An opera for young voices?

[The Lime Tree]

Hello, I'm an undergraduate at Yale Univ. where, although there are
a lot of well-trained, serious singers, there is no consistent venue for
young singers to perform (Yale Opera and the School of Music have
virtually no spill-over to the college). Upon occasion a group of
undergrads take it upon themselves to put together an "Undergrad Opera".
The people running the opera, being students themselves, often don't
which pieces would be best for the availabe singers. Two years ago
"Three Sisters Who are not Sisters" (Gertrude Stein and Ned Rorhem),
along with "A Hand of Bridge" and "The Telephone" where performed
together. Prior to that, Figaro and Cosi were produced. So...we are
looking for suggestions (the conductor wants The Magic Flute..many think
this is a _bad_ _bad_ choice).

We have the following voices (approximate..depending on who
auditions..but we know the pool fairly well):

4 sopranos (2 coloratura, 2 lyric)
2 mezzo-sopranos
1 tenor (tenor part really should not be too strenuous)
2 baritones
3 basses

All of the singers are between 19-21 years old. Young, aspiring
musicians who have excellent voices, great teachers, but no conservatory to
guide them as far as a performance goes (beyond recitals). We want to do
something that doesn't kill our voices (naturally), and is well within
our capablities as a troupe. Basically, The Magic Flute is not ideal.
No one should sing The Queen of the Night and our tenor can't play Tamino.

After all of that...does any one have suggestions? Oh, and preferably
not Mozart.

Thanks,

Lynea Diaz-Hagan

[Ann Feeney]

How about Gianni Schicchi, if it's not too short? None of the parts are
hugely strenuous, it's a fun ensemble piece, and wouldn't be hard to
stage. The tenor does have one big aria, but it's not a voice killer,
though it does require a fairly secure A flat, I think.) You'd need a
good character mezzo and baritone, a lyric tenor and soprano, I think one
base and a couple of baritones, and I think another mezzo and soprano.

If you want to try a full scale opera, The Bartered Bride might work, if
you can get two tenors (one romantic lead, the other a comic) and your
lyric soprano has a lot of stamina. (The role isn't demanding in the
type of music, but she has a lot of music to sing.) It would be an
ambitious project, though!

You could also try some of the Viennese school of operettta, like
Fledermaus. (Tenor or baritone lead, baritone lead, lyric with some
coloratura soprano lead, coloratura soprano lead, mezzo lead.)

--
Ann Feeney afe...@mcs.com
(312)649-6683

[Lyle Neff]

>4 sopranos (2 coloratura, 2 lyric)
>2 mezzo-sopranos
>1 tenor (tenor part really should not be too strenuous)
>2 baritones
>3 basses

You could try one of Cesar Cui's short operas. See my web page under
"composers" and his name to see the list of operas and the roles. If
you only had another tenor, "Mademoiselle Fifi" would be great, but you
could do his "Feast in Time of Plague", "The Mandarin's Son", or "Mateo
Falcone". No choruses needed except in "Feast". I've written English
translations for all but "Mandarin", which is available in French.

There's also Rimsky-Korsakov's "Noblewoman Vera Sheloga" (also with
English available from me). His "Mozart & Salieri" would be too
strenuous on the tenor, no doubt.

Lyle Neff, ln...@ucs.indiana.edu
http://copper.ucs.indiana.edu/~lneff/home.html
Libretto Homepage

[sdy...@alpha.cc.oberlin.edu]

Some suggestions from past rep. here at Oberlin where we use almost all
undergrad. voice:

A couple one acts -
Signor Deluso by Pasatieri. A popular work for schools. Requires two
sops. (one more lyric and one more mezzoish), a mezzo, a tenor (not too
strenuous), a lyric baritone and one or two 'character' baritones.

Menotti's The Medium. Needs a _good_ mezzo who is a strong actor.
Otherwise 2 sops, a mezzo and a baritone (plus actor/dancer).
Another Menotti possibility which I don't know as well is The Old Maid
and the Thief. I think its something like 3 women and a baritone but
I'm not sure.

Gianni Schicchi was mentioned in an earlier post but my guess is it
would be a bit ambitious. You need a real Puccini tenor and very strong
baritone.

Rossini's earliest (?) opera Il Cambiale di Matrimonio is another
possibility. (I think 2 sops, tenor, 2 baritones). Although Rossini and
tenors don't always mix too well.

The two general areas to check out are more obscure 18th cent. stuff
(Paisiello's The Secret Marriage, Cimarosa, Pergolesi, etc.) and 20th
cent. stuff. (Kurt Weill, Menotti, Barber, Bernstein, Blitzstein etc.)

Good luck.

Daryl
sdy...@alpha.cc.oberlin.edu

[Karen Mercedes]

A VILLAGE ROMEO AND JULIET by Frederick Delius.

Karen Mercedes
merc...@access.digex.net

[Dianne van Dulken]

Menotti is a very good choice. The Old Maid and the Theif does have three
women - two sopranos and a mezzo, and a tenor - The mezzo is the largest
part, and needs to be a fairly good character actress. Both the sopranos
should be lyric sopranos, not really heavy.

How about trying some non-opera things, such as the Coffee Cantata by Bach?
Or perhaps "A ceremony of Carols" By Britten, neither of which require large
numbers. I wouldn't ignore operetta either, which is a great way to build
character improvisation. Just because its funny, doesn't mean it's not
challenging or worth while

Di

[lbf6208]

Ann Feeney (afe...@MCS.COM) wrote:
: How about Gianni Schicchi, if it's not too short? None of the parts are

: hugely strenuous, it's a fun ensemble piece, and wouldn't be hard to
: stage. The tenor does have one big aria, but it's not a voice killer,
: though it does require a fairly secure A flat, I think.)

That's a B-flat, and I think the tenor part is fairly demanding (maybe
not compared to other Puccini roles, but it's still a bit of a stretch
for an undergrad).

--
Linda B. Fairtile
New York University
lbf...@is.nyu.edu

[Bob Shomler]

> I'd suggest Offenbach's La Vie Parisienne. > ... > There sould exist an English translation: IMHO, such a prodution > should be in the language of the audience. > ... > Eduardo Gabarra You can obtain Donald Pippin's excellent English translation from Pocket Opera in San Francisco (e-mail Pocke...@aol.com).

[Jmballo]

back in ca. 1966 had the opportunity to conduct Britten's 'realization' of
Gay's Beggar's Opera. LOTS of parts, small orchestra (12-13), challenging
music but not impossible (mostly med and nursing students did super). Give
it a thought.

drjoe

[LEOCAPRI]

I recently wrote a oneact opera specifically with students in mind, THIS
IS THE RILL SPEAKING. The text is an early play by Lanford Wilson (who
adapted Tennessee Williams' SUMMER AND SMOKE for me in 1971).
It requires 2 mezzos, 2 baritones, 1 soprano and 1 tenor (playing eleven
characters). It is accompanied by chamber ensemble of 5 players (string
quartet plus bass). It is midwest USA, 1950s, lyrical, humorous, touching,
depiction of the milieu of the playwright-to-be. It's been done (with
piano) by the Circle Rep in NYC, students at Swarthmore and two or three
other places. To my knowledge it has not yet been done with the strings.

I can send you a perusal score and cassette. E-mail me if you are
interested.

Best wishes, Lee Hoiby <leoc...@aol.com>

[Risa Harman]

>My sister teaches an opera workshop class at Virginia Commonwealth University and is always looking for new material for her studen=
ts. I would be more than happy to forward her a perusal score and cassette. She is quite familiar with your work as she sang in a =
production of The Scarf a few years ago.

I can be reached via e-mail.

Kind regards, Risa Harman <risa_...@sonymusic.com>

[Risa Harman]

[Risa Harman]

[Risa Harman]

My sister teaches an opera workshop class at Virginia Commonwealth

University and is always looking for new material for her students. I
would be more than happy to forward to her a perusal score and cassette
of your opera. She is already familiar with your work as she sang in a

production of The Scarf a few years ago.

You can reach me via e-mail.

Kind regards, Risa Harman