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The Cuban stratospheric coloratura. Miss Maria Remola!


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Of course we had our own extravagant divas. Miss Maria Remola was probably our most beloved one. Although she would eventually become an exiled herself, i still remember as a kid her ultra human stratospheric registry. Her concerts were a display of coloratura, in which her audience was to expect the unexpected...sort of in paralel with Viengsay Valdes' balances, she would stop the orchestra to do all those crazy things. She wasn't shy to do it all and she loved to please her audience.

Salud, salud, salud, Miss Remola! bow.GIF

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUV-raT5vJo&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLD602879883C1DE67

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Besides the stratospheric high notes which very few sopranos can do, she also does her best to keep the trills in "Sempre Libera"....most sopranos omit the tiny fast trills that are very, very difficult to sing at that speed. Often sopranos will record the cabaletta with the trills in a studio recording but omit them in live performance. It is just too hard to sing all of them.

"Caro nome" from Rigoletto was done with an elaborate cadenza that I'm not sure I like. Yes, it is thrilling as a circus act, but at the end of the aria when Gilda normally sings a long trill it is just so beautiful. I am not criticizing Remola. She sounds like an amazing talent and I am sure she thrilled audiences. I do think divas should show off, but I love the soft trill at the end of Caro nome that trails off which is normally sung. It creates a very dreamy atmosphere. It fits the drama better. But Remola's showy cadenza is perfect if she sang it in concert b/c when people go to a concert they are there for the diva.

In the first video there is a short excerpt from Rosina's aria from Barbiere. That is really a mezzo role but for a while it was taken over by sopranos and all this coloratura and high notes were added. Today the trend is to keep it a mezzo role and I prefer it as a mezzo role, but I admit it is sort of fun to hear a coloratura soprano chirp away and change the aria.

What is nice is that most "chirpy" coloratura sopranos have no lower register. To my ears it sounds like Remola also had a decent lower register and richer sound than some coloraturas.

Thank you for sharing this incredible soprano with us!

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Oh, my pleasure, BB. You know...in this ballet board I'm all about Alonso, but Remola is right there too. I really mourn the fact-(on my convenience, of course, not hers)-that she exiled herself when I was just a kid...I never got to see her in person...only on TV. sad.png

re: the circus act, I will for once declare myself a great LOVER of the art form. I go every year with lots of excitement to the Barnum Bailey when they tour here, and always found, since I was a kid, the women on the horses beautifu, with all their glitter and everythingl! Now the "trend" is "the more austere the better". Thank God we're seeing the return of the big ballet spectacles/reconstructions. The day that ballet and opera looses for good that historic flirting with the other art form, then a HUGE loss will occur...

Amen.

More on Miss Remola-(starting with the ubber-colored "Una voce poco fa" clapping.gif )

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Don't get me wrong. I love bel canto operas because bel canto allows divas to embellish the arias and really show off. I love divas who can show off and show off well. I even like singers to ornament Mozart's arias which was a big "no-no" for many years. But when singers do actually embellish the repeats in a Mozart aria I love it. It would be wrong, however, to ornament Wagner or Puccini. Even late Verdi would probably be wrong, but doing it in early Verdi and bel canto and baroque is just fine.

I like singers to show off, and I do like Remola from what I hear. But "Caro nome" is an aria I love with the soft trill at the end. I just think it is just a beautiful ending to the aria. But if I saw Remola or another singer sing an elaborate cadenza in the aria during a concert I would cheer and applaud as long as the singer does it well! LOL

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