A COUNTERTENOR’S REFERENCE GUIDE TO OPERATIC REPERTOIRE Brad Morris A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF MUSIC May 2019 Committee: Christopher Scholl, Advisor Kevin Bylsma Eftychia Papanikolaou © 2019 Brad Morris All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Christopher Scholl, Advisor There are few resources available for countertenors to find operatic repertoire. The purpose of the thesis is to provide an operatic repertoire guide for countertenors, and teachers with countertenors as students. Arias were selected based on the premise that the original singer was a castrato, the original singer was a countertenor, or the role is commonly performed by countertenors of today. Information about the composer, information about the opera, and the pedagogical significance of each aria is listed within each section. Study sheets are provided after each aria to list additional resources for countertenors and teachers with countertenors as students. It is the goal that any countertenor or male soprano can find usable repertoire in this guide. iv I dedicate this thesis to all of the music educators who encouraged me on my countertenor journey and who pushed me to find my own path in this field. v PREFACE One of the hardships while working on my Master of Music degree was determining the lack of resources available to countertenors. While there are opera repertoire books for sopranos, mezzo-sopranos, tenors, baritones, and basses, none is readily available for countertenors. Although there are online resources, it requires a great deal of research to verify the validity of those sources. There is also a false perception that countertenors can only pull operatic repertoire from Purcell, Handel, and Britten. This idea is perpetuated for a few reasons. Since being a countertenor requires a conscious exploration of the voice, not many students continue their study as a countertenor long enough to fully explore the repertoire available. When students begin countertenor training, teachers are likely to give them repertoire from Purcell and Handel because they are commonly performed composers for countertenors. Handel wrote certain opera seria roles for specific castrato singers. Today these roles are performed by countertenors. Countertenors may be pointed to Britten because A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a famous, and widely performed, opera featuring a countertenor lead. Countertenors that do not continue their training miss the opportunity to delve into other possibilities in opera. This prevents teachers from also exploring the repertoire available because few teachers have had the opportunity to teach countertenors. After struggling to find specific music resources on countertenors in the library, I found myself reading books on the castrati and the Baroque. This led me to learn about repertoire I was unaware existed. I read more about the use of castrati in the operas of Handel, Gluck, and Mozart. This is where I discovered my love for Mitridate, rè di Ponto. The more I read, the more I realized how much of a disservice it is to countertenors and teachers of countertenors to lack easy access to this repertoire. Therefore, the decision was made to compile a repertoire guide that could be used by countertenors and male sopranos at varying levels. vi Along with scouring the internet for books, using my university library and materials from other colleges and universities, I searched through every vocal score available to me to see what a countertenor could sing. This is how I came upon the works of Cavalli, Haydn, Henze, Weir, Davies, Dove, and Long. I discovered the works of Garner through Soundcloud and had the pleasure of emailing him about his use of countertenors in his operas. Going through vocal scores took an enormous amount of time because I wanted to provide a list of “extended study” pieces with each chosen aria. This meant searching through the scores of multiple operas by the same composer to find useable repertoire. I searched through seventy-three opera scores to find potential repertoire. Once I selected arias I wanted to include in this guide, I provided brief introductions about the composer and the piece that could guide a countertenor into selecting appropriate repertoire. I also provided a study sheet with basic information about each aria that could be given to a student. The ultimate goal of this thesis is that any countertenor may select a countertenor aria from this guide and have basic but useful information about each. This project is the culmination of my own research into repertory that I want to learn and sing. Before undertaking this research, I was a countertenor seeking to perform opera with little knowledge of the repertoire available. Obviously, this list will continue to grow as I continue my research and additional repertory becomes available. For now, this guide has helped me to discover opera arias I am eager to sing and repertoire I can recommend to my students in the future. My hope is that others may benefit from this work as well. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. “DELIZIE CONTENTE” BY FRANCESCO CAVALLI ............................. 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 “Delizie contente” ..................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER II. “OUR NEXT MOTION” BY HENRY PURCELL ...................................... 3 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 3 The Sorceress Debate ................................................................................................ 3 “Our Next Motion” .................................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER III. “OMBRA MAI FU” BY GEORGE F. HANDEL ....................................... 7 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 7 The Popularity of “Ombra mai fu” ........................................................................... 7 The Music ............................................................................................................ 8 CHAPTER IV. “SULLA RUOTA DI FORTUNA” BY GEORGE F. HANDEL ............... 11 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 11 “Sulla ruota di fortuna” .............................................................................................. 11 CHAPTER V. “QUAL SERPE TORTUOSA” BY ANTONIO VIVALDI ......................... 14 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 14 “Qual serpe tortuosa” ................................................................................................. 14 CHAPTER VI. “J’AI PERDU MON EURYDICE” BY CHRISTOPH W. GLUCK .......... 17 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 17 “J’ai perdu mon Eurydice”......................................................................................... 17 viii CHAPTER VII. “QUALCHE VOLTA NON FA MALE” BY JOSEPH HAYDN ............. 20 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 20 “Qualche volta non fa male” ...................................................................................... 20 CHAPTER VIII. “AL MIO BEN MI VEGGIO AVANTI” BY WOLFGANG A. MOZART 22 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 22 “Al mio ben mi veggio avanti” .................................................................................. 22 CHAPTER IX. “VA, L’ERROR MIO PALESA” BY WOLFGANG A. MOZART .......... 24 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 24 “Va, l’error mio palesa” ............................................................................................. 24 CHAPTER X. “FLOWER OF THIS PURPLE DYE” BY BENJAMIN BRITTEN ............ 27 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 27 “Flower of this Purple Dye” ...................................................................................... 27 CHAPTER XI. HONORABLE MENTIONS ....................................................................... 30 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 30 Hans Werner Henze (1926-2012) .............................................................................. 30 Peter Maxwell Davies (1934-2016) ........................................................................... 31 Zhou Long (b. 1953) .................................................................................................. 31 Phillip Glass (b. 1937) ............................................................................................... 32 Jonathan Dove (b. 1959) ............................................................................................ 33 Judith Weir (b. 1954) ................................................................................................. 33 James Garner