Julie writes:
>>>>well my level is like first year Opera with five years in music
and musical theatre. I am 30 and my voice is mature but not well
developed yet.<<<<
Ah Julie, that sounds SO exciting! At 30 your voice would be well
able to to start tackling Arias such as Porgi Amor, but your lack
of "training" may lead to great frustration, LOL.
Before I go on though, just as background waffle, I have to admit to
a bias for Mozart, his works are a passion for me. The only composer
whom I would say is a favourite. It's just that, for me, there is
Mozart and then there is the rest of whom there are so many utterly
inspired ones it is impossible to pick favourites.
For what you are trying to achieve, I think you may find as already
suggested, that one of Zerlina's arias especially would not only suit
but be enormous fun. She is such an energetic, flirtatious and down
to earth character it is really hard to not enjoy working on her
arias. Ah! Belinda from Dido is an excellent suggestion also, and
practically mandatory to be at least familiar with. Cherubino's Non
so Piu would be a must study for the type of development you seek and
one you can do now without worrying, imho.
I am still confused though. Are you looking to do these arias for
performance, competition, scholarship, exam or just for the sake of
personal development? Is your teacher one of those who subcribes to
the practise of making the student select all their repertoire or are
you asking advice here and doing your own research for the sake of
aiding and abetting your teacher's advice? I truly believe that most
advice given in this forum will be sound, however, I do have an issue
with overstepping your own teacher's guidance as I personally would
have issues with students who went outside of my mentoring if I were
employed in an academic institution. (Unless of course I had for some
strange reason directed that student to pick their own repertoire.)
(Happily I don't work for an institution so I can afford not to be
quite so precious or rigid about where my students derive
inspiration.)
When I first tackled Porgi it was because I heard the aria and
totally fell in love. What finally convinced me to put it away till I
was older (despite my teacher letting me have my head and work on it
in lessons with her, and it gave me a LOT of positives) was hearing
some really stellar class recordings of others doing it. I nearly
gave up singing for a nano-second, ROFL. The supreme control and
exquisite legato made the aria so much more than I could ever hope to
achieve at that point in time simply by dint of age ie. lack of vocal
maturity and years of practise. So I happily put it aside for a while
rather than give up singing!
For a beginner, some personal favourites are:
SCARLATTI: Le Violette
VIVALDI: Domine Deus from Gloria
HANDEL: He Shall Feed His Flock
Wher'er You Walk
Let Me Wander not Unseen
Care Selve (harder)
PEGOLESI: Se tu m'ami se sospiri
BACH: Mein Glaubiches Herze (My Heart Ever Faithful)
PURCELL: Music for Awhile (harder)
MOZART: Voi Che Sapete
Non so Piu (A little more challenging)
There are SO MANY more!!! However, not being your teacher and not
knowing what you are capable of makes it really difficult to know
what level of "beginner" you really are and what degree of difficulty
is really appropriate. (There is a HUGE difference between what you
describe yourself at, especially being 30, and say an 18-20 year old
beginner.)
So I will refrain from doing Karen's job (Karen Mercedes, in case you
aren't familiar, is the resident repertoire GODDESS here at vocalist)
and leave it at this.
I really feel though that your teacher is the only one who can really
tell you what is or what isn't an appropriate aria for your stage of
development right now, and there is a world of difference in what the
ultimate purpose it will be put to is also.
Best wishes
Michelle
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