comprimario roles

[Daniel F. Tritter]

One of the posts here referred to the First Lady in Zauberflote as a
comprimario role, which is symptomatic of bad repertoire Mozart. In
nearly all major European houses known to me, that role is never sung by
other than a principal soprano, as in performances some seasons back in
Munich where the three ladies were sung by Claire Watson, Charlotte
Berthold and Brigitte Fassbaender, and a generation previous in Vienna,
where the First Lady was often Elizabeth Schwartzkopf. One didn't send a
girl to do a Lady's job.

dft

[Brian Newhouse]

I never said they did.

As the poster in question, I was using the term "comprimaria/o" in its
proper primo ottocento sense, which I explained in the course of that
posting. To repeat: a "comprimaria/o" was for Bellini, Donizetti and the
young Verdi the operatic equivalent of a "featured" or "supporting" or
"character" role, i.e. a dramatically important role not of star status.
Such a role would, of course, generally require the talents, if not the
reclame, of a principal soprano/mezzo/tenor/baritone/bass. Think of
Maddalena, Sparafucile, and Monterone in *Rigoletto*, for
instance--comprimario roles, like *Zauberfloete*'s three ladies, but
generally sung like those ladies by singers of principal caliber. Verdi
is on record as demanding that Monterone be sung by the best baritone of
the company.

--
Brian Newhouse
newh...@newton.crisp.net