On Sat, 26 May 2001, Molly McLinden wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I know little about this opera, except that the composr is Wolf-Ferrari.Here
> is my question to you: what kind of soprano is Susanna? Is she your typical
> soubrette? if I wanted to sing an aria from this opera, would it be
> ridiculous, since I have a more dramatic sound?
The aria you mean, I presume, is "O gioia, la nube leggera" - though why
in this day and age anyone would want to excerpt an aria that
celebrates the delights of smoking.... If this is the one, Renata Scotto
and Lucrezia Bori recorded it, and Isabel Marengo and Katia Ricciarelli
sang the full role (Scotto and Bori may have too) - all of whom I'd
consider full lyrics (but not spintos, and certainly not dramatics). But
the role has also been sung by lighter lyrics such as Lucia Popp.
Frankly, it seems to be a role that has in the past and continues to
straddle fachs, from full lyric soprano to soubrette, to - according to
Richard Boldrey's GUIDE TO OPERATIC ROLES AND ARIAS - light and full
lyric mezzos.
For myself, I've arbitrarily fached it as "lyric soprano" on my repertoire
pages, only because it is so wide-ranging in fach - I decided to
triangulate and the "dead center" was "lyric soprano".
Frankly, I don't think the opera is well-known enough for there to
be a firm, fixed opinion about it's "faching". If you can keep your vocal
interpretation on the light, fluffy side (within the characteristics of
your voice), you'll probably be able to get away with it, unless by
"dramatic" you mean "the next Birgit Nilsson", in which case I'd give it a
miss and look for something rather meatier as your comic aria (maybe
something from Wagner's DAS LIEBESVERBOT).
............................
NEIL SHICOFF, TENORE SUPREMO
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/shicoff/shicoff.html
My Own Website
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
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+ I sing hymns with my spirit, +
+ but I also sing hymns with my mind. +
+ - 1 Corinthians 14:15 +
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