Reviews: Mozart's Opera's: A Companion by Mary Hunter

[rosemaryinwheat]

Mozart's Opera's: A Companion by Mary Hunter

Published in 2008
ISBN: 978-0-300-11833-9

Rating: Liked it (4/5)
A reporter for the Vienna Realzeitung noted that the first performance [of Le nozze di Figaro] was not as good as it could have been due to the unusual difficulty of the music, that the less-musically-educated majority of the audience was

Comments

[17catherines]

Well, I'm allegedly a mezzo soprano and I've been singing low alto for years (though not operatically, of course). I'm told the distinction tends to be age-related more than anything else - nobody will admit to being a contralto until they hit 40, because the parts are less flattering (I kind of like them, though).

A lot of it is about training - particularly if your voice is in the middle range, it can be fairly flexible what part you end up singing, and it depends how you develop it and what range you are accustomed to singing in. I don't know the part of Rosina at all well (I've heard the first half of Barbiere once and the second half not at all), but I vaguely recall noticing that she is listed both as 'Mezzo' and as 'Contralto' in different parts of the program of the CD I have, which would suggest that she is a lowish mezzo part anyway. She sounded pretty high for a Contralto, at any rate. I think Geneviève could manage it - perhaps she wouldn't have as much power in her lower register as someone who is accustomed to singing contralto, but if she's well trained and keeps all of her voice in practice, it mightn't be noticeable, and her upper register would make up for it.

Also, of course, in the solo parts, they could probably transpose the arias for her, if she wasn't comfortable singing in the original key. I have a feeling this is not so uncommon.

Hope this helps? I'm not really very educated about this, but I can ask shadow5_tails to confirm my theories when I see her tomorrow.

[rosemaryinwheat]

Very helpful, thank you!

It's interesting to hear about the way contraltos were cast, since Rosina seems a suitably appealing role, but perhaps a soprano would sound odd among all the male characters.

I'm annoyed to find that Paisiello is not in my Ginormous Book on Opera, nor are there any recordings on file at the library, but I've found a production of Barbiere that I can buy on DVD. (yay!)

Edit: I should have known I could count on the university library. They have recordings and even a score. (Might still get that DVD, though. I love to watch opera rather than just listen to it; I'm the same about reading vs. watching Shakespeare's plays.)

[17catherines]

OK, checked with shadow (who actually studied opera / voice, and thus knows what she is talking about, unlike me), and she confirmed what I've written above, as well as my suspicion that Rosina is in fact a mezzo role, not a contralto one, so Geneviève would have no trouble whatsoever with it...

[rosemaryinwheat]

Kept meaning to get back and thank you for this.

Thank you.

I'm now thinking Rosina might be a regular role for Geneviève, though one she doesn't like and avoids whenever she can manipulate things that way. (Genny's far more fond of her breeches parts than of female roles).

I'm still playing around with exactly what voices are in the company proper and which minor roles they farm out to local singers when they are available. Once I have Genny's (and Anna's) roles in mind in a general way, I can "cast" the rest of the company and the repertoire.

[17catherines]

Not a problem!

I think she'd have great fun with some of the bloodthirsty trouser roles in Handel's Julius Caesar, but then I'm a bit biased in favour of bloodthirsty baroque (and there's a great one in Deborah about floating the plains with slaughter, too, in case you really want some nice, evil words).

[rosemaryinwheat]

Hmm...Julius Caesar might present some interesting themes for Geneviève. Will consider.

Thank you again. :)