Beverly Sills - A Memorial and Some Quotes

“A happy woman is one who has no cares at all; a cheerful woman is one who has cares but doesn't let them get her down.”--Beverly Sills

Her daughter was profoundly deaf.
Her son was severely mentally disabled.
Her husband had Alzheimer's Disease.
She smiled and sang.
Now she is a legend.

I got my very first opera record in 1966, when I was in sixth grade: selections from Bellini's Norma, sung by Joan Sutherland. That led to a Sutherland Greatest Hits, including the mad scene from Lucia di Lamermoor. And from there, it was inevitable: to Beverly Sills. Although she was famous for her bel canto roles and for singing Handel, the aria I most cherish is her "Marietta's Leid" from Die Todt Stadt. Today Kiri Te Kanawa and Renee Fleming are more associated with that aria, but for me it will always belong to Beverly Sills and her conductor, Julius Rudel.

Not only was she a great soprano, she was a wise woman. Witness:

“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”

“You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try.”

“Art is the signature of civilizations.”

“I've always tried to go a step past wherever people expected me to end up.”

“In youth we run into difficulties. In old age difficulties run into us.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv7zBzObsH8 Sills sings "Vilja" from The Merry Widow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT0yWpdG_fs Sills sings the mad scene from Lucia di Lammermoor (poor quality recording, but her voice shines despite its shortcomings)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef9Wrl1i3eI Sills discusses her children and her career
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoXHfNGtccc Sill's final farewell--a Portuguese folksong.

Now it is the angels' turn to listen to her, and rejoice.