Leontyne Price
The daughter of a carpenter and a midwife, African-American soprano Leontyne Price (born Mary Violet) studied piano and singing with the assistance of a local family that recognized her innate talents. After earning her degree from College of Education and Industrial Arts at Wilberforce, OH (where she studied with Catherine Van Buren), Price was awarded a scholarship to attend the Juilliard School of Music where she continued vocal training with Florence Page Kimball. Upon hearing her there, Virgil Thomson invited her to sing Saint Cecilia in the 1952 revival of his Four Saints in Three Acts. She then toured the United States and Europe as Bess in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess (1952-1955); on this tour she met and married bass-baritone William Warfield who was singing the role of Porgy.
In October 1953, Price sang the premiere of Samuel Barber's Hermit Songs at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and she gave her first New York recital in November 1954; in December of the same year she sang Barber's Prayers of Kierkegaard with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Her appearances in Tosca, Die Zauberflöte, Dialogues des Carmelites, and Don Giovanni on television brought her to wide attention for both her outstanding singing, and for being the first African American leading soprano of note.
In the following seasons, she made her debuts at San Francisco, Chicago, Vienna, London, and Milan. This culminated in her first appearance at the Metropolitan Opera House as Leonore in Il trovatore, an evening that garnered a front page review in The New York Times. The Metropolitan would soon become her favored opera house; she sang most of her wide repertoire there, including Aida, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, Leonore in La Forza del Destino, Ernani, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera, Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Fiorgiligi (Così), Ariadne (Ariadne auf Naxos), and Tatiana in Eugene Onegin. She sang her last operatic performance there in 1985 as Aida.
Price was known as much for her concert and recital appearances as for those in opera. Besides performances of common repertory works, such as Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and the Verdi Requiem, she also undertook Honegger's rather obscure Jeanne d'Arc (with the New York Philharmonic) and Bruckner's Te Deum (at Salzburg). Her solo concerts often featured lesser-known arias and excerpts, including the "Awakening of Helen" from Strauss' Egyptian Helen, selections from Barber's Anthony and Cleopatra and The Songs of the Rose of Sharon by John La Montaine.
She gave annual recitals throughout North America and was also heard regularly in Europe, being a special favorite at the Salzburg Festival. Her recital repertoire was extensive, ranging from the songs of Poulenc, Hahn, and Marx, to traditional spirituals; her final encore was often "This little light of mine" -- one of her mother's favorite pieces.
Leontyne Price's voice was a spinto soprano of great beauty. She had a wonderful feeling for the sweep of the long phrases of Verdi and her technique allowed her to encompass all of the difficulties of Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) and Elvira (Ernani). Her lower register had a quality often described as "dusky" which many listeners found quite sensual. Most of her important operatic roles were recorded by RCA, but only a small fraction of her recital repertoire found its way onto disc. Leontyne Price will always be remembered as one of the greatest Verdi sopranos of the twentieth century.
© TiVo
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Puccini: Tosca
Leontyne Price, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Giuseppe Taddei, Fernando Corena, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 01.01.1963
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Puccini: Tosca by Leontyne Price
Leontyne Price, Herbert von Karajan, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra
Oper - Erschienen bei Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording am 08.11.2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Leontyne Price - Verdi and Puccini Arias
Klassik - Erschienen bei RCA Red Seal am 13.01.2015
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Spain (Falla, Albeniz, Granados)
Klassik - Erschienen bei Living Stereo am 23.01.2007
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Leontyne Price: Personal Choice (2024 Remastered Edition)
Klassik - Erschienen bei Musical Concepts am 01.01.1960
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi: Requiem/Quattro Pezzi Sacri
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 01.01.2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Puccini: Tosca
Leontyne Price, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Giuseppe Taddei, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 01.01.1963
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gershwin: Porgy and Bess (Live)
William Warfield, Leontyne Price, Cab Calloway, RIAS-Unterhaltungsorchester, Alexander Smallens
Oper - Erschienen bei audite Musikproduktion am 19.11.2008
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Essential Leontyne Price: Spirituals, Hymns & Sacred Songs
Geistliche Vokalmusik - Erschienen bei RCA Gold Seal am 09.01.1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi Heroines: 15 Great Arias and Scenes from 8 Operas
Klassik - Erschienen bei RCA Red Seal am 04.04.2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Leontyne Price - Samuel Barber
Französische Mélodies und Kunstlieder - Erschienen bei RCA Red Seal am 07.02.2012
Qobuz’ Schallplattensammlung16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Leontyne Price Sings Barber
Klassik - Erschienen bei RCA Gold Seal am 07.06.1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Leontyne Price - Great Scenes from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess
Klassik - Erschienen bei RCA Red Seal am 09.03.1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Leontyne Price - My Favorite Hymns
Gesangsrezitale - Erschienen bei RCA Red Seal am 07.02.2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi: Il Trovatore (2 CDs)
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deutsche Grammophon (DG) am 01.01.1995
Qobuz’ Schallplattensammlung16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Christmas With Leontyne Price
Leontyne Price, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan
Pop - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 02.11.2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Artists Of The Century: Leontyne Price
Klassik - Erschienen bei RCA Classics am 25.05.1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Essential Leontyne Price/Highlights
Klassik - Erschienen bei RCA Gold Seal am 18.09.2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Ultimate Christmas Album
Dame Joan Sutherland, Kiri Te Kanawa, Leontyne Price, Luciano Pavarotti
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca - London am 01.01.1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Leontyne Price - Prima Donna Vol. 5: Great Soprano Arias from Handel to Britten
Klassik - Erschienen bei RCA Red Seal am 08.03.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi: Heroines
Klassik - Erschienen bei RCA Red Seal am 28.03.2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo