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From:  Karen Mercedes <dalila@R...>
Date:  Fri Dec 27, 2002  9:45 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Repertoire Refresher???

On Fri, 27 Dec 2002 Domisosing@a... wrote:

> 2 gentlemen/both seniors in high school. They are both tenors, and can easily
> sing in their head voices around A/Bflat/C. However, since their voices are
> not mature yet, I would like to find material that is melodious and lyrical
> and does not require them to sustain for extended amounts of time in the
> upper areas. Interestingly though, both singers have a richer timbre to
> their voice that would allow them to convincingly sing songs with a little
> heavier lyrical content.

How about some of the songs by:

Reynaldo Hahn

John Ireland

Gerald Finzi - esp. his cycle "Till Earth Outwears" op 19a (by contrast,
his other Hardy cycle "A Young Man's Exhortation" op 14 has a markedly
higher tessitura)

Paolo Tosti

Charles Gounod - esp. his cycle "Biondina"
>
> 2 ladies: Both sopranos, one very light and high, other high, but darker
> color....perhaps leaning more towards the mezzo-ish side as she matures. Both
> love to do musical theatre, but are also classically trained musicians and
> can handle music that is a little more difficult. For the lighter soprano, I
> am looking for something along the lines of "Bel piacere". For the mezzo, I
> was thinking something along the lines of Black Swan/Menotti (?), or Must the
> Winter come so soon?.......

For "light and high", I suggest you investigate some Russian songs by
Cesar Cui, Aleksandr Dargomyzhsky, and Mikhail Glinka - if your singer can
master the Russian diction, this is sure to win her some brownie points
in auditions/juries. There is one particular song by Cui with wonderful
dramatic potential - Sozhzhjonnoje pis'mo (The Burnt-up Letter), in which
a girl sets fire to a cherished love-letter from her no-longer-lover. I
heard a young light lyric soprano sing this in competition, and it was
quite powerful and beautiful (she won in the under-25 category, BTW).

For both your sopranos, I urge you to investigate some of the beautiful
songs by Grieg. Again, a diction challenge, as these are mainly in Swedish
and Danish, but definitely "right" for her voice. There's a wonderful
recording by Anne Sofie von Otter of Grieg songs that could help inspire
the lower-voiced soprano, and recordings of Grieg by Barbara
Bonney to inspire the higher-voiced soprano. I'm particularly fond of: Med en
vandlilje (With a water-lily), Varen (Spring), Det Syng (The Singing),
Ved gjaetle-bekken (At the brookside), and of course Grieg's most famous
lied, Jeg elsker dig (I love you).

Don't rule out operetta as a good source of songs for both your girls and
your guys. The operettas of Lehar (e.g., Die lustige Witwe, Der Land des
lachelns), Kalman (Graefin Mariza, Zigeunerprinzessin), J. Strauss
(Fledermaus, Wiener Blut), Offenbach (Orphee aux enfers, Belle Helene,
Perichole), Herbert (Sweethearts, Naughty Marietta), Romberg (New Moon,
Maytime), Gilbert & Sullivan), Coward (Bitter Sweet, Conversation Piece),
Novello (Perchance to Dream, Dancing Years, King's Rhapsody), and German
(Merrie England) abound in vocally challenging possibilities for young
sopranos AND for your young tenors. A less-familiar source, but also full
of possibilities, are Zarzuelas.

In Anglophone musical theatre, I'm already working on the kind of role -
vocal requirements list you've mentioned, for classically trained singers who
are looking for good musical theatre songs. In the meantime, let me make a
few suggestions for each of your sopranos:


High-Light:

Sondheim: Green finch and linnet bird (SWEENEY TODD)
Schmidt/Jones: Is it really me? (110 IN THE SHADE)
Merrill: I hate him (CARNIVAL)
Rodgers/Hammerstein: Out of my dreams (OKLAHOMA!)
Rodgers/Hammerstein: So far (ALLEGRO)
Rodgers/Hammerstein: Mr. Snow; What's the use of wond'rin' (CAROUSEL)
Bock/Harnick: Dear friend (SHE LOVES ME)
Lerner/Loewe: Waitin' for my dearie (BRIGADOON)
Lerner/Loewe: I could have danced all night (MY FAIR LADY)


Mezzo-ish:

Bock/Harnick: Far from the home I love (FIDDLER ON THE ROOF)
Leigh/Wasserman: What does he want of me? (MAN OF LA MANCHA)
Porter: So in love (KISS ME KATE)
Schmidt/Jones: Much more (THE FANTASTICKS)
Schwartz: Meadowlark (THE BAKER'S WIFE)
Rodgers: The Sound of Music (THE SOUND OF MUSIC)
Weill: Stay well (LOST IN THE STARS)
Weill: What good would the moon be? (STREET SCENE)
Weill: My ship (LADY IN THE DARK)
Weill: Surabaya Johnny (HAPPY END)


Just some ideas off the top of my head.

Karen Mercedes
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
________________________________
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