When Ethel sings, I hear Ethel. When Patti sings, I hear Patti. When Angela sings, I hear Angela. When Britney sings, I hear myself.
But when Betty sings...(I think I'll make that the working title of an autobiography - not mine, but someone's)
Betty Buckley's speaking voice is so startlingly unlike her singing voice - both I terribly enjoy. It's hard for me to reconcile, though. Her singing voice has more depth - I know it's propelled by her almost unnaturally rapid vibrato in her singing, but, still, I think it's uncanny.
Any performers of whom you can think whose speaking and singing "voices" are drastically different?
If you have the clinical knowledge/credentials, is there an explanation? Or is it just "chance"? Example of Betty
I can hear Kristin Chenoweth, Idina Menzel, Laura Osnes, Patina Miller, Barbra Streisand, Patti Lupone, Ethel Merman, Sierra Boggess, and Sutton Foster.. if they were in the ensemble in a song. Their voices are so recognizable to me. I think I know their voices more than my family members haha
Yes, apologies for the - obvious - typo on Fleming's name. As for her voice, I personally can't stand it when American opera singers sing in English and end up sounding like they've got a thick western European accent. Or in her case, like a European Kermit the Frog. Her mushy sound just isn't for me. I can understand Dawn Upshaw, Harolyn Blackwell, Kathleen Battle, Deborah Voigt when they sing in English and they actually sound American. And, you know, human.
I've always found it a bit jarring how different Carolee Carmello's speaking voice is offstage as opposed to when she's onstage.
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^I was definitely going to say Jessie Mueller. Her range is impeccable.
I know that a lot of people are surprised when I tell them that Mandy Patinkin sings. Every time I play them a song they always say something along the lines of "I would have never guessed he sounded like that."
lol most operas are done in other languages, and the great ones like Carmen, La Boheme, Aida, and Madama Butterfly are all in different languages because the composers were from different countries. All the really famous operas are in a foreign language because Mozart=German, Puccini and Verdi=Italian, Bizet=French
Her speaking voice is this higher pitched Muppety voice but when she starts to sing it is lower and totally different. Tho it is not as dissimilar now as when she started in the role 4 years ago
Even in English, the style of opera does not lend itself well to being understood. The extended words, the singing style, it just isn't easy to comprehend the actual words they're saying.
Why do you think they use supertitles even with English operas?
Someone once wrote that Kristin Chenoweth speaks like a Muppet but sings like an angel, I'd second that. Also,I don't get Bernadette Peters' speaking voice. She has that weird monotonic drawl. Is that an accent? She always sounds kind of drunk to me when speaking...
Definitely Sierra Boggess. After hearing her sing in Phantom, I was expecting her to have this prim, proper, mature-sounding speaking voice. But then, I listened to her speak in an interview, and she sounded like an eighteen-year-old girl. I was pretty shocked.
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