music room -
rarities selections
These are live vocal selections by Beverly Sills which fall outside the formal opera and concert stage categories. They include early radio appearances, one-time gala performances and other unusual items. To listen to these excerpts, click the play button on the music player
August 1937 - (released in June 1938)
1. Arditi: Il bacio - "Uncle Sol Solves It" (short film from Twentieth-Century Fox) At age eight, Sills apepared in this short film, playing a precocious singer whose family has various ideas about where she should study voice. They take her to sing for Uncle Sol in his "Problem Court." He decides, after her perky rendition of the Arditi classic, that she should study in America. |
| November 19,1939 - 2. Major Bowes Capitol Family Hour broadcast from the Capitol Theater Building in New York City: Verdi: Rigoletto - "Caro Nome" with Waldo Mayo & the Capitol Radio Orchestra/ After winning the Major Bowes Original Amateur Hour contest on October 26, 1939, Bowes invited Sills to appear on his other radio program, The Capitol Family Hour, three weeks later. She sang the same aria, "Caro nome," as she did on the Amateur Hour, but this time with orchestra instead of piano. (To hear the Major Bowes interview that precedes this aria, click here. The complete transcript of this interview can be found here) |
| July 09, 1946 - 3. Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts (radio) - contestant Sills, appearing as Vicki Lynn, sings "Romany Life" from Victor Herbert's "Fortune Teller." Sills had to sing under a pseudonymn because she was under contract to J. J. Schubert for a Gilbert and Sullivan tour. Schubert did not want Godfrey to be able to say he had discovered "Beverly Sills" if she won the contest (she didn't). |
| January 30,1955 - 4. Opera Cameo appearance in Bizet's "Les Pecheurs de Perles" Sills is accompanied by Martil Singher with Giuseppe Bamboschek conducting. The three excerpted arias audible in this clip are: "Pour toi, pour toi que j'adore" "Leila! Leila! Dieu Puissant" "Je fremis, je chancelle" |
| March 03,1955 - 5. Opera Cameo appearance in Verdi's "La Traviata" Sills is accompanied by Paul Knowles and Ettor Bastianini with Giuseppe Bamboschek conducting. The five excerpted arias audible in this clip are: "Un de felice" " Follie! follie! ... Sempre libera" "Madamigella Vale'ry? Son io" "Ah! dite alla giovine" "Ed ora si scriva a lui" |
April 26,1959 -  6. Six Characters in Search of an Author -New York City, New York Sills was seven months pregnant during the production of Weisgall's opera. She is accompanied by McChesney, Williams, Timberlake, Macurdy, Voketaitis with Sylvain LevinKolk conducting. The two excerpted arias audible in this clip are pending name identifcation. |
| June 17,1967 - 7. Caramoor Festival in Debussy's "L'Enfant Prodigue" - Katonah, New York Sills is accompanied by Kolk, Metcafe with Julius Rudel conducting. The three excerpted arias audible in this clip are pending name identifcation. |
| August 24, 1969 - 8. Beethoven Ninth Symphony - "Last Movement" - Tangelwood, Massachusetts Sills is accompanied by Kopleff, John Alexander, Justino Diaz with Erich Leinsdorf, conducting. |
| October 03,1970 - 9. International Piano Library Gala Benefit - Hunter College Auditorium, New York City: "Sillsiana" For this concert, which was to raise funds for the IPL, an archive of recorded piano performances, Sills performed a humorous pastiche of operatic arias associated with Sills' career. It was put together by her long-time collaborator and ornamentation specialist, Roland Gagnon, who accompanied her for this performance. |
| April 18, 1971 - 10. New York City, Philharmonic Hall recital Charles Wadsworth, acc.- Portuguese Folk Song, titled "Tell Me Why" that Sills always used as an encore for her recitals. It was given to her at age 10 by her long-time and only teacher, Estelle Liebling. (For the special version of this song that Sills sang at the end of her Farewell Gala at New York City Opera, see below at Oct. 27, 1980) |
| November 15, 1971 - 11. The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson - in the comic operetta - "Who?" Sills joins Johnny Carson in a parody of the 1930's Nelson Eddy/Jeanette MacDonald movies. Sills and Carson sing "Who Stole My Heart Away?" (Note: The original videotape of this program was not saved, according to the Johnny Carson production company. This audio and the few photos in Sills's two autobiographies are the only pieces left of the program.) |
| September 16,1976 - 12. The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson - Jerome Kern - "All the Things You Are" A thrilling rendition of the familiar song, one that Sills did not program otherwise. |
| December 10,1978 - 13. Cleveland Orchestra with Lorin Maazel - 60th Anniversary Celebration: "Happy Birthday Parody" Maazel, at the piano plays Happy Birthday in the manner of Beethoven, then violinist Issac Stern plays a concerto cadenza parody , then Sills sings the lyrics of "Happy Birthday" to "Sempre Libera." |
| October 28, 1979 - 14. Frank Sinatra Concert at the Metropolitan Opera - Benefit for Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Zubin Mehta conducting the New York Cultural Symphony Sills and Robert Merrill join Sinatra for a number from a "new opera" - "Guys and Dolls." |
| October 27, 1980 - 15. New York City Opera Gala Farewell Sills fittingly ends her last public vocal performance by singing the Portuguese Folk Song, titled "Tell Me Why" that Estelle Liebling, her only voice teacher, gave her when she was ten. As a tribute to Liebling, Sills ended every recital with this song. Her long-time accompanist, Charles Wadsworth, plays for this final, moving performance. (Note: Although Sills did not mention it in her introduction, the lyrics for the folk song were completely rewritten for this farewell performance. Click here for the complete text of the rewritten lyrics (as heard in this audio clip) and the usual lyrics that Sills sang on all other previous recitals (which can be heard in the clip above dated April 18, 1971). |
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Total time = 1hr 57 minutes
Total files = 16
