Do you people think that opera and lieder require
different types of singing?
In a general sense, of course, principles of good
technique are universal, although pop technique
branches off from classical fairly early in the the
training process. Classical technique is then all the
same for a while, up to a point. Choral technique
branches off first, allowing a singer to sustain a
high, limited tessitura and produce a soft, blendable
sound.
Opera and lieder technique certainly aren't exclusive
like rock&roll and opera are (you can switch back and
forth), but at some point does an artist have to
specialize, in order to avoid being mediocre in both
but spectacular in neither?
Think of the greatest operatic voices of the last 50
years or so... Callas, Tebaldi, Milanov, I know I'm
just listing women, but fill in your own choices. Not
especially known for being vehicles of the art song.
Then think of the most outstanding lieder singers --
they're not the operatic superstars. I, for example,
find Fischer-Dieskau's opera singing totally
inappropriate in sound and style.
Let's accept that there are Voice From Heaven who
could do everything, like Quasthoff and Jessye Norman
-- but they are rare. I know someone's going to jump
in and say, "What about X or Y and Z, who all gave
recitals in Carnegie Hall once?" and "I heard Terfel
sing Broadway songs last year and he was fabulous,"
etc. In the greater picture, opera stars don't sing a
whole lot of lieder. Why does the typical bankable
opera singer not make an equal share in lieder -- the
ratio of the typical opera star's performanes of
lieder is probably less than 20%. Why are "bankable"
lieder singers so often associated with small voices
and those who have met with limited onstage success in
opera? Why aren't the operatic superstars singing as
much lieder as opera?
Is there a stigma associating lieder with "easy"
singing and operatic music with more advanced
technique? Do small voices sound better in lieder,
because they are better able to articulate diction and
produce vocal "effects" without sacrificing technique?
This might make sense because lighter/brighter/clearer
voices are more understandable, in terms of diction,
than naturally dramatic, dark voices, and the
stereotype is that words are the most important part
of lieder singing.
It might also be that opera pays better than lieder --
but many opera singers show no interest in lieder. Is
it due to performing traditions, and the fact that we
"expect" French melodie to sound like that
mosquito-voiced Ameling, while we expect Italian opera
to have the tone quality of a Tebaldi? Is it thus a
self-perpetuating cycle, broken only momentarily by
singer who are not afraid to bring a full-voiced tone
into lieder (like Norman), but quickly swallowed up
again by the McNairs and Upshaws and Bonneys with the
accepted vocal sound for art song?
Or are the technical demands simply different? Just
like a choral singer needs a different set of skills
(we've talked about blending vs. cutting through a
chorus before), does a lieder singer need a
chiaro-heavy tone with the ability to sacrifice tone
quality for diction, while the opera singer needs a
more dramatic/declamatory tone, making the voice and
emotional thrust more a vehicle for expression than
perfect diction? Or just a small voice vs. big voice
thing, with all the stigma that goes along with that?
Some thoughts on a Monday morning.
Isabelle B.
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Isabelle Bracamonte
San Francisco, CA
ibracamonte@y...
ibracamonte@y...
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