At 10:03 PM -0700 7/21/05, Mark D Lew wrote:
On Jul 21, 2005, at 2:50 PM, Andrew Stiller wrote:
That said, however, the question of whether a countertenor may
legitimately sing a given alto line (let's leave the sopranos out
of it--I never heard of a countertenor who could hit a C above the
treble clef and live to tell about it) [...]
Arno Raunig has famously recorded the Alleluja from Mozart's
Exsultate Jubilate with its (unwritten but obligatory) soprano high
C at the end. (Whether it's beautiful is an interesting question,
but he certainly sings it.) Aris Christofellis is also reputed to
have a usable high C. There are probably a few others.
I've never heard either singer live.
We had a "counter-soprano" in the Pro Arte ensemble at Indiana about
30 years ago. Beautiful voice for both solo and ensemble. He got
his training at Christ Church Cathedral in Indanapolis under Jim
Litton, late of the American Boy Choir, and just happened to have a
very flexible voice with easy high Bbs and Cs. He also happened to
be Black, and I'm convinced that in at least some cases, there are
fundamental differences between Black voices and Caucasian voices.
Some of the sopranists in Chanticleer could produce healthy high Cs
and some could not. Every voice is individual.
John
--
John & Susie Howell
Virginia Tech Department of Music
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
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