“That was not the time, as now, when a role was fitted to an artist as if it were a dress. Oh, this modern type system that demands only a few tricks, a personality and self-confidence! There was nothing of that in the early Italian method. In that, one had to be a master of one’s technic.”
And what a technique!
Here are several video clips that demonstrate the technical capacity of her instrument:
The Letter Duet from Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro:
Gounod’s “Jewel Song” from Faust:
Coloratura from Roméo et Juliette:
Verismo example from Cavalleria Rusticana:
Lieder example “Gretchen am Spinnrade” by Schubert
And finally, a Wagnerian example from Lohengrin