Alto: The Voice of Bel Canto

258 Pages·2016·9.328 MB·English

by  Dan H. Marek

Alto

Alto
The Voice of Bel Canto
Dan H. Marek
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD
Lanham • Boulder • New York • London
Published by Rowman & Littlefield
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
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Copyright © 2016 by Rowman & Littlefield
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic
or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written
permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Marek, Dan.
Title: Alto : the voice of bel canto / Dan H. Marek.
Description: Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, [2016] | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016021739 (print) | LCCN 2016023541 (ebook) | ISBN
9781442265059 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781442235892 (electronic)
Subjects: LCSH: Contraltos. | Opera.
Classification: LCC ML1700 .M156 2016 (print) | LCC ML1700 (ebook) | DDC
783.6/8—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016021739
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
To Joyce DiDonato
in whom the highest standards of bel canto yet live

Contents
Musical Examples ix
Figures xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction xv
Part I: The Alto Voice in the Baroque Era
1 Mezzos and Contraltos 3
2 Why Castrati? 5
3 Altos in the Dawn of Opera 23
4 Altos, Neapolitan Style 25
5 Mr. “Hendel’s” Altos 31
6 Faustina Bordoni and Il Caro Sassone 39
7 Gluck’s Basses-Dessus and Mozart’s Altos 43
8 Intermezzo 49
Part II: Altos in the Romantic Revolution
9 Cambio di Voce 57
10 The Swan of Pesaro and I Musici 59
11 The Maestro and the Prima Donna Assoluta 69
12 Giuditta Pasta 81
13 Caroline Unger (Ungher): The Forgotten Prima Donna 95
14 Maria (Garcia) Malibran 99
15 Pauline (Garcia) Viardot 113
16 The Altos of Grand Opéra 133
17 “La Favorite,” Rosine Stoltz 137
18 Altos in Opéra Lyrique and Opéra Comique 141
19 The Bel Canto Altos of Bellini and Donizetti 149
vii
viii Contents
20 Verdi and Verismo Altos 159
21 German Romanticism, Wagner, Strauss, and the Alto Voice 167
22 The Russian Altos 175
23 Altos in the English-Speaking World 181
Part III: Altos after 1900
24 Twentieth-Century Altos 189
25 Contemporary Alto Singers 201
Selected Bibliography: Books 223
Selected Bibliography: Articles, Essays, and Web Sites 227
Alto Singer Index 229
General Index 233
About the Author 241
Musical Examples
Musical Example 2.1. “Son qual nave” from Ataserse by Riccardo Broschi 8
Musical Example 2.2. “Qual nave smarita” from Radamisto by George Frideric Handel 19
Musical Example 4.1. “Destrier che alle armi usato” from Poro by Nicolò Porpora 27
Musical Example 5.1. “Ombra mai fu” from Serse by George Frideric Handel. Embellishment by Dr. Putnam Aldrich 36
Musical Example 8.1. Mozart’s Letter about Lucrezia Agujari 49
ix