Quote:
Originally Posted by J. Lee Graham
Probably "For The Flowers Are Great Blessings," the tenor aria from "Rejoice In The Lamb" by Benjamin Britten.
It sits rather high and must be sung slowly and very legato and sustained, with great beauty and expressiveness. A well trained singer can readily fulfill a few of those demands, but it's exceedingly difficult to do it all. Of course, I believe it was written for Sir Peter Pears, who in his prime was abundantly capable of singing it exceeding well. I'm still not convinced I sang it as it deserves, but I did my best. I never want to sing it again.
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I was working on this last semester - I didn't get to sing it in the concert however. My problem is the amount of air required to complete the phrases. The tessitura is fine, the Gsharps are ok, but the lines are tooooo dammmnnn looonnnnggg!!!
Right now I'm singing Britten's Serenade for Tenor solo, horn and strings. A horn player friend of mine wants to do it for his senior recital next year, and he's asked me to sing it. It's very difficult. In the 4th movement, the Dirge, the tenor sings a 6 measure phrase 9 times in a row. The phrase starts with: G - Ab - G, G - Ab - G, then moves below. It also starts pianissimo, with a gradual crescendo, then decrescendo back to pp for the 9th time. It's a voice KILLER.