Dear Isebelle and Vocalisters:
You wrote:
>It reminds me of the recent reviews of Dessay's Amina
>in Sonambula at La Scala. A small percentage of
>critics praised her for her technical skill and lovely
>voice. A larger percentage criticized the choice of a
>tweety-bird coloratura, when Maria Callas had forever
>changed the perception of Amina and made it
>unacceptable for a lyric coloratura to sing it.
>Bellini (like Mozart) intended the lighter voice to be
>cast; these days, people prefer a different sound.
>
>This makes me wonder if all the opera fans who moan
>and groan about the loss of dramatic voices today
>(we've all heard them do it) simply have heightened
>and unrealistic expectations. Did Puccini write the
>role of Turandot for Nilsson? Did the coloratura
>Mozart composed Queen of the Night for have the kind
>of big, brilliant sound (of a Cristina Deutekom, for
>instance) that we expect from the role, when sopranos
>like Sumi Jo are bashed for recording arias (like the
>Queen's) she wouldn't be well-received in on stage?
>Likely Mozart's original queen was the "tweety bird"
>of today, one who would be laughed off of the world's
>stages as inaudible and "just another canary."
COMMENT: Amina was not written for a light colortura. Callas was
correct in bringing the quality of voice to the role that she did.
It was written for a voice of her type, a voice that had not been
available for many years. There are reviews available about the
singer who sang the original performances. (I am embarrassed to say I
cannot remember he name right now and I do not have my materials at
hand to look it up). They indicate a voice of great power and
strength but one that, at times, could be a bit rough and almost
crude.
The Queen of the Night was also not written for a light colortura.
There is evidence of the quality of the voice that originally sang
this role based on other roles she sang, It was not a light
coloratura voice.
Your point that "opera fans who moan and groan about the loss of
dramatic voices today simply have heightened and unrealistic
expectations" is a valid argument. It is, however, a mistake to
throw all such concerns into the same basket and pan all attempts to
keep a broader perspective about roles and the appropriate voices
needed to recreate them as close to their intentions as possible.
--
Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA
Professor of Voice, Pedagogy
School of Performing Arts
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ 86011
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