Americans Singing Italian

[Joe Lykins]

Nicole Marie just played the "three tenors" singing "Maria" from Bernstein's West Side Story. This raised a question in my mind: do Americans singing in Italian sound as retarded as these Italians singing in English? Sarah Brightman is suspect #1, but I don't know Italian. Perhaps someone who does can enlighten us all.<BR>

[Peter]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Joe Lykins:<BR><B>Nicole Marie just played the "three tenors" singing "Maria" from Bernstein's West Side Story. This raised a question in my mind: do Americans singing in Italian sound as retarded as these Italians singing in English? Sarah Brightman is suspect #1, but I don't know Italian. Perhaps someone who does can enlighten us all.</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>I couldn`t resist this, coz it`s all mixed up! Firstly, only Pavarotti among the 3 T`s is Italian - Domingo & Carreras are Spanish.<BR>Next up, it`s not that they are non-Americans that makes their more populist efforts in the art of song cringe-worthy, rather that many of their questionable selections were never intended for opera singers (they`ve even recorded Jingle Bells ). And don`t forget that the character Tony, who sings Maria in WSS, is a Latin American, so a clipped accent in this instance IS correct. Finally, Sarah Brightman is not one of your lot, she`s one of my lot - an English rose! <BR>

[audiogirl]

Hey, Peter........I cannot resist this!<BR>Tony in West Side Story is NOT a Latin American. I haven't ever seen the play on stage, but in the movie they tease Tony about being a Polak....The Sharks are from Puerto Rico, not the Jets.<P>About the three tenors....I like their rendition of "Maria." I generally like Sarah Brightman, although I think that her voice is not well suited to some of the stuff on the Lloyd Webber album. She should NOT have done "Love Changes Everything" the way she did. That final note sounds exactly like a mouse, because from what I can tell, she never switched into the high register for those final notes. I with you that some people were not meant to sing some songs. I will fight to the death that no one but Bing Crosby should ever have sung "White Christmas."<P>Audiogirl

[Peter]

Chalk one up to you, audiogirl! (Darn it, a beginner`s error on a Bernstein topic; how will Leslie ever forgive me? ). Yes, an English rose she may be, but Sarah Brightman`s squeeky voice makes me think of her as The Theatre`s answer to Fay Wray (of King Kong fame). I take it you`d not like to hear her singing White Christmas then, audiogirl?

[Joe Lykins]

Pardon my ignorance! You'd think that since I was raised on the Mexican border I would realize that Carreras and Domingo are definitely not Italian names. Duh... I should have made my original inquiry more general, like "do English singers who sing in other languages sound as lame as some non-English singers sound when singing English?" Since I am only fluent in English, I was hoping to get some non-English perspective on this. <BR>Also, the community choir I am in is singing some African music soon, and I'm wondering if we are going to come even close to pronouncing anything intelligible. Hell, we don't even know what language we ARE singing! Not that it matters, since we're of 99.999% European heritage singing to a like audience. But the music is great and fun to sing.<BR>

[audiogirl]

Hey, Peter.....<BR>You'd be right! Tee Hee. I'm always looking for a good soprano to listen to. I like the Broadway voice with operatic qualities or vice versa, like Audra McDonald. Know of any on CD? This is for anyone.....not just Peter. This is a great bulletin board.<P>audiogirl

[shostakovich]

The Furriners singing English seem to be what promoters think will sell (actors, too). A foreign accent is a big help over here. There's a flip side to this. Since opera is an Italian export, Americans who wanted a career in opera during the late 19th, early 20th C had to go to Italy to study and return Italian. That is, Joan House from Nowhere, Iowa would go to Florence (er, I mean Firenze) and return Giovanna della Casa if she were serious. Similarly a Russian name was essential for ballet. A chef had to be French. What's in a name? Everything!<P>I doubt the above career moves are necessary these days, but there are probably analogous stories even now.<BR>Shos

[Peter]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by audiogirl:<BR><B>Hey, Peter.....<BR>You'd be right! Tee Hee. I'm always looking for a good soprano to listen to. I like the Broadway voice with operatic qualities or vice versa, like Audra McDonald. Know of any on CD? This is for anyone.....not just Peter. This is a great bulletin board.<BR>audiogirl</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Audiogirl, this is not really my area, but I do admire Kiri te Kanawa.<P>Fellow poster Lliam likes opera singers, but it strikes me that we`ve not heard from him for some time. I hope he wasn`t deleted along with his Virus Warning topic? Is everything okay, Lliam?