And I am telling you I am not belting
“Since the 1918 premiere of Puccini’s Il Trittico, only two divas at the Met dared to sing the leading roles in all three of its one-act operas: Renata Scotto, a supreme vocal stylist, and Teresa Stratas, a magnetic singing actress. On Friday, Patricia Racette, who is not quite either of these things, took the plunge.” [NY Post]
Scotto’s breaths are actually okay. This is Puccini so the soprano can get away with more than a few audible breaths. This isn’t bel canto where you’re supposed to fool the audience into believing that you can sing all those long phrases without ever breathing.
When I heard the reference to Dreamgirls a tingle ran up my spine. Belt baby belt!
AND I’M genuinely curious as to what paper you would condider “suitable” for JJ to write for. It doesn’t matter what publication he writes for: when you read one of his reviews, you are entering the No Spin Zone.
Truly perfection Tamerlano. It is amazing how much divas drag this poor little ditty. What an artist. I wish Battle had taken her career as a blueprint for hers. Maybe she wouldn’t have been so neurastenic.
Absolutely lovely. I like this aria approached in a conversational way, without lingering on high notes and streching and pulling the melody. VdL also takes the same approach to the aria.
Cruz–Is “acting” something different from “singing”? Do extramusical effects equal “acting”? I’m confused by what you mean here.
Sayao was a great heroine of my youth and in my early learning about opera; in person she was ravishing. Many years later I was invited by a friend to escort Bidu to a gala at the Met – what an experience! She retained her vivacity and humor and sparkle into very old age. Some people just have it.
She was a stylistic paragon, and I love the anecdote that when taken to the studio of Jean de Reszke, he said, “her vocal emission is so perfect I have nothing to teach her!” To hear Bidu and Steber sing together the Letter Duet from Marriage of Figaro was one of life’s great experiences!
To be fair to Scotto, there’s a BIG difference between singing O Mio Babino Caro in a recital and after getting through Il Tabarro and Suor Angelica. Giorgetta and Angelica may be one-act roles but they are tough. I went over the Angelica score recently and was reminded of what heavy singing it calls for. Can’t imagine how Sills could handle it.
Didn’t Sills only tackle it once? In the recording I have what she lacks in weight, she more than makes up for in poignancy. That, I think, was Sills’ secret weapon when tackling the repertory that was traditionally “too heavy” for her voice. She was a master at projecting vulnerability.
Since quoth the maven asked: I do think that acting isn’t the same as singing. A great opera singer will integrate the two into a performance, in my opinion. I’m sure many of us have seen or heard singers who have simply sung all the notes, followed the musical lines, putting little emotion into the song or aria or character. And as noted by others elsewhere in this thread, the demands of a recital performance are not always the same as those of a staged opera. But I’m sure that these points are not the things that confuse you.
So, “extramusical effects”: yes, I think that extramusical effects are necessary to create a fully formed character on the stage. You ask if I think “extramusical effects equal ‘acting’.” No, I wouldn’t say “equal,” but instead “a part of.” By many accounts, Racette wasn’t successful in the later sections of Suor Angelica and most of Gianni Schicchi. I listened to the Sirius broadcast and even I could tell that she’d given a better performance when I saw her in SF. Her sobs were too broad, the end of “Senza mamma” got away from her, and her two instances of collapsing to the ground, even if they are in the score’s stage directions, were unsubtle (here, I rely on newspaper accounts of the night).
I do believe that successful acting can come through a sound recording. I’ve no doubt that we all have examples we can cite in our collections. From my own collection, Cotrubas in Traviata, Callas and Gobbi in Tosca , Callas in Lucia, and Neblett in Fanciulla.
My understanding is that Sills only sang it once because she had the night before the opening discovered that her son was irrecoverably retarded and would need to be institutionalized and that, during the performance of SUOR ANGELICA, she became emotionally overwhelmed. She was therefore unwilling to sing it again. I really dont think she used the excuse of it beeing too heavy for her. BTW listen to the tape, she does sound out of control at the end of Suor Angelica. . .alas so does the chorus (in a different way).
No Expert! How was the Romeo et Juliette on Sunday?
And what extramusical effects does Callas employ in Lucia–or for that matter, in the de Sabata Tosca?
quoth: Maybe it is I who is confused about what you mean by extramusical effects. From Tosca, I would include growls and gasps. Or would you file those under “musical effects”?
I don’t have the Lucia with me at the moment and would like to re-listen to it before giving specific examples.
Ok, without the recording at hand, I can’t recall where Callas’s “grunts and growls” occur on the first Tosca recording. Can you point me in the right direction?
I’m quite sure that she did not employ “grunts and growls” in the first Lucia recording, but then again I am willing to be corrected. Assuming she does not, does this mean that she failed to create “a fully formed character”? Or if I am indeed wrong, does she create “a fully formed character” in those moments in which she grunts and growls, while falling short of that goal elsewhere?
maven, I’m getting the feeling that you are focusing on just one part of what I wrote. I didn’t say that “grunts and growls” MADE a fully-rounded character. I said — or tried to say — that they, LIKE other extramusical touches, can be a part of a fully-rounded character. I didn’t say that a performance without grunt & growls was less than fully realized.
As far as Racette trying to “do something expressive with the note” at the end of ‘Senza Mamma’, to my ears, all she did was try and relax so it would float and she could taper it off. We’ve heard sopranos do this dozens of times, some times successfully, some times not. I don’t think “float” is something that comes easily for Racette. Sills was known for her gorgeous, easily floated high notes, but when she went into heavier roles beyond her natural endowment she eventually lost it.
I remember an interview (I think it was Leona Mitchell, but I’m not positive) where the soprano said something like, well first I learn the music and then before we get on stage I put the acting in. Now, I’m sure there are many different processes for singers preparing a role, but for me, in the best performances, you can’t separate the acting from the singing; it would be like tearing flesh from bone…they should be one.
Graciella–That’s exactly my point in the first place. I’m still reeling from that moronic New Yorker profile of Dessay where she said words to the effect of “It’s harder to sing when you’re acting”–in that case, using “acting” to refer to movement, as if that were inherently more expressive, and more of a contribution to building a character, than, um, singing.
Cruz–You did indeed say “yes, I think that extramusical effects are necessary to create a fully formed character on the stage.” Not “can be part of” but “necessary.” There’s a difference. In my own opinion, there can be a role for such things in operatic characterization. (I wouldn’t want to do without Leonie’s Sieglinde scream.) But too often, they’re used to signify “acting,” when in fact the harder work is to make the musical line express character and emotion.
And yes, like you I have heard singers “who have simply sung all the notes, followed the musical lines, putting little emotion into the song or aria or character.” Those are bad singers.
Thank you, maven, for reminding me of the words I used. Let me correct my statement: in my opinion, extramusical effects are a necessary PART of creating a fully realized character on the stage. I do not define “extramusical effects” as being limited to grunts, growls, gasps, and sobs.
I’m with #6(Baritenor). Patricia Racette is a breath of fresh air in the opera world. Her voice is lovely, her commitment to her roles is superb, and the lady herself is a charmer. I give thanks for her.
I am struck by how similar the voices of Stephanie Blythe and Marilyn Horne are. Uncanny!
Of course the SCHICCHI ditty is best heard from the lips of its creatrix, Yorkshire lass Florence Easton.
What always gets me about this clip is how insanely MUSICAL she is…People always talk about how Callas was the epitome of musicality, but I dare say Sayao trumps her. She truly phrases like a great violinist, and her breath control is astonishing. I am not sure I have ever heard this aria sung with such a sense of the music’s delicate architecture. Add to that the lovely silvery tone and personal charm and you have a remarkably potent package.
Oh Vicar, you are now really letting down your principles. The Commonwealth singer Joan Hammond’s 78rpm version of that Puccini ditty ‘Oh my beloved Daddy’ sold zquillons of copies over the decades. As a kid I laughed when women mentioned it as one of their favorites/ at the same time – misinterpreting its intended meaning in the opera . They thought it represented something truly ‘devotional’. I cannot stand the bloody thing!!!!!!!!!!
And in English, of course, eh Vic?
Keep ‘em coming!
Dear Harry, dear dear Harry: Try hearing it in
Italian!!!
And if Sayao (above) does not sell you — well,
something is wrong!
for maven: what I hear as extramusical effects in Callas/de Sabata Tosca:
Act II : Track 8: 1:44 before Tosca repeats “Ah, non posso più”. Audible and inelegant breath suggesting desperation.
Act II : Track 13 “Vissi d’arte” : 2:51 to end, sobbing breaths
Act III : Track 21 “E lucevan le stelle” at 2:25 where Cavaradossi sings “…mai tanto la vita,” his voice nearly breaks with emotion
Act III : Track 24 “Senti, l’ora è vicina” at 0:18 where Tosca laughs while singing “prima sarai fucilato”
There were certainly fewer instances than I remembered, but surely you won’t beat me up over a faulty memory.
I might be the only one who still cares about this thread, so let me finish it by saying this: after thinking more about the issue of extramusical effects, I realize that I overstated their importance even to me. I realize that while they may have a place in some operas, for some characters, and some styles (e.g., verismo), I think they are certainly not always necessary to create a fully-fledged character nor are they even appropriate in major sections of the repertory (e.g., classical and bel canto era works).
I still think that acting isn’t the same as singing, and that, for me, the great opera singers integrate acting into their performances.
Because they asked him to.
Do you realize there are virtually no venues left, few daily papers, no magazines, that offer an opportunity for serious music reportage and criticism?
I am glad he’s writing for the Post, and
esp. glad they are still covering the Met.
Cruz@5.2.17…
If acting doesn’t come through the music then what are the words for? Peter Mattei in an intermission interview last night on Sirius said that you get into trouble if you try and separate them. Perhaps it’s just a semantic thing and by “acting” you mean movement, which is certainly a part of it. Racette, by the way was in much better voice last night.
I think it might be a semantics issue, my continual (over-)explaining. I agree with you and Peter Mattei that separating the two will take an artist into trouble. I think I’ve been saying this all along — if not, I’ve been trying to say this: that acting & singing must be integrated into a performance. Not singing without acting. Not prioritizing acting over singing. The two together.
I listened to “Il Tabarro” and “Suor Angelica” last night, and listened very closely to Senza mamma. Racette was in much better control of her voice last night than last week. There was no hint of cracking while I listened and I thought her tone was smooth and lush.
Acting/Singing
Acting with the voice is, imo, is much, much more important than doing a lot of carrying on and running around the stage. Vocal acting is accomplished through the phrasing, vocal color variations, use of dynamics and the articulation the text in a meaningful way. Grunts, groans, breathiness, etc. are also part of the process, but should be used sparingly for the best effect–and depending on the style of the music.
Callas could just stand in one spot and project tons of the drama and emotion—through the voice alone.
Moving around the stage, rolling around on the floor and other silly distractions as Dessay, Trebs and others now do (and it call acting) are not successful, imo, unless the emotion comes across mainly through the singing.
For example, Voigt tried that stuff in the LOC Salome, and it was just kinda amusing at best.