# Aria of the week (Sopranos and Mezzos)



## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

My idea for a thread...
READ CAREFULLY BEFORE POSTING!

The prime objective is to compare versions and vocal techniques in a given aria. What makes a great, good or interesting rendition? No doubt there will be a difference of opinion.
A further objective is to discover more about the aria itself, and the enable forumites to learn something. 
Just one aria is discussed each week, and let's initially confine ourselves to the most well known.
Include links to internet versions, but for concision DON'T use the inline video box, just paste the link.
The chosen aria will run from Monday to Sunday, and all discussion must conclude by then. If you want to choose the next aria, you need to be the first to post it on Monday!
If you've chosen the aria you should include at least 5 versions, together with any interesting details of the aria (and its opera).
If the vocal isn't at the start of your clip, you can create a start by adding something to the URL. e.g. To start the clip 90 seconds in, add this to the end of the URL: &start=90
Finally... Maria Callas will obviously feature here, but please can we stay on topic and discuss only the aria. A forlorn hope, but please let's try.


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Dates: Mon 9th-Sun 15th May
Aria: Casta Diva
Opera: Norma (1831) 
Sung by: _Norma_
Composer: Vincenzo Bellini

One of the most famous 19th century arias. Speaking of the role as a whole, the German soprano Lilli Lehmann once remarked that the singing of all three Brünnhilde roles of Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen in one evening would be less stressful than the singing of one Norma. She also commented "_When you sing Wagner, you are so carried away by the dramatic emotion, the action, and the scene that you do not have to think how to sing the words. That comes of itself. But in Bellini, you must always have a care for beauty of tone and correct emission._

Maria Callas 





Joan Sutherland 





Cecilia Bartoli 





Sumi Jo 





Montserrat Caballe





Anna Netrebko 





This was one of the first arias I loved, and it was the Callas version. I began to understand the visceral appeal of opera in arias/renditions like this.

Cecilia Bartoli will be singing this role next season. In fact, it's been her most sung role in the last few years. Meanwhile Netrebko withdraws from her role debut. I admit that the latter's version here is often derided.


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

*I read it carefully before posting!*

• This forumite has learned something, thanks to your tip on how to start the video 90 seconds in. I always wondered how that was done. :tiphat: I can't seem to get to grips with bullet points though. 
• I'll be off now as wimmin singers aren't really my cup of tea.
• Soprano and mezzo fanciers- be sure to have fun in this thread, while REMEMBERING TO OBEY THE RULES IN BLOCK CAPITALS. (And don't mention Maria Callas. I mentioned her once, but I think I got away with it all right.)


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Figleaf said:


> • This forumite has learned something, thanks to your tip on how to start the video 90 seconds in. I always wondered how that was done. :tiphat: I can't seem to get to grips with bullet points though.
> • I'll be off now as wimmin singers aren't really my cup of tea.
> • Soprano and mezzo fanciers- be sure to have fun in this thread, while REMEMBERING TO OBEY THE RULES IN BLOCK CAPITALS. (And don't mention Maria Callas. I mentioned her once, but I think I got away with it all right.)


Actually, making it sopranos and mezzos was deliberate, so that the men's voices can have a similar thread without the screechy voices. ;-)


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Don Fatale said:


> Actually, making it sopranos and mezzos was deliberate, so that the men's voices can have a similar thread without the screechy voices. ;-)


Count me in, Don F!


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Curses! Double post!


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

I am not exactly sure I am playing the game the way you want me to but if you are attempting to compare Casta Divas, you're short in the hatch Mac.
Start at 11:11 if you don't want to hear the entire beginning.
This lady doesn't have the typically beautiful sound so many look for in a soprano (sound familiar Callas people?) but she brings much much more (sound familiar Callas people?)


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Don Fatale said:


> My idea for a thread...
> READ CAREFULLY BEFORE POSTING!
> 
> The prime objective is to compare versions and vocal techniques in a given aria. What makes a great, good or interesting rendition? No doubt there will be a difference of opinion.
> ...


Sorry Don Fatale, I know that your intentions are from the heart, but this will be opening another can of worms, I pass


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Don Fatale said:


> Actually, making it sopranos and mezzos was deliberate, so that the men's voices can have a similar thread without the screechy voices. ;-)


Bless you!

:kiss:

However I may have a sneaky listen to the divas to try and improve my soprano edukashun.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Bellini conceived "Casta Diva" to be sung in the key of G major. However, just in the first performance of the opera, Giuditta Pasta sang it in F major, the same tonality of the cabaletta ""Bello a me ritorna". Both singing "Casta Diva" in F major and in G major are fine.

This is a Bellini's 'melodie lunghe' trademark. If well sung, we should get a feeling of time standing still, in stark contrast with the recitative "Sediziosi voci" and the cabaletta. The orchestration is very simple, but very effective.

There are thousands of "Casta Diva" that we can hear in youtube, including Lilli Lehmann's: 




Giuditta Pasta was a soprano sfogato, a very rare vocality, indeed. Of the many singers approaching Norma in the last couple of centuries, most of them were dramatic/spinto sopranos, managing the coloratura as well as they could. In my view, the more outstanding performances are already linked: Callas, Sutherland, Caballé,...

I will add just one more, by Anita Cerquetti:


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

*Rosa Ponselle* is one of those voices from the past I'd love to have heard. Although the recordings are invariably scratchy, her notably large and opulent voice still comes through.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

"In my lifetime, there have been three vocal miracles: Caruso, Ruffo and Ponselle" - Tullio Serafin

Indeed, it was Serafin himself who prepared Rosa Ponselle to be able to sing Norma at the MET. This was a 'tour de force' for the American soprano, as she could indeed manage very well the recitative, the dramatic intonations, the demanding low notes... but it was very difficult to achieve a similar mastery of the fioriture at the high end of the role extension (they decided to transpose some parts, anyway)

With some very good singers in the casting (Lauri-Volpi, Ezio Pinza, Marion Telva), Ponselle was able to face Norma, and get an enthusiastic response from the audience... somehow toned down by the critics.

Before working with Serafin on the whole opera, she recorded as a young woman "Casta Diva":


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Before this thread I was only aware of having heard 2 1/2 Casta Divas, or 'Casta [big breath] Diva' as Adelina Patti had it. The others were Lilli Lehmann and whoever sang it on the Jean Paul Gaultier perfume advert. Then I found a Romophone CD of Marcella Sembrich at the back of the cupboard. She also sings the cabaletta (thank you schigolch for the technical term.) I don't have a lot to say about sopranos even though I've played these three early Casta Divas over a few times today, so I'll just leave these links here for better informed folk to comment on:

Sembrich: 




Patti, with gorgeous trills:


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

schigolch said:


> With some very good singers in the casting (*Lauri-Volpi*, Ezio Pinza, Marion Telva), Ponselle was able to face Norma, and get an enthusiastic response from the audience... somehow toned down by the critics.


What a stunning voice. His 'Meco all'altar di Venere' was probably the first aria from Norma I ever heard, and it's still a favourite.

Sorry to go off topic.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

I usually don´t like Casta Diva that much and consider it the boring part of Norma but I like it very much when Hyunju Park sings it:






That is how I like it.


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## Jermaine (Apr 23, 2016)

Don Fatale said:


> Dates: Mon 9th-Sun 15th May
> Aria: Casta Diva
> Opera: Norma (1831)
> Sung by: _Norma_
> ...


*cries tears of joy*

Are you certain this is happening? How do you know?

I love her interpretation so much. It's magnificent and I dear say my favorite version of the aria. Her voice just takes it to another level. I feel like her coloratura is without labour (like Cabelle and Callas), and I love the texture of her voice on the piece. I think the expressivity in her voice is very excellent. What Key is Bartoli's version in F or G? I don't know how to tell the difference without actually seeing what the singer is singing.

I do not like Netrebko's version. It misses something and I can't quite put my finger on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr_bTMlxd7c
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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Hi Jermaine, I also like the Bartoli rendition which is rather delicate, almost baroque in timbre. I'd love to hear her sing the role live as I believe that's always the truest way to experience a voice and performance. I may get over to Paris in October.

Info of her performances (and everything else) here...

http://www.operabase.com/listart.cgi?name=Cecilia+Bartoli&acts=+Schedule+

ps. For reasons of concision we're listing the youtube links in this thread rather than embedding them.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Don Fatale: Apropos of this subject, I thought perhaps some might be interested in this true story told to me by a friend of a family member.

THE BORROWED GIFT
An original non-fiction story by Gene Prevost
(c)2001 – J. Eugene Prevost
All world rights reserved

Compared with the informality of current religious ceremonies, a surprise event on Christma Eve 1949 makes it seem like ages ago. The Catholic Chruch in Pikesville, Maryland was imposing with its stained glass windows and mantle statues. The night was dark and snowy in its holiday vigil.
I was no longer an altar boy, just a young son accompanying his parents to Midnight Mass.
Something caught my eye as I trudged through the slippery parking lot to the church door. A long black limousine was curbside with a chauffeur assisting two older women from the vehicle. Clothed in street length mink coats, they slowly entered the church behind me. Years ago a car that big and coats that luxurious were a rarity. The sight was a “HOLY MACKEREL – WHO IN THE WORLD IS THAT” experience for all of us who witnessed it.
The high mass was sung in Latin as the congregation read their English missals. The priests wore their finest ornate vestments. Smoky incense and blazing candles highlighted the choir a an occasional hymn was sung. Then a soprano's voice, never heard before in this church, began to sing the Ave Maria. Who could it be? Her voice had such volume and clarity with a magnificent tone. As the hymn proceeded, I glanced back at the elevated choir loft. In the center, with hands folded as she sang, was the former Metropolitan Opera diva – Rosa Ponselle. In the 1920's her voice had been entwined with that of the great Italian tenor Enrico Caruso. Her career lasted until 1937, the year I was born. Early retirement for singers probably was customary then.
The Mass proceeded past the Consecration. Reaching the Agnus Dei, a vocal duet began. The sound of Panis Angelicus surrounded us in perfect harmony, sung by two trained voices matched by birth. Rosa's soprano was joined with the contralto of her sister, Carmella. The vocal combination was electrifying.
Having been raised in a musical family, Saturday radio broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera in New York were regularly heard in our home. However, that Christmas Eve night, a box radio wasn't enclosing the sounds we heard. These voices were live and in person, reverberating off every nook of the sanctuary. When the Mass ended we scurried home with chills, not from the winter night, but from the surprise musical gift these sisters shared with us.
The true identity of the mysterious singers spread quickly the following week throughout the area. Choir members told of the surprise arrival – the two women appearing in the choir loft and handing the music to the organist. She agreed to play when asked.
Rosa Ponselle lived in retirement at her Worthington Valley, Maryland residence. It was called 'Villa Pace'. Rosa gave voice lessons to the truly gifted. The fledgling Baltimore Opera Company benefited from her assistance.
During the weeks that followed, soprano voices at Sunday Mass were critiqued by those in attendance. They wondered, “had Rosa made another surprise visit?” Sadly she had not. But the word was out. Christmas 1950 would come soon enough. Rosa Ponselle might attend another Midnight Mass.
That next Christmas Eve, Rosa arrived at the church alone. The commotion caused by the congregation during the service distracted both the Mass and the choir. Many had come only to hear her voice. They turned and stared, causing quite an upset. Later, the conservative Pastor was forced to take matters into his own hands. After the holidays, he phoned Rosa, asking that she not sing at his church anymore. He blamed the disruption. Also, there were choir members who felt slighted having to omit their well-rehearsed hymns. His reasoning seems like rough treatment now. Back then, there was no way a divorced, non-church member was going to monopolize Midnight Mass – not even the famous Rosa Ponselle. 
She had the God-given gift of an angel's voice and must have wanted to share it with us. It was her way of giving a Christmas Gift to the congregation. Circumstances did not allow her to do so.
Old RCA recordings of her voice don't do it justice. The limited technical ability then couldn't capture its heavenly beauty. But its true sound at our church exists in my memory. I was lucky to have attended Christmas Midnight Mass at that little country church in the late 1940's. Scripture says that -- ears have not heard nor eyes seen the beauty and joy of Heaven. 
That may be true but we came close on those two Christmas Eve nights.
Some years later, Rosa took her vocal gift back to the Divine Giver. Now she freely entertains Him surrounded by a Heavenly Choir. 
Surely they welcome her as a member.

Requiescat in 'Villa Pace' en coeli, Madame Rosa. Rest peacefully in your Heavenly Home.


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## Jermaine (Apr 23, 2016)

Don Fatale said:


> Hi Jermaine, I also like the Bartoli rendition which is rather delicate, almost baroque in timbre. I'd love to hear her sing the role live as I believe that's always the truest way to experience a voice and performance. I may get over to Paris in October.
> 
> Info of her performances (and everything else) here...
> 
> ...


Thank you for sharing.

I also edited my post. ​


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Jermaine said:


> Thank you for sharing.
> 
> I also edited my post. ​


You're a gent. Hope you found the link useful.


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Looks like it falls to me to suggest another aria of the week. This runs until end of Tuesday 24th, or longer if nobody posts a different aria suggestion on Wednesday.

This time it's Rossini's most famous aria. In the mezzo range, but plenty of sopranos will be tempted.

Aria: *Una Voce Poco Fa*
Opera: Il Barbiere di Siviglia (1816)
Sung by: Rosina
Composer: Gioachino Rossini
Discussion dates: until Sun 23th May (or longer if another aria isn't suggested on Monday.)

It occurs midway through the first act, and is pretty much the first thing Rosina sings, so the singer needs to be properly warmed up and ready impress. The lyrics are straightforward and establish Rosina's motivations from the outset. The 'poor student' Lindoro she desires is of course Count Almaviva in disguise.

_A voice a while back
echoes here in my heart;
already my heart has been pierced
and Lindoro inflicted the wound.

Yes, Lindoro shall be mine;
I swear it, I will win. (repeat)

My guardian will refuse me;
I shall sharpen all my wits.
In the end he will be calmed
and I shall rest content...

Yes, Lindoro shall be mine;
I swear it, I will win.
Yes, Lindoro shall be mine;
I swear it, yes.
_

Joyce DiDonato





Elina Garanca





Cecilia Bartoli





Teresa Berganza





Katherine Jenkins. I know this isn't fair but when I bump into people who say they like opera then proceed to mention this one, Russell Watson etc. people need to be educated. Think of this video as a teaching tool for the ill-informed.





Got to say that Joyce DiDonato as Rosina is definitely on my must-see-live hit list.

That's pretty much the first 5 on YouTube. Do please post others. (Links, not embedded), and opinions, stories etc relating to the aria or role.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Don Fatale said:


> Looks like it falls to me to suggest another aria of the week. This runs until end of Tuesday 24th, or longer if nobody posts a different aria suggestion on Wednesday.
> 
> This time it's Rossini's most famous aria. In the mezzo range, but plenty of sopranos will be tempted.
> 
> ...


I'll never forget the first time I saw Joyce, it was her debut at Covent Garden and she was Rosina in a new Barbiere. I remember half way through Una Voce and thinking this is better than any other person I have heard singing this live. By the end of the aria I was thinking 'who is she?'

N.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

I remember Alberto Zedda saying that Rossini chose a contralto voice for the original Rosina, as a way of giving some matureness to the character, that was in danger of being perceived as a rather frivolous and malicious girl, if sung by a light voice. And he is surely right, such a big expert on everything Rossini. But I suspect that the availability at the time of great singers like Geltrude Righetti Giorgi, Benedetta Pisaroni or Marietta Alboni, played also a part.

I love Teresa Berganza in the role. Just to add a couple of additional performances:

Spanish mezzo Conchita Supervía, singing in the 1920s: 




And Lucia Valentini Terrani, in the early 1980s:


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

The Conte said:


> I'll never forget the first time I saw Joyce, it was her debut at Covent Garden and she was Rosina in a new Barbiere. I remember half way through Una Voce and thinking this is better than any other person I have heard singing this live. By the end of the aria I was thinking 'who is she?'
> 
> N.


Sorry, do you mean she faded by the end? Was that in her wheelchair series?


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Don Fatale said:


> Sorry, do you mean she faded by the end? Was that in her wheelchair series?


No, that was the first revival and by the end I was thinking 'Who the heck does she think she is singing with such authority' in a totally good way.

N.


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