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From:  Karen Mercedes <dalila@R...>
Date:  Tue Jul 30, 2002  4:20 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] "Glitter and Be Gay" for baritones?

No chance of you singing "Largo al factotum" in English, is there? That
aria (from Rossini's IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA) really is the "Glitter and
be gay" for baritones.

It doesn't have any coloratura parts, but for humour, musical complexity
(including a chance to use various "voices"), and intriguing accompaniment
you might try one of Smirnov's arias from William Walton's THE BEAR -
"Groznidov is not at home" or "Madame, je vous prie" (which gives you a
chance to sing in both English and fractured French).

From musical theatre, you might look at "Where is the life of late I led?"
from Cole Porter's KISS ME KATE. Another chance to have a lot of comical
fun, and you can interpolate all sorts of vocal "goodies" as you see fit,
into this comic masterpiece for baritone.

Also look at "The Legacy" from Cy Coleman's ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. This
was a show-stopper when John Cullum sang it in the original Broadway
production.

You might also look at "There's a law about men" from Bernstein's TROUBLE
IN TAHITI, though this is really almost a bass-baritone aria
tessitura-wise.

-----
And totally outside of your requirements, but an aria you should keep in
mind is one I consider the most moving, dramatically powerful, tragic, and
beautiful baritone arias in Anglophone operatic repertoire - the extended
scena from Britten's BILLY BUDD: "Look, through the port comes the
moonshine a-stray...And farewell to ye, old Rights o' Man".

Again serious, but again also dramatically powerful and vocally impressive
is the famous "Soliloquy" from Rodgers and Hammerstein's CAROUSEL.

Also, "Stars" (Javert's solo) from LES MISERABLES.

And "Confrontation" from Wildhorn's JEKYLL AND HYDE is another "tour de
force" for baritone (in this case for two personalities...they just both
happen to be sung by the same baritone).

Another dramatically impressive, powerful solo from a different genre -
musical theatre - is Edward Rutledge's solo "Tobacco to Rum to Slaves"
from 1776. Again, not comic, but definitely a "tour de force".

From oratorio, you could do worse than one of the bass arias from Handel's
MESSIAH, all of which are quite impressive vocally. However, being bass
arias (though often sung by baritones) they may sit a bit lower
(tessitura) than you want. Ditto other Handel oratorio arias, like
"Revenge, revenge, Timotheus cries" from ALEXANDER'S FEAST - though this
is a really JUICY aria for bass, and might be worth looking at.

Unfortunately, most of the showy bass arias by Purcell are quite short -
e.g., "Arise ye subterraneans winds" and "These are the sacred charms"
both clock in at under 3 minutes (and in the case of "Arise", just over
2 minutes).


Karen Mercedes
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
______________________________________
I will sing with the spirit, and I
will sing with the understanding also.
1 Corinthians 14:15




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