THE SONGBIRD: Annick Massis is one of the sopranos I most admire (hence, deserving of a YT thumbnail graphic template and playlist all her own). Massis was born to a musical household in 1958 in Paris. She got something of a late start on her singing studies and career, making her operatic debut in her early 30s in Toulouse. Massis gradually built an impressive performance and recording career in Europe and the U.S. singing florid baroque works, florid French lyric roles, and florid bel canto heroines.
THE MUSIC: "Hamlet" is a grand opera in five acts by Ambroise Thomas, with a libretto by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier based on a French adaptation of Shakespeare's play. It premiered at the Paris Opera in 1868. Swedish soprano Christine Nilsson had just been engaged at the Opéra and Thomas chose her for the role of Ophélie, adapting the score in places to fit her talent, including interpolating a Swedish folk song into the mad scene -- which was suggested by Nilsson. The mad scene is one of the longest and most demanding in the coloratura soprano repertoire. This performance includes the haunting coda after the aria proper where Ophelia disappears gradually into the lake and drowns herself.