I just discovered this amazing video of my favorite soprano, the late Beverly Sills, performing at the age of 8. She was already a diva! The piece is Il Bacio (“The Kiss”) by Luigi Arditi.
Got the impression she was never a “diva,” in the PITA sense. It’s hard to be a pain in the ass when everyone calls you Bubbles. She seemed like fun, but had no business singing pop songs on Carol Burnett. It was just embarrassing.
No opera singer should ever sing pop songs. And I didn’t mean “diva” in the PITA sense.
I first came across Beverley Sills in the early 70s when I heard her in Rossini’s Le Siège de Corinthe, or rather L’Assedio di Corinto as it was an Italian version of the original French production. I was completely bowled over by her voice and she instantly ascended into my pantheon of favourite divas, joining Joan Sutherland, Marilyn Horne and Montserrat Caballe.
Heavenly heavenly voice, and you’re right, opera singers should stay away from popular music.
She’s 8 in that? She seems rather big for an 8 year old. Or maybe it’s just the proportions.
Since I know nothing of her, please tell me she doesn’t keep into adulthood that “cutesy” accent that was practically required of children at that time.
But, other than that, good job–though I’d love to hear it remastered with the proper bass and not that whiny sound prevalent in old recordings.
There was always plenty of Bubbles, I guess.
As for her speaking voice, she was a nice, first-generation, yiddishe mama. And a good businesswoman. Sounding like she was going to offer you a cookie probably helped in union negotiations. Even Teamsters like cookies.