# Ornamentation in Opera: Distracting or Essential?



## Notung (Jun 12, 2013)

Do you think that added embellishments (understood as music not written by the composer himself introduced by the singer) can distract you from appreciating the composer's original genius? Or is it necessary to bring out the character of the piece?

Explain in detail


----------



## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Up through the baroque and classical eras, when this was de rigeur, and of course with that highly intangible qualification of any and all ornamentation "being in good taste," then the answer is a resounding _Yes_, because that is what is in the music but not in the score.

Beethoven altered that, and whatever has been written since, almost exclusively, has any and all ornaments written out, with the expectation the performer will not add anything more or in any other way alter what is in the written score. About the only liberty allowed singers in the score is a fermata on a held note (or pause) -- which is also up to the conductor, who has a better idea of the overall piece than the singers usually do.

That's about as detailed as I care to get.


----------



## dionisio (Jul 30, 2012)

I'm against all type of unecessary use of nudity or shockness factor to promote an opera (obviously something like Salome, it is expected these two to come heavy).

Normally i'd rather watch faithfull stagings according to the opera, however i have made some exceptions. The ornament should not be there by itself. It must be coherent with the opera. Nevertheless, due to unsufficient budgets, i understand the need to reduce them, but without sacrificing the opera or to complete make it ridiculous.


----------



## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Well, singers‘ ornamentation constituted an integral part of opera performance since the earliest years of the genre‘s history, up to the 19th century. As such, it is perfectly in style to include them into any production ot operas from that period sung today.

During the early nineteenth century, changes in musical aesthetics and in the opera industry, such as the growing authority of the composer, discouraged singers to include ornamentations, arguing that they could destroy compositions by changing the composed melody too much, even beyond recognition. After a few decades, singer's ornamentation was considered an outdated, old-fashioned thing.

However, it would be also ok, in my view, to introduce some of them in what we usually identify as Italian Belcanto, i.e. the works of Rossini (especially Rossini), Donizetti, Bellini and contemporaries.


----------



## Revenant (Aug 27, 2013)

Callas has been famously noted for respecting the score _come scrito_, working within and not over or around the music to infuse it with her acting skills and dramatic insight. I've found that sometimes embellishments and misguided ornamentation are substitutes or alternatives for the Callas insight and it's a recourse for many who lack her talent.


----------



## JCarmel (Feb 3, 2013)

A relevant quote about Callas, found on a web page...

"The procedure was simple: a student came on stage and sang an aria, accompanied by pianist Eugene Kohn, while Callas listened from a stool with a little card table for her score. Then she'd ask the student to begin again, only this time she felt free to interrupt. She commented on the subtlest issues of style and meaning. She talked about rhythm, dynamics, ornamentation, pronunciation, where to breathe. She insisted on absolute fidelity to the score. She compared singing Italian with singing French. She even offered advice about what to wear to auditions. The one time she loses patience is when a student interpolates a florid cadenza into a comic aria from The Barber of Seville. "Are you after expression, or are you after fireworks?" she asks."


----------



## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Revenant said:


> Callas has been famously noted for respecting the score _come scrito_, working within and not over or around the music to infuse it with her acting skills and dramatic insight. I've found that sometimes embellishments and misguided ornamentation are substitutes or alternatives for the Callas insight and it's a recourse for many who lack her talent.


She didn't have the skill or the voice for florid singing (that's what it's called) Sutherland, Horne,Peters,etc, did.


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

moody said:


> She didn't have the skill or the voice for florid singing (that's what it's called) Sutherland, Horne,Peters,etc, did.


You must not have listened to her Armida, Lucia, I Puritani, Il Pirata or La Somnambula nor the Prach Variations. She is amazing! Her theme and variations from Armida is astounding!


----------



## Notung (Jun 12, 2013)

When listening to a Sutherland/Bonynge recording of a Donizetti opera, for instance, how can you tell the difference between what is the composer's and what is the singer's?

excuse my ignorance


----------



## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Seattleoperafan said:


> You must not have listened to her Armida, Lucia, I Puritani, Il Pirata or La Somnambula nor the Prach Variations. She is amazing! Her theme and variations from Armida is astounding!


Oh yes,but not often after the first few times.
"I have always found Callas's vocal failings a great stumbling block,especially in the bel canto operas which,in the earlier part of her career,she liked to sing.
Callas was convincing in the theatrical rolls which the gramophone often tended cruelly to expose her.
O n disc she is vocally inadequate or at times excrutiating ".
Charles Osborne ;"Opera On Record".
I suppose it depends what you want from a singer.


----------



## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

Notung said:


> When listening to a Sutherland/Bonynge recording of a Donizetti opera, for instance, how can you tell the difference between what is the composer's and what is the singer's?
> 
> excuse my ignorance


if you don't have access to the score and/or can't read it, you listen to other recordings as well.

as I said before, gimme coloratura or gimme death - obviously, I like ornaments, where they make sense (Baroque through to the 1830s with some later exceptions). You figure out soon enough if the singer is merely showing off or if it's a clever use of mad technique. Trust your common sense.


----------



## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

Baroque works that repeat every stinkin' aria, in full, _da capo_ ('from the top'), heavily ornamented the second time around, would be pretty unbearable without the fireworks. (Of course, many folks seem to find them unbearable _with_ them too.)


----------

