Sunday, February 20, 2005

Correction

In my Valentine's Day post I lamented that Montserrat Caballe "didn't have an E-flat."

I stand corrected. It's true that she didn't interpolate the traditional E-flat at the end of "Sempre libera" on her recording of La Traviata and I'd never heard her sing higher than a D-flat on any recording, so I assumed she just didn't go there.

I never heard the 1979 Maria Stuarda in Munich with Brigitte Fassbaender. She went there!
Posted by at

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the clip. Hmmm... maybe the difference is, she can sing it when there is so much support/sound from the stage. In other words, maybe it's not so good exposed in the Sempre Libera. I do have to say though, that Caballe is my absolute favorite singer. But that note, maybe not so good.

I have something to say about that famous E flat in the Sempre Libera. Its my favorite aria, and I can sing the E flat. That said, I think it should not really be done for two reasons.
1- it is stylistically incorrect, and I think Verdi would not approve.
2- It's a bad idea to do it if you are trying to pace yourself through the entire opera, as Act 1 is tiring on it's own.

Of course, I haven't performed the opera (yet), so who is to say whether I would feel the pressure to do it anyway. People expect it, people love it, it's exciting, and definitely fun to sing. I would definitely do it in a competition, but I wonder if (/when) I'd have the stamina to do it in the context of the opera (and still get to the end without getting too tired). Hmmm.

Just my two cents.
Andy- I'd love to hear some of those other recordings you have. My FAVE is the Scotto, and I have some Zeani that is amazing as well. So i totally agree with your taste in Violettes
Rachel C.

1:11 PM
Andy said...

Well, I'm not totally familiar with Maria Stuarda, but I think that's the last scene of the opera excerpted there and you notice that Monty rests for about 20 bars before she pops out the last note...which was a bit of a screamer. But then, that's the kind of thing that makes live performance exciting, when a singer takes a risk like that. I have a live "Puritani" with Freni from 1969...she goes for the D at the end of "Son vergin vezzosa." It starts off pretty low but gradually moves into tune. Still, knowing that she rarely used that part of her voice in performance, you can't help but say, "You GO, girl."

I would disagree that the E-flat shouldn't be done in Traviata or that Verdi wouldn't have wanted it. I think he didn't write it because he didn't want to prevent heavier voices from tackling the part, but I think his choice of A-flat major was quite deliberate (the same key as "Qui la voce" or "Come per me sereno" and "Si, vendetta") so that sopranos could exploit their top if they have it. He came at the end of a long tradition of composers who expected singers to interpolate and embellish -- within reason -- and "Sempre libera" is quite deliberately written in the old-fashioned Donizetti style. Verdi's real genius is that he found ways to make the old musical formulas dramatically valid. He would use the scena with cabaletta form as late in his career as "La Forza del Destino" ("Urna fatale") and even "Otello," where he ingeniously replaced the cabaletta's traditional "boom-chucka-chucka" rhythm with, of all things, an "Ave Maria."

When Verdi didn't want to give the singer leeway, he wrote in a way that made it impossible. Otherwise, I think he assumed singers would follow bel canto traditions in terms of performance as much as he did in terms of composition.

As for pacing yourself, it's an important issue and that's another reason why he didn't write the E-flat in. Donizetti, Bellini and Rossini also usually left the highest notes unwritten. I see the concern; no one could get hired to sing Lucia if she didn't have an E-flat, even though there's no E-flat written. That's a tragedy, because a more dramatic -- yet flexible -- voice could really do some wonderful stuff with that part. Oh well.

2:06 PM
Andy said...

PS, you can let me know which recordings you'd most like to hear and I'll just burn you a CD. (God, a whole CD of nothing but "Sempre liberas." That's hardcore!

2:07 PM
Anonymous said...

You are probably right. I guess it just seems strange to stop there and sing a high note, when it is going so fast to the end... Yes! Want hardcore Sempre Libera CD!!! That would be so great!
Rachel C

11:14 PM
Andy said...

Okay. "Sempre libera" tends to average about 8 minutes altogether, I think, so I can get 9-10 recordings of the full aria on a CD. Choose your poisons! If you click on the link to see my full profile, you can get my email address, or get it from La Woodling.

12:23 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)