This is a very busy weekend for me! We, at the Opera School, are putting on an Opera Tea in which we will be performing scenes from all acts of La Traviata by Verdi. I of course will be singing the role of Alfredo the desperately zwiddling lover in act 2 scene 2, who is one of two tenor roles in this whole…operation. But first, a brief but important lesson about opera, and their cast of characters:
Let us begin with the fact that no opera would be complete without…the soprano. Every opera has one, either as a main character for the most part, or as a supporting character. Hers is the voice that soars above all the other voices, as the soprano voice is the highest of all female voices. Idn’t that lovely, hmmm? Now the thing about most operas I find is that the soprano usually ends up dying somewhere in the opera (usually at the end) from one of four causes: suicide, murder at the hand of a jealous lover, self-sacrifice, or TB (otherwise known as consumption). There is even another case of a soprano mounting her horse and riding into a funeral pyre, but that is for another entry! In this opera, the fourth cause is the one used, and usually is evident by an long, drawn-out aria that usually starts off with the words, “I’m dying…”. This usually goes on for at least half an hour, ending in the final high note, and a lifeless body crumpled on the floor.
The next is the mezzo-soprano, or alto voice. In Italian, mezzo means half. So we are talking about a lower, or half soprano voice. Nowadays, mezzos can sing as high (and sometimes even higher) than some sopranos. Being a mezzo is not about high notes or lack thereof, but more about the colour of the voice in certain registers. Mezzos have a richer, rounder, and more mature sounding sound, especially in their middle voice. Mezzos are usually cast as aunties, grandmothers, maids, witches/sorceresses, earth goddesses, and the like. In some operas, like Carmen, the mezzo is the main character and the one who is drooled over and eventually killed by a jealous lover.
The tenor. He is lots of fun! (*grin*). In this opera, he is the lover with so much passion, that it tends to be misguided at times, thus causing him to be impetuous and do silly little things, like throw money on the soprano, and call her a trollop. And of course, once he has done that, then he’s sorry and spends the rest of the opera whining and trying to make up for it. But as a tenor, I never whine!
And then you have the baritone, who is usually the father figure type. OK! End of lesson!
I think Violetta should wear pigtails because I think it would look so cute! But there are some more practical reasons:
Pigtails keep one from having bad hair days. When dying on stage, one has to look good at all angles. Dying on stage is an art form that one has to know how to collapse, which hand to flop where, when to place the other on forehead, and even how to properly expire. Having pigtails just gives one one less thing to think about.
They look cute flopping about as she prances around the stage in ‘Sempre libera’! And, that in English means, ‘Always free’! So there you go! Pigtails are rather liberating!!!
And finally, one would not have to worry about hair getting into one’s foundation make-up. So there you have it. Violetta Valery in pigtails!!
Moi
