Descripción de The "Son vergin vezzosa" Contest - Vincenzo Bellini - I puritani - "Son vergin vezzosa" (Joan Sutherland) (1960):

Bellini wrote so many absolutely irresistible arias that it is very difficult to choose the best one. Many will remember the genius "Casta Diva", the gentle Amina arias "Come per me sereno" and "Ah! non credea mirati", the glorious "A te, o cara"... The list goes on and on. But one aria stands out in the list of Bellini's arias: the quite delightful polonaise aria for Elvira from "I Puritani" "Son vergin vezzosa", a gentle piece, almost Rossinian in its peaceful happiness. One of my all time favorite arias, "Son vergin vezzosa" can be a boring showpiece in the hands of an average singer, but an imaginative artist can work magic with it. This "contest" includes renditions from the following singers: the sublime Amelita Galli-Curci, the virtuosic Beverly Sills, the silver-voiced Joan Sutherland, the wonderful Lucia Aliberti, the intelligent Mariella Devia, the powerful Montserrat Caballe, the high-flying Mado Robin, the artistic Maria Callas and the exquisite Sumi Jo. I do hope you enjoy this contest (the system is the same: the marks range from 1 to 5; there are two categories: singing/characterization; so your mark (+ comment :-) ) should look like this: (*/*))! Also, if you have the time, listen to all the versions, I think it's interesting to compare them all to see what makes each rendition so special. Thank you all in advance for your comments and opinions :-) ! P.S. I'm using this opportunity to say that I have come across some new versions of "Una voce poco fa" for the Youtubers to savour, I hope that I will be able to put them up as soon as possible.