There isn't a lot in the show to like very much, but the over-all tenor puts me in mind of the "aridity" that, according to another exigent author, John of the Cross, is a key stage in the "dark night of the soul," preceding redemption.
All tenors sound like Otello in the shower… It's late, you've had a few beers, you're in a Karaoke bar.
All these tenors - many of whom sing the same rep I do and no matter how successful they were as Tamino - have been described as wooden, hard to access, not fully-fleshed, whatever.
The program draws on a set of partbooks that reside in the library of Peterhouse, Cambridge University, and that long went unperformed because all the tenor parts — and some of the treble — are missing.
Watched some fattish men over fifty, all tenors try out, and a few sopranos.
He wields a ferocious, all-obliterating tenor, yet utterly lacks the raw edge and brittle vulnerability that the role needs, crooning outsider anthems like Cut My Hair and 5 15 like a man who has never had a scintilla of self-doubt in his life.
"All these great tenors of the last century had an extraordinary passion for songs," he continues, "and in particular for songs derived from opera, known as 'la piccola lirica' or 'little opera'".
Perhaps, but this is a tenor with all the notes and bags of stage presence to go with them.
Sullivan, seriously ill when he composed "Utopia, Limited," provides neatness and taste but seldom more; exceptions include "A Tenor, All Singers Above," a witty aria for Captain Fitzbattleaxe, Zara's too-perfect protector and paramour, and "Eagle High on Cloudland Soaring," a lovely unaccompanied chorus.
Today is the 40th anniversary of the Metropolitan Opera debut of the great American heldentenor Jess Thomas, who went on to sing 109 performances of 15 roles with the company, including all the major tenor roles of Wagner.
So the three main male roles — Otello, Iago and Rodrigo — are all for tenor.
