Parmi Veder Le Lagrime Pdf 14
Hedy Madrid
Thank you Mr. Hobbes, as always. I know what you mean, but I think it is simply from hearing tenors with more decidedly lyric voices sing it. Although, of course, Caruso brought considerable weight to the role, as did many of the spinto tenors who sang it. Whether or not he would care to make a steady diet of roles like the Duke is, of course, another matter. Getting through the beginning of the second act, with "Parmi veder le lagrime" could start to tell after while. Sustaining a high tessature might be the acid test of just how versatile he is, because Wagner, while it is sustained, is up and down, with a lot of singing in the middle. Thanks for the comment!
For once, Edmund, I think I have to disagree with you.
I am not sure about your comment that the masses cannot be wrong. The most popular newspaper in the UK is the Sun and the US voted Bush in for 8 years.
To be honest, I found his voice without personality. If I close my eyes can I recognise him from other 'good but ordinary' tenors. I am not sure I can. In the La Donna e Mobile he did the things he had to do but the last note was not 'ringing' or held particularly long, he softened the note towards the end but not with any particular beauty and he smiled without having any particular joy in his voice. (I have no objection to singers taking liberties during events such as this - although maybe this is a tad too far :-) =pfgcPkrmVWY).
So he did everything right but I can immediately think of ten other versions I would rather hear; (although I don't think any of the singers are still alive!).
Thank you for this article Edmund. It is true, his stage Italian, close to as good as Tucker's, is impressive for a German singer.
These comments about Duca interest me. Rigoletto is a such a popular opera it makes Duca seem easy, but it is in fact a difficult role for even naturally higher voices like Peerce or Pavarotti.
As usual, Edmund, your intelligence serves you to refer to Duca as a complement, not the core, of his repertoire.
Another superb article, a pleasure to read. Thank you Edmund.
But again Edmund, you hit the truth of the matter when you
Excellent presentation. I have not heard him live - only what is available on Youtube (I live in hope).
I saw the Met HD broadcast of Die Walkure - he was a very convincing Siegmund, I thought. He has good stage presence, too. Let's hope he has a solid career and doesn't overdue it too soon.
Kate
Thank you very much, Kate. I appreciate your comment. Yes, he is still reasonably young, and the danger is that he could push a bit too hard, too often, and we know where that can lead. Let's hope he doesn't fall into the trap that so many others have fallen into! thanks again!
For G. Fiurezi-Maragioglio. Thank you very much, my friend. You make good points, as usual. Yes, he would be well advised to take great care with roles like Il Duca. He can do them now, it appears, but they are full of pitfalls. Questa o quella is easy enough, La donna e mobile is easy enough if one has the B, but arias like Parmi veder le lagrime are a minefield. So many tenors die on that aria, which is so difficult. It's like the very end of Lucia, when Edgardo, after singing the entire opera, finds himself hammering away at "O! bel' alma innamorata, bel al-ma in-na-mor a-ta....!! I've heard more than one tenor screaming by that point, in a supposedly bel canto opera, so yes, great care indeed with the "lyric" roles! Thanks again for your comment.
For Dan Ploy
You disagree with great elegance and knowledge, my friend, and that is more than ok! :-)
Your points are good ones, and I both respect and understand them. Yes, I knew the La donna e mobile would raise eyebrows. It is unusual, certainly, for a tenor whom many consider a Wagnerian, to sing Il Duca. I wanted to stress the rather extraordinary range of his repertoire. You may well be right about that; perhaps it is not something he will wish to dwell on. Bush and Murdoch....now there's a thought:-) I guess my hope would be that most opera goers were a tad more refined in their taste, but.....well......I don't know:-) Thanks for your comment, it's a good one; very reasonable.
I have followed Kaufmann's career closely since his debut with Traviata at the MET, always worried that he was taking on too much too soon but admiring every new role he took on, and all my concerns were washed away when he triumphed as Siegmund last year. He is obviously a singer of great intelligence who knows exactly what he can and cannot undertake. I am not a singer and my understanding of what makes a singer be able to go from heldentenor to light lyric roles and back is limited, but knowing that singers like Alfredo Kraus never moved beyond the lyric French roles, and Pavarotti barely managed Radames, it is amazing to me that Kaufmann moves with such ease from Siegmund and Lohengrin to Faust and Des Grieux. I am very grateful for what he has given me and look forward to much more.
Thank you very much, Kati, for a very well written and interesting comment! You go right to the heart of the matter. What the future may hold is unknown, but at the moment he is quite a remarkable singer, for all the reasons you point out. Thanks again!
This is Aaron from youtube, Edmund. I agree in general that Kaufmann is an excellent spinto (I knew you would classify him correctly!) who has performed a wide range of repertoire. I think your Cosi clip is a little misleading because he cannot sing like that now. He has changed his technique since then to be much darker and heavier, so it is not representative. Perhaps a clip from a more recent recital where he sang Dies Bildnis would have been more fair?
The La Donna is a better example, he still sounds like that today as he is singing Wagner. Overall I thought that was excellent singing. A few vowel issues and pitch issues, but it's a fast aria (taken slowly there, though) for a larger voice. However, the amplification annoyed me. That microphone was definitely not "for recording purposes only". It is much easier to show dynamic contrast and to have a big dark voice if you are amplified in that fashion. I have heard, and believe, that he is amplified in opera performances as well (as are most of the other singers today). How can this not be a consideration when evaluating, if true?
My last beef may be more with opera listeners than with Kaufmann himself. But, since he's been singing Wagner, he is now called a "heldentenor". Repertoire, of course, does not make the fach, though often the reverse could and should be true. But if I were him I would sing as much as I could anywhere that makes a living, so I guess my issue there isn't with Mr. Kaufmann. However again the microphone issue plays in here. Can he sing Wagner against the orchestra without a microphone on his clothing or hair, as King/Melchior/Vickers/Svanholm and other past greats have done? Are those days of opera over? That would make me sad.
-Aaron
Thank you, Aaron, for an interesting comment. You make a good point: the lyric roles such as Ferrando may be the first victims of time, although Tamino is still in the essential fach. I tend to suspect the miked voice in performance story. Largely because other singers, were they not similarly miked, would complain. Makes duets a little dicey:-) Thanks again for the comment; always appreciated!
Ah, finally I get to read a blogger who agrees with me about Kaufmann. I first heard him two years ago next month when he sang Werther in Paris and it was webcast arte.tv. That is now available on medici.tv.
If I didn't know better I would have thought he really did commit suicide in Act 4.
What appeals to me is the color he brings to his vocal technique,even in Wagner, just like the best female singers and Thomas Hampson. Why do we let the "stand-and-bleat" kind of male singing continue? Pavarotti, Vickers, James King, Siegfreid Jeruselum are guilty of this testosterone technique: bluff-and-bluster conquerors all? To me, it seems like faulty musicianship and technique.
Thank you, my dear friend, for another fine comment. I think you have hit the nail on the head, characteristically, when you ascribe to him a "home base" in Wagner. Probably right. That is a repertoire he can continue to grow in, and one where the need for a good tenor is ALWAYS there. I think it likely that his voice flows so freely in the Wagnerian repertoire because of his training and voice production, which is more Italian than Germanic (at least traditional Germanic). Time will be the test. If he continues to sing this well, and does all the Wagner tenor roles (easier said than done!) he will certainly establish himself as a great heldentenor. Thanks again for your comment!
For Jim N. Thank you very much for your comment. Welcome to Great Opera Singers. Feel free to drop by any time! I appreciate your comment, and you raise a very interesting point that no one else has mentioned; his stagecraft. Even if one judges only by the many Youtube videos, it is apparent that he is a gifted and realistic actor. What is more, his characterizations are reflected in his voice, which supports the acting. An unusual gift, as you point out. He takes a more nearly "Netrebko" approach to it all, which is not only admirable, but, I suspect, increasingly necessary in the more cinema-driven operatic productions of today. Thanks for the comment!
I think it likely that his voice flows so freely in the Wagnerian repertoire because of his training and voice production, which is more Italian than Germanic (at least traditional Germanic)./
Yes, of course, this is the main reason. I only wanted to say that I heard that low voices are not easily worn out in comparison to high voices.
n.a.
Hi Mr. St. Austell,
Thanks for this article. I'm so glad that you don't confine yourself to discussions of artists who are no longer with us; after all, great singing is great singing, time and place notwithstanding. I remember having seen the first clip quite a while ago, and being pleasantly surprised by the beauty and sensitivity of his interpretation.
Whether or not he has since moved on to more "dramatic" roles, I would like to think the Mozart aria proves that the deployment of a voice, rather than its weight, size, or timbre, is what really makes a performance work. I can't imagine that all the singers who performed Mozart's works during his lifetime had the same vocal characteristics; for all I know, 18th century audiences may have heard voices Kaufmann's sing Ferrando all the time.
That being said, I had several questions. Were opera-goers always so picky about whether or not voices were too big or small, dark or bright, for certain roles? Your article on Georges Thill gave me the impression that his repertoire was pretty diverse; did people who saw him sing Wagner complain that he was out of his element?
Nicolai Gedda is another person who seems to sing EVERYTHING. What do people have to say about the fact that his repertoire includes Donizetti & Mozart as well as Verdi, Strauss, and Shostakovich? I suppose that making a recording and making a GOOD recording are two different things, but I still wonder.