Love this aria but... it was not sung in Italian?

[Schigolch]

With the advent of the surtitles technology, most Opera performances today are offered in the original language.

There are a few exceptions in some theaters of England, Germany, Eastern Europe... but the rule, and the preferred approach, is to sing in the original language.

And this is, undoubtedly, the right thing to do.

However, in this thread we can talk about great performances of well known arias, in a different language. If the composer himself adapted the opera to more than one language, then it doesn't count. For instance, both La fille du régiment and La figlia del reggimento are considered original versions. But an aria from this opera sung in German or Russian will qualify.


To start with, let's choose Verdi. We can hear some very beautiful Verdian singing in German, Russian or French (not very many examples in English, I'm afraid, while in Spain, Verdi had *almost* always been sung in Italian). Of course, other members could also use Verdi examples, or whichever other composers they could have in mind.

There was a great tradition of singing Verdi in the German theaters, and in German, during the first decades of the 20th century. We are fortunate that this generation of singers was recorded so we can enjoy those performances.

Just to open the thread, a couple of things:



First, the great Radames of the Danish tenor Helge Rosvaenge singing this 'Celeste Aida' from 1938. Pay attention to the ending, with the last B-flat 3 in pp and morendo, just like Verdi wrote it in the score.






Now, the Moldavian soprano Maria Cebotari singing another top verdian role, Violetta. This 'Sempre Libera' sung with the abandon and the frentic pace demanded by Verdi, but with a limpid coloratura and flawless execution.

[Almaviva]

There's this classic example, although it's the other way around - original French, here sung in Italian:

[Schigolch]

Let's listen to Maria Ceborati again, but this time in a Puccini's role. Mimi, but of course, sung in German.



His companion is the great tenor Marcel Wittrisch:



With a brilliant and beautiful voice, he was really more akin to Italian or French repertoire, than to German.

Here below the justly famous recording of his love duet of Les Huguenots, with Margarete Teschemacher:

[Schigolch]

Perhaps Aida is Verdi's opera with the best recordings in German. At the very least every bit as good as in Italian.

Here we can hear three tenors singing "Holde Aida":

Franz Völker



Jacques Urlus



Karl Jörn

[Schigolch]

We can find also very good renditions of Verdi's roles sung in Russian.

With an almost insulting facility and a bit of arrogance, exactly what the Ducca from Rigoletto needs, the young Sergei Lemeshev sings in 1932:




And other great Russian tenor, but in this case as a more mature singer, Ivan Kozlovsky, is singing here "Un di felice" with Elizaveta Shumskaya's Violetta, in 1951:

[Schigolch]

Georges Thill was a frequent practitioner of Italian repertoire. A dozen of roles on stage and a few more in studio. His was perhaps the perfect vocality for the more lyrical verdian characters, but he was also able to sing Radames or Don Carlo. And in addition, he also sung Puccini (Calaf, Dick Johnson, Cavaradossi), and even verismo roles like Canio and Chénier.

His austere singing, the good phrasing and the pure beauty of his central notes, somehow compensate for the lack of brilliance in the top.

Those are his best French renditions of Italian repertoire:

Le ciel luisait d'étoiles



Que cette main est froide



Ne pleure plus Liu



O céleste Aïda



Je suis aimé de toi

[Loge]

Another example well known is this "M'appari' tutto' amor" from Flotow's work "Martha", whose original is in german lenguage ("Ach so fromm")

[Schigolch]

Martha is a very nice opera, somehow neglected in modern times. During all of 2011 and 2012 there are only a handful of performances scheduled, in Munich and Schwerin.

Von Flotow was a German, with a French soul, but Martha is better known in his Italian version.

This is the French version of the aria, A mes yeux enchantés, sung by Georges Thill:

[Almaviva]

Martha is beautiful. It's interesting how major works like this get to be neglected by opera companies. Hey, I'll ask Maestro Meena this question when I interview him.

[Schigolch]

Well, the consensus opinion those days is that Martha is not a major work.

[Loge]

Many Haendel's operas are in the same case. Please, hear Ann Murray's version of "Ombra mai fu":

[Schigolch]

Claudia Muzio and Giuseppe de Luca performing Onegin at the MET

.

Already in the "Onegin month", we can hear one of the most endearing arias singing in other language ever.

This is Claudia Muzio, performing in 1920 part of the Tatiana's letter aria, in Italian, from the First Act: "Sei forse l'angelo fedele".

A dream voice for Tatiana, with her melancholy, so "full of tears",...

[MAuer]

In Germany during the first half of the 20th century and on into the 1960s (perhaps even 1970s), it was standard practice to perform operas with librettos in languages other than German in German translation. As an example, here is Fritz Wunderlich singing Mozart's "Folget der Heissgeliebten" -- otherwise known as "Il mio tesoro:"



Another example is Weber's Oberon. Though many assume -- because Weber was a native German speaker -- that the German version of the opera is the standard, the original libretto is actually in English. Here is Montserrat Caballe singing Reiza's (or Rezia, as she's known in the German version) "Ozean, du Ungeheuer" -- originally "Ocean, thou mighty monster:"

[Schigolch]

"Mare, superbo Mare"

[Schigolch]

Jussi Björling and soprano coloratura Hjördis Schymberg sing in 1939 the first act Traviata duet, in Swedish: