Dear Tako, My goodness... doesn't this call for some elaboration:)
> The majority of countertenors approach their first >passagio not like tenors but like mezzos - it is not a categorically >female technique - rather, it is the only way to balance the registers >to allow for notes above E5. It is worth noting that women who >specialize in low notes often balance their registers the way tenors do.
First, other than from books I've never been conscious of the primo passagio or even the second. Nor do I wish to be, but as well as that, why would anyone 'specialise in low notes' and isn't it essential that all voices balance their 'registers', both for even tonal quality and loudness throughout the range? My limited experience with live performances of professional counter-tenors shows this to be their most common vocal weakness.
>Bach considered the alto voice to be representative of the Holy Spirit. >This is probably because it avoids gender-based irrelevancies, and >therefore transcends the trivialities of corporeal existence. This >notion of artifice is critical in understanding Baroque aesthetics!
For all his beautiful music I don't think JSBach was particularly considerate of his singers just so long as they could do the job and if his music and Handels taxed the vocal ability of castrati of the day, it seems that present day male substitutes would be likely to fall far short of their intentions. (The refusal to consider corporeal existence sits well with current economic rationalism and a composer with an infernal mathematical bent would engender a natural reaction resulting in a CPE a Haydn and Mozart.) Allow me to attempt to illustrate what I think is a similar (but different) effect of the period. The sound of string instruments pre- Mozart did not include vibrato on gut strings because they would not last, yet modern playing often inserts the vibrato even though it was not intended by the composer. Just because we now use steel strings which will survive the vibrato, should we implement it? Even worse, with counter-tenors. We've no real comparison with castrati,yet, because it's convenient to assume that ct technique is the same as that followed by true castrati, it is designated valid and presumed to satisfy the composer's requirements. What little I have read of the descriptions of castrato could equally be interpreted as a description of Gedda's singing, and what would anyone do with their spare time if it was authoritatively suggested to them, that they had a promising voice, but no fear at all of being distracted sexually from its development? None of those depressing negatives like ' they hold you back; they drag you down and they break your heart.' (Mere illustration.) I sometimes wonder whether the enthusiasm that most singers have experienced had driven some of these people to do themselves " the damage " so they could remove that nagging distraction! Stranger things have happened. No doubt van Gogh had the same problem only he chose a a less permanent sexual circuit-breaker and a body part that enabled him to continue standing at the canvas. (I don't expect any of the ladies to understand or accept this!!:))
> He is trying to approximate for us the experience of seeing >a castrato - a man who sounds, looks, and acts like a man but sings very >high with ferocious coloratura. In this respect, he succeeds with flying >colors. Pardon! How do you know that? I mean: 'that he succeeds with flying colours, in approximating a castrato'?
Just _my_ imagination but I think in the absence of a true castrato I'd rather hear a brilliant mezzo with an extended range, but maybe I'm being sexist and I wouldn't want to be that:) Reg.
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| Replies | Name/Email | Yahoo! ID | Date | Size | 1963 | Bach, Baroque and Countertenors, was:Re: [vocalis | John Alexander Blyth | | Mon 5/29/2000 | 4 KB | 1987 | Re: Bach, Baroque and Countertenors | Reg Boyle | | Tue 5/30/2000 | 5 KB | 1991 | Some Bach, some vibrato, was: Re: Bach, Baroque a | John Alexander Blyth | | Tue 5/30/2000 | 4 KB | 1996 | Re: Some Bach, some vibrato, some support | Reg Boyle | | Wed 5/31/2000 | 4 KB | 2014 | Re: Some Bach, some vibrato, some support | John Alexander Blyth | | Wed 5/31/2000 | 5 KB | 1997 | Re: Bach, Baroque and Countertenors - and castrat | Joel Figen | | Wed 5/31/2000 | 4 KB | 2037 | Re: Bach, Baroque and Countertenors - and castrat | Reg Boyle | | Thu 6/1/2000 | 3 KB | 2050 | Bach and Basses | Joel Figen | | Thu 6/1/2000 | 3 KB | |
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