Here is the famous (infamous) acuto sfogato coloratura canary Erna Sack. She would warbled up to the C above High C...not much real musical credibility, but quite a feat none the less.
Lina Pagliughi sang all the Italian leggiere roles to acclaim. I find her rather bland.
Rita Streich in a later photo sent to me by a fan of hers.
Beloved is the word that is always associated with Bidu Sayao, the charming and beautiful Brazilian import who had a long career at the Met (pictured above and below). It was a light voice of exquisite timbre and tone. Her later recordings are of lyric roles like Mimi and Manon, but she began as a coloratura and some of her early recordings show a marvelous sense of virtuousity. Her "Bel raggio" from Semiramide (interpolated into the Lesson scene in Rossini's Barber of Seville) has the longest cadenza I've ever heard in the middle of an aria.
Anna Maria Alberghetti was the Charlotte Church of the 1950's -- although she had a much healthier technique and twice the range of the inexplicably popular British teenager. Even so, Alberghertti's was a white, dry, small, monochromatic voice. Picture below in a more sophisticated adult shot.
Kathyrn Grayson was the coloratura voice most people heard in the 1940's and 50's due to her popular film career. She had a legitimate high extension to the top G.
Wilma Lipp practically owned the role of the Queen of the Night in this era.
Elfie Mayerhofer was dubbed the "Viennese Nightingale" (by her record company at least). She resembles Grayson in that she appeared in European operetta films.
Toti dal Monte was quite a favorite in this period. Her records don't hold up that well, as her bright voiced tended to curdle in the studio and her filigree is not subtle. But that is the Italian style of the period: vibrant and over the top. Pictured below as Lucia. I guess she didn't mind signing autographs.
Nadine Conner was sort of a second stringer -- she sang around the US and frequently on the radio with a serviceable if somewhat "short" lyric coloratura voice.
Patrice Munsel was the youngest singer to debut at the Met -- 18 years old in 1943. It was a polished, pretty voice. She made many recordings and appearances on radio and TV. The glamorous shot above betrays her rather homely appearance -- captured better below.
And then of course there was Lily Pons, perhaps the most famous of the post-war "songbirds." Her is a drawing of her with her husband Andre Kostelanetz done for a magazine ad endorsing for Magnavox.
This is Hilde Reggiani -- she sang at the Met and on the radio and left some of the most dreadful recordings. Her Bell Song is a hoot.
Milizia Korjus became world famous when Hollywood tapped her for the Great Waltz in the 1930's. In the early part of her career, she made some astoundingly perfect records of the most virtuosic music.
The notorious Yma Sumac, who never sang opera, but became a sensation in the 1950's with her own unique style of coloratura singing. Her records are a must.
A magazine ad or playbill promoting Swedish coloratura Hjorid Schymberg, an uneven artist who is best known for her duet recordings with Bjorling.
The lovely French-Canadian coloratura Pierrette Alarie had a marshmellow light voice of great range and delicacy. She was married to Leopold Simoneau, a widely admired lyric tenor. They made many records together, a perfect coupling of musical elegance.
Mimi Coertse, from South Africa, was a star at Vienna, and sang major roles all over Europe in the 1950s and 60s. I think she is a wonderful artist -- very clean technician with grace and elegance.
Erna Berger was about as perfect vocally as one could be -- all her records reveal note to note perfection and faithful readings of the score. She had a very long, illustrious career during and after the War. She retained her beautiful pure sound well into her sixties.
