I adore the Butterworth "Loveliest of Trees". Be aware of two things,
however. (1) It is much harder to sing well than it may seem at first
glance. (2) It - and the songcycle from which it comes - is virtually
ALWAYS performed by a baritone, never by a woman. Nothing about that song
is inherently "masculine", but the entire cycle does tend to be textually
just not quite right for a female voice. I should probably also mention
that I've never heard the song performed OUTSIDE of the cycle, i.e.,
excerpted.
Now, to your question about a "fun" light Italian piece. I am suspecting
that you've already rejected the Cherubino arias and Marcellina's aria
from Mozart's LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, the Dorabella arias from Mozart's COSI
FAN TUTTE, the arias for Rosina and Berta in Rossini's IL BARBIERI DI
SIVIGLIA, the Angelina arias from LA CENERENTOLA, and the Isabella arias
from L'ITALIANA IN ALGERI.
I've always had a particular fondness for "Furibondo spira il vento" from
Handel's comic opera PARTENOPE. There's also "Chi vuol la zingarella" from
Paisiello's ZINGARI IN FIERA.
On the heavier side, there are the two arias for Preziosilla in Verdi's
LA FORZA DEL DESTINO, with their drum-beating, flag-waving, martial
jingoism. Huzzah!
Song-wise, you mght try Alessandro Scarlatti's "Spesso vibra per suo
gioco" or Caccini's "Amor, ch'attendi". Or you might do a Neapolitan song,
like Ganbardella's "Comme facette mammeta", or Luigi Denza's "Funiculi,
funicula", Cesare Bixio's "Mamma",
There is, of course, always Paolo Tosti's "Vuol note o banconote?". Of
course, that's only 40 seconds long, so perhaps not quite "substantial"
enough for your purposes.
Karen Mercedes
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
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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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