My first reaction about "Batti" was that maybe the judge thought a budding
mezzo shouldn't sing a soprano aria - but it sounds more like this judge
doesn't think a young girl should sing ANY opera, regardless.
I'd tend to go against quite that strict a current: I should think "Voi
che sapete" from LE NOZZE DI FIGARO would be quite appropriate for your
young mezzo-in-the-making. I should also think that Handel's "Ombra mai
fu" from SERSE would be a good aria for her to look at, and perhaps also
"Che faro senza Euridice" from Gluck's ORFEO ED EURIDICE. Possibly also
the "Poupee avec yeux d'email" aria for Nicklausse in the Choudens edition
of Offenbach's LES CONTES D'HOFFMANN, for a French option. For coloratura,
you might look at an aria like "Furibondo il spento" from Handel's
PARTENOPE (it's in the Kagen low-voice Handel books).
Also look at some sacred baroque repertoire - Bach, certainly, and also
Vivaldi. Your daughter's breath management might not yet be up to some of
the fiendishly long coloratura runs, but what excellent material for
building up the consistent breath management and placement one needs to
eventually master them. Handel, too, is another possibility, though I'd
be more inclined to start your daughter out with "He shall feed his flock"
and "Thou art gone up on high" from MESSIAH, rather than "O Thou that
Tellest" or "He was despised" which really need someone with a good solid
low register. The "How beautiful are the feet" alto transposition in the
Watkins Shaw edition of MESSIAH would be another possible choice.
For art song, I'd start with Schubert, perhaps a little Beethoven (his
"Ich liebe dich" was a favourite of mine in high school). The first of the
Berlioz NUITS D'ETE (but none of the others at this age!). Some Faure and
Debussy songs, perhaps. In English, maybe some sacred Vaughan Williams,
like "The Bird's Song" from PILGRIM'S PROGRESS and "The Call" from FIVE
MYSTICAL SONGS (yes, the latter is technically for baritone, but lots of
folks of both sexes extract it from the cycle and sing it), and Quilter
and some lighter Warlock ("Rest, sweet nymphs", for example). Also
consider the Quilter and Britten folk-song arrangements (I "cut my teeth"
on folk songs as a kid - that and musical theatre rep; but I also sang ALL
the arias from the Norton Opera book, just for the heck of it; my
favourite was Valentin's aria from FAUST. And I - and my voice - survived
to tell about it).
Which makes me sometimes wonder whether there are teachers who are just
plain over-cautious. When I think of a singer like Adelina Patti, who was
singing Bel Canto opera from age 14, and who had quite a long career
particularly for a lyric-coloratura soprano, and of numerous other singers
who began their careers in their early 20s singing roles like Amneris in
AIDA, and who were still singing 40 years later - well, it makes me truly
shake my head in wonderment over anyone who would suggest that singing
"Batti batti" could possibly do damage to a 16-17 year old voice - unless,
of course, that judge really was thinking of the inappropriate tessitura
of the aria, which does sit a little high for a true mezzo.
Karen Mercedes
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
***************************************
What lies behind us, and what lies before us
are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
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