In Celebration of the Human Voice - The Essential Musical Instrument

Marilyn Horne

Born: 1934. Living in: United States

Horne was born in Bradford, Pennsylvania, but moved with her parents to Long Beach, California, when she was 11. At the age of 13, she became part of the newly formed Los Angeles Concert Youth Chorus. She attended the University of Southern California where she was a member of Pi Beta Phi fraternity. She is an alumna of Long Beach Polytechnic High School and returned in 1995 in a performance to benefit its music program. As a high school student, Marilyn was part of the St. Luke's Choir of Long Beach under the direction of William Ripley Dorr. This prestigious choir often worked for the movie studios and recorded on Capitol Records. Marilyn and her sister Gloria were part of St. Luke's Quartet along with tenor, Bob James and Baritone, Philip D. Haynes.

She studied voice under William Vennard at the University of Southern California School of Music and participated in Lotte Lehmann's vocal master classes.

Marilyn Horne : Voices of the Opera Series

Marilyn Horne (b. January 16, 1934, Bradford, Pennsylvania) is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer who is particularly associated with the music of Rossini and Handel. She began her career as a light lyric soprano; however, as the years progressed, the voice settled and matured into a mezzo-soprano instrument with a full and rich timbre equipped with extreme flexibility and great size. She specialized in roles requiring a large sound, beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages. This collection features celebrated arias as interpreted by the great Marilyn Horne. In addition to a brief biography, each selection, in standard voice and piano format, is followed by notes which indicate the variants, breaths, fermatas, and all of the nuances that Horne employed to turn these arias into masterpieces of interpretation. A wonderful reference tool for vocal coaches, professional singers and voice students.

Songlist: Belt? crudele (Rossini), Cruda sorte! Amor tirrano! from L'ITALIANA IN ALGERI (Rossini), Oh Patria! - Di tanti palpiti from TANCREDI (Rossini), Il risentimento (Rossini), Il trovatore (Rossini), L'invito (Rossini), Mura felici from LA DONNA DEL LAGO (Rossini), Una voce poco fa from IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA (Rossini)