Kathleen Battle sings Blonde LIVE (1982) Durch Zärtlichkeit und Schmeicheln

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Kathleen Battle sings Blonde with Levine in the pit in Mozart's beautiful singspiel opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail. Her trademark radiant, glistening timbre, and effortless legato line is combined with a wonderful ease with the text, in a performance of immense charm of an oft overlooked aria in an opera for whom the vocal plaudits usually go to the role of Constanze. Again, the lack of support in the low notes is forgivable when an E6 can be reached this easily and incorporated into the line.
This recording exists elsewhere on TH-cam, though mistakenly transposed up a semitone, a common glitch of the transferring process. I have corrected the source recording here so that it is in the correct key - the high note is now an E6 as it should be. Enjoy!
libretto:
Durch Zärtlichkeit und Schmeicheln,
Gefälligkeit und Scherzen
Erobert man die Herzen
Der guten Mädchen leicht.
Doch mürrisches Befehlen,
Und Poltern, Zanken, Plagen
Macht, dass in wenig Tagen
So Lieb' als Treu' entweicht.
English translation:
By tenderness and flattery,
Kindness and joking
You’ll conquer the heart
Of this good maiden.
But crabby commands,
Rumbling, bickering, and plagues
Will cause in a few days
Love and faithfulness to escape.

[@ChagoWilson]

Happy 73rd Anniversary Of Life
Friday, August 13, 2021
Our Most Precious Kathleen Battle
You Are Indeed A Special Gift To Us ALL!

[@SuperLmer]

I never heardher hit that last high note. Mind blowing.

[@greatmomentsofopera7170]

SuperLmer it's an E6. battle does the same in Zerbinetta's aria - also on this channel.

[@jrwilliams5509]

Beautiful!!!!!!!

[@orion8835]

Gorgeous! Her high E was not vibrated but it was there...unlike her disc recording is 87 with Solti in this same role. There it literally sounds like a freight train whistle. On that recording really that note should have been remastered and or filled in with this performance or something as it it is truly sour.

[@greatmomentsofopera7170]

Daniel Raphael interesting. Haven't listened to the Solti. The non vibrated E is clearly a stylistic choice here. People give her a lot of stick for 'only' being able to go up to E, but she is one of the most miraculous voices, and to me her top notes are superb. I have posted her live London Zerbinetta too and that is one of the very best ever with fully vibrated Es and superb characterisation.

[@orion8835]

Battle has a gorgeous soprano and its harp like quality and her immediate phrasing are legend. I heard her in 2014 and she was STILL in fine voice. Battle often did struggle with vibrations of notes from essentially G above the staff onwards here and there and only occassionally . This lack of vibration is documented in her video behind the scenes docu of "Baroque Duet" when working with the very astute repetiteur on Bach's "Jauchzet" and she was corrected over and over again for it. Many voices use a straight tone to evoke this or that in early music but it is not entirely historical. It is a for the most part a "effect". In this aria it appears live and also in 1987 on her recording of this same role though to a glaring level. Battle has so much to offer much of these concerns were ignored. On the Zerbinetta you posted there are a few vibration problems but this became more pronounced for her post the mid 1980's with a lot of sliding and non vibrated in alt notes. Battle does have the flagolet tones of E,F,G. In order to produce an E one has to have a G etc etc. However the F G A are very straight and don't carry well and are a bit dull. This occasionally spilled over to her D when rushed and her Eb and E natural. She is a soubrette coloratura and that voice often has issues with anything beyond Eb. But it's all academic blah blah blah.....she is a very enjoyable star!
Check this ...Her in one of the most glorious renditions of Handel piece with an equally stunningly clear perf by Marsalis : th-cam.com/video/YgYVmus2XdY/w-d-xo.html

[@PensadorProfundo42]

@@greatmomentsofopera7170, in fact, Battle has sung at least one F# above high C in public. In this performance /watch?v=b_WzUHWi8Ok, at the very beginning of the piece, she does a beautiful glissando all the way up to F#6, holds the note for half a second, and then goes all the way down, and continues to sing. It was a pristine interpolation.

[@PensadorProfundo42]

@Great moments of opera On the topic of Battle's upper register, there is a "Vorrei Spiegarvi Oh Dio!" (th-cam.com/video/CJ1ktNxTgGA/w-d-xo.html) from, a Mozart Gala, in 1982, in which the entire piece is tuned a semi-tone higher. One can tell by the winds in the accompaniment.
Hence, Battle sings three F6 instead of three E6.
The only possible argument for the higher tuning being a problem in the recording process, and not a musical choice, would be that the tape should be slightly faster. Right? And such cannot be the case. As, in fact, interestingly enough, this is one the slowest "Vorrei" on record. It is a marvelous rendition. Would you check it out and see if it is indeed tuned a semi-tone higher?

[@sylassaint6820]

i guess Im kinda randomly asking but does anyone know of a good place to stream new tv shows online ?

[@tomasrussell6594]

@Sylas Saint i watch on Flixzone. You can find it by googling =)

[@SuperLmer]

I looked this song up on amazon but they only sell the song. Is this opera on video?

[@greatmomentsofopera7170]

SuperLmer no not with Battle.

[@SuperLmer]

Can you tell me what opera she sang in this or was it just a performance?

[@greatmomentsofopera7170]

SuperLmer it's all in the video description above

[@marvinperrott5737]

Die Entführung aus der Serail - Mozart. There is a Solti recording around.