>too much!) My roles to date: Alfredo in Traviata in January 1999, Messanger
>in Aida, May 1999 and Cavaradossi in Tosca, August 2000
>
>So what I'd really like to know is: how does the part of Edgardo measure up
>to the other tenor leads in my very limited frame of reference, in terms of
>drama, amount of work involved, tessitura, and so on?
Edgardo will involve a bit more vocal flexibility and a slightly higher
tessitura than either Alfredo (pure lyric) or Cavaradossi (dramatic-leaning
spinto), though much less of either than, say, Rossini's Count Almaviva
(tenore leggero), which sits quite high and requires a great deal of
coloratura work. It seems to me that if you've been successful singing
tenor oratorio solos, particularly in the baroque repertoire, you should
have no problem whatever with either the fioratura or tessitura of Edgardo.
My "hero" Neil Shicoff, who is essentially a lyric tenor with some "push"
to his voice, and thus able to successfully assay a number of spinto roles,
has sung all three roles successfully. Edgardo does have some great duets
with the heroine and the villain, as well as a lovely long solo all to
himself in the last Act of the opera - he essentially closes the show with
his dramatic suicide during the heroine's funeral procession.
Karen Mercedes
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