BELLINI, Vincenzo
I puritani (The Puritans)
“Or dove fuggo io mai?”
Francisco Araiza, guest professor
Jorge Eleazar Álvarez Mora, student
Laurence Verna, accompanying pianist
To begin, Araiza points out that fermatas do not always signify a pause, but rather dramaturgical freedom. One must always project upwards, just like the ascending interval of the melody, and maintain the energetic flow continuously. Likewise, maintain the head resonance, do not lower it to the chest.
The singer has the faculty to influence the audience; one must ration what is given, learning to paint with music with a fine brush. Professor Araiza also indicates that the sound must be rounded more and no turn should be added to the music that is not written. There are two phrases in this aria susceptible to comparison with the versions of the great baritones; both flanks must be opened well in order to give everything. The sounds that we produce best are those of region 2 due to their color richness.
The professor speaks of the “raddoppiamento sintattico” of the Italian language (syntactic duplication). One must be careful with the natural accents of the words -Bellini wrote a treatise on how to treat this type of false accents: they must be resolved with an ascending portamento and then singing the next note piano. This principle applies to the entire repertoire-. Pronounce the double “n” well, and take advantage of the energy of the room, of the public. Araiza also advises not to invent any note that is not written, studying the score exactly. Finally, he speaks of the Bellinian echo effect (decreasing a lot in the cadence before resolving). The body vibrates completely when we have control of the technical register.
Language: Spanish
