MALE ALTO IN MESSIAH? THIS IS COUNTER TO HISTORY
Handel might even have used boys on occasion to sing adult roles in oratorios. But none of this helps the cause of the counter-tenor as a soloist in music written for a contralto
We cannot, must not, judge performances in advance. Counter-tenor Iestyn Davies will probably perform honourably in Handel’s Messiah, which Bernard Labadie leads Saturday in the Maison symphonique in a performance by Les Violons du Roy and La Chapelle de Québec.
And as a counter-tenor, Davies will be a more historically informed choice of soloist for the alto part than the mezzo-soprano Marjorie Maltais, who does the job for Boris Brott and his McGill Chamber Orchestra on Tuesday at the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul with the A& P choir. Or not. While counter-tenors today are veritable icons of early music, there is no evidence Handel heard a counter-tenor in Messiah during his lifetime. Indeed, the contemporary singer most equated with the alto part was contralto Susannah Cibber, who sang the première in Dublin in 1742, and in appreciation of whom the Rev. Patrick Delany is supposed to have exclaimed from the audience, “Woman, for this, be all thy sins forgiven.”
For more than two centuries afterward, the aria He Was Despised was expected to be sung in pathos-laden style by a mezzosoprano or contralto. Now a counter-tenor is not only accepted but, in some quarters, desired.
A few explanations suggest themselves. Listeners might believe, imprecisely, that female singers were frowned on in the baroque period, especially in sacred music — which Messiah, however secular its performance tradition, clearly is.
Further support for this view can be derived from awareness that male actors a century before Handel played female roles in Shakespeare’s plays. Some will know also that Handel often wrote the music for the heroes of his operas — Julius Caesar, Rinaldo, Orlando — in alto range. Sometimes these roles were taken by males, but not always.
Caterina Galli, an Italian mezzo-soprano, sang the title roles in Joseph and his Brethren, Alexander Balus and Solomon. She also sang in Messiah at Covent Garden on Maundy Thursday in 1749.
There was a remarkable development the following year: Gaetano Guadagni, an alto castrato who arrived in London with an opera troupe in 1748, joined Galli among the soloists. Handel divvied up the alto music for Galli and Guadagni and reworked other solos for the latter. The presence of Guadagni in this and other London performances of the early 1750s might seem to offer support for the use of a male singer in the alto solos of Messiah.
The problem is that castrati had distinctive vocal qualities. The operation to which they were subjected before puberty both suspended the growth of the vocal cords (the lengthening of which, in boys, causes the voice to break) and stimulated the growth of the thoracic cavity (as in a capon). Strong chest resonance and a tight larynx proved awesome in combination.
Handel wrote many of his Italian operas of the 1720s and 1730s
with castrati (as well as other voice types) in mind. Some castrati made the switch to English oratorio.
Between 1750 and 1753, Guadagni sang in Judas Maccabaeus, Theodora, Samson, Belshazzar, The Choice of Hercules and possibly Jephtha. He is remembered as a tasteful and dignified singer — taste and dignity not necessarily being hallmarks of the florid castrato style. Clearly, Handel regarded Guadagni’s presence in the Messiah casts of the early 1750s as beneficial to performance quality or to ticket sales or both. His willingness to modify his choral masterpiece to suit Guadagni is proof of this.
It does not follow that the composer would have welcomed a counter-tenor as warmly. Unlike castrati, counter-tenors sing falsetto, meaning that they reach alto or soprano range by vibrating only the edges of their vocal cords, with the larynx in high position.
Furthermore, their musical upbringing in Handel’s time was different from that of castrati. Counter-tenors were trained in and for the church, where rules forbade female participation in choirs. The chorus for the 1742 Dublin performances of Messiah was made up of boys and men from two cathedral choirs. It is likely that most London choruses were also male.
To be sure, Handel was not doctrinaire. He was prepared to assign some of the soprano solo music in Messiah to a boy in 1750. (The propriety of a boy’s voice to “There were shepherds abiding in the fields” and the ensuing solos announcing the birth of Christ is attested to by the angelic tone contemporary sopranos cultivate in this music.)
Handel might even have used boys on occasion to sing adult roles in oratorios. But none of this helps the cause of the counter-tenor as a soloist in music written for a contralto. Of the 73 singers listed by Winton Dean in an appendix to his monumental study, Handel’s Dramatic Oratorios, 10 are counter-tenors. Most of these are choristers. Only one, Daniel Sullivan, described by Rev. Delany’s wife as “a block with a very fine voice,” sang multiple dramatic roles after 1740 as a member of Handel’s company.
In defence of counter-tenors, it can be argued that most of these singers now have expanded far beyond the confines of the British choral tradition. Many sing castrato music with fiery virtuosity and pure tone. Daniel Taylor is an example of a counter-tenor with a wide range. For years he was the popular alto soloist in McGill Chamber Orchestra presentations of Messiah.
All of which leaves Montrealers in the interesting position this year of being able to hear a man and a woman singing the same music within a matter of days and preferring one or the other according to musical taste. Or, indeed, finding pleasure in both. Works for me.
The Montreal International Musical Competition will make itself doubly attractive to young singers by dividing its vocal scrimmages into Aria and Art Song divisions and offering equal honours and prize money in each. A candidate can enter one stream or both.
Prize money in vocal years will increase to $260,000. The first such contest is in 2018. The 2017 competition opens on May 1 and is dedicated to the piano. Go to concoursmontreal.ca
Violinist Blake Pouliot, 22, has won the grand prize of the 2016 OSM Manulife Competition. This graduate of the Royal Conservatory in Toronto, who is also a composer and actor, takes home awards and grants worth more than $17,500, as well as concert engagements, most notably with the OSM on Feb. 22, in a program conducted by Vasily Petrenko.
The contest was dedicated to strings and organ. Rashaan Allwood earned the highest score among organists. A graduate of the University of Toronto, Allwood is pursuing a master’s degree at McGill and studying with Hans-Ola Ericsson. Joel Peters, an organist from Quebec, won the Public’s Choice prize. Go to www.osm.ca