Jochen Kowalski, countertenor, Handel: Ombra mai fu

George Frideric Handel: Ombra mai fu, from Serse.
Jochen Kowalski, countertenor, originally sung by alto-castrato Caffarelli (Gaetano Majorano).

Ombra mai fu
Di Vegetabile,
Care ed amabile
Soave piu.

Never was made
the shade of a plant,
dear and loving,
or more gentle.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Kowalski
• countertenor
• contretenor
• castrato
• Handel
• Ombra
• Baroque
• opera

[Cissy97]

Herr Kowalski brings an ethereal quality to this aria that most other illustrious interpretors sadly lack - e.g. Bartoli, and numerous mezzo-sopranos.

May be this aria really does NOT belong to women singers...

[sfkcbf]

@Cissy97 This short aria is so beautiful and so popular that everyone wishes to sing it, even tenors and people who do not have the vocal technique to sing Baroque music. Perhaps without due consideration, teachers frequenty give it to students to sing. We, however, always should keep mind a composer's original intention and what character is singing an aria. Serse (Xerses), is a man; therefore, technically you are correct.

[nachtsucherin]

Das ist so wunder-wunderschön. Ich liebe diese Stimme!

Sorry - I see, you are English speaking... ;) Thank you for uploading this wonderful piece!

I love the voice of Jochen Kowalski. But don't you know that he does not like it to be called a "countertenor"? This is his natural voice and he calls himself an "altist". I think there are some differences between his voice and these of the "usual" countertenors such as Andreas Scholl or David Daniels.

[sfkcbf]

@nachtsucherin I agree with you. Voice designations that we find on lables or on the web often are wrong or, at least, misleading. Jochen's voice sounds to me to be a natural male alto, in contrast to countertenor. I do not use the terms "altist" nor "sopranist" because other people have used them to describe both natural and falesetto voices, which results in confusion. The original use of the term "countertenor," however, did apply to the tessitura, not the means of producing the voice.

[sfkcbf]

@sfkcbf Also, I have read recently that Jochen Kowalski has stated that he does, in fact, use vocal techniques similar to that of most countertenors. Somehow, he does succeed in having a stronger, more natural sounding voice than Arno Raunig and some of the other countertenors.

[velvetcaress]

I always wondered if you liked Jochen, Stephen. I used to listen to him endlessly as well as Aris C. when I was younger. I especially loved his German lieder CD. Thanks for creating this...lovely. :-)

[sfkcbf]

@velvetcaress As is the case with many singers, they often succeed better with particular arias than others. This aria requires a rich, mellow sound, which Jochen does well. I chose this aria for that reason, which works better than some of his more rapid, intricate arias. In contrast to those arias, listen to my upload of Andreas Scholl singing Mitridate, where his very focused, precise voice works so astonishingly well in those intricate passages.

[tkgsingsct]

@nachtsucherin Kowalski began his career as a dramatic tenor at Hanns Eisler under Marianne Fischer-Kupfer. He later began singing countertenor when he joined the Komische Oper of Berlin. Countertenor is more a style of singing than a voice type - Scholl has said that there are as many ways of being countertenor as there are countertenors.

[tissetatten]

@sfkcbf he sais hes a mezzo

[tissetatten]

@Cissy97 it probaby belonged to castrati in the beginning

[AlbaCountertenor]

I'm pretty sure both JK and DD sing in the changed voice when singing as a countertenor. Despite this, they are both proper countertenors using head voice. Calling them falsettists is both inaccurate and also doing them a disservice. You don't get fullness and beauty of tone by singing falsetto.

[serenaluce]

@OlDoinyo You might be wrong here.Some say that Daniels sing in his natural unbroken voice, but I can't argue as for me it doesn't matter if it's an broken voice or a some kind of falsetto. The only thing that matters for me is the BEAUTY of the sound and an artist sharing his soul, singing with true, not pretended emotions and expressing the IMAGE, not just producing empty, isolated sweet trills! If I want to hear a nightingale I prefer a real BIRD:-)But Kowalski sings BEAUTIFUL unlike Oberline

[urharzer]

Kowalski- what a beautiful piece!

[OlDoinyo]

@nachtsucherin Though all adult male singers above tenor qualify as countertenors, I understand you to be claiming that JK is a modal alto countertenor (like Russel Oberlin) rather than a baritone-falsettist (like Scholl or Daniels) or a hybrid countertenor such as Yoshikazu Mera or Erik Kurmangaliev.

[Cissy97]

Apart from terrific singing, Kowalski strikes me as being an exceptionally good actor on stage, too.