Some Friendly Operatic Songs for Non-Operatic Fans: The Ladies Dec 02 '06 (Updated Mar 28 '08)    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Music The Dirtchamber Sessions, Vol. 1 by The Prodigy From $11 Jersey Boys [Original Broadway Cast Recording] by Original Broadway Cast From $8 The Bottom Line Some of the operatic songs (sung by the ladies) that even non-opera lovers can enjoy. Opera is a vast music genre with something appealing to everyone. There are friendly songs that any music-lover can enjoy, emotional tear-jerkers and oppressive rage arias for the dramatically inclined, and virtuoso songs that require some acclimatization before one can enjoy them. Judging from the meager volume of opera reviews here, I figured there aren't many hard core opera fans around. But one need not be intimidated by the opera. This was the pop music of a century ago, and many of the airs are so well written that they are practically timeless (besides, many modern ’s pop musicians draw inspirations from them). Below are a few tunes sung by the operatic women that even non-opera fans should find enjoyable: Just a refresher, the voice categories for women (from highest to lowest) are: -Soprano : Usually the leading ladies of the opera who either end up killing someone or dying/getting killed themselves. Very wide category, this is. The highest (and usually most vocally agile) soprani are called leggiero or coloratura (like Sumi Jo or Natalie Dessay). Then there are the light lyric soprani (soubrettes) who sing the maid or the ingenue. The lyric soprano are the most common ‘every woman’ lead ladies in opera, though the ones with more vocal weight (the spinto soprani) usually get to sing the heavier and verismo Italian opera roles like Tosca, Santuzza, or the 2 Leonora). The soprani with heaviest vocal weight are called the dramatic soprani (like Deborah Voigt or Jane Eaglen). They sing the Verdi and the German opera leading ladies. There are occasional phenomena who cover the entire range... having a voice that is both big and agile. The prime examples are Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland, these are dramatic coloratura soprani. -Mezzo soprano : just a note or two lower than their soprano counterparts, and they're usually designated as the jealous girls/witches/grandma who torment the soprani... or they take up the trouser and play the men the soprani torment. -Contralto : Very rare these days... or any days, actually. There isn't a lot of meaty roles written for them except for the mothers and the witches. Today the most celebrated contralto is one Ewa Podles. SOPRANO ARIAS: 1. PUCCINI: La Boheme: Quando m'en vo (Musetta’s Waltz) Sample: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ1aMqj98sQ (Elizabeth Parcells) If you have seen the film Moonstruck, you have heard this (though I believe they used the instrumental version of it). You will have heard a modernized take of it if you have seen the play Rent, which is also a modernized theatrical take on Puccini’s opera La Bohème. Anna Netrebko does it very well, so does Angela Gheorghiu. 2. MOZART: Zaïde: Ruhe sanft Sample: www.youtube.com/watch?v=joyiMb3fHFI (Lucia Popp) This opera is Mozart’s unfinished precursor to his latter sing-spiel Abduction from the Seraglio. The opera itself may have been long forgotten, but this soprano aria sung by Zaïde has long been a standard fare at lyric soprano recitals. If you have seen the film Amadeus, you might have caught a glimpse of it (at any rate, it is in the soundtracks CD for the film... sung by the distinguished Dame Felicity Lott). It is an easy going song beautifully highlighted by the French horns with some drop dead gorgeous upward forays into coloratura soprano high notes. I love the versions by Edita Gruberova, Natalie Dessay, and Sandrine Piau. 3. BELLINI: Norma: Casta diva Sample: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqCmzU6e7-k (Maria Callas) Norma, the druid priestess is the ultimate role for the soprano repertoire. In this Act I air, Norma is leading a prayer for peace between the druids and the Romans. It is set at a walking pace with minimum orchestral accompaniment and the soprano’s voice soaring above it. A very dignified and haunting song (if done right, that is). Ever since Maria Callas made Norma her signature role in the late 1950's all soprani who dare touches this iconic part are judged against La Divina's versions (which is quite a curse since there will NEVER be another Callas). So look for the 2 existing versions by Callas... the 1954 version (Ebe Stignani is the Adalgisa) has her in glorious voice, the latter 1960 version (with Christa Ludwig as Adalgisa) sees her well into a vocal decline (the top had became dreadfully thin and unsteady, there are unsuccessful attacks on the high C, and the vibrato (pulsation in her voice) is growing wide), though her dramatic embodiment of the role is at its best here. Other great versions are done by Dame Joan Sutherland ... and I also love the very different take by Edita Gruberova (whose voice is much lighter than the other two). 4. MOZART: The Magic Flute: Der Hölle Rache Sample: www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2ODfuMMyss (Diana Damrau) This is a song that should really stick in your head once you’ve seen Amadeus.... High C is a basement note for the coloratura soprano singing the nasty Queen of the Night’s Act II aria (in her 10 minutes stage time in the entire opera, the Queen sings 5 high F's (F5 above the stave), and 4 of them come in this 3 minutes long number!). It is the mother of all rage arias... which makes me wonder what kind of family Mozart married into since the original Queen of the Night was none other than Josepha Weber-Hofer, Mozart’s oldest sister-in-law. This is a kind of song that gets your blood pumping. The solo flute doubling the Queen’s line gives the voice a really cool supernatural aura, too. Go for the versions sung by Edita Gruberova, Natalie Dessay, Diana Damrau, or Lucia Popp, if you could. 5. PUCCINI: Gianni Schicchi: O mio babbino caro Sample: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKvT5eCfqLE (Patrizia Ciofi) This shows up in all kinds of films and recitals. Sarah Brightman and other cross-over artists have been singing it to death, too. This is the song Lauretta sings begging her dad, Gianni Schicchi to help her lover or she’ll go throw herself off the bridge (black mail, much?). It is short and very cute, and if done right, you’d have to be a dad with a stone heart to not give in. My favorite version is by Maria Callas...before 1960. Angela Gheorghiu and Patrizia Ciofi also do amazing things with this song. 6. HÄNDEL: Rinaldo: Lascia ch’io pianga Sample: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fghxdcyI44Q (Philippe Jaroussky... a guy, but also a counter-tenor, which is close enough a girl for me ;oP) Famous from the film Farinelli: Il castrato, of course. And perhaps also from Sarah Brightman’s cross-over albums. In it Almirena sings her lamentation over being abducted by the not very nice sorceress Armida. It is one of the sweetest lamentation songs Händel ever wrote (with the added bonus of being shorter than 5 minutes). For a good operatic take, try the Cecilia Bartoli version in her Art of Cecilia Bartoli CD. 7. MOZART: The Marriage of Figaro: Dove sono Sample: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTWBieDvZb8 (Kiri Te Kanawa) This is a heart breaking song done in dignified manner. It is sung by the Countess Almaviva, who is lamenting her husband’s infidelity. She is sad but not going to pieces. You just have to feel for the girl (though it should sound so dignified that you should feel it improper to put your arm around her.. the Countess is a proud woman). I love how Dame Kiri Te Kanawa does the number. Renee Fleming and Carol Vaness are very good with this role, too. 8. CATALANI: La Wally: Ebben? ne andro lontana Sample: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwAJw3MCO-w (Michaela Karadjian) Another favorite of car commercials! It is a shame that most of Catalani’s opera score are lost. La Wally is about his only one that still gets staged once in a long while. Wally, the soprano, is given the option by her dad of either marrying a man she doesn’t love or leave the house. So she decides to leave, but putting in her last word with this gorgeous song. Maria Callas does a killer version of this song (and you might have heard Sarah Brightman’s take of it as well. It isn’t terrible there, though I like the London Philharmonics more than the singer in that version). 9. VERDI: La forza del destino: Pace, pace mio Dio Sample: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqhSG-D5H2k (Eileen Farrell) This is a multiple personality song Leonora sings as she kneels in church praying for her beloved and her brother (they’re bent on killing each other, see). It starts with a very rousing orchestral intro that gives way to paint-peeling high note done in a full mezza di voce by Leonora, who, satisfied with having gained your attention, goes into a meditative mode until she hears running footstep outside of her sanctuary (listen to the orchestra). Being ticked off (as only operatic prima donna could), she rants off curses to the unthoughtful loud-foot (Maledizione!) ... with high B’s that should send chills down your spine. 10. WAGNER: The Valkyries: Hojotoho! Heia! (Ride of the Valkyries) Sample: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KZK9wNVl5M (Karl öhm/Orchestra of Bayreuth Festival) For those thinking opera arias are for the slowed and aged, this thing will keep even Morpheus the sleepy god awake. Remember that rousing music of the helicopter fleet scene in the film Apocalypse Now? Well, the original version has Brünhilde the ultimate Wagnerian soprano belting that tune. Go for the version sung either by Birgit Nilsson or Astrid Varnay.... and see that you put all crystals away before you play the thing or their heavy-weight high C’s might shatter it. MEZZO SOPRANO ARIAS: 1. BIZET: Carmen: L’amour est un oiseau rebelle (Habanera) Sample: www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0wMSoJKbuQ (Vesselina Kasarova) This is a seductive song Carmen the gypsy sings to seduce Don José the uptight soldier. You’d have had to be born in a jungle somewhere far far away from civilization to not have heard it. Anyhow, there are loads of wonderful recordings of this piece to choose from. My favorite versions so far are by Rise Steven, Regina Resnik, and Maria Callas (who was not a mezzo... but La Divina practically sang everything so splendidly that I’m convinced she was actually an alien). 2. GOUNOD: Cinq-Mars: Nuit résplendissante This is from a long forgotten political opera by Gounod, but now that so many great lyric mezzo of our days are putting it on record, a revival of the whole work may not be out of the question yet (knock on woods!). Anyhow, this is a very French sounding song that gives me the impression of being an unsuspecting passenger on the deck of the doomed ship Titanic at night, admiring the starry sky without knowing that a deadly iceberg is looming ahead in the fog. Magda Kozena does a good read of it in her French Arias CD, but my favorite take is on Vesselina Kasarova’s Nuit résplendissante CD. 3. ROSSINI: Tancredi: Oh patria!/ di tanti palpiti Sample: www.ucis.pitt.edu/opera/OFB/stars/kas01.htm (Vesselina Kasarova) This is a splendid aria that starts out contemplative and ends heroically. Tancredi is a knight returning home from a long exile. It has a very long orchestral introduction and begins with a (home at last!) lead-in sung speech that gives way to one of the greatest cabaletta around (di tanti palpiti). The version to get is by Vesselina Kasarova. The renditions by Marilyn Horne is wonderful, too. I love Ewa Podles’s agile true contralto voice, but in her versions (both in the complete opera CD from Naxos and in her own Rossini CD) the tempo is set way too fast and the song doesn’t have the required solemn underlining. 4. MOZART: Don Giovanni: Vedrai, carino Sample: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmYErgrfnYs (Linet Saul) This is a very...er... suggestive song sung by the peasant girl Zerlina to her boyfriend Masetto (who’s been beaten up by Leporello). She is basically saying that although he is roughen up good, if the ....important part... is still working, then they can go home and she’ll ...er... fix him up all good again. Barbara Bonney does a gorgeous take on this song, but my all time favorite is (who else?) Vesselina Kasarova’s take on her Mozart Arias CD. 5. MOZART: Cosi fan tutte: È amore un londrocello Sample: www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNkI3wk-ylU (Susan Graham) "Love is a flighty thief!", so says Dorabella, who has given in to temptation and taken up with a new suitor while her fiance is supposedly out of town. Much to the indignation of her sister Fiordiligi, to whom Dorabella sings this piece to. It is a fickle song of a fickle young woman that nobody could have composed but Mozart. I love the version done by Teresa Berganza, though Frederica von Stade does a great read of it also. 6. DONIZETTI: La Favorite: O mon Fernand Sample: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YLfwX8gzRc (Vesselina Kasarova) More often heard in Italian version as O mio Fernando, this is one of the most beautiful ballad written for a mezzo soprano. It is so simple and catchy (with wonderful French horn doubling the vocal line) and even ends with a hysterical twist as Leonor becomes indignant over how she is treated by her beloved. You can find a great Italian version on Vesselina Kasarova’s A Portrait CD, and a splendid French version on the complete recording of the work on RCA Red Seal label. 7. HÄNDEL: Alcina: Mi lusinga il dolce affetto Sample: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jDqw-p5JHY (Vesselina Kasarova) This is sung by the knight Ruggiero, who has finally been released from the sorceress Alcina’s love enchantment and now he tells his fiancee Bradamante that he has come to his senses again. It is a sweet and simple (though rather sad) sounding song with gorgeous (and very lung-bustingly long) vocal line and requirement for some of the slowest coloratura (many notes sung in succession to decorate the melodic line) passage around (these are even harder than the fast ones). Susan Graham does a very lovely take of it, though my favorite take is by Vesselina Kasarova on the live recording CD fron a performance of the opera in Munich in 2005. 8. MEYERBEER: Les Huguenots: Non, vous n’avez jamais, je gage Sample: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AWsQhL-pYc (Marilyn Horne) Les Huguenots is another one of those rarely stage opera. The song is a popular recital piece for coloratura mezzo, though. It is sung by the page Urbain who is delivering a letter from a girl to his boss. It is a fun and teasy song with some vintage Meyerbeer coloratura runs. Marilyn Horne does an authoritative version of it, but my favorite is the very playful take by Kasarova in her Nuit resplendissante CD. 9. GLUCK: Orfeo ed Euridice: Che faro senza Euridice Sample: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bUAM0ER-Dw (Marilyn Horne) This is a sad and wistful air Orfeo sings after having caused his wife’s 2nd death by looking back at her before they have crossed the River Styx back to the land of the living. In real opera, the mezzo will usually be singing it in French as J’ai perdu mon Eurydice, however. The Italian version would have a tenor singing Orfeo, however. Maria Callas does a great take on this song despite being a soprano, though my favorite is Vesselina Kasarova’s devastating take on her A Portrait CD. 10. MOZART: The Marriage of Figaro: Voi che sapete Sample: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHec8nllQeU (Jolene McCleland) This charming little serenade is sung by the horny young page Cherubino to the Countess Almaviva. It is set to a brisk walking tempo and is full of charm and youthful energy. Very catchy (one of the best ‘hook’ around). There are many beautiful versions of it around, I’d recommend ones by Susan Graham or Angelika Kirshschlager. ------------------------------------------------------ Voila! That’s a few female operatic numbers that should appeal even to those not yet fine-tuned to the genre. In this age of mp3 downloads versus buying entire CD, I hope this helps if you want to get to know opera more. These are some of the most beautiful music ever written for the female voice, and sung by some of the best trained singers around (and there is no microphone in opera.... what you hear are gorgeous unamplified voices that can sing for hours over the orchestra and fill an entire opera house). Men’s Favorite Opera Arias, Favorite Operatic Duets

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