Ombra cara - Tamara Gura - Radamisto - Karlsruhe 2009 - Handel

[CaraPhilos]

Wow, thank you for posting this, Gudrun74 !

[MehdiCaps]

A "completely historic correct cast"... What do you mean? This will never happen. Even if we had a few castrati, they would never match the best singers of Händel's time. At age 15, they were accomplished musicians, trained by great masters, with their entire life dedicated to music. Nowadays, the singers are very far from understanding music, opera libretti and religious texts as well as the singers of the past.

[MehdiCaps]

The castrati were most likely singing in falsetto (other than that, one could not explain their strong chest notes). They only had a much more powerful and beautiful voice than the countertenors that we have now, and a better technique. They were also superior to the best women, so the mezzo-sopranos are not going to replace them perfectly. There is no ideal solution, and we must admit it. This war between countertenors and mezzo-sopranos has no reason to be.

[CaraPhilos]

@MehdiCaps A very interesting argument about the castrati´s falsetto singing, but I don´t understand it. You mean that their falsetto/head voice began rather low, as it is with countertenors? But the chest voice is "stronger" than the head voice, isn´t it?

[MehdiCaps]

I meant that, to me, their higher register was falsetto, and not natural. They did not keep their child's voice completely. Some falsettists managed to be taken for castrati, so they must not have been that different.

Women also use their head voice for their upper register, so the castrati must have done the same thing. They were falsettists, but with a lung power that countertenors (and mezzo-sopranos) can only dream of, and much better training and knowledge of music than today's singers.

[MehdiCaps]

As for the part about 'chest notes', I meant that they sometimes had to produce, in those tailor-made arias, low G's (for instance) that would obviously require a very strong chest voice (non falsetto, and non childlike either, but virile). It seems to me that only female singers like Marilyn Horne and Marie-Nicole Lemieux can come close to what was expected there, and why? because they have a manly voice... something that a countertenor does not have, but that a castrato had.

[CaraPhilos]

@MehdiCaps it seems very interesting to me indeed that femals singers sound more "manly-strong" than a countertenor in the lower middle register, because they use the chest voice where countertenors already are in their head voice, which is sweet and "more feminine".

[CaraPhilos]

@MehdiCaps I agree that of course castrati used the falsetto in the sense of head voice, that is a trained falsetto. Sure women sopranoes do. And yes, that there were some falsettists among them indicates that their voices were not that different from countertenors´.

[x123x12]

@CaraPhilos I'm confused. Countertenors are falsettists.

[CaraPhilos]

@x123x12 with "among them" I meant among the castrati, and with "their voices", castrati´s voices. Sorry about the confusing grammar.

[x123x12]

castrati don't sing in falsetto, okay?

[MehdiCaps]

Is it a question? In any case, one can only make conjectures about how the castrati were singing, so there is no definite answer.

[puritymccall]

Oh Gudrun what would we do without you - thank you!

[x123x12]

many thanks for uploading this, Gudrun! (although I'm sitting at a rehearsal right now so I can't listen to it) I wish I could see this production. Fortunately I had the chance to see Rinaldo in the Estates Theater in Prague, which was also a historically-informed production, with baroque gestures, candle lighting, and no CTs!

[Gudrun74]

Oh thank you, you got exactly my point. I really see this Radamisto as a little revolution, esp. in Germany = "Regietheater" and "CT" country. For some reason, each performance proudly highlights "on period instruments", but what's with the rest?? Looks like at our Czech neighbours, the historic approach is more common, I btw read of a revival of Vivaldi's Argippo in Český Krumlov's baroque theatre in Sept 2010 :-)

[x123x12]

@Gudrun74 haha, "on period instruments", that sounds like "Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with 'An die Freude'", which unfortunately they always use to advertise in Germany. But apart from the excess of Regietheater and CTs, Germany is still my favorite country. :) btw, the Rinaldo production will be repeated in Luxemburg this May.