Glass Shatterers! Sylvia Geszty - Bellini: LA SONNAMBULA, Final scene, 1970 High F

~The "Glass Shatterers!" series focuses on sopranos who sustain High F, or sing higher.
THE SONGBIRD: Sylvia Geszty (1934 - 2018) was one of the leading coloratura practitioners of the 1960s-1980s. She made many studio recordings and was a regular on European television. Geszty was born in Budapest, but lived most of her life in Germany, with Berlin and Stuttgart as her bases. She made her debut in 1959 in Budapest, and then started her long association with Berlin in 1961 as Gluck's Amor. Her international appearances included Queen of the Night in London in 1966 and in Salzburg in 1967/68/70; and as Sophie in "Der Rosenkavalier" in Buenos Aires and in Los Angeles in 1969. Other cities heard her: Paris, Brussels, Moscow, Amsterdam, Glyndebourne, and Venice. In 1988, Geszty founded an international coloratura singing competition, and in 2004 published her memoirs, titled "Königin der Koloraturen."
THE MUSIC: Bellini's "La Sonnambula" is a gem in the sub-genre of sentimental Italian opera semiseria. The opera premiered in Milan in 1831 with Giuditta Pasta as Amina, the sleepwalking character referred to in the title. The role is long and contains bel canto music demanding both aching lyricism and florid fireworks. The opera culminates with an exquisite final scene that has the shape of a bel canto mad scene, but here Amina has not lost her mind -- she is merely in a melancholy trance due to her sleepwalking. A long mournful scene leads to the plaintive aria "Ah, non credea mirarti" -- arguably Bellini's most beguiling melody. When Amina wakes up and realizes all is well, she launches into a bouncy and joyful cabaletta, "Ah, non giunge." Some sopranos interpolate a High F6 over the final measures.

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