Natalie Dessay: ''Der Hölle Rache'' (raised)

There some people complaining that Natalie Dessay wasn't REALLY singing high F's in "Der Hölle Rache" from the 1996 recording of Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte" due to the lower Baroque tuning.

However, using sound-editing software, I've raised the recording pitch-wise to restore it to a higher tuning and I've also sped it up - so enjoy the high F's (even though it still sounds more or less the same)!

It's too bad that after her vocal surgery, she's not willing (or perhaps) to sing those really stratospheric high notes anymore - but what's worse is that people insinuate that she's not as good a singer because of that reason! Music is more about the notes...

Orchestra: Les Arts Florissants
Conductor: William Christie

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Natalie Dessay
• ''Der
• Hölle
• Rache''
• raised
• lower
• Baroque
• tuning
• opera
• Classical
• music
• singing
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Die Zauberflöte
• singspiel
• German
• French
• lyric
• colouratura
• coloratura
• soprano

[jaketaz]

People do not "insinuate that she's not as good a singer" because she no longer has high f's. People KNOW that she's not a good singer because she sang with bad technique for years, necessitating vocal surgery to repair the damage. The only reason she got famous was that she had a decent voice and an attractive appearance. There are many superior (overweight) sopranos without work, while Dessay and Villazon run around screaming and then getting surgery to fix it.

[SsteinwayS]

@jaketaz Not their fault they were born with voices too small for their personalities... :P

[jaketaz]

@SsteinwayS

VERY well said. I'm stealing that.

[SsteinwayS]

@jaketaz Hehe. :)

[tissetatten]

@jaketaz thats is to much, she has obviusly worked very hard on her voice, and many ppl love it. There are a ton of skinny oepra singeres so dont give me that crap about her beeng so darn atractive. Or are u saing that big fat singers are better? if so u dont know very much about singing. A lot of singers get surgery it happens to the best of them, you dont know the stress a superstar singer is under, porforming, training everyday never resting. I like her because she is inovative never boring

[SsteinwayS]

@tissetatten You put into words everything I think! Natalie Dessay had to work 5 times harder than most singers and still does because she has a tiny body & voice and had a really late start (in her 20's!) but look at where she's gone! It's her inner passion and drive that gets her places and continues to push her every day. As she said to Charlie Rose, "Many singers think vocal problems are a shame, but they're not. It just shows that we can get tired sometimes".

[SsteinwayS]

@tissetatten You put into words everything I think! Natalie Dessay had to work 5 times harder than most singers and still does because she has a tiny body & voice and had a really late start (in her 20's!) but look at where she's gone! It's her inner passion and drive that gets her places and continues to push her every day. As she said to Charlie Rose, "Many singers think vocal problems are a shame, but they're not. It just shows that we can get tired sometimes".

[kinakina123123]

Got some news... music isn't about one note. Mozart would be spinning in his grave.

[haileysama]

Those who dont recognize a real PROFESSIONAL singer, are only amateurs who think that know something about music. lirical singing envolves VERY DIFICULT training...

Thats all, forgive my bad english.

[sour7lemon]

@jaketaz How can you say anything about her "bad" technique? Who are you to determine the quality of her technique? From what I can tell, she had an impeccable technique. She was always extremely relaxed when she was singing, and clearly had little to no visible tension (or audible tension for that matter). That alone is a tribute to a great technique. What I think may have been her downfall was the insane amount of high altissimi notes she sang -- possibly this led her to her vocal problems.

[MrHbc3]

Natalie Dessay is by a significant margin my favorite singer, BUT the very high notes, done so well in the nineties, have never been more than a tiny percent of what I like about her. Her voice is excellent, but not the very best. Her acting, especially in the little details, is wonderful. Her musicianship and interpretation are fantastic. Comedic talent.. superb. Clearly she is very intelligent. One of the things I like the most is the way she interacts with other people. All IMHO.

[jaketaz]

@tissetatten

Surgery does not happen to the best of them, that is incorrect. No one can realistically argue that Wunderlich, Gedda, Bjorling, Nilsson, Sutherland, Vaness, Bastianini, Langridge, Norman, Quasthoff, and Corelli are some of the best singers history has ever produced, and none of them ever has surgery. Surgery is common NOW because NOW people sing incorrectly and so need surgery. But you are right about one thing - size has nothing to do with singing, and I never said it does.