Music What is the most difficult aria for an operatic tenor?

[arildno]

Hmm..
I know of Rachmaninoff, Borodin and some guy whose name starts with a G...

 

[zoobyshoe]

Hmm..
I know of Rachmaninoff, Borodin and some guy whose name starts with a G...

Who would you say is the most famous Russian composer of all?

 

[arildno]

Oh dear, it's Tschaikovsky, right?
(It fits with him being neurotic)

 

[zoobyshoe]

Oh dear, P.T., right?

Correct. He once wrote a letter (don't know to whom) confessing that while he was recently conducting he had to use his non-baton hand to hold his head from floating up and off his body. Terrific stage fright.

 

[brewnog]

Vocalists, and I used to know quite a few, speak of the human voice as an "instrument" like any in the orchestra. I often heard them things like "My instrument isn't suited for that piece. That piece needs a lighter instrument."

Pretentious twonks!

 

[zoobyshoe]

Pretentious twonks!

Operatic circles are where the term "diva" originated.

 

[fourier jr]

7. This famous 20th century pianist's recording carrear was punctuated by an exceptionally satisfying symmetry

doh! now I get it. although glenn gould recorded the goldberg variations in 1954 (for cbc, a recording that nobody knows about) it was his 1955 recording that made him famous. the goldberg variation were also the last thing he recorded, completed a couple months before he died in ~1981.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Correct, Fourier jr!

 

[Kenneth Mann]

Same here. I've never actually sat through an entire opera.

What I recommend for those who are uninitiated to opera, is usually "I Pagliacci". It's very short, quite melodic and has an interesting plot.

KM

 

[zoobyshoe]

What I recommend for those who are uninitiated to opera, is usually "I Pagliacci". It's very short, quite melodic and has an interesting plot.

I'm not what you'd call "uninitiated". I attended Oberlin College, which you may know has a fairly prestigious conservatory of music. I did a lot of tech work on Operas, and knew half the voice majors in the conservatory. When I said I've never sat through a whole one, it wasn't for lack of oportunity. It was a deliberate choice. I just can't warm up to those silly plots, and get exited about the whole opera atmosphere as some people do.

Strangely, or maybe not so strangely, I absolutely love Gilbert and Sullivan. But, of course, that is supposed to be silly.