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From:  Karen Mercedes <dalila@R...>
Date:  Fri Apr 19, 2002  10:37 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Opera for young voices

On Fri, 19 Apr 2002, Tina Harris wrote:

> I am looking for an aria specifically written and appropriate for a young
> mezzo (age 11). Any suggestions?


Sorry, my last answer was a bit flippant - and not quite accurate.

There are arias you can do if you are very careful in what you select. I
would start with the Baroque arias in the book 26 ITALIAN SONGS AND ARIAS.
I sang many of them myself when I was your age, and don't seem to have
suffered.

Also, the soprano and alto arias from Bach's cantatas were all written to
be sung by trebles, because women were not allowed to sing in church in
Bach's day. Granted, these are very challenging arias - particularly in
terms of breath management - and no doubt Bach had some pretty
extraordinary little boys at his disposal to sing these arias - but they
have the right provenance to be considered within the realm of the
possible for an 11 year old girl. You may want to pay particular attention
to the solo cantatas for alto BWV 35, BWV 54, and BWV 170. Similarly, the
alto arias in Bach's Christmas and Easter Oratorios.

There are some possibilities in Handel's oratorios too. I'm thinking of
the aria "Or let the merry bells...And young and old come" from Handel's
L'ALLEGRO, IL PENSEROSO, ED IL MODERATO, and possibly even some of the
alto solos in Handel's MESSIAH - I'm thinking particularly of "Thou art
gone up on high", "He shall feed his flock", and the alto transposition of
"How beautiful are the feet" (although the solo traditionally sung by boy
soprano in MESSIAH is "And suddenly, there was with the angel" - the
recitative leading up to the chorus "Glory to God"; this is, however,
truly in a soprano tessitura and range, and is likely too high for you).

There are recordings of Mozart's BASTIENNE UND BASTIEN and APOLLO AND
HYANCINTHUS in which all the roles (including Colas in BASTIENNE) are sung
by children - so there's a precedent, and you may want to look at the
Bastien and Colas arias from the former and the Apollo arias from the
latter.

There is a short aria for Flora in Britten's opera THE TURN OF THE SCREW,
"Dolly must sleep wherever I choose", which you might want to try.
I'm not familiar enough with the operas written specifically for
children's voices by Benjamin Britten and Gian Carlo Menotti to be able to
tell you if there are any arias in them, but perhaps someone else on this
list is familiar with them - or you could do a little research yourself to
find out.

You could probably also sing the Shepherd Boy's aria from the beginning
of Act III of Puccini's TOSCA; this is usually either sung by a boy-treble
or an adult mezzo-soprano "en travesti"; but I see no reason why an
11-year old girl couldn't sing it as well as a pre-adolescent boy.

You might get some more ideas from this web page, which is devoted to
recordings made by treble soloists:
http://www.boysoloist.com/soloists/multiple.html


The important thing is that, at this age, you do NOT undertake any adult
solos for mezzos by composers later than Mozart. The technical demands on
the voice of arias in the late Classical, Romantic, and Modern periods are
simply too much to impose on a pre-adolescent voice. If you would like to
be able to sing opera when you're 21 (and 31 and 41 and...), you need to
be careful about not singing the wrong repertoire when you're 11.

Karen Mercedes
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
***************************************
In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy paths.
- Proverbs 3:6




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