Perhaps to save the CTs from fuming at this one. (though I'm sure you will!)
Octavian *is* always sung by a woman. So is Baba the Turk, Cherubino etc.
Opera isn't just about sound, and a male presence with a sound we've come
to associate with female vocalism is quite appropriate for all roles
originally written for castrati.
There is a kind of light tenor in the British Isles and France only a
couple of steps away from a CT sound, which has slightly different flavours
(depending on which wee country we're in), and considerable antiquity, and
there exist many Mediaeval and Renaissance choral works which seem to
require adult male altos.
My own opinion is that, though Daniels is no Kathleen Ferrier in the
repertoire that they share, he is nonetheless a consummate artist whose
subtlety and taste please me a great deal. Of course your opinion is
different.
If I might raise an additional point: though many CTs are not gay, there
is a sense of ambivalent identity in the CT sound which has struck a chord
with that community, some portion of which has mightily supported opera on
this continent: the presence of the CT answers a need for inclusiveness in
a society which, tentatively, haltingly - and perhaps ready to reverse at
any time - tries to find an open place for people formerly consigned to the
shadows.
This latter aspect naturally, dimly or clearly sensed, is liable to arouse
a spectrum of reaction from bafflement to hostility in those who find it
hard to accept all this plurality of human types. john
At 08:56 PM 3/13/01 -0500, you wrote:
>
>
> I don't see any reason why a man should sound like a woman. What parts
>call for this ? Why should a man be dressed like a man and sound like a
>soprano ? Are there any parts for transvestites in opera ? I don't recall
>that in any story line. Maybe when Octavian is dressed like a girl in
>Rosenlavalier he could use a falsetto voice. What other plots that call for
>this ? Why would a woman be attracted to a soprano sounding man ? Are they
>doing parts today where a countertenor gets dressed like a woman and plays a
>womans' part ? If they do do this, is this done for titilation ? If not,
what
>is the purpose ? David Daniels, to me, sounds like a third rate female
voice.
> Why not have a first rate female voice sing his parts in drag ? What am I
>missing here ? There is no comparison with the castrato singers of olden
>times. The falsettist is not carrying on a tradition. A castrato voice
>didn't sound like a falsettist or countertenor or whatever you call them.
>Maybe if somebody with a lovely voice would like to volunteer for castration
>before they reach puberty and cultivates their voice from that point on, we
>will have the sound that Handel and others had in mind when they wrote their
>great epics, but until then, the falsettist does not fill the bill, in my
>opinion.
>
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>Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
John Blyth
Baritono robusto e lirico
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
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