Dear Karen, Molly, and Vocalisters:
Thanks for a most complete and interesting survey of the roles
represented by the arias that Molly is considering for audition for
her University's concerto competition. I think it important to give
due consideration to the needs of Molly, at her age, for a piece that
she can sing well and would be considered by an instrumental faculty
to be proper and useful for an orchestra's needs as well as the
singers. All of her suggestions, with the possible exception of the
Tschaikovsky, could be performed by a well developed college
orchestra.
I have some questions about the more or less absolute fachs into
which you place each of these arias and others that you mention.
(Gilda, for example is often sung by true coloraturas in a college
setting but such a voice can seldom survey the total needs of Gilda's
role when one considers the demands placed on the voice in later
acts). But such differences of opinion are common and a part of what
makes opera such an exciting art form
If Molly is now singing these arias well it would be logical to
assume that she is possessed of a voice that has the required
richness of tone, vocal weight, and flexibility to make these arias
her own. I don' t think that an audience of college teachers would
possess the background knowledge that would question the
appropriateness of singing works that represent such a range of
possibilities.
Without a doubt many of these arias demand an experiential level of
maturity that is not likely to be present in an average college age
singer, and is very likely not a part of Molly's emotional makeup if
she is of typical college age. But these works do represent a
benchmark that every singer of note must began to consider. Most
college settings recognize that the student is not as mature as the
works being studied often demand, but college is the laboratory
wherein such study begins. For this reason many works that are more
advanced than might be wise in the professional world are undertaken
at the college level. And they are often performed at this level if
the performance process keeps in mind the ongoing developmental
growth of their students and if the student is gifted with a fine
instrument and an knowledgeable voice teacher.
I have heard these works used in such competitions as well as NATS
auditions and do not find them out of place if the singer meets the
above requirements.
--
Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA
Professor of Voice and Vocal Pedagogy, Emeritus
Director of Opera-Theatre, 1987-1997
School of Performing Arts
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ
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