Roberta Alexander, a soprano who recorded works by Bach, Beethoven, Röntgen (8th symphony), Barber, Wellesz and many others* earlier, betwixt and after, died Tuesday October 14th, aged 76.
*Rimsky, Ives, disks of other Dutch music (including father and both sons of the Andriessen family, I think), Mahler, Gershwin, many standard classics of course, Berthold Goldschmidt operas, many moderns, etc.
Roberta was great - with a contagious sense of humour! Among other I had the pleasure of being involved in an unforgettable Ponnelle-Harnoncourt production of "Così fan tutte" (inculding Lucia Popp and Ann Murray) at the Zurich Opera long ago...
What sad news. She was adventurous in her repertory. I recall the several fine albums she made for Etcetera back in the day. I've just cued up, in her memory, her excellent Barber aria disc, and it occurs to me album covers preserve the youth of musical stars the way films do for the movie variety. I imagined she would always be with us, ever in her prime.
"Give me my robe, put on my crown, / I have immortal longings in me."
Hers was a really lovely, silvery soprano:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcEBy5bgJ7U&list=PLwikIyWUfSr0vOjXHlU3Q8bA0a1G7bAdT