# Lowest Female Aria



## classicalmusicjunkie (Mar 21, 2016)

Hello!

I am currently a musical theatre student but recently I've taken a great liking to opera. I'm 23 and a contralto. My lowest note is a C3. I was wondering what the lowest aria is for female? Love singing in that register but MT just don't satisfy the itch, so to speak.

Thanks!
(This may have been answered before. If so would you mind pointing me to the thread?)


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Schubert's lied The Death of the Maiden ( something like Der Tod Des Madchens) has a low D. I have heard an interpolated low D in Caro Spoza by Handel. Salome has a low F. I think G is about as low as most pieces for women go.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Schubert's lied The Death of the Maiden ( something like Der Tod Des Madchens) has a low D. I have heard an interpolated low D in Caro Spoza by Handel. Salome has a low F. I think G is about as low as most pieces for women go.


There's a low F# in the cadenza in Elena's _Arrigo, ah parli a un core_ from *I Vespri Siciliani*, though most sopranos duck it.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

How about _Es geschah_ from Act III of Schnittke's _Historia von D. Johann Fausten_? I have no idea what key it's in but it sounds low to me in places.


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

*


GregMitchell said:



There's a low F# in the cadenza in Elena's Arrigo, ah parli a un core from I Vespri Siciliani, though most sopranos duck it.

Click to expand...

*


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Marschallin Blair said:


>


And here is Callas singing the aria in 1964. It's late Callas, and the tone has become threadbare, particularly above the stave, but it's very interesting to follow along with the score, as you can do here. Even at this late stage in her career, her fidelity to the score and observance of the written notes is exemplary. If you can read music, it's absolutely astonishing. She treats the music instrumentally, observing every tiny detail in the score, from grace notes to rests, to quarter notes, to triplets, whilst still maintaining her superb legato. What makes it so extraordinary is that she not only sings the notes as written, but expresses the meaning behind them. This was her genius. Ok, so the tone above the stave is thin and wiry, and others may have sung the aria with more refulgent tone. I know of no other who articulates that final chromatic scale (from top C down to low F#) so cleanly.


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## silentio (Nov 10, 2014)

That pervert Richard Strauss really has "a thing" about low passages for soprano.

The most famous is probably the G-flat (12:04-12:12) _*"...als das Geheimnis des Todes..."*_ in the finale of Salome. The cool manner in which Welitsch blasts that note out is just plain creepy:






There are a couple of very low notes (around low Fs and Gs) in _Adriane auf Naxos_ and _Die Frau Ohne Schatten_. I will try to find the video clips


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Not sure how low this goes, but the low note comes in around 0:40


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

The aria Salome sings after she is presented with the head of John the Baptist, which brings us to the end of the opera carrying the demented lass's name, just before she is crushed below the soldiers' shields.

How LOW can any human go???


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Woman = soprano? What?

He Was Despised (Ferrier) sounds as low as despised can get. Opera shmopera.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

I think I could make a case for Ulrica's aria in "Un Ballo" that was sung, among others, by Marian Anderson and Ewa Podles.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

*Marilyn Horne *- "Addio miei sospiri" - Gluck


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## Ilarion (May 22, 2015)

silentio said:


> That pervert Richard Strauss really has "a thing" about low passages for soprano.
> 
> The most famous is probably the G-flat (12:04-12:12) _*"...als das Geheimnis des Todes..."*_ in the finale of Salome. The cool manner in which Welitsch blasts that note out is just plain creepy:
> 
> ...


"That pervert Richard Strauss" - My oh my!...Flaming of a famous composer...Gee whiz, how low can one go?...


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I read that R. Strauss forced his musicians to play poker with him and cleaned them out, mostly because his wife held the purse strings and wouldn't let him have any spending money. But I don't think that makes him a pervert...does it?


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## Ilarion (May 22, 2015)

KenOC said:


> I read that R. Strauss forced his musicians to play poker with him and cleaned them out, mostly because his wife held the purse strings and wouldn't let him have any spending money. But I don't think that makes him a pervert...does it?


Thank you, blessed KenOC for the comic relief :lol: Especially about Strauss' wife who controlled the purse strings...And maybe the G-string also...for good measure...


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

This piece by Prokofiev sung by contralto Ewa Podles is the lowest lying piece I have heard for a woman.


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## silentio (Nov 10, 2014)

Ilarion said:


> "That pervert Richard Strauss" - My oh my!...Flaming of a famous composer...*Gee whiz, how low can one go?...*


As low as your ability to handle humorous remark. My post referred entirely to Strauss penchant for plaguing his soprano parts-not even the mezzo or alto- with ultra low notes.

And that should be considered flaming a famous composer. Seriously?


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Strange that only the lowest note has been discussed on this thread, but hardly anyone has suggested an answer to the original question: "I was wondering what the lowest aria is for female?"


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Ukko said:


> Woman = soprano? What?
> 
> He Was Despised (Ferrier) sounds as low as despised can get. Opera shmopera.


this. why is everyone listing soprano pieces? lol

@OP

Young Maiden's Song 





Pour une femme de mon nom (this one goes down to a low A#2!)





But who may abide the day of His coming (Messiah)


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## Ilarion (May 22, 2015)

silentio said:


> As low as your ability to handle humorous remark. My post referred entirely to Strauss penchant for plaguing his soprano parts-not even the mezzo or alto- with ultra low notes.
> 
> And that should be considered flaming a famous composer. Seriously?


Hello Tc colleague,

I was being facetious - Don't worry mate:tiphat:


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Horne goes pretty low in "O ma lyre immortelle":





I like the YouTube comment - "Geez, Marilyn, why don't you record Boris Godunov for kicks?"


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

SimonTemplar said:


> Horne goes pretty low in "O ma lyre immortelle":
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I bet you that she, with her sense off humour, spontaneously sung a few notes :lol:


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