Saturday, July 30, 2011

Opera Quiz For July

July's opera quiz is upon us! Each month, A Passion for Opera with Peter Fox Smith offeres a different "mystery voice" (with a clue or two) and invites you to guess what great operatic voice it is.

This month's singer was born in Spain to Andalusian parents. Her early education took place at a convent, and then as a young lady she entered the Conservatory in her native Barcelona to study singing. She made her American debut in 1915 as Charlotte in Massenet's Werther at the Chicago Opera, where she also sang the fiery title role in Bizet's Carmen. (In fact, one of the recordings Peter and Sam played last Saturday was this singer's recording of "les tringles des sistres" from Carmen.)

Our singer was noted especially for her powerful chest register, and an extremely flexible upper voice that could easily scale the florid passages of Romantic opera. Above all, she was individual and creative in her style.

She made more than 200 recordings in her career, both operatic and in a vast song repertory in Catalan, Spanish, French, Italian and English, as well as pieces from zarzuela and even operetta.

Those are the clues.

Are you ready for the answer? This month's opera quiz 'mystery voice' is...Conchita SupervĂ­a!

Thanks to everyone who sent in guesses, the winner of this month's opera quiz is Vesna Danilovic of Buffalo, New York. Congratulations! She will be receiving an inscribed copy of Peter Fox Smith's book A Passion for Opera.

Listen in next month for a chance to guess the August 'mystery voice' on the opera quiz.

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