Well, this is a first for the Contralto Corner: a piece scored for not one, but three contraltos! It comes from the work called Beatus Vir, specifically from the version (RV 795) composed for the women of the Ospedale della Pietà, a home for abandoned children where Vivaldi worked from 1703 to 1715 and from 1723 to 1740. The Pietà ensemble was all female, with women taking all the singing roles, including tenor and bass! There are records of an Anna dal Basso (the ladies were not known by surnames, but by the voice type or instrument they played) who by all accounts could sing well below C3.
The particular piece in the video below, which was forwarded to me by Jean Wakefield, who also made previous suggestions of ladies to be included in the Contralto Corner, is called "In Memoria Aeterna". Richard Vendome - Artistic Director of the Vivaldi's Women project, which recreated the choir of the Pietà with women singing all parts from Soprano to Bass - suggested that the lowest of the three contralto parts, which had a much lower tessitura than the other two, was "possibly written for Ambrosina", a contralto with "a voice like thunder, just like a tenor".
In the video below, the lowest part is performed by Welsh contralto Hilary Summers with the other parts being take by contraltos Nathalie Stutzmann and Alexandra Gibson. The piece is in the key of C minor, with Summers' first entry coming on a solid G3. She stays below the stave for the majority of the work, and hits both F#3 and F3 natural! In fact, as they are at "Baroque pitch", Summers is starting on a F3 and hits an E3!. Excellent stuff.
The particular piece in the video below, which was forwarded to me by Jean Wakefield, who also made previous suggestions of ladies to be included in the Contralto Corner, is called "In Memoria Aeterna". Richard Vendome - Artistic Director of the Vivaldi's Women project, which recreated the choir of the Pietà with women singing all parts from Soprano to Bass - suggested that the lowest of the three contralto parts, which had a much lower tessitura than the other two, was "possibly written for Ambrosina", a contralto with "a voice like thunder, just like a tenor".
In the video below, the lowest part is performed by Welsh contralto Hilary Summers with the other parts being take by contraltos Nathalie Stutzmann and Alexandra Gibson. The piece is in the key of C minor, with Summers' first entry coming on a solid G3. She stays below the stave for the majority of the work, and hits both F#3 and F3 natural! In fact, as they are at "Baroque pitch", Summers is starting on a F3 and hits an E3!. Excellent stuff.
RSS Feed