Mozart (a belated birthday)

Yesterday was Mozart's birthday. I did not have time to ccommemorate it, because I was on the move. I will do it brefly today, with an aria from Cosi fan Tutte. I discovered Mozart through his operas, so it is fitting. It is sung by Danielle de Niese, just because I love her playfulness.

An aria for a lazy Sunday

On a lazy Sunday, I often listen to opera. I am doing this right now and I thought I would share it with my readership. This is from Handel's Giulio Cesare. A rather modern take by Danielle de Niese, who plays/sings Cleopatra. I am always a bit skeptical about Danielle de Niese's often pop star-like  mannerism when she sings. I mentioned it the very first time I blogged about her. I know she has also been very much criticized for it. On the other hand, opera will not survive if it remains stiff and formal. And I grew rather found of Danielle de Niese. She may not be the greatest soprano ever, but she has plenty of charm and confidence. And for some reason, her rather carefree attitude reminds me of a pleasant Sunday or a pleasant weekend of far niente. I know, I trivialize the great Handel. But this performance is a delight, all the same.

Mozart's Birthday

It is Mozart's Girl who reminded me today on Facebook: today is the 258th birthday of Mozart. 258 years, and still the greatest. So anyway, this year I haven't missed it. But how to celebrate, this is always a bit tricky. As I came to Mozart through  his operas mainly, and since he is as far as I'm concerned the greatest opera composer, bare none, it made sense that I upload an aria from his operas. I know I already chose Una donna a quindici anni from Cosi fan tutte before, but as I talked to my godson about Danielle de Niese, this is the one that came to my mind. Happy birthday maestro. You are the best.

Barock

I once said on Facebook: "There is rock in baroque" to a friend who was into both. Which is very true, and a new great unknown line immortalised on Vraie Fiction. About two years ago, I illustrated this principle with a piece from Rameau that the same friend had uploaded.I wanted to illustrate it again, and I was wondering with what piece of baroque music. And then it struck me: why not more Handel, to remember he composed more than The Messiah? So here is Da Tempeste, from Giulio Cesare, interpreted by, well, Danielle de Niese. I hesitated a lot to have this one, because I find very irritating the way de Niese moves on stage. As in: she moves too much and like a pop star. Someone should remind her sometimes that she is a soprano, not some two bit pop singer.But I forgive her because of her enthusiasm about Handel's music (listen to what she says about it here). Anyway, am I the only one to hear the rock beat? This is pure barock.

The birthday of Mozart

I am lousy with birthday dates, I mean very lousy. So I am happy that Mozart's Girl reminded me on her food blog that today was the birthday of Mozart. I have been listening to his arias all evening. That is the best way to celebrate I think, on a week night when I was not planning anything anyway. I could sing some of them, but that might drive my wife mad.

So I was not expecting to put music on this blog so soon, but the circumstances now force me. The best way to celebrate Mozart is to listen to his music and have people listen to it. As I said before, I came to Mozart through his operas. It is logical that I put an aria here tonight. Which one is the question. I thought my readers might get a bit tired of listening to baritone singing stuff I used to sing or wished I had sung and it makes me green with envy when I listen to them, so I have decided to put an aria sung by Danielle de Niese. Sure, she is not Natalie Dessay who is my favourite soprano now, but I still feel guilty for blogging some mean things about Danielle de Niese a while back. I mean, the girl was in the Met at 19! At that age, I had barely started learning to sing. And I never master it enough, let's be honest. Anyway, she sings Una donna a quindici anni from Cosi fan tutte very nicely there, with just mischievious and bubbly enough to make us forget that we are in a concert. Singing in character, with character. And well, it's Mozart in all its simple beauty.

An aria for this melancholic day

Well, we have today a rainy, even stormy day, the first storm of the spring, with lightning and all. I find it better than late snow. I was wondering what music to put on this blog for such circumstances. I don't want to put Vivaldi's spring here, that would be too obvious. Easter is coming soon and I guess something out of Mozart's requiem could be fine for a gloomy weather, but I put on this blog my share of sacred music in the past. Then I thought: why not some Handel? Two days ago, it was the anniversary of his Messiah, which would certainly suits the coming Easter (at least as much as it does Christmas, the holidays which it is usually associated with), but I want something profane. So I am putting here the aria from his opera Rinaldo, Laschia ch'io pianga, maybe its most famous aria.

I have first heard the aria in a scene(which you can see here on Youtube) from the movie Farinelli, a musical melodrama based on the life of the castrato. A very good scene from a not quite great but underrated movie. But maybe I am easily impressed when it comes to opera. Nothing beats Amadeus, however Farinelli was quite watchable. I loved the aria then, I love it even more now that I can understand it. It has a beautiful melancholic feel to it, perfect for gloomy days. It is here interpreted by Danielle de Niese, who I think sings Handel beautifully:

Musing on Valentine's Day

I probably won't be able to blog on Valentine's Day, so I might as well blog about it now. It is not too early for it anyway. Valentine's Day is not my favourite holiday, but I do like it. Well, some of it anyway, sometimes. The eating chocolates part especially. I guess once appreciate it more when he/she is in a couple, but even then one can easily be disappointed: expectations are too high, things don't go as planned (overbooked restaurants, burnt food, bad wine, feeling unwell, etc), or simply it is in the wrong day of the week (let's say a rainy Monday or a freezing Wednesday, or simply the eve of a big day). I'll rather keep my expectations low. It is one day that couldn't quite get Christianised, even though it has the name of a Catholic saint. Thinking about it, there is nothing saintly about Valentine's Day, except its name.

I decided to put here in advance a Handel song to celebrate the day. It is again sung by Danielle de Niese (it seems that I am developing an obsession with that soprano). I hate pop songs and I am usually not a big fan of romantic songs when they are not at least 100 years old, so it makes sense that this one is from the XVIIIth century répertoire. It is called Endless pleasure, Endless love. For a change, the song is in English. The lyrics are here, and you can find here a little bit of what de Niese feels about the aria and her interpretation of it.

Sexy opera

This is a sort of follow up to this post. I have decided to write this post for two reasons. First, because I want to reflect on opera and on its popularity a bit. Second, because I want to blog about something else than serious subjects all the time. I think I have been a bit harsh on Danielle de Niese when I wrote the first post about sexy opera. She does have a beautiful voice, but I still think she looks like and acts on stage like a pop star. That said, she does have a beautiful voice, and while I am sure it makes no difference to her whatsoever if on an obscure blog she gets criticised or praised, I thought I might as well be happy that new talents exist in the world of opera. Because opera might be a dying art. I say this with a lot of sadness, but let's face it, it is associated with fat sopranos strangling the cat or obese Italian tenors rolling their eyes while they are digesting their pasta, in other words people often see it as a tacky circus for snobs. It is sad, as opera, before being a show, is an art. It transcends the entertaining aspect. At least it does when it is done well. But yes, there is an entertaining aspect in it. When I first listened for the first time to Carmen and Don Giovanni, I enjoyed the drama just as much as the music. I still do, as they are really great, powerful dramas too. And the music is, in itself, profane, secular. When one listens to a song, he enjoys it on a physical level. So opera is, or at least can be, attractive and yes, sexy. Seriously, who would resist to Don Giovanni or Carmen? But I still think that the appearance of the singer is irrelevant to this sexiness. Natalie Dessay is quite plain, but her voice is absolutely to die for. So I decided to put a Handel song from the sexy Danielle de Niese here, but if you can see her, it is on still pictures, so you should not be too distracted by her appearance, and not at all from her gestures. The voice should be enough to please.

Is opera sexy?

This entry on Black Dogs made me aware of the existence of a poll launched by Playboy called Too Hot to Handel (lame isn't it?), trying to decide who is the most sexy classical music star. There are among them three opera singers (and you know how much I love opera). I am a bit baffled about the poll. The comments are crass and vulgar, for once, but that's not what bothers me. It is Playboy after all, and that has to be expected from them. I was just happy it was not Hustler! No, I was bothered by the very existence of the poll, as if you could resume sexiness by physical beauty in a medium that creates beauty through sounds. I am not a high brow musical critic and I am pretty shallow most of the time. There is sexiness in music, but it does not belong to the same medium. And for the record, I do find opera sexy, in itself. What the Playboy poll basically said is that what is sexy has to be visually sexy. Sadly, it is an approach that many opera houses probably agree with nowadays: singers are often casted for their good looks. But music should transcend that. Carmen does not have to be good looking: she is a witch, it is through her voice that she enthralls men around her. And I think professionalism is sometimes lost somewhere. Have a look on youtube at Danielle de Niese, one of the singers in the poll. Beautiful woman, no doubt. Lovely voice too, no doubt about that either. But look at the way she sings in concert. She can't keep still! It makes her performance look somewhat artificial and out of control. I sometimes had the impression to watch a pop star performing, the movements making us focus on herself, not the voice. She could sing the arias and the emotions would flow through them easily, it would all be about her voice, not about her look.