# Overlooked phrases in operatic singing that make your spine tingle.



## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Obviously, everyone love the glorious high Bb in Pace Pace Mio Dio, the menacing low Fs of Sparafucile, or the stratospheric F6s in Queen of the Night, but I thought it would make things more interesting to talk about more niche or overlooked phrases that really make your ears perk up. Do you just like the phrase itself or is it a particular singer who gives you chills? If you post examples, you are encouraged to leave a time stamp for approximately when the phrase starts.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

I'll start with a few examples

The synchronized laugh in Ride of the Valkyries (3:06)





There are better versions of this piece out there, but Joan Sutherland's epic rising portamento (10:22) is awe inspiring and magestic.





Honestly, Vissi D'arte is a boring aria that adds nothing to the story. Meanwhile, we hear some of the most exciting singing in the world at around 6:54 when Callas unleashes her monster chest voice after stabbing Baron Scarpia.


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## ColdGenius (9 mo ago)

Did you mean a _musical _phrase or piece of lyrics sung?


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

1.Mine is so obscure that it's only the anticipation of what's coming with the 3 notes preceding Posa singing in the Prison scene (last act) "Io morro". It immediately triggers a gut response.
2.Another is Butterfly uttering to Sharpless "Ahh, ma scordata" as her child runs into her arms in the second act and the swelling music that accompanies it.
3.Otello's entrance music when he comes to Desdemona's bed in the last act is a trigger.
4.But the most outstanding one is Poulenc's last act of "Dialogues..." with the powerful beginning notes that just blow me away. From there to the end I am toast.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

ColdGenius said:


> Did you mean a _musical _phrase or piece of lyrics sung?


The former, but if you want to include the latter, go for it.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

I'm not quite sure what it is your're driving at. Callas often brings into sharp relief moments that we barely even notice when sung by others.

A particular instance of this is in the duet in *La Boheme* between Mimi and Marcello in Act III. Marcello says he will go and wake Rodolfo and Mimi reponds with the simple question, one word only, _Dorme? _In that one word lies all of Mimi's character, her pure unselfish love which makes her, even amongst all of her own problems, think only Rodolfo. Callas applies a slight portamento and the effect always destroys me. No other soprano, even those more obviously suited to the role, like Freni and De Los Angeles, quite achieve that effect. It happens at about 3'25 but the effect is increased by listening to what went before.






Another is the linking recitative between _Regnava nel sienzio _and _Quando rappito in estasi _in *Lucia di Lammemoor*. In all of her recordings, Callas invests these lines from _Egli e luce ai giorni miei_ with such emotional significance that they become the dramatic crux of the whole scene, if not the whole opera, a blazing affirmation of her love for Edgardo. This is at about 3'35


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## Shaafee Shameem (Aug 4, 2021)

I have always found the phrase
“Sì, sovr'essi alzai la punta.
Vedi, vedi a che son giunta!”
from Norma’s duet with Pollione, extremely riveting when sung by Callas. None of the other sopranos whom I’ve listened to seem to invest any value to this phrase.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

Gigli’s use of ornamentation, that I never heard anyone use after him (Caruso, for one, did it earlier) In La reve / Il sogno from Manon. It’s a simple upward turn at the words “co gli augei” On the last syllable which is some reference to bird song. It just drives me crazy the sound is soooo my kind of vocal beauty! Whether picking up the tone arm and going back or holding down. <<. I can’t go on to another piece without hearing it at least once more!


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

Tsaraslondon said:


> I'm not quite sure what it is your're driving at. Callas often brings into sharp relief moments that we barely even notice when sung by others.
> 
> A particular instance of this is in the duet in *La Boheme* between Mimi and Marcello in Act III. Marcello says he will go and wake Rodolfo and Mimi reponds with the simple question, one word only, _Dorme? _In that one word lies all of Mimi's character, her pure unselfish love which makes her, even amongst all of her own problems, think only of him. Callas applies a slight portamento and the eff.ect always destroys me. No other soprano, even those more obviously suited to the role, like Freni and De Los Angeles, quite achieve that effect. It happens at about 3'25 but the effect is increased by listening to what went before.
> 
> ...


The dorme was wonderful!


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> Honestly, Vissi D'arte is a boring aria that adds nothing to the story.


Is this your independent thinking, or did you know Callas once suggested Vissi d'arte should be removed from the opera ?

Philip Gossett writes about it in his book Divas and scholars.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

"Ardo, una vampa, un fuoco, tutta mi strugge" from the recitative before "Oh, quante volte", the cavatina of Giulietta (I Capuleti e i Montecchi by Bellini).
It is not exactly overlooked, once you know the opera. Actually, one lady built her crazy, regietheater production around it for a festival in Lithuania.
But the opera itself is comparatively less played, so I dare to include it here.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

BBSVK said:


> Is this your independent thinking, or did you know Callas once suggested Vissi d'arte should be removed from the opera ?
> 
> Philip Gossett writes about it in his book Divas and scholars.


Both. I remember listening to the interview where she described this and thinking "Thank you! Someone else gets it!"


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> The synchronized laugh in Ride of the Valkyries (3:06)


That's fabulous. If I were in the audience, I would have laughed along with them in sync.

Also noteworthy are the coughs in Il barbiere di Siviglia: Ma dov'eri tu, stordito-




The final one at 4:51 also stands out.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

At 1:02, 2:11, 2:29, it seems to mimic an early form of yodeling. (Did yodeling exist in the 1760s?)




Wo wahre Treue die Herzen verstrickt


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