Barb Assignment
Barb Assignment
Barb Assignment
Barbara Dunn-Prosser
Studio writing assignment
April, 2021
Write 2 short essays (max. 1000 words each) on 2 different internationally acclaimed singers whose
work appeals to you. You should listen to at least 2 CDs or watch 2 recitals or operas for each
singer. Your research and report would include a brief biography, discography, analysis of the
artist’s vocal qualities and fach. Be very careful not to plagiarize on-line articles and make sure you
cite any sources you have used. This assignment is more suited to third and fourth-year students.
Topic singers:
Ermonela Jaho, soprano
Dorothea Röschmann, soprano
Notes: I chose to research and write about Ermonela Jaho and Dorothea Röschmann
because they recorded a great amount of arias I have been learning both for academic
purposes and for collaborative projects over this past year (Röschmann: Non piu di
fiori, Dove sono, Mi tradi quell'alma in grata. Jaho: Son pochi fiori, Senza mamma,
Tu, tu, piccolo iddio). Both singers excel as lyric sopranos, although they each
specialize in largely different areas. Röschmann is significantly more inclined to
singing Classical, especially known for her accomplishments in singing Mozart. On
the other hand, Jaho frequents Romantic-Era repertoire and heavier, closer-to-
dramatic soprano roles like those by Puccini. In the short essays I will give brief
discussions, analysis and appreciation for each of their expressions, techniques, and
other artistic vocal approaches.
Dorothea Röschmann
Dorothea Röschmann is a German soprano, born in 1967 in Flensburg. As a
young child, Röschmann sang in the Flensburg Bach Choir. She studied at the
Hochschule fur Musik und Theater Hamburg, and started singing at the Berlin State
Opera soonafter. Röschmann sang numerous Mozart roles internationally.
Röschmann is one of the best Mozart sopranos alive, she has a powerful, versatile,
and very well, classically trained sound. She has performed a wide range of roles,
ranging from those of soubrette to those of dramatic sopranos. Röschmann is a
native German speaker, but she sings Italian frequently and beautifully.
Röschmann’s Countessa in Le nozze di Figaro is magnificent. Although
Röschmann’s German training makes for a harsher (than say, Jaho) sound, her
singing is still incredibly emotive and full of nuances. She is one of those singers
whose performances are greatly enhanced by the visuals. Röschmann uses her facial
expressions and body language expressively. While her instrument lacks more agile
nuances (i.e. overtones, conrtasting colours and dynamics like Jaho), she uses every
aspect of singing in her acting: every breath is in character and infused with drama,
every consonant is well established in the emotional tone. Röschmann brings a very
raw kind of feeling into Classical-Period singing. Although her voice is well polished,
she is not afraid to give audible, sharp breaths, and have “imperfections” (breaking of
legato lines, glottals and so on) in her singing. She uses her voice in such a raw and
powerful way that characters who are so different from what people encounter in
their modern daily life (like Countessa and Vitellia) seem real and relatable.
Röschmann’s Vitellia in the 2003 Saltzburg Opera Festival is one of the most
remarkable performances of the role. This production in particular does a great job
of not antagonizing Vitellia, and Röschmann beautiful portray a vulnerable side of
the ‘villainess’. Röschmann’s singing in the opera is beautiful and filled with
profound emotions. Aside from the two challenging arias, Dorothea really indulges
both vocally and emotionally in every ensemble number. Röschmann never tries to
upstage her fellow singer(s), which allows Mozart’s beautifully textured and full,
almost-instrumental writing to shine. The performance chemistry between
Röschmann and mezzo-soprano Vesselina Kasarova (Sesto) is incredible. Both
singers are fully engaged in character at all times, and there is a constant
bond/connection throughout the entire opera. Throughout their recits, duets, trios,
and even solo arias, Röschmann and Kasarova never break connection by
maintaining eye contact, always addressing and acknowledging each other through
body language and even subtle manipulations in vocal projections. Kasarova,
beginning an exceptional singer herself, also portrays her Sesto to be a lot more
reflectively sensitive, emotionally aware and inwardly analytical than Elīna Garanča
and Susan Graham’s performances of the role. This remarkable pair (Röschmann
and Kasarova) really does a sublime job portraying the tension between the two
troubled characters, which makes both of the characters that much more lovable, and
make the emotions bring physical pain to the audience. Both singers are masters at
being raw and vulnerable, there are no guards put up (exccessive facial expressions,
snarky gestures, overt acting). Especially in an opera like La clemenza di Tito, the
doomed pair, Vitellia and Sesto are usually seen as the vengeful villainess and her
stupid hopeless admirer, who only exist to contrast the goodness of Tito and of the
young couple, Annio and Servilia. But both Vitallia and Sesto are such complex
character, their stories are better told more through performance chemistry in acting
than in singing.
Röschmann’s Vitellia comes across as much more blunt and heart-on-her-
sleeve than Barbara Fritolli’s and Catherine Naglestad’s versions. Röschmann almost
never plays the manipulation-card for her Vitellia. Truthfully speaking, even as an
adult, Vitellia is a helpless orphaned princess, whose entire bloodline and homeland
has been overthrown and taken over by Tito’s family. She is still living through that
trauma and trying to navigate her way through this whole new world in which there
is no support or anyone to trust other than Sesto. Everything about her situation
stunts her emotional maturity and stability, which leads her into making
irresponsible choices. The entire opera presents Vitellia’s journey of maturing and
learning what it means to be not the throne of Rome, but a true queen who is able to
make peace with her past, and lead a life of justice and love. At the end of the day,
Mozart was hired to write this opera as a political propaganda in favor of the
coronation for Leopold II, the King of Bohemia at that time. The beautiful irony of
the opera is that Vitellia is the true representation of justice and clemency in the end
because of her conscious choices and willful conduct to become a good person and
make amends; unlike Tito, who is handed the crown, getting by each day without
much of a will other than to not actively harm people, and completely oblivious to his
bloodline’s cruel crimes that landed him on his throne. Dorothea Röschmann’s
portrayal of the character teaches the audience to understand and emphasize before
making a judgement on a person. This deliciously troublesome and achingly touching
delivery of Vitellia makes her that much more solid as a character, and makes the
entire opera more authentic, captivating and compelling.
Resources:
https://www.metopera.org/user-information/Synopses-Archive/la-clemenza-di-
tito/
https://www.metopera.org/discover/synopses/madama-butterfly/
http://www.roh.org.uk/people/ermonela-jaho
http://www.roh.org.uk/people/dorothea-roschmann