DESCRIPTION:
Casta Diva. Norma (Bellini)
sung by
Adelina Patti
accomp. by Mr. Alfredo Barili [Patti's nephew, piano]

A Victor re-issue of Gramophone & Typewriter Company (the forerunner of HMV) n° (681c) 03082. Recorded at Craig-y-nos Castle, Patti's home in Wales / June 1906

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Adelina Patti (1843-1919) remains one of the most famous sopranos in history due to the pure beauty of her lyric voice and the unsurpassed quality of her belcanto technique. Giuseppe Verdi was not alone in calling her the greatest vocalist that he ever heard. So remarkable was the spontaneity of her singing and the singular beauty of her voice that terms like "belcanto" and "coloratura" were first generally used to describe her singing. Patti's early acoustic recordings are an important link in the search for an authentic belcanto tradition.

Patti's voice is the shadow of what it used to be, anyway the ruins of an exceptional monument are exceptional ruins..........

"Les beaux restes" of her voice... to begin with, she takes breaths where she shouldn't (such as between "Casta" and "Diva"), the turns ("Ca ~ sta") always executed limpidly and in perfect proportions. "Tem _ _ _ pra, o Di _ _ va" (2:02), the extra embellishments in the second stanza (used by Giuditta Pasta herself when she created the role of Norma), quasi jazz...Yes, she was, at her best, La Belcantista, no doubt about it. But she did have her moments, even in Norma, for sure: veristic, declamatory passages, her breathless "tem _ pra anco _ ra lo ze _ lo auda _ ce" (2:32). Her long trill (3:27, cadenza) is wonderful (free of any suggestion of mechanical contrivance).

Regarding her technique, critic Rodolfo Celletti said, "Her voice was a technical marvel. The staccatos were marvels of accuracy, even in the trickiest intervals, her legato was impressively smooth and pure; she connects the voice from note to note, phrase to phrase, lifting and gliding with an exceptional virtuosity. Her chromatic scale was deliciously sweet, and her trill was wonderful and solid."

Patti cut this G&T recording in 1906. By then she was aged in her 60s, with her voice well past its prime. Nonetheless, the limpid purity of her tone and the smoothness of her legato line remain uniquely impressive. The record also displays a lively singing personality as well as a surprisingly strong chest voice and a mellow timbre.

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Pitching Patti's records is always a controversial business. I thought the Marston CD transfer of the G&T was too low. Yes, years ago a friend agreed the Marston speeds are at times "impossibly slow". There is a great deal of work required to get the speed correct. One avenue is the "score pitch". Casta Diva is sung (usually, and published by Ricordi) in F; it comes out here E-natural *. The Marston CD transfer of Casta Diva ("approximately 73.4 rpm", transposed down to E-flat) emphatically didn't sound right to me.
Other than novice acoustic collectors can usually tell if they are playing the record near the proper speed by pitching it by adjusting their turntable speed until the extraneous noises are eliminated, and if it's a very clean copy, the voice should sound clear as a bell, especially with Patti's forward sounding voice:
"Adelina Patti had a warm, crystalline, and very agile high soprano voice" ("Adelina Patti - Encyclopédie Larousse").
Otherwise, play this 1906 G&T at "73.4" and hear a mezzo-soprano singing...
"Playback in these keys reveals a mezzo-soprano quality not present in Patti's other records... [haha.] We ourselves have been scrutinizing these records for nearly twenty years, and are still perplexed by our own inability to decide the most accurate key for these final discs." http://www.marstonrecords.com/patti/patti_ward.htm

* In my vocal score (London: Boosey & Co., ca.1875) it is in G-nat and Bellini's original key: "La tonalità originale di sol per 'Casta diva' spinge la cantante a fiorire su note come il si bem (ovvero do per la versione in sol), che sono per un soprano tragico acuti estremi. Questa 'scivolata' venne rimediata prontamente (dalla medesima Pasta) con la più agevole tonalità di fa." http://www.ilcorrieredellagrisi.eu/2013/05/norma-regole-e-rispetto-della-scrittura-vocale/

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ADELINA PATTI - Ah, non credea mirarti (1906): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfQYMLTvSnY


"Casta Diva"

ADALGISA GABBI (1903) - CELESTINA BONINSEGNA (1904):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UStiZO_Wz_8
GIANNINA RUSS (1906): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On2SmLEyWiw
EUGENIA BURZIO (1912): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se9GK86YP0M
ROSA RAISA (1917): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc5J1CjfVP8

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