Who Knew Coloratura Could Be So Easy

Don't get me wrong, coloratura singing requires a lot skill and technique, and is not for everyone. Some of these pieces require a skilled virtuoso who has had a successful singing career for the past two and half decades at least. But, on the other hand, some of them are actually quite easy, so long as you know what you're doing.

I have found that many coloratura arias are easier to sing than some others that don't have as much vocal decoration. I find it actually a bit tougher to sing arias that have many long sustained notes, because it requires more vibrato and breath support to keep from going flat (I'm looking at you, "Im abendroth"!). 
      With arias that have more moving notes with long ascending and descending passages, suddenly I have more freedom of movement in my voice. Suddenly I don't need to hold onto a single note for more than two beats. Now I move more freely vocal wise. 

Yes, part of it is practice. The other part is just making sure you've got everything in place. And the rest of it whether or not you can keep you breath going. 

The Opera That I Both Love And Hate

Mozart's opera Die Zauberflöte---more commonly known by it's English title The Magic Flute---is both one of my favorites and one of my least favorites at the same time. The opera is best described as an enchanting mess as it has amazing music but the story and most of the characters are nonsensical.

First, the cons:
I know I'll get some flak for this, but Sarastro is the lowest part of the opera. He is uninteresting and his arias are not memorable in my opinion. They're supposed to noble-sounding and gentle, but they are not Mozart's best work in my opinion. And Sarastro himself is twenty flavors of boring. He has no real character beyond that of platitude-spewing generic benevolent guy who doesn't really do anything. He has no trouble kicking out the Queen and her cohorts at the end. And he doesn't really have a motive for stealing Pamina other than her mother is evil, which unfortunately makes him come off as a total jerk. 
      Now, I remember there being a graphic novel adaptation of the opera. While it amounted to little more than just another generic fantasy story, it did try to make Sarastro a more believable character. Sarastro says at one point that the Queen was in fact his own wife whom he neglected and hence why she turned evil. So you could make the argument that in the opera he is motivated by regret. But Mozart doesn't provide enough info. 

As for Tamino and Pamina, they are pretty generic. Their music is decent, I guess. "Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön" is a pretty song about falling in love a portrait, and as whiny as "Ach, ich fühl's" sounds in the text, it is pretty in its own way. But Tamino switches sides without any questions and has no trouble getting through the ordeals. While many sopranos have argued that Pamina is a strong character for taking action and "rescuing herself" (they have to if they're trying to play the role), she doesn't have a personality. And when the two are married at the end, it feels like filler, without any of the heartwarming elements present in Papageno and Papagena's duet. 

The story itself is full of Masonic ritual and symbolism which I think brings the story down considerably. The whole business of "We can't tell you until you've been initiated properly," is very counter-intuitive; how are you supposed to find the truth when you have no idea what it's supposed to be? Now if there was far less cryptic mysticism and much clearer reasons for why the characters need to do the things they need to do, it would work a lot better.

Now to the pros:
The best music in The Magic Flute---heck the best moments of the opera itself---belong to Papageno and the Queen of the Night. Papageno is a bird-catcher with two magnificent arias and even the most beautiful love duet in opera. He owns every scene he's in, whether it's when he brags about killing the serpent or when he's about to hang himself in despair. His two arias "Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja" ,and "Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen" are some of the most memorable pieces that Mozart has ever written. He is meant to be the comic relief and a foil for Tamino, but considering that Papageno has the harder challenge, I think he is the real protagonist. He is much more real than all the other characters. And when he finally gets his Papagena in the end, I feel like I'm truly happy for them. They sing about how happy they are to be together at last and the children they want---not to mention all the chicken-like chanting of "Pa-Pa-Papageno!"---is what really sells it for me.
         Also Tamino and Pamina's best moments are with Papageno; Pamina when Papageno comes to tell her of Tamino and help her escape, and Tamino when they first meet and when they are undergoing the Ordeal of Silence. The way Papageno plays off the other characters is amazing.

The Queen of the Night does not get much screen time (twelve minutes in total), but she has two unforgettable arias, these being "O Zittre Nicht" and "Der Hölle Rache". Allthough she send Prince Tamino off to rescue her daughter, she is supposed to be the villain. But she is not on stage long enough for there to be much info about her character. She hates Sarastro for getting her husband's money and taking her daughter (whom she abandons out of spite when Pamina will not kill Sarastro), other than that there isn't much to her. However, her music is so awesome I don't really care about her flat character. Forget her motivation, enjoy the vocal fireworks!

So yes, I love Die Zauberflöte and I hate it at the same time. While I can't stand Sarastro and the young lovers are one-dimensional, the music is good and Papageno and the Queen of the Night make it worth going to see. Just ignore the confusing symbolism and listen to the Bird-Catcher and his bride making out.

Practicing at Home

One of the most annoying things about trying to practice at home is that I tense up so darn easily.  At my lesson I'm more relaxed, but trying to be my own judge of sound is a pain and I push too much.  This is especially true if I have the music right in front of me.  Maybe I just overthink the issue to easily.

New Lessons

I have ended my time at Prairie Music and Arts in Sun Prairie and have moved my business to Mavin Vocal Arts in Madison.  While PMA was fun, I am also twenty eight-years-old and can handle Bellini and Donzetti fairly well.  PMA is primarily for children, so it feels awkward at recitals to be singing "O Mio Babbino Caro" whole the other students perform simple stuff by Nancy Faber.  I have also moved my lesson time to Monday mornings as I need Thursday evenings open for work.

Rarely do I blog about my own musical stuff, not even last year when I did a solo recital.  Part of it has to do with being distracted, the other part has to do with being in a creative funk with this blog.  But since I didn't want it to just sit there unused, I will be making an attempt to blog about the stuff I'm doing music-wise.  There will of course be some other things as well, but I'll try to keep it about music as much as possible. 

Norman, Coordinate!

I get that the folks at Madison Opera in their production of Rusalka were trying to imply that the heroine was dangerous from the get-go by showing her during the prelude as a jilted woman drowning herself, but all that seems to do is make a plot-hole.  Why does she suddenly want to become human again?  She is described the Water Gnome's daughter.  There was nothing in the libretto that suggested that she was originally a suicide.  Can someone please give an explanation?  

Also, why does Ježibaba take the shoes?  I get that the knife is mentioned later, but does she just take the shoes as trophies?  It makes no sense. 

THE LEGO MOVIE 2 Outshines The First One

Oh man, where to begin with this movie!  this film was just superb.  This review does contain spoilers, so watch out.  

When I heard that the film featured characters inspired by the mini-figures from the girly LEGO Friends and "Elves" toylines, I was so sure that they were going to blow it and go down one of those lame, overdone, phony-baloney  "Ideal Beauty vs. Regular People" plot lines.  But they didn't and for that I am thankful. 

At the end of the first film, creatures from Duplo appear and with them some girly UFOs.  Emmet offers the heart of friendship and the Duplo creature eats it, sparking a conflict that lasts five years destroying Bricksburg and creating a post-apocalyptic wasteland.  Emmet is still as upbeat and perky as always, but is troubled by visions of a cataclysm called "Armomageddon". 
       In the real world Finn's younger sister Bianca has been taking some of his toys out of the basement into her own room (hence the post apocalyptic setting).  In the LEGO world a general from the Systar System comes in and kidnaps Emmet's friends Lucy, Batman, and Unikitty and also takes the pirate Metalbeard and a spaceman named Benny.  Once inside the Systar System, the five are greeted by the shape-shifting Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi who's a subtle as a brick and no one can tell if she is evil or not.  She wants to marry Batman.
     Emmet builds a ship and goes to rescue his friends but gets stuck in an asteroid field on the other side of a dimensional gate.  He is nearly smashed when he is saved by the tough-as-nails Rex Dangervest.  He agrees to help Emmet get to the Systar System.  And time is running out our heroes as Armamageddon is getting closer.  

The only downside this film has is that it was pretty predictable where the plot was going; something happens that triggers Armamageddon and the inhabitants of Duplo and the rest of the Systarians were never were evil at all, they were just very bad at communication (kids usually are).  Armamageddon is---of course---the mother punishing her squabbling children by confiscating their toys. And of course we can all see the two kids finally putting their differences aside and coming together.  

But the sheer predictability of the plot was outweighed by the good stuff in the film.  The first movie touched on the idea of Following the Instructions vs. Building Whatever You Want.  While it was a good film, the love triangle and the overdone message weighed the movie down.  Here, the story was about siblings learning how to play with each other.  And it pulled it off magnificently.  Finn is a young teenager in this film and his sister Bianca looks like she is in the second grade.  Finn wants to go for more dark and gritty "mature" stuff, Bianca likes pretty stuff.  this is represented by Apocolypseburg and the Systar System respectively.  
       The inhabitants of Apocolysburg are your stereotypical hardened gruff guys with the gruff taken up to eleven, with even the animals acting like over-the-top tough guys from a Bruce Willis movie.  The Systarians are very girly, even the men, much like characters from chick flicks (one guy is a parody of a Twilight vampire with glittery hair and a love of wearing women's jeans).  The Systerians may seem tough and unfriendly at first, but it is later revealed that they didn't fully understand the Apocolyseburgians' tough and brooding attitudes.  Just before the climax, they are finally able to understand each other. 
   
The other big theme is the difference between growing up and growing hardened.  And this is explored through the character of Rex Dangervest.  This guy appears to be an expy of Owen Grady from Jurassic World with a little bit of Dash Rendar from the Star Wars Expanded Universe for good measure.  He encourages Emmet to "toughen up" but an unfortunate side effect is that he becomes a big jerk in the process.  I was taken aback, though, when it was revealed that not only was he the villain, but he is also an evil version of Emmet from the future (and thus has disrupted the time-space continuum something awful*).  He was abandoned under a washing machine and wants to trigger Armamageddon on purpose just to get revenge.  And the climax occurs when Emmet destroys the temple cake (Finn in real life punching down Bianca's LEGO creation).  But Emmet comes to his senses and defeats his wicked alter ego.  
        
The shape-shifting Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi is the most curious character I have ever seen in a film.  She is delightfully unsubtle, with her hammy little song about how she is So-Not-An-Evil-Queen.  The crazy part is that she is absolutely right!  It's just that she really sucks at communication.  Despite the writers throwing in some ambiguity (her evil laughter devolving into real laughter when her talking banana friend keeps tripping on his own peel), her interactions with Batman made it pretty clear that there was some real affection there.  What surprised me, though was that she turns out the VERY SAME HEART THAT EMMET GAVE THE DUPLO ALIENS!  Okay, I knew that she was secretly good all along, but being the very heart that Emmet made in the first place?  That caused my brain to explode. 

The other characters were fun too.  Lucy a.k.a. Wildstyle has the biggest journey, learning the hard way that you may think you'd wish for someone to be tougher, but it may not be what you truly want, or even what is best.  Lucy tries to resist the glittery cheer of Systar, and in particular the demands of the mini-doll Sweet Mayhem.  Mayhem herself is forty seven flavors of delightful in this movie, acting as the right-hand gal of Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi.  Lucy and Mayhem fight before the climax, and it's afterwards that the truth comes out.  And seeing Lucy finally able to show more of her softer side was pure gold. It was also lovely seeing Mayhem bond with Benny the Spaceman (she is a spacegal after all).  Mayhem also has a little spaceship that bears a mild resemblance to the one from 3, 2, 1, Penguins!. 
      Unikitty had less of a role in this film than she did in the first movie.  But that doesn't stop her form owning every scene she's in.  Batman gets to soften up a lot in this movie; seeing the gruff, brooding Gotham superhero enjoying a back massage or even willingly proposing to Watevra was so awesome.  You have the usual array of cameos (Gandalf, Justice League, historical figures, etc.), and it doesn't feel out of place.

Definitely a 10/10 score on this film!  The plot is mildly predictable, but that ends up being insignificant.  It teaches an invaluable lesson about understanding and communicating, and that being tough and being mature are not the same thing.  The characters were likeable, bringing back characters from the previous film along with introducing some brand new ones.  

Highly recommended. 
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*Stolen from the Nodwick adventure It's a Wonderful Afterlife! by Aaron Williams.

Shattered Brain

 

  

My mind has been officially blown. 

In Donizetti's La Fille du Regiment (The Daughter of the Regiment) Marie is an orphan girl who was raised from infancy by a French army regiment.  She is what is known as a vivandière, a woman who is attached to the regiment doing such things as taking care of the mess.  Having been raised by soldiers, Marie is pretty rough around the edges.  She falls in love with the Tyrolian peasant Tonio, who joins the regiment in hopes of being with her.  But the Marquise de Berkenfield, claiming to be the girl's long-lost aunt, takes Maire away.  Of course everything is resolved with a comical plot twist worthy of Gilbert and Sullivan.  

 Why do I have two different sopranos pictured here?  Well, because Pretty Yende, the lady sang Marie in today's performance, is really giving Natalie Dessay a run for her money.  I don't know why, but Yende's Marie came off a bit more on the sassy side than Dessay did, though I can't quite put my finger on why.  Now there really is no comparing these two formidable women.  But I'm just going to say that Yende is probably the only woman who match Dessay in the role of Marie.