Opera
I was five when my father took me to see the Mikado. From what I have read it may have been the Doyley Carte Company then but I can not be sure. This began a tradition taken up by my Grandmother of sending me to a musical or an opera each year for my birthday. I was hooked at an early age. Stage two came with the Beatles film 'Help'. They sang the Ode To Joy from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony ( a classical piece in a world of pop - Oh my God!) and I thus began one of the great compulsions of my life, buying records and paying to go to the Theatre myself. Having been known to scream "FUCK" somewhat loudly after a particularly good note, and on another occasion the person sitting next to me suggesting that I might be having an orgasm during a particularly memorable scene of Dame Joan Sutherland's, it can be assumed that I find music rather exciting. Music of almost any kind has such a personal affect on the way I handle the world I live in. When music is involved the words are secondary to the feeling that comes pouring out of it into my mind, my soul, my groin, my body. I can float. My hair will literally stand on end. I can lose my breath. It is a passion that I could not exist without. It is all part of the fantasy that I create, to have a world that is beautiful, expansive and fulfilling. I sometimes think it is to take me from reality, but then again, perhaps it is the true reality of some of the human potential.
Opera Composers
For Four Hundred Years the phenomenon of setting a staged drama or comedy to music has gripped generation after generation of theatre goers. The spectacle of, at times, lavish sets, lighting and stage effects surrounding a play, given more impact by being sung is still the grandest of the arts. Of the hundreds of mainly men and a few women who have set themselves to composing Opera for the stages of our generations and countries, no more than a few dozen make an appearance in our theatres today. Some of my popular favourites appear below or in the following pages.
Ludwig
Van Beethoven. Johann Van Beethoven married Maria Magdalena
Laym in 1767. Their first child died an infant and their second child was Luwig van
Beethoven, who was born in the city of Bonn on 16 December 1770. Both his father
and grandfather were musicians. His father had been a tenor in the chapel of the Elector
of Cologne and taught Ludwig piano and violin but his general education ceased at
elementary school, being practically illiterate in math. His
father’s motivation was to develop a prodigy in the style of Mozart and reap the
financial rewards but he treated the boy cruelly. His father was a drunkard and the young
boy’s life was bleak except the tenderness of his mother, and the generosity and
affection of his grandfather. As a boy, Beethoven was both ugly and clumsy. His
life-long friend, Ries, said "in behaviour, Beethoven was awkward and
helpless; his uncouth movements were often destitute of grace. He seldom took anything
into his hands without dropping and breaking it. No piece of furniture was safe with him.
He frequently knocked his ink-pot into the pianoforte." Beethoven
had few friends in early life, being consistently ridiculed.In 1782, he gained the admiration of a
teacher-Neefe. "Beethoven, son of the court tenor singer of that name, a boy
of eleven years old, possesses talent of great promise...He plays the piano with wonderful
execution, and reads very well at sight....He will certainly be a second Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart, if he continues as he has begun." In 1787, he went to Vienna,
knocked on Mozart's door. Mozart was not impressed with Beethoven's style of performance
but when he began to improvise Mozart recognised a genius. "He will make a
noise in the world some day," Two months later he returned to Bonn for the
death of his mother, on 17 July. As a youth of 19, in 1789, Beethoven legally placed
himself at the head of his family taking half his father's salary to support his brothers.
Beethoven became acquainted with the Breuning
family being friend to Count Waldstein and possible lover to Elenore von Breuning (his
first). In 1792, he left Bonn and at 22, moved to Vienna, the European centre for music.
He trained with Haydn and Salieri. He had met Haydn previously but after a year jealousy
caused a rift in their relationship. He became a concert pianist and a composer.
Very
quickly he sought aristocratic patrons to support him. In 1802, Beethoven published the
Moonlight Sonata dedicated to one of his loves, Countess Giulietta Guicciardi.
Beethoven's publishers called it "The Moonlight" because the first movement
inspired the vision "of a boat on Lake Lucerne by a luminous night".
Franz Liszt described the second movement as "a flower between
abysses" After his brother Carl died in 1815 and
Beethoven then felt responsible for his nephew Karl (right), and became his guardian. It is not
known when he began to go deaf, but he kept the fact a secret until 1801 and was totally
deaf by 1818. He continued to compose until the year of his death. Beethoven died March
26, 1827 and was originally buried in the Wahringer-Orts Friedhof next to
Franz Schubert. His grave fell into disrepair and in 1888 with composer Anton Bruckner
present he was exhumed and reburied in the Vienna Zentralfriedhof
Georges Bizet (Alexandre
Cesar Leopold) (1838 - 1875) Born in Paris with a singing teacher father and
brother and a pianist for a mother and entered the Conservatoire at eleven, studied under Gounod
and Halevy (whose daughter he married in 1869) and as a pianist he was praised
by Liszt. At the age
of nineteen he won the Prix de Rome and studied in Italy for three years, where
he met Ernest Guiraud, a lifelong friend. Among his
operas the best known are 'The Pearl Fishers (1863) 'The Fair Maid of Perth' (1967) and
'Carmen' (1875). His life was plagued by doubts arising from unfulfilled promise
and so many compositions entered into enthusiastically were soon abandoned. He died
from a persistent throat infection a few months after the premiere of Carmen.
Vincenzo
Bellini (1801 - 1835) Born in Catania Sicily to an organist father he took
up music against family opposition. He studied in
Naples, writing his first opera 'Adelson e Salvinaas' a student in 1825 and
immediately gained a commission to write 'Bianca e Fernando' for San Carlo and
after this he wrote 'Il Pirata' for La Scala. In 1831 he wrote both 'La
Sonnambula'
and 'Norma', two of his most famous works. In 1835 he composed his last opera 'I
Puritani' and worn out he died of dysentery in Paris where he was buried until
his body was moved in 1871 to Catania. As an attractive young man he was much
sought after, but 'protecting (himself) from marriage' he took a mistress
Giuditta Turina, who was married at the time. He influenced his generation including
Chopin, Donizetti and Berlioz. Great revivals of his lyric operas by the
powerful voices of Callas and Sutherland have placed him back on the modern
stage. He composed 10 operas.
Benjamin
Britten was born on the feast of Saint
Cecilia, November 22nd. 1913 in Lowestoft Suffolk. Edward Benjamin Britten began to
compose at the age of nine. He studied under Frank Bridge and at the Royal College
of Music. One of his earliest successes was 'Les Illuminations' (a song cycle set to the
poems of Arthur Rimbaud). He was a conscientious objector and lived in the United States
from 1939-1942. He wrote all sorts of music including the monumental anti war pieces
'War Requiem' and
'Sinfonia da Requiem'. He was friends with, and collaborated on various projects with
Christopher Isherwood and W.H. Auden (an anti war film). Throughout his career he had
other associations such as the actor David Hemmings, who was a starring boy soprano
in many of Britten's earlier stage works. In 1947 he founded the Aldeburgh Festival. In
1976, just a few months before his death, he became the first musician to be made a peer with the title Baron Britten of
Aldeburgh, in the County of Suffolk. Peter Pears was Knighted in 1978. His
and Pears life together was one of the greatest loves and creative collaborations of the twentieth century. When
Benjamin Britten met Peter Pears in the thirties they began a partnership that lasted
until Britten's death in 1976. So strong was this relationship that it is difficult to
find a mention or photograph of one without reference to the other. Britten wrote most of
his songs, parables, music and operas for Pears to interpret. The tenor Pears had a light
voice of beautiful tone and it is the benchmark for the realisation of the works of
Benjamin Britten, who obviously wrote for and was influenced by that voice that he loved
so much. In
a new book 'Britten, Voice and Piano' by Graham Johnson, a pianist,
specialising in accompanying, who worked with Britten and Pears when
they were old-ish and he was young, he says that he noticed, when
working on Death in Venice with Pears, that a harmony when Aschenbach
sees Tadzio - 'Here comes Eros, his very self' Act 1 scene 5:
was the same as one near the end of the Michelangelo Sonnets. He
commented on this to Britten, who said "Look at the direction on
the second to last line (of the sonnets)". The direction was
"Sempre pp", i.e. "always pianissimo". The code of
course means "Always Peter Pears". Johnson said he found this
intentional connection between the first and last works dedicated to
Peter very moving. In November 1975, Britten was ailing and in Venice. I was there at the same time. Perhaps
I unknowingly bumped into him in the Piazza. He returned to England, continued to write
and on the 4th December 1976 he died of heart failure in the arms of Peter Pears.
In Pears words
"the only thing he
regretted was leaving me" Peter Pears died ten years later of a
heart attack on the 3rd of April 1986. He was buried next to Benjamin Britten in
their grave at Aldeburgh.
Gaetano
Donizetti (1797 - 1848) Born and died in Bergamo. Oone of six children, his brother Giuseppe (later titled Donizetti
Pasha) becoming Chief of Music to Ottoman Armies. Apart from composing over 70 operas he wrote songs, chamber
music, and music for the piano and
for the church. As
a Student he wrote three un-produced operas, but his parents forced him into the
Austrian army where he still composed and his first reasonable success was 'Enrico di
Borgogna' in Venice in 1822. His popularity then earned him exemption from military service. His
early works were imitations of Rossini. 'Anna Bolena' (1830) became his first
universal success which was confirmed by 'Lucia di Lammermoor' (1835). He had
censorship difficulties with 'Poliuto' in Italy and again with and 'Lucrezia Borgia'
in Paris. In Vienna the Emperor made him Court Composer and Master of the
Imperial Chapel. He died paralysed and insane in the last stages of a
venereal disease. p.s. I have 35 complete Donizetti opera recordings.
Antonin
Dvorak (1841 - 1904) Born the son of a butcher and innkeeper near Prague.
Familiar with the bohemian folk music and taught piano, organ and viola when
young. He played viola under Smetana at the National Theatre when he was twenty
one. Smetana also conducted Dvorak's first publicly recognised composition, an
overture. In 1880 he became a friend of Brahms who helped get his music
published. He directed the New York National Conservatorium (1892 - 1895) and
the Prague Conservatorium (1901 - 1904). His operas were 'Kate and the Devil'
(1899) and 'Rusalka' (1900). My favourite pieces are his 'Dumky Trio' and 'Stabat
Mater'
Umderto
Giordano (1867 - 1948) Born in Foggia the son of a chemist he studied at the
Naples Conservatoire and wrote his first opera 'Marina' at twenty two for the
Sonzogno competition which was won by Mascagni's 'Cavalleria Rusticana'. However
Sonzogno commissioned 'Mala Vita' which premiered in Rome in 1892.. After
a failure with 'Regina Diaz' he wrote his most famous work 'Andrea Chenier' It
was due to open in Milan in 1896 but was suddenly withdrawn. Giordano met
Mascagni in Florence to discuss this set back and Mascagni missed a tram ride
with other notables which crashed and killed several. Feeling that Giordano had
saved his life he went to Milan and persuaded La Scala to mount the opera.
'Andrea Chenier' played throughout Italy and New York that year and reached
Moscow the following year. 'Fedora' (1878) premiered with Enrico Caruso in the
role of Loris and established his reputation. His later operas were less
successful but when he died his funeral was interrupted when the coffin was
placed in the open doorway of La Scala while the orchestra played 'Amor ti vieta'
from 'Fedora'.
Christoph
Willibald von Gluck (1714 - 1787) born in Erasbach in the Upper Palatinate
the son of a huntsman and moved regularly as his father took up posts as
forester to many noble families. Studied in
Prague and was an organist and music teacher. As a chamber musician in Vienna he
was heard and taken to Milan by Prince Melzi and prodused his first opera for
Milan, Venice, Bologna, Crema and Turin. He lived for a short time in London and knew Handel and Arne but
although he travelled much, he lived most of his life in Paris
and Vienna and was court musician to Maria Teresa. He was singing teacher to
Marie-Antoinette. His later operas sought reform and avoided
excess vocal embellishment for the sake of dignity and simplicity. His great
works include 'Orpheus and Euridice' (1762), 'Alceste' (1768), 'Iphigenia in
Aulis' (1774), and 'Iphigenia in Tauris' (1779). He was partially paralised by a
stroke in 1779 and died of a stroke in Vienna in 1787.
Jules
Massenet (1842 - 1912) Born in Montaud to an ironmaster and one of four
musical children to his second wife. Moving to Paris when he was six. Poverty
removed the family to Chambery but Jules remained with a relative in Paris. At
17 he began harmony studies and composition with Ambroise Thomas. Winning the
Prix de Rome he moved to the Villa Medici, met Liszt and the daughter of Mme
Sainte-Marie who became his wife. His 'La Grande'Tante was performed at the
Opera-Comique in 1867 but La Roi de Lahore (1877) was his first appealing opera
followed by 'Herodiade' and the triumphant 'Manon' (1884). Then followed a
succession of operas like 'Esclarmonde' (1889) Thais (1894) and Werther (1892)
that have returned to the repertoire. A personal favourite is 'Le Jongleur de
Notre Dame' (1902) for an all male cast. He became Professor of Composition at
the Paris Conservatoire. He died in Paris.
Giacomo
Meyerbeer (1791 - 1864) Born Jakob Liebmann Beer in Berlin, the son of a
Jewish Banker. He added Meyer at the request of an uncle and became Giacomo
while in Italy. He studied with Zelter a friend of Goethe. Weber was a friend
and in Vienna he met Beethoven and Saliere who advised him to go to Paris. He
had been an imitator of the popular Rossini and used his wealth to enhance his
productions, create publicity while seeking the fame he desired. Most notable
were his 'Robert le Diable' (1831), 'Les Huguenots' (1836), 'Le Prophete'
(1849), L'Africane (1865). Although showing kindness to Wagner and conducting
his Rienzi, he was mocked in Wagner's anti-Semitic essay 'Jewishness in Music'
Claudio
Monteverdi (1567 - 1643) Born in Cremona Italy. At age 20 the first of his
nine books of Madrigals appeared. In 1590 he joined the service of Vincenzo
Gonzaga of Mantua playing the viol and remained there until 1612. His first
opera was 'La Favola d'Orfeo' (1607) was the first significant opera written
after the style had begun with Jacopo Peri's 'Euridice' ( the earliest known and
surviving opera from 1600. 
His earlier
'Dafne' from 1597 in which he himself
sang the role of Apollo has disappeared) . Monteverdi followed this with many
others including Arianna (1608). He took up Italy's most important musical post
as the choirmaster of St Mark's in Venice the following year. Operas written in
this period were destroyed during the sack of Mantua in 1630. He was ordained in
1632. Two great works from this later period remain. 'The Return of Ulysses'
(1640) and 'The Coronation of Poppea' (1642).
Johann Chrysostom
Wolfgang Theophilus Mozart
was born 27 January 1756 in Salzburg, Austria, to composer and violinist,
Leopold and his wife, Anna Maria Pertl.
Theophilus is Gottlieb in German, and Amadeus in Latin and it is by Wolfgang and
Amadeus that he is known.
In 1782 Mozart began the
composition of piano concertos, so that he could appear both as composer and
soloist. He became a Freemason in
1784. His Italian masterpieces were ‘Le nozze di Figaro’ 1786, ‘Don
Giovanni’ 1787, and ‘CosÏ fan tutte’ 1790. The letters to fellow Masons
in his last three years reflect his anxieties about finance or health. He hoped
the accession of Emperor Leopold II would lead to a position or commissions, but
nothing was forthcoming. In 1791 he applied unsuccessfully for the post of
Kapellmeister of St Stephen's Cathedral. His last complete operas were ‘The Magic Flute’ for the popular
music hall theatre, and ‘La clemenze di
Tito’ both in 1791. Both he and friend and librettist Emanuel Schikaneder
were members of the same Masonic Lodge and The Magic Flute is filled with
Masonic secrets and imagery. The early sets were Turkish but within a few years
the imagery moved to Egypt from which much Masonic ceremony was gathered. He was commissioned by an unknown stranger to compose the
Requiem Mass and he became obsessed with the idea that it was for his own death,
and after a three-week fever he died in Vienna, 5 December 1791 before it was
finished. There has always been speculation as to the cause of his death and
after this short life of genius he was buried in an normal unmarked grave.
Amilcare
Ponchielli (1834 - 1886) Born in Cremona Italy to a shopkeeper and growing
up in poverty his talent as a boy took him to the Milan Conservatoire at age
nine.. Although only known for the everlasting 'La Gioconda' his first opera 'I
promessi sposi' was performed in Cremona at age twenty two. 'Rodericao' in 1863
and a revision of his first work for the opening of the Teatro dal Verme in
Milan. He was then commissioned to write a ballet and then the opera 'I Lituana'
(1874) for La Scala. His peak was 'La Gioconda' (1876) to a libretto by Arrigo
Boito from the play "Angelo,Tyran de Padua' by Victor Hugo. It was
performed around the world in the next few years and its five principle roles
remain a vehicle for the great singers today. His other eight operas and sacred
cantatas etc have failed to live to today. He became Maesto di Capella of
Bergamo Cathedral and Professor of Composition at the Milan Conservatoire.
Puccini was one of his students.
Giacomo
Puccini, was born in Lucca Italy December 22, 1858. He was the eldest male of a
large family. His mother Albina sent him first to her brother Fortunato Magi to
study music then to Carlo Angeloni. He then, at the age of 14, became organist
at St. Martino and St. Michele in Lucca, and other local churches. A performance
of Verdi's Aida at Pisa in 1876 made a great impact on him that he
decided to study operatic composition so with the help of an uncle a scholarship
he began studies at the Milan Conservatory. He spent from 1880 to 1883 there
under the composition teacher Amilcare
Ponchielli, who was probably the major influence on Puccini's operatic future. Mid 1883 Puccini entered An Encouragement to Young Italian Composers Competition
sponsored by the publisher Eduardo Sonzogno of Milan.
Henry
Purcell (1659 - 1695) Born in London to a musical family Henry became a
chorister of the Chapel Royal, later composer for violins and later organist at
Westminster Abbey. He wrote every sort of music and after the Restoration
Purcell turned to Music Theatre and after success at Dorset Gardens he wrote
incidental music for forty three plays. London was becoming aware of the Italian
opera and in 1689 Purcell wrote Dido and Aeneas which included 17 dances for a
boarding school for 'gentlewomen' run by Josias Priest who was a dancing
master.. Following this amateur success they were invited to produce a
professional production for Dorset Gardens. 'The Prophetess' consisted of a cast
of actors and singers and contained many dances, ending with a masque. Then
followed 'King Arthur' and the spectacular and expensive 'The Fairy Queen'
and others. He died young and was buried in Westminster Abbey to the music he
had composed for the funeral of Queen Mary the previous year.
Richard
Strauss (1864 - 1949) He wrote 15 operas, around 200 songs and great symphonic tone poems.
As a conductor he gained fame and conducted at Beyreuth in1894. His first opera
was 'Guntram' was presented in the same year. His great works were 'Salome'
(1905),
which was as infamous as the Oscar Wilde play, 'Electra' (1909), 'Der
Rosenkavalier' (1911) and 'Ariadne auf Naxos' (1912). His final opera was 'Capriccio' which was written about the relative importance of words or music in
opera. His mastery of writing for the soprano was only equalled by Mozart.
Strauss accepted the role of president of the Reich Music Chamber and this relationship with the Nazis led to his self imposed exile in
Switzerland after the war and he returned
home to Bavaria only in the year of his death.
Giuseppe
Verdi (1813 - 1901) Apart from writing 32 operas and some sacred music he
was briefly a senator in the
Italian Parliament, and founded
a Rest Home for musicians in Milan a few weeks before his death. He began with
church organ music and this, combined with military marches that he was also
familiar with, led the way to the stirring music he was later to write. His first opera
'Rochester was written in1836. Lost and some
music re-used in 'Oberto' which was performed in 1939. Hired by La Scala he
eventually wrote 'Nabucco' in 1842. His love of Shakespeare led to 'Macbeth', 'Otello'
and his final opera 'Falstaff' in 1893. His ambition to write King Lear never came
to fruition.
Antonio
Lucio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741) Born in Venice. His father was a violinist at
San Marco. He began training for the priesthood at fifteen and was ordained in
1703 but complaining of chest pains the red-head soon gave up saying Mass and
turned strictly to music. Viloinist, composer and conductor at the Conservatorio
dell'Ospedale della Pieta a famous charitable orphan girls school in Venice.
Known primarily for his orchestral concertos, many of his reported 100 operas
are now being re-discovered. His first "Ottone in Villa' (1713). Others
were "L'Orlando finto pazzo' (1714) and 'Griselda' (1735) He described
himself as a 'freelance entrepreneur' acting as impresario for theatre works of
others as well as strictly supervising his own productions. Having been hugely
popular throughout Europe and playing for the Pope and the Emperor his works
were eventually banned from being performed in Papal territories because of his
lapsed priesthood, his contract was not renewed at the orphanage and he
sought refuge in Vienna where he died and was buried in a paupers grave attached
to St Stephen's.
Richard
Wagner (Wilhelm) (1813 - 1883) Born in Leipzig. His father died in 1813 and
his mother married Ludwig Geyer and actor and painter.. He mat Weber as a child
and studied music at St. Thomas School. Initially his music was unsuccessful
and he married an actress Wilhelmine Planer in 1836. He worked in menial
jobs in Paris (1839 - 1842) but became conductor at Dresden in 1842 and the
successful 'Rienzi' was produced, then the less so 'The Flying Dutchman' 1843
and 'Tannhauser' 1845. Involved in revolutionary politics now, 'Lorengrin' was
refused by the censors, he was exiled to Switzerland. Liszt staged Lorengrin in
1850. Wagner conducted in London and was received by Queen Victoria, Moscow and
St Petersburg. He
began the 'Ring Cycle' in 1853 but did not complete it until 1874. 'Tristan and
Isolde' fwas mounted in 1865 financed by King Ludwig of Bavaria then 'The
Meistersingers' in 1868; both conducted by Hans von Bulow whose wife Cosima
(daughter of Liszt) lived with Wagner with whom she had two daughters and a son
Sigfried in 1869. They married in 1870.. He moved to Bayreuth and began
construction of the Festival Theatre which opened with the Ring in 1876 and
premiered Parsifal in 1882, He died the following year at the Palazzo Vendramin
Calergi in Venice. Bayreuth was run by Cosima until 1906, followed by Sigfried
until 1930 and then his widow Winifred who was a firm supporter of Hitler, who
visited Bayreuth. After the war their sons Wieland and Wolfgang took over the
directorship.
La Stupenda
Dame Joan Sutherland
Born in Sydney on the 7th of November 1926
For my first comment I have to make tribute to the greatest woman who ever sang. For 40 years she has been the beginning and end of all my fascination with opera. I attended her farewell season with sadness and awe.
The voice of any Century
Joan would have to
be my most absolutely favourite singer of all time. I have been lucky enough to see her
several times from 1979 until her retirement in1990. A career that began in
Sydney in 1949, achieved
universal fame in 1959 with her performance of Lucia di Lammermoor and stayed there for the next 31 years.
In the course of those years she gave around 1800 performances in a repertoire
that encompassed 48 operas. It is strange that
although Maria Callas is justifiably legendary, her best performances were only in the
fifties and she lost her voice and died at 52. Her career of around 600
performances, as far as I am concerned,
lasted only ten good years and yet appearing to come from a different generation, she is only three years older than Joan Sutherland.
One of several autographs.
The performances I have seen
At
$150 a ticket back in 1982 it still seemed very cheap for the great
Sutherland Pavarotti concert. We were originally preparing for at least $500, but
for a once in a lifetime experience thousands sent in blank cheques which were
returned. Telecast or broadcast around the world I was overwhelmed to be there.
It received the largest audience ever for a television event in Australia.
This began a week of opera indulgence that eventually involved seven different
performances, including a dress rehearsal
Norma 1979 and 1985 Joan as Lucia - in 1980 and 86 Adriana Lecouvreur 1984 The last Huguenot. 1990 Lucrezia Borgia 1982 Die Fledermaus 1982
THE LAST BIG THRILL
On a trip to Sydney in February 2000, almost ten years exactly since Joan's retirement and my last visit to that Opera House, I of course went to a spectacular production of 'The Pearl Fishers' but an even greater thrill then the opera was Dame Joan Sutherland sitting in the row directly in front of me. She looked much older then she did ten years ago and had developed a small limp in her walk, but I felt the same heart pounding thrill as if she had sung.
Joan Sutherland Opera Recordings and Stage Repertoire
First Performance
Complete Recording
* = Live Performance
Bellini
I Puritani first performance as Elvira - Glyndebourne Festival 1960
conductor Tullio Serafin with Antonio Zerbini - Palermo 1961*
conductor Richard Bonynge with Pierre Duval, Margreta Elkins 1964
conductor Richard Bonynge with Luciano Pavarotti, Nicolai Ghiaurov 1975
La Sonnambula first performance London 1960
conductor Richard Bonynge with Margreta Elkins Nicola Monti 1963
conductor Richard Bonynge with Luciano Pavarotti 1982
conductor Antonino Votto with Raina Kabaivanska - Milan 1961*
conductor Richard Bonynge with Luciano Pavarotti 1965
Norma as Clotilde - London 1952 with Maria Callas, and first performance as Norma - Vancouver 1963
conductor Vittorio Gui - as Clotilde with Maria Callas 1952*
conductor Richard Bonynge with Marilyn Horne 1964
conductor Richard Bonynge with Marilyn Horne New York 1970*
conductor Richard Bonynge with Luciano Pavarotti, Monserrat Caballe
video/DVD Sydney 1978 and Canada 1981*
Bizet
Carmen as Frasquita - London 1953 and as Micaela - London 1955
as Micaela conductor Thomas Schippers with Regina Resnik, Mario del Monaco 1963
Bononcini
Griselda conductor Richard Bonynge with Lauris Elms, Monica Sinclair, Margreta Elkins, Spiro Malas 1966
Britten
Gloriana as Lady Penelope Rich - 1953
Cilea
Adriana Lecouvreur first performance San Diego 1983
conductor Richard Bonynge 1990
Video/DVD Sydney 1984*
Delibes
Lakme first performance as Lakme - Seattle 1967
conductor Richard Bonynge with Jane Berbie, Monica Sinclair,Gabriel Bacquier, Gwenyth Annear 1967
Video/DVD Sydney 1976*
Donizetti
Lucia di Lammermoor first performance which made Sutherland a star - London 1959
conductor Tullio Serafin with John Shaw, Margreta Elkins London 1959*
conductor John Pritchard with Renato Cioni, Robert Merill 1961
conductor Richard Bonynge with Luciano Pavarotti, Sherrill Milnes 1971
Video/DVD Sydney 1986 New York 1983*
La Fille di Regiment first performance as Marie - London 1966
conductor Richard Bonynge with Luciano Pavarotti, Spiro Milas 1967
conductor Richard Bonynge with Luciano Pavarotti New York 1972*
Video/DVD Sydney 1986 *
Maria Stuarda first performance as Maria Stuarda - San Francisco 1971
conductor Richard Bonynge with Luciano Pavarotti, huguette Tourangeau 1979
Lucrezia Borgia first performance Vancouver 1972
Video/DVD Sydney 1977*
conductor Richard Bonynge with Marilyn Horne, Giacomo Aragall 1979
Video/DVD London 1980 *
L'Elisir d'Amore conductor Richard Bonynge with Luciano Pavarotti, Spiro Milas 1970
Anna Bolena first performance Toronto 1984
conductor Richard Bonynge with Samuel Ramey 1988
Goosens
Judith first stage role Conservatorium of Music Sydney 1951
Gounod
Faust first Performance as Marguerite - Philadelphia 1965
conductor Richard Bonynge with Nicolai Ghiaurov, Franco Corelli, Margreta Elkins, Raymond Myers 1967
Graun
Montezuma excerpts - conductor Richard Bonynge with Lauris Elms, Joseph Ward, Elizabeth Harwood, 1966
Handel
Samson as Delilah in concert - Sydney 1950 and as the Israelite woman at Leeds and London 1958
Alcina first performance as Alcina - London 1957
conductor Richard Bonynge with Monica Sinclair, Mirella Freni Luigi Alva 1962
conductor Ferdinand Leitner with Fritz Wunderlich -Cologne 1959*
Rodelinda first performance London 1959
conductor Richard Bonynge with Huguette Tourangeau - Amsterdam 1973*
conductor Richard Bonynge with Huhuette Tourangeau 1987
Giulio Cesare first performance as Cleopatra - London 1963
conductor Richard Bonynge highlights only with Margreta Elkins,
Marilyn Horne, Monica Sinclair, Richard Conrad 1964
Athalia conductor Christopher Hogwood with Emma Kirkby
Acis and Galatea conductor Sir Adrian Boult with Peter Pears, Owen Brannigan 1960
Haydn
Orfeo ed Euridice as Euridice Vienna 1967
Lehar
The Merry Widow first performance as Anna Glawari - Vancouver 1976
highlights conductor Richard Bonynge with Regina Resnik 1978
Video/DVD Sydney*
Leoni
L'Oracolo conductor Richard Bonynge with Richard van Allan, Tito Gobbi, Huguette Tourangeau 1977
Massenet
Esclarmonde first performance San Francisco 1974
conductor Richard Bonynge with Huguette Tourangeau Clifford Grant 1976
Le Roi de Lahore first performance as Sita - Vancouver 1977
conductor Richard Bonynge with Sherrill Milnes, Luis Lima 1980
Meyerbeer
Les Huguenots as Queen Marguerite de Valois - Milan 1962
conductor Gianandrea Gavazzeni with Franco Corelli - Milan 1962*
conductor Richard Bonynge with Martina Arroyo, Gabriel Bacquier 1969
Video/DVD farewell Sydney 1990*
Mozart
Die Zauberflote as the First Lady was her first appearance at Covent Garden 1952 as Pamina - London 1956
and as Queen of the Night - London 1961
Le Nozze di Figaro as Countess Almaviva - Edinburgh 1953
The Impresario as Madame Herz - Glyndebourne Festival 1957
Don Giovanni as Donna Anna - Vancouver 1958
conductor Carlo Maria Giulini with Luigi Alva, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf 1961
conductor Richard Bonynge with Gabriel Bacquier, Pilar Lorengar, Marilyn Horne Clifford Grant 1968
Idomeneo, re di Creta as Elette - Sydney 1979
Offenbach
Les Contes d'Hoffmann Antonia London 1954 Giulietta Glasgow 1955 Olympia London 1955 all four roles Seattle 1970
conductor Richard Bonynge with Placido Domingo, Gabriel Bacquier 1972
Poulenc
Dialogues des Carmelites Madame Lidoine - London 1958
Video/DVD Sydney 1984 *
Puccini
Il Tabarro as Giorgette while a student at Royal college of Music London 1952
Suor Angelica first performance Sydney 1977
conductor Richard Bonynge with Elizabeth Connell, Christa Ludwig 1979
Turandot Conductor Zubin Mehta with Luciano Pavarotti Monserrat Caballe Peter Pears Nicolai Ghiaurov 1973
Rossini
Semiramide first performance Milan 1962
conductor Gabriele Santini with Giuliette Simionato - Milan 1962*
conductor Richard Bonynge with Marilyn Horne Spiro Malas 1966
conductor Richard Bonynge with Marilyn Horne, Raymond Myers, Clifford Grant - London 1969*
Yohann Strauss
Die Fledermaus first performance as Rosalinde - San Francisco 1973
Gala performance Sutherland sings Il Bacio by Arditi 1960*
Video Sydney *
Gala Farewell Video/DVD as guest in London final appearance on stage 1990*
Richard Strauss
Elektra as the Overseer - London 1953
Thomas
Hamlet first performance as Ophelie - Toronto 1985
conductor Richard Bonynge with Sherrill Milnes 1983
Tippett
The Midsummer Marriage as Jenifer in world premiere London 1955
Verdi
Aida first as off stage Priestess - London 1952 then as Aida - London 1954
Un Ballo in Maschera Amelia - first lead role London 1952
Otello first performance as Desdemona - London 1957
Rigoletto first performance as Gilda - London 1957
conductor Francesco Molinari Pradelli with Cornell Mac Neil, Renato Cioni 1962
conductor Richard Bonynge with Luciano Pavarotti, Sherrill Milnes 1971
La Traviata first performance as Violetta - London 1960
conductor John Pritchard with Carlo Bergonzi, Robert Merrill 1963
conductor Richard Bonynge with Luciano Pavarotti, 1980
Il Trovatore first performance as Leonora - SanFrancisco 1975
conductor Richard Bonynge with Luciano Pavarotti, Marilyn Horne, Nicolai Ghiaurov 1977
Video/DVD Sydney1983 *
I Masnadieri first performance as Amelia - 1980
conductor Richard Bonynge with Samuel Ramey 1983
Wagner
Das Ring des Nibelungen in London
Das Rheingold as Woglinde 1954
Die Walkure as Helmwige 1953
Sigfried as the offstage Woodbird 1954
as Woodbird conductor Georg Solti with Birgit Nilsson 1963
Gotterdammerung as Woglinde 1954
Die Meistersingers von Nurnberg as Eva London 1957
Weber
Der Freischutz as Agathe - London 1954
Other major recordings of Sutherland.
Russian Jewels Concerto for Soprano and Orchestra by Gliere and other works conducted by Richard Bonynge
Songs My Mother Taught Me Songs by Dvorak, Grieg, Liszt and others conducted by Richard Bonynge
Love Live Forever Box set of various Musical Comedy by Romberg Lehar etc conducted by Richard Bonynge
Joan Sutherland Command Performance Box set assorted arias from rare operas 1963
Romantic French Arias Box set conducted by Richard Bonynge 1970
Bach Cantata No 147 conductor Geraint Jones 1958
The Age of Bel Canto with Marilyn Horne and Richard Conrad - Box set conducted by Richard Bonynge
The Art of the Prima Donna Box set conducted by Francesco Molinari-Pradelli
Beethoven Symphony No 9 with Horne conducted by Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt
Beethoven Symphony No 9 conducted by Ernst Ansermet
Handel Messiah conductor Richard Bonynge with Huguette Tourangeau, Tom Kraus,Werner Krenn 1969
Verdi The Requiem Mass complete -conductor Georg Solti with Marilyn Horne, Luciano Pavarotti 1967
Joan Sutherland sings Wagner conducted by Richard Bonynge
Sutherland sings Coward Noel Coward songs conducted by Richard Bonynge
Romantic Trios Joan Sutherland (Soprano) Barry Tuckwell (Horn) Richard Bonynge (Piano)
Talking Pictures songs from the Movies conducted by Richard Bonynge
Various live concerts 'Live from the Lincoln Centre with Horne and Pavarotti'. 'Darwin-Song for a City' with various Australian Artists. 'An Evening to Remember' with Australian Pops Orchestra conducted by Douglas Gamley.
Various collections of arias which continue to be released in various combinations and assorted extracts of live recordings from concerts around the world like Amsterdam, Koln, Milan, Liverpool, New Jersey. DVD's of The Bell Telephone Hour performances, Recitals from1963/1969,The Ed Sullivan Show etc
Updated
April 23, 2007
