I was going to rain down death, despair and the vengeance of hell, soprano style, on you today, but that seemed like a bit much for a Monday morning. Instead, I’m going to give you the Queen of the Night’s other aria, in which she persuades and even seduces the young and extremely persuadable tenor, Tamino, to her cause. You can always go hunting for hell’s boiling vengeance later.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov1hRqPnm58&w=560&h=315]
As promised, I return from the opera gala with something to amuse you. This aria was sung by a very handsome young baritone with a beautiful voice, a gleam in his eye, and a copy of Vanity Fair, to which he referred at salient moments, to illustrate the ladies in question. This particular recording, by Erwin Schrott, is much in the same spirit, and leads one to believe that the singer is in fact detailing (and revelling in) his own conquests, not those of his master. In my mind, it immediately became ‘the notches on the bedpost aria’, because I’m vulgar like that. See what you think…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM-2CA47L_A&w=420&h=315] Continue reading