It did strike me that the soprano version of "How beautiful" is not so high that a lyric mezzo couldn't sing it successfully. Again, I haven't got the score in front of me, but I did listen to the aria done by a few different sopranos before posting my last response to this thread - and it struck me that the key was hardly in the "pain" register. I think, frankly, it's similar to "Come unto him" in Part I - yes, written for soprano, but I've done it quite comfortably. "How beautiful" seems to have similar range/tessitura in the soprano key. It's certainly not as high-feeling as "I know that my redeemer" or "Rejoice greatly".
KM === On Neil Shicoff - http://www.radix.net/~dalila/shicoff/shicoff.html On yours truly - http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
+-------------------------------------------------------+ | For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that | | appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. | | - James 4:14 | +-------------------------------------------------------+
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