Rhiannon Giddens Instagram – Alright!! People be lovin on the Queen B Caro Mio Ben interpolation, cool! – turns out there’s a little history to black female vernacular singers interpreting opera/art song – my first exposure was Nina Simone doing “O Black Swan” (Menotti) in 1963 – but this video right here is one of my favorites. The literal Queen of Everything Aretha Franklin crushing “Nessun Dorma” in the tenor key, partly in Italian (please don’t come for her Italian in the comments. I will come for you lol). ✨Link in stories!✨
To add to the story, this was the 1998 GRAMMYS, and world famous tenor Luciano Pavarotti was scheduled to sing it with orchestra and chorus; when he called in sick, the GRAMMYS turned to Aretha, who had just happened to sing it two days earlier in tribute to Pavarotti. She had no rehearsal with the orchestra, just a tape of the dress rehearsal, and had to sing it in the tenor key, as there was no way to change that at the last minute. She just absolutely showed the kind of artist she was.
I remember this so vividly! It just made me so excited, as a baby opera singer, to hear this magnificent woman make it her own.
also. Notice that lifted face mask!!!! (sorry, singer lingo)
photo credit: Marl Lennihan / @apnews | Posted on 05/Apr/2024 21:40:11
