Karen Mercedes <dalila@R...> wrote: Karen Mercedes <dalila@R...> wrote: >And I'm still waiting for someone to give me an example of anything Mozart >ever wrote - coloratura or not - for the LOW female voice.
And Isabelle Bracamonte <ibracamonte@y...> responded: And Isabelle Bracamonte <ibracamonte@y...> responded: >Flute's third lady is definitely a contralto. >Marcellina has been done by contraltos, though not >well as far as reviews will take you. Have you looked >at Annio (Clemenza)? Or Sesto? I assume you're >running into this difficulty in terms of auditions and >competitions which often require a Mozart aria to be >among the chosen 3 or 5. What about printing up a >transposed aria (Dorabella down a couple of steps >might do you well) and coyly slipping it to the >accompanist?
True, Third Lady is technically a contralto, but the tessitura is really more that of a choral alto part -- seldom gets out of the lower middle of the voice, which can be wearing when holding one's own up against two sopranos whose lines lie higher in their voices; plus, there's absolutely nothing "excerptable". Marcellina is much more a mezzo (and occasionally a dramatic soprano) than a contralto, although it's do-able (I've sung it myself; a great character, but technically just not where my voice likes to live). The other mezzo roles Isabelle mentions simply lie just a bit too high, tessitura-wise, for the contralto voice, and transposing Dorabella is not only asking to be socked by the auditors if they figure out what you're doing, but by the accompanist -- D's arias are not easy to play, and asking a pianist who has the correct key under his/her fingers to sight-read a transposition has great potential for disaster.
For the true contralto voice, there is abysmally little. The arias from "Mitridate" (originally written for a castrato, if I remember from my research -- can't remember the character's name at the moment) are do-able; the tessitura as written is relatively low (you can always write cadenzas and ornaments that suit *your* voice, rather than using Horne's or Verrett's, etc.). There are also 3 other arias published in the International Music "Mozart: Seven Arias for Contralto" volume from the oratorio "La Betulia Liberata" which appear to have been written for a female contralto (role of Judith); the florid writing in these is a little less rugged than the Mitridate's arias (written for an aggressive character). I don't know how suitable these are for an *operatic* audition, though. (I have the same beef with Puccini, too -- Zita from "Gianni Schicchi" and the Principessa and the Abbess from "Suor Angelica" are neat roles, but again, nothing excerptable....)
For the record, I join Karen in lamenting the tendency to expect all contraltos to sing all contralto roles; our voices come in different weights, just like everyone else's. (Do I hear an echo of Tako's similar plea for the countertenor here? :-) ) I trained at one time as a coloratura soprano (!), and while I can still get through Queen of the Night (better than some sopranos I know), it certainly does not show the qualities that make this voice special. Eaglen may be expected to sing Norma, but she *isn't* expected to sing Lucia or the transposed-up version of Rosina in "Il Barbiere"; it's a waste of that voice, even if she could negotiate it.
Leslie, who's going back into semi-lurkdom (isn't this incredibly busy semester over yet?!)
Leslie Jones, D.M.A.; contralto Asst. Professor, Dept. of Music Southeast Missouri State Univ. LJones@s... - (573) 651-2339 LJones@s... - (573) 651-2339
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