--- Greypins@a... wrote:
> when the opera houses started getting
> larger (the met in '66 wasn't
> it?), the volume requirement for opera singers
> changed for the worst. along
> came hectoring and bellowing and a ridiculous
> obsession for giant voices
> rather than great singers.
>
> to require a singer to be heard over a
> baroque orchestra or a mozart
> opera in a small hall is to take the voice out
> of its normal expressive
> range. the result being a conscious
> exageration. but to require a singer
> to be heard over a wagnerian orchestra in a
> huge hall designed primarily for
> accomodating as many paying fannies as one
> could get away with, is to make
> being heard the essential goal of the singer.
> "I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU!" "WHAT
> DID YOU SAY, DEAR?" "I
> SAID...oh, nevermind"
>
> the experience of listening to an opera on
> a recording is very different
> from hearing an opera live. it is obvious
> that a greater range of
> expression is available to the singer on a
> recording than is available to
> that singer in the opera barn. if you like
> the effect of limitations put on
> the singer by having to be heard in these
> conditions, congratulations, this
> is a golden era for you. but, if you find
> that the greater and greater
> priority for being heard to be causing a
> distortion of opera, making it
> something the composers of the past did not
> intend, you must either push for
> a return to appropriate venues or put up with
> miking.
>
> mike (no pun intended)
>
Hi List -
The Dorothy Chandler in Los Angeles was built
for Orchestra NOT singers. They have miked since
the inception of L.A. OPERA knowing that singers
needed more "presence" not necessarily volume in
the barn. The house is pretty awful for singers
(not much comes back) kinda like singing into a
pillow. On the other hand Carnegie Hall (with
the stage reaching out to practically the middle
of the audience) and even the Met (save for sheer
size) have a nice "return" of sound to give some
sense of comfort to the perfrormer. I don't have
any problem with miking the large barns as Mike
states. Most Opera's were written when houses
were quite intimate. And I agree, not miking the
big barns has definitely taken a toll on voices
remaining vibrant to last a career lifetime. But
then, we live in a throw away society. Artists
are seen rather like appliances doomed to wear
out in 5 yrs.
There's an underlying mentatlity that there's
always someone waiting in the wings. Why worry if
we waste a few.
Nancy
=====
Nancy Fontana
The Rocky Mountain Woman
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