[Last month we published the following letter. This month we include writer Miriam Charney’s further clarification to her July 2006 article. To read the full article visit the Classical Singer archives at www.classicalsinger.com.]
Dear Editor: In Miriam Charney’s very informative article on preparing an audition binder [“Binder Blunders,” July 2006], she makes the statement: “Careful, though—if you’re using a copy from an anthology, and you know there are orchestral or vocal parts missing (as in Musetta’s Waltz), please make sure they’re in the music you give us!”
I am unclear as to her meaning and rationale. Is she suggesting we get a copy from the opera’s vocal score and mark cuts? Or present the whole piece as given in the opera? It seems as though having irrelevant vocal lines would be confusing to a collaborator, and time is usually at a premium in audition situations. No offense, but I feel that I am using precious time having a pianist play these interludes. The auditors know the pianist’s quality—that’s why they already have the gig! So a little explanation would be appreciated. Thanks.
—Michael Begley, via e-mail
Dear Michael: Glad you found my suggestions informative. To clarify my statement about “missing orchestral or vocal parts,” Musetta’s Waltz (“Quando m’en vo”) from La bohème is really the clearest example, although one you might be more familiar with is “Avant de quitter ces lieux” from Faust.
The second part of Musetta’s aria is actually a quartet when it occurs in the opera. The older editions of the soprano anthology do not add the missing vocal lines to the piano reduction, thereby rendering it not only rather spare but also incorrect. (The newer edition, I believe, has corrected this omission.) The pianist must know to add the missing vocal lines to the piano part. Any auditor would hear that these lines are missing, and any soprano should know that they are missing and correct the music accordingly. Likewise, in the Faust baritone aria, there are many little orchestral “licks” which fill out the chords and the rhythm—making it, in fact, easier to sing.
One of our issues, as instant collaborators at auditions, is whether to put in these well known “corrections” when they’re not in the music we’re given by the singer. Does this mean the singer doesn’t know they should be there—or, alternatively, that the singer expects the pianist to just play them? Will the singer be thrown off if they’re added—or, if they’re not added? A lot of us are so used to the way the aria should go, that we’ll add them in automatically.
I’m certainly not advocating playing interludes. Although, if the singer needs a few measures for vocal or dramatic reasons as a rest or a break or a development, you’re certainly entitled to those bars—within reason, since we are talking short audition times. Whenever I have to play a da capo Handel aria, for instance, the first thing I do is find a good cut in the introduction—one that will work for the first time and the return, making hopefully a bit of musical sense, while not making the auditors feel as if they’re listening to an orchestral interlude rather than a singer’s audition.
One has to use musical judgment, however, with interludes. There are times when they must be there for the piece to make any sense, and the singer’s pursuit of excellence can only be helped by having a coherent (though longer) piece of music, even in an audition setting.
—Miriam Charney
