I think different pieces have different sorts of challenging things about
them. I will use things that I have been singing recently to illustrate:
Des Grieux's "Reve" from Massenet's "Manon" has all sorts of difficult
diminuendi and smorzando effects crossing the passaggio, while "Ah!
fuyez, douce image!" from the same opera has things like open attacks on
a high Bb. I have been singing a lot of Handel recently: "Oh sleep, why
dost thou leave me" (from "Semele") is hard because it has some single
notes that are sustained for a long time, and a very long run in the
middle that really must be done in one breath, which amounts to about 32
seconds at the speed at which I have been taking it. His "Care selve"
(from Atalanta) has similar things including a sustained high A at the
end of a long, slow passage. The hard part for me in long, sustained
notes is in keeping them both absolutely steady in pitch and being able
to make them interesting (by something like a messa di voce). Most of the
Italian "24" are among the easiest of those early Baroque opera arias.
But they are difficult because of keeping a steady pitch, or keeping the
flowing line, or moving accurately from pitch to pitch. One could
probably spend a lifetime learning how to sing them correctly.
Lilli Lehmann used to say that singing the "great scale" (2 octaves with
a messa di voce on each note) is the most difficult thing a singer can
do. It's in her book!
I haven't mentioned language because that is one of the things I find
very easy.
Bless Your Heart(s),
Jeffrey Joel
JSJoel@c...
Circulation
Crone Chronicles: A Journal of Conscious Aging
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