but what would these two have sung together?

@@biancacastafiore8760 Fun challenge: Turandot/Liu; Elettra/Ilia; Donna Anna/Donna Elvira; Leonore/Marzelline. I think Joan did Woglinde to Birgit's Brunnhilde, yes? And recorded the Forest Bird in Siegfried with her Brunnhilde as well.

I heard the incident you are referring to was not related to this broadcast; It would have been very difficult to do due to intermissions. I read that the incident you are referring to was when Nilsson had cooked and invited Sutherland to her NYC residence for dinner. I am not sure she made it to dinner.

Hahahahaha

They both sound plastered 🍷🍷🍷😜 HAHAHA Arnold Bourbon Amaral

This is the Best comment I've read in many years... Still laughing! Edita's singing is basically based on scooping... She certainly had talent for coloratura, but her scooping all the time makes it almost impossible for me to listen to an entire aria, its simply annoying all that yelling! Joan Sutherland and Callas and Nilsson for life!!!

@@soundslikeblue only talent? Ultra Talented, Phenomenally talented but yes she was also the Queen of Scoops... and as dame Joan says here: ...WHYYYYYY?!?!?

Whose voice do you think was bigger?

is that a question? of course nilsson's@@aaronkei92

A Hogbin Nor will they ever!

Michael Miller why so sure?

The world has changed so much. Sutherland learnt from listening to her mother and then spent decades perfecting her technique, latterly with her husband who was on hand all the time. How many proto-star singers would now spend 7 years as an apprentice in one theatre?

Why so sure? Because these 2 had the most unique and phenomenal voices of our time. And their prime is widely considered the greatest golden age in the history of modern opera.

Arlene Hathaway I grew up w him too. Loved the guy.

I doubt very much the singer feels it as floating, but as the result of very hard work.

Linnaeus Shecut Zinka Milanov was known for this. She would cross the stage on a high pianissimo which would seem to linger there after having left the stage. A fabulous effect.

@@mckavitt13 How do such singers learn the technique? It remains a mystery. Are there any present-day singers who can do it?

Linnaeus Shecut I wonder if they learn it or if it isn’t part of their secret innate vocal possession. I don’t know anyone today, no, who even tries to do it. Perhaps one such singer comes per century or half-century. There was quite a distance between Sutherland & Milanov, for ex.

Sutherland said in interviews that she sort of placed her high notes in the back of her head, and I have read someone singing in the chorus when she was recording (with the chorus behind her) also saying that those massive notes seemed to emanate from the back of her head. Maybe that explains why the notes seemed to come from somewhere else.

I have a public viewable playlist on my page, a collection of 'Met Broadcast Intermission Features'. I'm slowly putting them all together

Not only "over" but replaced by shit. Thank you.

They still do...its called the opera quiz.

I agree. Nowadays if you go to a live Met screen broadcast another opera singer asks the main soloists idiotic and ignorant questions, breaking their concentration and boring us genuine opera lovers.

philipc67 How terrible. I have been away for some time & had no idea. I left in 1988.

Hahaha! Sooo true!

It's also a Milanov impression

Merrily I scooped along 🍷🎶🎼🍷🍷 Arnold Bourbon Amaral

She wishes to sound that _"bad"_ hahah

Vinicius Soaris I LOVE hearing Joan at 5:40 singing from Sonnambula! These two are my favorite two singers also.

I completely understand..could you imagine the 3 Sopranos together Joan, Birgit and Callas..

@@roblessusan19 And our Montse. 👑👑👑👑🎶🎼 Arnold Bourbon Amaral

PianissimoForte A good story! PS. Birgit’s surname was Nilsson.

Cristian Ha I still wonder who had the largest voice - or if they were comparable. We all know Birgit’s voice shot through you and Joan’s was surround sound.

Chris Stockslager birgit probably had a bigger voice, but much less flexible and warm than Joan's

SHICOFF1 if you don’t me could I ask you a few qn... 1. If one uses say modern singers as a measure, how big was say Nilsson’s voice. I don’t mean to say that any singer today could compare but just want to understand how loud Nilsson actually was 2. Of the tenors you heard, A. Did Del Monaco or Corelli had the bigger voice? B. How did The size of voices compare to say modern singers like Domingo or Kaufmann.. How many times bigger were they? 😀

Cristian Ha Her mezza voce was so good too. Agree w you!

Shaun Lee Well, Joan sounds more formal, & more polite to me, as nice as she is. Nilsson could be those, ofc, but was naturally quite goofy, v funny, & yes, down to earth.

Namarea Randolph I dont think there will ever be another Turandot like Nilsson!

Yes God!!!

I don't think there was, nope

MrQwerty88 Thanks for increasing our admiration for this rarity!

The hackles were definitely raised.. Sutherland is the best soprano of the two!

Both are great. "Sutherland is the greatest Bel Canto singer of all the times."...So say Pavarotti...

John Michael Rodriguez well, she definitely acted better and more refined than you manage to write

John Michael Rodriguez you bet! :-)

John Mitchell I feel sad to read this. Nilsson should have given Sutherland the benefit of the doubt.

Shicoff, and may I add, two of the greatest singers of all time. Sadly, today, we are left with mediocrity at the Met!

@SHICOFF1 Nilsson's voice cut through steel. Sutherland's voice filled open spaces. Nilsson's voice was larger but not by much, as Sutherland's was fuller after about 1963. I've heard them both in the theater. The largest voice I've ever heard bar nobody was Jesse Norman. From the bottom to the top it was unbelievably big.

It was huge. The first time I heard her sing live, I nearly choked on my own saliva, and that was towards the end of her career. But there’s one voice that hasn’t been mentioned here, and that’s Eileen Farrell. Corelli famously remarked after having sang with her did the first time “ where did you find this woman? She’s making me deaf”.

Nilsson’s microphone-breaking voice was definitely bigger though!

SHICOFF1 best way to judge. Yes, I agree.

That’s because you’ve never heard Sutherland in person when she was in her prime!

she is in her prime here@@annettefallon1652

tom ericson Being nice was harder than singing, that’s for sure.

@@mckavitt13 when singing is just like breathing my friend. According to my father that's how I would describe his voice and my voice the passion we had for the human voice and singing singing singing. 🇫🇷🎶🎼🍷 Arnold Bourbon Amaral

in what way sorry?

vigwig p What an opaque remark. I have no idea what you meant by this.

ok I'll explain. Great artists rely on their art and talent, not diva behavior, not publicity, not autotune tech. Just the real goods. I sang opera for 20 years. The greatest directors and artists I worked with left their ego at the door.

vigwig I agree with everything you say. I guess I'm just puzzled, as I don't see the connection to this vocal demonstration by Miss Nilsson and Miss Sutherland.

Having had the privilege of seeing both these artists at the MET many times, I was commenting on how they approach their vocal technique and their consummate skill and dedication. They dedicated their talent to serve the art, not everyone on stage does.

It was mushy by her own admission

MrQwerty88 the sound wasn’t mushy the diction was. And her comment was in regards to DICTION.

@@MrQwerty88 Sutherland never once criticized her sound, she criticized her diction which was rounded in order to create a better sound. So no, it wasn't. Meanwhile, other singers who enunciate every vowel are singing the wrong one 50% of the time, and that includes Callas, who regularly sang, among other phrases, Il lino di nahtsuh, instead of il lino di nozze (procounced noh-stay). ALL singers choose vowels that are easier for them or that improve the sound. Sutherland under enunciated consonants, but so did Moffo, because she spoke Italian as a native tongue and her way with the language was looser than many others.

I hate all registers of her voice, tbh. Her coloratura is amazing, though.

@John Michael Rodriguez oh shut up already

Sutherland no sabía lo que es un stacatto??? No me hagas reir :)

Sutherland no sabía lo que es un staccato? Sutherland "coca-cola"? Guao!! Increíbles sus apreciaciones 😲

Que buen humorista!

so much bullshit! nilsson had great low notes, but she sounded always bright. She shows for example in Salome great chest notes.

A spinto then if not dramatic

You are quite ridicoulous! Nilsson did sing many many times Turandot, often Tosca, Aida, Lady Macbeth, and ind the Wagner field Many many Brünnhildes, Färberin and finally about 500 times Isolde!!! All these roles are for dramatic soprano. She was without any doubt a dramatic soprano and only joking , when saying, they called her a lyric. She has a flawless technique (not like the colleagues mentioned in Bayreuth), this made her survive all these Isoldes and Turandots. and a more bright colour thats is. All Genas and other sopranos together wouldnt have survived as many Isoldes like her. If you are singing more dramatic roles than your voice is, you can not sing them often without hurting your voice. Nilsson sounded even in her 80 well!

You realize of course that the Wagnerian soprano is the LARGEST vocal fach for all soprani, right? So, your original post basically reads 'Nilsson didn't have a huge voice, she had the hugest". That's entirely true of course - Nilsson had a GREAT dramatic chest register, and was always audible over massive orchestras (60-90 players), most notably for her low F#3 in R. Strauss' Salome.

Metropolitan Opera broadcast intermission features were generally all scripted