In a message dated 3/23/2001 11:54:15 PM Eastern Standard Time, lloyd.hanson@n... writes:
<< But only special tenors seem able to make Mozart sound like tenor music, with some exceptions.>>
the same could be said of wagner.
<<Consequently it is often sung today in a half-baked manner with a tone quality that is excessively light and without any kind of basic male heft.>>
this is more a subjective reaction than a legitimate criticism. and whom would it criticize? mozart for challenging the hefty tenors' ability to sing difficult music? or, hefty tenors' inabilities to do so? this also seems to go against your argument in the past that the music should be allowed to convey the emotions and the character, not the singer.
<<Yet, his roles are not for this kind of personality. There is a dichotomy here that is seldom addressed and only when it is, (Wunderlich?) do we hear the voice quality that the role needs.>>
(you might add rudolf schock, peter shreier and kenneth riegel to that list or, are the latter two the tenors of whom you are speaking?)
a composer who writes difficult music is making the choice to limit himself to fewer performances, given the number of performers capable of executing it. (even if there is only one, if it is beautiful, is that not great writing?) this fact is not evidence of a compositional flaw unless you expect every composer to have a 'three little fishes' in him.
mike
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