Tea, countertenors and song
Apr. 28th, 2008 11:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pallas_athenaWhile some were off enjoying the splendours of Whitby, I spent the weekend tending to a sick countertenor. He had planned to come over from Lübeck to rehearse some Baroque duets for a future concert, but when he arrived the poor guy promptly keeled over with sinusitis.
He needed rest, so I left him to it. Meanwhile, I was able to spend a lovely afternoon in Oxford with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
monochromegirl and evilmattikinz. La Monochrome showed us around the university's Museum of Natural History, the building that inspired her to become an architect; hearing her talk about it certainly inspired me. There may be further invasions of Oxford in the future: I myself have had a vision, a vision of GOTHS ON THE RIVER. I'll punt, pvcdiva can serve tea, esdi_leanne can feed the ducks and everyone else can drink and look fabulous. How about it?
Otherwise, Countertenorfriend and I spent most of the weekend cooking, chilling on the sofa watching Blackadder, exchanging massages and singing love songs. "I feel married," I thought at one point. "To someone gay. Obviously."
When his voice had recovered sufficiently, we sang through Ino and Athamas's scene from Handel's Semele and the beautiful "Pur ti miro" duet from the end of Monteverdi's Poppea. Interestingly, both pieces end on a unison note. There is nothing in the world, I think, like the sound of a woman's and a man's voice singing the same pitch together. There's something about the two different qualities of voice arriving at the same note that sends shivers the length of one's spine. Handel and Monteverdi both knew about that, and Philip Glass also uses it to great effect in his opera Akhnaten.
Meanwhile, here's the programme for what looks to be a fairly riotous concert this weekend, also starring the lovely Peter Collins (baritone) and Guy Newbury (piano):
from Semele, George Frederic Handel:
Aria (Juno): 'Awake, Saturnia... Iris, hence away!'
Recitative (Juno): 'Somnus, awake!'
Aria (Somnus): 'Leave me, loathsome light!'
Recitative (Juno): 'Dull God, canst thou attend the water's fall'
Aria (Somnus): 'More sweet is that name'
Recitative (Juno): 'My will obey'
Duet (Juno, Somnus): 'Obey my will, thy rod resign'
from die Zauberflöte, W. A. Mozart:
Aria (Sarastro): 'In diesen heil'gen Hallen'
from Cosi fan tutte, W. A. Mozart:
Duet (Dorabella, Guglielmo): 'Il core vi dono'
from L'Italiana in Algieri, Gioacchino Rossini
Aria (Isabella): 'Cruda sorte'
Duet (Isabella, Taddeo): 'Ai capricci della sorte'
For an encore, we'll be doing my own little arrangement of "Over the Hills and Far Away" from The Beggar's Opera. If I can get it written out in time, that is. Ahahahaha.
He needed rest, so I left him to it. Meanwhile, I was able to spend a lovely afternoon in Oxford with
monochromegirl and evilmattikinz. La Monochrome showed us around the university's Museum of Natural History, the building that inspired her to become an architect; hearing her talk about it certainly inspired me. There may be further invasions of Oxford in the future: I myself have had a vision, a vision of GOTHS ON THE RIVER. I'll punt, pvcdiva can serve tea, esdi_leanne can feed the ducks and everyone else can drink and look fabulous. How about it?Otherwise, Countertenorfriend and I spent most of the weekend cooking, chilling on the sofa watching Blackadder, exchanging massages and singing love songs. "I feel married," I thought at one point. "To someone gay. Obviously."
When his voice had recovered sufficiently, we sang through Ino and Athamas's scene from Handel's Semele and the beautiful "Pur ti miro" duet from the end of Monteverdi's Poppea. Interestingly, both pieces end on a unison note. There is nothing in the world, I think, like the sound of a woman's and a man's voice singing the same pitch together. There's something about the two different qualities of voice arriving at the same note that sends shivers the length of one's spine. Handel and Monteverdi both knew about that, and Philip Glass also uses it to great effect in his opera Akhnaten.
Meanwhile, here's the programme for what looks to be a fairly riotous concert this weekend, also starring the lovely Peter Collins (baritone) and Guy Newbury (piano):
from Semele, George Frederic Handel:
Aria (Juno): 'Awake, Saturnia... Iris, hence away!'
Recitative (Juno): 'Somnus, awake!'
Aria (Somnus): 'Leave me, loathsome light!'
Recitative (Juno): 'Dull God, canst thou attend the water's fall'
Aria (Somnus): 'More sweet is that name'
Recitative (Juno): 'My will obey'
Duet (Juno, Somnus): 'Obey my will, thy rod resign'
from die Zauberflöte, W. A. Mozart:
Aria (Sarastro): 'In diesen heil'gen Hallen'
from Cosi fan tutte, W. A. Mozart:
Duet (Dorabella, Guglielmo): 'Il core vi dono'
from L'Italiana in Algieri, Gioacchino Rossini
Aria (Isabella): 'Cruda sorte'
Duet (Isabella, Taddeo): 'Ai capricci della sorte'
For an encore, we'll be doing my own little arrangement of "Over the Hills and Far Away" from The Beggar's Opera. If I can get it written out in time, that is. Ahahahaha.