We once played Siegfried with Jean Cox fort he title role. Well, Jean Cox in his high days could resemble Tarzan easily, so ideal figure for the role and very good singer/actor too.
But that night our famous Bruennhilde was ill & another "emergency" singer had to be called. The only available singer was Mrs. Hunt, excellent singer of Afro-American origin, which does not matter. But she needed at least three men to surround her. Jean Cox had never met her before & nobody had informed him about the size of the Bruennhilde. I was on stage, watching. When Siegfried first encountered Bruennhilde on stage, he had to turn his face to the back of the stage to hide his laughter. .......But professionalism enabled him to sing his role beautifully. Or imagine a rather short & skinny Othello to kill a Desdemona of the size of Mrs. XY (name withheld) of 6�4" & 190 pounds ..... by his bare hands .... ? All what I said about physical abnormalities regarding embouchure does not count very much under "regular circumstances" but under extreme stress at super demanding tasks. As with other discussions, the answers made it evident, that people take it all personal not as it should be taken, just as general rule. Nobody is a coward if declining a task which would exceed his or her (at the moment or permanent) possibilities. It would be wise to decline a task perhaps accepting it later. But this seems not being compatible with the educational system or the life philosophy on the other side of the big pond, obviously. That is the problem, not the big lip. ========================================================= -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Paul Kampen Sent: Sunday, October 19, 2003 2:54 PM To: The Horn List Subject: RE: [Hornlist] something to think HR Message text written by The Horn List >The audience would starting laughing, special when he encounters the 6 feet + Bruennhilde of 150 pounds. His voice will not matter then. If he wears high heels, he would walk on stage quite comical & degrade to a caricature of the role. But he might be very good as recording artist.< Dear All This one reminds me of a famous Welsh opera singer, a vertically challenged man of slight build. He tells the story of recording an opera with Claudio Abbado on the rostrum and a certain soprano of ample proportions as leading lady. They did several takes of a duet, and the two singers were satisfied with the results but Abbado was not. When Abbado came out of the 'box', having listened to another take, the soprano turned round to our hero and said "he want do it again, I no want do it again, he start, I faint, you catch!" And this is what happened; except that holding up this statuesque lady was far too much of a TALL (geddit?) order for our hero and both collapsed in a heap on the floor to Abbado's fury and general hilarity in the orchestra. Sorry folks, although the tenor in question loves to tell this story in the canteen, the names must be withheld to protect the innocent. But it does illustrate Prof Pizka's point; I do know that this same tenor once did Don Jose in 'Carmen' with a leading lady who apparently got the part mainly because she was the only person available who is smaller than he is. He sang superbly as he always does; but she was not comfortable in the role and the results were not good. Cheers Paul A. Kampen, 4th horn - Orchestra of Opera North (Leeds UK) Horn Tutor - Leeds Music College _______________________________________________ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] set your options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/hans.pizka%40t-online.de _______________________________________________ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] set your options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
