Bach - Magnificat - 5 - Quia fecit mihi magna

[IOVANNIG]

gorgeous!!!

[macarobledo93]

Christopher Maltman <3

[claudiakrizay]

absolutely beautiful- sung and played with such passion -this ism y favorite opera solo and done so well here I can't stop listening to it!!!

[MwalshBaritone]

@claudiakrizay ...this isn't opera, and personally I don't like it when big basses sing Bach when they clearly haven't taken the time to really figured out coloratura. I am also jealous of their low notes, which admittedly gives me a bias haha. I personally like Klaus Mertens singing under Ton Koopman better. You should check out that recording and see the difference.

[claudiakrizay]

@MwalshBaritone I just checked it out, that is Klaus Mertens singing Quia fecit under Tom Koopman- you are right, iti s beautiful- I wouldn't say it was better than Christopher Maltman's version, but just as good in a different way. I appreciate your opening me up to this version-it is always good to hear other interpretations! Thanks again,

Claudia Krizay

[dgjiephfurreighR]

Who does his eyebrows?

[Taenyr]

I wish this version were available on CD...

[beautifulsmileatbvm]

Justin Bieber created 4 fake accounts to dislike this video..

[mattvid00]

is that the campest cellist/double bass player or what!?!!?

[mmisaku]

what a bad intonation mam! it hurts

[hermetho]

Maltman - The best voice!

[canta459]

Es Christopher Maltman

[CadaverSpawn]

Is that a viola da gamba?

[Elaniago]

The study of latin pronunciation is developing, so it is rather absurd to say what is wrong or what is right.

Concensus atm is that Cs are pronounced as Ks, but that would certainly not be the case when Bach made this glorious music time.

[SiViSaraVendetta]

Beautiful voice and perfromance. But I really do not appreciate this pronounciation "à l'allemande" :/

[TheMagnus66]

this kind of pronounced is the best one... this is the Latin one which I've studed in high school and college... so those who pronounce different are going to make a huge mistake... we can see a little different in his way of speaking: he pronounce "fecit" with a german accent or something... he is still the BEST ONE I've ever hered performing this song...

[TheMagnus66]

he is brilliant... I love this kind of music...!!!

[aworysse]

I can't really believe this should be historical performance practice... he has no controll over the vibrato of his voice (you can hear it specially while singing the coloraturas). For me the tempo is still not fast enough, of course it should not be very fast, but I feel it with more movement.

Nice to see some (to me known) choir members of the Arnold Schoenberg Chor :-)

[Feroal2]

Isn't this tempo on the faster side??

[bucior1]

great voice

[triskubitch]

amazing voice! makes me melt! AND he's cute

[LifeforArt]

Kirchenlatein hat keine Zischlaute! Also: (fecit) 'fezit' nicht 'fetschit', (luceat) 'luzeat' nicht 'lutscheat', u.s.w. - Ich kann geistliche Vokal-Musik nicht ertragen wenn 'romanisierte' Konsonaten gezischelt werden. Bravo an Harnoncourt und sein Ensemble.

[slusionfan11]

who is this soloist? he's incredible!

[500jules]

@slusionfan11 It's Christopher Maltman.

[spinoza1111]

The "musical joke" here is not only a male singing Mary's words, it's also the ridiculous squeezebox tune, something a housewife or handmaiden would hum as she went about her tasks, only to turn and encounter of all Things, an angel, perhaps tracking up the floor with pixie dust.

Like the Ode to Joy, it shows what can be done with simple materials.

[spinoza1111]

A musical score, unlike a text, is only a guideline, which does not license anything (such as Toscanini's abominable arrangements of Bach) but which makes the performance a separate work.

Which isn't to say that the input to these YouTube videos by people with far more musical chops than I have isn't welcome.

[spinoza1111]

What Adorno called "resentment listening" is destructive: I heard a man complaining to his wife after a magnificent performance by the San Francisco symphony that he should have been in the first violin chair, and I've heard performances of Parzival mocked by crypto-Nazis pissing and moaning about Modernist sets.

[actorboy2]

What bothers me about this performance, more than the pronunciation, is the liberties with the tempo. ESPECIALLY at the end, Anyone who has studied Bach knows that you are NEVER to ritardando at the end of a piece, ESPECIALLY if that happens to be the middle movement of an oratorio. It's obvious that he can't sing his melismas in time, so he adjusts the tempo to fit his technical inaccuracies. Props to the cellist and harpsichordist for keeping up with the lack of steady time.

[spinoza1111]

@actorboy2 "Apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?" That is, did you like the performance? How do we know Bach's intentions. Can accurate scholarship "unearth the whole offense" or is it just this or that "scholar" trying to tell us how to listen to Bach? If there is a ritardando at the end of a piece, isn't the question whether it sucks?

[spinoza1111]

@actorboy2 You would do well, I think, to realize that this is the song of a humble Mary who is shocked to learn that she is to be God's instrument, sung by a male voice. I think that may have been Bach's little joke, for "there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus."

Or it may have been a Lutheran gesture to downplay Marian worship.

The hesitance of the humble song I think is well mirrored here in tempo.

[500jules]

@actorboy2 I believe it's more a matter of letting the music breathe and being flexible.

[daamqc]

He's dreamy.

[azandris]

Unfortunately, my English is not so good, so it can be that I've misunderstood something. But it seems that some faces are having a childish conversation here about which is the correct way of Latin pronounciation. This is an emotional quarrel, not a rational discussion. Sorry, but people use Latin in half Europe in this way. So it is correct. It is not a "vernacular Latin", it is not the Latin of eastern hicks, but the Latin of Erasmus, Copernicus, Comenius. They spoke better Latin than we do.

[bgreen94]

Beautiful.

[OPERABABE18]

BEAUTIFUL!

[acatalystsmiles]

love his color, and the balance of the ensemble.

[lojundolo]

I heard this handsome baritone singing Billy Budd role in Turin Teatro Regio, in 2003 I think, he made it very well.

[rubix0110]

I'm singing this song for a singing competition, but am having trouble with getting the breath in at the right times. Does anyone have advice?

[reubke1]

Just mark some breaths in your score and show the accompanist. You're the soloist, you can take time whenever you need. within reason of course. good luck.

[BassoNero]

@rubix0110 Good advise from reubke1. And I`ll add one more. Some people think, that Bach should`ve been sung in one unchanged tempo. But in arias like this one it is impossible for voice, because we are not machines, we need to take a breath sometimes. And this is possible with the movement inside of phrases. So longer phrases you can start a bit "slower", then gradually get some more "speed" and end the phrase a bit slower ".again".

[BassoNero]

@rubix0110 But this movement should stay in baroque style- in romantic aria a man can hold some notes forever and it`s ok there, but not in baroque. F.e. the tempo of this aria is about 66, so the movement thoughout the wole peace should be about 5 beats +-, from 61 to 71. When you do this, those breaths look just natural. But again, we are not machines, so you have to feel this movement in the way that is comfortable for you. You have to feel that tempo range with your musical feeling.

[koos1981]

I think the organ is too much present in this performance

[bersa888]

Yes, but it is - and was - also pretty normal for an aria for just for voice and b. continuo...

[dogisgreat1]

Who is this?

[matteng81]

This is Christopher Maltman.

[dwedo]

brilliant love this song!

[baguioboy11]

does anyone know the names of the soloists?

who are they?

[payrollz1234]

I don't know a bunch about historically informed performance, so I definitely be wrong in thinking so, but- wouldn't Nikolaus Harnoncourt's choice in pronunciation be correct? I gather the term 'historically informed' to mean that every aspect of performance would be the same as how it were performed when it had been written. In the case of a Bach piece, wouldn't the Latin pronunciation be the same as the German pronunciation he would've been using? True, the Catholic Church has a standardised

[payrollz1234]

form of pronunciation, which we call Ecclesiastical Latin; but Bach belonged to the German Lutheran church, and therefore the performance wouldn't necessarily have conformed to that pronunciation. At the same point in time, I'm not certain that there are any documents that can tell us how the Germans pronounced their Latin in the 18th century, so we can't be absolutely certain what the pronunciation should sound like, as far as I know.

[MilDarkAngel]

I dont really know about that..but remember taht Bach wasn't catholic...so..maybe the pronunciation is different...

And remember taht in this kind of "opera" musica...i mean liric, the pronunciation is not "that" important..

[payrollz1234]

I know that he wasn't, which was one of the points I was making about pronunciation- the singer is probably conforming to the German pronunciation of Latin used in Bach's era. But as for it not mattering how he pronounces his words, that couldn't be farther from the truth; this is a historically informed performance, and therefore the musicians and condcutor must interpret the music as true to the original as possible. This includes styles of instrument used, technique, and diction.

[MilDarkAngel]

I didn't mean that the pronunciation wasn't important...

I've been studing opera singing for 4 years...and one thing that i've learn is that there are pieces that are to high or to low and is hard to pronunciate..and is difficult to say that exact pronunciation...

However...maybe in this case the singer isn't good at languages..jeje

[payrollz1234]

Oh, okay; I see what you meant now... at any rate it is a lovely sounding piece isn't it? Bach was such a wonderful composer :).

[MilDarkAngel]

So agree with you...In my opinion Bach is the ebst composer ever!! :)

[CJTheMusicDude]

Pause at 0:19 I love his facial expression :D

[wattever333]

the conductor looks bored.

[Schaduwmeisje93]

I sang Faust with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and he is a great conductor..very enthusiastic but he has got weird eyes that make him look bored...

[GosfordAbercrombie]

He makes all baritones look bad with his awkward face!!!!!

[wattever333]

do you mean the fact that he opens his mouth to the side sometimes? or the raised eyebrows? I'm more bothered by the inaudible syllables. Unaccented doesn't mean inaudible. 0:59 1:14 eIUS, 1:04 noMEN. But I'm not THAT bothered.

[GosfordAbercrombie]

No just his overall facial expressions!!!! and his jerky movements!!! Just awkward!!!!

[orvcool3]

LOL if you translate it to hebrow he says whos the fag who gave me bamia

[cwcaplinger]

That's why it was written in latin and not hebrew.

[edancoll]

מי הפאג שהביא לי במיה? לא, אבל רציני, מי זה?

[pirlouwi]

Le rythme est très bien négocié, il attend juste ce qu'il faut au moment où il faut. Excellent!

Le timbre est fort riche et beau aussi.

J'adore cette interprétation!

[Singerboiiii]

Very well executed. He reminds me of a young Dietrick Fischer Diskau with his warm timbre and facial expressions.

[antoniocarcavilla]

Love it!

But...

I really don't understand the role of maestro, the musicians know the time to play the music, I Think the maestro is dispensable...

[angelo1962]

the maestro couldn´t be more discrete in this aria. there are 2 musicians at play and he's helping them keep same pace. try to overcome your bad mood.

[MrConductor1984]

actually it's four musicians!

[afffred]

i think theirs a organ, a viola (de gamba) and the singer=3

[wcbroccoli]

There are 4 performers, but music has only 2 obbligato parts: bass voice and basso continuo.

The basso continuo consists of cello, 5-string violone and organ.

The instrumental bass line is played by the cello and violine. The organ realizes an accompaniment from figures.

[MrConductor1984]

and a violone or double-bass!

[afffred]

does anybody know the name of this singer?

[MusicDeviant]

I believe this is Christopher Maltman. He's an English baritone who was one of the finalist in the Cardiff Singer of the World competition a couple of years ago.

[tubalooney]

it is Chris Maltman....

[cianurus]

Bravissimo e pure "bono"!

[saintsaens21]

Magnificent solo

[dreddnott]

<3 viola da gamba <3

[elicottero]

As far as I know the German pronunciation of Latin is extremely interesting, I have read something on the matter some time ago (I remember for instance "cella" that yielded Keller in the first Latinization of Germany, and Zeller in the second, according to different pronunciations in different times). Just to say that I for one like both the "German" and the "Italian" pronunciation (maybe for Bach and Palestrina respectively :-).

[Horusdragon]

beautiful Bass

[HumilisServus]

Wonderful articulation. I again echo what has been said before about the horrible pronunciation in Latin. Mihi = mi - ki, 'hi' in Latin the h is as if it is a k.

Magna = man - ya, like in Italian and french, gn = nyuh sound... cant really express it properly over type.

And before anyone compares it with classical Latin - Ecclesiastical Latin is the only correct pronunciation.

All in all, wonderful performance.

[LetItBe920]

This performance is actually in German Latin, the Latin used by Bach, Mozart, and countless others. Notice how he is pronouncing quia "kvee-ah".

They also say "Feh-tzit" in Fecit Potentiam.

Rather strange, isn't it?

[slicer317]

correct :D

[wcbroccoli]

Not strange at all.

The Italians pronounce Latin like Italian.

The Germans pronounce it like German.

Thus, "c" = "ts" and "qu" = "kv".

You should hear old English Latin pronunciation. Nothing like the Italians or the Germans.

The Roman language spread throughout Europe, but not with the Italian pronunciation. Even in ancient Rome Latin was pronounced differently by different classes.

[Jaquitita]

if we are to talk about the pronunciation of a language, then it is best to go to the source. Latin pronunciation in Germany or Old English is like going to a America to hear what English sounds like and dismissing England. I prefer the Italian pronunciation.

[wcbroccoli]

Even in ancient Rome Latin was pronounced differently by different classes.

The Roman language spread throughout Europe, but not with Italian pronunciation.

Italian itself is not the "source" of Latin pronunication.

But we are talking about historical performance practice.

Only an uninformed performance would use Roman church Latin pronunciation in a piece written for performance in German churches.

[wattever333]

if we follow the most recent findings about latin pronounciation from Roman times, it would be: kwia fekit mihi mag-na... kwia respexit humilitatem ankillae suae (and both vowels are pronounced in -ae)... Et exsultawit... :) But why would we go back to Roman times for text that was written in the Middle Ages? Romans have nothing to do with this.

[wcbroccoli]

As I said, we are talking about HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE PRACTICE.

Only an uninformed performance would use Roman church Latin pronunciation in a piece written for performance in German churches.

[wcbroccoli]

I never said we had to do as the ancient Romans did.

I was replying to Jaquitita, who said:

"if we are to talk about the pronunciation of a language, then it is best to go to the source. Latin pronunciation in Germany or Old English is like going to a America to hear what English sounds like and dismissing England. I prefer the Italian pronunciation."

I pointed out that "Even in ancient Rome Latin was pronounced differently by different classes. "

[montyjoham]

My choir director insists that "mihi" is pronounced "miki".

[kamilgorzynski]

its bad...

[AgnesRegina]

To Broccoli and Wattever: The fact that it is historical performance practice makes it evident that it should be pronounced as all church Latin is - exactly like Italian and Spanish, the two languages that sprang from Latin.

[wattever333]

wow. I think I should stand on my head to understand that "statement".

[Yongle96]

@wcbroccoli

Latin is an Italic language, and one of the ancient languages of Latium, a central region of the Italian peninsula nowadays called Lazio. As Rome grew from a city to a republic encompassing Italy, to an Empire widespread in Europe and the Mediterranean, Latin itself became THE language of Europe. As British English enjoys a "primogeniture" position among the pronunciation variations in the various British colonies, then Italian pronunciation enjoys the same in the realm of Latin.

[hundebolg]

@LetItBe920 Yes it's absolutely horrible

[langlois1]

@LetItBe920 Today, I heard "mihi" pronounced [mi:ki] . . . thoughts?

[LetItBe920]

@langlois1 It's a practice in ecclesiastical Latin, which is a different system of pronunciation from Classical Latin. ['mi:ki] is the Ecclesiastical pronunciation.

[Taenyr]

@LetItBe920 ...but he pronounces "sanctum" the Italianate way - not "zanctum," and his "e" vowels are short. I guess one has to draw the line somewhere?

[Lotiolenti]

There are three different ways of pronouncing latin correctly. Bach wanted it this way, but it could have been fe-cheat, fe-tzeat or fe-keat. All correct, but the second one is the one Bach wanted.

[Ocean92Soul]

Beautful, beautiful voice...

[novascotiawill]

Very enjoyable performance here... nice articulation and musicality. I like the tempo as well; too often I have heard this performed too fastly, and it takes away from the meaning so much...

[ubiCARITASetAMOR]

beautiful voice........ real real real bad latin.....

too bad.

[ianuus]

It's meant to be bad latin...that's the way they did it back then :P

[ubiCARITASetAMOR]

ok. now, uderstanding that some works throughout music's great history have been written to intetinoally use bad latin (but this isn't carmin burana, is it?), i seriously, seriuosly doubt that BACH of all people, sat down down while writing his Magnificat and said, "I think I'll go with a vernacular latin thats a nice mix of everything through time..."

[telynor54]

Pronunciation is terrible, Neither Golden Latin Nor Ecclesiastical!

[jolmus]

That's the way latin is pronounced in Germany...

[qebm]

And he's cute too =)

[operaandy]

Sounds like a Mark Wildman trained voice. Best teacher in the world.

[davcos22]

Great baritone voice. This is for a bass, anyway, very beautiful voice.

[webguy5410]

does anyone know the name of the bass singin this?

[interpreterr]

Christopher Maltman and he's a baritone

[jackeddemon]

omg this orchestra should not be allowed to play bach. vibrato. i dont think so

[foxdruidz]

I dont really like bass voice but I think this one is for exception. He has a powerful and clear voice, and he's cute too! Well, i would like to know what's his name and look forward to see more of his performance.

[dgviktor]

it IS pronounced mihi, it means "me"

[mendoncacorreia]

It depends of the chosen pronouncing of Latin: it's "miki" in the restored pronouncing; it's "mihi" in the traditional pronouncing. I'm quite sure Bach meant it to be pronounced "mihi".

[Bmusic231]

it's pronounced "miki" not mihi

[mendoncacorreia]

It depends of the chosen pronouncing of Latin: it's "miki" in the restored pronouncing; it's "mihi" in the traditional pronouncing.

[norcalrobbie2]

You're thinking about a completely different kind of Latin pronunciation. The pronunciation used here is of Ecclesiastical Latin (Church Latin) with Germanic influences, the kind of Latin Bach would have heard spoken in his day.  (e.g. "C" pronounced "TS", "QU" pronounced "KV" and so on.)

[SotoGx89]

haha, but he messed up at 1:15

[crowjr]

No, he didn't...

[onionpizza]

huh? what are you talking about

[inrharmony]

If you mean the trill, he just started on the upper note, that's all.

[SotoGx89]

wow... so much power! every single syllable is just filled with energy!

[mendoncacorreia]

[1/2]

I'm must confess that is why I'm not a particular fan of this interpretation - a pity, though, because this man has a great voice, indeed!

I know Fischer-Dieskau did it the same way under Richter's; but I don't think this is the proper way to sing "Quia fecit mihi magna"...

[mendoncacorreia]

[2/2]

I'm a Catholic myself, and I simply can't imagine the Blessed Virgin saying the "Magnificat" in full blast (so to speak...) to Saint Elisabeth!

To my mind, "Quia fecit mihi magna" is to be sang with something like a quiet joy - if you prefer, with a contained happiness.

[mendoncacorreia]

[Appendix]

(I know I'm going to get a bit of stick because of this, but here it goes...)

Might I add I've heard many a good singer performing "Quia fecit mihi magna" - but the way I've just said, I've heard only a great one until now: Hermann Prey under Kurt Thomas in a 1963 recording (re-released in 1996 by "Berlin Classics" in a now rare 4 CD collection untitled "Bach - Kantaten").

[SotoGx89]

AMAZING!!!

[mrmorganmusic]

I prefer the bassoon playing continuo on this one... at least doubling the cello/bass.

[abnerwagner]

WOW!! What a voice!!! o.O o.O His only problem is this "kvia", is not german is latin!!!!!

[interpreterr]

"Quia" in Latin is not necessarily pronouced the way it is pronounced in Italian...

[abnerwagner]

I´ve searched in 10 different pages on internet, and I didn´t found one of them who said "qu" is not necesary to be pronounced like italian. That´s (I don´t know the wright word for this) the german way to pronounce this combination, not latin

[interpreterr]

It all depends on what kind of Latin pronunciation we are talking about. "Kvia" may not be the current ecclesiastical Latin (which is pretty much the Italian "version" of it) but might actually be closer to the classical or medieval prununciation. I wonder what it sounded like in Bach's times... One thing is certain, it's a fascinating subject and we can go one forever about it, trying to "reconstruct" spoken Latin in various periods and in various countries!

[interpreterr]

PS. "Kvia" is not only the German pronunciation of the word. It is similar also in Polish, for instance (a languange from a different linguistic family). Fascinating subject as I've said!

[abnerwagner]

Letter V long time ago had two uses, like U and V. In actual languages derivated from Latin the sounds "qu" just sounds like a "k" , the U dissapeared (except Italian: questa sera...).

But not latin languages, usually uses this QU like QV. That´s the only diference. I´ll not speak Polish whit Spanish pronunciation: I don´t pretend say "Zezin" (Sczeczin), I need to learn correct way.

[abnerwagner]

"qu" sounds like "kv" in many languges: czech, german, polish, norwegian, that´s the reason the choruses there sing like kv this diptongo.

For example, in Czech Rep. sing "quia fetzit" because that´s how sounds their "c" when it most sound like "k" or "ch" "fekit" or "fechit" (classical or italian pronunciation, respectively).

Even not in the classical pronunciation the qu sounds like kv, and I didn´t found a page that says something about that.