Reply With QuoteThe stretta at the end of I Puritani, sometimes cut, "Ah, sento o mio bell'angelo", sung by Lucia Aliberti and Elena Mosuc:
Actually I'd like to change my answer from earlier. Quando Rapito is my favorite cabaletta. I find the melody so intoxicating.
One of my favorite versions
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The stretta at the end of I Puritani, sometimes cut, "Ah, sento o mio bell'angelo", sung by Lucia Aliberti and Elena Mosuc:
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After the charming cantabile "O nube!", the singer performing Maria Stuarda must tackle this energic cabaletta, "Nella pace del mesto riposo", an interesting contrast between the pure joy of being alive in "O nube!" and the terror before the incoming clash with Queen Elizabeth, in the cabaletta.
This is a superb version by Dame Joan Sutherland:
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"Sfolgorò divino raggio", from Donizetti's Poliuto, must be sung with virility and some drops of arrogance. This is Franco Corelli trying to do exactly that:
Another selection from Il Trovatore -- this time, Leonora's "Tacea la notte placida" with Sondra Radvanovsky. (Alma should enjoy the "view" from the empire-waisted costumes!)
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Again from Trovatore, this is Leonora's cabaletta of Act Four, that sometimes is cut from the score, due to the stress on the soprano, "Tu vedrai che amore in terra". No one better than Maria Callas to sing this cabaletta:
Tu vedrai che amore in terra
mai del mio fu più forte
vinse il fato in aspra guerra,
vincerà la stessa morte.
O col prezzo di mia vita
la tua vita io salverò,
o con te per sempre unita
nella tomba io scenderò.
This is Zaccaria's cabaletta from Nabucco, "Come notte a sol fulgente", sung by Ferruccio Furlanetto:
Come notte a sol fulgente,
Come polve in preda al vento,
Sparirai nel gran cimento,
Dio di Belo menzogner.
Tu, d'Abramo Iddio possente,
A pugnar con noi discendi;
Ne' tuoi servi un soffio accendi
Che dia morte allo stranier.
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The repetition of the cabaletta, reprised usually after a ritornello for the orchestra, was designed to give the singer an opportunity to showcase his talent, and recreate in embellishments, before culminating with the coda. This could, or could not, be used also to further stress the drama.
After the 1850s, this practice started to fall into disuse, and the omission of the cabaletta's repeat was the rule. Even Verdi himself approved of this while revising Macbeth in 1865.
Modern scholarship has lamented this, and now many times we do repeat the cabaletta in modern performances, though not always there is a matching effort by the singer to do sing differently the repetition, like it was originally envisaged.
One of the more beautiful cabalettas in the entire repertoire, we can hear Elvira's Vien, diletto, è in ciel la luna as performed by Maria Callas in 1953, and a recent version, sung by the rising Georgian soprano Nino Machaidze:
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Seems tragic that the most thrilling imaginative part of opera singing could be thought to be frivolous excess......thank the opera gods that Callas and others wisely revived the tradition in 1950s......great youtubes thereOriginally Posted by Schigolch
What is the connection between da capo baroque singing and later bel canto cabaletta?
Da Capo has the 3 part aria structure with opening a slower middle section then a repeat of opening ornamented to showcase singers individual skills.....
It's part of the evolution of the aria in Italian Opera.
By late 18th century composers of opera seria were using a lot ABA' format for short arias, or ABAB'A for long ones. But this finally evolved into two contrasting tempi, the first slower, more deliberate, the second faster, more aggressive. This is the origin of the two units of the Belcanto area, the 'cantabile' and the 'cabaletta', with the gap between them (the 'tempo di mezzo') being used more and more for further advancing the action.
In terms of using the convention to advance the drama, one of the best examples is of course Violetta's "Sempre Libera". The forced gaiety of this cabaletta makes us understand immediately that she is unhappy with her life, and ready to shelf the Baron and welcome Alfredo's love. It's also great how Verdi takes advantage of the repetition, separating the two parts with Alfredo singing "Di quell'amor".
Anna Netrebko as Violetta:
Oh wow! Anna is adorable here! And this is an interesting contrast with her Salzburg 2005 Sempre Libera, confirming what she said in interviews, since here she does produce all the notes including the E-flat, which she didn't sing in Salzburg, claiming that all that physical activity in that production left her short of breath. On the other hand, here she hadn't developed her trill quite yet and is slow in some passages. I'd love to hear Anna sing Sempre Libera again, now that her technique is fully developed.
Is there a DVD of this production, Schigolch? (Probably not... I think I'd have known it, if it existed)
"J'ai dit qu'il ne suffisait pas d'entendre la musique, mais qu'il fallait encore la voir" (Stravinsky)
While we can find many different renditions of Pollione's cavatina, "Meco all'altar di Venere", with different sensibilities at play, it should be clearer than the cabaletta, "Me protegge, me difende" is the right part of the opera from Pollione to display his more heroic side.
However, we can find here two quite distinct performances here. First, Gregory Kunde singing with a period orchestra under the baton (or rather, the hands) of Fabio Biondi, starting at 6:03 and repeating the cabaletta. Second, a typical performance from the 1950s, by Franco Corelli, starting at 8:20 and without repetition:
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He, it's chorus from my city here
One of the best Donizetti's cabalettas, is "Bagnato il sen di lagrime", from Roberto Devereux. Part of the beautiful scena for the tenor in the Third Act, preceded by the beautiful cantabile "Come uno spirto angelico".
Let's hear Italian tenor Roberto Aronica:
come uno spirto angelico
pura è la tua consorte...
Lo giuro, e il giuramento
col sangue mio suggello...
Credi all'estremo accento
che il labbro mio parlò..
Chi scende nell'avello
sai che mentir non può"
"Bagnato il sen di lagrime,
tinto del sangue mio
io corro, io volo a chiedere
per te soccorso a Dio...
Impietositi gli angeli
del mio dolor saranno,
si piangerà d'afanno la prima volta in ciel
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