Dear Isebelle and Vocalisters:
You wrote: >It reminds me of the recent reviews of Dessay's Amina >in Sonambula at La Scala. A small percentage of >critics praised her for her technical skill and lovely >voice. A larger percentage criticized the choice of a >tweety-bird coloratura, when Maria Callas had forever >changed the perception of Amina and made it >unacceptable for a lyric coloratura to sing it. >Bellini (like Mozart) intended the lighter voice to be >cast; these days, people prefer a different sound. > >This makes me wonder if all the opera fans who moan >and groan about the loss of dramatic voices today >(we've all heard them do it) simply have heightened >and unrealistic expectations. Did Puccini write the >role of Turandot for Nilsson? Did the coloratura >Mozart composed Queen of the Night for have the kind >of big, brilliant sound (of a Cristina Deutekom, for >instance) that we expect from the role, when sopranos >like Sumi Jo are bashed for recording arias (like the >Queen's) she wouldn't be well-received in on stage? >Likely Mozart's original queen was the "tweety bird" >of today, one who would be laughed off of the world's >stages as inaudible and "just another canary."
COMMENT: Amina was not written for a light colortura. Callas was correct in bringing the quality of voice to the role that she did. It was written for a voice of her type, a voice that had not been available for many years. There are reviews available about the singer who sang the original performances. (I am embarrassed to say I cannot remember he name right now and I do not have my materials at hand to look it up). They indicate a voice of great power and strength but one that, at times, could be a bit rough and almost crude.
The Queen of the Night was also not written for a light colortura. There is evidence of the quality of the voice that originally sang this role based on other roles she sang, It was not a light coloratura voice.
Your point that "opera fans who moan and groan about the loss of dramatic voices today simply have heightened and unrealistic expectations" is a valid argument. It is, however, a mistake to throw all such concerns into the same basket and pan all attempts to keep a broader perspective about roles and the appropriate voices needed to recreate them as close to their intentions as possible.
-- Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA Professor of Voice, Pedagogy School of Performing Arts Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ 86011
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