From: Karen Mercedes
To: VOCALIST <vocalist>
Subject: Re: Arias Transposed?
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

On Fri, 4 Feb 2000, Kurt Theurer wrote:

> Hi there everybody,
> I am curious whether some of you could tell where I can buy transposed
> opera arias?
> I am mostly interested in Tenor arias transposed down for Baritone, or
> Bass arias transposed up for Baritone etc.
>
> Thanks for any help.


Are you planning to sing these just for fun? If not, be warned that it is
considered unacceptable by knowledgeable audiences, directors, conductors,
critics, etc. for a serious singer to perform arias that have been
transposed by anyone but the composer himself.

There are a few operas where roles were transposed by the composer. For
example, there is a baritone version of WERTHER that Massenet transposed
specifically for Mattia Bastinini. And of course, there's the soprano
version of Rosina in IL BARBIERE (original a contralto, but transposed for
a specific singer by Rossini himself).

I am curious as to why you are having so much trouble finding good arias
that are already written for baritones. God knows there are hundreds of
them! I would suggest that, instead of looking for spurious
transpositions, you buy a copy of the Schirmer book of arias for baritone
and learn some of the glorious arias written for your voice category by
Mozart, Verdi, Rossini, etc.

Karen Mercedes
=====
There is delight in singing,
tho' none hear Beside the singer.
- Walter Savage Landor
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