Marvellous Me o-so rano and Con ral o BEST LOVED OPERA ARIAS Best loved opera arias for Mezzo-soprano and Contralto 1 Georges BIZET (1838–1875) 6 Gioachino ROSSINI 10 Antonio VIVALDI (1678–1741) 15 George Frideric HANDEL (1685–1759) Carmen (1875) 1:58 L’Italiana in Algeri 4:23 Orlando furioso 4:25 Serse (‘Xerxes’) (1738) 3:37 Act I – Seguidilla: Près des remparts de (‘The Italian Girl in Algiers’) (1813) (‘The Frenzy of Orlando’) (1727) Act I – Frondi tenere… Ombra mai fu… Séville (Carmen) Act I, Scene 4 – Cruda sorte! Act II, Scene 8 – Nel profondo (Xerxes) Marjana Lipovšek, Mezzo-soprano Amor tiranno! (Isabella) cieco mondo (Orlando) Marjana Lipovšek, Mezzo-soprano Munich Radio Orchestra • Giuseppe Patanè Ewa Podle , Mezzo-soprano Sonia Prina, Contralto • I Barocchisti Munich Radio Orchestra • Giuseppe Patanè (Orfeo C179891A) Hungarian State Opera Chorus and Orchestra Diego Fasolis (Orfeo C179891A) Pier Giorgio Morandi (Dynamic CDS7803.03) 2 Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756–1791) 16 Gioachino ROSSINI (8.553543) Le nozze di Figaro 2:48 11 Pyotr Il’yich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840–1893) Semiramide (1823) 5:30 (‘The Marriage of Figaro’) (1786) 7 Camille SAINT-SAËNS (1835–1921) Pique Dame (‘The Queen of Spades’) (1890) 3:26 Act I – Ah! Quel giorno ognor rammento (Arsace) Act II, Scene 2 – Voi, che sapete che Samson et Dalila 5:40 Act I, Scene 2 – Podrugi milïe Ewa Podle , Contralto cosa e amor (Cherubino) (‘Samson and Delilah’) (1877) (Подруги милые) (Polina) Hungarian State Orchestra Michelle Breedt, Mezzo-soprano Act II – Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix (Dalila) Ludmila Shemchuk, Mezzo-soprano Pier Giorgio Morandi (8.553543) Nicolaus Esterházy Sinfonia • Michael Halász Marjana Lipovšek, Mezzo-soprano Bavarian State Orchestra • Algis Zhuraitis 17 Richard WAGNER (1813–1883) (8.660102-04) Munich Radio Orchestra • Giuseppe Patanè (Orfeo C811112I) Siegfried (1876) 3:06 (Orfeo C179891A) 3 Gioachino ROSSINI (1792–1868) 12 Gaetano DONIZETTI Act III, Scene 1 – Mein Schlaf ist Träumen (Erda) La Cenerentola (‘Cinderella’) (1817) 3:20 8 Gaetano DONIZETTI (1797–1848) La favorite (‘The Favourite’) (1840) 6:37 Deborah Humble, Mezzo-soprano Act II, Scene 3 – Non più mesta…(Cenerentola) Lucrezia Borgia (1833) 1:35 Act III – O mio Fernando (Léonor de Guzman) Matthias Goerne, Bass-baritone Ewa Podle , Contralto Act II – Il segreto per esser felice (Orsini) Agnes Baltsa, Mezzo-soprano Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra Hungarian State Opera Chorus and Orchestra Nidia Palacios, Mezzo-soprano Munich Radio Orchestra • Heinz Wallberg Jaap van Zweden (8.660413-16) Pier Giorgio Morandi (8.553543) Orchestra and Chorus of the Bergamo (Orfeo C171881A) 18 Giuseppe VERDI Musica Festival ‘Gaetano Donizetti’ 4 Giuseppe VERDI (1813–1901) 13 Giuseppe VERDI Un ballo in maschera 3:40 Tiziano Severini Macbeth (1847, revised 1865) 4:00 Aida (1871) 3:55 (‘A Masked Ball’) (1859) (8.660257-58) Act II – La luce langue (Lady Macbeth) Act IV – L’aborrita rivale a me sfuggia (Amneris) Act I, Scene 2 – Re dell’abisso affrettati (Ulrica) Agnes Baltsa, Mezzo-soprano 9 Gioachino ROSSINI Barbara Dever, Mezzo-soprano Ludmila Shemchuk, Mezzo-soprano Munich Radio Orchestra • Heinz Wallberg Il barbiere di Siviglia 5:53 National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland Vienna State Opera Chorus and Orchestra (Orfeo C171881A) (‘The Barber of Seville’) (1816) Rico Saccani (8.660033-34) Claudio Abbado (Orfeo C907162I) Act I, Scene 2 – Una voce poco fa (Rosina) 5 Christoph Willibald GLUCK (1714–1787) 14 Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART 19 Georges BIZET Orfeo ed Euridice (‘Orpheus and Eurydice’) 4:06 Sonia Ganassi, Mezzo-soprano La clemenza di Tito 6:40 Carmen (1875) 2:57 (1762, revised 1774) Failoni Chamber Orchestra (‘The Clemency of Titus’) (1791) Act I – Habañera: L’Amour est un Act III, Scene 1 – Che farò senza Euridice? (Orfeo) Will Humburg (8.553436) Act I, Scene 9 – Parto, ma tu ben mio (Sesto) oiseau rebelle (Carmen) Marjana Lipovšek, Mezzo-soprano Tatiana Troyanos, Mezzo-soprano Marjana Lipovšek, Mezzo-soprano Munich Radio Orchestra • Giuseppe Patanè Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra • James Levine Munich Radio Orchestra • Giuseppe Patanè (Orfeo C179891A) (Orfeo C938172I) (Orfeo C179891A) Total Timing: 78:32 8.578189 2 3 8.578189 Best loved opera arias for and this opened the way for more experimental The Mezzo-soprano and Contralto Voice Mezzo-soprano and Contralto works, such as Le nozze di Figaro of The term mezzo-soprano (literally ‘half 1786 2 , with its innovative use of ensembles soprano’) now denotes a low female voice. Introduction characters. Hey presto! – they’d stumbled upon and emotional variety. Soprano denotes a high voice. ‘Parto, parto’ (‘I’m leaving, I’m leaving’) sings opera: drama told through music. In the early 19th century, this in turn That’s the simple way of putting it. Sesto 14 . But he doesn’t leave. In fact, it takes It quickly took off. The wrenching pathos, developed into a new style called bel canto Unfortunately there are plenty of contradictory, him six more minutes of parto-parto-ing before the opportunities for comedy, the grandeur of (literally ‘beautiful singing’) which emphasised overlapping, and confusing sub-categories too. he finally heads off. great music combined with powerful stories… singers’ virtuosity in long-held phrases and The term mezzo-soprano first appeared in If you want reasons why people don’t like Opera was about real emotions, and real brilliantly sparkling fast passages 3 6 8 9 print only around 1750, but its meaning was opera, this aria provides several. It’s implausible. situations, but heightened to a point of sublimity. 12 16 . Verdi pushed this style towards grand vague until well after 1800. Until that time, The words are endlessly repeated. A female As with all art forms, conventions soon opera, which involved bigger crowd-scenes composers didn’t write for a ‘type’ of voice, singer pretends to be a man. No wonder that arose. Songs for individual characters became and epic backdrops. 4 13 18 . Wagner 17 , but for an individual singer. If she happened to Dr Johnson, the great English lexicographer, known as arias. Quick-paced dialogue, in a uniquely, used complex recurring melodies have a low or high voice, that was simply her defined opera asexotic and irrational. less melodic style, was called recitative. An and symbolic characters to create a style all nature. All women were sopranos. He wasn’t wrong. But here’s the thing. opera might have some duets, or trios, or a his own. Opera had another flowering in the When operas started to become repertoire Although opera is not realistic, it is real. Sesto’s chorus. The accompanying orchestra began to late 19th-century verismo style, which exploited items in about 1800, and were presented and aria is one of the most beautiful expressions of grow too. sexually heightened conflicts, before it headed revived in different cities with new singers indecision, doubt and conflicted desire you’ll Certain musical forms began to dominate into several different modern pathways, some over and over again, the categories of roles ever hear. He stays because he’s torn. No, the art form. In the Baroque period (early 18th more successful than others, in the 20th and and voice types became more defined. The it wouldn’t be plausible in real life. Yes, he century) operas mostly fell into the category 21st centuries. Germans, being excellent taxonomists, gave us repeats himself. But if you can find more artistic of opera seria: Orlando furioso 10 is a good If you’re wondering why this history has the word for such a category: Fach. truthfulness anywhere else, I’ll eat my hat. example. The distinguishing feature of an opera only covered Italian opera – partly, it’s because There are several Fachs within the mezzo Opera offers truths which are otherwise seria is a type of aria which always repeats its the Italians were on the scene first and so category. A coloratura mezzo is suited to inexpressible. opening section after a contrasting interlude. controlled the field. But it is also because the virtuosic displays of speed in Baroque and bel This is known as a da capo aria (or a ‘go back Italian language, with its open vowels and easy canto works; a lyric mezzo can usually be found A History of Opera to the beginning aria’). consonants, is a wonderfully straightforward in roles which do not demand too much volume For an art form which has had such a At this stage, it was the singers – not language to sing. All other national schools – the works of Gluck and Mozart provide good profound impact on global culture, opera has composers, not librettists, not producers – of opera – including French 1 19 , Russian 11 , examples; a dramatic mezzo has the stamina a surprisingly short history. It was invented in who were the most important people of the German, and English – have thus defined to tackle the decibel-heavy roles of Verdi; and about 1600 in Italy. A group of academics, opera world, and sometimes they demanded themselves in a pro or contra relationship with the very lowest female voice is usually called a hoping to recreate the chanted speech of ridiculous changes in storytelling merely to suit the globally dominant Italian product. contralto or alto – Wagner’s Erda is often taken ancient Greek theatre, developed a method their egos. In 1762 Gluck tried to reform opera by such a singer. As already stated, these terms of giving sung notes to the words of dramatic back to purer principles in Orfeo ed Euridice 5 , overlap, and are often used vaguely. 8.578189 4 5 8.578189 It’s necessary to highlight one more is an adolescent page-boy in the service of 4 La luce langue (‘The light diminishes’) mezzo sang it for the first time in 1859, she peculiarity of the mezzo repertoire, which is Countess Almaviva.