At 06:56 PM 5/26/00 -0400, Peggy Harrison wrote:
>Axwell@a... wrote: > > >What I don't understand is why is there any need for a man to > > sound like a woman. Aren't there more than enough women to > >play these parts ? What is the advantage of having female sounding men. > >It's historical. In the baroque, the castrato was a popular voice >category, and > great >composers wrote music for them, like Handel. The "why's" can be a >sociological > or >psychological discussion, but I'm only dealing with the fact of it.
Interesting thing about Handel - he also wrote roles for female contraltos, including some *male* roles, and then roles sometimes got shuffled around, depending on who was available to play them. Not only did he seem to enjoy playing off the sexual ambiguity that was so popular, but he was pragmatic as well!
Leslie J.
Leslie Jones, D.M.A.; Contralto Dept. of Music, Southeast MO State Univ. LJones@s... - (573) 651-2339
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