On Wed, 5 Jun 2002, Tia Pickeral wrote:
> Dear Vocalists: > I have been asked to sing Ave Maria at an upcoming > wedding and I was wondering if anyone knew of a vocal > recording that uses the Latin words and is in the > A-flat key? I have a recording of Jessye Norman, but > strangely enough, she uses the German text.
Not strange at all. Schubert did NOT, as all to commonly (and erroneously) believed, set the Latin "Ave Maria" prayer to music. Schubert - in his Ellens Gesang III (D.839), commonly known as "Ave Maria", set a poem by German poet Adam Storck, which was itself an adaptation of a text by Scottish author and poet Sir Walter Scott.
Only later did some resourceful (!) person decide to shoehorn the Latin Ave Maria text onto Schubert's music. Having sung both versions myself, I can safely say that it *isn't* a comfortable fit! There are superior settings of the Latin poem to music by composers who actually INTENDED to do such settings. Unfortunately, few of them are as musically beautiful or compelling as Schubert's co-opted song. (Admittedly, this misappropriation of Schubert's song is nowhere near as dreadful as the Ave Maria they shoehorned onto the "melody" of the Intermezzo from Mascagni's CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA.)
However, if you need a Latin Ave Maria setting, I would point you to the almost-as-popular Bach/Gounod (at least a good composer adapted the work of another great composer), or to one of the many solo-voice Ave Marias by composers including:
Cherubini,
Caccini,
Tortorella (recorded by Franco Corelli),
Tosti,
Leoncavallo,
Turina,
Marcel Dupre,
Bruckner (1882 for alto and organ),
Dvorak,
Franck,
Saint-Saens (1859, for soprano or baritone and organ),
Faure (Op. 67/2, 1892),
Mendelssohn (1820),
Flor Peeters,
Dvorak,
Rossini,
Verdi (not the glorious aria from OTELLO, nor the choral "Ave Maria" from his Quattro Pezzi Sacri, but his "Ave Maria" for soprano and strings),
Saverio Mercadante,
Max Bruch (from DAS FEUERKREUZ, op. 52, 1889),
Bizet,
Franz Schreker
plus others by lesser known composers like Sandoval, Kahn, etc.
> Secondly, Are there any good non-Italian mezzos > that have good Italian diction? Despite my diction > teacher's recommendation to listen to Cecilia Bartoli, > I would like to hear a non-italian mezzo sing well in > Italian to give me a spark of hope that I can do it > too! Thanks in advance!
How long a list do you want? Since your teacher is having you listen to Bartoli, I'll stick to lyric mezzos (or singers who have sung many lyric mezzo roles). Try listening to:
Teresa Berganza Marilyn Horne Anne Sofie von Otter Susan Graham
By the way, I feel safe saying that the above singers all had/have vocal techniques superior to Bartoli's.
Of course, if your objective is to find actual role models from whom to learn good Italian diction, one of the very best would be the late ITALIAN mezzo-soprano Ebe Stignani, who was noted for her crystal clear, flawless, expressive Italian diction. You should probably also check out Giulietta Simionata, Fiorenza Cossotto, and the numerous other Italian mezzos.
Anyone know if Sonia Ganassi has recorded?
Karen Mercedes http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html ______________________________________ I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. 1 Corinthians 14:15
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