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Leontyne
Price -- one of the many black American sopranos who
debuted at the Met under the Bing "regime" -- had a very dark,
luscious lyrico-spinto soprano, with a strong, supportive chest register
and a soaring top. Her first big break was playing the soprano
lead in a road company of Gershwin's Porgy & Bess, opposite
her then-husband William Warfield. Price could sing anything,
though: Verdi, Puccini, Mozart, Berlioz, Strauss -- you name it!
She is even one of the best Carmens on record (despite not actually
being a mezzo), imbuing the role with more earthy sex than any
other singer before her (just listen to her growl and purr some of
her lines in "Je vais danser"). Samuel Barber composed
his setting of the "Hermit Songs" especially for her, and even
the soprano lead in his controversial opera Antony & Cleopatra,
which opened the new Met at Lincoln Center. |
