OPRY LINKS
22: Rainy Day Edition. . .
Starring Boston Blackie! Sheryl
Crow! Frank Sinatra! Sabine Devielhe! And. . .Alfredo Rubino
 
Sabine Devielhe
Sheryl Crow
Saturdee Opry Links Overture!
"Abduction from the Seraglio," by Mozart.
https://youtu.be/KFz0NhnLJC0
1.
A little warm, brisk Mozart for a rainy, windy morning. . .A bit of wisdom from
Don Basilio, the music master in "Marriage of Figaro," who relates how Lady
Phlegm (ahem!) gave him the following pearl of wisdom: "Death may be avoided
with the cloak of an ass." Really. I've found this to be the case many times.
What? The Tenor is Luigi Alva, the wonderful Peruvian (!) singer who specialized in
Mozart.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwPBxUd4dgc
Setting: The garden of Count Almaviva
Synopsis: Figaro has just discovered that Susanna and the Count have planned to
meet. The Countess is planning to dress up as Susanna but Figaro does not know
this and therefore is angry. He tells Bartolo and Don Basilio about Susanna's
infidelity and, after he leaves, Basilio comments that such behavior is typical
for the young.
Translation:
https://nebrwesleyan.digication.com/rodney_mount_capstone_portfolio/In_quegli_anni
About Luigi Alva:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Alva
2.
Here is a lovely little song adapted by Mozart from an opera, "Armida," by one
Josef Myslivecek. But for Mozart's melody, it is unlikely the aria, opera, or
possibly Myslivecek, would be remembered today. "Ridente La Calma," or "May a
happy calm arise." (Something well worth wishing.) Sung here by soprano Kathleen
Battle, who could have done with a bit more calm in her performing career. She
was quite the diva drama-queen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxvSiDt0Pds
Translation:
http://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=968
3.
WARNING to "metoo" adherents: the following aria concerns a womanizer. Have
smelling salts close at hand.
If there is a more familiar Mozart aria than the seductive, "La Ci Darem La Mano,"
I don't know what it is. Every kid parked at a piano probably plays it (say it
ten times fast.) It has been performed by such unlikely crooners as Frank
Sinatra (!). Here is sweaty baritone Rodney Gilfrey, with soprano Liliana
Nikiteanu. With English subtitles. (Aria starts at 2:45.)
Synopsis : Don Giovanni attempts to seduce the peasant girl Zerlina. Zerlina
almost capitulates but is prevented from going off with him by Donna Elvira, who
has already fallen to the wiles of Giovanni. That naughty boy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJnJjpMdT3Y
Translation:
https://www.opera-arias.com/mozart/don-giovanni/la-ci-darem-la-mano/
You didn't believe me about Sinatra, did you?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPzHYiiRgxA
4.
Moving away from Mozart, but keeping things pretty, here is another lovely item
well suited for a rainy morning: "The Bell Song," from "Lakme," by Delibes. So
beautifully sung by soprano Sabine Devieilhe, who, sad to say, is not joining me
for lunch and pleasant conversation. This aria is ethereal, magical, strange,
elegant, transporting, mysterious. I'm out of adjectives. Lakme wanders through
the town square, singing a legend of Vishnu.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMO0KFL3E58
Setting: A public square in a town in India
Synopsis: Ordered by her father, Lakmé sings the legend of the pariah's
daughter. The girl was walking through the forest at night and comes upon a
stranger who has been set upon by wild animals. She rings a magic bell that is
on her wand and saves the man, who is actually Vishnu, the son of Brahma the
Creator. Vishnu takes her up to paradise for saving him.
Translation:
http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=152
Ms. Devieilhe has a Facebook page, if you wish to compliment her:
https://www.facebook.com/SabineDevieilhe/
5.
I was going to move away from Wolfgang, but who can resist a woman with a
moustache? What'd he say? The alluring French soprano, Marianne Crebassa, has
adopted a pencil-thin affair ("the Boston Blackie kind," quoting Jimmy
Buffett) for her assaying of Cherubino in "Marriage of Figaro." Even without her gorgeous mezzo tripping
exiquisitely along Mozart's too-many-notes, Ms. Crebassa is an arresting
presence here. Yes, folks, it's a "trouser role," where the mezzo is a playing a
man. No gay implications intended; it was just a tradition arising
post-Shakespeare, essentially a way to get more and more pretty women on stage.
This is "Voi che sapete che cosa è amor," or "You know what love is."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMAzppGdWlY
Setting: The Countess's bedroom
Synopsis: After Cherubino arrives in his new military uniform, he sings a plea
to women to see how much love he has to give.
Translation:
http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=222
About "trouser roles:"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breeches_role
No truth to the rumor that Ms. Crebassa is soon to record this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXQS4S3vgGA
Speaking of Boston Blackie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXQS4S3vgGA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aImKhYLZeWw
6.
For those (sometimes including me) who tend to think of Mozart opera as either
frivolity or mere pretty melody, here's a bit of an eye-opener. At least it was for
me. Sabine Devielhe invests this with such emotion as to be unusually moving.
This is the recitative and aria, "Alcandro lo confesso. . .Non so d'onde viene."
Sad to say, it does not appear in an opera, but is a free-standing concert aria
(usually sung by bass), words by one Pietro Metastasio. Note that orchestra uses
period instruments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldYpStpIpNU
Translation:
http://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=124154
7.
Okay, enough Wolfgang. As Beethoven once wrote, "O freunde nicht diese Töne. .
." (O, friends, not these sounds. . .) Verdi also goes well with rain. Here is
the forgotten baritone, Alfredo Rubino, singing his heart out in a very old,
popping 78 recording, with "Di Provenza il Mar" from "La Traviata." A father
tenderly tries to remind hs son of his roots.
https://youtu.be/KSAzUnQPpmE
Setting: Violetta's country house
Synopsis: Alfredo's father has convinced Violetta that it is better for everyone
if she leaves Alfredo. She begs him to love her and then sneaks out of the
house. Later, a servant brings him her farewell letter and he rushes off to find
her. Giorgio stops him though and sings this aria to remind him of their home in
Provence and to ask him to return with him.
Some photos of Rubino:
http://forgottenoperasingers.blogspot.com/2015/04/alfredo-rubino-baritone.html
8.
One the best extended Verdi sequences for bass is "Di due Figli," which, of
course, means, "About two figs." Well, not quite. Great melodies here! From "Il
Trovatore" (The Troubadour.) The bass is Stefan Kocan.
Setting: A hall in the palace of Aliferia, Aragon, 1409.
Synopsis: Ferrando entertains a group of soldiers with the story of the Count of
Luna's brother, Garcia, who was apparently killed as an infant by the daughter
of an old gypsy woman who was burned for being a witch by the Count di Luna's
father.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1talnYAs0A
Translation:
http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=505
9.
Here is favorite clip of Mirella Freni singing
Micaela's tender, plaintive aria from Bizet's "Carmen." This is "Je dis que rien
ne m'épouvante" ("I say that nothing can frighten me.")
Setting: A mountain pass
Synopsis: Searching for Don José, who she still loves in spite of the smugglers,
Micaëla finds herself alone in the mountains. Frightened, she prays for courage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJO5MyNfEOU
Translation:
http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=41
About Ms. Freni, still with us at 83:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirella_Freni
Excerpt is from this film:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212040/
FINAL BOW:
As the rain really pounds L.A. right now, imbuing it with a wonderful sadness
that belies its glinting, sunglasses-and-fake teeth image, here is the
gloriously melodic, touching aria, "Casta Diva," from Bellini's "Norma." One
might take such music for granted, having been long spoiled by plethora of
melody offered by myriad of technology, but when this was written, it was a
novel operatic exploration---revolutionary, even---of the long-sustained melodic
line (legato.) Here is Maria Callas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYl8GRJGnBY
Setting: Night in the Druid's sacred forest, Gaul, around 50 B.C.
Synopsis: The Druids have come to meet with Norma, their high priestess. They
want to revolt against their Roman oppressors but Norma convinces them that
their time to rise up has not come yet. The Romans will be defeated by their own
failings. Norma then invokes the moon and prays for peace. While the chorus of
Druids sings their derison for the Romans, Norma sings her cabaletta, privately
worrying that that the hatred for the Romans must also translate to hatred for
Pollione, her secret Roman lover.
Translation:
http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=356
Saturdee Opry Links Encore!
Okay. You've seen Pavarotti duet with James Brown (astoundingly weird), and
Sting, and Celine Deion, and Barry White (!), but here's one that might have
escaped your attention. And it might be the weirdest of all, because Sheryl Crow
actually hits most of the notes and appears to have, somewhere along the line,
had some vocal training. Yes, the estimable Ms. Crow has a history with studying music.
From Wiki: “She enrolled at the University of Missouri in Columbia and received
a Bachelor of Arts degree in music composition, performance, and education from
the School of Music." Yes, it's back to "La Ci Darem la Mano," this time with
Luciano and Sheryl, in 1996, raising money to help children in war-ravaged
countries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P627lL09hwg
Synopsis : Don Giovanni attempts to seduce the peasant girl Zerlina. Zerlina
almost capitulates but is prevented from going off with him by Donna Elvira, who
has already fallen to the wiles of Giovanni.
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