I'm having issues with my starting aria. Here is my current list:
Ach ich fuehls - Mozart
Norina's Aria - Donizetti
Juliet's Waltz - Gounod
Nannetta's Aria - Verdi
No word from Tom - Stravinsky
So here is my dilemma: I am fine starting with Pamina but would rather not since they ALWAYS ask for Juliet directly after which I would rather not sing at every audition. So I'm looking for something maybe a little more up tempo but shorter since most of these are long. Thanks!!!
Handel - Giulio Cesare - Non Disperar
Mozart - Nozze di Figaro - Venite, inginocchiatevi
Verdi - Ballo - Saper vorreste
Donizetti - Linda di Chamounix - O luce di quest anima
I think you will find that starting with an energetic aria can have the added bonus of forcing you to energize your body and your voice.
But, I have to admit - I've never used any of these in an audition. smile
because those 2 arias contrast well and they're both short. sorry, but panels like that.
if you want to sing one of the others, you'll probably have to start with it. i would not recommend stating with the stravinsky unless you preface it with offering them cuts if they want - it's just so very long. but if it's your best, by all means sing it. most people will cut you off if they need to to hear something else.
"There is a difference between outrageous and fabulous, ... you can decide to be outrageous, but you have to be crowned fabulous."
Some suggestions (all under 3:45 in length - several under 3:00)
November 5 2009, 4:36 PM
You don't have any baroque arias on your list. Now, if you're not interested in ever singing a baroque opera, there may be a reason for this - but if you are, you might want to consider:
"Bel piacere" from Handel's first opera Agrippina (and reused by him in his Rinaldo)
This message has been edited by singwiththespirit on Nov 5, 2009 4:38 PM This message has been edited by singwiththespirit on Nov 5, 2009 4:38 PM This message has been edited by singwiththespirit on Nov 5, 2009 4:38 PM This message has been edited by singwiththespirit on Nov 5, 2009 4:37 PM
Your knowledge of rep is tirelessly impressive, but your discernment is not. Suggesting the cavatina from Snegurochka as a FIRST audition aria is borderline negligent. I know you are bitter about the lack of creativity in organizations and with singers themselves, but you can't force it on people. That is absurd.
Pigs are flying, the apocalypse is upon us, and I agree with PDW.
November 5 2009, 11:57 PM
I'm the QUEEN of obscure repertoire...when it's appropriate. An audition for a company doing standard repertoire isn't the time. Maybe one of the five can be obscure-ish, but if one actually wants to work at this for a living, one has to learn to present the standard rep and sing the living crap out of it.
Well, hey, it had to happen sometime, right?
Your short arias for soprano are, for example, Musetta, and maybe Ravel's Fire aria if you're a coloratura (short, awesome, but make damn sure you know the pianist). About the most obscure I'd go, particularly for American companies, would be "No corté más que una rosa" from "La del manojo de rosas" (zarzuela by Sorozábal, gorgeous), and then I wouldn't start with it unless it was for a zarzuela company.
Yeah, there are more, but it's late, I'm tired and there's a really good looking man about to step out of the shower and go to bed with me.
This message has been edited by Violetta07 on Nov 5, 2009 11:59 PM
Although if I just think of it as agreeing with Violetta, I can still sleep at night.
Nah, seriously, I actually got to be on the other side of the table and I was really annoyed (as were my counterparts) when people would walk into an audition for an announced season (all italian and one german, NO contemporary) and whip out a russian aria. We can't tell anything from that other than "Me sing pretty!" Well, tra la la, you and half the other people coming in, and now we are out of time.
Do you know your italian? Do you understand the style? Can you sing in the middle and be heard? Can you sing with line? can you act? <--That's a big one. People have good language skills, but if you come in with something they don't know, they would have to be damn fluent to get all your words enough to understand your acting while listening for a million other things at the same time.
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It is for that reason that I will even have to, sorry, shoot down the Venite. Susanna is a BEAR of a sing, and most of it is a bit higher, then WHAM, here comes a lyric aria in low middle, which means if you have worn yourself out, you are screwed. I would never ever jamais hire a singer for Susanna without hearing that one, so just have it ready. It is why no one presents the 1st QotN aria, even though I think it the better peice.
If I were hearing an audition and someone walked in with weird schtuff, I would think they were hiding something. People make you sing Mozart for a reason. They are looking for chinks in your armor. So start with something solid and have one weird option on your list in case they want it. In my experience, they often do.
So, my grandma Reynolds was always saying 'when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.' I wish she was still alive, because I'd really like to ask her what she suggests for when life gives you Chlamydia. -Veronica Mars
I speak as someone who's lost auditions due to obscure repertory. Like it or not, judges - esp. reputable ones - want to hear rep they know. They're not there to get a lesson in obscure operas. Some will simply not opt not to make a judgment based on a piece they do not know.
As one leading artistic director/conductor once told me, only present arias from roles you are ready to sing NOW.
Auditions are like job interviews. Panels want to assess your skill set against the skill sets of other singers. It's MUCH easier to make those comparisons when the rep is familiar. If you hear an aria you've never heard before, it's very difficult to assess the skill set of the singer because you're so busy assessing the aria.
_______________________________________________
"I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it." - Pablo Picasso
Anyone who is in a position of casting operas should be able to recognise good singing regardless of how familiar the repertoire is or not.
I don't expect twelve writers interviewing for a position to all write the same essay. I can determine which ones are good writers even if they have widely divergent topics and styles.
I think opera auditors are just lazy, unimaginative, or both.
.... i.e., your "I think opera auditors are just lazy, unimaginative, or both",....
That changes not a whit the FACT that opening with anything obscure is a death-kiss.
Yes, just about every professional company HAS descended into outright stagnation.
But that is how things are, how they have become.
If the idea is to get hired for things which are in the standard repertoire, then by Cruise, that's what everyone is gonna have to do. No way around it.
Having been on the other side of the table, where you sit and listen to singers for 12 hours straight, it becomes quite difficult to really process everything you hear. Singers are better off making themselves as easy to hire as possible. This is why people like to hear operas from the shows they are doing.
It makes sense to me. It doesn't matter whether I like it or find it ideal. It's the reality, so that's what I do.
_______________________________________________
"I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it." - Pablo Picasso
Do you provide scores for your auditors when offering obscure rep? Otherwise how can they judge you? I don't have perfect pitch, so in certain voices I can tell approximately what key they're in and go from there but not always, and even then it's really too much info to be juggling in my brain while I'm trying to analyze the singing.
I think ideally the panel should be familiar enough with standard rep to the point where they basically have it all memorized, so they know where the hard parts are and so they can be free to watch your performance. If you want to have one oddball on your list you can. If they're into it they will ask for it, if not they won't, but you don't start with it (I was told this by a man who programs the most unique recitals I have ever heard). Your interest in rarely-heard rep should also be shown on your resume, or in certain situations you can provide a 'suggested rep list' along with your other materials.
-Ler
"The history of the lowered larynx is a long and depressing one..." - Richard Miller, International Schools of Singing
Hearing who has a nice voice is the pre-screening process. That's why so many programs require a demo. I'm sure we'd all be shocked how many Florence Foster Jenkins wannabes are submitting applications and demos. But for the job, if I were hiring, I would want to hear something more than correctness. And I can't evaluate good singing if I don't know the piece.
There's a reason that pianists entering concerto competitions have to provide the judges with the music. That won't solve our problem though because we need them to watch us, not follow along in the score in order to see if we can act as well as sing.
No, everyone doesn't have to sing the same five arias. God forbid! In fact I would say that one of the reasons why there is more "standard" rep for sopranos is because there are so many and it is necessary to sing something a little bit different. But if you have to track down the one remaining copy of a score in North America, then it's too obscure for auditions.
Houndentenor
"Unleash your ferocity on an unsuspecting world." -- Bette Midler
What bugs me is the "fashions change" aspect of "standard rep"
November 7 2009, 10:19 AM
"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?
Why do you say that baroque arias re obscure. If I were a lighter voice I would include a Handel aria on my list. Oh wait, I DO include a Handel aria on my list. LOL Perhaps not for every audition but enough companies perform Handel that it seems foolish not to have at least one Handel aria in the book and ready to go on pretty short notice.
Sorry but I think you are making a false argument. I'll grant your point about the Gounod aria, but no one bats an eye about Handel arias in auditions. I do think we are still in a sorting out place with Handel. The revival is too new for us to have figured out which of these shows will be done more than the others. From what I can tell Giulio Cesare is done the most and a lot of others about the same amount. I would pick one of the arias that is readily available in a modern edition, but other than that, I don't think most people consider Handel to be obscure any more. (The reverse of your trend. 50 years ago Handel most certainly would have been considered obscure rep for opera auditions!) I might not start with it and then if they don't want to hear it they could ask for something else.
Houndentenor
"Unleash your ferocity on an unsuspecting world." -- Bette Midler
All this talk about starting with Handel makes me think about an audition I sang last year for a famously cranky Viennese agent. I was all psyched up and ready to go in there and knock some sox off with a kick-ass bravura Handel piece as my opener.
That is, until I got in the room, and the guy asks me (in German, in his sly Wienerisch accent), "So, what piece would you like to begin with -- OTHER THAN the Handel?"
Uhhh...I guess I'll have to go with "plan B."
Some people just aren't into the Baroque music. Know thy audience. (But I agree that a Handel aria is a good thing to have around, since it's done more and more nowadays.)
What Handel do you think works for a bigger tenor voice? I've got the Bajazet arias and Total Eclipse, but other than that I'm not too familiar with possible rep. Well, and I guess Domingo sang 'Svegliatevi nel core.'
Now that we're a fair number of years into the Baroque revival, I think it's fair to say that many companies have decided on a certain timbre for tenors in Handel...they prefer the sweet, leggiero sound, even in heroic roles! Whenever I see a Handel performance (Mozart too!) I am often thrilled by the singing from the other voice types, but the tenor generally has a pretty sound without much power. I think this is a casting peculiarity only directed towards tenors, (okay and sometimes sopranos...maybe it's a high voice thing?) because I know plenty of baritones and mezzos with heroic sounds that get to sing Handel.
-Ler
"The history of the lowered larynx is a long and depressing one..." - Richard Miller, International Schools of Singing
This message has been edited by Larry_The_Larynx on Nov 7, 2009 1:06 PM
I think it has to do more with otherwise-hard-to-employ tenors finding a niche
November 7 2009, 5:07 PM
There's absolutely no reason why so many of today's Handelian tenors are tenorinos, haute-contres, and leggeros EXCEPT that, like light-voiced countertenors palely approximating the robust sound of the alto, mezzo, and soprano castrati of Handel's day, they seem to have managed to persuade those who haven't spent any time doing their music history homework (reading contemporary accounts of Charles Burney and others of performances by singers employed by Handel, including John Beard, does not leave one with the impression that Handel's favourite tenor sounded even remotely "featherlight" in the style of Michael Padmore, Yann Beuron, Paul Agnew, et al. - lovely singers though they may be.) A generation after Handel's death, John Hawkins in his General History of the Science and Practice of Music, wrote of Beard:
"Instead of airs that required the delicacy of Cuzzoni, or the volubility of Faustina,...he [Handel] hoped to please by songs, the beauties whereof were...adapted to a tenor voice, from the natural firmness...whereof little more is expected than an articulate utterance of the words, and a just expression of the melody; and he was happy in the assistance of a singer possessed of these and many other valuable qualities."
Sesto in Cesare in modern casting has become the virtually exclusive domain of lyric mezzos; indeed, the role was originated by Margherita Durastanti, a soprano. But it was sung by tenors in all three revivals of the opera that occurred in Handel's lifetime (Francesco Borosini in 1725, Annibale Pio Fabri "Il Balino" in 1730, and Giovanni Battista Pinacci in 1732) - so one has to wonder whether Handel actually preferred a tenor in the role, and only gave it to Durastanti as a salve to her rather large ego, given that the only other soprano in the opera, Cleopatra, went to Durastanti's archrival, Francesca Cuzzoni.
So while I have no problem in theory with your singing the Sesto arias, two things suggest it's a bad idea:
(1) Current casting trends make it doubtful that a tenor would evem be considered for the part.
(2) Sesto in the opera is conceived as a teenage boy, not a full-grown man - which suggests a less-robust tenor voice.
Bigger-voice tenors with agilitŕ (an absolute must for any Handelian singer) should take a look at arias from the operatic roles Handel composed for John Beard:
- Lurcanio in Ariodante (Del mio sol vezzosi rai; Tu vivi, e punito; Il tuo sangue, ed il tuo zelo
- Oronte in Alcina (Semplicetto! a donna credi?; Č un folle, č un vile affetto; M'inganna, me n'avveggo...Un momento di contento)
- Aminta in Atalanta (S'č tuo piacer, chio mora; Diedi il core ad altra Ninfa)
- Varo in Arminio (Al lume di due rai; Mira il Ciel, vedrai d'Alcide)
- Vitaliano in Giustino (All'armi, o Guerrieri; Vanne sě, superba, vŕ; Amici, tutto devo a vostra fedeltŕ...Il piacer della vendetta)
- Fabio in Berenice (Vedi l'ape che ingegnosa)
Handel also wrote the majority of his tenor oratorio roles for Beard, including these from Handel's dramatic oratorios:
Jonathan in Saul
Samson
Jupiter/Apollo in Semele
Simeon/Judah in Joseph and His Brethren
Hyllus in Hercules
Belshazzar
Judas Maccabaeus
Jephtha
Beard sang the tenor part in the vast majority of London revivals of Messiah in Handel's lifetime (the part had been split between two local tenors at the premiere in Dublin), and it's hard to imagine a "lightweight" being able to make the hair on the back of one's neck stand up as it most definitely should during "Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron".
Beard didn't originate either of Handel's two tenor-father roles, Bajazet in Tamerlano or Massimo in Ezio. The first was originated by Francesco Borosini, and later revived by Pinacci; the second was originated by Pinacci. Both of these tenors also, as I noted earlier, sang Sesto in various revivals of Giulio Cesare.
Tenor and musicologist Neil Jenkins has written a biography of John Beard in which he speculates, in the last chapter, about the tenor's vocal qualities and abilities. I urge any tenor interested in understanding Handel's vocal expectations of the tenor music he wrote for Beard to download and read this article:
Also note that when Handel rewrote the role for a tenor he replaced most of the arias (as opposed to just putting the existing arias down the octave). However, he did retain "Svegliatevi" and one other (either "L'aura che spira" or "La giustizia" I think; I don't remember exactly which). So it would be completely appropriate for a tenor to sing "Svegiatevi" down the octave, for example (even though no one would want to hear it as it is almost exclusively done by mezzos nowadays), but it would be entirely inappropriate to do "Cara speme," as that aria was discarded when the role was rewritten for a tenor.
you will find that our own Karen of the Obscure but Fabulous Repertoire listed the roles written for the same tenor for whom Bajazet was written. Pretty much all of those roles should work for you (but as we all know at least one will be wtf how did the same guy sing this that sang that but all of us have our own freak when it comes to our voices LOL).
I wrote the list down because I figured all of that rep would work as recital openers one day.
Oh, and there is a Mozart aria you might like. It's a concert aria Per pieta non ricercate. I know Glendower publishes it as a single piece. It's the aria that tenors who are on their way to sing Max should sing on their way. It's not particularly high but it requires some very wide leaps. You would also need to do a little performance practice work because it's a rondo and you will want to do some variations plus there are multiple places for short cadenzas (nothing too crazy, just the short internal kind that are common in this period).
Houndentenor
"Unleash your ferocity on an unsuspecting world." -- Bette Midler
I don't think the problem with "Bel piacere" is that it's obscure. I think it doesn't show anything about vocal capabilities or acting. It's pretty innocuous. You can, of course, ornament the crap out of the recapitulation, but I think there are plenty of other arias in the repertoire that are more showy and more interesting. I'm listening to it right now, and pretty though it may be, I think this aria would be kind of a waste of space on list of five. Certainly, SOMEONE is making a living singing "Bel piacere," but they probably got there via something flashier.
I think there are also some arias that don't get used for auditions because they're like training wheel arias. "Vedrai, carino," for example, or the Despina arias. This isn't to say that they're not on anybody's list, but they're not that common, I don't think. And things like "Bel piacere" and "Lascia ch'io pianga" also fall by the wayside because everybody sang them in college, they were maybe even first arias. Nobody puts "L'ho perduta, me meschina" on a list of five if they can sing "Deh vieni, non tardar" well. I was actually surprised recently to look at a list of people singing in the MONC competitions and see that one soprano sang "Fair Robin I Love," because for some reason I've always thought of that as a sort of freshman-year aria. Maybe these arias don't deserve this reputation, they obviously get sung by professionals all the time. I don't know.
This argument makes me so mad (but to be clear, I am not mad at you for making it). While Fair Robin is sort of a freshman year aria, if people ever do Tartuffe cough they won't cast a freshman! In real companies, real opera singers sing these arias! Have you ever heard a professional opera singer do one of the 24 Italian ditties?! It is breathtaking because you realize that they are real music!
I've practiced this rant a lot because I do a lot of recitals and I still STILL worship Schubert and program a lot of his lieder because I love his style and the poetry and Goethe and etc etc and I get a lot of crap for it. People say Schubert is for undergrads and I say that it's lovely for people to train their voices by singing his music but HE DESERVES SO MUCH BETTER!
I haven't sung a lot of Schubert, but I did program "Deh vieni" and five Faure songs on my senior recital--oh, and "Sure on this Shining Night," which freshmen shouldn't even be allowed to sing (people ask me how I had never sung it before, I was like, I wouldn't have been able to do it justice!). And if I didn't think somebody would be like, why doesn't she offer something showier, I would sing "Una donna a quindici anni" at auditions because it feels like a massage for my vocal cords.
I think maybe some of this comes from the misconception that's being discussed elsewhere on the forum, that bigger is better. We think, oh, if I can sing this as a freshman ("Vedrai," "Laurie's Song," whatever) then by the time I'm a senior I should have progressed past that. But development is not linear like that. "Deh vieni" was the first aria I ever learned, at 16, because it didn't go very high. And maybe I'm capable of singing higher now, maybe I'm capable of negotiating repertoire that's harder to learn, but I'm sticking with Susanna, because I'm not done with it. I don't think we're ever DONE with music. We might put things away for a while once we've worked on them, but someday I'm going to sing Zerlina and have to bring back "Vedrai carino," which I sang for college auditions. (Obviously this argument doesn't work for arias if your voice changes fach or timbre or range in a significant way, but art song goes this way too. One of my Faure pieces on my senior recital was "En Priere," which was one of my undergraduate audition pieces--and I sing it a hell of a lot better now!)
Deh vieni is NOT NOT NOT NOT an "easy" aria. I bring that to competitions and auditions precisely BECAUSE I have a strong middle, and there is no way to fake that song. Most people are just too dumb to realize that it is not easier because there are no high notes or crazy runs. Yeah, good luck being heard in the back row if you have a weak middle. Good luck keeping uniformity of tone in the middle and break after 4 hours of non-stop singing.
Susanna is a BEAST. I HATE hearing pippy squeakies presenting the aria. It means they don't know the role, or are not musically intelligent enough to know what is required for it.
(Yeah, I take Susanna pretty seriously. Can you tell?)
So, my grandma Reynolds was always saying 'when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.' I wish she was still alive, because I'd really like to ask her what she suggests for when life gives you Chlamydia. -Veronica Mars
Susanna is one of my dream roles--I can't wait to play her (if only somebody would cast me!). I hate it when people poo-poo soubrette roles because they're not dramatic enough or big enough. But Susanna is one of the longest roles in the operatic canon, and she's an amazingly complex human character. Not to mention "Deh vieni" is beautiful beyond belief and, as you said, HARD TO SING. Just because it's not big and tragic doesn't mean it doesn't require perfect technique.
who has a very good regional career who started every audition with Batti, batti and worked a lot. she has a great personality and that aria did exactly what an audition aria should do - showcased her strengths to such a dregree that it set her apart from all the others offering "showier" arias that didn't show any of the right things.
no one casting a show will bat an eyelash at you offering rep from the show or similar to the role you're after. it's appreciated.
"There is a difference between outrageous and fabulous, ... you can decide to be outrageous, but you have to be crowned fabulous."
Schubert is for undergrads? OMFG! Really? People are that stupid?
Here again we have the problem with people not getting it. You are right about the 24 hits too btw. Yes we all think of Caro mio ben as easy because frankly it's NOT all that hard to sing the right pitches and rhythms and pronounce the text. But the legato required, the phrasing, well it might as well be Giulietta. Those ARE good pieces for training singers precisely because they are difficult in terms of the essential fundamentals without creating great demands for range and tessitura. But they are very fine music and hearing a professional singer perform them reveals so much that we never get from a college Freshman.
As for Schubert, the opposite is true. Schubert is hard because he doesn't tell you what to do. Brahms marks everything very clearly. Not that Brahms is exactly easy either but figuring out what to do is easier because the composer tells you. Schubert trusts you to figure it out and as often as not the singers learning the songs never do.
This reminds me something a friend said to me over the summer. Remember when we were in school and we learned our music so much faster? That's because we thought that learning the words and the notes was all there was too it. Now that we known how much more is expected it takes so much longer before we feel ready to sing our music in public.
Schubert only for undergrads. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Stupid Dietrich Fischer Diskau singing that baby music his whole career. What a dumbass!
Houndentenor
"Unleash your ferocity on an unsuspecting world." -- Bette Midler
was finding an earlier recording of Die schoene Muellerin by Fritz Wunderlich. (From what I understand there are a number of these that show up on independent and bootleg labels from time to time, mostly taken from various radio broadcasts.) The performance is very good but not nearly as good as the studio recording on Deutsche Grammaphon that he made a few years later. Obviously several years of performing these songs gave him insight into the text and the music he hadn't had earlier. Hmmmmm.
Here's the paradox of singing...it's the "simple" things that are the hardest to sing well. There's a reason everyone asks sopranos for their slow Mozart aria. You can hide a lot of technical flaws amongst fireworks or bellowing away in a verismo tune. But those "simple" slow tunes show who really has technique and who has really dug deep into the words and the music. Oh and legato. Legato and messa da voce are probably the most disregarded aspects of singing these days and that's why so much of the singing we hear is crap. (Not all and my apologies to those of you who sing legato and do exquisite phrasing.)
Houndentenor
"Unleash your ferocity on an unsuspecting world." -- Bette Midler
The trouble with undergrads (and since I just graduated this past spring, I still feel like one), is that to many of them bigger is better. They want to one-up each other and prove to the world that they can hit the highest note, or sing the most complicated coloratura runs.
And because many of them (like myself) were brand new to opera when they entered college, the ear is not as able to pick out the beauty in a "simple" aria like Deh vieni sung with perfect technique/line/phrasing.
The first aria I was ever given was Porgi amor, and compared to some of the lieder and song I had been working with, it seemed "easy". It never goes too high, or has difficult runs.
Hah.
It's now 5 years later. As a "big ass voice" or baby dramatic / possibly Wagnerian to be, Porgi amor remains one of the most difficult arias to pull out and perform WELL. I've done Strauss and other "big" and "showy" repertoire, possibly rep that was a bit too advanced for my operatic infancy, but in those "simple" Mozart arias - you have nothing to hide behind. It's like the swimsuit competition. No girdle sucking in all your flobby bits.
As someone who as done Tartuffe (regrettably), I have to say "Easy" is the last word I would ever apply to it.
Yes, Fair Robin is one of the more melodic arias. It is more traditional, and this is why it is one of the only arias that is excerpted.
Next time someone uses the words "easy" or "simple" with anything from Tartuffe, I will force them to sing Madame Pernelle. As they curl into a ball and sob, I will laugh.
Can you trust singers? (Told you it was ugly!) Can you hear someone rip up a Russian aria with excellent diction and idiomatic expression and awesome acting and TRUST that they can do the same in Italian? Have you never known someone with awesome Italian who blows in french?
Or look at it backwards. If, in a singer's first (italian) aria, they have undentalized T's and closed vowels where there should be open vowels, etc, will you say to yourself, "well, I should hear a french, though, becuase they might be really good at that," or will you write down, "poor language skills" and move on? Bear in mind, you have 25 singers that day in 10 minute audition slots and are already running late becuase of bad weather/life/late singers, etc.
If, in my very very very uber brief experience on the other side of the table, I heard someone do a good lyric line, it did not mean I could automatically assume they could move their voice. Hell, there were a few times when someone who was seemingly mediocre would suddenly whip out a run that was just AWESOME and shock the hell out of us.
If you have ten minutes to decide on whether you want to work with someone over the next month, and trust that they will do all preparation and be able to withstand 4 hours of opera 3 shows a week, you need to HEAR IT. You can't hear someone who is good in other things and say, "Eh, they are probably good at the other stuff, too." You need to first hear the basics. I feel the best way to do that is in rep where you don't have to pay attention to the rest. I know that Rodolfo's high note in that aria is a C, so when the tenor rocks it, I know he has a kick ass C.
OOH, real life example. A singer performed Musetta's waltz. She had wrong words all over the place. I know that aria backwards (who doesn't?) so we now know that she is not fully prepared or is bad with memorization. Either way, we needed to know that. If she sings Random Aria from Obscure Opera by HWJDNSTEBC Bach, how the hell would I know if she made it up on the spot? You feel me, dawg?
So, my grandma Reynolds was always saying 'when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.' I wish she was still alive, because I'd really like to ask her what she suggests for when life gives you Chlamydia. -Veronica Mars
How the hell am I supposed to know if someone's Polish diction was any good? For that matter how do I know that they didn't double half the double consonants in an Italian aria I've never heard before? I think that knowing the standard top 25-35 (about 50 for sopranos) is a lot to expect from a panel. If you're going to start playing stump the band it's not going to do you any good.
Again, if you have a true connection with a certain repertoire, then by all means sing it every chance you get. You might even list it as an extra aria on a list. Who knows, there might suddenly be a demand for someone who can do certain things. Certainly if you can learn rhythmically complex atonal music you should advertise that ability. Not everyone is going to be able to do that well (especially on relatively short notice) or if you have spent a good deal of time learning good Bach performance practice, who knows that could be a big part of a career right there. But for yap auditions? Most of the off the beaten path arias are just not useful in getting hired. There will always be exceptions (if you are a lyric mezzo and you find a kick ass aria from some hardly done Marschner or Schubert opera, that's great.
Let's face it, the five arias in four languages format for most yap auditions already means that at least one of your arias is not going to be a top 20 opera. (Are any English operas even in the top 20? Any French other than Carmen and maybe Faust? Any German besides Flute?) So for that reason I don't think there's much reason to get too far afield for Italian. The fact that they require English means that you are probably going to offer something a little obscure anyway. There's no reason to complicate the list further by going out of your way to offer things they haven't heard before.
Houndentenor
"Unleash your ferocity on an unsuspecting world." -- Bette Midler
If you are doing a management audition maybe you have 15 minutes or more, but your standard audition for a company is 5-8 minutes. I agree with the others that standard rep is the way to go, with maybe one obscure aria out of 5. I don't agree that someone casting would be able to tell in just a five minute rendition of an obscure or contemporary aria what a person can do. It is hard enough with the mainstream rep, and they often make mistakes as we all know (singers overfached and just miscast vocally in general). In some contemporary repertoire you cannot even tell whether they are singing the right notes if you don't know the aria.
more often than not when we see a list that is almost all obscure arias we assume the singer is attempting to hide some technical flaws. I don't think we are fooling anyone with these tactics.
Again, one out of the 100 or so arias that we most often hear is okay if it's something you are truly great at. But I have heard too many times from too many ADs that when they are hearing an aria they don't know, they are listening to the piece and not you. That's not a strategy for getting hired.
Houndentenor
"Unleash your ferocity on an unsuspecting world." -- Bette Midler
I never suggested that the whole package, or even 4/5 should be "obscure"
November 9 2009, 10:29 AM
I suggested that one semi-obscure aria should NOT be an audition-killer, and if the singer feels more of a connection to that aria, and it's got all the things you need in an aria vis musicianship, diction, dramatic and vocal range, technical challenges, etc., it would probably (PROBABLY) be better to start with that aria than with a "top 10" aria for which one feels no sympathy, and as a result will not be a "knock out".
If you keep the semi-obscure showpiece aria short enough, I would think that any auditor in his/her right mind would be so "wowed" by the performance of it, despite not knowing the aria, that they would then ASK for the more familiar aria that would CONFIRM what they heard in the obscure one.
You just compared starting with a kick-ass obscure piece and starting with "a "top 10" aria for which one feels no sympathy."
All I have to say to that is if you (the hypothetical "you" -- not YOU personally) can't find ANY piece of standard rep that turns you on enough to use as a starter, maybe standard rep opera is just not your cup of tea. In which case -- why would you do a general opera audition?
I know audition arias can get a little stale after a while, but there's still a LOT of GREAT literature out there that won't make adjudicators scratch their heads.
And if you're WAY more into the "niche" rep than "standard" rep, find a route that will get you there. Again, general auditions are likely not the place for that, unless the company is doing said obscure piece.
(That's all to say: YES, I agree with your basic point that it's good to have some diverse special stuff on the aria list, but I don't agree with you that it's a good idea to start with something the panel won't know.)
Provided you have an accompanist with you who can play said obscure aria, who the fuck cares?
Different strokes for different folks. Some auditors balk at anything not top ten. Others are relieved to hear something new. You can't please everyone, but what you CAN do, is sing what you sing and love best.If it is bumblefuck's aria from whateverthehellopera, why not?
As long as you have a rep list for said audition that is balanced--maybe a couple top ten arias to balance out the obsure so they CAN ask for something standard after your unstandard, it's fine. No, you don't want a list of nothing but obsure. But having and/or starting with something off the beaten bath is often a breath of fresh air, if coordinated with a pianist and sung well.
BQ
"Until last week, I thought legato was a cured meat!"
It is why you have to have a rock solid 5, so you can use any of them for your 1st aria.
If you are attending a casting session for an all-Italian season and you have an 8 minute time slot, they are going to lob pencils at you if you start with Russian. It may be FAB but they need to hear your italian. If you use all your time on the Russian, they now don't have time to ask for what they need.
If you are singing for management or just have a HUGE time slot, by all means, sing whatever you sing best. If they want Mozart, they'll ask for it.
So, my grandma Reynolds was always saying 'when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.' I wish she was still alive, because I'd really like to ask her what she suggests for when life gives you Chlamydia. -Veronica Mars
I mean, I don't redo my whole list for every damn audition, but sure--I'm aware that bringing my aria from Les Mamelles die Tiresias to a Sarasota audition, for example, would be a bad idea. Absolutely--I'm not saying to insist on singing something off the beaten path every time for every thing and to have a list so obscure it annoys people. But I think it is totally great to have something completely obscure on your list, even to start with! Lots of people appreciate it--so long as if they want to hear part of Susanna/Lauretta/Musetta or something instead of or afterwards, they can!
Mainstage, that's a different story--you're going in for Marie? Sing Marie! I was more talking about it being ok and even good to have and/or start with something obscure, if you want, for a general audition, yap, manager, whatever. And you just can't win them all....I've had people go gaga for the aria from Mamelles (poulenc) and others (like Santa Fe) have totally tuned out the second I start it. C'est la vie!
BQ
"Until last week, I thought legato was a cured meat!"
--Paul Abhelha, Bathroom Divas
This message has been edited by blondieQ on Nov 7, 2009 1:38 PM
At the same time, if you were singing for DeRenzi that would be the perfect time to pull out the Masdanieri arias (they were written for Jenny Lind) if they work for you, or any other obscure Verdi. I'm sure he would know it.
Some of this requires doing a little homework. It's not that hard to figure out someone's taste by looking at what rep they have programmed the last 10 years.
Houndentenor
"Unleash your ferocity on an unsuspecting world." -- Bette Midler
If you are singing for management, then you need to sing arias from roles for which you could get hired. That's when you REALLY need to show that you can sing Susanna and Despina and Frasquita or whatever because those operas get done. You could wait your whole life for a production of The Golden Cockerel. I would love to sing Jean de Leyden in Le Prophete. Probably never going to happen.
Houndentenor
"Unleash your ferocity on an unsuspecting world." -- Bette Midler
If I am hearing an aria or a song I've never heard before, I'm listening to the aria/song and not to you. I have no knowledge as to whether or not you are singing it correctly. Are you even singing the right notes and rhythms much less observing the dynamic and interpretive markings in the score. Is your interpretation in line with the character at this moment in the opera? How could I know that.
Now, that does not mean you can only sing arias from the top 10 most performed operas. The Fire Aria is a standard audition piece even if the opera isn't done all that often. The same goes for dozens of other operas. If they've never even heard of the opera or worse even the composer, then it's probably not a good choice for auditions.
This is not to say that it's not a fantastic recital piece for you. You can sing less known things all you want. But for the purposes of getting a job, if you can't sing the standard rep better than your competition, why should you get the job?
Now, this raises another question. What is standard rep? It really depends on the people you are singing for. If you are singing for a conductor who is known for baroque rep or bel canto or Russian, standard will be defined differently than if you are singing for an American who is in charge of a yap.
Houndentenor
"Unleash your ferocity on an unsuspecting world." -- Bette Midler
So what about those aria gems that have been recorded literally thousands of times by thousands of different singers, even though the operas they come from seldom if ever get performed? For example, how many productions of Charpentier's Louise are out there these days? And yet "Depuis le jour" is a "standard" lyric soprano aria. And what about "Ebben" from La Wally? Who the heck ever performs that opera?
Is "standard" a matter of the opera being in the frequently-performed repertoire? Or is it that the aria has been recorded and performed out of context so often that everyone recognises it?
If the former, there are numerous unfamiliar and alternative arias from frequently-performed operas. And yet, what mezzo do you know who auditions with "Ah! mon courage m'abandonne" from Werther? even though it's an impressive "sing" and a good dramatic piece. Is the fact that many productions of Le Nozze di Figaro to this day cut Marcellina's aria mean that the aria, which actually shows off a lot about the singer's range, technique, and comedic acting ability, enough to make that aria a poor candidate for auditions?
The point of singing standard arias is that the panel can better evaluate your singing if they have something to compare it to. Anyone who has never heard Depuis le jour should not be sitting in on auditions. But Louise is not done much. But the aria is very much a standard piece and often done on concert programs.
The point is not to have the most interesting list of 5-6 arias. The point is to get hired. Singing five arias I have never heard of and worse are nothing like the roles that they are casting is not going to land you a job no matter how well you sing them. Sorry, but it's true. They'll love you but hire someone else. So what's the point. Save those arias for your recitals and concerts.
All that said, if you excel at a certain genre, go ahead and offer something off the beaten path from that repertoire. If I were a conductor who specialized in bel canto operas I might want to hear something NOT from Barbiere or L'Italiana or Cenerentola. One would assume that I would know pretty much all the Rossini operas that have been produced in the last few decades. Even then offering something for which the score is impossible to find would probably be foolish. Something from one of the recently published scholarly editions, would be another story. Frankly, I'd like to hear Di tanti palpiti more often and I'm not even a bel canto specialist. I think it's a great piece. And I don't think anyone would bat an eye at that aria on a list. I do think that a Pacini or Piccini aria is not going to be helpful in getting a job unless you are up for a specific role in one of their operas (which seems highly unlikely).
Houndentenor
"Unleash your ferocity on an unsuspecting world." -- Bette Midler
Definitely makes sense. Certain arias (like fire, one of my staples!) have become very standard--I hear people sing it right before I walk in all the time! So at this point, I don't consider it to be an obscure piece on my list. I know the auditors have heard it a million times and will be able to easily use it to compare me to tons of other people they hear singing it.
I think that if they're hearing something for the first time, maybe if they find it interesting enough, even if they are focusing as much on the song as you, that it could peak their interest and snap them out of it enough to hear something else if you did it well, no?
BQ
"Until last week, I thought legato was a cured meat!"
Yes, it will get their attention. They may love it. But I think much more often than not they are going to hire the person who handed them everything they need to know on a silver platter and a side of relish.
Fire is not an obscure aria. Everyone who hears auditions has heard it a gazillion times. Considering that it's short and shows tons of coloratura there's a good reason who it's offered so often. Rarely do sopranos get to show a lot in a short amount of time. Too many arias require sitting through five minutes of aria to get to the good part (not that the rest isn't lovely but it doesn't necessarily show us what we want to hear).
Vanessa isn't done that much either but every person who hears yap auditions could probably sing Must This Aria Come So Frequently by heart without ever having seen the score. That's not obscure either.
Yes, there's a fashion thing with this. Rusalka's Invocation to the Moon wasn't always a standard aria. And you will find arias in the older anthologies (the Spicker one) with arias you've never heard before and sometimes never even heard OF. They must have been "standard" once upon a time. Styles change and people adapt.
If we could only sing from the top 10 arias that would limit us to Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Carmen for French and Magic Flute for German. That's not what anyone is saying.
Houndentenor
"Unleash your ferocity on an unsuspecting world." -- Bette Midler
If you have a lesser known aria that is by and large the BEST showcase of your talent - put it on the damn list. But make your other four more standard fair. Should you put it first? Only if there is SOME way the panel can compare it to their season. For example - Zauberflote is their first performance and your more obscure aria is all about control, coloratura, and big ass high notes.
That said... I don't see anything wrong with playing it "safe" in an audition. Picking more standard rep that you can sing the hell out of is never a wrong decision. And it will rarely offend any panel member (where as throwing an obscure one on there might).
Starting an audition with something that obscure is a bad idea.
You can always have something like that on your list, and anyone interested can ask for it (won't happen that often), but don't undermine yourself by beginning with something unfamiliar.
Our job in auditions is NOT to present an interesting performance, but rather to show them an interesting PERFORMER. You will highlight your skills most strongly by singing an aria for which they have a frame of reference.
I second many of the recs other posters have given thus far (Musetta, Oscar, Tytania, Juliette, Bel piacere)...I might add Adele's laughing song to the list of suggestions -- it seems like it would be perfect for someone of your voice type -- plus, it's short and delish! Have you ever tried starting with Nannetta?
(but this is coming from a girl with a list full of long arias...I need to take this advice myself!)
from Britten's Midsummer's Night Dream. It's not the greatest aria, but it shows a fair amount and is quite charming. And short I would imagine they'd ask for Pamina after it.
If I'm reading your list incorrectly, and you're actually a fuller lyric with good agility, you might be able to sing something like Ch'il bel sogno... but I'm guessing that'd be too heavy.
I'll probably get flamed for saying this, but I used to start auditions with the Rake's Progress, starting from "My father". I was hired a fair amount doing that, but some people might take exception to your singing half an aria as a starter.
Also, isn't the Silver aria shortish? Just another thought... Good luck!
...how is this whole "auditioning with obscure rep" thing working out for you? Is it getting you work? Are kicking ass and taking names with this strategy? Are agents and GD's and conductors and impresarios giving you thumbs up from doing this stuff in auditions? Are you auditioning?
I respect your knowledge--in some things it is encyclopedic and I admire your love and dedication to the art form. However, in some things I will fall back on the old axiom from Mark Wahlberg who said (regarding his work-out regimen)
"I don't take exercise advice from anyone who is in less good shape than I am."
When I was starting out I had a very obscure aria as part of my package. I usually started with it and it was very successful for me. I continue to use it when it is relevant for the roles I'm auditioning.
We generally don't know the voices or strengths of the posters in question. Any input offered in good faith (as is Karen's research) ought to be taken graciously.
Karen has taken the time to gather and post repertoire suggestions that were relevant to the original question, which I believe was about length not language or popularity. If you have other suggestions, then by all means add them to the list.
My first major singing role (Little Buttercup), in fact, I'm pretty sure came my way at least in part because the MD was so amazed that anyone has even heard of Ivor Novello, let alone sang one of his songs in audition. Imagine his delight when I then did my second piece - from Lionel Monckton's The Arcadians - an operetta he had long been considering doing a revival of.
My first opera role came after an audition in which my package included "standard" Massenet, Cilea, Mascagni, and Menotti arias, and a not-so-standard (outside Russia) Rimsky-Korsakov aria - Liubava's from Sadko. I let the auditor have his choice of what I'd sing first. The Rimsky-Korsakov is what he requested. He told me it had been years since he'd heard it, it was one of his favourites, and he was delighted to hear it again. And he cast me. Granted, the opera he cast me in was a world-premiere, so the "standard-ness" of the arias probably wasn't as big a factor.
I tend to package up whatever five arias I feel the most sympathy for at any given time, that are also the "most polished" in terms of performance-readiness. I auditioned for two more world premiere operas, the first with Handel ("Iris" from Semele) and Walton ("Constant, faithful wife" from The Bear), the second with Cilea ("Acerba voluttŕ" - standard) and Menotti ("Empty-handed traveller", the less-frequently done - but for me, much more sympathetic - of the Mother arias from The Consul). I got cast both times.
I have a way-obscure Russian aria in my package and it's the aria I'm most often asked for (I do note that it's legato on my rep list, so maybe that has something to do with it, my other arias tend to be a little jumpier). I've gotten lots of good stuff from that aria, including the Santa Fe, and Tanglewood YAPs. I don't think I would start with something so obscure, since I really do think it's easier to judge vocal quality (especially in an audition situation) with familiar rep, however I've gotten the sense that people are excited to have the option to hear something "unusual." That being said, however, if one is auditioning for things like YAPs I wouldn't have more than 1 obscure aria on the list, since they want to fit you into the singer boxes, if you will, and need to hear you in "regular" rep. I get the sense that Karen isn't pursuing the "standard" opera career, she sings a lot of contemporary and baroque music, and if that repertoire is your focus than doing not standard rep in auditions makes complete sense!
I will preface this by saying that this is not a story about opera, but about jazz. I was an opera performance major in my undergraduate work, and when the opportunity came to audition for a jazz concert, I jumped at the chance (my love of jazz came far before my love of opera).
This was the first time the jazz program was holding auditions for singers, and I pulled out my go to shower song - Lush Life. It is well known to people in the know, but is lesser known (not "top forty"). When I showed up, the director asked for my song, and I replied "Lush Life". He dropped his hands and stared at me for a moment before beginning to play (from memory - he had the entire repertoire committed to memory).
It wasn't until later that I learned that every other singer came in with "Fly Me to the Moon", "Somewhere over the Rainbow", "Night and Day" or some other incredibly standard piece. I ended up as a featured performer that night, and had a ball. Showing that I actually KNEW the rep and that I had a passion for it was absolutely the best thing I could have done.
I'm really glad I didn't pussy out and sing Night and Day. It was my back up choice.
In translation, this is the equivalent of showing up to an audition where everyone has done Musetta's Waltz, and singing some gorgeous lesser known. SOMETIMES it will be so refreshing that the edjudactor will nearly weep with relief.
Or, you may get one of those grumpy old fogies who is a slave to the standards and wishes you just shut the hell up and sang M's Waltz. It is a gamble. Sometimes, it can really pay off.
That was the FIRST thing that popped up in my mind when I scrolled past the thread early on, but I decided not to blort it out 'cuz, well,.... everyone would EXPECT me to do so.
