NYC, 1991. I had a friend who was trying to make it as an opera singer, while working as a catering server. She got a gig working as a server in Marilyn Horne's home for a post opera soiree.  At 3:00 am, my friend was alone in the kitchen, washing dishes when Horne came in, relieved that the last guest had departed. Horne grabbed a towel and dried while my friend washed. During the conversation, Horne asked about my friend's interests, and she hesitantly said that was was trying to have a career as an operatic soprano.  Horne responded, "put on another pot of coffee."  They talked until the sun came up. Horne shared her experiences and her humor, and gave measured advice. My friend didn't make it in the world of Opera, but she did experience a bit of Divinity in Marilyn Horne's kitchen. I think of that story every time I hear Horne's voice.  Horne is a class act, and a Bel Canto Bad Ass for Sure!

It is nice to see Marilyn Horne get the notice she so richly deserves.  She is so often overlooked because she was a mezzo, but as you said, she could reach high when she wanted.  She also had a wonderful bottom end which none of the four others you mentioned had.  Her Una Voce Poco Fa is great fun to listen to simply because she really drops way down into her chest a time or two.  She had an entire octave down there that none of the others you mentioned had.

As a bel cantist who listened to Sills and/or Sutherland every day while I was learning to sing, I endorse your list!

Thank you so much for including Sills. I think her later work and all the public events as host have tarnished her accomplishments as a first rate technician. I feel fortunate to have lived during those years. We knew they were golden years with amazing singers.

I absolutely adore Anna Moffo in certain Bel Canto repertoire. Lucia di Lammermoor, La Sonnambula etc. Stunning vocal agility, an easy musicianship and just so, so beautiful to listen to.

This is among the greatest of your "Five Greatest" series, Dave.   Your introduction is cogent and very informative, followed up by examples with each singer.  What an inspiration for newcomers to opera!

Callas, Caballe, Gencer, Milanov, Cerquetti

I never heard Callas, but Sutherland's husband, Richard Bonynge, described Callas's voice in 1952 (before her famous weight loss) as "Colossal."  He said it was a huge voice that poured out of her the way Flagstad's did.  After the weight loss, the voice shrank in size, power, range, and breadth, however.  One of the most interesting anecdotes I heard about her communication skills was from a German friend who lives in Thailand.  One day, he was playing Callas's recording of Madama Butterfly while his Thai cleaning lady was doing her work.  At the end of the opera, when she sang "Tu tu piccollo iddio," he sad the cleaning lady, sitting on the floor and weeping.  He asked her what was wrong, and she said, "it's a terrible thing to lose a child."  She didn't know opera and she didn't know Italian, but she understood what Callas was conveying.  

On the Opera Anna channel, Anna says about Callas, “Not the most beautiful voice in the world, but somehow, still the most beautiful voice in the world. That is the mystery and oxymoron of Maria Callas.” In his book “Demented: the World of the Opera Diva,” Ethan Mordden says it even more eloquently: “She sang as if she had the most beautiful voice in opera, and she sang so beautifully that she might as well have had such a voice.” There are many wonderful singers, but Callas was the genius.  June Anderson said, “Callas was superhuman. She was on a whole other plane. She really was a Diva — the goddess — and the rest of us are basically her handmaidens.”

"Good to know who to look out for." "The emotional truth."  I so enjoy the rounded and sensible approach you take in your videos. Thank you!

I met Joan Sutherland once at my local hairdresser's in Kensington, Sydney - "Cheap cuts for gals and guys". Her son lived around the corner. I raced home and brought back a biography "Sutherland & Bonynge". I was too shy to approach so I asked the hairdresser to give her the book to be autographed. La Stupenda called me over, told me the book had major mistakes, then autographed it for me. I'm a huge opera fan - I owned all her Cds, including Emilia di Liverpool, but I was so overwhelmed I forgot how to speak and just nodded and dribbled. Joan Sutherland was lovely, kind, gracious and down to earth. This was the most exciting moment of my life. Also when I saw her singing opera I was astonished and how big her voice was - not just high - but broad.  The CDs never seemed to capture that.

THank you for  speaking of one of my favorites Marilyn Horne!

I was very fortunate to have heard Monserrat Caballé live.  Unforgettable

Dave, I must say this is the best video I’ve seen about opera singing. You rightly command the hard work, not just the incredible talent of these great singers, and you very succinctly describe what each brought to the music world. Few musicians have as much clout and glamour as singers. These 5 (and a couple others imo) really deserve the distinction.

I would add Scotto and Gruberova to the mix for sure.

Not so well know but easily found on live recording is Turkish soprano Leyla Gencer aka La Diva Turca. She is beloved to collectors of pirate recordings with her particular interest in Donizetti's operas.  A very vivid and exciting singer who was roughly the age of Callas and Sutherland. Truly worth seeking her recordings with lots of samplings on YouTube.
I do not know of a commercial recording but she was not a minor singer.
She sang everything from Monteverdi, Mozart, Bellini, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Poulenc and even Prokofiev. A very interesting artist often forgotten!

Speaking of telling a story: the most incredible opera performance I’ve seen (on video) is that of Norma with Caballé and Jon Vickers. Their confrontation in the final act (‘In mia man alfin tu sei’) is the stuff that makes operatic history. Both singers stand apart from one another, then  Norma starts circling around Pollione, dagger  in hand, all the while spinning the most moving, beautiful music. They clearly bring out the best in the other. Goosebumps.

Thanks for your posts. Since watching this, the last two evenings I’ve been thrilling to the voice of Beverly Sills on Spotify. I’ve spent many hours listening to the other four on your list but she is refreshing and superb. Thanks again

I once attended a Marilyn Horne masterclass in which she advised someone to never sing in public again.

Great presentation Dave. Luckily I got to hear all but Callas live in opera performances.

Horne was a wonderful comic, too. And Caballe sang a deeply moving Ravel "Kaddish"