Eidé Norena (1884-1968)
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: (Charles Louis) Ambroise Thomas, Giacomo Puccini, George Frideric Handel, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Georges Bizet, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Gioachino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, Joseph Haydn
Label: Lebendige Vergangenheit
Magazine Review Date: 3/1991
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 60
Mastering:
Mono
ADD
Catalogue Number: 89041
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Atalanta, Movement: Care selve, ombre beate |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
(Anonymous) Orchestra Eidé Norena, Soprano George Frideric Handel, Composer Joseph Messner, Conductor |
| (Die) Schöpfung, Movement: Auf starkem Fittiche |
Joseph Haydn, Composer
(Anonymous) Orchestra Eidé Norena, Soprano Joseph Haydn, Composer Joseph Messner, Conductor |
| (Die) Zauberflöte, '(The) Magic Flute', Movement: Ach, ich fühl's |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
(Anonymous) Orchestra Eidé Norena, Soprano Piero Coppola, Conductor Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
| Guillaume Tell, Movement: Sombre fôret (Selva opaca) |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
(Anonymous) Orchestra Eidé Norena, Soprano Gioachino Rossini, Composer Henri Defossé, Conductor |
| (Les) Huguenots, Movement: ~ |
Giacomo Meyerbeer, Composer
(Anonymous) Orchestra Eidé Norena, Soprano Giacomo Meyerbeer, Composer |
| Rigoletto, Movement: ~ |
Giuseppe Verdi, Composer
(Anonymous) Orchestra Eidé Norena, Soprano Giuseppe Verdi, Composer Henri Defossé, Conductor |
| Hamlet, Movement: ~ |
(Charles Louis) Ambroise Thomas, Composer
(Anonymous) Orchestra (Charles Louis) Ambroise Thomas, Composer Eidé Norena, Soprano Piero Coppola, Conductor |
| Carmen, Movement: Je dis que rien ne m'épouvante (Micaëla's aria |
Georges Bizet, Composer
(Anonymous) Orchestra Eidé Norena, Soprano Georges Bizet, Composer Gustav Cloëz, Conductor |
| Otello, Movement: ~ |
Giuseppe Verdi, Composer
(Anonymous) Orchestra Eidé Norena, Soprano François Ruhlmann, Conductor Giuseppe Verdi, Composer |
| Otello, Movement: Ave Maria |
Giuseppe Verdi, Composer
(Anonymous) Orchestra Eidé Norena, Soprano François Ruhlmann, Conductor Giuseppe Verdi, Composer |
| Turandot, Movement: Tanto amore segreto |
Giacomo Puccini, Composer
(Anonymous) Orchestra Eidé Norena, Soprano Giacomo Puccini, Composer Piero Coppola, Conductor |
| Turandot, Movement: Tu, che di gel sei cinta |
Giacomo Puccini, Composer
(Anonymous) Orchestra Eidé Norena, Soprano Giacomo Puccini, Composer Piero Coppola, Conductor |
Author:
For Hamlet's sake if nothing more (and of course there is much more), this must be had. Ophelia's first solo and Mad scene are performed to something very near perfection: a tone pure and maidenly, an art masterly in legato as in fioritura a style refreshingly clean and not overlaid with droopy pathos yet touching in its simplicity and highly effective in its command of contrast.
Norena was a Norwegian who spent a good deal of her time in France, and so sings her Die Zauberflote and Rigoletto in French. She came to Covent Garden in 1924, as Gilda and Violetta then again in several seasons up to 1931, when she sang Liu, and finally in 1937 to sing Desdemona in that fabled end-of-season extra performance of Otello with Martinelli and Tibbett, Beecham conducting. Martinelli was then 'the veteran tenor', but I don't know whether anybody at the time observed that the Desdemona was, officially at any rate, a year older: she was born in 1884, making her 53 in 1937 and already 45 when she recorded the Rigoletto. Her voice remained quite remarkably young and fresh, just slightly betraying its years by 1938 but still perfectly firm and seemingly unworn.
Nimbus have recently released a Norena disc and a good selection of her earlier recordings was issued on a Club 99 LP, no doubt soon to be available on CD. Meanwhile, here are samples of her deeply felt and tonally very apt portrayal of Liu, her Micaela, Gilda and Desdemona, a sensitive account of Pamina's lament (with the modest and rather lovely cadenza also used by Lily Pons origin to me unknown), and a rare recording, both accomplished and poetic, of the Queen's aria in Les huguenots. The original copy of this has a light swish at the start, soon lost. Generally the transfers are fine, but listening to the Hamlet Mad scene made me think how I would like to hear it on an original, then to remember that I had it, and eventually to play it—and 78s are best.'
Norena was a Norwegian who spent a good deal of her time in France, and so sings her Die Zauberflote and Rigoletto in French. She came to Covent Garden in 1924, as Gilda and Violetta then again in several seasons up to 1931, when she sang Liu, and finally in 1937 to sing Desdemona in that fabled end-of-season extra performance of Otello with Martinelli and Tibbett, Beecham conducting. Martinelli was then 'the veteran tenor', but I don't know whether anybody at the time observed that the Desdemona was, officially at any rate, a year older: she was born in 1884, making her 53 in 1937 and already 45 when she recorded the Rigoletto. Her voice remained quite remarkably young and fresh, just slightly betraying its years by 1938 but still perfectly firm and seemingly unworn.
Nimbus have recently released a Norena disc and a good selection of her earlier recordings was issued on a Club 99 LP, no doubt soon to be available on CD. Meanwhile, here are samples of her deeply felt and tonally very apt portrayal of Liu, her Micaela, Gilda and Desdemona, a sensitive account of Pamina's lament (with the modest and rather lovely cadenza also used by Lily Pons origin to me unknown), and a rare recording, both accomplished and poetic, of the Queen's aria in Les huguenots. The original copy of this has a light swish at the start, soon lost. Generally the transfers are fine, but listening to the Hamlet Mad scene made me think how I would like to hear it on an original, then to remember that I had it, and eventually to play it—and 78s are best.'
Eidé Norena (1884-1968)
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