"Non è si vago e bello" (Sarah Connolly, "Giulio Cesare")

[tinkerbell199193]

she's ridiculously good at playing a man. also, she's a ridiculously great mezzo!

[Baroquepassion]

I love this.

[jgonnerman85]

Bel volto, indeed! ;-)

[Musiker110]

Amazing singing!

[ptitlu747]

If I were cleopatra, I'll fall in love immediatly. isn't it incredible ?

[CrowneLeah]

I love this lady - she's playing composer at Met next February (2010) with the amazing Nina Stemme ... YUMMY singing!!!!!

[mariandelochs]

Oh, my! That's great for you - wish I could hear her live - she's the top mezzo-soprano today., in my book!

As an aside, I've got recently uploaded clips of a different soprano (sadly underappreciated in her time and today) tackling the difficult role of Der Komponist in 'Ariadne auf Naxos' - on my page. Name of Sena Jurinac - a Vienna State Opera singer from the 40s thru the early 80s. Great singing there, if you're interested.

[BethDiane]

It's almost perverted the way that Sarah Connolly not only manages to make a convincing man, but a good-looking one as well!

[blind913]

good performance. They do an amusing job showing the seduction game cleopatra and caesar are playing- and the music is fun and carefully performed. Thanks for posting this!

[mariandelochs]

You're welcome!

[ansketil]

Also, is it just me, or does Connolly look like Napoleon here? ^_^

[ansketil]

I just adore this. Can someone post the english lyrics to this scene? Postgrad Roman historian and opera-lover drooling here...

[belovedofarinna]

The flower in the meadow

Is not so charming or so fair

As the loveliness and sweetness

Of your beauteous face.

It can be compared

Only to the loveliness of a flower,

But all of a fair April

Is joined in you

[BuHg3oP]

Why has noone mentioned Andreas Scholl??????

[DivaDeb1234]

Just wondering...does anyone know why the part of Cesare was written for a woman? I know pants roles are usually written when the character is a young boy...but Cesare wasn't a really young boy......,right?

[rumbidzai]

It was written for a castrato. Not many of them around these days, so the part is rewritten for alt, mezzo soprano or baritone. Countertenor has also become more and more popular in the recent years.

A soprano, typically a castrato, was used for the role of the hero in baroqe opera, so these situations are quite common.

[GreenHarpist]

The identification of high voice=noble was so strong that a female soprano would be cast in a role like Giulio Caesare if a decent castrato could not be found.

[Thrax1982]

This custom of using high voices for heroic roles in serious operas persisted well into the times of Rossini even though he himself only used women in his operas after a painful encounter with that horrible man Velluti (last great operatic castrato).

[compeld2sing]

They didn't. But they did have a time machine, so the traveled back and forth to the 20th century to take advantage of a sale on polaroids, at WalMart, and bring it back for the production (lol).

[Arashi110]

The scene where Sesto spoils Cesare's moment with Cleopatra, always makes me LOL. :)

[hillevifan]

I just bought her handel aria disc..its great

[Arashi110]

With all due respect, David Daniels couldn't hold a candle to her! She's incredible.

[mariandelochs]

Actually, it's 19th-20th century AD in this production!

[shazzer1976]

I have only discovered this mezzo but I find her fantastic! I can't believe how well she is able to pull of the role of Cesare here - really masculine, even down to the way she struts around the stage! I really have to get to a Handel opera...

[palcika1]

You're absolutely right, she's so convincing, great looks (for this role...), great acting, and great singing.

Definetely more masculine than Daniels, lol.

[obsessmuch666]

TRUE! I saw both... and I got to see Daniel's understudy, Tim Mead. He was fantastic - just as brilliant as Sarah. Think Sarah's performance, but done by a bloke. I hope they get him back to do it again when they revive it.

[piustwelfth]

Just remembered Jennifer Larmore's wonderful performance as Caesar at the Met. She was excellent although her voice was a little small for the huge auditorium. Her recording of Caesar on the Harmonia Mundi label is the best I've heard on cd.

[mariandelochs]

Good for you! I like Larmore, too, and they're all different in their respective interpretations, but Connolly simply persuades the best of all as Cesare (better even than Daniels). Thanks for the comments!

[piustwelfth]

I saw David Daniels as Caesar in an L.A. Opera production, and he was superb! The best I've ever seen. I also saw the Polish contralto Ewa Podles as Caesar at San Diego Opera a few years ago. She was amazing! The range of her voice is astounding! Especially impressive were her renditions of "Va Tacito" and "Al Lampo dell'armi".

[Arashi110]

She's the best Caesar I've ever seen. David Daniels can go and hang himself, he would never come even close to her outstanding performance.

[mariandelochs]

Hmm, well, I didn't want to alienate Daniels fans here, but I really do agree with you. I saw Daniels in the Chicago Lyric production of this staging, and was glad about the show, except for the fact that Connolly wasn't singing Cesare. Connolly, oddly enough, evinced a much more leader-like, masculine Cesare than Daniels did, and her singing was beyond compare. One of the finest mezzos around today!

[smnole]

Really nice, calm and gentle...

I like it!

[mariandelochs]

I love this version by Sarah Connolly and William Christie's Orchestra - she's the best Cesare yet, to my mind !