Russell Oberlin 2 of 4

[olialto7]

When people first started staging Giulio Cesare, the role of Sesto was usually given to tenors, down the octave from the original soprano tessitura. So it was probably raised slightly for Mr Oberlin's very high tenor voice.

[amatorynumber]

Sesto transposed up??? what the hell is he talking about? More like transposed DOWN, mister.

[ReddzVoice]

@amatorynumber From the context of his statement, it seems that he's saying his part was transposed up in opposition to the CAESAR part which was transposed down an octave from the original composition. That's my interpretation of his words here.

Peace and love...

[sfkcbf]

@amatorynumber As Oberlin pointed out, it was common with many productions from approximately 1950s-1970s to transpose a castrato tessitura down to tenor. Oberlin simply had his part transposed a second time up to a range in which he was comfortable. I understand that, when an appropriate voice is not available, directors are tempted to use tenors. Sometimes it works; often it does not, the composers' original intent being lost.