First of all, now it looks like I'll be singing the Duruffle "Pie Jesu" with the cello on Maundy Thursday. That is usually a fairly well-attended service. I still don't know about the solo quartet for Good Friday.
Also, I spoke to the violinist that I have been planning to work with about gathering up all the music we can put on a concert bill. The only thing I'm waiting for now is the transcribed copy of "Ich Habe Genug". I was really surprised to find that the mezzo version doesn't seem to exist anywhere. There's a soprano version that's too high (it's a third higher...see my earlier post about ranges) and a bass version, which is exactly an octave lower than the mezzo version, but written in the bass clef. After I give that to the violinist we can try to plan something. If the church doesn't think we're good enough for their regular chamber music series (or doesn't think I'm good enough although my plan is just to be one heavily featured item on a bill with other people)they will, I hope, let us use the space for free and recoup the rental fee from the ticket money and then some. Actually, I really do think I can hold my own in this repertoire and sound as "professional" as anyone else they would be likely to hear. Where I fall short is at the extreme end of my range and the extreme end of my stamina and Bach alto/sop 2 material doesn't overtax either.
I also, though, really want to get back to "Condotta". I am going to bring it to my lesson tomorrow.
Mainly I need to attack the pile of editing in my virtual in-box. The amount I owe in taxes is staggering. And heave a big sigh and try to really really learn the alto part to the "Requiem". Singing those runs just above middle C is a good skill to have and I am going to make them buzz, the way Angelika Kirchschlager does on the recording.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI am learning about mezzo pieces through your blog. We do not have any mezzos of your caliber at our church so I am not familiar with the Duruflé Pie Jesu, and being a soprano I always do the Fauré or the Rutter. The version of the Duruflé that I listened to replaced the cello with a bassoon and was just gorgeous. Break a leg, BabyDramatic, how nice that you have a cello to sing it with and how perfect for Maundy Thursday.
ReplyDeleteAs for your partner, I don't quite understand the non support. I would think someone who loves you would want self-actualization for you, no matter what form that takes. Perhaps she is concerned, because of her declining health, that you spend all your free time with her because she is not sure how much more there will be?
Just my two cents' worth.
Keep writing; I find it enthralling.
Being a mezzo is hard in a choir, unless there's a second soprano part (or some other kind of middle part, whether it's called soprano 2 or alto 1). Because the soprano parts are written for lighter voices and a lot of the alto parts are either extremely low or have a limited range. At least the Bach alto parts sit on the staff, rarely below, which is manageable. The alto part in the Mozart Kyrie has a low G which I am not going to try to sing. It would only be a grunt anyhow.
ReplyDeleteI have sung the Faure Pie Jesu - actually I sang it a few years ago on Maundy Thursday. I don't know the Rutter piece.
As for my partner, I think she sees singing opera as "wicked" and exhibitionistic. She doesn't seem to mind my involvement with church singing, unless it's snowing out. (She has a phobia that I am going to fall....so we compromised. During the snow and ice storms I promised to use a cane to keep me from slipping if she would shut up and stop telling me to stay home.) Otherwise, like many Lesbians (most straight people aren't aware of this) she is INCREDIBLY puritannical. (Sometimes I laugh and call her the "cleavage police"!)
Now that I think of it, we do have a mezzo in our choir who could sing the Duruflé if she wanted to. She says the same thing you do about the range of different pieces and, like you, sings alto but prefers second soprano, if it's there. She doesn't like to sing above the staff and I don't like to sing below it. For me, anything lower than an A (on the staff) requires more work and breath. She, on the other hand, sounds wonderful there. She and I have done the Andrew Lloyd Weber "Pie Jesu" many times together, which may be too "popera" for you. It's for two sopranos, one higher and one lower, and makes a very pretty duet. Do you have a person to sing duets with? They make a nice change from solos and also show off your voice. If you are interested, you don't have to buy recordings; you can hear any of these pieces on YouTube(including the John Rutter Pie Jesu, which has choir singing in the background with the solo; as a matter of fact, his whole Requiem is gorgeous, a couple of Lents ago, our choir did the Rutter Lux Aeterna from that Requiem and I did the soprano solo at the beginning); they have all been recorded many times by different choirs and soloists so with each one you have a choice of singer. You need speakers on your computer of course.
ReplyDeleteAs for your partner, you are right, I had no idea that lesbians can be puritannical. You learn something new every day. Now I understand where she's coming from but I still think she needs to let you have your singing passion, opera or not. My husband would not dream of interfering with mine, even though he does grouse a bit when I'm out late at rehearsals, and of course, for funerals I get called at the last minute, have to take a day off from work and it's not always convenient. The pay for those does not replace the day of work, but I do it for love more than for money. Thankfully he does get that.
I will listen to the Rutter. Yes, I do have sound on my computer.
ReplyDeleteAs a mezzo, my most comfortable octave is from the F that's the bottom space of the staff to the F that's the top line of the staff. I have a very LOUD high A which works in opera but is not suitable for choir. The highest note I can sing softly is a high A flat. I also have a loud chesty middle C and the B below, but anything lower than that is not comfortable.
I love the Andrew Lloyd Weber Pie Jesu but I thought the bottom part was for a boy soprano not a mezzo.
As for duets, there's no one at the church I would feel comfortable singing duets with although if they use the Benedictus from the Mozart Requiem, which is a quartet, I said I wanted to sing the alto part. It is not as low as the alto choral part.
I do have people to sing operatic duets with, and enjoy putting on concerts of operatic excerpts with other people.
For the Weber Pie Jesu, you are right, the music says "boy" but we do it as a mezzo part and it works very well and sounds beautiful.
ReplyDeleteYou are something if you have a pianissimo A flat; I know first sopranos who can't do that. Brava.
I have to say, I have no desire to compete in the big time for singing. I am merely a person with a decent voice who discovered it late in life. I am happy with the choir, (unless of course there starts to be too much competition for solos; a new, younger, trained soprano just joined) and my singing at occasional weddings and funerals. I love to watch opera, but as for being in one myself, I am not an actress. I just want to sing and am not the least bit interested in acting.
Glad you have an outlet for duets; they are sometimes even more rewarding than solos just because of the coordination with the other singer that has to happen.