Classical Music II

[Voronwen]

Not dramatic as in Wagner voices - dramatic COLORATURA!

It's a coloratura voice that has more bite and "ping" and sometimes more range than a typical coloratura. It's not as much about lightness vs. heaviness. I know, it's all confusing!

Miss Silverpeal is considered the lighter role. The point is that both ladies in this show need to have a difference in timbre (and acting-wise, the characters are very different). I think Madame Herz is sung by a lot of different voices though, it depends more on whether the singer in question has the sustained E's and F's.

[hectorberlioz]

Gwai and Tessar, calm down! There's no reason to pull eachothers' hair out over a little disagreement! *stern*

ok, you asked for it...

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RgUga-c70V...cher_knife.jpg

[Voronwen]

Here's what the Aria Database has to say about the ladies in Schauspieldirektor:

Da schlägt des Abschieds Stunde
from Act I of the German opera, Der Schauspieldirektor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto : Gottlieb Stephanie, Jr.

Role : Madame Herz, a singer
Voice Part : soprano
Fach : dramatic coloratura
Setting : none in particular
Range : Has not been entered yet.
Synopsis : This aria is sung to demonstrate Madame Herz's skill as a singer. She sings about a parting with someone named Damon and how even though they will be apart and he may forget her, she will accompany him still in spirit if not otherwise.

Bester Jüngling
from Act I of the German opera, Der Schauspieldirektor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto : Gottlieb Stephanie, Jr.

Role : Madame Silberklang, a singer
Voice Part : soprano
Fach : lyric coloratura
Setting : none in particular
Range : Has not been entered yet.
Synopsis : This aria is sung to demonstrate Madame Silberklang's skill as a singer. She sings that she will accept the love of someone (it is not stated who that is) because there is nothing more precious to her.

Hope that helps

ETA ~ They don't state their ranges here, but i have the score and have studied both roles so i know the ranges

Madame Silberklang (called Silverpeal in the English version) needs a solid D6. She sings several high C's through the course of the show. She also needs flawless fioritura.

Madame Herz needs not only a great pianissimo Eb6, but a sustained F6. She sings two of the latter in the course of the show.

I love this opera!!!

[Gwaimir Windgem]

If that's so, then I don't know if Natalie Dessay will be able to sing the role. Wasn't her range rather reduced by a surgery on her lymph nodes?

[Voronwen]

I don't know for sure, Gwaimir I do know that she had surgery and that she is adding some standard lyric roles now (without the exceptionally-high notes) to her repertoire. How sad if she has lost her stratosphere!

Her Ab6(!!!) at the end of this clip is amazing! I love this performance of hers!

[Tessar]

Originally Posted by hectorberlioz

Gwai and Tessar, calm down! There's no reason to pull eachothers' hair out over a little disagreement! *stern*

ok, you asked for it...

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RgUga-c70V...cher_knife.jpg

I'm sorry, you're right we were totally over the line of reason . We were fighting like angry cats in a bathtub of acid.


But yeah, what Gwai. said. If the role needs an F6 I don't think Natalie Dessay could sing it any more. From what I recall she said she tops out at a D6 or an Eb these days... which is pretty miraculous considering that from what I remember she had nodes removed from both cords. Most people can barely sing at all after that.

[Voronwen]

Originally Posted by Tessar

From what I recall she said she tops out at a D6 or an Eb these days... which is pretty miraculous considering that from what I remember she had nodes removed from both cords. Most people can barely sing at all after that.

Wow! Yeah, she's lucky that she can still sing!

[Tessar]

Yeah, and especially that she was able to maintain such a sound. Despite losing her stratospheric notes, I think her voice is beautiful enough in and of itself that she doesn't have to sing those notes to make her worth listening to. It's not like some singers where without the high notes they're not worth listening to, she is definitely still one of my top favorite sopranos.

[hectorberlioz]

If any of you are ever in the mood for some really interesting avant-garde music, try this YouTube video of "Hurqualia" by Giancinto Scelsi. I'm not usually compelled to recommend modernist stuff, but this is more than squeaks and bangs. Still austere and scary, but listenable and interesting...and even (dare I say?) enjoyable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QGerFh-IDI&NR=1

[Voronwen]

squeaks and bangs

*laughing*

Interesting. Definitely ominous, yes. It sounds like something that would make a good movie soundtrack... for what kind of movie, i have no idea... but something scary!

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Originally Posted by Tessar

Yeah, and especially that she was able to maintain such a sound. Despite losing her stratospheric notes, I think her voice is beautiful enough in and of itself that she doesn't have to sing those notes to make her worth listening to. It's not like some singers where without the high notes they're not worth listening to, she is definitely still one of my top favorite sopranos.

Of course, all of us are very lucky that she can still sing, and still possesses such a beautiful, bell-like clarity to her voice. Without Natalie Dessay singing, the world would be a poorer place.

[hectorberlioz]

Two things:

1) This cat as soloist in a piano concerto: http://www.catcerto.com/cat_video.htm

PS: Just saw the thread about this video, and realized that's where I got the link from in the first place...I posted it on the Amazon Classical forum, then forgot where I found it. Many thanks to Ringbearer sharing the video link! I point you to his thread for discussion of the wonderful "catcerto."

2) Tess, Gwai, and Voronwen...have you all heard the numbers "una volta c'era un re" and "O figli amabili" from Rossini's 'La Cenerentola'? Absolutely amazing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0Ja3...eature=related ...with the super Jennifer Larmore as Cinderella (my kind of singer! )...and the no-less amazing step sisters.

3) A different scene from La Cenerentola, also wonderful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfDjiEtw4Zg

I've never heard Kasarova before, but she is heavenly.

[hectorberlioz]

Berlioz on YOUTUBE

I'm practically a living commercial for Berlioz. Before YouTube, an expensive commercial. But now that we can easily watch free videos of our favorite music in good quality (most of the time), I thought it was time to put this list together.

Les Troyens (opera). Several famous numbers and pieces from this opera, not least the Royal Hunt and Storm and the Trojan March. Those are orchestral 'knockouts' as they say, but let's not forget the lulling tones of 'Vallon sonore,' and the breathtaking scene from that closes Act 3. Going back: the opening scene of the opera has characterful ensemble singing and orchestral accompaniment...all which is broken up when Cassandra comes in to make her dire predictions. And scene two closes with a tremendous and powerful scene where Cassandra and her gals throw themselves off a rampart rather than be killed by the Greek soldiers (though in this version it's stabbing themselves before the American commandos arrive ).

Overtures. Hector Berlioz wrote about 10 overtures (depending on how you count). Some of them are connected to operas, such as the ones to Benvenuto Cellini, Beatrice et Benedict, the Prelude to Act 3 of Les Troyens, and not least the extremely original Les Francs-juges op.3 overture (the opera being destroyed and/or recycled by the composer). Berlioz also wrote some independent overtures not connected to a larger work: Rob Roy and Waverly, both on Sir Walter Scott novels; King Lear after Shakespeare; The Corsair Overture on Fenimore Cooper's Red Rover. Maybe; and not least the Roman Carnival Overture, derived from a scene of his opera Benvenuto Cellini.

Symphonie Fantastique. This is Berlioz's most famous work. It's played and recorded so often that it clouds a lot of his other music. Familiar story for a composer (Think: Saint-saens and the Carnival of the Animals). Of course, if there was nothing extraordinary about this symphony we wouldn't hear it so much. Maybe if Berlioz had called it 'Symphonie ordinaire' he wouldn't have had so many problems with it clouding his other work in his own lifetime. Lots of fantastic things about this symphony historically, as well as musically. It was written when Berlioz was 26, and when he decided he had to write a work with which to make a name for himself. Surrounded (and loving) the Beethoven symphonies he was hearing at the Paris Conservatory concerts, the work shows some similarity of traits with the 'Pastoral' and the 'Choral' symphonies in the layout of the movements. Beethoven was dead only six years before Berlioz wrote this work, and Berlioz had Beethoven's music coursing through his veins when he wrote this. He also had love coursing through his veins: awestruck by Shakespearan actress Harriet Smithson's beauty, Hector was driven to frenzy. The potent combination of Beethoven + Smithson gave us the Symphonie fantastique. The Symphony is in five movements, each descriptive of a scene. The first is Reveries (vid.1) and Passions (vid.2), in which a young artist falls in love with a woman. You can hear all the mental yearning and anguish in there, and even frustration bordering on rage! Ok, so let's go to A Ball, where there's a blur of dancers, and standing in clear focus is that woman again. Phew! Can't get away from thinking about her! Time to take a walk in the fields in Scene in the Fields(vid.1 and vid.2 HERE). Now he's thinking about HER again, and how frustrating etc etc....he lies down and falls asleep and dreams: March to the Scaffold. Simple enough scenario here. He's dreamed that he has killed the woman he loved, and he's now being executed for his crime. You can hear the head roll at.... Dream #2: Dream of a Witches Sabbath. So now he's dreaming that he's dead and is watching his own funeral, attended by a queue of witches, skeletons, and snakes...all of which you can plainly here in the most colorful movement of the symphony. And the way the symphony ends leaves us with a question: does the young artist of the symphony wake up from his horror-filled dream with that last bang of the orchestra? Or does he die a thousand deaths in hell?

Lelio, ou la Retour a la vie: The popularity of the Symphonie fantastique spawned a sequel---the weird Lelio, a stage-work/musical drama. Berlioz mostly used music he had already written, the best of which is the Fantasia sur La Tempete de Shakespeare, an orchestral fireworks show interspersed with some lovely and lively choral writing.

Harold in Italy: Nicolo Paganini is famous as a nutso violinist who could play the violin on a superhuman level, the result many said of his Faustian deal with le diable. Paganini loved the attention that went with that rumor. In any case, he was good friends with Berlioz and asked him to write a concerto for viola. The result was 'Harold in Italy,' which has really a minimal part for viola. Paganini found it too easy for him, but found the music so exquisite and beautiful that he bestowed Berlioz with a large sum of money. Harold is a Byron character who has many heartfelt adventures, what with his Walking the Mountains (and vid 2), observing a Procession of Pilgrims, and also spying on a guy who Serenades his girlfriend, all of that before being caught up in the chaos of an Orgy of Brigands (and vid 2), and dying a weird and funky death.

Romeo & Juliet: Paganini's large gift of money was not taken for granted; Berlioz used his temporary financial security to write two of his greatest works: Romeo et Juliet ('Symphonie dramatique'), and the opera Benvenuto Cellini. I'm afraid that YouTube doesn't offer a great array of good R&J clips. What they do have is 'Premiers transports,' and the Queen Mab Scherzo. However, while the really good clips are sparse, there is also a lecture/performance of the famous 'Love Music' by Leonard Bernstein, leading a youth orchestra (which is great). I found the lecture to be very informative and worthwhile. I think you will, too. It's in five parts: ONE, two, THREE, four, FIVE.

Symphonie funebre et triomphale: This work was written for military band to be played outdoors. Consequently it is the loudest and brassy of all Berlioz works. Later Berlioz added strings and chorus for indoor performance. This music was also used in the Les Miserables film starring Liam Neesom. It's in three movements, the first is Marche funebre (with vid 2), followed by Oraison funebre, capped by the stupendous Apotheose.

Messe Solennelle: At the age of 19, Berlioz wrote this large choral work which was greeted enthusiastically at both of its two performances. He reportedly destroyed the work, until in 1992 a manuscript of it showed up in an organ loft in France. We should count ourselves lucky, because it's no amateurish work, despite its flaws. I remember a few years back, poring over a large encyclopaedia, reading over all the works Berlioz had written. The book predated 1992, and thus listed the mass as 'lost/destroyed.' My heart sank like an anvil in a kiddie pool. And now? Now you can hear the whole work on YouTube, performed expertly in its premiere recording by John Eliot Gardiner and his Monteverdi Choir. Here are the links, in order: 1 Intro & Kyrie, 2 Gloria & Gratis, 3 Quoniam, Credo, & Incarnatus, 4 Crucifixus & Resurrexit, 5 Motet, Sanctus, & O Salutaris, 6 Agnus Dei & Domine Salvum. And to top it off (if you really care) Version II of the Resurrexit.

Requiem: Someone once said to Berlioz: "So, you're the composer who writes for 500 performers." "No," said Berlioz. "I write for 450 performers." This Requiem ('Grande messe de morts') is the piece referred to in that exchange. The numbers are impressive of course, but if it wasn't for the music, it wouldn't mean much. Berlioz had a vision of writing a piece about the Last Judgement--- an opera, in fact. He never got to the opera, but this work conveys the emotion and power he must have felt in relation to the subject: note the cataclysmic outburst of the brass choirs in the 'Dies Irae' movement, and the wailing and penitential tone of the singers. Leonard Bernstein leads this performance. I'm afraid the movements are all a bit intertwined in the videos, but everything is of very good quality. Vid1, Vid2, Vid3, Vid4, Vid5, Vid6, Vid7, Vid8, Vid9,Vid10, Vid11.

Te Deum: The Requiem had a lot of publicity and was popular, but the Te Deum written later has a very quiet history indeed. Berlioz hardly mentions it in his memoirs. But it is surely one of his best works. For me the most remarkable feature is that has no death theme...Berlioz was constantly writing funeral music and death music, and finally here he sounds like he was at peace. Claudio Abbado leads this performance. Sound quality is OK, but not as good as the Requiem vids above. 1 Te deum laudamus, 2 Tibi omnes, 3 Dignare, 4 Tu Christe, Rex Gloriae, 5 Te ergo quaesumus, 6 Judex crederis, 7 Judex crederis (continued).


L'Enfance du Christ: The starting point for writing this work was a practical joke, on Berlioz' part, to the concert-going public and the new fascination with 'old' music from the Baroque era. So, Berlioz wrote a cantata, 'The Flight to Egypt' and told everyone it was by a Baroque composer. Strangely enough, it was the musically arch-conservative music critic Henry Fothergill who suggested to Berlioz that he write an oratorio on Christ's birth and childhood. So Berlioz wrote two more parts that would sandwich The Flight to Egypt. The first part is 'Herod's Dream,' and the second is 'The Arrival at Sais.' The most dramatic part of the cantata is definitely Herod's dream. Listen and watch this really great video in which Herod wakes from a bad dream, then sings about his worries. 'The Sheperds' Farewell' is another famous number from the work. I'm afraid that YouTube doesn't offer many good clips of this work, so you have to (for now) miss such beautiful moments as the 'Trio pour deux flute et harpe,' the sublime Overture to Part 2, the equally sublime 'Les pelerins etant venus,' and of course all of Part 1.

[POST IN PROGRESS...]

[hectorberlioz]

So, I bought several CDs yesterday. I ALMOST bought a Bach Cantatas CD with Natalie Dessay (w/Emmanuelle Haim conducting). Then there was that Rolando Villazon CD of Handel arias (is Handel THE opera composer these days or what!).....but i settled on Hilary Hahn's recordings of the Sibelius and Schoenberg Violin Concertos. And I bought some de Falla, Debussy, and Handel's op.3 concerti grossi as well.

[hectorberlioz]

Inexplicably, I bought Rolando Villazon's Handel album today. Haven't cracked a listen yet, but I'll report when I do.

[Gwaimir Windgem]

That is pretty inexplicable.

And to your previous post, he certainly is. Baroque is very *snaps fingers* now, and Handel leads the assault. The BBC Music Magazine had a page of critic's picks in the last issue; as I recall, four of the nine were Handel recordings!

[hectorberlioz]

I have to report disappointment as regards the Villazon. For one thing, it sounds like he wants to sing Rossini instead. The promotional sticker said, "Handel for our times!" but the thing is, it sounds like Handel sung by a tenore italiano in the 1950s, and even Richard Croft in the 1960s/1970s sounds more crisp and vivacious in "Vivi punito."

I shouldn't give too gloomy a picture: it's not ugly singing. Very smooth and graceful. But totally lacking Handelian majesty.

And Gwai: incredible how the majority of Handel's output was ignored for so long, and with such dumb excuses (Berlioz got the same treatment for his opera Les Troyen). But how much richer the discovery after eras of self-inflicted torment, eh?

[Gwaimir Windgem]

If you do want a tenor singing Handel, I can vouch for Ian Bostridge. His CD is very good, and I have to say, one of the best programs I've heard. Often people either just throw together a "Handel's Best Hits" program, or else they decide to discover some relatively neglected music, which is awesome when done well; however, more often than not, the music they discover is pretty boring. Bostridge, however, has a great combination of mainstays (Comfort ye...Ev'ry valley from the Messiah, and Scherza infida) and some excellent but less-known music from English and Italian oratorios.

[hectorberlioz]

Will definitely keep Bostridge in mind, then. I found his Schubert to be dull, but maybe that was just Schubert on a bad day (or me).

What I really want is some female vocals in Handel arias.

[Gwaimir Windgem]

One of the best CDs for that, in my opinion, is Nathalie Stutzmann's Handel CD. She's a true contralto (I nearly disappear in the enveloping warmth of her voice, but then the sharp edge it has brings me back to life) and again has a good program. Though some of the arias aren't great, none of them are dull.

Vivica Genaux is awesome, but unfortunately her Handel CD is a Handel-Hasse CD (it's really a ploy to try to get us to listen to Hasse). What Handel she does have is excellent, though.

Angelika Kirchschlager is spectacular dramatically, and an excellent singer, but not quite at home in Handelian opera; some of her ornamentation can be rather iffy.

Of course, Ewa Podles has a CD of Orlando and Rinaldo arias, and while she doesn't exactly sing as tastefully or artfully as one might hope, I'm swept away anyway by the force of nature that is La Podles.

If you're looking for soprano arias, opt for Sandrine Piau's over Renee Fleming's. The latter is rather dull, though there are some bright spots (Endless Pleasure probably being the brightest).

Of course, you can always resort to youtube. Two contraltos that have intrigued me singing Handel there were Marijana Mijanovic (a fascinating voice; contralto, but in a minimalist, almost skeletal way) and Sonia Prina. Ann Hallenberg has some excellent Handel on youtoube, as well.