"Ombres legeres" from Gounod's
Mireille, for example, WAS part of "standard rep" 50 years ago. Now it's considered "obscure". The aria hasn't changed and is, in fact, a more interesting (IMO) alternative to "Je veux vivre". Moreover, it comes from a role that is actually FOR a lighter lyric coloratura soprano (which Juliette is not). So instead of using the UNcharacteristic aria from a role she would never sing, why can't a light lyric coloratura use a similar aria, of a similar length, by the same composer, when that aria used to be done by ALL lyric coloraturas?
Fashion.
And when did that famous soprano aria from Agrippina/Rinaldo start being "obscure"?
Rinaldo, at least, gets revived A LOT these days. Is it just because it's baroque that it's "obscure"? Are auditors really so stagnated in their ideas of "standard rep" that they won't recognise arias that have been recorded by hundreds, if not thousands, of sopranos since recording technology was invented?
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Karen Mercedes - contralto
singwiththespirit [at] yahoo [dot] com
http://artfuljesus.0catch.com/karenmercedes.html
