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From:  Karen Mercedes <dalila@R...>
Karen Mercedes <dalila@R...>
Date:  Fri Mar 30, 2001  2:35 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Re: "Excerptable" ANYTHING for mezzos WAS: "Excerptable" Puccini for mezzos


On Thu, 29 Mar 2001 ODivaTina@a... wrote:

> I spoke with a young composer about 6 months ago about the general dearth of
> mezzo rep, and he told me that composers find writing for sopranos much
> easier, because the high voice can soar over the orchestration more easily,
> so they don't have to worry about singer audibility and can write and
> orchestrate away, as they please.
> TinaO

That sounds like a mediocre composer's cop out. It certainly wasn't the
case for the Russian composers, or Rossini, or Verdi, or Handel, or
Mahler.

I thought the reason so many composers wrote for soprano is that sopranos
slept around more with composers than mezzos did. Mezzos were smarter,
and slept with the impresarios who had the money.

K
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