Ingo,
I too am a baritone, who just can't quite squeeze that C, except in
falsetto (I know the f word means different things to different singers).
My vocalises tantalisingly stop my head tone at B, and so I have played
with some tenor repertoire, but I think that the optional and apocryphal
high notes are expected by just about everyone nowadays. I think playing
with this repertoire (and who hasn't wanted to sing Che gelida manina?)
ought to teach us things about how to sing in the upper ranges of our own
voices, but for goodness' sake don't hurt yourself! Even Bach, whose tenor
writing usually only goes to a g (there are some As and even a Bb, but
these are exceptional) remains in such a high range that it's tough even
for 'real' tenors to stay there for long.
Some repertoire is actually easier for me in a higher key (some Schubert,
notoriously) because I can then set a more or less pure head tone and not
have to negotiate between resonances - a lot of Schubert lies across the
passaggio and has awkward vowel changes, which *can* be mastered, but it's
not easy (The other day a spent almost a half hour working on just the
first line of "Die Wetterfahne" and it still needs more work!).
Also it has become increasingly clear to me that I have modelled my
handling of vowels, even in German repertoire, on that of Pavarotti, who in
his turn seems to come out of Alfredo Kraus. We can learn a lot from those
tenors.
Still a baritone,
john
At 02:26 AM 5/23/00 -0700, you wrote:
>Hi all,
...
>Completely unrelated question -- how many tenor arias actually require
>the high C? I was digging through sheet music yesterday and noticed
>that many popular arias only go up to A or B. I'm a high baritone and
>my A is fairly solid, so the thought of being able to sing a few tenor
>arias just for the fun of it intrigues me.
>
>Thank you for the help.
>
>Ingo
>
>
>
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John Blyth
Baritono robusto e lirico
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
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