Victoria De Los Angeles.(soprano)(Obituary)

Barcelona, November 1, 1923--January 15, 2005

A peerless artist in a generation rich in great singers, Victoria de los Angeles triumphed in opera, in recital and on recordings with an ear-catching combination of warm, luxurious tone, immaculate intonation and masterful phrasing. Incomparable in opera roles that tapped her gift for expressing pathos--her Mimi and her Cio-Cio-San brimmed with the sound of tears unshed--de los Angeles also enjoyed successes as the Figaro Countess, Marguerite, Manon and Wagner's Elsa, Elisabeth and Eva. Her sunny good humor shone as Rossini's Rosina; her womanly dignity made her particularly moving in Otello and in La Traviata.

A beloved recitalist for more than four decades, de los Angeles was able to capture the attention--and the heart--of an audience from the first brisk steps of her entrance onto the stage, the sharp line of her chin held high as her enormous eyes swept the auditorium. Her figure was compact and rounded, her manner disarmingly simple, but her spirit was tremendous, the force of her personality sufficient to satisfy the last rows of the balconies of the world's most important concert halls. As Virgil Thomson wrote, "Miss de los Angeles is not without vocal power. She simply does not throw it at you."

At her peak, de los Angeles appeared at Carnegie Hall multiple times within a single season; in 1950-51, for example, she sold out the auditorium four times in twelve months. A typical de los Angeles recital program coveted an unusually wide range of material--her repertoire included everything from Baroque arias to German lieder, French melodies and Italian art songs to several centuries' worth of music from her native Spain--and often ended with the soprano accompanying herself on guitar for one of her encores. Her most frequent partner in recitals was pianist Gerald Moore, who also recorded with her on many occasions. Their professional relationship lasted almost twenty years, from 1949 until Moore retired, in 1967. De los Angeles continued to appear in recital until she was well into her seventies; although her voice diminished in range and compass over the years, her musicality, zest and charm remained undimmed.

The daughter of a caretaker at the University of Barcelona, de los Angeles began formal vocal studies in 1939 at the Conservatory of the Liceu. She made her professional concert debut in May ...