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From: Karen Mercedes
To: VOCALIST <vocalist>
Subject: Re: Interesting Renee Fleming quote from Opera News...
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I'm not sure I agree with Ms. Fleming's point, at least based on my
listening to singers of earlier eras on recordings. While it's true that
sopranos of the Marchesi school all seemed to have a particular glassy
sound (that's the best way I can describe it), other singers certainly had
the same warm quality that I hear in voices like Fleming's, Te Kanawa's,
and numerous others. Perhaps not the sopranos as much as all the other
fachs. I certainly don't hear an over-brightness in a voice like Caruso's
or Gigli's or Ansseau's or Thill's, nor in mezzo voices like Fremstadt's
or Matzenauer's. Nor do I hear it in soprano voices like Alda's or
Farrar's (and Farrar was a Marchesi student, though atypical vocally, I
think, of that "school"). What I do hear, fairly consistently, among the
Marchesi sopranos, and many other sopranos and mezzos of the pre-war era
is a faster vibrato than is fashionable to modern ears.

Indeed, the "open throated" technique of many pre-War Italian singers is
the exact opposite of over-bright, and the "covering" that was done by
many mezzos, contraltos, and baritones/basses also "warmed, rounded, and
enriched" the sound a lot, albeit in a way that sounds unusual to modern
ears.

KM

On Mon, 31 Jan 2000, Richard Barrett wrote:

> "Today the houses are bigger, and the demands for vocal splendor are higher.
> If you listen to the early recordings, the sound is much brighter. Pointed.
> More focused. People today want a warm, round, rich sound. There's less
> emphasis on clean, healthy projection."
>


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