#tbt
MAN singers singing
#tbt is going to rock your whole world. #tbt is going to change your
life. #tbt will make you laugh, cry, maybe even make you emoji
grimace ( ). #tbt is going to mean you get to watch YouTube at
school.
Every #tbt, we will listen to two (2) singers. One (1) of the two (2)
singers will be that week’s officially designated “throwback voice.”
And they will also be dead. We’re not throwing back to last week
here, or like when you were nine (9), the #tbt voice is truly a dead
person. Every dead person is paired with a live person. The second
singer will be someone who is famous today. Aka your competition,
since you are also a singer. Don’t think you’re a singer? Shut up,
what do you know, you’re a kid.
Week 1
Baritone Leonard Warren #tbt
"Cortigiani, vil razza dannata" from Verdi's Rigoletto
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAhai80yaek
Suggested Play Time: 0:40-1:45
Tenor Lawrence Brownlee #alive
"Si ritrovarla io giuro" from Rossini's La Cenerentola
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rdz6yVm2IJs
Suggested Play Time: 0:00-1:54
So this dude Leonard Warren was singing on the Metropolitan Opera
stage in NYC in 1960, when he was 48 years old – he sings this song
called Morir, tremenda cosa (To die, a momentous thing!). Instead
of going on after that part of the song, he FELL DOWN ON HIS FACE
DEAD. ON STAGE. He had a huge brain hemorrhage right after
singing that song oops. #yodo No that is not today’s video, there’s
no video of it, shut up about it. So anyway, in today’s clip Leonard
Warren is playing this hunchback jester dude who works for an
extremely skeezy Duke. The Duke likes to kidnap young women
whenever he feels like it. The jester even made fun of the dad of one
girl, when dad stormed into the castle for a throw down. The CRAZY
secret is: the JESTER has a beautiful daughter he never told his boss
about, because duh. So the Duke meets the daughter at church, and
not knowing she’s the jester’s kid, kidnaps her. During this clip, the
jester storms the castle just like that other dad. #irony
Lawrence Brownlee is one of the most rockin & super high tenors
singing today. The technical name for his kind of tenor is leggiero
tenor (light tenor in Italian). Basically it’s like, “I’m gonna melt your
face off with my crazy high notes.” Then he does. Leggiergo tenors
can also sing super fast, so it’s usually fun to watch them perform.
Larry’s playing Prince Charming in the opera Cenerentola (Cinderella
– yes it’s an opera.) (No, there aren’t mice.). He’s singing about how
he’s definitely going to find Cinderella. To express this sentiment,
he’s going to sing some HIGH C’S! A tenor high C (one octave above
middle C) is pretty much the Holy Grail of the male singing voice. If
you have a great high C, you should probably become a famous
opera singer and GET PAID SON.
Here’s how #tbt works from now on:
1.
2.
3.
Some words are on the screen.
You read those words on the screen.
You flash a “thumbs-up” when you are done reading the
4.
5.
words on the screen.
Then we switch from the words on the screen to YouTube.
Your world is completely rocked, life changed, laughter, ,
etc.
As Mario would say, “HERE WE GO!!!!!”
Week 2
Baritone Mariusz Kwiecień #alive
"Onegin's Aria" from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccGKhjEOEuE
Suggested Play Time: 0:00-1:53?
Tenor Enrico Caruso #tbt
"Vesti la giubba" - Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp3Vi1CspgE
Suggested Play Time: 0:43-2:21
Baritone Mariusz Kwiecień is Polish and therefore has an awesome
and intimidating name. Take a moment and try to pronounce it out
loud… Yea, that was definitely wrong, but good try #notreally. He
is playing this super handsome rich sort of nobleman from Russia.
The young neighbor girl has just confessed her love to him, but he’s
like “Yea… that’s cute and all, but I’m pretty great.” It’s the ultimate
let’s just be friends moment in opera. (At the end of the story
though, she marries this super rich guy, gets all hot, and then Onegin
is all like “actually let’s date” and she’s like “you shoulda thought of
that before, asshat” and it’s awesome. #paybacks.) Also, Russian is
a totally sweet language. (
)
Enrico Caruso is considered by many to be the greatest tenor of all
time; he was an international superstar singer. He’s singing the
famous Sad Clown aria (uh, not the real title). Sad Clown is married
to another clown in his traveling troupe. But Sad Clown’s a total jerk
to her, and she falls in love with a townsman. Sad Clown finds out
that she’s cheating and decides to wait to kill her until he can find
out the name of her lover. #AngryClown #terrifyingbutpractical
During one of their shows, Angry Clown goes at his wife w/ a knife,
but the audience thinks it’s a hilarious part of the show. The lover
calls out in panic, knowing it’s not a joke, allowing Angry Clown to
kill his wife since he found out who the lover is. He then turns to the
lover and screams, “It’s you?!? WELCOME!” and stabs him too. Then
Sad/Angry clown yells at the actual opera audience “LA COMMEDIA
E FINITA!!” or “THE PLAY IS OVER!!!” Aaaaand curtain.
#operaplotsarecute (
)
Week 3
Baritone Titta Ruffo #tbt
"Di provenza il mar" from Verdi's La Traviata
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7cm_IhImRM
Suggested Play Time: 1:25-2:55
Tenor Bryan Hymel #alive
"Inutiles regrets" from Berlioz's Les Troyens
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ctb3TNq3M7A
Suggested Play Time: 5:41-7:28 (lip quiver and all)
FYI baritones are forever playing the dad in operas.
So “La Traviata” means “The Fallen Woman” and is about a woman
of shall we say questionable morals. Violetta is an escort for rich
dudes in Paris, but she meets this young guy Alfredo and actually
falls in love for once. Titta Ruffo our #tbt voice of the day is playing
Alfredo’s dad. In this scene, the dad goes to Violetta and is like
“Listen, I know you actually love my kid, but you’re sort of slutty and
you’re making our family look bad.” He convinces her that if she
loves Alfredo, she’ll break up with him. Harsh. By the end of the
story, Alfredo finds out the breakup was his dad’s fault, and they are
happily reunited! Hooray! Except Violetta has TB by then, and she
dies. Whoops. Aaaaaand curtain. #toldyouoperaplotsarecute
(
) remember this thing? Remember how this works?
So this video clip has a cool backstory. Bryan Hymel was super
young for an opera singer – definitely on his way to famous, but not
a household name in the opera word. The Met (in NYC, the biggest
opera house in the country, one of the biggest in the world) was
doing the same opera Bryan had done about a year earlier, but with
a more famous tenor. Well, that more famous tenor backed out at
the LAST second, and Bryan Hymel got the call and kicked the
bejeezus out of this extremely challenging part. The audience went
nuts watching this young singer kick a$$, as you can see in this clip –
it’s hilarious if you watch his face during the applause. He just got a
serious man-challenge from this song, laid it all on the line with some
SANGIN, and the adrenaline is definitely showing during all that wild
applause!
(Try putting your thumbs up without ----->
.
Goooood. Congratulations. You’re very talented and smart.)
Week 4
Baritone Gerald Finley #alive
"Batter my heart" from John Adams' Dr. Atomic
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNP9Ayq-6qA
Suggested Play Time: 0:00-1:58
Tenor Beniamino Gigli #tbt
Title track from the 1935 movie he starred in: "Non ti scordar di me"
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tk3Eb_zx4o
Suggested Play Time: 1:59-3:17
So until now, you probably have the impression that opera is all
written in Italian, sometimes in Russian. Actually, opera exists (from
the 1600’s on) from a lot of different countries. There are now tons
of operas in German, French, and Russian, and some in Spanish,
Polish, Chinese, Finnish, and EVEN English! American composers
living right now are actually composing operas in AMURICN! Today’s
aria is composed by an American…
The baritone Gerald Finley is Canadian tho. But he’s singing in
American, now that’s talent. He is one of the really great singers of
today IMO. Here he is singing a modern story based on the scientists
who developed the atom bomb. His scientist character is not
surprisingly feeling a little conflicted about his research. This music
is gonna be a little strange, but cool too! Just like all of you. This
opera song is you.
Back in the day, opera used to be a lot more common in everyday
life. It was in the movie theaters and on TV – Johnny Carson had
opera singers on as well as the Beatles. Those TRULY were the good
old days. Especially since now all we have on TV is Nicki Minaj
twerking. (That’s not a talent, it’s just being a dumba$$ and getting
$$$,$$$$.$$ for it.) Anywaaaay, this is a clip from a classic black and
white movie starring an operatic tenor; old timey Hollywood is
fraaaaat. Despite Nicki’s best efforts, all hope for our society is not
completely lost – you can go to a movie theater now and see a live
“telecast” of an opera from the Met in NYC. It’s called the Met Live
in HD, and it’s super fun. Plus it is a highly impressive date – show
off your culture. So you get to the movie theater, get your popcorn
and candy, find a seat in between a bunch of OLD PEOPLE, and flaunt
your fancy new singing knowledge while the old people are like,
“Why are you even here?” #oldpeoplearejudgey #truth
Week 5
Bass Ezio Pinza #tbt
"Il Lacerato Spirito" from Verdi's Simon Boccanegra
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7cwjbO4zaM
Suggested Play Time: 2:37-4:07
Tenor Rolando Villazón #alive
"Pourquoi me réveiller" from Massenet's Werther
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZW5Xw-5YlU
Suggested Play Time: 0:35-1:50
Remember the Hollywood movie that had opera in it last time? This
Italian bass named Ezio Pinza pulled a sort of similar career move –
after he retired from opera, his fallback career was Broadway and
Hollywood movie star. #brokendreams #theminivanofcareermoves
The starring role of “South Pacific” (a really famous musical by
Rodgers and Hammerstein) was written specifically for him. Not too
shabby for an old retired guy. Just imagine if Adam Sandler tried to
retire from movies and become an opera singer.
NOPE
Rolando Villazon. Our #alive tenor is the most well-known master of
the art of the eyebrow. (Trust me, when you watch the clip that will
make perfect sense.) His character Werther is super in love with this
girl Charlotte who is engaged to a nice upstanding baritone, but
Werther the tenor can’t handle it bc he’s so in luuvvv <3<3<3<3
#wcw. Except he’s real serious about it, and gets suicidal when she
rejects him again. Now how’s this for a messed up turn of events:
he’s all suicidal, and he borrows Charlotte’s baritone fiancé’s pistols.
Charlotte realizes what he’s planning to do and races to his
apartment, but he’s already shot himself. She admits she loves him,
he dies, she faints, and then (get this) an offstage childrens’ chorus
starts singing a Christmas carol (??). Aaaaaand curtain. #wtf
#operaplotsarecute
Week 6
Baritone Greer Grimsley #alive
"Pietà, rispetto, amore" from Verdi's Macbeth
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI5oOYTHHZk
Suggested Play Time: 3:46-5:15
Tenor Fritz Wunderlich #tbt
"Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön" from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px0H0rD2L2E
Suggested Play Time: 2:47-4:00
Greer Grimsley is an American with an amazing name, and he also
has an amazing voice. You can tell a little bit from this video clip that
he is really good, and extremely loud! But you should hear it in
person to truly appreciate. Sitting in a Greer Grimsley performance,
he sings so fully that you can sometimes physically feel the sound
waves coming from his throat, not just hear them. Check out how
high he sings at the end of the clip selection too – he’s a baritone
with high notes!
Greer is not the only opera singer on this #tbt series that is cooler
when you hear them live. THEY ALL ARE. Every single #alive singer is
out there performing on a regular basis, and you could go hear them
sing live in an opera. It is so bizarre to sit in your comfy audience
chair and hear these people pump out all this sound with NO MICS!
Go see an opera! #electronicamplificationisforweaklings
Many think that tenor Fritz Wunderlich’s voice was the most
beautiful lyric tenor voice ever recorded. His life was filled with
tragedy though; at 35 he was already a star, but that year he died
from injuries incurred falling from a staircase at a friend’s vacation
house.
This clip is from Mozart’s trippiest opera “The Magic Flute”. The plot
consists of a battle scene with a huge serpent, this moron birdcatcher trying to find love, a crazy evil witch queen forcing her
daughter to commit murder, three ghost children who appear at
convenient times to give advice to the characters, and Tamino the
princely hero trying to rescue the daughter while being protected by
a flute. A magic flute. What the hell. At the end of it all, everything
works out (like the one time everything actually works out in an
opera).
Week 7
Baritone Sherrill Milnes #tbt
"Va, Tosca" from Puccini's Tosca
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eZLPU3mpBQ
Suggested Play Time: 0:58-4:11
Tenor Stephen Costello #alive
"Libiamo" (aka the Brindisi) from Verdi's La Traviata
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3cGgj7qmFE
Suggested Play Time: 10:25-11:12
In this opera, Scarpia is one bad dude: a corrupt police chief. In this
scene, he’s at church BUT is blasphemously saying gross things about
how hot the soprano Tosca is. Later he arrests her boyfriend Mario,
tortures him within earshot, then promises to release him if she will
sleep with him (uh, not cool). Tosca agrees to the deal, but after
Scarpia signs the get-out-of-jail-free card and he starts coming after
her, she’s like “um, no” and stabs him in the heart #girlpower. BUT
Scarpia double-crossed her already, and instructed his men to KILL
Mario, not get-him-out-of-jail-free, even before Scarpia knew he was
going to get stabbed in the heart! When Tosca realizes they actually
killed Mario, she commits suicide by jumping off the top of the jail.
Aaaand curtain. #clapornah? P.S. Anyone who thinks singing is just
for girls has never seen this clip. Just listen to the shit that goes
down at 2:51, 3:27, and then after the vocal cutoff.
#MAAAANSOOOOOOOUND
Tenor Stephen Costello is singing the ever-popular party anthem of
the opera world: the title of the song Libiamo means “Let’s drink.”
They sing that word a lot of times.
This is from that same opera “La Traviata” that we read about way
back in week 3, where Alfredo falls in love with the professional
escort and the dad is like “#sorrynotsorry you have to dump my
son”, and then they get back together but she dies of tuberculosis
right after. Remember that little skit? Well this party anthem is
from the beginning of the opera – it’s the first time Violetta gets her
flirt on with Alfredo. Opera sexy time. Fun fact, tenor Stephen
Costello singing Alfredo is actually real-life married to the soprano
who’s singing Violetta in this performance.
Week 8
Bass Lorenzo Ragazzo #alive
"Sorge infausta" from Handel's Orlando
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2zX8yE067Y
Suggested Play Time: 0:20-1:42
Tenor Jussi Björling #tbt
"Nessum Dorma" from Puccini's Turandot
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUbA5y1hnFg
Suggested Play Time: 2:30-3:15 ish
Dude, this bass sings so fast it’s ridiculous. What’s so cool about
Lorenzo Ragazzo, aside from his awesome Italian name, is that his
voice is super low but he can still go really fast. Typically higher
voices are better at it, but he’s figured fast out. Try to sing along, see
if you can go that fast! #spoileralert #youcant
Jussi Björling was a Swedish tenor, and is yet another one of those
voices that opera fans (nerds!) will throw into a conversation arguing
about the best tenors of all time. He is singing this song you may
have heard on America’s Got Talent, X Factor, America’s New
Favorite Person Who You’ll Forget About In Two Weeks, or the Live
Out Your Life In Simon Cowell’s Dungeon competition. The song is
called Nessun Dorma. Here’s the deal: if a singer is singing with a
mic stuck up to their face, they are not singing opera #sorrynotsorry.
Notable exceptions: when opera singers sing things like the Olympic
opening ceremonies or Superbowl (stadiums don’t have the best
acoustics), or sometimes mics are there to record the performance
but not artificially amplify the sound to the audience. EVERYONE
WHO SANG THIS ARIA ON THOSE TV SHOWS ARE POSERS. And
posers never win. Jussi Björling = definitely not a poser.
Week 9
Baritone Robert Merrill #tbt
"Ò vin, dissipe la tristesse" from Thomas' Hamlet
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ski23yJDyBw
Suggested Play Time: 2:00-3:14
Tenor Juan Diego Florez #alive
from Act I of Rossini's Le Comte Ory
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNtZGfoyOBY
Suggested Play Time: 0:00-1:42 (whole video)
Both of today’s opera clips are in French!! Oui oui, je suis tres
heureuse about that.
This YouTube clip was originally aired on TV, yet another example of
when TV didn’t have stupid crap on it like Nicki Minaj, Miley Cyrus,
and The Bachelor. So this aria is from an opera version of
Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Can’t lie, he’s singing about booze, and how
crappy his life is, and how booze helps him forget. *This message
not approved by the Student Government Association, your parents,
or Sesame Street.* Anyway, that strategy obviously doesn’t work
out in the end, as every major character in the opera is lying dead on
stage at the end. #sadtweet
Another one in French! Juan Diego sings here w/ Joyce DiDonato –
she is one of the world’s most beloved opera singers, and she is from
Prairie Village, KS!! She went to St. Ann’s Catholic School!! And now
she is a total international superstar. (It can happen!) So Joyce is
doing this traditional thing where a mezzo soprano plays a young
male character – often referred to as a “pants role”. Well this opera
has fun with that: Joyce’s character dresses up like a girl later in the
opera. (Girl dressed as boy dressed as girl.) Also Juan Diego dresses
up like a nun to try to win the heart of a Countess… what?! But this
is an opera comedy, so that tactic actually works in the end. Go
watch the whole opera (Le Comte Ory) to figure out how all this
crazy plot stuff works – it is actually really hilarious. The staging I
saw was frankly a little raunchy too (opera can be more than PG…),
but I was at one of those live broadcasts with all the old people, so I
was ROTFL’ing by myself. Awkward…
Week 10
Bass Baritone Eric Owens #alive
"Non più andrai" from Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgJmOa6yoVY
Suggested Play Time: 0:25-1:40
Tenor Aflredo Kraus #tbt
"Je Crois Entendre Encore" from Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3rVmE0Jubo
Suggested Play Time: 2:40-3:48
Bass baritone Eric Owens is a rockstar and can basically sing
anything. Here he is singing an opera aria by Mozart, one of the
most accessible opera composers for audiences and young students
of singing. His character is Figaro in the opera “Marriage of Figaro”.
Remember how last week there was that cross-dressing lady playing
a young male character? Same deal in this opera – Figaro is actually
singing to this young kid Cherubino (played by a mezzo), who is an
obnoxious little sh*+ who just got in trouble for flirting with pretty
much all the female characters in the opera, single or married (frat?).
He’s being sent off to the army, and Figaro is basically making fun of
him, saying that Cherubino will have a moustache, rifle, and helmet
instead of his fancy little lover-boy clothes. All made much more
hilarious by that fact that he’s played by a she. Opera so craazee.
Not everyone loves the voice of Aflredo Kraus. The voice is
considered lighter and brighter than many other famous tenors;
listen and see what you think. The story of this opera is dumb and
boring, even by opera standards. (In case you were wondering, that
means it’s extra dumb and extra boring.) Basically these two (2)
friends were both in love with the same girl, but both they swear to
give her up so they could stay friends (dumb). Of course, the tenor
(what a loser) breaks the pact. Tricky part is, the baritone is king of
ALL the pearlfishers, and he sentences them to death because he can
(power trip much?). There are 2 endings to this opera – half the time
he goes through with the sentencing and has them killed, the other
half he relents for no apparent reason. It’s like a Choose Your Own
Adventure book. If you don’t know what that is, please search all
the Google and purchase one, they’re awesome. Seriously, are you
all taking notes on this? Choose. Your. Own. Adventure.
Week 11
Baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau #tbt
"Der Erlkönig" by Franz Schubert
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3nxyS8wf8E
Suggested Play Time: 2:15-4:00
Tenor Roberto Alagna #alive
Final scene from Bizet's Carmen
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puQ85aLEc5w
Suggested Play Time: 0:00-2:05 (whole video)
#tbt focuses mostly on opera and opera singers. The throwback
baritone today is known more for his performances of German song
(in German = Lieder), written just for singer and piano, not orchestra.
“The Erlking” is about a boy and his father riding through the woods
on a horse. The baritone is singing 4 different characters, and he
uses slightly different voices for each! The son starts seeing things as
they’re riding home, and the father tries to calm his son down; all
the sudden the Erlking (think demon/Satan/boogey-man type) starts
singing and telling the boy to come with him. #creeper The first
voice you’ll hear is the Erlking, then the son freaking out, then the
father. A narrator voice comes in at the end. Pay attention to the
piano part – it is supposed to represent the sound of the horse’s
hooves! Check out what happens with that when the father/son
arrive home almost at the end of the song.
Okay, that last clip was messed up. Too bad it’s not gonna get any
better here.
Carmen is the most commonly performed opera, and is a great first
opera if you ever want to go to one. The sexy gypsy Carmen seduces
Don Jose, but warns him that she can’t be tamed. He falls in love
with her to the point of obsession. When she moves on to another
man (a fancy and famous Spanish bullfighter), Jose gets real creepy
and this scene happens. #stalkermuch This is the very end of the
opera, and as you will see is another example of #operaplotsarecute
and the way this one ends is especially messed up. Check out what
he does after all the singing is done, what a weirdo. Well, Happy
Thursday!!
Week 12
Baritone Russell Braun #alive
"Mab, la reine des mensonges" from Gounod's Roméo et Juliette
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llPvYE7D9Gc
Suggested Play Time: 2:18-2:38
Tenor Plácido Domingo #tbt, but sorry he’s not dead as of 2014
"Ah, sì ben mio" from Verdi's Il Trovatore
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUZP5Z5rTI4
Suggested Play Time: 6:45-7:51
(though if you play to the end, you get a cool men’s chorus!)
Romeo and Juliet is another Shakespeare play that has been turned
into an opera; all that drama makes for a pretty good opera actually.
Pretty much any story gets crazier if you throw some diva sopranos
in the mix. #sopranosbecrazy #igot99problemsandall99aresopranos
Juliette is a soprano in the opera version, which makes perfect sense,
because we all know Juliette is a drama queen. The baritone Russell
Braun is playing Mercutio, Romeo’s fun-loving crazy cousin. Here he
is making fun of Romeo about his new lady before anyone actually
knows that she is from the rival family. Yea, then Mercutio gets
killed. Like really early in the play too. #yodo
Bummer.
Plácido Domingo has had the kind of career that most musicians
simply dream about. He basically made his operatic debut at the age
of 20, got very famous pretty darn young, and has continued his
career to the age of 73 (so far). (Yea, normally the #tbt throwback
voices are actually dead, but this one is just really really old. Sorry
about it.) He just keeps on trucking, even still singing in operas. He’s
a famous tenor, but as he got old the high notes didn’t come as
easily, so he just switched to baritone and started stealing those
jobs, bc that’s just how good (selfish) he is. He has become well known
as a conductor and mentor to young singers as well (okay maybe less
selfish). Check out this clip of the dude in his prime though – all he
ever did was balls-to-the-wall sangin.
Week 13
Bass Jerome Hines #tbt
"Come dal ciel precipita" from Verdi's Macbeth
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZogahcPk4E
Suggested Play Time: 0:00-1:06
Tenor Jonas Kauffman #alive
Act I Scene III from Wagner's Die Walküre
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaBuZ42lTss
Suggested Play Time: 0:00-3:34
(yes, long, but SO WORTH IT, for realzzz)
Basses are pretty cool dudes, and true real basses don’t occur very
often. Human voice types fall on a bell curve, with most people
having medium-range voices, and fewer very high and very low
voices. Because of that, professional basses basically don’t have as
much competition. This combined with their chill low voices makes
them (stereotypically of course) the coolest, most laid-back singers in
the pro opera world. Today’s bass Jerome Hines was crazy tall too –
literally 6’6”. Then plus also he wrote his own opera about Jesus.
#operafactsyoushouldknow #operasabouttheLord #illegiblehashtags
Today’s clip is only the opening part to the actual song, called
recitative. Think the word “reciting” – the recitative parts of opera
are the chatty parts where the plot is usually moved forward,
contrasting the “aria” (Italian for “song”) where characters reflect on
how they feel about what happened. The arias are usually where
the cool and show-off singing stuff happens.
This one requires two pages. Order of business: read, thumbs up,
scroll, read again, thumbs up again, watch clip…
So Jonas Kauffman is literally who I want to be when I grow up; my
favorite tenor singing today. This opera is part of the “Ring cycle” –
an epic set of 4 operas that take like 17 hours to perform. The story
is sort of related to the same mythology as Lord of the Rings – it has
a gold ring that rules the world. Anyway in this part, the tenor gets
lost in the woods and is taken in by an old woodsman and his young
wife. The tenor flirts with the young wife in front of her husband,
and inexplicably the woodsman leaves them alone anyway. Then
the tenor and young wife figure out that they are LONG LOST
TWINS!!! Wtf, bc they weren’t they just flirting? Then he pulls the sword
out of the tree, as the prophecy foretold (just go with, don’t
question), and then the soprano sings “TAKE YOUR SISTER AS WIFE!”
and then they make out a lot. WWWHHHAAAAAAAAATTTTTTT?!?
The first time I saw this, I’m like whippin my hair back and forth
looking around at the old people in the audience bein’ like “Is no one
gonna SAY SOMETHING about this!?!?” Later in the opera, the gods
are pissed off about this whole scenario; but the reason they cite is
that she cheated on her old woodsman husband. Hmmm, no
mention of the incest??? Anyway, so the twins have this half-sister
Brünnhilde (yea that’s her name so what?) who defends their love to
the gods. So the gods punish Brünnhilde; she’s put in a semi-eternal
sleep in a ring of fire on top of a mountain (firey Sleeping Beauty
style) waiting for a hero to rescue her. Then the twins have a kid,
Siegfried. GUESS WHAT HERO RESCUES BRÜNNHILDE YEARS
LATER??? Her nephew Seigfried, and they’re in love. W. T. HELL.
This is opera folks. Okay back to today’s clip: despite this insane plot
that evidently no one thinks is weird, Jonas Kauffman is the man.
P.S. The soprano at 2:50 is my favorite stage direction of all time – I cracked up when I first saw it.
Week 14
Bass Andrea Silvestrelli #alive
"Oltre quel limite" from Verdi's Attila
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwdT8YSvvPs
Suggested Play Time: 6:00-7:15
Tenor Mario Lanza #tbt
A clip from the movie The Toast of New Orleans
Music from Puccini's Madama Butterfly
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxcSqKu0fFk
Suggested Play Time: 2:15-3:12 (4:19 or even 5:00 if there’s time!)
Our #alive voice of the day, Andrea Silvestrelli, is out there in the
world singing right now. If he is ever singing live near where you are,
you should seriously rush to get a ticket, trampling people down and
out of your way, overturning baby strollers, kicking puppies etc. If
you’re in my vicinity, good luck, I’ll probably punch you so I get the
better seat. He is one of the weirdest and coolest voices out there.
My friend did an opera with him and said that the hair you see in this
video is now even longer and is not a wig – he doesn’t use wigs on
stage. He also apparently smells a little funny, but his voice is just
incredible to hear. So I guess that balances things out. He is a true
bass with a dark sound. Also, he is singing the character of Attila the
Hun, who there is an actual opera about, and it is awesome.
Mario Lanza is another one of those tenors who was really famous
during the black & white movie era, but he is basically the one that
wins the prize for most famous and influential. His movie-star good
looks made some think he probably wouldn’t be a strong singer.
While his voice is not as big as some opera singers’, he was legit
trained and could really sing. This is an example of Adam Sandler
actually being able to sing opera. In case you were wondering, the
soprano in this clip is significantly less good. They *are* lip-synching,
but only because that was the only technology available at the time.
This kind of staging (meaning where the characters stand on stage,
what they do, etc.) only really works in a movie – if two love birds
were singing in an actual live opera, typically they need a little space
to sing real loud and can’t be holding each other quite so tight.
#leaveroomforJesus
Week 15
Baritone Piero Cappuccilli #tbt
"Il balen del suo sorriso" from Verdi's Il Trovatore
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA_00WTmaU0
Suggested Play Time: 4:15-5:40
Tenor Javier Camarena #alive
"Ah! mes amis" from Donizetti’s La Fille du Regiment
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FlGbkIGPF8
Suggested Play Time: 4:37-6:40
Il Trovatore is pretty much one of the most outrageous and
unbelievable opera plots, which is a little bit like being the fattest
person at Dennys. You’ve got an evil Count and a Gypsy troubadour
fighting for the love of the hot soprano (standard opera plot fare so
far). But then you’ve got the Gypsy guy’s old mom; she inexplicably
reveals to him that when he was a baby, the Count’s family killed her
even older mom, so she stole the evil Count’s infant brother and
threw him into a blazing fire. Except she was real stressed out, and
threw her own baby into the fire instead of the evil Count’s infant
brother dammit. (You always gotta remember to double check when
murdering infants.) The evil Count eventually has the Gypsy
troubadour executed, upon which his mother screams “YOU JUST
KILLED YOUR OWN BROTHER!!!!” and then screams some more stuff
about how her mom is now avenged. They should make a movie of
this. Anyway, the baritone today is singing an evil Count aria.
Javier Camarena is a Mexican tenor who was filling in last second at
the Met for a sicko Juan Diego Florez (who heard 4 weeks ago on
#tbt week 9!). Well, I guess he did an okay job filling in. The
audience would not stop clapping after one of his arias – they made
him encore the piece right then, stopping the progress of the story to
hear the aria again! That’s only happened with three people in the
past 70 YEARS! Not bad for a stand-in singer.
Today we listen to the end one of the most famous arias in all of
opera – Ah! mes amis. It is famous for requiring no less than 9 tenor
high C’s in the last 60 seconds! #Jesustakethewheel Javier NAILS THE
CRAP out of them. #realmensinghigh
Week 16
Baritone Simon Keenlyside #alive
"Largo al factotum" from Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYAipkrsmmM
Suggested Play Time: 3:00-4:55
Tenor Lauritz Melchior #tbt
"Winterstürme" from Wagner's Die Walküre
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8CYkkgFzG4
Suggested Play Time: 1:45-3:08
This is the top of every opera nerd’s Top 40 baritone arias in history.
Some jaded opera nerds might say it is the most over-sung aria in
history; Woody Woodpecker is among the notable figures who’ve
sung this, and Bugs Bunny conducted a famous rendition. The aria is
HIGH, by baritone standards at least. (Tenors would laugh scornfully
at the sheet music. It has been said more than once that baritones
are just lazy tenors…) Figaro, the character here, is a barber and the
big dog in town, and this aria is basically him just bragging. He
knows a guy who can get you that thing, he knows that girl you’ve
been staring at, and he’ll let her know you’re interested if you pay
him money… uh, did that get weird at the end there? Well he’s
proud of it anyway. The famous “Figaro, Figaro, Figaro” part is him
describing how everyone calls out his name when they want him to
do something for them. Not really sure what happened at the end
of this clip… just sayin…
Lauritz Melchior started his professional career started out singing
baritone repertoire, as many lower & louder tenors often do. One
night singing with a sick soprano colleague of his, he sang the high C
for her. People began to wonder if maybe he was a tenor (no shit,
you think?). Thank goodness he figured his life out, because he went
on to become the defining sound of an entire category of tenor: the
HELDENTENOR. HELDENTENOR means heroic-tenor in German;
often these voices are dark and heavy, a little bit lower than the
average tenor, but with incredible projection power and the ability
to pop up to high C’s occasionally. Think you might be a
HELDENTENOR!? Are you over 6’? Is your chest size 48 or above?
When you speak normally do people’s faces melt off? Maybe you
are a HELDENTENOR! The crappy thing is recording technology didn’t
capture his whole sound – you have to use your imagination!
Week 17
Baritone Gérard Souzay #tbt
"En sourdine" by Gabriel Fauré
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMoos40OKaw
Suggested Play Time: 2:12-2:57
Tenor Marcello Giordani #alive
"La Fleur Que Tu M'avais Jetée" (The Flower Song) from
Bizet's Carmen
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVg9Q0Qd8Bc
Suggested Play Time: 2:10-3:42
Don’t need to say too much about Gérard Souzay, or about what he’s
singing today. This series #tbt is mostly about opera and opera
singers, but this is not opera and not an opera singer. He is singing a
song written specifically for voice and piano, and our buddy Gérard
didn’t do much opera. But it’s week 17, you are becoming an expert
singing-listener, and you know what’s good and bad. This clip is
about elegance, not volume, and now you’re so smart you can
actually appreciate that. Unless you’re not and you can’t (
).
Understanding this level of sophistication is like watching HBO vs.
the Disney channel (which gave Miley Cirus a start, just sayin, Disney
channel might possibly be the antichrist?). Anyway, you have to pay
attention to the high note at 2:49; this much control is pretty
difficult.
This Italian guy literally named Marcello, one of the most Italian-y
names, is going to sing in FRENCH today. He is playing the character
of Don Jose in the most famous opera ever Carmen. Back in week
11, we saw how Jose and Carmen finish out their romantic
relationship: it was the scene where she wouldn’t come back to him,
so he stabbed her then put a ring on it. Messed up. Well, this aria is
from earlier in the story when he’s just falling in love with her.
Someone should probably tell the two of them that maybe they
aren’t a match made on EHarmonyTM; it would save them a lot of
trouble. At least it’s a good aria though.
Week 18
Bass René Pape #alive
"Le veau d'or" from Gounod's Faust
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzUkqQnXXqE
Suggested Play Time: 1:01-2:00
Tenor Luciano Pavarotti #tbt
"Lamento di Federico" from Francesco Cilea's L'arlesiana
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOQ--4kTNf0
Suggested Play Time: 1:46-4:30
There is nothing better than an operatic bass singing the role of
SATAN. When Satan is in a character in an opera (it happens way
more often than you would think!), he’s almost always written as a
bass, because low notes can be dark and evil sounding. Obviously,
playing Satan is amazingly fun to do what with all the evil and such,
so all the solo sopranos and tenors are jealous of the basses.
In this opera, Satan has tricked a guy into selling his soul in exchange
for youth and money. Surprise, it doesn’t end well. Here he is
singing about how greed can be used to easily manipulate people,
and Satan is behind all of it.
I will fight anyone who doesn’t like today’s #tbt tenor clip. BRING IT.
It is week 18, and we are only just now listening to the undisputed
KING of opera. He has reigned as the most popular opera singer
from his Met debut in 1972 (where at the end he had to come out on
stage to bow 17 times because the crowd was freaking the freak out)
to today – he died in 2007 and he’s literally still the favorite. If you
haven’t heard of Pavarotti already, we’ll excuse it for now, but you
need to do some additional YouTube/Wikipedia research (<- not
actually research). Opera fans are still waiting for “the next
Pavarotti” & today’s tenors are compared to him. Some say his voice
was as golden as Italian sunshine. He got so famous that he “crossed
over” and sang with famous pop acts like Bono, Jon Bon Jovi, Mariah
Carey, Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crowe, Queen, Sting, and the Spice Girls
(no joke). But he was legit through and through. Say something bad
about this voice, I dare you. #deathwish? #shankedbychoirpencil
Week 19
Baritone Tito Gobbi #tbt
"Pari siamo" from Verdi's Rigoletto
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBd3-jPK_Nw
Suggested Play Time: 2:44-4:19
Tenor Michael Fabiano #alive
“Tutto parea sorridere” from Verdi’s Il Corsaro
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQX5WVmz2NE
Suggested Play Time: 4:38-5:58 (if lots of extra time, go to end at 7:34)
Baritone Tito Gobbi has another awesome-sounding Italian name,
and was one of the most famous and busy “Verdi” baritones of the
1940’s-60’s. (There’s a whole category of singer referred to as “Verdi
baritone” because of how difficult and high the baritone parts are in
operas by Verdi.) Here he sings that hunchback jester Rigoletto – we
heard this story back on Week 1. It’s the one where the jester makes
fun of all the dads whose daughters get kidnapped by the evil Count.
Then one of the dads curses the jester – the deformed Rigoletto
himself suffers under the power of fate when the curse leads to his
own daughter getting kidnapped. #karmasabitch
This is undoubtedly the creepiest acted rendition of Rigoletto, and
probably the creepiest video on #tbt imo. That being said, remind
me to click on the “Prologo” video in the suggested videos… What’s
with Tito Gobbi recording all the creepy clown videos?
Michael Fabiano is one of the US’s youngest rising star tenors. He
gained visibility in the opera world when a documentary film crew
followed a bunch of opera singers for a week. The movie they made
is called “The Audition” and it covered the young singers who made
the finals of the Met competition that year. The Metropolitan Opera
house in New York City is the world’s largest opera house, with a
huge fan-base (and budget!). Just making it to the finals of their
“young artist” competition is really big deal that just a few singers
get each year. Fabiano not only made the finals, but was chosen as a
winner – though in the documentary he basically comes across as a
neurotic middle-school girl or like Kanye West (redundant?) – he
really needs everyone watching to know how talented he is, which is
always a little bit sad.
Week 20
Baritone Bryn Terfel #alive
Fire Music from Wagner's Die Walküre
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG6p8bLdaQU
Suggested Play Time: 0:00-1:35
Tenor José Carreras #tbt, but still alive sorry about it
"Una Furtiva Lagrima" from Donizetti's L'Elisir d'amore
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNQ69njH0NU
Suggested Play Time: 2:12-4:38
So remember all that business about the twins hooking up and
having a kid, then the kid rescues and falls in love with the twins’
sister Brünnhilde (who is also his aunt just to be clear)?
Top 3 ways you know you’re a die hard opera fan:
3. Old people are all around you. 2. You are super smart re: singers
and voice types. 1. No one you know acknowledges the incest.
Well, baritone Bryn Terfel is singing a part in that same little opera
skit: he’s everyone’s dad, the head god Wotan. It’s kind of the
ultimate loud-singing endurance marathon – Wotan is a big part of
all 4 operas that make up the Ring Cycle. That’s a lot of memorizing
German, and Bryn is from Wales he doesn’t even speak that
verdammt language. This is the part where he puts Brünnhilde into a
magic sleep and then calls upon the fire god Loge to surround her in
flame until her hero nephew rescues her so they can fall in love…
From time to time, our #tbt voice of the week is actually still alive;
we’re not trying to insult them by putting them in the same category
as dead people, they’ve just usually been retired from singing for
quite awhile no offense meant sirs. Our buddy José, he’s still alive.
He’s singing “Una furtiva lagrima” or “A furtive tear” from the opera
Elixir of Love. You would read this title and hear the music of this
aria and think, “what a downer.” BUT you would be wrong – it’s
actually really happy! This guy Nemerino has purchased a potion
that will make his crush Adina fall in love with him. Turns out it’s
only wine, he just so gullible that he thinks it’s magic #typicaltenor.
Well, she’s already drunk the potion, and when she cries, Nemerino
is like “LOOK a furtive tear – she LOVES me!!”
#ithinkyoushouldtalkwithatherapistaboutyourissuesnemerino
#usefulhashtags
Week 21
Baritone Ettore Bastianini #tbt
"Urna fatale del mio destino" from Verdi's La forza del destino
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1RhwRkHrkw
Suggested Play Time: 3:40-5:08
Tenor Marcelo Álvarez #alive
"Ah! lève-toi, soleil!" from Gounod's Roméo et Juliette
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSdUv9o681Y
Suggested Play Time: 3:07-4:46
The Force of Destiny is an opera by Verdi with all kinds of drama
going on in there. The tenor/soprano lovers try to run away
together in defiance of her father, but the tenor’s gun goes off and
kills the father (gun safety first, y’all). The soprano’s baritone
brother was away, but returns swearing vengeance. A fortune teller
says the vengeful brother will find his destiny by joining the army,
which the tenor boyfriend has also done to change his identity! They
become bros until the tenor gets wounded in battle and the baritone
goes through his papers to find his real name – his bro is actually the
sworn enemy who killed his dad while trying to escape with his
sister! (Funny how stuff always seems to go exactly wrong in opera.)
We’re watching the moment where the baritone learns his “bro” will
survive his injuries – he’s thrilled about this actually, because that
means now he can kill the guy himself. #blessed Bastianini, the
baritone singing here, is pretty okay at singing.
Way way back in week 12, we learned about how Romeo and Juliet
the opera is even more melodramatic than Romeo and Juliet the
Shakespeare. Singing what you’re trying to communicate generally
enhances the intensity of the situation; try it at breakfast someday.
It’s a really strong move. Like when this one lady was getting stalked
by a mountain lion in Colorado. She tried yelling at it, she tried
banging sticks together, but it kept following her, and from time to
time would crouch as if getting ready to attack. She had this impulse
to try singing opera. And it worked. The mountain lion put its ears
down, and slowly backed off as she continued to sing. So epic, and
absolutely true. #DOtrythisathome
Anyway, this is kind of the aria equivalent of “But soft! What light
through window breaks. It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.”
Week 22
Bass Baritone Ildebrando D'Arcangelo #alive
"Là ci darem la mano" from Mozart's Don Giovanni
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5dx7sGdckU
Suggested Play Time: 0:00-2:17 (or 0:00-0:33)
Tenor Franco Corelli #tbt
"E lucevan le stelle" from Puccini's Tosca
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkrmUZgPymo
Suggested Play Time: 0:00-2:46
Ildebrando D’Arcangelo is yet another freakin awesome name for a
singer. How do so many singers have such freakin awesome
names!?!? Well, just like in Hollywood, some of them simply choose
their awesome name; a stage/professional name. However, this is
not the case with Ildebrando D’Arcangelo, as far as I can tell. Just a
regular old, parent-given awesome name.
He is known best for singing some of the lower roles in the operas of
Mozart, so that’s what you’ll see today. This is from the opera Don
Giovanni (Don Juan) – this Don Juan guy sleeps with all the ladies,
and by all the ladies, I mean 2,065. The opera literally sings out loud
that he’s slept with exactly 2,065 women. Anyway, in this scene he’s
going for 2,066 singing to this girl Zerlina about how good they’d be
together – yea, except it’s her wedding day. She just got married.
What a man whore.
Remember that one little skit from week 7 where Tosca is trying to
get her boy toy out of prison and agrees to have sex with corrupt
police-chief Scarpia to save her boyfriend but then stabs Scarpia with
a knife when she gets the get-out-of-jail-free card, but then it turns
out they kill her boyfriend anyway and she jumps off the jail? Yea,
that’s a good one. So this is the tenor boyfriend Mario Cavaradossi;
he is waiting in jail about to be executed and is singing about Tosca.
Franco Corelli is yet another one of the famous tenors in competition
to be named the “greatest” tenor in recorded history. I think he’s a
pretty good contender based on this clip, but check it out for yourself
and see what you think. #bycontenderimeantotalbadass
Week 23
Baritone Lawrence Tibbett #tbt
"Il prologo" from Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzUWChTQsdU
Suggested Play Time: 3:39-5:30
Tenor Matthew Polenzani #alive
"O mio rimorso, o infamia" from Verdi's La Traviata
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EByn0NQQF3o
Suggested Play Time: 0:00-1:46 (whole video)
Few arias are as practically named as this aria Il prologo or “The
prologue”. Guess why? Because it’s the prologue to the opera. It is
the prologue to Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo. Pagliacci is Italian
for “clowns”, making it a practically-named opera also. Because this
opera is about clowns. Way way way back on week 2 (we are now
on week 23 holy craps you’re so interwebs/YouTube-smart now (not
a real kind of smart)) we learned about this plot when the main Sad
Clown turned into an Angry Clown and killed his Pretty Clown wife
and her lover Not a Clown Just a Guy. Well, this is the beginning of
that #operaplotsarecute little story. This is a different Assistant
Clown to Sad/Angry Clown and he actually sort of spoils the whole
plot in the prologue, pretty much just listing every major thing that
may or may not happen. But it’s great singing, so it’s worth it.
You guys are such experts of opera now, you are going to pretty
much know all the important parts of La Traviata by Verdi, who is
one of the more important operas ever written. It’s the old dad tells
the mildly slutty girl to dump his son bc she’s bad for the family
image, but then they get back together three cheers for true love but
she dies of tuberculosis. Oddly enough TB, a lung disease that
involves lots of coughing of blood and such, rarely discourages
sopranos from singing 10-minute arias right as they’re dying from it.
The magic of theater, everyone. But opera is all about the singing, so
we won’t question it too much, especially when the “dying” opera
singer is really good. Anyway, this is American tenor Matthew
Polenzani singing a part from the middle of La Traviata – he’s
promising to clear her name so nobody thinks anything bad about
her. #spoileralert #notgoingtohappen
Week 24
Baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky #alive
"Votre toast" from Bizet's Carmen
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk-g6tsbAhI
Suggested Play Time: 2:40-4:47
Tenor Jon Vickers #tbt
Act 3 from Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWT0jsCbl28
Suggested Play Time: 5:58-7:31
By all accounts, baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky (everyone try to say
his last name out loud right now. DO IT!) is pretty much in love with
himself. Sometimes you just have to get a little ego worked up to
get on stage and be a STAR. He’s done well on that front, but it’s
kind of perfect b/c his character Escamillo (the bullfighter boyfriend
from Carmen) also has a certain love for himself. This aria “Votre
toast” is pretty awesome, and Escamillo is basically like “bullfighters
are badass and all the ladies want us.” He’s right, you should
consider bullfighting as a career #collegeplacementoffice.
Dmitri Hvorostovsky first got really famous when he won the BBC
Cardiff Singer of the World competition, beating out week 20 opera
superstar Bryn Terfel in an epic battle of the baritones. Hvorostovky
was named one of People magazine’s 50 sexiest people, then his
flow went white at a very young age. Based on that and the picture
below, Bryn probably still wins at life overall…
Jon Vickers our #tbt tenor was one of the leading Heldentenors of
the 1960’s-1980’s. Due to their rare voices, H.T.’s can sometimes get
away with being big fat dudes who can’t act for crap. #FGP But Jon
Vickers was known for being able to create dramatic emotional
moments on stage as well. The greatest opera singers should
basically be able to retire and become actors (many have in the past,
and continue to do this today). We’ll hear Vickers in an English
opera; he plays the disagreeable fisherman Peter Grimes who is
shunned by his fellow villagers because he is different. When his
apprentice boy falls off a cliff, rumors start flying that Grimes might
actually be a murderer. By the end of the opera, the innuendo drives
him mad and he takes the advice of one of the townsmen who tells
him to take his fishing boat out to sea and sink himself in it. The
opera is a powerful message about how dangerous an oppressive,
judgmental society can be to the individual.
Week 25
Bass Kurt Moll #tbt
Commendatore Scene from Mozart's Don Giovanni
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK1_vm0FMAU
Suggested Play Time: 4:30-6:52
Tenor Ben Bliss #alive
"Come all ye songsters" from Purcell’s The Fairy Queene
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CnYifcV8ck
Suggested Play Time: 1:08-2:20
Remember on Week 22 we learned that according to the Mozart
opera, Don Giovanni (Don Juan) had got his flirt on with 2,065 ladies
(#stds4lyfe)? Well that much sleeping around is bound to get a bro
in trouble, & Giovanni sort of accidentally (?) murders the reallypissed-off dad of one of those ladies. In a total douchebag move,
Giovanni goes later to the graveyard & sarcastically invites the dead
dad’s stone statue to come over for dinner. Except whoops, then the
statue comes to life and shows up, inviting Giovanni to come to
dinner with him instead – here’s a life hack, when the stony ghost of
someone you murdered knocks on your door just get the freak out of
there. But Giovanni’s like “you can’t scare me I do what I want.”
Then the statue drags him to hell to pay for his crimes, ouch! If you
watch the whole scene it’s a trio between baritone, bass-baritone,
and bass – very rare, but so cool. Kurt Moll sings the statue –
Giovanni is played the #tbt singer 2 weeks from now: Sam Ramey.
So there’s this tenor named Ben Bliss, and he is a rising star who
originally hails from Prairie Village! His mom Judy is my friend and a
voice teacher and soprano still based in PV. Ben is finding a lot of
success currently, having won spots in 3 major young artist
programs: the Metropolitan Opera’s young artist program (called the
Lindeman program), Wolf Trap Opera summer program, and the
Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program with LA Opera (where
Week 12 tenor Plácido Domingo is an artistic mentor). Basically all
those fancy names you’ve rarely ever heard mean he’s making
something of himself in the singing world, but get this: HE DIDN’T
EVEN MAJOR IN MUSIC IN COLLEGE. This kid only minored in music
and then was like “I guess now I’ll go to Juilliard and get a Masters
degree in opera and get famous, whatever.” Not too shabby for a
Kansas kid.
Week 26
Baritone Thomas Hampson #alive
"Tanzlied des Perriot" from Korngold's Die tote Stadt
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lolPTlQX84w
Suggested Play Time: 0:35-1:39
Tenor Mario del Monaco #tbt
"Celeste Aida" from Verdi's Aida
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_Dk_ziyQ7A
Suggested Play Time: 2:40-4:20
The baritone aria of the day comes from an opera that is almost
never performed anywhere in the world: Die tote Stadt or “The dead
city”. Its depressing and weird plot probably has something to do
with it – at the beginning, this guy’s wife (soprano) is already dead,
but a woman who looks just her has shown up and is trying to
seduce him. He feels pretty guilty that he is attracted to the new
woman. So 2/3 of the opera is the guy hallucinating due the stress
that his guilt is causing him – actually lots of weird and violent
hallucinations. After hallucinating a particularly disturbing way to
murder the new lady, he snaps out of it and decides to leave his
home completely and start a new life, so his dead wife can rest in
peace. Aaaaaand curtain. Maybe it was incorrect to describe this as
a “plot” since almost nothing happens. At least the music is pretty!
Here is one of the famous sad songs that the guy’s friend sings to
him. Except this is actually a hallucination. #doublerainbow
Tenor Mario del Monaco (yet another opera singer with an awesome
name) has a voice that can be categorized as dramatic tenor. This
kind of voice is somewhat similar to the HELDENTENOR. The German
voice type is bigger, darker, and usually sits a little lower, singing in
German and some Italian. The dramatic tenor is usually bright and
ringing and sits higher, singing the biggest Italian and French opera.
Mario del Monaco’s voice was so bright and loud his fellow singers
actually got kind of pissed off about it; he actually didn’t do well with
quiet singing even if the music dictated it. His high-volume character
here is Radamès, the general of the ancient Egyptian army. He’s
supposed to marry the Egyptian princess, but falls in love with her
slave instead whoops, so the princess has them killed. Buried alive
actually. Which, sorry about it Radamès, is usually kind of cool on
stage.
Week 27
Bass Sam Ramey #tbt, but still alive whoops, just accepted a faculty position at WSU
"Son lo spirito" from Boito's Mefistofele
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA4PX9yen9Y
Suggested Play Time: 4:40-6:47
Tenor Vittorio Grigolo #alive
"La donna è mobile" from Verdi's
Link: http://www.youtu`be.com/watch?v=XlEJxKCnRmg
Suggested Play Time: 1:42-2:41
It’s yet another actually alive #tbt voice, except this time he’s not
actually even technically retired. Sam Ramey is like the lion of opera,
mostly because he actually looks like a lion when you see him in real
life, but also because he’s freaking 72 YEARS OLD and he hasn’t
retired from singing. Normally, professional voices eventually
decline a little too much to still be sangin in earshot of other people,
Sam Ramey doesn’t give a shoot about that. He’s still making that
paper, and is easily the most famous bass alive. He also doesn’t give
a shoot about anything, he’s a hilariously in your face person.
A native of Colby, KS, it was recently announced he’d be coming
“home” and taking a voice professor position with Wichita State
University. Some of you could literally get in-state tuition to meet
this guy. Sweet. Also, in this clip he’s playing Satan.
#LiterallyHellzYea #SatanWearsADressingGown Also, 6:33 is the best
use ever of the opera claw. Just watch.
To contrast the lion king of opera who has been performing very
nearly forever, here is a little tiny annoying puppy of opera (as of
2015 at least). This kid Vittorio Grigolo is a good-looking Italian
tenor who charmed some of opera’s more elderly female fans, and it
kind of seems like he keeps getting hired based mostly on that fact. I
mean, no offense to him, I’m sure he’s a nice guy. The clip he is in is
a movie version of the opera Rigoletto (hunchback jester with the
secret daughter he’s trying to hide from his lecherous boss the Duke)
– he’s playing the lecherous boss Duke guy. Movies of opera are
always kind of cheesy imo, see what you think. But more
importantly, listen to this tenor’s technique. He’s famous, but not
necessarily at the top of his game… #truthrealness
#screamsthelastnote
Week 28
Baritone Quinn Kelsey #alive
"Nemico della patria" from Giordano's Andrea Chénier
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdADpgjCvGM
Suggested Play Time: 0:24-1:20
Tenor Nicolai Gedda #tbt
"Credeasi misera" from Bellini's I Puritani
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w_TTK7UP1c
Suggested Play Time: 4:15-5:34
(WHAT? The first one is a Db, the second is an F)
Baritone Quinn Kelsey is one of the newer, up and coming superstars
that we’ve watched and listened to.
1. He is awesome because he’s from Hawaii.
2. He is also awesome because he is a legit and true example of a
Verdi baritone (pretty rare).
The opera plot is one of political revolution, intrigue, and of course,
ultimate gruesome and devastatingly tragic death. (It is opera, after
all.) In this case, the setting is the French revolution, so the
wonderful and exciting thing is that the execution method would be
the guillotine! Impressive French engineering.
As of 2014, #tbt tenor Nicolai Gedda is actually still alive and kickin at
89! He was one of Pavarotti’s contemporary tenors, singing
somewhat similar roles, though he had a wider range. (Did I
question Pavarotti’s absolute supremacy? WHERE’S THAT
GUILLOTINE!?) Gedda was an incredible talent, an intelligent
musician – the native Swede even spoke 7 languages.
This is from the opera with the highest tenor note EVER performed in
an opera. Remember how the tenor high C is every tenor’s goal in
life? There are a few operas that have high Db’s and even some arias
with high D-naturals too! This aria has a Db. Then a couple seconds
later it has a HIGH F. That is 5 notes above high C, and it is ridiculous
for a man to sing this note. Honestly, what was Bellini thinking?
Won’t promise that this is going to sound good necessarily, but it is
pretty fracking unbelievable.
Week 29
Baritone Cornell MacNeil #tbt
"Credo in un Dio crudel" from Verdi's Otello
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27ZI3zrJTU8
Suggested Play Time: 0:00-2:25
Tenor Ian Bostridge #alive
some Baroque crap who cares
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5F4OCiJ0bw
Suggested Play Time: 0:00-whenever you’ve had enough and can’t take any more of his annoying voice
Cornell MacNeil is today’s #tbt baritone – what to say about him
except that he seems like a terrifying human being. Kind of a big
hulking angry type, you would not want to get into a bar fight with
him. In an interview about vocal technique, he was kind of an ass
about vocal training, and basically seemed to say you were born with
talent and could scream your balls off til you died. Which he did.
(There was a marked decline in his voice in later years though.) But
for all of the scariness, his explosive high notes were just damned
exciting. Watching live singing sometimes has a sort of
gladiator/Coliseum element – the audience can be really into
someone sort of blowing their voice up for entertainment.
#mileycyrus #aliciakeys #adele #thatsright #Isaidit
Here, he sings as maybe the second most evil character in opera.
(Satan probably has to qualify as #1.) Iago in Shakespeare’s Otello
pretty much screws everyone’s life over for fun, and doesn’t care.
Well, Cornell MacNeil is certainly a manly dude with a manly voice.
It being Week 29, let’s change the pace a bit, and listen to one of the
girliest classical singers alive. Ian Bostridge, British tenor, undersings
all the time and is one of the most artistically irritating singers I’ve
come across in recent memory. Somehow, someone keeps asking
him to make recordings. It’s baffling. While it’s obviously a waste of
time to listen to this horrendous singer, it does seem that once in the
30 weeks of #tbt, we might listen to a flaccid singer who nonetheless
has become really famous. Usually that only happens in pop music!
#onedirection #taylorswift #arianagrande #thatsright #Isaiditagain
Week 30
Baritone Roberto De Candia #alive
"E fra quest’ansie" from Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCIux59BR-o&fmt=18
Suggested Play Time: 0:00-1:43
Tenor Richard Tucker #tbt
"Che gelida manina" from Puccini's La Boheme
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siMO9sx7uaE
Suggested Play Time: 3:48-5:47
It’s the final week of #tbt
!! Your ears are so refined
now, having listened to some of the greatest singers in history and
today. Your brains are significantly less refined, because you’ve
been reading this total crap commentary.
So today we’ll take one last listen to the clown opera I Pagliacci, with
our favorite characters Sad/Angry Clown and his wife. And his wife’s
lover. Roberto De Candia sings Silvio, the lover, and in this scene he
actually is trying to convince Nedda the wife to stay in his town and
be with him, rather than continuing to travel with her Sad Clown’s
clown troupe. If you remember, Silvio’s strategy turns out to be
somewhat flawed, in that Angry Clown murders them violently in
front of the whole town at the end of the opera, which I guess is one
way to go. #yodo
#tbt tenor Richard Tucker is so frat that there is an entire cash
money award named after him, the Richard Tucker Award, $50K
yearly given to an awesome young singer who is about the get
famous (like you, for instance). You cannot audition for this award;
they literally just call you and say “you have $50K!” like they’re
Oprah or something. Yea so basically saved one of the best for last
w/ this Tucker here. And we will hear him sing one of the swaggiest
moments in all of opera, when this hottie stops in at the young
poet’s apartment to ask for a light; her candles all went out and it’s
so cold. He basically starts right off by saying she does look very
cold, he could warm her up, then launches into a TMI summary of his
life story. She’s instantly in love, what with the warmth and the
tenor high C’s and all, and they are destined to be together forever!
Or until she dies of tuberculosis in the 4th Act. #classic
Man Duets Page 1
Giorgio Zancanaro & Sam Ramey
"Tardo per gli anni" from Verdi's Attila
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c_q0epdLR8
Suggested Play Time: 5:30-6:40
Alfredo Kraus & Barry McDaniel
"Au fond du temple saint" (the Pearl Fishers Duet) from Bizet's Les
pêcheurs de perles
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZORqZv3odh8
Suggested Play Time: 5:21-7:26
Man Duets Page 2
Carlo Bergonzi & Piero Cappuccilli
"Orrida è questa notte" from Bellini's Lucia di Lammermoor
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2GU9cP1ncM
Suggested Play Time: 9:15-11:03
Plácido Domingo & Sherrill Milnes
"Dio che nell'alma" (Carlo-Rodrigo duet) from Verdi's Don Carlos
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toHDnM9EC6o
Suggested Play Time: 0:33-2:06
Man Duets Page 3
Ferruccio Furlanetto & Matti Salminen
Act IV Scene II (King Philip and Grand Inquisitor Scene) from
Verdi's Don Carlos
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph6p1Mtpp18
Suggested Play Time: 10:30-13:28
Jussi Björling & Robert Merrill
"Si, pel ciel" from Verdi's Ottelo
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-zECq6U4Zs
Suggested Play Time: 3:15-4:29
Holy Shit Björling.