Wednesday, August 18, 2010

The thing to do: create a role



The thing to do for a tenor (as opposed, say, to a gentleman, or country squire) is to create a role! These days, though, a few tenors would rather keep singing the same role all over again!

---- An example of role-creator: Caruso. Of course, the girls loved him for his "Ridi, pagliaccio". But not me! I love him because he created the roles for:

the problem-'kid' in "L'Arlesiana" -- "e la solita storia del pastore".

the Slav in "Fedora" ('Amor ti vieta') -- which a few biographers of Caruso have as being a 'minor' opera by that genius, Giordano!

the Mexican in "Fanciulla del West". Being a Neapolitan, he had the type! (While people think the role is Dick Johnson, anyone who's heard Caruso's English will realise he was rather, Ramerrez!

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And my favourite, the student in Frankel-Rothschild (I can use myself to say, "Franchetti"), "Germania".

Genius!

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