![]() ![]() Possibly the most famous of all operatic arias, because of Mozart’s divine music, and equally because of its unbelievably voracious difficulty: it will swallow the coloratura soprano whole if her practice or concentration lapse for one instant. Every baritone opera star is expected to master this one, and it’s the measuring rod by which the popular consciousness of opera judges all baritones. The phrase “Figaro, Figaro, Figaro!” comes from this aria. Gioacchino Rossini had no one in particular in mind to perform the titular character, but this aria requires a fairly high baritone range, and the utmost precision in scales, arpeggi, and pronouncing Italian, especially at the end, with the allegro vivace lyrics, “Bravo bravissimo! / Fortunatissimo per verita!…Pronto prontissimo…” etc. The other legendary patter song, this one even more world-renowned than #10. The difficulty of this song is not in its range, as is the case with most of these entries, but with the tongue-twisting lyrics and the breakneck speed with which they gallop to the end, and thus, this is referred to as a “patter song.” His famous song comes at the end of Act I, and he informs the titular pirates that he has impossibly expert knowledge on absolutely everything, except that his knowledge is strangely insignificant: Then I can write a washing bill in Babylonic Cuneiform, / And tell you every detail of Caractacus’s uniform.” You don’t write with cuneiform, because it is a pictogrammatic language. The characters aren’t actually homosexual, lest you think this lister considers them so, but they certainly act in hilariously effeminate manners, and none is more legendary than the Modern Major-General. They may not have invented the modern idea of a foppishly gay British Naval officer, but they hoisted him to his pinnacle. Pinafore, The Mikado, The Yeomen of the Guard and a slew of others. Gilbert and Sullivan made themselves very rich in the realm of comic opera, and their masterpieces are the quintessential English light operas: The Pirates of Penzance, H. This aria has been accepted into popular culture, as opposed to most opera. ![]()
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June 2023
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