> << Even castrati were expected to sing with a
> penetrating ring to the voice that women singers of
> that day could only envy. >>
Judy, try: "Clarol's 'brilliant russet flame #01'
produces a deep, vibrant color that natural redheads
can only envy."
Or: "Ru Paul's custom-made Wunderbra For Men resulted
in a decollete that the women of the cast could only
envy."
Neither of the above sentences implies that the
natural redheads were not, or that the women in the
cast had all undergone mastectomies. Both imply that
red is red and women have chests, but the subjects of
the sentences gave them a run for their money.
Back to Lloyd's original statement: Castrati had rich,
ringing voices -- modern-day "baroque" practices
mutilate the meaning of a rich, ringing voice (that
horrible Emma Kirkby and others of the straight-tone
"choral" voice come to mind). Let's take these as a
given. Or debate as you see fit.
But could men not have sung with rich, ringing head
tones in the past (in Mozart's and Rossini's time),
while today's full-chest voice is a beast of an
altogether different color? Tenors singing in
head/falsetto aren't lacking in resonance or ring --
it's just not the full-throated tenorial bellow we
expect today. Did Mozart's tenors sing in a rich,
resonant falsetto (one to make the women and castrati
envious), or did they sing in the kind of full, open
chest voice that most tenors of today do?
If the former, then it's no wonder that today's tenors
have a hard time with the tessitura of Mozart's works;
they're trying to sing it inappropriately. If the
latter, then why the brouhaha about the William Tell
tenor and his full-voiced high C? Why the historical
paper trail of tenors singing in falsetto (including
the recordings of Jean de Reske, Resnke, Resik -- you
know the one I mean, and other early recorded tenors)?
Also, I would be very interested in more information
about Amina being composed for a large dramatic
instrument in the Callas vein. I was under the
impression that it was written for a coloratura voice,
rather than Callas' vocally "verismo" take on the role
which has come to be seen as the correct
interpretation. I associate Callas most with operas
like La Wally and Butterfly -- in the Italian dramatic
fach. The earliest recording I can find of Sonnambula
is with Patti, a light coloratura. I understand that
Jenny Lind, acclaimed "nightingale" coloratura of her
day, was a famous Amina in the 1800s. The
instrumentation and size of the original orchestra are
small. As well, the brutally high tessitura of Elvino
seems to suggest a lighter tenor instrument to be
paired with.
But, I'm always willing to be wrong! I myself prefer
larger, more brilliant instruments. I have mentioned
Deutekom's Queen of the Night already. I also cherish
a recording of Tebaldi singing Cleopatra's "V'adoro,
pupille" and a Flagstad recording of the soprano solos
in Handel's Messiah. Give me Handel with meat on its
bones -- and convince me that a quasi-spinto sound in
a Gilda or an Amina would not be out of place.
(Note: And can you go too far in this direction? Has
anyone else on the list heard Cheryl Studer's
Rigoletto recording? Fabulous storm scene, but the
aria... ouch...)
Isabelle B.
=====
Isabelle Bracamonte
San Francisco, CA
ibracamonte@y...
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