Current Sopranos: lyric, spinto, dramatic
Gwyneth
I saw the message below from 19 June but couldn't post a reply to it,
so am responding like this.
Judging from recordings only, I would categorise the singers below
thus:
- Iride Martinez (I might guess a dramatic soprano)
- Ana Maria Martinez
- Inva Mula (light lyric/lyric coloratura)
- Ainhoa Arteta (light lyric/lyric coloratura)
- Anna Netrebko (lyric/lyric coloratura)
- Christine Schafer (lyric coloratura)
- Leontina Vaduva (light lyric/lyric)
- Eva Mei (light lyric/lyric coloratura)
- Madeleine Bender
- Lisa Milne (lyric)
- Mary Plazas
- Cynthia Clarey
- Harolyn Blackwell
- Marie McLaughlin (lyric coloratura)
- Angela Gheorghiu (lyric/full lyric)
- Maria Guleghina (dramatic)
- Daniela Dessi (lirico-spinto/spinto)
- Veronica Villaroel (lirico-spinto)
- Barbara Frittoli (full lyric/lirico-spinto)
- Fiorenza Cedolins (spinto)
- Nicole Heaston
- Veronique Gens (lyric/full lyric)
- Patrizia Ciofi (light lyric/lyric coloratura)
- Elena Mosuc (lyric coloratura)
I would welcome other peoples comments!
Fach qualitiess do not matter as much as a person's singing abilities
(w/acting abilities) and the issue of whether or not the voice can
fulfill the
role's musical requirements. Just the same, as a matter of
curiosity, how
would you characterize current generations of opera singers from the
past 10 to
20 years, in terms of these fach qualities?
Which would you consider each of the following sopranos - a lyric, a
dramatic,
or a spinto, or none of the above?
- Iride Martinez (I might guess a dramatic soprano)
- Ana Maria Martinez
- Inva Mula
- Ainhoa Arteta
- Anna Netrebko
- Christine Schafer
- Leontina Vaduva
- Eva Mei
- Madeleine Bender
- Lisa Milne
- Mary Plazas
- Cynthia Clarey
- Harolyn Blackwell
- Marie McLaughlin
- Angela Gheorghiu
- Maria Guleghina
- Daniela Dessi
- Veronica Villaroel
- Barbara Frittoli
- Fiorenza Cedolins
- Nicole Heaston
- Veronique Gens
- Patrizia Ciofi
- Elena Mosuc
Proud Clarion
I have not heard Iride Martinez yet, but I find it interesting that you
characterize her voice as a dramatic soprano in view of the fact that she sang
Konstanze last summer at Salzburg. Perhaps she is that rare voice type
sometimes described as a dramatic coloratura.
PC
Gwyneth
Sorry, I forgot to delete the comment on Martinez - it was in the list
I cut and pasted (originial message was posted by someone else (see
below). I have never heard Martinez, either on recording or live, so
can't comment on her voice.Do you have any comments on the various
voices? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cheers!
From:Slrdsyj (slr...@aol.com)
Subject:Current sopranos: lyrics, dramatics, & spintos
Fach qualitiess do not matter as much as a person's singing abilities
(w/acting abilities) and the issue of whether or not the voice can
fulfill the
role's musical requirements. Just the same, as a matter of
curiosity, how
would you characterize current generations of opera singers from the
past 10 to
20 years, in terms of these fach qualities?
Which would you consider each of the following sopranos - a lyric, a
dramatic,
or a spinto, or none of the above?
- Iride Martinez (I might guess a dramatic soprano)
- Ana Maria Martinez
- Inva Mula
- Ainhoa Arteta
- Anna Netrebko
- Christine Schafer
- Leontina Vaduva
- Eva Mei
- Madeleine Bender
- Lisa Milne
- Mary Plazas
- Cynthia Clarey
- Harolyn Blackwell
- Marie McLaughlin
- Angela Gheorghiu
- Maria Guleghina
- Daniela Dessi
- Veronica Villaroel
- Barbara Frittoli
- Fiorenza Cedolins
- Nicole Heaston
- Veronique Gens
- Patrizia Ciofi
- Elena Mosuc
proudc...@aol.com (Proud Clarion) wrote in message news:<20040724141854...@mb-m05.aol.com>...
Slrdsyj
>Date: 7/25/04 7:04 AM Eastern Daylight Time
To me, Iride Martinez sounds like a dramatic soprano or perhaps a dramatic
coloratura soprano. Having seen several brief excerpts from her filmed
performance in "Ariadne auf Naxos" (playing Zerbinetta), I find that she does
not sound like a lyric coloratura (e.g. Gruberova, Moffo, Mei, Rost, Battle,
Jo, or Blackwell, for instance). She certainly sounds like dramatic soprano or
dramatic coloratura material. I could easily foresee her in the near future
playing roles like Carmen, the Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Katerina Ismailova),
Tosca, Abigaille, Elsa, and Sieglinde. I can even imagine her in the next 10
to 15 years playing roles like Cassandre or Didon, and Lucrezia Borgia.
Ana Maria Martinez sounds like a lyric coloratura with a subtle spinto
quality.
Inva Mula sounds like a lyric soprano or lyric coloratura.
Ainhoa Arteta sounded at least like a spinto or a lirico-spinto, when I
heard her in one of Puccini's operas.
Anna Netrebko has some coloratura ability, but I would call her a lyric
soprano or a lyric spinto. Her voice is definitely of a lyric nature, but I
notice that there is a slightly dark lining in her voice, almost metallic but
not unattractive. This slight shading in the voice (which I could hear in her
rendition of "Non me dir"), could be an asset in playing trouser roles. If she
were to play trouser roles, it would help her in that she would be rather
believable portraying a young man, and not just looking and sounding like a
womanly singer trying to pretend to be a man. I think she would do splendidly
in any of the following roles, as well as others: Oscar (in Ballo in Maschera),
Cherubino, Oktavian, and Komponist. After all, these roles were all written
for sopranos in the first place.
Christine Schafer has done some coloratura roles, but I'm not sure that I'd
say her coloratura is that proficient for me to say she is a coloratura
soprano. She is certainly a lyric soprano, and I might conclude that she is a
spinto. Her voice sounded almost Wagnerian in her music video of Bach's "Sich
ueben im Lieben". Her voice sounds heavier in weight than the voices of Moffo,
Te Kanawa, Fleming, Gustafson, Clarey, Haymon, Norberg-Shultz, to name a few
examples.
Leontine Vaduva sounds like a full lyric soprano with the bonus ability to
adapt her voice a little bit towards the soubrette fach when appropriate
(allowing her to sound youthful and feminine, and to sound like an operatic
force to be reckoned with - at the same time.) There was a thread from one or
two months ago about sound-alikes. To me her sounds sounds like a cross
between Anna Moffo and Dawn Upshaw.
In Eva Mei's rendition of "Martern aller Altern", she sounded like a
dramatic coloratura soprano. In her other slower aria from "Entfhurung" she
sounded like a lyric soprano. In one aria from "Don Pasquale" she clearly
sounded like a lyric coloratura. So, I might call her a
lyric-dramatic-coloratura.
Lisa Milne is someone I was curious about. I've read that she played
Micaela in the Glyndeboure production of Carmen with Anne Sofie von Otter and
Marcus Haddock. I've not been able to hear her there nor any place.
The only time I've heard Mary Plazas was in a 30-second sound sample of
her playing Zerlina form a Chandos recording of "Don Giovanni". I couldn't
tell if she is a full lyric or a light lyric (soubrette).
I've heard Cynthia Clarey play the very dramatic role of Selena in "Porgy
and Bess", and I've heard her sing "I've got rhythm". She is clearly a lyric
soprano, but is she a full lyric or a lyric spinto, or a light lyric?
Besides, what are some of her other noted roles? Has anyone heard any other
recordings of her, or heard her/seen her live?
Harolyn Blackwell sounds like either a lyric soprano or a lyric
coloratura. I don't know whether or not I'd consider her a light lyric or
soubrette.
I've never heard Marie McLaughlin. I've read much about her. I've read
that she has played Gilda, Violetta, Despina, and that she has played other
soprano roles that have commonly been played by mezzos - including Dorabella
and Marcellina.
Angela Gheorghiu to me sounds like full lyric soprano or a lyric soprano
veering towards lirico-spinto.
Maria Guleghina sounds like a dramatic soprano - at times she sounds
just like a mezzo-soprano (I think she could pull off the roles of Charlotte,
Carmen, Cassandre, Dalila, and Miss Jessel - if she ever decides to do roles
aside from Russian and Italian roles). Some people say that she is a spinto.
I'm not sure which is true.
When I heard Daniela Dessi sing an aria from "Il corsaro", she sounded
like a dramatic soprano. When I saw her in "Adriana Lecouvreur", she sounded
like a lirico-spinto, with a lot of the lyric quality. According to her
website, she's worked on Italian roles ranging from Baroque to Romantic,
including Mozart. She must have a great capability of scaling her voice down
for the lyric Italian roles. I'm not positive as to whether she is a dramatic
or a spinto.
Veronica Villaroel sounds like a dramatic soprano or a spinto soprano,
but I cannot tell which one she is.
In all that I've heard Barbara Frittoli sing, she sounds like a lirico
spinto, but is she a dramatic instead?
Fiorenza Cedolins sounds like a spinto to me, but is she really a
spinto or not?
Nicole Heaston sounds like a lyric soprano to me, from what I heard in
an excerpt of Minkowski's recording of Handel's "Messiah". People have said
she's a light lyric or a soubrette, but as of now I can neither agree nor
disagree.
Veronique Gens is someone I've heard sing an excerpt from Berlioz
"Spectre de la rose" and a brief solo part in 'The toreador song' (as
Frasquita). I know she's some sort of lyric, but nothing else. I've not
heard much of her to say.
Patrizia Ciofi sounds like some sort of coloratura to me. Knowing that
her repertoire includes such varied roles as: Lucie (French Donizetti), Gilda,
Violetta, and Susanna, I'm not sure whether it's dramatic or lyric.
In Elena Mosuc's Queen of the Night Entrance aria, she sounded like a
dramatic coloratura, more than a lyric coloratura. What would you say about
her probable fach? Dramatic or lyric? What other roles have you heard her or
seen her play?
Leonard Tillman
>I've heard Cynthia Clarey play the very
> dramatic role of Selena in "Porgy and Bess",
> and I've heard her sing "I've got rhythm". She
> is clearly a lyric soprano, but is she a full lyric
> or a lyric spinto, or a light lyric? Besides, what
> are some of her other noted roles? Has
> anyone heard any other recordings of her, or
> heard her/seen her live?
Wasn't she, for a time, a lyric mezzo? I remember her singing the
title-role Carmen in a b'cast twenty-something years ago, with Louis
Otey as Escamillo and Jacques Trussel (?) as Jose.
> Harolyn Blackwell sounds like
either
> a lyric soprano or a lyric coloratura. I don't
> know whether or not I'd consider her a light
> lyric or soubrette.
Lyric coloratura. IIRC, Kathleen Battle's roles were assigned to HB in
the wake of Battle's dismissal from the Met. Certainly a fitting
replacement, her voice being both similar and comparable, -- which is
high praise.
Leonard Tillman
Charlie Handelman
Hey..I just met him..he is a friend of a friend..Nice guy...CH
My best, Charlie.
My Website dedicated to the vocal art is located at:
Anh Tuan
Carmen, Tosca or Sieglinde !!!
I saw her 2 years ago as Fiakermilli in Arabella !
"Slrdsyj" <slr...@aol.com> a écrit dans le message de
news:20040728075039...@mb-m07.aol.com...
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