Product: Donizetti - Roberto Devereux / Rudel, Sills, Alexander, New York City Opera (1975)
Rating: 5.0
Long Live The Queen
Beverly Sills is the queen of opera. There is no other soprano in the twentieth century other than Maria Callas who could master a variety of roles with vocal beauty and great dramatic performance. Her career was short lived, after singing operetta and a utility singer in her home town of New York she had two children with impediments that she raised and later a cancer operation. She had enormous versatility on the stage; singing first Cleopatra in Handel's Julius Caesar, Violetta from La Traviata a reported 54 times, Manon, the three heroines from Offenbach's Tales of Hoffman, the three Donizetti Queens including Anna Bolena and Maria Stuarda, Lucia Di Lammermoor, Norma and several others. If you are familiar with the three reissued recordings of the Tudor Queens trilogy by Donizetti, you are also aware that Sill's performance as Queen Elizabeth was her crowning achievement. This DVD is a jewel to watch and a pleasure to hear. Opera lovers and fans of Beverly Sills will enjoy as we watch her fiery performance. Queen Elizabeth becomes jealous when Deveraux, the man she loves and her naval commander, takes an interest in another lady of her court. She orders his execution on grounds of treason but only we know her decision was far more personal. This performance earned Beverly Sills a cover on Time magazine, she was hailed worldwide for her vocal mastership and she is still loved and talked about even to this day. Presently she is the chairman at the Met in New York and has discovered many great opera singers performing in our time. See for yourself the great passion that Donizetti was full of when he composed this magnificent opera. Five Stars. Long live the Queen of Opera!