#joan sutherland

[operaqueen]

Joan Sutherland

[fleetshotter-minstrel]

Sublime! - “Our Enya ☘️” does a very nice version of this also. Also known as “The Gypsy Girl’s Dream.”

[frodothefair]

"Marble Halls" - performed by the Hobbits, the Elves, and the Men. Also a bit of Sam/Rosie.

Just thinking a little about Rosie Cotton today.

I inadvertently came to develop her and like her more than intended in Flowers of Mordor.

Based on what little of her is mentioned in canon, she seemed rather assertive, brave, and an envelope-pusher. She all but gave Sam an ultimatum to quit dawdling and marry her, and when her mother tried to shush her because there were "ruffians about," she would not, and said "let them hear! Sam is coming home soon!" There's probably something in her of the out-of-the-ordinary and transgressive in her that drew Sam to her, just like he was drawn to Frodo.

So in FoM I made her entertaining and feisty, able to command a room with a story or a song, a fierce protector of her friends, and very much capable of throwing a drunk putting a drunk in their place at the Green Dragon.

And recently, I finished Dickensian, and heard the song "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls" as part of the finale, and it gave me Rosie and Sam vibes. I can see Rosie singing it in a bar for the assembly (but really she's singing it to and about Sam), and then later singing it to Sam in a more private setting, perhaps as a lullaby -- because he might also have sleep troubles after the quest, just not as badly as Frodo.

Here is one of the best-known versions of the song by Enya that sounds rather more like something the elves might have performed, whereas Rosie's version probably sounded like the second video from the finale of Dickensian - a little uncouth and unschooled, accompanied by a single piano, and with listeners singing along. (Forgive the poor quality of the Youtube clip).

BONUS:

Oh, heck, here's another lovely, operatic version of the song by Dame Joan Sutherland. I actually think this is my favorite. This performance is probably reminiscent of what would have been heard in Gondor.

Lyrics:

I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls With vassals and serfs at my side, And of all who assembled within those walls That I was the hope and the pride. I had riches all too great to count And a high ancestral name.

But I also dreamt which pleased me most That you loved me still the same, That you loved me You loved me still the same, That you loved me You loved me still the same.

Tagging lovers of my behind-the-scenes process: @konartiste @hippodameia @bumblingbriars

[malusienki]

[joan sutherland as alcina]

are u kidding me this is GORGEOUS. i’m listening to her ombre pallide rn and i am enamored

[iloveopera9]

[widevibratobitch]

13 years today... rip queen. who could ever do it like you.

[liricamundi]

NICOLAI GEDDA

[blackswaneuroparedux]

If I weren't reasonably placid, I don't think I could cope with this sort of life. To be a diva, you've got to be absolutely like a horse.

- Dame Joan Sutherland

Joan Sutherland’s radiant soprano stretched effortlessly over more than three octaves, with a purity of tone that made her one of the most celebrated opera singers of all time.

Acclaimed “La Stupenda” – “the Stupendous One” – during a career spanning more than four decades, Sutherland was known in the opera world as an “anti-diva” diva whose warm, vibrant sound and subtle coloring helped revitalize the school of early 19th-century Italian opera known as bel canto.

She sang at the Sydney Opera House when it opened in 1973, and bowed out with her final series of performances there in 1990.

Her final stage appearance in opera was alongside Luciano Pavarotti in a production of Die Fledermaus the previous year.

It was in 1947 that Dame Joan made her first major foray onto the stage in Australia, playing one of the major roles in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas.

Superlatives were attached to Sutherland’s name from the moment she made her Italian debut in the title role of Handel’s “Alcina” in Venice in 1960.

Luciano Pavarotti proclaimed hers “the voice of the century,” while to English-speaking operagoers she was “The Incomparable” for her mastery of coloratura – the ability to effortlessly sing difficult trills and rapid passages in high registers.

The late tenor Pavarotti, who joined with mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne in Sutherland’s farewell gala recital at London’s Covent Garden on Dec. 31, 1990, called her “the greatest coloratura soprano of all time.”

She is considered one of the greatest coloraturas - meaning, a light voice capable of singing a long string of notes with incredible agility. Coloraturas have the most die-hard of fans - they’re the men shouting “Brava!” the nano-second the curtain drops.

Dame Joan went on to record some 40 recordings of 33 different operas, anthologies and other music. She won a Grammy in 1961 for best classical performer of the year.

She became associated with the lead role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, singing it 233 times during her career.

The soprano was appointed a Dame in the 1979 New Year's Honours list.

After her retirement, Dame Joan continued to nurture burgeoning talent and was a patron of the Cardiff Singer of the World competition, presenting the main trophy for the last time in 2009.

The Australian superstar soprano was born in 1926. She died in October 2010 at her home near Geneva, Switzerland, after what her family described as a long illness. She was 83 years old.

[operaqueen]

Joan Sutherland - Lucia

[onegentlemansescapades]

Remembering the great Joan Sutherland (November 7, 1926 – October 10, 2010) on her birthday.

[lucygold95]

[hadescavedish]

the best duo that ever was

[aschenblumen]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Die Zauberflöte («Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen»). Otto Klemperer, director Joan Sutherland, soprano de coloratura