Klarinet Archive - Posting 001097.txt from 1999/12

From: Daniel Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: Marriage of Figaro alternate arias
Date: Fri, 31 Dec 1999 13:10:25 -0500

EbKlarinet@-----.com wrote:
>
> In a message dated 12/31/99 4:11:27 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> klarinet-digest-help@-----.org writes:
>
> << saw a wonderful performance on Le Nozze di Figaro last nite on TV. It =
> was a broadcast from a Met opera production. But I have a question. In =
> the fourth act instead of performing Susanna's "Garden" Aria they =
> substituted another aria with basset horns and, I believe, clarinets. =
> It was quite a performance, Cecilia Bartoli played Susanna.
>
> Does anybody know about this substituted aria, did Mozart write it to =
> replace the Garden Aria ?
>
> Thanks, John Gates
> >>
>
> If you caught the beginning of the broadcast, they explained the
> substitutions--there were 2 of them, btw. The original premiere was in
> Vienna in 1786, with Nancy Storace, a lyric soprano who was a very fine
> actress, and she sang 'venite inginocchiateve' in Act 2, and 'deh vieni non
> tardar' in the 4th Act. In the 1789 revival, a different soprano with a
> different personality and style of singing was brought in, and she requested
> 2 different arias from Mozart, and he obliged her, with 'un moto di gioia' in
> Act 2, and 'al desio' in Act 4. These were different in character from the
> original two, and suited her better, as she was a coloratura soprano and also
> not as fine an actress as Storace.
>
> Cecilia Bartoli decided to do these two because, as you may know, she has a
> very bubbly personality and is a coloratura soprano/mezzo, and perhaps
> decided that they suited her better as well. I believe she said in an
> interview in Opera News Feb. 99 that she thought there was no reason not to
> sing them, as they were written by Mozart and are perfectly wonderful arias.
> The original two are heard all the time, and why not occasionally do the
> alternates? There was a big fuss about this at the time the opera opened
> last season at the MET, with the stage director not even wanting to stage the
> arias for Bartoli because he didn't like them, and the NY Times critic
> attacking Bartoli for her choices.
>
> I can tell you that, having sung all 4 arias, they are lovely, and I
> certainly wouldn't put any of them above any of the others, with the
> exception of 'deh vieni non tardar' which is one of those gorgeously simple
> sublime things of Mozart's that always surprises you with how deep it can be,
> when sung properly.
>
> I'm glad La Bartoli chose 'al desio' if only for the fact that we get to hear
> some more great basset horn music of Mozart!!!
>
> Elise Curran
> clarinettist/coloratura soprano

Bravo Elise -- a really fine description and 100% accurate. I was
pleased
to see the performance because, though I have played Al Desio a number
of
times, I never saw it in the context of the opera. It's a wonderful
piece and whenever I was asked to play it, I always said, "Let me play
the second basset horn part." It is an absolute delight.

>
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--
Dan Leeson
leeson0@-----.net

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