I am so very sorry to learn of the death of soprano Benita Valente. Valente, who only just turned 91 on October 19, died at her home in Philadelphia yesterday.
Despite her unfailingly pure sound, no one could ever accuse her of lacking versatility. She was praised for her Mozart heroines. Over the course of her career, she sang Pamina 200 times, including at the Metropolitan Opera, belatedly (she’d already sung the role for some 20 years), beginning in 1973. She also impressed with her Gilda in Verdi’s “Rigoletto,” her Violetta in Verdi’s “La traviata,” and her Mimi in Puccini’s “La bohème.”
But her voice was also ideally suited to Bach cantatas and lieder recitals encompassing a broad swath of the repertoire, including songs of Schubert, Schumann, and Wolf.
She received a Grammy Award for her recording of Arnold Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 2 and was nominated for her recording of Haydn’s “Seven Last Words of Christ,” both with the Juilliard String Quartet.
Composers who wrote music specifically for her include William Bolcom, Alberto Ginastera, John Harbison, Libby Larsen, and Richard Wernick.
I was lucky to have heard her sing Handel’s Ginevra opposite Tatiana Troyanos’ Ariodante with the Opera Company of Philadelphia in 1989. It seemed the two singers were pretty much joined at the hip during that period.
But of course, it is in the classic recording of Schubert’s “The Shepherd on the Rock,” with clarinetist Harold Wright and pianist Rudolf Serkin, that she had really touched my heart.
She was married to Anthony Checchia, founding artistic director of the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and administrator for the Marlboro Music Festival, who died last year at the age of 94.
Valente was so much a musical presence – and a source of Philadelphia pride for so long – that her passing is inconceivable.
R.I.P.
Schubert, “The Shepherd on the Rock”
Brahms, “Liebeslieder Waltzes,” with alto Marlena Kleinman, tenor (later beloved radio host) Wayne Conner, bass (also Valente’s teacher) Martial Sigher, and pianists Serkin and Leon Fleisher
Handel, “Lascia ch’io pianga” from “Rinaldo”
Handel, “Radamisto”
PHOTO: Valente (front left) with Tatiana Troyanos in “Ariodante” at Santa Fe Opera in 1987
