# Favorite melisma?



## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

Inspired in part by the earworms thread since I've had it in my head the last few days, I love love love the melisma at the end of Olympia's scene in Tales of Hoffmann. Or is it more properly a vocalise?
Anyway, the part that starts at 50:09 here: 




What are your favorites?


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

oh dear, where to begin? I might not have heard one I didn't love, it's that bad. I'm rushing to work but here are two of my very, very favourite arias that contain some badass melismas that have defeated more than one singer:

*Ah, se il crudel periglio* (Grubi's dress just adds to the excitement )

*Come nembo* sorry for the poor live sound quality but Hallenberg just rocks the melisma in this aria


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## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

rgz said:


> Inspired in part by the earworms thread since I've had it in my head the last few days, I love love love the melisma at the end of Olympia's scene in Tales of Hoffmann. Or is it more properly a vocalise?
> Anyway, the part that starts at 50:09 here:
> 
> 
> ...


Ah... _Voici les valseurs_. Dessay played this role many, many times (she's not much bigger than a doll)





Dig out the Sutherland recording if you haven't heard it (I couldn't find anything on youtube). Every note as clear as a bell.

As for a favourite? No idea. Pick a Rossini opera and may the melisma with the most notes win.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Couac Addict said:


> Pick a Rossini opera and may the melisma with the most notes win.


_O Fiamma Soave_?

I dislike many of Rossini's. Not all (some are really great) but many of them come with conventional cadenzas devoid of any musical beauty and context. Instead, I'd rather have the magnificent, flowing melismas in the way that Bellini and Mozart had them.


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## HumphreyAppleby (Apr 11, 2013)

And check out the cadenza w/ high note at the end. Wow.


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

I just looked up the definition of "melisma," and it says it's a series of notes sung on the same syllable. A cadenza must qualify as a melisma, then? 

I too love the melisma at the end of the Olympia scene in HOFFMANN. One of my favorite cadenzas is the long one that ends the baritone's aria, "Lina, pensai ch'un angelo," in Verdi's STIFFELIO. But my all-time favorite melisma is the one Lucia di Lammermoor sings during her Mad Scene when she vocalizes on the "a" of the word "sara": "Del ciel clemente, clemente un riso, la vita a noi, a noi sara..." That whole phrase, words and all, is certainly one of my favorites in bel canto opera.


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## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

Aramis said:


> _O Fiamma Soave_?
> 
> I dislike many of Rossini's. Not all (some are really great) but many of them come with conventional cadenzas devoid of any musical beauty and context. Instead, I'd rather have the magnificent, flowing melismas in the way that Bellini and Mozart had them.


It was just a trite response meaning that Rossini overused these to appease his leading ladies. 
Honestly, Mariah Carey killed the melisma for me back in the 90s. I'm still in recovery.


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## Reichstag aus LICHT (Oct 25, 2010)

The last "Amen" before the bar's rest in _Messiah_. First those cascading downward scales as each choral voice enters, then that upward leap before the final descent to the fermata. Simply glorious.


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