Ever since opera climbed out of its musical-dramatic primordial ooze and interpolated its first high note, the opera composers and performers have left a trail of often conflicting, contradictory, and sometimes insightful performance traditions of their art. What version of the composer’s music does the singer of today perform, and how do you deal with contemporary practicalities in observing or dismissing performance traditions?
When interpolating music into an opera – either composed by the original composer or not – it would be in the singer’s best interest to research what has been done and what determines current practice, who did it and where they did it. In previous issues of Classical Singer there have been some wonderful articles about the older generation of 78 recordings. (“The Many Voices of Rosina,” February 2000 and “Our Legacy on Record,” April 2000). Search the new CD releases for these older recordings. Bend the ear of the older generation of teachers and coaches who might have heard Tebaldi or Callas live. There are even two live recordings of Aida from Mexico City in 1950 and 51 in which Callas interpolates a high E flat to cap the triumphal scene. Even the great conductor, Arturo Toscanini, adopted an alternate ending Verdi once devised to Radames’ aria “Celeste Aida.” You can hear this on Toscanini’s complete recording with Richard Tucker and on a more recent set sung by Plácido Domingo with the Metropolitan Opera conducted by James Levine.
Acquaint yourself with the musical particulars of previous productions of the company that is offering you the role. A good source is to a coach associated with the production or the singer who sang the role before you with the company. Another source is the readily available, well-researched opera guides of the English National Opera and the wonderful series of Cambridge Opera Handbooks. Arm yourself with as much information as possible about your concerns and needs.
First, let’s take a look at music from an opera that has been replaced by music of the same composer and transpositions of certain arias. For example, the publisher, Baerenriter, has brought forth a new critical edition of Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann. This urtext edition has shaken the previously accepted performing version as is found in the G. Shirmer vocal score. As to date, there are now several versions of this work being currently performed:
1. The “pure” Baerenriter edition, which contains radically more music.
2. A hybrid version of the Baerenriter and Schirmer vocal scores.
3. A hybrid version of the Baerenriter and a previously published French version of the opera.
4. The “not so pure” but until now standard G. Schirmer edition. Since Dapertutto’s aria “Scintille, diamant” was taken from another work of Offenbach and inserted into Hoffmann, the singer engaged to sing one or all three of the Offenbach villains may have to deal with a version which may or may not contain this aria. Plus, if an opera company opts for the Baereriter urtext, the singer must now learn Dapertutto’s original chanson. Unfortunately, we can never know if Offenbach would have been horrified at the substitution of Dapertutto’s chanson, since he died leaving an incomplete and unproduced Hoffmann in the hands of Ernest Guiraud to finish. The next question for the singer to ask is: in what key did a composer originally write the aria? Offenbach’s original key for Olympia’s aria ‘Les Oiseaux’, was in G Major not A flat Major as is found in the Schirmer score. For a soprano tackling all three heroines, this could help ease the vocal demands for Olympia if the soprano is not a coloratura or not equipped with the vocal resources of a Joan Sutherland or Beverly Sills.
Secondly, an example of one composer’s music being substituted by another composer’s music can be found in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia. It has been a common practice for many a famous prima donna to substitute different music for “Contro un cor,” Rosina’s music lesson aria. Adelaide Borghi-Mamo performed a very florid arrangement of the Neapolitan song “Santa Lucia”. The American prima donna Minnie Hauk always interpolated an encore into this lesson scene and once sang “Old Folks at Home!” In recent years, Marilyn Horne has interpolated the Cavatina “Di tanti palpiti” from Rossini’s Tancredi. Well, at least Rossini actually wrote the music for that one!
Thirdly, what music should actually be sung? In past years it was cut and dried what music you sang in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. All you had to do was buy the Schirmer vocal score and you were on your way. Since the publication of Baerenriter’s Figaro, conductors, singers, musicologists, and opera companies have been taking a second look. There are several ensembles where the vocal lines of Susanna and the Countess have been reversed in the Schirmer score. I think this change in vocal parts was a reflection of past productions in which the Countess was cast as a heavier voice and Susanna was a lighter soprano; and also because certain famous artists with those voice types had garnered great success with those roles. Mozart’s original has now been restored by Baerenriter. Under this category I would also place arias that have been traditionally cut such as Count Almaviva’s last act aria, “Cessa di piu resistere” in Il Barbiere. Many wonderful tenors who do Almaviva may not be able to cope with the florid requirements of this aria, which ended up being used by the composer as the basis of Cenerentola’s “Non piu mesta.” In addition, comes the question of the restoration of traditionally cut cabalettas. Such music now being included in many productions today are the cabalettas of Verdi’s La Traviata. First, is Alfredo’s after the aria “De’ miei bollenti spiriti,” and then Germont’s cabaletta after “Di Provenza.”
In all the cases of interpolating music into operas, transposing keys, or determining what composer’s version is to be done, the singer would be well advised to take into account the resources of the company doing the production, plus who is conducting and directing. If you are engaged by the Met, or if the conductor is a Riccardo Muti, then you may be doing the Baerenriter Hoffmann. If it is a regional company, this is less likely to happen. Do not, however, assume what version of an opera any company may be doing. Contact the company, and the conductor or director if possible, or have your agent do this. Misunderstandings occur all the time about how things are going to be done. There is nothing quite like that sinking feeling at the first musical rehearsal when you discover the company is doing the Baerenriter edition and you have prepared the Schirmer.
The fourth question invokes the god of the almighty buck. Let’s suppose you are real keen on singing that aria in its original key, but the orchestral parts are in the key that has been used since Buddha was a baby. In today’s era of anti-bacterial opera, the singer will be hard-pressed to find a sympathetic ear in the guardian of the Grail (translation: the conductor) or the impresario if it involves costing the company money for the transposition of orchestral parts. But, if a singer knows, for instance, that in a previous production of Figaro, Los Angeles Opera had already transposed the orchestra parts for Marcellina’s aria, “Il capro e la capretta” down a whole step, getting the “go-ahead” for your preferred transposition may succeed. Plus, using the argument that in Mozart’s era the “A” to which an orchestra tuned was significantly lower in pitch than it is today may help plead your case. If it is a common transposition, like Manrico’s aria ‘di Quella Pira’ in Il Trovatore, a company would not object to ordering the transposed parts since there are several inexpensive sources for them. But, if it is a rarely done transposition and crucial to the singer, he or she might consider paying for and thus owning the orchestral transposition. Or, as in my own personal experience while conducting at Seattle Opera, the conductor might do a favor and transpose Olympia’s chanson to Offenbach’s original key as I did for a charmingly persuasive Ashley Putnam
Finally a last word of advice: Deal with these issues before signing the contract! Then you have the option of whether to accept the job or pass. It is a fact of life that a regional opera company that spends a sizable chunk of its budget for a big name to attract audience will be more willing to accommodate that singer’s “request” than they would for a young promising singer on the threshold of a career. But if you arm yourself with a solid foundation of credible information and you are fortunate enough to have knowledgeable and congenial colleagues, then you stand a much better chance of getting your heart’s desire.
In the days when the Castrati ruled the Baroque operatic stage, contracts even contained clauses about where the “Divo” would be positioned on stage. But to my knowledge, very few “stars” have ever done as grand an interpolation as the famous Nellie Melba. Whenever she sang Lucia di Lammermoor, Dame Nellie insisted the evening end with “her” death at the conclusion of the Mad Scene and not with the tenor’s suicide in Donizetti’s last scene. After the curtain came down on Lucia’s death, it would then rise again and she would proceed to replace the last scene of the opera with a short concert of her favorite arias to end the evening. Needless to say, this was certainly pre-Pavarotti. It was also the ultimate interpolation!
