Leontyne Price
On March 1, 1985, Leontyne Price, transcendent soprano of her time, retired from the opera stage. She did it in her signature role, Verdi’s Aida, at her home opera house, the Met, a role she had performed there no fewer than 42 times.
As she sings her greatest aria, “O Patria Mia”for the last time, the symbolism is unmistakeable. Just as Aida is bidding farewell to her home which she will never see again, Leontyne Price is bidding farewell to the operatic stage.
This is a voice blessed by the sublime. After she sings her final note she holds, in character, while the Met’s audience thanks her in the only way they can for all she has given them.
From her debut there in 1961 in Verdi’s Il Trovatore as well as her opening of its new house at Lincoln Center in 1966 in Samuel Barber’s Anthony and Cleopatra, until this final moving moment, Leontyne Price was the Met’s very own soprano and moments like this explain why her voice and grace will stay with us forever.
Leontyne Price is happily still with us and this February celebrated her 98th birthday at her home in Maryland.
The post Ruth Leon recommends… Leontyne Price ‘O Patria Mia’ appeared first on Slippedisc.
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