I can't believe that Janowitz was criticized in her heyday for having a rather small voice. Those same critics today only wish that we had more sopranos of her caliber.

If there was ever a more vibrant sign of God mixing with humanity than in the mind (and ear)of Mozart I have neither seen it nor heard it! God be praised!!

To be honest, before the movie Shawshank Redemption no opera existed for me...so ignorant! After this simple song, I just wondered with astonishing marvel in this great art!! I can assure you,simply no matter what version you could hear, Janowitz as Countess Almaviva is just sublime and almost divine. She was born for that role. The great thing about it is that maybe at the end, being human is divine. Thanks to nature for such a gifted and incredible voice.

For me, this is the prettiest version ever.

Two of the greatest mozartians in XXth century in a duet intertwining their golden and silky voices... A moment of pure happiness... An awake dream... (Sorry for my English but 71946's sensible comment sounded to me worth sharing with our friends speaking other languages) Fri 12 Oct 2007 17:48 GMT

Some day I will die - Listening to this day by day, I know I have lived.

Two angelic voices singing heavenly music.

I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a grey place dares to dream. It was as if some beautiful bird had flapped into our drab little cage and made these walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free.

Absolutely! Two goddesses! I've loved both of them so very much for decades!

Two glorious singers of the highest order! Brava!

This is the most beautiful duet I have heard.

This version is indescribably beautiful! Free imagination of love and tenderness.. The breeze really does flow with the song

I never appreciated Opera until this piece slapped me in the face 15 years ago.

oh, the humanity in Nozze !!!

Thanks soooooooo much for posting these clips. RIP Lucia

Absolutely wonderful, absolutely perfect. And it seems like they're having a great time singing together. It's very nice to see the rapport.

I keep coming back to this sublime clip. Heavenly.

They are writing a letter to Count Almaviva. The Count is in love with Susanna, so she and the Countess are setting him up: the letter will ostensibly be from Susanna, setting up a secret meeting between the two, but it is the Countess who will show up, dressed as Susanna. The words they sing are the words being written in the letter.

A moment of heavenly bliss descended upon them, the orchestra and the audience. I think a lot jumped on their feet and clapped that day.

transcendent wonderful perfection

This video is one of my FAVORITE versions of this song! I can't help but sob at the sheer beauty of it!

I do not know What you say these two women, but I love to listen to them

Janowitz and Popp also made two of the most beautiful recordings (of the 20 or so I have) of the Strauss's Four Last Songs. Thanks muezzab, this is truly heavenly!

I watched this on TV long long time ago and I absolutely loved it. Many thanks for posting this

This brings visions of a rich, creamy dessert I once had. Sweet, and it floats my soul to that indefinite place that is happiness. And the way both laughed at the end only made this version more precious.

Una verdadera maravilla que pone los pelos de punta y la carne de gallina. Después de oír este dueto todos los demás se quedan muy por debajo tanto en belleza como en delicadeza.

This is truly a masterpiece - so uplifting, so beautful

I'm looking forward to enjoying it. I just got the dvd today. Now if I could only get a copy of Fleming/Bartoli/Terfel from the Met 1998 I'd be perfectly happy.

@Lassann Your whole little paragraph there is taken directly out of the movie "The Shawshank Redemption". I wonder how many people commenting here, have seen that movie. It was an excellent movie, in particular, the scene where Andy Dufressne locks the gaurd in the bathroom, locks the office door, puts on the record, and kicks back in an innocently defiant manner, (even turns up the volume!) and blasts it thru the pa system, while the whole prison gets to listen to this beautiful piece.Yesss!!

Maybe one of the most beautiful videos of KZfaq

Wow, this is one of my favorite songs of all time, not least becasue of it's connection to The Shawshank Redemption. It is a truly beautiful song sung by two exceptionally talented artists. A true classic, in every sense of the word.

To this day I don't know what those two Italian ladies are singing about. Truth is, I don't want to know. Some things are just too beautiful for words.

Oh dear God such incredible beauty!! Thanks MUEZZAB

This is a lovely duo. Angels indeed.....

First time I have seen Janowitz - have her on many LPs, notably a DG LP of Mozart arias that is an absolute gem. She really has a quite unique voice. Popp is a star too.

pure beauty

Beautiful

Such joy! Truly out of this world!

Stunning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THX for the video.

I tell you those voices soared, higher and farther than anybody in a grey place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made these walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man @ GiftRAP felt free.

wonderful: Janovitz, Popp and Strehler!!!!

Belíssimo dueto... delicadeza e doçura, tudo o que Mozart pede!

Sublime,Incomparable

such depth, cleanses the soul makes you feel good and happy to be alive.

Questo è un bellissimo video! Che cosa si può dire, ma la perfezione!

The astonishing Carlos Kleiber worked and recorded with both Popp and Janowitz. Barber's book talks about his relationship with, and thoughts about, each of these wondrous singers. The three never did Figaro together, alas...

the best version of this I ever heard was Popp and Kanawa in an '81 studio recording with an incredible cast (Ramey, Von Stade, Moll, Allen)

beautifully put!

The duetto is so moving

Dos grandes cantantes!, fantásticas.

I think I'd be pretty pleased if people were listening to my piece and calling me a genius over 225 years after I wrote it. And considering this opera, like others, paid Mozart pretty well and led to other commissions, I don't think he'd be opposed to the idea of a Hollywood film representing his work.

Wonderful! This was the duet played in that marvellous film 'The Shawshank Redemption',where all the prisoners turn up their faces in wonder. No wonder! vivr0

Will you trolls give it a rest? Every single youtube up with this duet has some troll quoting Shawshank. It gets old after the *thousandth* time. Good to see you only know that of Mozart's great music which is used in the context of pop culture. I'm sure that would make him SO pleased. Happy birthday anyway, beloved Wolfgang.

Very beautiful!

this brings me to tears

incredible set design

My heckels are bristling. Beautiful.

wonderful!

Yes! I agree! I'm a huge Kiri fan in general, but as wonderful as Janowitz is, Kiri is forever the best countess. That recording is my favorite of this opera, I just love Popp as Susanna too! wonderful!

おお、Popだ！'70年代はKoeln Oper Hauseでよく観ました。 ああ、バラの騎士なんかもよかったなあ。MozartとStraussを たくさん観たなあ。とっても懐かしい。

yes i discovered this beautiful music the same way.

omg .. .yes... definitely

I love Janowitz and Mathis as Agathe and Annchen in the Der Freischutz recording

Quell'edizione sara' stata sicuramente un Trionfo.

If this doesn't make you weep, check your pulse.

Ravishing!

@Lassann Awesome reference to The Shawshank Redemption. Loved it!

Dreamteam!

beautifull

Awesome! Brava!

Marvelous...

those were the days.

MARAVILHOSO

me too! I watch it at least three times a day last week - am trying to wean self cos husband sez I'm using up broad band allocation

it's no nice it gives me shivers...

Perfect match. Awesome.

Yea!

Paris 1980

Excellent performance but for me the duet of Edith Mathis and Gundula Janowitz is the definitive performance of this wonderful piece.

@Lassann Hell yes to the Shawshank Redemption reference. That was why I even looked up this song in the first place.

Makes me want to watch the Shawshank Redemption again.

Thank you for that observation. I guess I'll have to stop getting upset about some comments that trash singers I like. I personally like to think that there may be something to enjoy and appreciate in many interpretations. I may have a favourite, but that does NOT mean I can't appreciate others.

does not matter who is singing, figaro makes me cry

dont understand a single word there,But MUSIC HAS NO LANGUAGE. EXCELLENT

i dont know what those italian girls where singing..

Please don't apologize; am sure you know a great deal more than i do in many areas other than classical music and Catholicism. I don't know much about Catholicism; but I love sacred music. You may find Lucia Popp's version of Laudate Dominum sublimely beautiful and moving,and te Kanawa's Exsultate Jubilate joyful and uplifting. Both composed by Mozart and available on KZfaq.

Just fantastic. Really gave me shivers... And certainly, this performance does not exist on DVDs?

@Lassann - the words don't take too much away but it IS the achingly beautiful harmonies of this song, check out Soave il vento from Cosi fan Tutti - I think you'll like it. Trio singing goodbye I think may the gentle winds carry you or something to that effect ;)

meinegüte... wenn der himmel nur halb so schön ist wie diese beiden stimmen.....:-)))

Fallenangel272 is right, such a sublime and beautiful performance but Bartoli & Flemming are just wonderful together

Man...reading this doesn't sound the same as hearing Mr. Freeman's voice in the foreground... still, poetry indeed

I'm wrong again! The duet on the full-length Bohm recording is with Edith Mathis, Troyanos is Cherubino. The recording was 1968.I'm pretty sure this is the one used in the film. However, I have videos of 3 Figaros with Janowitz, Tokyo 1978, Paris 1980 and Tokyo 1986.If it's Janowitz that interests you I have loads of stuff.vivr0

They are singing the aria Canzonella sull´aria, from the opera Le nocce di Figaro, of W.A. Mozart. They are Susanna (Lucia Popp) and the countess of Almaviva (Gundula Janowitz). Great film (Cadena Perpetua in spanish), one of my favourites too, and wonderful song!

No. It is not from the Shawshank Redemption. As stated here it was written for the Mozart Opera "Le Nozze di Figaro".

gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous Can you post "Contessa perdono" and the final chorus?

Purity in sound...

I accidentally ran this video in two separate windows (two IE windows open at the same time), one only few portions of a second after another. I got an echo effect WOW

Popp est divine mais Janowitz savonne tout et la justesse est approximative!

At the risk of being a spoiler, they are setting a trap for a philandering husband. . . .

00:01 (Countess) Canzonetta sull'aria 00:10 (Susanna) sull'aria 00:13 C: "Che soave zeffiretto" 00:25 S: Zeffiretto 00:30 C: Questa sera spirerà 00:41 S: Questa sera spirerà 00:48 C: Sotto i pini del boschetto 01:00 S: Sotto i pini 01:02 C: Sotto i pini del boschetto 01:10 S: Sotto i pini ... del boschetto 01:17 C: Ei già il resto capirà 01:22 S: Certo, certo il capirà 01:28 duo: Certo, certo il capirà 2007-0911.1508 GMT