love how chesty she still sounds this high - it lends an urgency and sadness to her singing. Breathtaking.

Oh wow, I got a little emotional.

pure gold

I can't find any recordings of this aria that even come close. No one else sings it as beautifully.

How wonderful! I never saw this clip before. I've enjoyed the commercial recording for years owning it first on records and then re-purchasing it when it was finally released on CD. Sills' voice is even fresher here. Just gorgeous. Thank you so much for uploading this.

My favorite clip on KZfaq.

Beverly Sills--the reason I became an opera lover. She was so human, so down to earth. I think that she was opera's best ambassador--especially during the 1970s when I was growing up! She was never the grand diva, though her talent rivaled that of grand diva Maria Callas. She never took herself too seriously--after all, she appeared on "The Muppet Show" with Miss Piggy and an all-pig cast of "Pigoletto"--hilarious!!!

This is adorable.

Absolutely love her voice!

Thank you lovers of Beverly Sills. It is a joy to remember her through all of your loving comments regarding our gem and jewel, Beverly. Most beloved on earth and loved in heaven too.

Emission naturelle,visage resplendissant d'aisance et d'intelligence,charme... Délicieux..!

I saw her on her final tour.. I’m not quite old enough to have seen some of these greats in their prime but I saw her and also La Stupenda (Sutherland) while a music student! Brilliant! And Beverly did bring opera to the masses before the tenors did! ;)

She was a perfectly real middle class American woman, and no prima donna. She loved her art and wanted to share her love. She was stably married for years, and had a daughter with Downs. She dressed sensibly. She was a good actress as well as singer. She had Jewish brains, and was a good administrator of opera in her later years. I remember her, and miss her.

LOL. Douglas Moore looks at the man next to him right after Bubbles finishes like: "Das right." Also Bubbles has the voice of an angel. Elena out

Breathtakingly beautiful. Thank you for making this available.

Beautiful

For non-English speakers who would like the lyrics. “Willow, where we met together...Willow, when our love was new...Willow, if he once should be returning pray tell him I am weeping too. So far from each other as the days pass in their emptiness away...O my love, must it be forever...never once again to meet as on that day...and never rediscover a way of telling the way of knowing all our hearts could say. Gone are the days of pleasure....gone are the friends I had of yore...only the recollection fatal of a word that was spoken Nevermore... Willow, where we met together...Willow, when our love was new...Willow, if he once should be returning pray tell him I am weeping too...”

I grew up in Los Angeles and frequently went to KTLA 5, in Hollywood, to see the taping of the Dinah Shore Show. Beverly Sills was friends with Dinah and was a regular guest. I saw her perform many times. She was always magnificent!

Гениальная певица,изумительный голос

You're most kind for sharing this amazing talent with us. Thank you.

I saw Beverly so many times at the NYC Opera and the Met, in many of her famous roles. By the time she had become a genuine superstar, her voice had deteriorated, so it’s great to see a recording of her when the voice was at its most fresh and beautiful. This song is almost unearthly in its beauty.

Glorious Sills, ravishing singing, o what a national diamond she is!

Definitely anybody going to fall in love with her the same day very good voice

I love Beverley and I love this song. Utterly beautiful x

Wunderful Beverly ! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟👏👏👏👏👏👏🌠🌠🌠

That ladies and gentlemen is a perfect example of a crowd so wowed that can’t even clap. Extraordinary.. and I’m not even a huge Sills fan.

Beverly Sills. Such a voice. Strong clear and commanding.

Just how can I even start to discribe how this gets my brain, sends me to anouther place..

A perfection of singing.

I'm with you an that count too! Perfectly said!!

I am so glad that the audio is not affected by problems in the video. Such a magnificent rendition.

Che brava Beverly...

She sings this so effortlessly.

This has to be one of the best gems! What at a talent!

Absolutely stunning

Extraordinaria e irrepetible voz.

She is amazing! When I need a 'pick me up' I play Beverly Sills singing 'Willow'!

Indeed. This is Beverly at her best!

What a magnificent voice!

Thank you!!!!!

OMG. This is stunning, I never heard her before. I just read her book.

Wonderful!

She lives the music.

Was it opera or American musical theatre? Only snobs pose the question. A beautiful aria or song is rose that enchants us. It needs no categorization to validate it.

What can one say after this performance. Moving etc. Tugs at heart sills the best

WOW! This is AMAZING! I could tell from the first few notes alone!