Chest Voice

[Charlie Handelman]

As much as I adore soprano high notes (good ones,that is), there is
another area of the voice where I require (DEMAND) at least a certain amount of
what we refer to as 'chest voice." although some singers do not employ that
term..but we all know that when a Giconda ends the "Suicidio" with the phrase,
"dentro l'avel," we recognize the wonderful effect,especially if the soprano
has a rich lower register;similarly, what good would a Santuzza be if she
couldn't pull the chest voice UP on "e vostra moglie m'ha rapito a me," like
Giulietta Simionato.
However, some of the very greatest sopranos refuse to "stretch" the
voice, and refuse to employ this deep chest voice in certain areas;for example,
my beloved Zinka NEVER sang that last Cavalleria phrase in chest, and Sondra
Radvanovsky,who has one of the most glorious soprano voices around today, will
not use ANY low chest tones in the Miserere from Trovatore,and yet she sings
one of the truly magnificent Leonoras over-all.
I always feel a great let-down in certain areas when a soprano
or mezzo does not choose (or cannot technically) to sing certqain lower phrases
in this "chest" register. I do not mean that every lady needs to sound like
Lina Bruna rasa, a famous abuser of that register, but at least there must be
some modicum of tone down there, and this is why I found the Nell Rankin career
so very dull, despite great high notes, because she rarely used chest in ANY of
her mezzo roles.
Rita Gorr,Victoria de los Angeles, and the great Flagstad
appeared to have such a naturally rich low register that they did not need to
push into much more,and that is fine, but at least they were able to make
wonderful sounds in the low register,rather than have just plain "air" down
there.
The sopranos who do not particularly excite me because thy
lack this element would be Kiri Te Kanawa, Barbara Frittoli,Eileen Farrell, and
Joan Sutherland, although on occasion Sutherland surprises me,and even farrell
on the Cavalleria 1964 broadcast seem to catch fire and let out some unusual
low notes..but not her usual "bag."
In Wagner, I am always thrilled when a Brunnhilde can begin
the scene with Wotan on "War es so smahlich" in the luscious low area, and so
Moedl,Varnay,Hunter,Leider,Flagstad,Traubel,Nilsson,Eaglen in totally different
ways do rise to the occasion, but this section would be totally devoid of the
necessary warmth an passion if there was "nothing down below."
I threaten to someday make a tape of about 15 Adrianas reciting
the act three Phedre recitation, just to illustrate the various levels of
insanity attained..so far Caballe seems to be the winner, but
Olivero,Soviero,and Scotto are not far behind.
Why is it that Claudia Muzio,Virginia Zeani, and (my favorite)
Rosanna Carteri read the Traviata letter in such a way so as to break your
little heart? This is because they were able to use this lower register in the
"spoken" chest voice,but the great Raina Kabaiwanska, never usually lacking in
low notes, sounds like Minnie Mouse in this section? I guess she was not able
to apply the same technique that makes most of her low notes to effective in
the spoken phrases.
Of course, one can go way overboard and ruin a great voice by
pushing the lows, and therefore Elena Suliotis,a prime example,never learned to
husband her forces and the result eventually was disaster.
On the other hand, Zinka once heard a soprano who had fabulous
low notes, and remarked, "Vell the leetle girl vill NEVER last!" However,for a
change,in this case Zinka was dead wrong,because this lady was able to sing
unbelievably wild chest tones and also top notes with ease up to E natural..and
lasted a long time..and her name is Marisa Galvany, who had the technique that
enabled her to do the impossible.
So let us hear your remarks on this phenomenon..I could not EXIST
without my Laura doing what Elmo and Barbieri do on the word "creato" in the
act two Gioconda duet.....and maybe you want to offer some other examples and
your valuable comments.
Chestily Charlie
My best, Charlie.

My Website dedicated to the vocal art is located at:

http://www.handelmania.com

[CHSIII]

Your posting was very entertaining. My only comment is that a posting on
chest notes that doesn't mention Tebaldi's fantastic ability in this
department is missing something I could not live without. Her "Tre assi, e
un paio," is one of the great moments of my life - also "dentro l'avel," "Ed
io l'amo come il leone," "Io lo vo' morto!", "Giuseppe...m'odi Giuseppe," "e
morto...or gli perdono," "quella parola orrenda", and many more. And the
expressions on her face when she would hurl these immense notes out upon the
audience, would draw you right into her power. What an incredibly potent
communicator she was. Her magic was, that at the end of the evening, you
were, by force of her intensity, as drained as she was. That results in
cathartic and near-hysterical applause, which I heard her cause, I think,
more than any other artist. She commanded and got gratitude - and back to
the topic, her generous use of that powerful chest was a prime ingredient -
coupled of course to the fact that in lyrical moments, her beauty of
phrasing was and remains, imo, unequaled.

[Charlie Handelman]

I was going to mention that FRIGHTENING "tre assi e un paio" because when we
saw it..it SCARED US..and every time I hear it..I say,"Why didn't she do that
on the London recording?"
It was amazing..Renata had spoken chest that echoed through the house like a
laser beam....CH

[Jon E. Szostak, Sr.]

Charlie: I'm rather surprised that you left Leontyne out of this
discussion...IMO she never ceased to amaze me with the use of her remarkable
chest tones. Take a gander at her Reiner/CSO recording of 'Amor Brujo' and
then take a big breath. Now that's not the only time I heard her go into
chest with such powerful results.

I have no disagreements about the others you mentioned...but really...how
COULD you forget luscious Leontyne?

Jon E. Szostak, Sr.

"Charlie Handelman" <plac...@aol.comnojunk> wrote in message
news:20040723131425...@mb-m11.aol.com...

[Mitchell Kaufman]

Jon E. Szostak, Sr. <jszostaks...@comcast.net> wrote:

> Charlie: I'm rather surprised that you left Leontyne out of this
> discussion...IMO she never ceased to amaze me with the use of her
> remarkable chest tones. Take a gander at her Reiner/CSO recording of
> 'Amor Brujo' and then take a big breath. Now that's not the only time I
> heard her go into chest with such powerful results.
>
> I have no disagreements about the others you mentioned...but really...how
> COULD you forget luscious Leontyne?

Oh, brother, are you barking up the wrong tree.

MK

[Jon E. Szostak, Sr.]

Mitch: How so? I don't understand...really.

Jon E. Szostak, Sr.

"Mitchell Kaufman" <forg...@iaint.disclosinit> wrote in message
news:1ghived.1sd3pk9125r46sN%forg...@iaint.disclosinit...

[Mitchell Kaufman]

Jon E. Szostak, Sr. <jszostaks...@comcast.net> wrote:

> Mitch: How so? I don't understand...really.

You'll see... ;-)

MK

P.S.--If you want a preview, do a Google Groups search on "Handelman"
and "Leontyne."

[Charlie Handelman]

Leontyne..her chest was FUNNNNNNY and I would not consider her.....we always
laughd at what she thought was chest..sounds like she is doing Mahalia Jackson
imitations.....CH

[Charlie Handelman]

you want a preview, do a Google Groups search on "Handelman"
and "Leontyne."

Really?Let me try that....

[Charlie Handelman]

WOW!!!There are articles I wrote..I am more famous than I thought..thanks....CH

[Leonard Tillman]

From: plac...@aol.comnojunk (Charlie Handelman)

>Leontyne..her chest was FUNNNNNNY

- I always considered her chest an attractive one.

Leonard Tillman

[Charlie Handelman]

always considered her chest an attractive one.

You mean CHESTS!

Play Aida act three..e poi morir..e pori morir w.Amonasro..she has NO
CLUE!!!!!!!!!!

Despite an intrinsically great (lyric) voice..she remaons one of the most
ECCENTRIC singers I ever heard...CH