In a message dated 1/30/2002 2:41:49 PM Pacific Standard Time, peggyh@i... writes:
> I think "Endless Pleasure" from Semele (officially an oratorio, though > staged these days as an opera) is pretty well-known. It is even the title > tune of one of Ruth Ann Swensen's recital CDs. > > I think it's great for an audition - it's in English, it's not too long, it > has a memorable tune, and the singer can have a lot of fun with it, both > musically nd interpretively (along with about everything else from Semele - >
I couldn't agree more! What I love about that aria is that it is art imitating the immediate real life, in that it is a self-absorbed beauty going on and on about herself, displaying her vanity with cadenza after cadenza. I just LOVE the parody of it. And, truth be told, Ruth Ann's version of that last season in San Francisco was one of the greatest things I have ever seen or heard. Ever. (Of course, the most beautiful sound I have EVER heard in my entire life was her final F# in "Always through the changing" in Baby Doe, listening from the wings.) Unforgettable. TinaO
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