It is 22.45 and I have just returned from the second (of five) recording sessions of Puccini's Messa di Gloria with the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus (in which I sing Soprano) under Antonio Pappano, with Roberto Alagna and Tom Hampson as soloists.
 
    Tom Hampson was using what appeared to be a proprietary nasal spray, but when we asked him what it was, he said it was a saline solution, "Very pure!". Perhaps he had got dehydrated on the flight over. I didn't ask him what the strength was, but usually in England one makes them up with 1 teaspoon of salt to 1 pint boiled water (NB English pint is 20 fluid ozs: I think US pint is less?)
 
    It would be very easy to make this up, although I would suggest
        1. Using boiled mineral water, and
        2. Not using table salt, which has additives to make it run. Crush sea salt to a similar consistency to table salt, and make up in the proportion of 1 teaspoon to 20 fluid ounces. Fill a well washed -out nasal spray bottle, squirt, ..............and sound like Tom?

 

Music for the voice by Sergius Kagen, published by Indiana University Press 1968 (revised edition) ISBN 0-253-21142-5(paperback edition)

Contact numbers given inside the book are:-

Telephone 1-800-842-6796

Fax           1-812-855-7931

Email         iupress@indiana.edu

Website    www.indiana.edu/~iupress

 

    The publishers call this a descriptive list of concert and teaching material, and it is divided into four sections,

1. Songs and airs before the 19c

2. Songs of the 19th and 20th century

3. Folk songs

4.Operatic excerpts

 

    There is no special section for sacred works: where included they are to be found attached to the song lists of the respective composers. It is a very useful tool, giving pitch range (compass) and approximate tessitura (approximate only since the dramatic content of the piece itself influences this)  and adding a short general remark at the end. Here's an example:-

 

Nature, the        b-g2                    e flat1-e flat2    mezzo-    Slow and sus-

gentlest                                                                soprano    tained. Soft

mother (from                                                                        last section;

12 Poems of                                                                         ends in casca-

Emily Dickinson)                                                                   ding vocal line.

                                                                                            A song with

                                                                                            contrasting

                                                                                            moods an                                                                                                    tempi.Dema-

                                                                                            nds an accom-

                                                                                            plished pianist.

 

 

    Amazingly, there are no Schubert lied,but perhaps Kagen felt he was already adequately represented in other publications. A valuable addition to your library, especially if, like me, you find it in a remaindered bookshop!

 

Yours, Curzon Tussaud