20 Most Distinctive Female Operatic Singing Voices of the Last Century

There are and have been many wonderful female opera singers currently performing on the stage, so, of course, any list of only 20 will omit many worthy artists that other opera fans may include. Their exclusion from this list doesn't reflect my judgment on their vocal instrument... The talent pool is large and even though I have been driving my roommate, her dog, and our neighbors insane by playing opera on the stereo almost every evening I have not come close to having listened to them all. Since the main requisite I had in mind when I compiled this list was the possession of a distinctive female operatic voice (the kind of voice whose owner you can correctly identify instantly after just one or a few hearings), not every singer on the list is my favorite either.

For those who aren't that familiar with the opera and would like to be introduced to some of the most unique-voiced female singers of the last 100 years, however, this list might be a useful starting point. I am not ranking the singers, but am listing them chronologically based on their date of birth: (click on their names for sample clips on youtube)

1. Ernestine Schumann-Heink (Lieben, Austrian Empire 1861- California, USA 1936). Contralto active from 1877-1931, not counting later radio shows. Mme. Schumann-Heink was one of those rare true contraltos with a rich deep voice than can sound like the Mother Earth herself. She was known for her Wagnerian roles and as the originator of Klytämnestra in Richard Strauss' shocking opera, Elektra.

2. Kirsten Flagstad (Hamar, Norway 1895- Oslo, Norway 1962). Soprano active from 1928-1952. Flagstad started her career as a soubrette (light soprano) and seemed destined to a career-ful of Zerlina's and Sophie's until her voice decided to super-sized itself upon the birth of her daughter (amazing what childbirth can do for you, isn't it?) in 1920. Thereafter she became one of the greatest Wagnerian dramatic sopranos to ever graced the planet. Her sweet warm and, needless to say, large voice gives the illusion of the infinite in its cozily textured sonic blanket. Even now, nearly 50 years since her death she is still considered by many as the gold standard of how a Wagnerian dramatic soprano should sound.

3. Astrid Varnay (Stockholm, Sweden 1918 - Munich, Germany 2006). Soprano active from 1941-1995. Born in Sweden to Hungarian parents before emigrating to Argentina and then New York, where she had her career debut on the day before Pearl Harbor bombing, Astrid Varnay was one nationality-confused woman. That was perhaps just as well since it might have contributed to her dramatic versatility on the operatic stage. Hers was the quintessential Hochdramatische voice that was both big and massive (it wasn't just loud the way most other big voices were, it was a fully loaded monster truck of a voice that left a lasting impression on all who heard were lucky enough to have heard it live (and lived to tell the tales afterward). The richly textured voice had a knack for vocal coloration and dramatic expression and can sound angelic one moment and demonic in the next. A terror of the most hypnotic proportion...

4. Birgit Nilsson (Skåne, Sweden 1918- Skåne, Sweden 2005). Soprano active from 1946-1984. Still remembered today for her silvery (and piercingly large) voice as well as for her earthy wit and stinging one-liners (possibly the only woman who could call Herbert von Karajan 'Herbie' and still be allowed to live). There was no shortage of great Wagnerian sopranos during her active years, but none had the clarion high C's that could give her a run for her money in roles like the Valkyrie Brünnhilde or Turandot. The voice had a laser-like edge and coldness to it, however, so she was rather more convincing in larger-than-life goddess and princess roles than in more humane ones.

5. Martha Mödl (Nuremburg, Germany 1912-Stuttgart, Germany 2001). Mezzo-soprano active from 1942-1992. As far as distinctive voices go, this one is more distinctive than most. Mödl was a natural mezzo-soprano who has secure enough high notes to enable her to sing Wagnerian dramatic soprano roles for a while. It is a dark and warm voice that turned quite fascinatingly hoarse and eerie as it aged. I'm tempted to call it ugly... but it is the sort of ugly that you can't stop listening to. Her technique was iffy and every flaw in it was exploited to fantastic dramatic end. A true artist who never let a bad note go to waste!

6. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (Jarotchin, Prussia 1915 - Vorarlberg, Austria 2006). Soprano active from 1938-the late 1970's. Schwarzkopf had probably the friendliest voice of the artists on this list. It was a small-ish sound as clear as a bell and as sweet as fresh honey left unguarded by stingy bees. A thoughtful and deliberate singer rather than an intuitive one, you always get your money's worth when you buy her recording.

7. Eileen Farrell (Connecticut, USA 1920 - New Jersey, USA 2002). Soprano active from 1942-1993 (date of last recording). The only thing that was small about Eileen Farrell was her physical size. Her voice was one of the hugest in an era-ful of vocal titans. It was also one of the most beautiful soprano voices by any standard, blessed with a near perfect blend of sweetness and metal, textural lightness and beautifully focused density. She could and did sing everything as was perhaps even better known to pop music fans than she was opera crowd. A voice ideally suitable for Wagner that also reveled in singing Bach.... And she could jazz, too!

8. Renata Tebaldi (Pesaro, Italy 1922 - San Marino 2004) Soprano active from 1944-1976. The epitome of 'beautiful operatic voice', Renata Tebaldi had a lush and velvety voice that could melt any heart that wasn't already claimed by her colleague, Maria Callas, and inflamed by the rather childish if also commercially useful tabloid-fanned rivalry between the two divas.

9. Maria Callas (New York, USA 1923- Paris, France 1977). Soprano active from 1942-1974. Known as La Divina, Callas was a rare phenomenon whose unusual dramatic coloratura soprano voice was matched by her sense of drama and musicality. Callas was also unfortunately what everyone thinks about when pressed to come up with the greatest cautionary tale in opera. She lost weight too precipitously and sang heavy Wagner dramatic roles in succession with lighter agile bel canto ones, either of which could do in a young singer's promising voice. Callas' voice was never beautiful in a conventional sense, but it was a remarkable instrument in her early (pre-1959) years; full and secure with a huge 3 octaves range. Even though the voice precipitously deteriorated in the early 1960's, though, her vocal artistry still commanded attentive devotion. Divine she truly was, in many different senses of the word.

10. Joan Sutherland (Sydney, Australia 1926-). Soprano active from 1951-1990. Known as La Stupenda for her astounding vocal technique and voice size, Sutherland and her frequent sidekick Marilyn Horne played huge roles in the revival of previously forgotten baroque and bel canto music. Timbre-wise her voice isn't all that individualistic, but a voice that hefty in size that can also seemingly effortlessly navigate the tricky vocal sprint coloratura passages of Handel, Rossini, Bellini and Rossini come around only once in a many blue moons.

11. Régine Crespin (Marseille, France 1927- Paris, France 2007). Soprano active from 1949-1989. Beloved as much for her personality as for her gorgeously glucose-enriched voice, Crespin had a gift for diction and could sing in just about any language to please both music hounds and pronunciation police alike. Her voice has all the attitudes and coyness one would expect from a French woman but none of the aloofness. A very womanly voice that could fill the largest of operatic amphitheater with ease.

12. Leontyne Price (Mississippi, USA 1927-). Soprano active from 1953-1997. There surely has never been a more aptly named soprano than Leontyne Price. She sounds like an imperious lioness. Piercing top register perched seamlessly on an alluringly dusky middle and chest tones, with silky smooth legato and endless breath control, Price was an ideal Verdi and Puccini heroine who was perhaps best known for her Aida and Leonora (in La forza del destino).

13. Marilyn Horne (Pennsylvania, USA 1934 -). Mezzo-soprano active from 1954-1999. Known as 'Jackie' to her friends and 'General Horne' to her adoring fans (because they couldn't pay her enough to sing heroic pants roles from the Baroque and bel canto periods), Marilyn Horne was and is one of the most influential singers of the late 20th century. She had a huge and gorgeous voice with distinctive dark coloration and could sing just about anything from lovely lullaby to fleetingly agile bel canto music. She started her career as a soprano (finding enormous acclaims singing Marie in Alban Berg's Wozzeck) but made most of her bread in jump starting the revival of the florid baroque and bel canto repertoire. She was the queen of cross-over before cross-over became hip and was probably as well known to pop music fans as she was to opera fans in her prime years. I must say, as famous as she is doing Rossini and Handel, I like her best in simple tunes like Stephen Foster's Jeanie With A Light Brown Hair or Beautiful Dreamer.

14. Anna Tomowa-Sintow (Stara Zagora, Bulgaria 1941-). Soprano active from 1967 to present. Not as well known as most other names on this list, perhaps, but no less distinctive than any. Hers is a richly creamy dramatic soprano voice with a distinctive dark Slavic tinge that sooth the musical palate like that bitter black edge enveloped in the richness of milk chocolate. Her being a Bulgarian, of course, means that every deliciously produced sound she makes exude facets of the opera character she embodies. Yes, when it comes to Tomowa-Sintow, you can have your cake and eat it, too...

15. Jessye Norman (Georgia, USA 1945-). Soprano active from 1969 to present. If there was ever a voice that was made specifically to sing opera, and to be exact, Richard Strauss opera, it is that lush flowing sound that rushes out of Jessye Norman's throat like a superfluid river of molten gold. Silky and endless. Drown in it... and die happy.

16. Ewa Podles (Warsaw, Poland 1952-). Contralto active from 1975 to present. If the earth itself could sing it would undoubtedly sound something like Ewa Podles... Enough said (why say anything while I can shut up and just listen to that voice, eh?).

17. Nina Stemme (Stockholm, Sweden 1963-). Soprano active from 1989 to present. Womanly and sweet is how I would describe her voice, though with the caveat that there are many ways of being womanly or sweet and Nina Stemme seems to know and sound all of them.

18. Vesselina Kasarova (Stara Zagora, Bulgaria 1965-). Mezzo-soprano active from 1989 to present. Unusual, distinctive, and even odd have been used to described this versatile Bulgarian mezzo-soprano. The basic sound is intoxicating in its androgenic quality, the burnish copper coloration and full burgundy texture. The years have added a smoky layer and a glowy overtone to it along with more heft, pushing her more and more toward the seductive dramatic French and Verdi repertoire. The voice remains one of the most agile of any active singers, however, and that makes her in great demand in baroque and bel canto trouser heroic roles as well as the dark femme fatales grandmothers warn their young pups about every night before they go to sleep.... For good reasons.

19. Cecilia Bartoli (Rome, Italy 1966-). Mezzo-soprano active from 1987 to present. Perhaps the best known opera singers among non-opera fans today aside from Anna Netrebko, Cecilia Bartoli is a hard fish to vocally label. She has a dark vocal color but with a light texture of a soprano. It is not a graceful voice nor is it a particularly authoritative one, but it has its own individual charms and is always expressed with a superb sense of drama. She sounds like your insistent little sister who can be both adorable and worthy of a slap all at once... Though I'll bet that your little sister can't sing Vivaldi the way Bartoli does.

20. Anna Netrebko (Russia 1971-). Soprano active from 1993 to present. It takes great physical beauty to draw attention away from this darkly beautiful and boldly powerful a soprano voice... and yet Anna Netrebko's look does precisely that for so many. I wonder what she thinks of it. She is also a great theatrical actress... though most of it is physical and not in the voice itself. For many, though, the sheer beauty of the sound is more than enough. And since the voice has reportedly been supersizing itself following childbirths... So, there is now even more of her to love!

As I mentioned before, this is not a list of my favorite female opera singers (such a list wouldn't omit names like Ghena Dimitrova, Galina Vishnevskaya, Res Fischer, Regina Resnik, Joyce DiDonato, Jennifer Larmore or Anja Harteros, among a few others). It is a list of 20 female operatic voices I deem most 'distinctive and individualistic to the point of instant identifiability'... And the fact that there are so many singers that fit into this category means that it does pay to listen around for new singers you hadn't heard of before. It was well worth wading through piles of not-as-rememberable CDs and DVDs to find every individualistic vocal pearls that make up my list!