My dad and Ben Heppner were desk buddies in elementary school! I'm hoping to get into the COAA at UWO when I'm vocally ready, it would be a dream to sing a duet with him one day!
Despite the fact that he uses a lot of bumpy "h"s to sing the run before the big high note and the high c flat gets a little caught in the back of his throat ... this is most magnificently musical singing by one of the great big lyric voices of our times... the calm confidence that he displays throughout this extremely difficult aria shows that tessitura holds no terror for him and the way he rides out his last note is pure, pure magic ...
l don't think the same for l am also fan of Kaufmann and Domingo. They are both magnificent tenors.
This aria is very difficult for R Strauss did not like the tenor voice, or the tenors who many times are impossible persons, l don't know. Many thanks Mark
Very good performance. Domingo could learn of him, and Kaufmann much more (his rendition of this aria in recent DVD of Rosenkavalier conducted by Tielemann is horrible).
This guy does it all! Well done by a Heldentenor. Shows that if the voice is well trained it can do wonderful things that the average professional just cannot do.
This is horrendously difficult to sing, and it was fully intentional on the part of Strauss, who hated tenors. The breath-control requires you to go to the end of a phrase without enough air to finish it. And then it hits directly with a very high note. Utterly cruel. Pavarotti had a really hard time with this, and hated singing it. I can hear Strauss laughing even though he is gone. He left a huge sand-bunker right in the middle. Cheers to Hepner! sanjosemike
This is horrendously difficult to sing, and it was fully intentional on the part of Strauss, who hated tenors. The breath-control requires you to go to the end of a phrase without enough air to finish it. And then it hits directly with a very high note. Utterly cruel. Pavarotti had a really hard time with this, and hated singing it. I can hear Strauss laughing even though he is gone. He left a huge sand-bunker right in the middle. Cheers to Hepner! sanjosemike
More an opera gluton than a gourmet;not knowing good from bad,but,can anyone top this tenor? Is there a higher praise than "bravo"? I hope to be listening to him on the final minutes of my life.All I can say.
Ben is on great form here! Most tenors would avoid singing this piece in a concert of this calibre in the OPEN AIR with hardly any acoustic feedback; it´s like standing on a cliff and singing out to sea!!
Tuve la suerte de verlo en Viena, hace dos años en Lohengrin...Maravilloso, cálido,intenso, sólido, un artista completo y además de un espíritu muy humilde
I often listen to this five or six times in a row, and usually cry when, after the tune ends, a woman yells out bravo. Heppner is great. It also makes me realize how much of a hack Strauss was.
Great composers are allowed to be hacks. Strauss composed two great atonal operas, Salome and Elektra, when such things were in style, then promptly stopped writing in those sorts of things when they fell back out of style. This little Italian aria comes out of nowhere in Der Rosenkavalier, and is more lyrical than anything I have heard of Puccini or Verdi. But there is nothing else like it in the entire Strauss literature. He could freely change his style on a whim.
Salome and Elektra are not 'atonal'. Both are filled with intensely lyrical, if expressionist, music in which you can 'hear' the Strauss of Rosenkavalier, and there are moments in that opera (in some of Ochs's music) that remind me of Elektra. Be that as it may, I'm glad we don't have to choose between his different styles and can enjoy it all for the great composer he was, hack or no.
Surely the whole point of this aria is that it is out of context IN the context of the opera - ie. he was demanded by the text to write an 'Italian Aria'. This was his interpretation of what that meant. Its not like he woke up one day and thought to himself that he would suddenly write in a different style.
i ´ve been there. its was the open air concert from the berlin philharmonic orchrstra. heppner sang the "preislied" from meistersinger too. it was a wonderful evening.
Kudos to Mr. Heppner for doing this on a concert. There is a difference in singing it in the opera where it is the ONLY thing he sings, but singing it on a concert surrounded by countless other difficult pieces- Incredible. I also love how Levine mouths the words. He is probably one of the few people on earth who could sing along to just about EVERY opera frequently performed.
@dabum200 totally agree.. levine is the best accompanist conductor for a singer for me.. he is trully magnificent.. and also have you watched a concert of LP with levine as his pianist?? very good concert..
Wow...that's impressive. a hefty diet of Wagner and STILL able to turn in such a lovely rendition of a very high and difficult aria. Well done. Beautiful. Enviable, in fact.
Heppner is great, he has a lyrical but dramatic voice. His Wagner Interpretations are the best. But in this Aria, the very high note is "wobbling" a little. Nonetheless i like it.
Man Heppner must really be a master to attempt to sing this piece in public....and he is Dramatic tenor....is he a little crazy? It's not like he is a natural like Pavarotti...it is obvious that his voice was honed over many years of arduous prctice.......the high notes are labored but the fact that he even gets through this is commendable.....hard working tenor....congrats!
What kind of torture ? You know that it is that Richard wanted, torture to the tenor, and this makes Rosenkavalier almost an operetta, for the style. natürlich
Definitivamente, de nuestros tiempos es el único tenor que tiene un lugar en el inexistente hall de la fama tenoril... Heppner es un monstruo vocal, un cantante fuera de clase, como los de antaño, con personalidad en la voz, estilo, técnica, musicalidad, elegancia... ¡Bravo maestro Heppner!...
For many months, I played this video the first thing every morning. Every part of it is perfect including James Levine, the energy of the orchestra, the appreciative audience, and the irresistible charm and powerful lyric voice of Ben Heppner.
Ok (Cesaare), but for me Ben Happner hes a dramatic voice, Is liric fou you? ok, Ben Happner sing Wagner and Verdi perfect, hes a big diference between a liric and dramatic voice, exemple: The voice of Pavarotti is 100% liric tenor, but for Wagner, Otello ( Verdi), for me is exquisite, but Ben Happner hes a rich color in voice tipical dramatic, ok you hes your opnion, and y have my opninion. Thank´s
True, it is crucial hear the voice in true live situation, in a big operahall. Recordings and concerts are often sang thru microphones which might give us a wrong picture about ones voice.
you are very right. I heard this man as Otello in London: much to much money for such an awful singer and ridiculous actor. The Love-Duett with Renee Fleming was a pain. From Heppner wrong notes and bad intonation through the whole scene, and Fleming sang like an angel. After this disaster I understood Jago completly, that he hated this Otello.
And I suppose you are the the great arbiter of what makes a good tenor? Your dismissal of Heppner, a tenor who's sung in the great opera houses of the world, as "awful and ridiculous" is uncharitable and unwarranted and places you in the category of ignorant buffoon.
It's great to hear such a big, beautiful voice doing this. When he did Meistersinger at the Met a few years ago, he had quite a bit of trouble with the top, cracking in several places in the first song writing aria. Di Rigori is such an odd thing in Rosenkavalier: an Italian aria in the midst of all that German, and the tenor can go get a drink till curtain call.
NO, a C flat is a C flat. Sorry, but there are light years of difference between C flat and C. MOST tenors have a C flat/ B nat, but not all have a truly great C.
With a guy this size of course the High B and the High C will be gard....it's simple physics...he must generate huge subglottic pressures to hit these notes at optimal resonnance....actually the fact that he is able to do it at all is a phenomenon...
Let's get a couple of things straight here...Strauss wrote a Cflat in the score. It is beautifully executed here by Mr Heppner. It goes with out saying that the tessitura of this aria makes it amazingly difficult. With all due respect to other artists, this is one of the finest renditions of this aria that I've ever heard. Argue over appropriateness if you will, but do not take a cheap shot at Mr Heppner and compare his work to your own! How dare you?!!!!
Thanks and I made a mistake, Baum sings a D flat at the end of the aria not a High C but a D flat that he got permission to do from Strauss. Yes Levine is great the way you say but if an orchestra plays loud enough and they can most any singer would be not heard unless he had the right note at the right time. Thanks.
Frankly if Baum sings a high note like a D flat at the end of this aria , and with Strauss permission, l am laughing internally, for knowing how Richard hated the tenors he left K Baum making a foll,, probably this was his thinking.
For a fun time listen to Kurt Baum sing this on his studio recording, not pretty at all but at the end he sings a fine high C, in fact he swells out on it hits it forte and then goes super forte he got permission from Strauss to do it- he was crazy to sing C's his best note!
l understand what you try to explain. As a singer l never had the opportunity to sing with Levine, my voice is and was medium big voice and probably he could have drown my voice. The only thing l notice in his conducting is the way he leaves the singers breathe and express themselves. It is good to explain things that may be l am not too conscient of.Nice to meet you, as a fan of Benny...
I agree with some of what Vinyl says, Levine has a habit of pumping up the orch. LOUD and when I first heard him in June of 1970 in SF calif. conduct for Tucker and Arroyo in a concert it was lucky at the time we had two very big voices cause in the final Chenier duet they almost where knocked out by his blasting near the end, next day the reviews mentioned it. Had it been two smaller voices I doubt he would have been any different.
Can you explain to me why do you think that Levine es horrible ? If you are a singer you can see how he helps us. l am interested to know, please, explain
He's just not a conductor I consider among the best and I don't care for his style at all. He's also been one of the Met's "top" conductors since the early 70s, and since then the company has gone downhill like it never has before and there's no sign of recovery. I wouldn't say that is Levine's fault, but he hasn't helped any. And unless I've had a few drinks I wouldn't consider myself much of a singer.
One of my favorite arias! Listening to all the great tenors I must give first prize to Piotr Beczala, the marvelous polish tenor.His voice touches the heart!
Anche a me piace molto questa voce e quasi drammatica pero c'è sempre questo colore chiaro e magnifico. Non e giovane va già per la cinquantina e più. Ha avuto anche un problema con il cuore pero a perso peso e sta sempre cantando. Dov'è una altra voce cosi bella.. ?
Ben is fantastic, but in this piece he wasn't. He WAS good in it, but not fantastic. His high Bbs were sung as "ah" vowels when they are actually "eh" vowels and the high B got wobbly. Pretty good though overall. Nice easy production throughout the passagio.
Most singers change the vowels especially in the high zone. l never did it, but l understand them. nevertheless this aria is a killing tenor voice, Strauss never loved the tenors and this aria is a mocking piece, in the opera .l love the colour of Benny really radiant through all the zones.
Vowel modification is the divine right of singers! Listen to Dame Joan Sutherland. It's all modified. Who cares? An even scale and expressiveness is what it's all about. Bravo Maestro Heppner!
l am glad you know that some singers , most of them have to do it . But as you say who cares, also l don't think that some tenors know the difficulty of this aria. Strauss was very hard with them
l am glad that this fantastic tenor is highly loves with my poor video. l think that he should get more acknowledge of his great voice and musicality. l am crazy to hear him in person.
I heard him this past month at Symphony Hall in Boston in Gerontius. His voice is so surprizingly pliable and beautiful. At the same time it carries very well and he has it at his dynamic command.
no l don't think so, this aria is very ,very difficult, is to joke with tenors. In fact Strauss never loved tenors ,he gave them a good part in die Frau ohne Schatten, but nothing more.
Benny is Canadian and his voice is gorgeous with fantastic high notes. he sings beautifully. His Wagner operas are fabulous. Jimmy is also a conductor who leaves the singers sing and he helps them all the time. Long live for both..
Great performance !!! Young voice !!!
autogyro100 2 months ago
Beautiful aria and singing!
hazelssister 3 months ago in playlist Opera
My dad and Ben Heppner were desk buddies in elementary school! I'm hoping to get into the COAA at UWO when I'm vocally ready, it would be a dream to sing a duet with him one day!
BeautyxinChains 4 months ago
Richard Verreau i meant to type.
paulostroff99 4 months ago
My God, what a magnificent tenor! One of the greatest singers in the world today, there is simply no doubt about it!
EdmundStAustell 4 months ago
Despite the fact that he uses a lot of bumpy "h"s to sing the run before the big high note and the high c flat gets a little caught in the back of his throat ... this is most magnificently musical singing by one of the great big lyric voices of our times... the calm confidence that he displays throughout this extremely difficult aria shows that tessitura holds no terror for him and the way he rides out his last note is pure, pure magic ...
RingingHeldentenor 5 months ago
definitivamente es la mejor interpretacion de esta aria que e escuchado
sin querer establecer comparaciones quien es mejor
jossemegy 5 months ago
I never knew Strauss hated tenors until very recently . this is a gorgeous aria !
hazelssister 6 months ago
He is a fine tenor.
hazelssister 6 months ago
Una de las mejores versiones que hay por youtube, voz bella, buen fraseo, musicalidad, legato, un gran tenor
MadameBorgi 6 months ago
R Strauss had a good time mocking Italian singing and tenors, he succeeded. But what a beautiful aria it is .
papoocanada 7 months ago
@papoo canada Yes poor tenors, Richard did not like then and feel real good to have a tenor struggling with this beautiful aria. Benny is marvelous
joanabanyeres 7 months ago
marvellous voice and talent
Sarita41248 8 months ago
BRAVOOO!!!
aletibet 9 months ago
Ben Heppner is the Finest Tenor TODAY
MrSkylark1 9 months ago 2
@MrSkylark1 .l am glad you like Him as l do.
joanabanyeres 9 months ago
How lucky you are !
But l think he lives in british Colombia.
joanabanyeres 10 months ago
@joanabanyeres -joana,British Columbia is a province in Canada. Jon Vickers one of the all time greats was also a Canadian as was Richard Verreau.
paulostroff99 4 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@joanabanyeres -joana-British Columbia is in Canada.The greatest of them all Jon Vickers was also a Canadian as was Richard Verraau.
paulostroff99 4 months ago
This guy goes to my church in Markham Ontario! No joke.
jennaissoofficial 10 months ago
Not much of a fan of his, but that was pretty damned good.
56mikeo 11 months ago
Wonderful singing of a very difficult aria by a great Canadian tenor! Bravo!
CanadaPisces 1 year ago
l don't think the same for l am also fan of Kaufmann and Domingo. They are both magnificent tenors.
This aria is very difficult for R Strauss did not like the tenor voice, or the tenors who many times are impossible persons, l don't know. Many thanks Mark
joanabanyeres 1 year ago
Very good performance. Domingo could learn of him, and Kaufmann much more (his rendition of this aria in recent DVD of Rosenkavalier conducted by Tielemann is horrible).
mark6230 1 year ago
This guy does it all! Well done by a Heldentenor. Shows that if the voice is well trained it can do wonderful things that the average professional just cannot do.
richbari 1 year ago
What a joy. What a voice.
gert0174 1 year ago
one of the greatest singers of our times !!!!!
Rephrat 1 year ago
0:30 Ahh, the prosaic things in life...
edelmantos 1 year ago
Ja! Good old Heppner!!
He launched into this terrible 'rigor armato' piece with traditional gusto.
Jean-Pierre Coutrelle (Heppner's personal barber) claims Heppner nearly ripped off the 'winged collar' he was made to wear for the occasion.
andreaprodan 1 year ago
This is horrendously difficult to sing, and it was fully intentional on the part of Strauss, who hated tenors. The breath-control requires you to go to the end of a phrase without enough air to finish it. And then it hits directly with a very high note. Utterly cruel. Pavarotti had a really hard time with this, and hated singing it. I can hear Strauss laughing even though he is gone. He left a huge sand-bunker right in the middle. Cheers to Hepner! sanjosemike
sanjosemike 1 year ago 6
@sanjosemike
l really think the same.. Hepner was one of the best. this is terrific aria put with bad intention by Richard,
joanabanyeres 1 year ago
This is horrendously difficult to sing, and it was fully intentional on the part of Strauss, who hated tenors. The breath-control requires you to go to the end of a phrase without enough air to finish it. And then it hits directly with a very high note. Utterly cruel. Pavarotti had a really hard time with this, and hated singing it. I can hear Strauss laughing even though he is gone. He left a huge sand-bunker right in the middle. Cheers to Hepner! sanjosemike
sanjosemike 1 year ago
This is very inspirational
homousios 1 year ago
wow you're all arguing about Strauss, and you don't even realize you're agreeing more than you are disagreeing.
wattever333 1 year ago
beautiful:-)))
gombika12 1 year ago
More an opera gluton than a gourmet;not knowing good from bad,but,can anyone top this tenor? Is there a higher praise than "bravo"? I hope to be listening to him on the final minutes of my life.All I can say.
sototube1 1 year ago
Ben is on great form here! Most tenors would avoid singing this piece in a concert of this calibre in the OPEN AIR with hardly any acoustic feedback; it´s like standing on a cliff and singing out to sea!!
Bravo Ben!!!!
Eurofrank1 2 years ago
Nicely done...bravo!!!!!!
nessie96 2 years ago
Grande voix!!
lesbonnesoreilles 2 years ago
Lindisima voz, y no es tan joven, bien colocada en l mascara!!!!!
Sin dudar un gran tenor lirico.
acitipo 2 years ago
Tuve la suerte de verlo en Viena, hace dos años en Lohengrin...Maravilloso, cálido,intenso, sólido, un artista completo y además de un espíritu muy humilde
ximenadore 2 years ago
BRAVISSIMO WHAT DIFFICULT ARIA
ximenadore 2 years ago
I often listen to this five or six times in a row, and usually cry when, after the tune ends, a woman yells out bravo. Heppner is great. It also makes me realize how much of a hack Strauss was.
kcb5029 2 years ago
A hack, really? Such a remark really only puts your own ignorance on display for all to appreciate.
rlaclark 2 years ago
Great composers are allowed to be hacks. Strauss composed two great atonal operas, Salome and Elektra, when such things were in style, then promptly stopped writing in those sorts of things when they fell back out of style. This little Italian aria comes out of nowhere in Der Rosenkavalier, and is more lyrical than anything I have heard of Puccini or Verdi. But there is nothing else like it in the entire Strauss literature. He could freely change his style on a whim.
kcb5029 2 years ago
Salome and Elektra are not 'atonal'. Both are filled with intensely lyrical, if expressionist, music in which you can 'hear' the Strauss of Rosenkavalier, and there are moments in that opera (in some of Ochs's music) that remind me of Elektra. Be that as it may, I'm glad we don't have to choose between his different styles and can enjoy it all for the great composer he was, hack or no.
rlaclark 2 years ago
Surely the whole point of this aria is that it is out of context IN the context of the opera - ie. he was demanded by the text to write an 'Italian Aria'. This was his interpretation of what that meant. Its not like he woke up one day and thought to himself that he would suddenly write in a different style.
chrish12345 2 years ago
The BEST
Tenorgeiger 2 years ago
just great !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
dziady1 2 years ago
check out his vest!
dcshuman 2 years ago
i ´ve been there. its was the open air concert from the berlin philharmonic orchrstra. heppner sang the "preislied" from meistersinger too. it was a wonderful evening.
lightsbear 2 years ago
this gut looks really cool----a gaint viking singing this killer aria---------
btsg 2 years ago
what an amazing artist!!!and the music!!!just astonishing
davisbone 2 years ago
Sensacional; el mejor tenor dramático de los últimos años
321rufi 2 years ago
Astonishing. Didn't expect that from Heppner. Thanks
gratecourt 2 years ago
Kudos to Mr. Heppner for doing this on a concert. There is a difference in singing it in the opera where it is the ONLY thing he sings, but singing it on a concert surrounded by countless other difficult pieces- Incredible. I also love how Levine mouths the words. He is probably one of the few people on earth who could sing along to just about EVERY opera frequently performed.
dabum200 2 years ago 2
l fully agree., you must be a connoisseur.
joanabanyeres 2 years ago
@dabum200 sorry but just about every opera conductor can mouth all the words to the operas they conduct. That's THEIR JOB.
wattever333 1 year ago
@dabum200 totally agree.. levine is the best accompanist conductor for a singer for me.. he is trully magnificent.. and also have you watched a concert of LP with levine as his pianist?? very good concert..
MusicalTenor23 1 year ago
Wow...that's impressive. a hefty diet of Wagner and STILL able to turn in such a lovely rendition of a very high and difficult aria. Well done. Beautiful. Enviable, in fact.
bradleyjenks 2 years ago
What's he doing singing THIS??!!!
cleanears 2 years ago
Well singing it beautifully.! ! !
joanabanyeres 2 years ago
Heppner is great, he has a lyrical but dramatic voice. His Wagner Interpretations are the best. But in this Aria, the very high note is "wobbling" a little. Nonetheless i like it.
dg6da 2 years ago
Thanks Joana, for all the Ben Heppner's videos.
I chose this one for my playlist "Super tenor arias".
upatoia 2 years ago
Man Heppner must really be a master to attempt to sing this piece in public....and he is Dramatic tenor....is he a little crazy? It's not like he is a natural like Pavarotti...it is obvious that his voice was honed over many years of arduous prctice.......the high notes are labored but the fact that he even gets through this is commendable.....hard working tenor....congrats!
radiologist301 2 years ago
It seems to have been a torture for him - a deep joy for the listener!
preruminator 2 years ago
What kind of torture ? You know that it is that Richard wanted, torture to the tenor, and this makes Rosenkavalier almost an operetta, for the style. natürlich
joanabanyeres 2 years ago
I agree. He made it sound easy but inside him, there is mental anxiety of technique going on.
steakopera 2 years ago
Definitivamente, de nuestros tiempos es el único tenor que tiene un lugar en el inexistente hall de la fama tenoril... Heppner es un monstruo vocal, un cantante fuera de clase, como los de antaño, con personalidad en la voz, estilo, técnica, musicalidad, elegancia... ¡Bravo maestro Heppner!...
juandavid1969 3 years ago
Brilliant!
Englishtenor2 3 years ago
For many months, I played this video the first thing every morning. Every part of it is perfect including James Levine, the energy of the orchestra, the appreciative audience, and the irresistible charm and powerful lyric voice of Ben Heppner.
marlylovesjewels 3 years ago
Who cares about lyric(spinto ) Ben is a great tenor who can sing dramatic roles,.....
joanabanyeres 3 years ago
Ok (Cesaare), but for me Ben Happner hes a dramatic voice, Is liric fou you? ok, Ben Happner sing Wagner and Verdi perfect, hes a big diference between a liric and dramatic voice, exemple: The voice of Pavarotti is 100% liric tenor, but for Wagner, Otello ( Verdi), for me is exquisite, but Ben Happner hes a rich color in voice tipical dramatic, ok you hes your opnion, and y have my opninion. Thank´s
Alexmeister25 3 years ago
Une voix magnifique! Je le découvre : je l'ai entendu chanter Siegfried hier sur France Inter.
Quelle jolie voix!
jackylen57 3 years ago
A great singer
joanabanyeres 3 years ago
Ben Heppner, sing wagner in Metropolitan teather in NY, he is a dramátic tenor, and for he hes a wonderful voice.
Alexmeister25 3 years ago
what makes you think he is dramatic?
Repertoir?
Power?
Voice Color?
Today critics, who know nothing about voices call everyone who sings Wagner or Verdi dramatic
Happner is a fine liric tenor
Cesaare 3 years ago
Totally agree with you...Lyric voice can also be big...Heppner sings dramatic roles but the voicecolor is lyric indeed.
1Ooppera 3 years ago
I've heard Ben in big and small venues-he never made an impression on me that he is even close to dramatic and it's not only color but the volume too.
Ben is full liric voice, with great technique and he is a great musician.
Cesaare 3 years ago
True, it is crucial hear the voice in true live situation, in a big operahall. Recordings and concerts are often sang thru microphones which might give us a wrong picture about ones voice.
1Ooppera 3 years ago
you are very right. I heard this man as Otello in London: much to much money for such an awful singer and ridiculous actor. The Love-Duett with Renee Fleming was a pain. From Heppner wrong notes and bad intonation through the whole scene, and Fleming sang like an angel. After this disaster I understood Jago completly, that he hated this Otello.
gepopo1 2 years ago
And I suppose you are the the great arbiter of what makes a good tenor? Your dismissal of Heppner, a tenor who's sung in the great opera houses of the world, as "awful and ridiculous" is uncharitable and unwarranted and places you in the category of ignorant buffoon.
jebemti 2 years ago
My comment below is in resposne to gepopo1 - nine comments down!
jebemti 2 years ago
absolutley agree with you 100% Cesaare
Prolyrictenor 2 years ago
It's great to hear such a big, beautiful voice doing this. When he did Meistersinger at the Met a few years ago, he had quite a bit of trouble with the top, cracking in several places in the first song writing aria. Di Rigori is such an odd thing in Rosenkavalier: an Italian aria in the midst of all that German, and the tenor can go get a drink till curtain call.
dugbran 3 years ago
Quite good for such a huge voice...as such voices rapidly lose their "acuti"
rrgallo 3 years ago
Well, there is no high C in this aria:)
angelmanrobi 3 years ago
Comment removed
Prolyrictenor 3 years ago
NO, a C flat is a C flat. Sorry, but there are light years of difference between C flat and C. MOST tenors have a C flat/ B nat, but not all have a truly great C.
BeauTenor 3 years ago
The high c seems to be very hard for him to sing. You can actually see it. Please take a look at my high c's, d's and f's
Cheers
luenendonk1 3 years ago
Beautiful, but your voice is another type of voice, Benny sings Wagner.
joanabanyeres 3 years ago
It's a B.
BigOperaguy 3 years ago
It's a C flat!
Prolyrictenor 3 years ago
Ummmm, I'm pretty positive that you're "C-flat!" is B natural. Time for someone to take a music theory class.
BigOperaguy 3 years ago
yes, I am fully aware that the enharmonic equivalent note is a b natural thank you very much!
Prolyrictenor 3 years ago
Indeed Prolyrictenor is right.
It IS a C-flat exactly because it fits better the key the aria is written in!
This is the "right" way to write it.
Eboli in Don Carlos has a notorious C-flat too.
CONTESTAR 3 years ago
He doesn't sing high C -the top note is a B natural, and not a stretch for Mr. Heppner, who has always produced a secure,solid top.
vickersman 3 years ago
With a guy this size of course the High B and the High C will be gard....it's simple physics...he must generate huge subglottic pressures to hit these notes at optimal resonnance....actually the fact that he is able to do it at all is a phenomenon...
radiologist301 3 years ago
Uh have you ever heard of Pavarotti?? What does his size have to do with it?
fiercejarret 3 years ago
Let's get a couple of things straight here...Strauss wrote a Cflat in the score. It is beautifully executed here by Mr Heppner. It goes with out saying that the tessitura of this aria makes it amazingly difficult. With all due respect to other artists, this is one of the finest renditions of this aria that I've ever heard. Argue over appropriateness if you will, but do not take a cheap shot at Mr Heppner and compare his work to your own! How dare you?!!!!
TennesseeTenor 3 years ago 3
Here here! 1 in 20 tenors can sing this very difficult aria and Mr Heppner's rendition is wonderful and an example to all.
Prolyrictenor 3 years ago
I stand corrected and apologize for the C-flat error. It's just something I've never heard of before.
BigOperaguy 3 years ago
Questo è un altro che canta bene, sa proprio cantare e sono grato a chi mi ha permesso di ascoltarlo.
sincrotto 3 years ago
Beautiful bravo tenore!!!
tomasjuhasz 3 years ago
I would never have expected this aria sung so beautifully from Ben Heppner. Bravo!
craigwalters 3 years ago
Could be but High C and D flat where his best two notes! Wild!
pearlmuth3 3 years ago
Thanks and I made a mistake, Baum sings a D flat at the end of the aria not a High C but a D flat that he got permission to do from Strauss. Yes Levine is great the way you say but if an orchestra plays loud enough and they can most any singer would be not heard unless he had the right note at the right time. Thanks.
pearlmuth3 3 years ago
Frankly if Baum sings a high note like a D flat at the end of this aria , and with Strauss permission, l am laughing internally, for knowing how Richard hated the tenors he left K Baum making a foll,, probably this was his thinking.
joanabanyeres 3 years ago
well the whole point of this aria (a pastizio composition with ludicrous lyrics and a "tasteless" series of high notes!!) IS a "tenor joke"...
So I am inclined to think this is precisely what the composer thought at the tenor's (Baum) no-sense request!!
CONTESTAR 3 years ago
Natürlich !
joanabanyeres 3 years ago
For a fun time listen to Kurt Baum sing this on his studio recording, not pretty at all but at the end he sings a fine high C, in fact he swells out on it hits it forte and then goes super forte he got permission from Strauss to do it- he was crazy to sing C's his best note!
pearlmuth3 3 years ago
l understand what you try to explain. As a singer l never had the opportunity to sing with Levine, my voice is and was medium big voice and probably he could have drown my voice. The only thing l notice in his conducting is the way he leaves the singers breathe and express themselves. It is good to explain things that may be l am not too conscient of.Nice to meet you, as a fan of Benny...
joanabanyeres 3 years ago
I agree with some of what Vinyl says, Levine has a habit of pumping up the orch. LOUD and when I first heard him in June of 1970 in SF calif. conduct for Tucker and Arroyo in a concert it was lucky at the time we had two very big voices cause in the final Chenier duet they almost where knocked out by his blasting near the end, next day the reviews mentioned it. Had it been two smaller voices I doubt he would have been any different.
pearlmuth3 3 years ago
Levine's conducting is horrible, as usual and Heppner's singing is great, as usual.
VinylToVideo 3 years ago
Can you explain to me why do you think that Levine es horrible ? If you are a singer you can see how he helps us. l am interested to know, please, explain
joanabanyeres 3 years ago
He's just not a conductor I consider among the best and I don't care for his style at all. He's also been one of the Met's "top" conductors since the early 70s, and since then the company has gone downhill like it never has before and there's no sign of recovery. I wouldn't say that is Levine's fault, but he hasn't helped any. And unless I've had a few drinks I wouldn't consider myself much of a singer.
VinylToVideo 3 years ago
Yes it's true, Met is going downhill as you say, but what we have to consider is the lack of important voices, Scala also lacks good voices.
joanabanyeres 3 years ago
One of my favorite arias! Listening to all the great tenors I must give first prize to Piotr Beczala, the marvelous polish tenor.His voice touches the heart!
voce29 3 years ago
ptiotr Beczala. a very fine tenor l ''ll hope to hear more of him, may be more suitable for this difficult aria.
joanabanyeres 2 years ago
Che meraviglia anche se avanti con gli anni,
conserva una voce così fresca e bella, Dal timbro così gradevole, veramente una piacevole scoperta per me.Grazie per avercelo proposto.
macciboma 3 years ago
Anche a me piace molto questa voce e quasi drammatica pero c'è sempre questo colore chiaro e magnifico. Non e giovane va già per la cinquantina e più. Ha avuto anche un problema con il cuore pero a perso peso e sta sempre cantando. Dov'è una altra voce cosi bella.. ?
joanabanyeres 3 years ago
Ben is fantastic, but in this piece he wasn't. He WAS good in it, but not fantastic. His high Bbs were sung as "ah" vowels when they are actually "eh" vowels and the high B got wobbly. Pretty good though overall. Nice easy production throughout the passagio.
aarontenor 3 years ago
Most singers change the vowels especially in the high zone. l never did it, but l understand them. nevertheless this aria is a killing tenor voice, Strauss never loved the tenors and this aria is a mocking piece, in the opera .l love the colour of Benny really radiant through all the zones.
joanabanyeres 3 years ago
Vowel modification is the divine right of singers! Listen to Dame Joan Sutherland. It's all modified. Who cares? An even scale and expressiveness is what it's all about. Bravo Maestro Heppner!
ProfPiffles 3 years ago 2
l am glad you know that some singers , most of them have to do it . But as you say who cares, also l don't think that some tenors know the difficulty of this aria. Strauss was very hard with them
joanabanyeres 3 years ago
Une vraie leçon!!!
SOPRATENOR 3 years ago
and no drammatic tenors able to sing a "light aria" like this one.. great Ben!
principecalaf 4 years ago
absolutely beautiful projection and sensitivity from Benny of this real toughie. Jimmy is terrific, as usual. Thanks very much for this one.
sruotecnarf 4 years ago
Not many of the the big-gun wagner tenors will touch this. Ben's got some serious kahones. I just love this tenor!
hightenor123 4 years ago
l am glad that this fantastic tenor is highly loves with my poor video. l think that he should get more acknowledge of his great voice and musicality. l am crazy to hear him in person.
joanabanyeres 4 years ago
I heard him this past month at Symphony Hall in Boston in Gerontius. His voice is so surprizingly pliable and beautiful. At the same time it carries very well and he has it at his dynamic command.
hightenor123 4 years ago
Un grand Monsieur ce Ben Heppner!!!
SOPRATENOR 4 years ago
One of my favorite parts of der Rosenkavalier! Strauss could have been an Italian composer ;-).
jlee800 4 years ago
no l don't think so, this aria is very ,very difficult, is to joke with tenors. In fact Strauss never loved tenors ,he gave them a good part in die Frau ohne Schatten, but nothing more.
joanabanyeres 4 years ago
I don't think you find many current dramatic tenors with the sensitivity and vocal expression that Ben Heppner has.
Grandtenore 4 years ago
Benny is Canadian and his voice is gorgeous with fantastic high notes. he sings beautifully. His Wagner operas are fabulous. Jimmy is also a conductor who leaves the singers sing and he helps them all the time. Long live for both..
joanabanyeres 4 years ago