Joan Sutherland

The voice of of a century is gone.  She was 83.

I was lucky to have heard Sutherland live at Avery Fisher Hall with the New York Philharmonic in a concert version of Anna Bolena.  Her voice? Though late in her career, I have never forgotten how it hovered in front of my face even though I was high up in the last row of the house. It shimmered, glowed, and had a radiance that made me realize why the Italians called her "La Stupenda."

I also saw Sutherland give a masterclass/interview at The Juilliard School after she had retired. And though she did not seem to know how to teach her art to others, one observed that she knew firsthand—perhaps more than anyone of her time—the traditions of bel canto.

She could do it.

Talking about Sutherland with my husband at lunch today, he reminded me of a previous conversation we had about her voice, insofar as the vocal tone having an unusual acoustic property recognized by those who build organs. What is that property? To give an organ pipe a more luminous singing tone, pipes are designed to reinforce the octave overtone.  Sutherland's 'pipes'—one might say, had this in great evidence, that is a very different sound than is heard in voices that reinforce the 'third.'  The latter sounds reedy. Brigit Nilsson's voice comes to mind here. 

Hers was a special voice. A great voice. I count myself fortunate to have heard it with my own ears.  

The New York Times Obit can be read here.