Victoria De Los Angeles - Zarzuela Arias. Music from Favourite Spanish Operettas (1969/2023)

Her smiling face, her generosity and her simplicity have won the hearts of all those who have seen this great singer from afar or close up; a singer who could never be mistaken for a diva. No caprices, no bouts of rage, no outrageous demands: she simply sang. It was the Geneva International Music Competition, which she won with such great success in 1947, that propelled the young Spanish singer to the front of the world stage.

Right away, she was enlisted to sing La Vida Breve by Manuel de Falla in London, and then Paris invited her to play Marguerite in Gounod's Faust at the Opéra, before becoming Mimi (La Bohème by Puccini), under the direction of Sir Thomas Beecham at Covent Garden. Salzburg, New York, Milan, Vienna and Buenos Aires followed. A coloratura soprano first and foremost, she sang roles from Rossini with agility. As the years went by, she expanded her voice and her repertoire, becoming a much sought-after lyric soprano. Thanks to her particular gift for languages, she has been Agathe in Weber's Freischütz, Desdemona in Verdi's Othello, Eva in Die Meistersinger by Wagner, or a touching Mélisande. She is a wily and spiteful Rosina (Barber of Seville), a simple and moving Mimi.


Victoria de los Angeles's voice (a stage name she chose for herself in order to get away from her less-glamorous family name, Lopez-Garcia) was natural, easy, sunny, with a suppleness that allowed her to overcome difficulties without apparent effort. She was the foremost post-war Spanish singers, before the emergence of her colleagues Teresa Berganza and Montserrat Caballé. But throughout her career she has remained in touch with her deep Catalan roots. At recitals, she would often sing Xavier Montsalvatge or Federico Mompou, who accompanied her in 1971 for a broadcast on Télévision Française. She also sang German Lieder with Gerald Moore, and to be sure, the zarzuela of Madrid, of which she made numerous recordings. The record commemorates the precious moment in the great English pianist's farewell concert, in which Victoria de los Angeles sang Cats' Duet (incorrectly attributed to Rossini) with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.


Surely her Carmen counts amongst those of her roles which will always remain famous: she made a celebrated recording in Paris with the French National Orchestra, directed by Sir Thomas Beecham. More seductive than femme fatale, singing the French impeccably with a trace of a Spanish accent which sits well with the work, she is surrounded by a dream billing: Ernest Blanc, Nicolaï Gedda and Ernest Blanc make this a real point of reference for the style of French singing. With the same Beecham, she recorded a very beautiful Bohème by Puccini, with the great Swedish tenor Jussi Björling.


This angelic voice remained intact until a very advanced age, which allowed Victoria de los Angeles to continue singing until late in life. She left the stage in 1979; but she continued to give recitals until the age of 75, in 1998, in which she would foreground a repertoire which she could still sing very well, and almost every time she would give an encore of Carmen, as if to offer a wink at the heroine who had assured her lasting fame.

Tracklist
[1:34] 1. Victoria de los Angeles - La tempranica: Zapateado. "La tarántula é un bicho mú malo"
[5:10] 2. Victoria de los Angeles - La tempranica: Canción. "Sierras de Granada"
[1:15] 3. Victoria de los Angeles - La patria chica: Canción de Pastora. "Te quiero"
[4:39] 4. Victoria de los Angeles - La chavala: Canción de la gitana. "Fue mi mare la gitana"
[3:27] 5. Victoria de los Angeles - La gran vía: Tango de la Menegilda. "Pobre chica"
[3:09] 6. Victoria de los Angeles - La gran vía: Chotís del Elíseo madrileño. "Yo soy el Elíseo"
[3:47] 7. Victoria de los Angeles - Los de Aragón: Romanza de Gloria. "Vuelven las horas lejanas"
[1:42] 8. Victoria de los Angeles - La alegría del batallón: Canción de la gitana. "A una gitana preciosa"
[3:40] 9. Victoria de los Angeles - Los claveles: Escena lírica. "¿Qué te importa que no venga?"
[2:49] 10. Victoria de los Angeles - La corte de Faraón: Cuplés babilónicos. "Son las mujeres de Babilonia"
[4:48] 11. Victoria de los Angeles - Gigantes y cabezudos: Romanza de Pilar. "¡Esta en su carta!"
[2:45] 12. Victoria de los Angeles - El barberillo de Lavapiés: Canción de la paloma. "Como nací en la calle"
[4:52] 13. Victoria de los Angeles - El niño judío: Canción española. "De España vengo"
[3:44] 14. Victoria de los Angeles - Las hijas del Zebedeo: Carceleras. "Al pensar en el dueño de mis amores"