LL-L "Music" 2008.12.05 (05) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 05 December 2008 - Volume 05
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject:

Dear Lowlanders,

As the weekend is upon us and we are getting farther into the Northern
Hemisphere winter holiday season, please allow me to share with you one of
my favorite pieces of music, a piece that to me is one of the closest to
being "divine": *Ombra mai fù*.

It is the first aria in the opera *Serse* (*Xerxes*) by the baroque composer
Handel (Händel). The opera was a flop, playing only five times in London.
But this aria endures as one of the most beloved and performed pieces of
baroque music. For some reason, perhaps because it is a rarity and
"typically renaissance and baroque," I particularly like it sung by
countertenors.

Countertenors are adult males that sings in contralto, mezzo-soprano or even
soprano ranges, thus in ranges usually sung in by women. True countertenors
are rare and are highly sought after, even these days. I particularly enjoy
*Ombra mai fù* as performed by the following three countertenors:



   - *Andreas Scholl* (Germany) who has a more academic approach to the art
   - *Yoshikazu Mera* (米良美一, Japan) being very popular in Japan, having
   overcome the handicap of congenital *osteogenesis imperfecta* (brittle
   bone disease), a singer of traditional and popular Japanese music as well
   as of Western Classical music
   - *David Daniels* (USA) who combines Andreas Scholl's academic approach
   with what to me seems a remarkably clear and close-to-pure countertenor
   voice, like Mera rarely resorting to *falsetto* range



And how does this fit into the Lowlands scope of interest? There are two
reasons:



   - Handel was from Northern Germany, from Halle, close to the southern
   edge of the Low-Saxon-speaking area, and he later moved to England.
   - I have translated the aria in a singable form from Italian into
   18th-century English, Low Saxon and German, and I have posted this in my
   part of the Lowlands-L gallery along with video clips of the three singers'
   performances:
   lowlands-l.net/gallery/hahn_ombra.php
   (Please click on the pictures to access the video clips.)



Even though the words of the aria should stand by themselves, let me add for
academic interest that in the opera it is King Xerxes' love song to a
sycamore tree. Here is the preceding recitative with my English and German
translations (which I have not posted). (You will hear it sung in Daniels'
performance.)



*Frondi tenere e belle**
del mio platano amato
per voi rispende il fato;
tuoni, lampi, e procelle
non v'oltraggino mai la cara pace
ne giunga a profanarvi, austro rapace!*

**

Fronds so tender and so handsome
Of my sycamore tree beloved,
For you shineth fate and fortune;
Thunder, lightning, even tempests—
Let them ne'ermore upset the peace so precious
Nor rapacious southern winds come here to blaspheme you!

Zarte, wunderschöne Wedel

meiner Platane, die ich liebe,

euer Schicksal ist erleuchtet;

Donner, Blitze, wilde Stürme –

lass' sie niemals den geliebten Frieden stören
noch den gierigen Südwind kommen euch zu schmähen!


I hope that several of you will enjoy the music, words and performances of
the song. As I said earlier, to me they are close to divine. Should anyone
ever look for music to play in my memory, look no further!

Yours,
Reinhard/Ron**
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