This is the aria "Largo al Factotum" from Rossini's The Barber of Seville performed by Hermann Prey while portraying Figaro the barber. This opera is considered one of the greatest comic operas of all time. Hermann Prey was a German baritone singer. He was most famous for his light comedic takes in many operas throughout the mid twentieth century. While I'm not an opera enthusiast, I easily recognized this song from many movies that I've seen in the past and even from a Tom and Jerry show that I watched in my earlier years. That familiarity attests to the fact that Italian operas have played a major role in the development of Western world arts.
When listening to this clip, its very apparent that the music is not taking a back seat to his vocals. The texture of the music is very layered which the crescendos and decrescendos are to thank for this effect by their frequent use throughout. Great amounts of punctuation lends itself to many short cadences in the song which kind of give way to a very jovial, energetic, and comedic emotion which was the intent of the composer. The tempo is really fast and some ornamentation exist again lending itself to the nature of the opera.
As Kenneth stated the musical score from this aria is easily recognizable and acts as a good example on how Italian opera has influenced Western culture. I do find it surprising though that the music actually seems to overpower the vocalist at times which is in complete contrast to the past arias I've heard in which the vocalist tends to overpower the orchestra (and in some cases our professor).
ReplyDeleteAlso as Kenneth stated the song maintains a 'jovial, energetic, and comedic emotion' which is matched by the performer with all his jumping off buildings, constant smile, and dramatic gestures (though I do question why he sharpened one knife at 2:10 just to get out another but that's probably off topic).