Ileana Cotrubas - "Musica Prohibita" by Gastaldon

[Fegen]

The late Ileana Cotrubas was always one of my favorites when she sang

at the Met Opera House in New York City.

[vivachinwen]

sento questa voce , io non verro mai da lei ,se io fosse un bel ragazzo !!! :(

[vivachinwen]

sento questa voce , io non verro mai da lei ,se io fosse un bel ragazzo !!!

[Miauriceful]

This is not a "song" (canzone) it's name is "romanza".

[caruuso]

I don't think Cotrubas is at all dead!

The song actually doesn't work for a man, albeit sung by all the "big men" of the 19th century - Caruso, Gobbi (yuck) etc. The words are simply the words of a woman, apart from short chorus section. As noted below, Domingo changed the words to actually work for a man, but the result is extremely bizarre.

[halavey]

She stopped singing not long after doing a terrific Mimi in 84 with Neil Shicoff at the met. but has since died.

[ilbacioditosca]

It is difficult to find good rendition of Italian Canzonetas by sopranos, specialy light lyrics that lack enoug chest voice to pronounce the middle words. She sung well but the belting is hard!!!

[cleanears]

She sould have listened to her "mamma" on this one!

[wenarto]

hmmmm - this is not the Ileana i knew, but Brava anyway

[Labienus]

She was a fine talent, an excellent oepra singer-but she is all wrong for this. Hard for a non-tenor to try it anyway, but from the opening she's too large scale and as a result the phrasing becomes coarse, lacking intimacy.

[suffisance]

hmmm, I agree with you, but I have a live Millo someplace that puts it all in perspective ... ;) I love Cotrubas, so I find this terribly cute and technically apt, but ... what year is, anyway? I thought she retired to keep her image pristine??

[thechinadesk]

Dear Labienus,

I have no particular position on Cotrubas' rendition of "Musica Proibita" per se.

But to assert that this is a tenor aria is incorrect.

Male singers began singing it, and transformed it into a tenor aria, but Gastaldon originally composed it for a soprano.

The lyrics testify to this.

We have become accustomed to hearing tenors sing it, but that was not the original intent.

[Labienus]

This is an interesting question. Traditionally and effectively sung by tenors, it is indeed written from a woman's pt of view. However, to the best of my knowledge there is no recording of the opera-it was a flop-and I've even read the music is hard to find. So do you actually know who sang it in the opera, other than the assumption it was a female voice( you say soprano) based on the text? Have ever heard the opera etc?

A wag once said Mascagni is known for one opera, Gastaldon for one song.

[thechinadesk]

Dear Labienus,

The wag had a sense of humor! LOL!

I read that, yes indeed, the opera never went over, and all that has remained is the aria, which most people assume is an art song rather than an aria.

The answer to the questions you posed, are no and no.

Bottom line? I am making a reasonable inference about the soprano part, based on casting requirement. A mezzo would probably come across as too old.

But no explicit evidence.

[Labienus]

A good project for someone because I can't find the answer. I suppose one approach would be to see if the score of the opera can be located.

I know that the melody was put to English words-O Promise Me -for an 1891 musical Robin Hood-imagine that!

Somewhere I thought I encountered an obscure Italian film with the title of the song-but not sure??

[thechinadesk]

Dear Labienus,

It's amazing how far into obscurity something can fall, isn't it?

Another interesting aspect of the aria is how male singers have deftly dealt with the gender issue in the lyrics.

Because the aria is sort of a "song within a song," it's not hard to reframe the aria as being sung by the male walking below rather than by the female on th balcony above.

As a result, most male singers go ahead and sing the lyrics, as is. Only Domingo felt obligated to change the gender.

[gomalaca2008]

brava !!!

[oden60]

Ileana Cotrubas: romena,grande artista internazionale qui in un concerto, a fine carriera, che preserva ancora nel timbro la squisita duttilità, musicalità e dolcezza espressa delle sue memorabili Mimì, Gilda, ecc.

Brava!!!!