The People That Walked in Darkness - Snippet in C Major

A musicological demonstration.

When Handel wrote the Messiah the concert pitch was A=421. So in order to get an idea of what this aria in D major would have sounded like originally I have transposed it down to C Major. That takes the soloist down to an E natural in this phrase.

Many of the modern oratorio basses like Teddy Rhodes are much lighter than what Handel would have expected. Rhodes is a very accomplished singer - miles better than I could ever hope to be, but he isn't really a bass.

Tenors and sopranos usually approve of lower keys. Maybe someone might want to try a more authentic sounding performance key. We have original instruments. How about original tunings?

All my MIDI, ENF, WMV, WAV and PDF files for this and any other musical video I have posted are available free upon request.

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[rodevries]

Well, to say that this aria would be in D-major (instead of b-minor) and to talk about "concert pitch" in Handel's time is a clear demonstration of your complete ignorance in these matters.

[Agorante]

@rodevries Please enlighten me.

[Agorante]

@Taenyr I'm Irish.

[Taenyr]

@Agorante ...that's quite a story. I had no idea that James Joyce was a singer. How do you know this stuff?

[Agorante]

@Taenyr Of course I sang in choruses in school but not lately. I was rejected by the SF Opera Chorus. I flunked the sight singing part of the audition. BTW James Joyce also flunked the sight singing audition for Irish tenors. John McCormack had won the year before. He turned to writing. When his early books didn't sell, his wife begged him to give all that nonsense up and go back to what he was best at - singing.

[Taenyr]

@Agorante Nevertheless, I think it's great you decided to try it out. I wonder...did you ever do any choral singing?

[Taenyr]

@Agorante Well, I'll be honest, while you're right that the bass arias in Messiah used to be sung at a lower pitch, I do think the kind of music Handel writes sounds better when sung by a voice with a lighter timbre. Your voice has a thickness to it that I really appreciated in "Alseep in the Deep," for example, and that I think would sound great in roles like the Grand Inquisitor - but the kind of singer Messiah seems right for is more of a lyric bass/bariton than a buffo or dramatic bass.

[Agorante]

@Taenyr Are there any parts that I can't sing? Absolutely - these Messiah arias. I'm made absolutely sick when I listen to them. I'm just not a Handel singer. Ramey says Handel is the hardest. I agree. Its too hard for me.

But I don't want to be a Sarah Palin - kevetching on the sidelines. I'm more like Herman Cain - not really qualified on the face of it but willing to step into the ring and contend.

[Taenyr]

@Agorante Well, from your other videos, it's clear you have a powerful and consistent high F, and a good, dark low C. Have you found any bass roles (besides the crazy low Russian stuff) that you didn't feel comfortable singing?

[Agorante]

@Taenyr @Taenyr No, but I have practiced it. I have done Osmin twice. Again I think you're right. The really hard part of the Inquisitor scene isn't just the low E but rather all the high Fs. The kind of voice I meant as a profondo could never manage the high loud parts. So maybe I am (or rather was) a profondo.