Even the way she sings the coloratura and ornamentations and embellishments has interpretation.. The timing of her coloratura is magnificent, she doesn't just speed through it like all singers do, she pays attention to WHY it's written there and she makes nuances that are miraculous..
and she is a very kind and modest person: I once met her in the streets of Zurich after having seen her in Barbiere and she said: "You really came all the way from Vienna to see me and Edita (Gruberova in Sonnambula)?" An adorable person as well as singer.
Incantevole. Padronanza tecnica, oltreché ricchezza di sentimento e spirito. Sembra piu' un mezzo-soprano che una voce di contralto. Comunque bellissima interpretazione, soprattutto se si tratta di un'opera di Rossini.
Great post! I've always loved Kasarova, there's something in her being that just makes your ears perk up. And to watch her perform is a joy for the eyes. She totally lives her music.
And I thought I liked Bartoli's version. Now I perceive it as a rather wobbly example... (I love young von Stade as well). But Kasarova owns every single sound, she's in control of everything here. The accuracy is unbelievable. You got me a mood for her Vitellia, I'm going to see what she has to offer :D
3:53 is so gorgeous... it always makes me smile with her stacatti upon the chorus.... and she is probably among the best 3 Vitellia on record... truly natural low notes and crystalline top...
@@LohengrinO yes indeed, this is a precious moment. The accuracy, the acuti almost... I never, ever expect perfectionism from anyone, but that does sound like one. As for her Vitellia, her Non piu di fiori is even better than I expected. Those low notes are exquisite, not forced at all. Perfectly reached and placed, warm and rich, a musical caramel.. A force of nature, what can I say
Vasellina Karasova un contralto dalla potente voce anzi direi piena di talento!! Passaggi e vocalizzi, a parere mio molto difficoltosi eseguiti meravigliosamente!! Un grazie ed un caro saluto Lohengrin 0 da Elsa.
I always think of Kasarova as the successor to the late Lucia Valentini Terrani (who was a great singer), but with even more warmth and joy to her timbre when singing this role. Excellent sense of rhythm throughout, beautiful, characterful rubato and the agility is so natural and nuanced as Bel Canto should sound. I find some of the interpolations a little indulgent, but they are playful and in-tune with the character, and she simply sings up a whirlwind from 5:49
FANTASTIC! Never heard of this singer before, but sooo glad to have heard this! Until now, my favorite Cenerentola has always been Berganza. But I think that's now changed! Thank you soo much for sharing! (Is it just my imagination, or does she sound a little like a contralto version of Carol Vaness? Very similar sound to me.)
Dammit that voice is so epic HOT AWESOME!!! That was for sure why Rossini knew this very special type of voice, so quite rare always and nowadays even more than before, was the proper right voice for his earlier and best heroines, as he kinda wanted some very special unisex voice that could be both female but also very sympathetic and likeable for male audience as kinda a guy into the same issues they were troubled too. That wasn´t just a very earlier feminist-like issue but some true egalitarism to keep a better understanding between genders or sexes, so Rossini knew he needed a very special voice that was very true female-one but also neutral/androgine at the same, and the coloratura contraltos happened to be the answer - they kinda were the earliest assoluta type of voice too, even before the range rised more to create the sfogato/dramatica d´agilita/dramatic coloratura soprano types of assoluta which were higher.
@@hanj31 indeed, well actually all types of contralto voice are pretty rare on their extremes, either the lightier-coloratura type or the heaviest-darkest dramatic/profondo opposite, the middle standard-lyrical contralto voice is somewhat more common as it overlaps a lot with the dramatic mezzosoprano type too. Neverthless, deep-dark heavy-dramatic-profondo basses have gotten rarer over time, whereas lightier-higher tenors are more naturally occuring than before, something linked as a side-development of the rising of music tune in the very late 20th century even for opera, so the former references of voice types are obsolete on modern standards which are higher and lightier-weaker.
oh yeah THAT´S THE COLORATURA CONTRALTO PARTICULAR VOICE you kinda notice well at the BROKEN VOICE at the key coloratura at the end of the song - very highly contrasted tones of voices not overlaped at the lower to middle tunes and another very different voice at the upper range!! Coloratura mezzos didn´t have that as their voices aren´t so much lower and sound hollow or fake at the lower tunes and very soprano-like above, Kasarova sounds natural contralto at the lower and above is not so high as being more mezzo than soprano so SHE IS A CONTRALTO or more like a contralto than a true central or even coloratura mezzo, those are HIGHER and LIGHTIER.
@@LohengrinO Sure there is a lot of trouble on differentiating them specially when the true contralto is a quite very rare voice after all and the only reckognizable thing sure about it is that is the LOWEST AND DEEPEST SOUNDING FEMALE VOICE EVER, pretty much having a very EERIE qualities that kinda not are thought of some definitive gender i,e, is very NEUTRAL AND ANDROGINE in nature of sound, thus that´s why has been mainly used for very old and wise ladies and related with supernatural powers - Erda being the most noticeable sample of that, although Ulrica is very close too and the good prophetesse-like of La Cieca (at La Gioconda) or even the odd-darker mystical Zia Principessa of Suor Angelica are great references of roles on what a TRUE CONTRALTO should sing. Then most of the time those quite remarkable and outstanding rare female roles are better sung by the deepest and darkest of mezzos (dramatical mezzos) who sing in the former label of Alto 1 (on the octuple choir voices classification as soloists) and as most of the greatest mezzo roles ever happens to be here, Alto 1 register is usually synonimed as the "true mezzo" HOWEVER this causes some very odd issues about what actually IS A MEZZO because seems there is a lot of REAL TROUBLE on setting and summing up what is a MEZZO for a proper differentiation on true contraltos and true sopranos... even the darker/dramatical ones. Starting ove MEZZOS DIDN´T EXISTED on the very first two centhuries of opera history, so since 1600 to around 1800, there wasn´t a true cathegory for Baroque and then Classical/Mozartian opera itself and most of the roles were done by sopranos and some very few for contraltos, or well back then to ALTOS, right then at the middle of Baroque - like when Hándel operas were happening as Serse or Giulio Cesare which needed it, that already the now used for choir octuple division of singers happened, thus there were already for females (and male castrati singers) Soprano 1 & 2 and Alto 1 & 2 groups and for only male singers (non castrati) Tenor 1 & 2 and Bass 1 & 2. The main Alto singers did Alto 1 group, and just a few ones Alto 2 which started to get labeled in later times closer to 1800 as CONTRALTO, and well most of female roles (and castrati) did sing a mix-up of both types of Alto cathegories - so that´s why Cornelia role of Giulio Cesare is so deep being able to be sung both for true contraltos and deep-darker/dramatical mezzos too. At the same time some singers where able to sing awesomely in a mix between the Soprano 2 group and the Alto 1 too then some earliest MEZZO roles started to be noticed specially for castrati singers, that´s why the leading title roles of both Serse and Giulio Cesare happened to be latter be sung so easily for mezzos as were the earliest samples of that voice half-way between the Alto and the Soprano and having a very fortunate situation placed on both and even having those qualities... that latter on even became the precedent of the earliest Assoluta voices though later on those rised on to push or lean more into soprano territorie than alto. Now as the 19th centhury started an castrati no longer existed, the musician and composer got into an issue that they liked those voices before but needed to relabel them and redifine as they were sung only by female voices, so the Alto began to be labeled as Contralto for just females, and not just the deepest ones as before and the other label where only applied into the choir repertoire as being properly used for children and female voices at the same. Still they needed those thrilling voices of the Baroque time half-way between Altos and Sopranos so Rossini came upon the idea about both the Coloratura Contralto for a deeper female assoluta voice going from Soprano 2 to Alto 1 or even Alto 2 that where used for his most famous roles, still eventually he got warmed too for a higher mightier powerfull voice an thus the now acknowledged Sfogato/Assoluta Soprano was rised since Armida, being a awesome powerfull voice that rised up to Soprano 1 or Soprano 2 to Alto 1 and then both voices covered the key-central range that some Alto (or also Soprano) castrati have back then at the middle Baroque time which happened to share both Soprano and Alto registers, between Soprano 2 and Alto 1 and some expanding up to Soprano 1 for the more Soprano-like singers (latter being acknowledged as the Assoluta Soprano voices as Maria Callas seems to were) and others down to Alto 2 thus being more Alto (later Contralto)-like singers and latter used for Rossini earliest and most famous heroines as Angelina/Cenerentola and Rossina, and latter bel-canto composers used them mainly for cross-dressing male roles. All both those roles where latter assigned up to the mezzos properly as that voice rised up over time, and contraltos just some times had them as their developmend going down and down more and heavier builded each time, restricted them a lot for being unable to sing properly those roles as the coloratura was no longer developed on them, thus the coloratura contralto cathegorie itself nearly dissapeared over time, and just at certain times comes back as Kasarova showns up, but has merged totally with the mezzo repertoire as a whole. Meanwhile the assoluta soprano and assoluta/coloratura contralto were developed at Rossinian work - and both awesomely used for Semiramide for a main sample, where the leading title-female role is an Assoluta Soprano -going from Soprano 1 to Alto 1- but her counterpart and leading "male" role is a Coloratura Contralto (now mainly a Mezzo) - going from Soprano 2 to Alto 2, at the same time, the same composer got up the idea on a MEZZOSOPRANO for a back then (and even today) mainly a SHORTER SOPRANO-range roles placed in between both her leading ladies. So back around even at the Cenerentola and Barbiere times, he already used these cathegories for certain "soprano-like" roles at there as Bertha and Tisbe, and were pretty much like a lot of Mozartian seconda-donna roles, sung by some shorter-range sopranos who latter got roles as Despina, Barbarina, Cherubino, Marzellina, Zerlina and Papagena, and everything very alike them (even Suzanna at times were into this) and well their original center was mainly a Soprano 1 to Soprano 2 tier at Mozart and early Rossini works but as time went by, they changed into Soprano 2 to Alto 1 and then THUS BECAME THE EARLIEST TRUE MEZZOS as the Zelmira role happens even at the Semiramide play - she is a shorter role that happens to be an issue of contention between the both Assoluttas, as the Soprano loves the Contralto, but her/"he" doesn´t and loves instead the Mezzo which is a voice in a sandwich-like placement between the others because if Semiramide goes from Soprano 1 to Alto 1, and Arsace is from Soprano 2 to Alto 2, Zelmira is just Soprano 2 and Alto 1 then not being lower than Semiramis but not higher than Arsace. So the earliest mezzo were used for some CONTRAST. (At the Cenerentola there is an earlier difference between Soprano, Mezzo and Contralto, as Angelina the leading voice is a Coloratura/Assoluta Contralto voice going from Soprano 2 to Alto 2 [though she often sings no more than down to Alto 1 where she also sings most of the time doing only the reaching on Soprano 2 at the coloratura], whereas her stepsister rivals are Clorinda, the higher true soprano role being from Soprano 1 to Soprano 2 [neverthless though she stays mostly on Soprano 1, and Tisbe being the lesser role and a lower soprano, was also a very earliest MEZZO being just Soprano 2 and highly contrasting half-way between her sister and step-sister.)
@@LohengrinO Then the issue nowadays oftenly criziticing modern mezzos, specially the coloratura ones as just lazy and underdeveloped lyrical sopranos is VERY MISTAKEN as the original mezzos which in turn were also COLORATURA ROLES happened to be nearer to sopranos at their core-center i.e. lyrical-type ones, than the actual main mezzo roles that developed latter on, and even the dramatic sopranos are indeed closer to true central mezzos (or lower ones) as they got developed as the remaining latter-days Assoluta-like Soprano voice but missing on the coloratura eventually - it was pretty hard neverthless to keep the coloratura in first place adding a lot of troubles to an already awesome voice covering from Soprano 1 to Alto 1 and with a key-core center of voice as Soprano 2 which indeed was the very original center of the dramatical soprano even at Mozartian times when that voice developed for quite energetic roles as Dorabella and Donna Elvira, roles oftenly sung by lightier mezzos too. The main issue happened that mezzos didn´t stayed just there on the lightier soprano-like and secondary/contrast repertoire when started and got widened and deeper and deeper covering then most of the higher contralto tier of Alto 1 as latter lyrical and dramatical mezzo roles appeared since middle to late 19th centhury and were very awesome roles that stablished what a "true mezzo" should be, thus becoming something either having both Soprano 2 and Alto 1 covering records or just centrallly-restricted to Alto 1, and then the Contraltos were restricted more and more lower and lower than they actually sung earlier on and when on the second half of the 20th centhury up to nowadays the voices rised on as the tunning musical cleft rised too, the original references of the first half and even middle 20th centhury seems to make a stand like the modern voices are mistaken as higher than were before, when actually might be very OK voices just not fitted for the greater opera of the middle to late 19th centhury and earlier 20th centhury times. To my own view, the modern classification of mezzos and contraltos which might overlap a lot but could be resolved by contrasting with the octuple choir-voices classification as well the historical times of developing the roles, seems to be this one: 1. Coloratura/Lightier and higher-mezzos: Very lyrical-soprano-like but a bit weightier and darkened at the lower tunes, being just then noticeable. Nowadays they´re mainly lazy and underdeveloped lyrical or lyrical-dramatical/spinto sopranos, though maybe have always been that but in the past (first to middle 20th centhury) the singers were encouraged to push over their voices and develop it better so wasn´t needed to made a career on Mozartian and Rossinian roles and alike, and sang a lot better as true sopranos, but now they could afford it. They also seems to make a commonplacement for a compromise half-way between the original score on the coloratura contralto-roles as those barely exist nowadays and some no longer used tendency going up in second-half of 19th centhury and first-half of the 20th were sopranos sung those roles rising the scores half-octave above where the original were. The coloratura mezzos find a way to sing both scores and even set up a common place in between those scores not so higher as a coloratura soprano but not so lower than how the true coloratura contralto were. It´s mainly a modern voice developed since early 20th centhury with maybe Conchita Supervia and alike singers though the more contemporary reinvention of Fredericka von Stade, Anne Sophie von Otter and Cecilia Bartolli rised more into soprano-like style better fitted for the very original secondary mezzo roles at Mozart and Rossini, and well a lot of trouble on musicologists thinking of the voices as mistaken when actually weren´t much like that. They´re mainly Soprano 2 centered and depending on singers and roles go up to some Soprano 1 tunes and down to some Alto 1 but never left totally the main constrictive way of Soprano 2. (Soprano 2 is C6 to A3). 2. Lyrical and central-standard or TRUEST MEZZOS: They developed later on at middle 19th centhury mainly at French repertoire, though there are some hintings of kinda-precursors at some Donizetti repertoire even at Italian (Giovanna Seymour of Ana Bolena and Countess Sara Nottingham at Roberto Deveraux are very important mezzo roles that didn´t have much coloratura as other roles and more key-centered in the point half-way of both Soprano 2 and Alto 1 as the true mezzo OUGHT BE remembering a bit the concept that the awesome Baroque castrati singers did back then having both the Soprano and Alto/Contralto registers well covered.) Still were French who did a lot on them for leading title female roles for the first time ever as Mignon of Thomas and the original Carmen of Bizet. Offenbach has them too for the role of Nicklausse/the Muse and Massenet has it for Charlotte at Werther. Still this central key voice kinda never happens or barely happens - another main role is Laura from La Gioconda of Ponchielli, as there isn´t much of these voices as it, and mostly happens to be either leaning more into Soprano 2 or into Alto 1 than having both equally balanced and matched. Latter as most of leans more into either Soprano or Alto they better sing other roles and might even relabel themselves as something else: the ones leaning more into Soprano 2 better develop more their voice into a true Dramatic Soprano as that voice indeed is a mainly Soprano 2 voice leaning into Alto 1 a bit less than the true central Lyrical Mezzo. At the same time the ones leaning into Alto 1 happen to be the true Coloratura Contralto voice but as that is a very limited repertoire for a living they end up labeling just as MEZZOS and singing both Lyrical and Dramatic Mezzo repertoires pretty easy on as well mixing up with the proper Coloratura Contralto roles they´re better fitted on and so a lot of good Lyrical Mezzos just haven´t just been doing those roles fitted to them itself but depending on what they lean more: - if lower they sing either the Dramatical Soprano and/or a mix-up of Coloratura and Lyrical Mezzo roles (they might sing Rossinian contralto heroines but lightier) - if loweer they sing the TRUE Coloratura Rossinian heroines, as Kasarova, and both Lyrical and Dramatical Mezzo roles, and well these are actually the best known and loved mezzos as Tatiana Troyanos, Teresa Berganza, Ebe Stigniani (though she was kinda a type of Assoluta and went even lower than that), Briggite Faasbaender (very much alike Stigniani), Fiorenza Cossotto (except older), Fedora Barbieri (when younger), earlier Christa Ludwig (though she also was very much Assoluta later on) and specially Giulietta Simionato.
@@LohengrinO 3. Dramatical Mezzos - they´re pretty much the AWESOMEST voices of opera being they the remaining key-center of the older lower Assoluta Alto/Contralto-like voices when they lost their coloratura abilities, pretty much the same as happened when the Assoluta/Sfogato Sopranos lost them became eventually the Dramatic Sopranos we might know from Wagner and middle to mature Verdi and thereafter later 19th centhury and earlier 20th repertoires, i.e the most thrilling operas ever!! Then as much the Sopranos, both Wagner and Verdi influenced a lot to their development, however seems that as much of the sopranos some original forerunners happened at French operas, for the sopranos were the Falcon type (Dramatical Soprano) used for Rachel (La Juive of Halevy), Leonora (La Favorite of Donizetti), and Valentine (Les Huguenots) & Selika (L´Africaine) of Meyerbeer, and for the mezzos were some "Alto" roles (even back then labeled as that as weren´t yet used up to the Italian term of mezzo properly) as Didone (Les Troyens of Berlioz) and most importantly Fides (Le Prophet of Meyerbeer) and later Delilah (Samson et Delilah of Saint-Saenz) and the voice of the Antoinia´s Mother Ghost (at Contes d´Hoffmann of Offenbach) and even the Mother of the title role (Louise of Charpentier). However were at the Italian and German repertoire where these voices thrived a lot: Azucena, Preciozilla (though she is kinda lighter and a lot of lyrical and even coloratura do her too very nice), Ulrica (if sung lightier than she should be), Amneris, Eboli and Mistress Quickly (though seems that Verdi kinda had in mind a very powerfull coloratura-less Rossinian-like contralto instead of a true mezzo then as her role is comical as Rossinian former heroines), the Princess of Bouillon (of Adriana Lecouvreur) Old Madelone and Countess of Coigny (of Andrea Chenier), la Frugola (from Il Tabarro) and even la Zia Principessa (on a very lightier version). They are key-centered into Alto 1 but easily got into some Alto 2/true Contralto tunes and they easily cover for those roles when the true contraltos are gone missing. German repertoire got it for Ortrud (though she seems to be even higher being a full true Assoluta when it started), Fricka (specially at the Walkirie because at Rhinegold she is highter and very much-like Brunhilde as being younger and more hopefull toward her husband then), Waltraute and even sometimes Erda at the Rhinegold story,; non-Wagnerian roles include the Nurse from the Frau Onnhen Shatten, Herodias of Salome and Klytaemnestra of Elektra all from Strauss and the Witch of Hansel und Grethel of Humperdinck. Contraltos are also 3 tier leveled into 1. Coloratura/Lightier and higher ones which are actually either a lower Lyrical Mezzos or a higher Dramatical Mezzos, or better a mix-up on both rather than a true self-centered voice as in Rossini times, that´s why they kinda didn´t exist being better labeled as MEZZOS and just at times recalling their true nature. Are Alto 1 leaning a bit into Soprano 2 rather than Alto 2 as Dramatical Mezzos do instead. 2. True central/standard or Lyrical Contraltos: The original Contraltos and most usual ones covering equally both Alto 1 and Alto 2 registers, however as those voices rarely happens to be so equally centered they tend to be either leaning a bit into Alto 1 or into Alto 2 than the other while still covering both. The higher ones thus sing mainly better Dramatical Mezzo roles and secondly but more importantly than what other Lyrical-like Mezzos do, they do sing both Coloratura and Lyrical Contralto at the same - It´s kinda the voice that Ewa Podles have initially before getting too much deeper over aging;Fedora Barbieri kinda had this voice and was very fully healthy all her long-life time thus she did a lot of Dramatical Mezzo as well very nice the coloratura Rossinian contralto heroines and also as getting very old remained doing standard-lyrical/pure Contralto roles a lot!! Lower Lyrical Contralto singers can´t do Dramatical Mezzo or even less Coloratura Contralto, however they easily to a lot the true rarest roles of Dramatical Contralto and well to difference of the other higher singers they just could be unnable to label themselves as nothing else than a TRUE CONTRALTO itself!! They actually are Lyrical + Dramatical Contralto and so sing both a lot of true Contralto roles doing great justice for them. That was kinda the original voice for Erda for both her appearances at the Wagner cycle (though at Siegfried she might be even a bit lower and deeper than at Rhinegold) as well her daugher, the leading First Norn of the Past. La Cieca of La Gioconda could be both and at Il Trittico seems that Zita of Gianni Schicchi was the lightier-lyrical (or coloratura-like) contralto while La Zia Principessa of Suor Angelica was the lower lyrical-dramatical type. Russian repertoire has a lot of these heroines too at Khovanschina of Mussorgsky (Marfa), Prince Igor of Borodin (Konchakovna), Boris Godunov of Mussorgsky (Nurse), Eugene Onegin of Tchaikovsky (Olga and Filipevyna) and Queen of Spades of Tchaikovsky too (Pauline). French repertore barly had them - Mother Albine of Thais (Massenet) and the Prioress Mme D´Croissy and Mother Jeanne at Dialogues des Carmelites (Poulenc) and maybe Genievieve of Pelleas et Melissande (Debussy). 3. The lowest and most awesome of female and all human voices seems to be the Dramatical Contralto which is a voice totally at the Alto 2 range so that was indeed at times labeled as the Assoluta Contralto - though that term makes better sense for a higher variant that reached into the mezzo tunes while going also very deep near into the actual Tenor 1 lower range and so as much the original true Coloratura/Lightier and Higher Tenors were a very neutral and androgine-like voice yet leaning a bit into a female tune but not untill the highest notes, pretty much as the actual Coloratura Tenors only should might sound as a full male tenor voice at the lower range thus being opposites between. They weren´t common anytime and nowadays neither they´re more than before if not furtherly rarer. So they barely had any true Dramatic Contralto role itself though could do great some ones done for Lyrical or Lyrical-Dramatic Contralto such as Erda (maybe that´s even the proper voice of her at their second appeareance of the Nibelung´s Ring cycle), Ulrica (that was the original base voice for her, though her singer kinda had a very wider expander upper range as a true deeper Assoluta voice which made easy for Dramatical Mezzos to cover her kinda OK), la Zia Principessa (the most frightening versions of her perhaps) and some eerie deep contralto voices at 20th centhury German repertoire as in Schoenberg work (Moses und Aaron - an Ill Old Woman/Die Kranke) and Strauss (some Dryad at Ariadne auf Naxos and an offstage eerie Voice from the Above at Frau Ohnen Schatten) and more modern operatic works - Florence Pickett of Albert Herring of Britten and even maybe Nefertiti role of Aknaten of Glass (her role is interesting on how lower and deeper her voice is from her husband-title role done from a mezzo-countertenor and furtherly from her commanding mother-in-law Queen Tiye, a soprano).
@@LohengrinO So in brief happens this way: - Coloratura or lightier mezzo - Soprano 2 (with a bit of Soprano 1 even): a D6 or Db6/C#6, though they usually never go up to C6 to A3 or Ab/G#3 voice. Very much alike true central-lyrical Soprano voice but a bit lower and a bit lightier than Dramatic Soprano. Very much thought as lazy and shorter-underdeveloped Lyrical or Lyrical-Dramatic(Spinto) Sopranos and kinda they´re however the voice is true and happens to be rescued to the original tunes of Mozart and Rossini time. (Also got very biased by references of actual Lightier Lyrical Mezzos who did the same at the so called Golden Era Recorded Memories and henceforth is very commonly thought the voices needed to be lower and darker tuned than they actually were.) - Central-standard or true Lyrical Mezzo - Both Soprano 2 and Alto 1: B5 to G3. Didn´t exist as such itself and better tend to happen to be mixed up on one the other two mezzo cathegories, thus being a lower lyrical-dramatical mezzo very much common and delighted and the main reason why the Alto 1 tier happened to be synonimed as the true Mezzo instead of the idea of an equally balanced Soprano and Alto/Contralto voice, while also happens to be a lightier lyrical-coloratura mezzo kinda common in the past and that early on did most of coloratura mezzos and might be easily singing into full Dramatical Soprano too. The original Assoluta or Sfogato Soprano voice seems to be leaning up into the latter one. - Dramatical or lower-deeper-heavier Mezzo - Alto 1 (with a bit of Alto 2 too at their lowest at times): do cover up to A#/Bb5 or A5 to F3 or even E3, though they usually never go down to F#/Gb3, and were the most exciting and thrilling roles of the opera!! They´re also another key main factor why the Mezzo label is usually identified with Alto 1 register than a proper Soprano 2 + Alto 1 mix-up as the core-main Mezzo roles happens within this voice, because anyway they kinda are the earliest and awesomest remaining Assoluta-type of voices, Rossini kinda developed them and their higher Soprano-like more famous versions, but this one were the earliest best loved ones as having coloratura before and so being able to properly sing the Coloratura Contralto too. (There seems to be an protoype of Assoluta before 1800 at Cherubini´s Medea title role, but as the work is very rare, and mainly only known because of Maria Callas rescue, seems more proper to think that the original main known Assoluta voice was a Coloratura Dramatical Mezzo or Coloratura Contralto, while untill a bit later with Armida also from Rossini the Coloratura Dramatical (Sfogato) Soprano was brought back to life - and that role somewhat is even harder than Medea - and he (Rossini) finally set up both roles on Semiramide as well the earliest true Mezzo as a contrast for them at the same opera.) True coloratura/higher and lightier contraltos: Very much like both Lyrical and Dramatical Mezzos and actually set between them as an Alto 1 voice with a bit of Soprano 2 thus along with the Lyrical Mezzo and the Dramatic Soprano the last remaining voices of the Assoluta type before as the idea kinda rise up with some Castrati at the Baroque having both Soprano 2 and Alto 1. Still as the Alto-leaning voice is more striking eerie neutral than the soprano, were better works for these roles than soprano at least early on, and Rossini brought it back with her heroines and latter cross-dressed "male" roles. They reach up to B5 or Bb/A#5 to F#/Gb3 or F3 down and mainly labeled better as "mezzos" if they happened which kinda are - a lyrical-lower mezzo with coloratura development at the higher register - have a very broken voice quite noticeable at the last thrills of the coloratura of Cenerentola. - True central-standard or Lyrical Contraltos: The commonest true contralto voice sharing both Alto 1 and Alto 2 equally developed registers, or should be - usually as happened with Lyrical Mezzos didn´t exist on its own and are rather Dramatical Mezzos able to sing both Coloratura and Lyrical Contralto registers thus being voices quite richer than most, or are a lower variant of Lyrical-Dramatical Contralto that couldn´t sing neither Coloratura nor Dramatical Mezzo repertoire, being thus the commonest only-Contralto labeled ones and the ones how might sing their proper best roles more. They´re up to Ab/G#5 or G5 to F3 or E3 at range. - True dramatical or deeper-lower-heaviest and darkest Assoluta Contraltos: The most awesome and rarest valuable voices of all opera, quite unnatural and totally into Alto 2 (true contraltos) as a whole. They go up to G5 or Gb/F#5 to D3 or even Db/C#3 and thus sound true tenor-like at the bottom. Kathleen Ferrier and Marian Anderson kinda were that, and nowadays Ewa Podles attemps to that however her voice is mainly dammaged and artificial after doing a lot of much blending of coloratura contralto and dramatical mezzo + true contralto roles and is mainly fake than once were.
Certainly an excellent well produced sound with a very facile handling of fioritura! .....I find her interp (especially in the first half) a bit ....precious...for the lack of a better word (self-indulgent?)
Είχα καιρό να την ακούσω και πράγματι η κολορατούρα της είναι καταπληκτική. Είναι όμως κοντράλτο, διότι εγώ πάντα σε ρόλους μέτσο-σοπράνο την ήξερα/άκουγα. Ευχαριστώ για την ανάρτηση.
Yes, yes, all these comments are true, or rather I agree with them. But why does she pronounce the Italian vowels with such a dark, covered sound? I am not Italian, but it strikes me that those vowels would be more authentic if pronounced a bit more open and bright. Contrast Cecilia Bartoli-she uses some darkness but doesn’t overdo it. Is this something taught by Russian music schools? With whom has Ms. Kasarova (sp?) studied?
This is a wonderful performance, but I wouldn’t call Kasarova a contralto. Anyone mixing head voice as low as E4 is not a contralto. The contralto carries chest voice all the way up to F4, and that’s FULL chest, not mixed.
Yes that is the definition of the Contralto sound. However when it comes to fast, complex passages it may be absolutely necessary to lighten the sound. Singing heavy in chest mechanism will make it difficult to nearly impossible reach very high notes. Do you know who else are taught to do that? Leggiero Tenors. Interestingly Callas was admitted to her singing studies as a Contralto. In the old days before the rigid fach system today, women sang whatever their range allowed. It also helped pieces weren't composed above high C. Keys of compositions became higher and higher.... That was the beginning of the end of the dark, chesty Contralto sound. Voices are trained upward. The higher and brighter, all the better.
she is a COLORATURA/HIGHER + LIGHTIER CONTRALTO those voices are very close to the central/standard (lyrical) mezzo type but slightly lower though not to lower than the dramatical mezzo type (those were actually closer to the true central-lyrical contralto than the actual mezzo). There are at least three voices very closed between them that could be labeled as MEZZO at different types of their evolution at the lifetime of a singer: the dramatical soprano, the true central/standard-lyrical mezzo and the coloratura contralto and could very easily overlap between them: maybe the difference between the heavier soprano and the lightier contralto is not so close, gaping a tone between them, but each of them are very close to the true mezzo which is halfway between them, a semitone lower than the soprano and a semitone higher than the contralto so they could swap roles very easily and somehow were the remainings of the original ASSOLUTA type of voices of old-golden age of opera too - a type of very unnusual powerfull voice that had both soprano and contralto range and roles to cover. She might labeled herself as mezzo because the coloratura contralto repertoire is very stricted and she needed to sing more to make a living of it so she sung the closer mezzo roles to her central voice, mainly lyrical but also dramatical ones too.
@@borisvandruff7532Still some people consider Anderson a dark mezzo…one never knows does one. The older I get the more I think Fach is now more in the mind of the listener and less about the compartmentalization of operatic roles and arias. 😅
I think she is both, her central and base voice is a contralto-leaned type than a true central mezzo, henceforth the coloratura contralto label fits perfectly for her. However as there is very little for this rare voice, she sangs more what is nearby and those are very much standard or dramatical mezzo roles too, so she labels better herself as MEZZO too, without not being true the other label.
Even the way she sings the coloratura and ornamentations and embellishments has interpretation.. The timing of her coloratura is magnificent, she doesn't just speed through it like all singers do, she pays attention to WHY it's written there and she makes nuances that are miraculous..
Divine
and she is a very kind and modest person: I once met her in the streets of Zurich after having seen her in Barbiere and she said: "You really came all the way from Vienna to see me and Edita (Gruberova in Sonnambula)?" An adorable person as well as singer.
Absolutely stunning . Had the privilege of seeing her in Cenerentola at ROH .
Incantevole. Padronanza tecnica, oltreché ricchezza di sentimento e spirito. Sembra piu' un mezzo-soprano che una voce di contralto. Comunque bellissima interpretazione, soprattutto se si tratta di un'opera di Rossini.
Great post! I've always loved Kasarova, there's something in her being that just makes your ears perk up. And to watch her perform is a joy for the eyes. She totally lives her music.
Woke up to find this wonderful performance.
And I thought I liked Bartoli's version. Now I perceive it as a rather wobbly example... (I love young von Stade as well). But Kasarova owns every single sound, she's in control of everything here. The accuracy is unbelievable. You got me a mood for her Vitellia, I'm going to see what she has to offer :D
3:53 is so gorgeous... it always makes me smile with her stacatti upon the chorus.... and she is probably among the best 3 Vitellia on record... truly natural low notes and crystalline top...
@@LohengrinO yes indeed, this is a precious moment. The accuracy, the acuti almost... I never, ever expect perfectionism from anyone, but that does sound like one. As for her Vitellia, her Non piu di fiori is even better than I expected. Those low notes are exquisite, not forced at all. Perfectly reached and placed, warm and rich, a musical caramel.. A force of nature, what can I say
Vasellina Karasova un contralto dalla potente voce anzi direi piena di talento!! Passaggi e vocalizzi, a parere mio molto difficoltosi eseguiti meravigliosamente!! Un grazie ed un caro saluto Lohengrin 0 da Elsa.
Thank you once again buddy! I had the pleasure n grace to hear her sing Bellini’s Romeo in Munich a few years back. Captivating singer.....
Captivating!! Love her voice!! Loved it since the very first time when I heard her rendition of 'O ma lyre immortelle'!!
Elle a écrit "(Je chante avec mon cœur et mon âme), qui dresse un portrait de la profession de chanteur lyrique.
I always think of Kasarova as the successor to the late Lucia Valentini Terrani (who was a great singer), but with even more warmth and joy to her timbre when singing this role.
Excellent sense of rhythm throughout, beautiful, characterful rubato and the agility is so natural and nuanced as Bel Canto should sound. I find some of the interpolations a little indulgent, but they are playful and in-tune with the character, and she simply sings up a whirlwind from 5:49
Bravissima. Passaggi perfetti👏👏👏👏👏👏🍷🐶
One million thanks, Lohengrin 0.
FANTASTIC! Never heard of this singer before, but sooo glad to have heard this! Until now, my favorite Cenerentola has always been Berganza. But I think that's now changed! Thank you soo much for sharing! (Is it just my imagination, or does she sound a little like a contralto version of Carol Vaness? Very similar sound to me.)
there i s something genuinely virtuosic in Vesselina's early singing
Полный восторг!!!
Dammit that voice is so epic HOT AWESOME!!! That was for sure why Rossini knew this very special type of voice, so quite rare always and nowadays even more than before, was the proper right voice for his earlier and best heroines, as he kinda wanted some very special unisex voice that could be both female but also very sympathetic and likeable for male audience as kinda a guy into the same issues they were troubled too. That wasn´t just a very earlier feminist-like issue but some true egalitarism to keep a better understanding between genders or sexes, so Rossini knew he needed a very special voice that was very true female-one but also neutral/androgine at the same, and the coloratura contraltos happened to be the answer - they kinda were the earliest assoluta type of voice too, even before the range rised more to create the sfogato/dramatica d´agilita/dramatic coloratura soprano types of assoluta which were higher.
I loved early Kasarova very much as well... not by accident Edita was collaborating often with her
this might be the rarest voice type even more so than like basso profundos or high tenors.
@@hanj31 indeed, well actually all types of contralto voice are pretty rare on their extremes, either the lightier-coloratura type or the heaviest-darkest dramatic/profondo opposite, the middle standard-lyrical contralto voice is somewhat more common as it overlaps a lot with the dramatic mezzosoprano type too. Neverthless, deep-dark heavy-dramatic-profondo basses have gotten rarer over time, whereas lightier-higher tenors are more naturally occuring than before, something linked as a side-development of the rising of music tune in the very late 20th century even for opera, so the former references of voice types are obsolete on modern standards which are higher and lightier-weaker.
Admireable.
Beautiful! Just please correct information about recording. Thank you for all the extraordinary moments you share!
Yes!! Where are this performance??
I would say she is rather nasal...but her interpretations are truly amazing!!!
Rapturous performance and applause
wow
와우~~!!!
oh yeah THAT´S THE COLORATURA CONTRALTO PARTICULAR VOICE you kinda notice well at the BROKEN VOICE at the key coloratura at the end of the song - very highly contrasted tones of voices not overlaped at the lower to middle tunes and another very different voice at the upper range!! Coloratura mezzos didn´t have that as their voices aren´t so much lower and sound hollow or fake at the lower tunes and very soprano-like above, Kasarova sounds natural contralto at the lower and above is not so high as being more mezzo than soprano so SHE IS A CONTRALTO or more like a contralto than a true central or even coloratura mezzo, those are HIGHER and LIGHTIER.
Im not that expert on the differential diagnosis between contralto and mezzo soprano, my titles always are indicative and not absolute
@@LohengrinO Sure there is a lot of trouble on differentiating them specially when the true contralto is a quite very rare voice after all and the only reckognizable thing sure about it is that is the LOWEST AND DEEPEST SOUNDING FEMALE VOICE EVER, pretty much having a very EERIE qualities that kinda not are thought of some definitive gender i,e, is very NEUTRAL AND ANDROGINE in nature of sound, thus that´s why has been mainly used for very old and wise ladies and related with supernatural powers - Erda being the most noticeable sample of that, although Ulrica is very close too and the good prophetesse-like of La Cieca (at La Gioconda) or even the odd-darker mystical Zia Principessa of Suor Angelica are great references of roles on what a TRUE CONTRALTO should sing. Then most of the time those quite remarkable and outstanding rare female roles are better sung by the deepest and darkest of mezzos (dramatical mezzos) who sing in the former label of Alto 1 (on the octuple choir voices classification as soloists) and as most of the greatest mezzo roles ever happens to be here, Alto 1 register is usually synonimed as the "true mezzo" HOWEVER this causes some very odd issues about what actually IS A MEZZO because seems there is a lot of REAL TROUBLE on setting and summing up what is a MEZZO for a proper differentiation on true contraltos and true sopranos... even the darker/dramatical ones.
Starting ove MEZZOS DIDN´T EXISTED on the very first two centhuries of opera history, so since 1600 to around 1800, there wasn´t a true cathegory for Baroque and then Classical/Mozartian opera itself and most of the roles were done by sopranos and some very few for contraltos, or well back then to ALTOS, right then at the middle of Baroque - like when Hándel operas were happening as Serse or Giulio Cesare which needed it, that already the now used for choir octuple division of singers happened, thus there were already for females (and male castrati singers) Soprano 1 & 2 and Alto 1 & 2 groups and for only male singers (non castrati) Tenor 1 & 2 and Bass 1 & 2. The main Alto singers did Alto 1 group, and just a few ones Alto 2 which started to get labeled in later times closer to 1800 as CONTRALTO, and well most of female roles (and castrati) did sing a mix-up of both types of Alto cathegories - so that´s why Cornelia role of Giulio Cesare is so deep being able to be sung both for true contraltos and deep-darker/dramatical mezzos too. At the same time some singers where able to sing awesomely in a mix between the Soprano 2 group and the Alto 1 too then some earliest MEZZO roles started to be noticed specially for castrati singers, that´s why the leading title roles of both Serse and Giulio Cesare happened to be latter be sung so easily for mezzos as were the earliest samples of that voice half-way between the Alto and the Soprano and having a very fortunate situation placed on both and even having those qualities... that latter on even became the precedent of the earliest Assoluta voices though later on those rised on to push or lean more into soprano territorie than alto.
Now as the 19th centhury started an castrati no longer existed, the musician and composer got into an issue that they liked those voices before but needed to relabel them and redifine as they were sung only by female voices, so the Alto began to be labeled as Contralto for just females, and not just the deepest ones as before and the other label where only applied into the choir repertoire as being properly used for children and female voices at the same. Still they needed those thrilling voices of the Baroque time half-way between Altos and Sopranos so Rossini came upon the idea about both the Coloratura Contralto for a deeper female assoluta voice going from Soprano 2 to Alto 1 or even Alto 2 that where used for his most famous roles, still eventually he got warmed too for a higher mightier powerfull voice an thus the now acknowledged Sfogato/Assoluta Soprano was rised since Armida, being a awesome powerfull voice that rised up to Soprano 1 or Soprano 2 to Alto 1 and then both voices covered the key-central range that some Alto (or also Soprano) castrati have back then at the middle Baroque time which happened to share both Soprano and Alto registers, between Soprano 2 and Alto 1 and some expanding up to Soprano 1 for the more Soprano-like singers (latter being acknowledged as the Assoluta Soprano voices as Maria Callas seems to were) and others down to Alto 2 thus being more Alto (later Contralto)-like singers and latter used for Rossini earliest and most famous heroines as Angelina/Cenerentola and Rossina, and latter bel-canto composers used them mainly for cross-dressing male roles. All both those roles where latter assigned up to the mezzos properly as that voice rised up over time, and contraltos just some times had them as their developmend going down and down more and heavier builded each time, restricted them a lot for being unable to sing properly those roles as the coloratura was no longer developed on them, thus the coloratura contralto cathegorie itself nearly dissapeared over time, and just at certain times comes back as Kasarova showns up, but has merged totally with the mezzo repertoire as a whole.
Meanwhile the assoluta soprano and assoluta/coloratura contralto were developed at Rossinian work - and both awesomely used for Semiramide for a main sample, where the leading title-female role is an Assoluta Soprano -going from Soprano 1 to Alto 1- but her counterpart and leading "male" role is a Coloratura Contralto (now mainly a Mezzo) - going from Soprano 2 to Alto 2, at the same time, the same composer got up the idea on a MEZZOSOPRANO for a back then (and even today) mainly a SHORTER SOPRANO-range roles placed in between both her leading ladies. So back around even at the Cenerentola and Barbiere times, he already used these cathegories for certain "soprano-like" roles at there as Bertha and Tisbe, and were pretty much like a lot of Mozartian seconda-donna roles, sung by some shorter-range sopranos who latter got roles as Despina, Barbarina, Cherubino, Marzellina, Zerlina and Papagena, and everything very alike them (even Suzanna at times were into this) and well their original center was mainly a Soprano 1 to Soprano 2 tier at Mozart and early Rossini works but as time went by, they changed into Soprano 2 to Alto 1 and then THUS BECAME THE EARLIEST TRUE MEZZOS as the Zelmira role happens even at the Semiramide play - she is a shorter role that happens to be an issue of contention between the both Assoluttas, as the Soprano loves the Contralto, but her/"he" doesn´t and loves instead the Mezzo which is a voice in a sandwich-like placement between the others because if Semiramide goes from Soprano 1 to Alto 1, and Arsace is from Soprano 2 to Alto 2, Zelmira is just Soprano 2 and Alto 1 then not being lower than Semiramis but not higher than Arsace. So the earliest mezzo were used for some CONTRAST. (At the Cenerentola there is an earlier difference between Soprano, Mezzo and Contralto, as Angelina the leading voice is a Coloratura/Assoluta Contralto voice going from Soprano 2 to Alto 2 [though she often sings no more than down to Alto 1 where she also sings most of the time doing only the reaching on Soprano 2 at the coloratura], whereas her stepsister rivals are Clorinda, the higher true soprano role being from Soprano 1 to Soprano 2 [neverthless though she stays mostly on Soprano 1, and Tisbe being the lesser role and a lower soprano, was also a very earliest MEZZO being just Soprano 2 and highly contrasting half-way between her sister and step-sister.)
@@LohengrinO Then the issue nowadays oftenly criziticing modern mezzos, specially the coloratura ones as just lazy and underdeveloped lyrical sopranos is VERY MISTAKEN as the original mezzos which in turn were also COLORATURA ROLES happened to be nearer to sopranos at their core-center i.e. lyrical-type ones, than the actual main mezzo roles that developed latter on, and even the dramatic sopranos are indeed closer to true central mezzos (or lower ones) as they got developed as the remaining latter-days Assoluta-like Soprano voice but missing on the coloratura eventually - it was pretty hard neverthless to keep the coloratura in first place adding a lot of troubles to an already awesome voice covering from Soprano 1 to Alto 1 and with a key-core center of voice as Soprano 2 which indeed was the very original center of the dramatical soprano even at Mozartian times when that voice developed for quite energetic roles as Dorabella and Donna Elvira, roles oftenly sung by lightier mezzos too. The main issue happened that mezzos didn´t stayed just there on the lightier soprano-like and secondary/contrast repertoire when started and got widened and deeper and deeper covering then most of the higher contralto tier of Alto 1 as latter lyrical and dramatical mezzo roles appeared since middle to late 19th centhury and were very awesome roles that stablished what a "true mezzo" should be, thus becoming something either having both Soprano 2 and Alto 1 covering records or just centrallly-restricted to Alto 1, and then the Contraltos were restricted more and more lower and lower than they actually sung earlier on and when on the second half of the 20th centhury up to nowadays the voices rised on as the tunning musical cleft rised too, the original references of the first half and even middle 20th centhury seems to make a stand like the modern voices are mistaken as higher than were before, when actually might be very OK voices just not fitted for the greater opera of the middle to late 19th centhury and earlier 20th centhury times.
To my own view, the modern classification of mezzos and contraltos which might overlap a lot but could be resolved by contrasting with the octuple choir-voices classification as well the historical times of developing the roles, seems to be this one:
1. Coloratura/Lightier and higher-mezzos: Very lyrical-soprano-like but a bit weightier and darkened at the lower tunes, being just then noticeable. Nowadays they´re mainly lazy and underdeveloped lyrical or lyrical-dramatical/spinto sopranos, though maybe have always been that but in the past (first to middle 20th centhury) the singers were encouraged to push over their voices and develop it better so wasn´t needed to made a career on Mozartian and Rossinian roles and alike, and sang a lot better as true sopranos, but now they could afford it. They also seems to make a commonplacement for a compromise half-way between the original score on the coloratura contralto-roles as those barely exist nowadays and some no longer used tendency going up in second-half of 19th centhury and first-half of the 20th were sopranos sung those roles rising the scores half-octave above where the original were. The coloratura mezzos find a way to sing both scores and even set up a common place in between those scores not so higher as a coloratura soprano but not so lower than how the true coloratura contralto were. It´s mainly a modern voice developed since early 20th centhury with maybe Conchita Supervia and alike singers though the more contemporary reinvention of Fredericka von Stade, Anne Sophie von Otter and Cecilia Bartolli rised more into soprano-like style better fitted for the very original secondary mezzo roles at Mozart and Rossini, and well a lot of trouble on musicologists thinking of the voices as mistaken when actually weren´t much like that. They´re mainly Soprano 2 centered and depending on singers and roles go up to some Soprano 1 tunes and down to some Alto 1 but never left totally the main constrictive way of Soprano 2. (Soprano 2 is C6 to A3).
2. Lyrical and central-standard or TRUEST MEZZOS: They developed later on at middle 19th centhury mainly at French repertoire, though there are some hintings of kinda-precursors at some Donizetti repertoire even at Italian (Giovanna Seymour of Ana Bolena and Countess Sara Nottingham at Roberto Deveraux are very important mezzo roles that didn´t have much coloratura as other roles and more key-centered in the point half-way of both Soprano 2 and Alto 1 as the true mezzo OUGHT BE remembering a bit the concept that the awesome Baroque castrati singers did back then having both the Soprano and Alto/Contralto registers well covered.) Still were French who did a lot on them for leading title female roles for the first time ever as Mignon of Thomas and the original Carmen of Bizet. Offenbach has them too for the role of Nicklausse/the Muse and Massenet has it for Charlotte at Werther. Still this central key voice kinda never happens or barely happens - another main role is Laura from La Gioconda of Ponchielli, as there isn´t much of these voices as it, and mostly happens to be either leaning more into Soprano 2 or into Alto 1 than having both equally balanced and matched. Latter as most of leans more into either Soprano or Alto they better sing other roles and might even relabel themselves as something else: the ones leaning more into Soprano 2 better develop more their voice into a true Dramatic Soprano as that voice indeed is a mainly Soprano 2 voice leaning into Alto 1 a bit less than the true central Lyrical Mezzo. At the same time the ones leaning into Alto 1 happen to be the true Coloratura Contralto voice but as that is a very limited repertoire for a living they end up labeling just as MEZZOS and singing both Lyrical and Dramatic Mezzo repertoires pretty easy on as well mixing up with the proper Coloratura Contralto roles they´re better fitted on and so a lot of good Lyrical Mezzos just haven´t just been doing those roles fitted to them itself but depending on what they lean more:
- if lower they sing either the Dramatical Soprano and/or a mix-up of Coloratura and Lyrical Mezzo roles (they might sing Rossinian contralto heroines but lightier)
- if loweer they sing the TRUE Coloratura Rossinian heroines, as Kasarova, and both Lyrical and Dramatical Mezzo roles, and well these are actually the best known and loved mezzos as Tatiana Troyanos, Teresa Berganza, Ebe Stigniani (though she was kinda a type of Assoluta and went even lower than that), Briggite Faasbaender (very much alike Stigniani), Fiorenza Cossotto (except older), Fedora Barbieri (when younger), earlier Christa Ludwig (though she also was very much Assoluta later on) and specially Giulietta Simionato.
@@LohengrinO 3. Dramatical Mezzos - they´re pretty much the AWESOMEST voices of opera being they the remaining key-center of the older lower Assoluta Alto/Contralto-like voices when they lost their coloratura abilities, pretty much the same as happened when the Assoluta/Sfogato Sopranos lost them became eventually the Dramatic Sopranos we might know from Wagner and middle to mature Verdi and thereafter later 19th centhury and earlier 20th repertoires, i.e the most thrilling operas ever!! Then as much the Sopranos, both Wagner and Verdi influenced a lot to their development, however seems that as much of the sopranos some original forerunners happened at French operas, for the sopranos were the Falcon type (Dramatical Soprano) used for Rachel (La Juive of Halevy), Leonora (La Favorite of Donizetti), and Valentine (Les Huguenots) & Selika (L´Africaine) of Meyerbeer, and for the mezzos were some "Alto" roles (even back then labeled as that as weren´t yet used up to the Italian term of mezzo properly) as Didone (Les Troyens of Berlioz) and most importantly Fides (Le Prophet of Meyerbeer) and later Delilah (Samson et Delilah of Saint-Saenz) and the voice of the Antoinia´s Mother Ghost (at Contes d´Hoffmann of Offenbach) and even the Mother of the title role (Louise of Charpentier).
However were at the Italian and German repertoire where these voices thrived a lot: Azucena, Preciozilla (though she is kinda lighter and a lot of lyrical and even coloratura do her too very nice), Ulrica (if sung lightier than she should be), Amneris, Eboli and Mistress Quickly (though seems that Verdi kinda had in mind a very powerfull coloratura-less Rossinian-like contralto instead of a true mezzo then as her role is comical as Rossinian former heroines), the Princess of Bouillon (of Adriana Lecouvreur) Old Madelone and Countess of Coigny (of Andrea Chenier), la Frugola (from Il Tabarro) and even la Zia Principessa (on a very lightier version). They are key-centered into Alto 1 but easily got into some Alto 2/true Contralto tunes and they easily cover for those roles when the true contraltos are gone missing. German repertoire got it for Ortrud (though she seems to be even higher being a full true Assoluta when it started), Fricka (specially at the Walkirie because at Rhinegold she is highter and very much-like Brunhilde as being younger and more hopefull toward her husband then), Waltraute and even sometimes Erda at the Rhinegold story,; non-Wagnerian roles include the Nurse from the Frau Onnhen Shatten, Herodias of Salome and Klytaemnestra of Elektra all from Strauss and the Witch of Hansel und Grethel of Humperdinck.
Contraltos are also 3 tier leveled into
1. Coloratura/Lightier and higher ones which are actually either a lower Lyrical Mezzos or a higher Dramatical Mezzos, or better a mix-up on both rather than a true self-centered voice as in Rossini times, that´s why they kinda didn´t exist being better labeled as MEZZOS and just at times recalling their true nature. Are Alto 1 leaning a bit into Soprano 2 rather than Alto 2 as Dramatical Mezzos do instead.
2. True central/standard or Lyrical Contraltos: The original Contraltos and most usual ones covering equally both Alto 1 and Alto 2 registers, however as those voices rarely happens to be so equally centered they tend to be either leaning a bit into Alto 1 or into Alto 2 than the other while still covering both.
The higher ones thus sing mainly better Dramatical Mezzo roles and secondly but more importantly than what other Lyrical-like Mezzos do, they do sing both Coloratura and Lyrical Contralto at the same - It´s kinda the voice that Ewa Podles have initially before getting too much deeper over aging;Fedora Barbieri kinda had this voice and was very fully healthy all her long-life time thus she did a lot of Dramatical Mezzo as well very nice the coloratura Rossinian contralto heroines and also as getting very old remained doing standard-lyrical/pure Contralto roles a lot!!
Lower Lyrical Contralto singers can´t do Dramatical Mezzo or even less Coloratura Contralto, however they easily to a lot the true rarest roles of Dramatical Contralto and well to difference of the other higher singers they just could be unnable to label themselves as nothing else than a TRUE CONTRALTO itself!! They actually are Lyrical + Dramatical Contralto and so sing both a lot of true Contralto roles doing great justice for them.
That was kinda the original voice for Erda for both her appearances at the Wagner cycle (though at Siegfried she might be even a bit lower and deeper than at Rhinegold) as well her daugher, the leading First Norn of the Past. La Cieca of La Gioconda could be both and at Il Trittico seems that Zita of Gianni Schicchi was the lightier-lyrical (or coloratura-like) contralto while La Zia Principessa of Suor Angelica was the lower lyrical-dramatical type. Russian repertoire has a lot of these heroines too at Khovanschina of Mussorgsky (Marfa), Prince Igor of Borodin (Konchakovna), Boris Godunov of Mussorgsky (Nurse), Eugene Onegin of Tchaikovsky (Olga and Filipevyna) and Queen of Spades of Tchaikovsky too (Pauline). French repertore barly had them - Mother Albine of Thais (Massenet) and the Prioress Mme D´Croissy and Mother Jeanne at Dialogues des Carmelites (Poulenc) and maybe Genievieve of Pelleas et Melissande (Debussy).
3. The lowest and most awesome of female and all human voices seems to be the Dramatical Contralto which is a voice totally at the Alto 2 range so that was indeed at times labeled as the Assoluta Contralto - though that term makes better sense for a higher variant that reached into the mezzo tunes while going also very deep near into the actual Tenor 1 lower range and so as much the original true Coloratura/Lightier and Higher Tenors were a very neutral and androgine-like voice yet leaning a bit into a female tune but not untill the highest notes, pretty much as the actual Coloratura Tenors only should might sound as a full male tenor voice at the lower range thus being opposites between. They weren´t common anytime and nowadays neither they´re more than before if not furtherly rarer. So they barely had any true Dramatic Contralto role itself though could do great some ones done for Lyrical or Lyrical-Dramatic Contralto such as Erda (maybe that´s even the proper voice of her at their second appeareance of the Nibelung´s Ring cycle), Ulrica (that was the original base voice for her, though her singer kinda had a very wider expander upper range as a true deeper Assoluta voice which made easy for Dramatical Mezzos to cover her kinda OK), la Zia Principessa (the most frightening versions of her perhaps) and some eerie deep contralto voices at 20th centhury German repertoire as in Schoenberg work (Moses und Aaron - an Ill Old Woman/Die Kranke) and Strauss (some Dryad at Ariadne auf Naxos and an offstage eerie Voice from the Above at Frau Ohnen Schatten) and more modern operatic works - Florence Pickett of Albert Herring of Britten and even maybe Nefertiti role of Aknaten of Glass (her role is interesting on how lower and deeper her voice is from her husband-title role done from a mezzo-countertenor and furtherly from her commanding mother-in-law Queen Tiye, a soprano).
@@LohengrinO So in brief happens this way:
- Coloratura or lightier mezzo - Soprano 2 (with a bit of Soprano 1 even): a D6 or Db6/C#6, though they usually never go up to C6 to A3 or Ab/G#3 voice. Very much alike true central-lyrical Soprano voice but a bit lower and a bit lightier than Dramatic Soprano. Very much thought as lazy and shorter-underdeveloped Lyrical or Lyrical-Dramatic(Spinto) Sopranos and kinda they´re however the voice is true and happens to be rescued to the original tunes of Mozart and Rossini time. (Also got very biased by references of actual Lightier Lyrical Mezzos who did the same at the so called Golden Era Recorded Memories and henceforth is very commonly thought the voices needed to be lower and darker tuned than they actually were.)
- Central-standard or true Lyrical Mezzo - Both Soprano 2 and Alto 1: B5 to G3. Didn´t exist as such itself and better tend to happen to be mixed up on one the other two mezzo cathegories, thus being a lower lyrical-dramatical mezzo very much common and delighted and the main reason why the Alto 1 tier happened to be synonimed as the true Mezzo instead of the idea of an equally balanced Soprano and Alto/Contralto voice, while also happens to be a lightier lyrical-coloratura mezzo kinda common in the past and that early on did most of coloratura mezzos and might be easily singing into full Dramatical Soprano too. The original Assoluta or Sfogato Soprano voice seems to be leaning up into the latter one.
- Dramatical or lower-deeper-heavier Mezzo - Alto 1 (with a bit of Alto 2 too at their lowest at times): do cover up to A#/Bb5 or A5 to F3 or even E3, though they usually never go down to F#/Gb3, and were the most exciting and thrilling roles of the opera!! They´re also another key main factor why the Mezzo label is usually identified with Alto 1 register than a proper Soprano 2 + Alto 1 mix-up as the core-main Mezzo roles happens within this voice, because anyway they kinda are the earliest and awesomest remaining Assoluta-type of voices, Rossini kinda developed them and their higher Soprano-like more famous versions, but this one were the earliest best loved ones as having coloratura before and so being able to properly sing the Coloratura Contralto too. (There seems to be an protoype of Assoluta before 1800 at Cherubini´s Medea title role, but as the work is very rare, and mainly only known because of Maria Callas rescue, seems more proper to think that the original main known Assoluta voice was a Coloratura Dramatical Mezzo or Coloratura Contralto, while untill a bit later with Armida also from Rossini the Coloratura Dramatical (Sfogato) Soprano was brought back to life - and that role somewhat is even harder than Medea - and he (Rossini) finally set up both roles on Semiramide as well the earliest true Mezzo as a contrast for them at the same opera.)
True coloratura/higher and lightier contraltos: Very much like both Lyrical and Dramatical Mezzos and actually set between them as an Alto 1 voice with a bit of Soprano 2 thus along with the Lyrical Mezzo and the Dramatic Soprano the last remaining voices of the Assoluta type before as the idea kinda rise up with some Castrati at the Baroque having both Soprano 2 and Alto 1. Still as the Alto-leaning voice is more striking eerie neutral than the soprano, were better works for these roles than soprano at least early on, and Rossini brought it back with her heroines and latter cross-dressed "male" roles. They reach up to B5 or Bb/A#5 to F#/Gb3 or F3 down and mainly labeled better as "mezzos" if they happened which kinda are - a lyrical-lower mezzo with coloratura development at the higher register - have a very broken voice quite noticeable at the last thrills of the coloratura of Cenerentola.
- True central-standard or Lyrical Contraltos: The commonest true contralto voice sharing both Alto 1 and Alto 2 equally developed registers, or should be - usually as happened with Lyrical Mezzos didn´t exist on its own and are rather Dramatical Mezzos able to sing both Coloratura and Lyrical Contralto registers thus being voices quite richer than most, or are a lower variant of Lyrical-Dramatical Contralto that couldn´t sing neither Coloratura nor Dramatical Mezzo repertoire, being thus the commonest only-Contralto labeled ones and the ones how might sing their proper best roles more. They´re up to Ab/G#5 or G5 to F3 or E3 at range.
- True dramatical or deeper-lower-heaviest and darkest Assoluta Contraltos: The most awesome and rarest valuable voices of all opera, quite unnatural and totally into Alto 2 (true contraltos) as a whole. They go up to G5 or Gb/F#5 to D3 or even Db/C#3 and thus sound true tenor-like at the bottom. Kathleen Ferrier and Marian Anderson kinda were that, and nowadays Ewa Podles attemps to that however her voice is mainly dammaged and artificial after doing a lot of much blending of coloratura contralto and dramatical mezzo + true contralto roles and is mainly fake than once were.
Yes so good!!! Where are this performance? please
Certainly an excellent well produced sound with a very facile handling of fioritura!
.....I find her interp (especially in the first half) a bit ....precious...for the lack of a better word (self-indulgent?)
3:53 always makes me smile
@@LohengrinO 😀
Είχα καιρό να την ακούσω και πράγματι η κολορατούρα της είναι καταπληκτική. Είναι όμως κοντράλτο, διότι εγώ πάντα σε ρόλους μέτσο-σοπράνο την ήξερα/άκουγα.
Ευχαριστώ για την ανάρτηση.
She looks like Adele.
All around Garden City Orchestra request
Contralto or mezzo soprano??
Some people argue that she should be considered a mezzo?
She is
From la Cenerentola of Rossini.
È un mezzo soprano, non un contralto. Le note gravi sono infatti piuttosto sorde. Ma un ascolto piacevole comunque
Yes, yes, all these comments are true, or rather I agree with them. But why does she pronounce the Italian vowels with such a dark, covered sound? I am not Italian, but it strikes me that those vowels would be more authentic if pronounced a bit more open and bright. Contrast Cecilia Bartoli-she uses some darkness but doesn’t overdo it. Is this something taught by Russian music schools? With whom has Ms. Kasarova (sp?) studied?
Oh, just found out this is Bulgarian name.
no legato with the scales.
Which scales? There are quite many :D
You'll hear it better if you take off your troll-o-phones.
Obnoxious commercial in the middle of song.😢
This is a wonderful performance, but I wouldn’t call Kasarova a contralto. Anyone mixing head voice as low as E4 is not a contralto. The contralto carries chest voice all the way up to F4, and that’s FULL chest, not mixed.
Yes that is the definition of the Contralto sound. However when it comes to fast, complex passages it may be absolutely necessary to lighten the sound. Singing heavy in chest mechanism will make it difficult to nearly impossible reach very high notes. Do you know who else are taught to do that? Leggiero Tenors. Interestingly Callas was admitted to her singing studies as a Contralto. In the old days before the rigid fach system today, women sang whatever their range allowed. It also helped pieces weren't composed above high C. Keys of compositions became higher and higher.... That was the beginning of the end of the dark, chesty Contralto sound. Voices are trained upward. The higher and brighter, all the better.
Anthony Ehrenzweig
Ewa Podles is legit. Also Helen Watts and Eula Beal and Marian Anderson.
@@anthonyehrenzweig7697 Do you think Hillary Summers and Nathalie Stutzmann have that timbre? I think they do.
she is a COLORATURA/HIGHER + LIGHTIER CONTRALTO those voices are very close to the central/standard (lyrical) mezzo type but slightly lower though not to lower than the dramatical mezzo type (those were actually closer to the true central-lyrical contralto than the actual mezzo). There are at least three voices very closed between them that could be labeled as MEZZO at different types of their evolution at the lifetime of a singer: the dramatical soprano, the true central/standard-lyrical mezzo and the coloratura contralto and could very easily overlap between them: maybe the difference between the heavier soprano and the lightier contralto is not so close, gaping a tone between them, but each of them are very close to the true mezzo which is halfway between them, a semitone lower than the soprano and a semitone higher than the contralto so they could swap roles very easily and somehow were the remainings of the original ASSOLUTA type of voices of old-golden age of opera too - a type of very unnusual powerfull voice that had both soprano and contralto range and roles to cover.
She might labeled herself as mezzo because the coloratura contralto repertoire is very stricted and she needed to sing more to make a living of it so she sung the closer mezzo roles to her central voice, mainly lyrical but also dramatical ones too.
@@borisvandruff7532Still some people consider Anderson a dark mezzo…one never knows does one. The older I get the more I think Fach is now more in the mind of the listener and less about the compartmentalization of operatic roles and arias. 😅
Kansas's
She is a very good mezzo, not a contralto
yes ideed
I think she is both, her central and base voice is a contralto-leaned type than a true central mezzo, henceforth the coloratura contralto label fits perfectly for her. However as there is very little for this rare voice, she sangs more what is nearby and those are very much standard or dramatical mezzo roles too, so she labels better herself as MEZZO too, without not being true the other label.
Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien... certes on attend un feu d'artifice dans Rossini, mais là.... Vesselina en fait trop... perso, je ne suis pas fan
bu ne oğlum dinlerken ödüm bokuma karıştı
*coloratura mezzo*
She doesnt have the depth for the lowest notes - shes more of a female baritone.
She is a mezzo, not a contralto! Contraltos with Vivaldi.