ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Australia's Great Gift to The World. Dame Joan Sutherland. The Great Queen of "Bel Canto" opera

Updated on September 18, 2013

The incomparable Dame Joan Sutherland.

Dame Joan Sutherland. Australia's Greatest Treasure
Dame Joan Sutherland. Australia's Greatest Treasure
Beautiful Sydney Harbour where she grew up
Beautiful Sydney Harbour where she grew up
 Joan Sutherland turning the audience to jelly in Rigoletto
Joan Sutherland turning the audience to jelly in Rigoletto

La Stupenda For ever.

When Dame Joan Sutherland died in 2011, the world lost one of its greatest opera singers and Australia was deprived of one of its most famous ever children. To be thrilled by the sound of Dame Joan as she gave beautiful voice to the music of the great opera composers, was to experience an artistry that is unlikely to be surpassed by the singers that have succeeded her. To hear a Joan Sutherland performance was indeed to be translated to Heaven.

There are few countries who have suffered more culturally, in the perception of outsiders, than Australia. When most of us think of the antepodean continent, visions of men, with corks hanging from their hats, throwing another sausage on the barbie come to mind.
The highest example of "Australian class" most of us come across is Dame Edna Everidge. By the time we have sat through another episode of "Neighbours" and "Home and Away", and cringed as another nasal voiced schoolgirl looks for her lost "Roo", we begin to think "can anything good come out of Australia"?

Yet that is manifestly not the case.
Australia may be a young country, but culturally it can punch on a par with some of the greats in Europe. You have only to stand at Sydney Harbour and look beyond the iconic bridge until your gaze falls on the almost swan wing beauty of The Sydney Opera House to realise that the visions of "Crocodile Dundees", and "Shelaghs" swigging cans on the beach, is really only an unfair misperception, and that a country that can be so culturally mature as to build a first rate Opera House, is really a good place to live in, and to visit.

However I am not writing this article to extol the beauties of Sydney Harbour or the Opera House, but to pay a tribute to one of the very best things ever to come out of any country, and someone that her country should be really rightly proud of.
This is not being typed to praise Kylie Minogue, or her sister Dannii. They are both prime examples of Australian womanhood, who through their great talent, contribute greatly to "the gaiety of nations". But I will leave it to another hand to do justice to their charms.

I am however writing in order to pay tribute to that greatest of opera singers Dame Joan Sutherland, who hailed from that country, and whose commanding presence, and divinely powerful soprano voice, reduced generations of opera lovers to mounds of ecstatic jelly.

Dame Joan Sutherland. A life devoted to beautiful music.

Joan Sutherland was born in 1926 and made her first concert appearance in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas in 1947. After training in London she was engaged at The Royal Opera Covent Garden Where she made her debut in 1952 in Mozart's The Magic Flute. She went on to sing in Bellini's Norma, where she sang with that other great soprano, Maria Callas.
Her brilliant coloratura voice was eminently suited to the Bel Canto roles in Italian opera, and it was in that capacity that she had her greatest triumphs. Her husband, pianist and conductor, Richard Bonynge encouraged her to go down that path.

So amazing was her singing, and so moving were her interpretations of roles in operas from Handel, to Donizetti and Verdi that the ever critical audience at La Fenice in Venice dubbed her "La Stupenda" in tribute, more to her amazing singing ability than her size.
She continued to thrill audiences until she made her final appearence in Die Fledermaus at Covent Garden in 1990.
Dame Joan Sutherland was translated to Heaven on October 10th 2010. No doubt she is gainfully employed there giving singing lessons to the Heavenly Hosts. If not, she should be.

Joan Sutherland as "Gilda". One of her finest parts.

The video that I am including with this article is one that was taken during her final performance of Rigoletto.
She is singing with Luciano Pavarotti. She is singing the part of Gilda, who is the daughter of Rigoletto. She gets seduced by The Duke of Mantua, played by Pavarotti. In this quartet we see Gilda discovering that The Duke is cheating on her with a barmaid.
It is one of the most gorgeous scenes in all opera, and makes a fitting farewell to the world of Bel Canto, from one of it,s very best performers.

A word of warning.

Please make sure that you are sitting in a bowl before playing this performance. I was not lying when I said Joan Sutherland could transform her hearers into quivering jellies by the beauty of her singing. I take no responsibility for accidents that may happen as a result of careless listening.
When you are prepared, and only then, listen and enjoy.

Her final performance in Rigoletto.

Join HubPages

Join the great community of HubPages. Express your opinions and earn money.

The best writing site on the web.

https://hubpages.com/_nj7678wss2xw/user/new

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)