I make the goddam rules

"When music fails to agree to the ear, to soothe the ear and the heart and the senses, then it has missed the point."

"You are born an artist or you are not. And you stay an artist, dear, even if your voice is less of a fireworks. The artist is always there."

"I would not kill my enemies, but I will make them get down on their knees. I will, I can, I must."

"Don't talk to me about rules, dear. Wherever I stay I make the goddam rules."

It's been a very laid-back Sunday here at Dolores Delargo Towers (as it should be) - with so little daylight, it is difficult to really get a huge amount done.

So instead, let us put our feet up and wallow in the musical splendour of "La Divina" herself, Maria Callas, whose 95th birthday it would have been today...

Maria Callas - Ah non credea mirarti (Bellini - La Sonnambula)

Utter perfection. Sigh.

Maria Callas (2nd December 1923 – 16th September 1977)

More Maria Callas here and here.

La Stupenda est morte

Dame Joan Sutherland is dead, and we at Dolores Delargo Towers are in mourning.

The leading soprano of the bel canto style for many decades, she worked with all the best orchestras and conductors (not least her husband Richard Bonynge), performed duets with major operatic superstars like Luciano Pavarotti and Marilyn Horne, and was famously directed in an on-screen version of Lucia de Lammamoor by none other than Franco Zefferelli.

We loved our Joan! It was only yesterday after all that I posted her supreme rendition of The Flower Duet. We love her Suor Angelica, her Tosca, her Die Fledermaus, her Norma and her Lucia di Lammermoor. We particularly treasure a vinyl album rarity of Miss Sutherland performing Noel Coward songs with the Master himself!

As down-to-earth as a sheep-shearer from the outback of Oz, Dame Joan was never known for her refinement in real life - she famously said "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."

But what a singer! She was lauded by her contemporaries - Luciano Pavarotti described her as having "the voice of the century", and Monserrat Caballe once said her voice was "like heaven", and her nickname was "La Stupenda". Joan's was the voice that opened the Sydney Opera House in 1973, and it was from that stage that she announced her retirement in 1990. That alone was a huge loss to music, but in her death there is now a gaping hole in the operatic firmament.

There will certainly never be another Dame Joan Sutherland. RIP...

Joan Sutherland - Vissi d'Arte (Puccini - Tosca)

Joan Sutherland - Casta diva (Bellini - Norma)

And here, Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne sing this sublime duet from Norma [again]:

Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne - Mira, o Norma (Bellini)

Dame Joan Sutherland obituary