Who is in charge of interpretation when a person sings a solo in an orchestral work—the conductor or the singer? Does the conductor coach and lead, as with the instrumental players, saying, “No, no, no, not like that—like this!“? Or does the singer have sway over emotional color, vibrato, swells, rubato, telling the conductor, “Back off, Jack, I’m doing this!”?
In opera or musical comedy, I would think that the words provide the biggest clues to what the character is trying to get across and that there would be general agreement on how a solo is sung.
In a mass, the words are no help. The three solos here are:
- “Christe eleison” (“Christ have mercy”)
- “Laudamus te” (“We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we worship Thee, we glorify Thee”)
- “Et incarnatus est” (“And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man”)
That leaves the music itself as the only guide—tempo, dynamics, time signature, orchestral introductions and interludes, instrumental groupings. But among my 43 recordings of this mass, there is a diversity of interpretation within the same solos. Can we infer influence just by listening to the music?
Performances group as having one of three general emotional colors for the solos: distant, neutral, or intimate. These are sung respectively as dramatic, operatic “arias”; detached, expressionless “vocalises”; and gentle, tender “love songs” (or, in the case of “Laudamus te”, a bouncy, folklike “tavern song”). The distant performances are sung “meaningfully”, using lots of vibrato, stridency, and sudden changes in tempo and volume, as if the words extolling God signal some portentous plot twist. In the neutral performances, the sound is even and measured, with the emphasis on the technical execution of melismas, ornaments, and pitch, sort of in imitation of a musical instrument or synthesizer. The intimate performances are open and unaffected—versions of the ingenuous songs we first encountered in Heinichen’s masses.
The recordings feature some big-name conductors and some big-name sopranos, which could lead to some big-time clashes. Somebody has to be calling the shots.
The convention for assigning the solos in modern performances provides a first clue: Soprano 1 always sings “Christe eleison” and “Et incarnatus est”, and Soprano 2 always sings “Laudamus te”. The most frequent style of “Christe” is distant and operatic (see table); the most frequent of “Et incarnatus est”, intimate and tender. 7 sopranos sing both solos distantly, 4 sing them both neutrally, and 11 sing them both intimately. The other 21 (49%) sing them with some combination of two styles.
Someone seems to be making an artistic judgement in each performance, but if so, we can’t tell if it’s the singer or the conductor.
Emotional Color of Soprano Solos
| Soprano Solo | Distant | Neutral | Intimate |
|---|---|---|---|
| “Christe” | 23 (53%) | 7 (16%) | 13 (30%) |
| “Laudamus” | 17 (40%) | 7 (16%) | 19 (44%)* |
| “Et” | 7 (16%) | 10 (23%) | 26 (60%) |
| Total | 47 (36%) | 24 (19%) | 58 (45%) |
* (“Dance Hall”/Tavern”)
And the breakdown of emotional color by conductor is interesting, but does not further the cause much. The most it reveals is that the use of the same emotional color for all three solos (5 distant, 3 intimate, 1 neutral) occurs in 9 recordings (24%), suggesting that some conductors have a distinct idea of what they want to hear in terms of overall sound.
Emotional Color of Conductor’s Approach
| Conductor | “Christe” | “Laudamus” | “Et” |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jochum | D | D | I |
| Grossman | D | D | N |
| Paumgatrner | D | D | I |
| Fricsay | D | I | N |
| Gönnenwein | I | I | N |
| Davis | D | D | I |
| Leppard | D | D | D |
| Somary | D | D | D |
| Karajan | D | I | N |
| Harnoncourt | D | D | N |
| Gardiner | I | N | I |
| Bertini | D | D | I |
| Shaw | I | N | I |
| Welser-Möst | D | I | I |
| Hogwood | N | I | N |
| Levine | I | D | I |
| Kuentz | I | D | I |
| Neumann | D | I | I |
| Schreier | D | D | D |
| Corboz | D | I | I |
| Bernstein | I | D | I |
| Abbado | D | N | D |
| Solti | D | I | D |
| Rilling I | D | I | I |
| Herreweghe | N | D | I |
| Parrott | N | I | I |
| Marriner | D | I | I |
| Maag | N | N | N |
| Vad | I | I | I |
| Girolami | N | I | N |
| Halász | N | D | I |
| Christie | I | I | I |
| Matt | I | N | I |
| Bolton | N | I | N |
| McCreesh | I | D | I |
| Krivine | D | D | D |
| Rilling II | D | D | D |
| Langreé | I | I | N |
| Hempfling | D | N | I |
| Christophers | I | N | I |
| Suzuki | I | I | I |
| Bernius | D | I | I |
| Arman | D | I | I |
If the conductor is in charge, then different sopranos should sing the same piece the same way for the same conductor. If it’s the soprano, then the ones who sing with two or three conductors should sing the same piece the same way no matter who is conducting.
My preconception was that the conductor would prevail, as he or she does with the instrumentalists, but the very limited data from Rilling, the only conductor with two recordings, suggest more the singers’ influence, as two of the solos are sung quite differently, and the one that’s sung the same, “Christe eleison”, is a dramatic aria, which is the most frequently occurring style in that movement.
Seven sopranos appear with more than one conductor (about one-third of the recordings).
With S1 Maria Stader, there’s no clear pattern of performance in four pieces with two conductors.
S1 Arleen Auger’s six pieces with three conductors suggest at first more the conductor’s influence: a tender aria and a love song with one conductor, two vocalises with the second, and two love songs with the third. However, the absence of dramatics in all six pieces could also suggest an active avoidance of drama in her own stylistic approach.
S1 Barbara Hendricks emphasizes the dramatics of aria in three of four pieces (the fourth is a vocalise) with two conductors, also suggesting her active preference for this style.
S1 Barbara Schlick emphasizes tenderness in four pieces with two conductors, suggesting her influence.
Though S1 Christiane Oelze shows three different styles in four pieces with two conductors, she sings a tender love song almost identically in the two recordings. That’s got to be all her.
S2 soprano Lynne Dawson sings her two pieces with two conductors as tavern songs. S2 Sophie Von Otter sings her two pieces with two conductors as folklike songs. I give both singers the edge here, too. However, in the B section of “Laudamus te” in the Hogwood recording, Dawson plays it straight with the phrases echoed by the oboe, whereas in the Christie, she ad libs an extra turn, which is picked right up by the oboe as a playful wink. That had to be someone else’s idea (maybe the oboe’s?).
What is missing in this discussion is one of these sopranos conducting “K427” with other people singing the solos. I’ll keep a lookout.
SUMMARY OF RAW DATA ON MUSICAL COLOR IN THE SOLOS
- Stader sings “Christe eleison” as an aria and a love song that turns into an aria
- Stader sings “Et incarnatus est” as a love song and a vocalise
- Auger sings “Christe eleison” as a tender aria, a vocalise, and a love song
- Auger sings “Et incarnatus est” as a love song, a vocalise, and a love song
- Hendricks sings “Christe eleison” as an aria and an aria
- Hendricks sings “Et incarnatus est” as a vocalise and an aria
- Schlick sings “Christe eleison” as a love song and a light aria
- Schlick sings “Et incarnatus est” as a love song and a love song
- Oelze sings “Christe eleison” as an aria and a vocalise
- Oelze sings “Et incarnatus est” as a love song and an almost identical love song
- Dawson sings “Laudamus te” as a tavern song and a tavern song
- von Otter sings “Laudamus te” as a folklike song and a tavern song
- Rilling’s sopranos sing “Christe eleison” as an aria and an aria
- Rilling’s sopranos sing “Et incarnatus est” as a love song and an aria
- Rilling’s sopranos sing “Laudamus te” as a tavern song and an aria
RAW DATA ON MUSICAL COLOR IN THE SOLOS (FROM “REVIEWS” HEADING)
Helen Donath—S1 on Davis; S2 on Gönnenwein
- Davis
- “Christe”—tenderly operatic, not too meaningful
- “Et”—sweet, tender, a little distant, not intimate enough; good high notes; a little breathy in cadenza
- Gönnenwein
- “Laudamus”—fresh, open, buoyant, a bit too smooth; lacks attitude
Kiri te Kanawa—S1 on Marriner; S2 on Leppard
- Marriner
- “Christe”—operatic, dramatic
- “Et”—languid, dreamy; sweetly operatic; lovely voice, a little shrill on high notes
- Leppard
- “Laudamus”—operatic; little sense of interaction with orchestra
Arleen Auger—S1 on Bertini, Hogwood, Bernstein; S2 on Abbado
- Bertini
- “Christe”—tenderly operatic; sweet, clear voice
- “Et”—Sweet, tender love song
- Hogwood
- “Christe”—vocalise; lovely, detached
- “Et”—Sweet, pure vocalise; detached, matter-of-fact
- Bernstein
- “Christe”—angelic, unaffected beginning & end, becoming slightly strident and meaningful in middle
- “Et”—gentle, tender, intimate; 1 to 1 love song; pace just a tich too fast to be dreamy; great cadenza
- Abbado
- “Laudamus”—Vocalise; lovely intonation, but no personality; orchestra smooth, unassertive; nobody having fun here
Maria Stader—S1 on Paumgartner, Fricsay
- Paumgartner
- “Christe”—operatic, but controlled; variable tempo
- “Et”—gentle, unaffected, love song; lovely, pure tone; two chunks of melismas missing at mm 33-39, 70-77; trouble with the two high notes; turns operatic for the cadenza
- Fricsay
- “Christe”—angelic start, but turns a little too meaningful
- “Et”—tender, but not intimate; more of a vocalise; lovely, pure tone; much better on two high notes than in Paumgartner; no measures missing
Barbara Hendricks—S1 on Karajan, Schreier (Schreier sang tenor on Karajan)
- Karajan
- “Christe”—Longest; operatic, meaningful
- “Et”— vocalise; lovely voice; languid, unhurried, controlled, emotionally neutral
- Schreier
- “Christe”—operatic, meaningful, emotionally distant
- “Et”—operatic, meaningful, emotionally distant; dramatic volume swells; high notes a little harsh; breathing points a little too obvious
Barbara Schlick—S1 on Kuentz, Neumann
- Kuentz
- “Christe”—gentle, angelic, with minimal affectation
- “Et”—Gentle, unaffected, intimate love song; just a little shrieky on highest notes; wonderful cadenza
- Neuman
- “Christe”—lightly operatic, bordering on meaningful
- “Et”—Sweet, minimally affected, but lacks intimacy; singing primarily to herself; a little shrieky on some high notes
Christiane Oelze—S1 on Rilling (1991), Herreweghe
- Rilling
- “Christe”—operatic, meaningful, lots of vibrato
- “Et”—languid pace, one of only a handful over 9 minutes; sweet, unaffected, 1 to 1 intimacy; another gem with McNair & Auger (Bernstein)
- Herreweghe
- “Christe”—Tender vocalise; light on vibrato; emotionally detached
- “Et”—Christiane Oelze; tender, sweet, love song; very slight detachment and one awkward breath in cadenza keep it from being nearly a clone of her singing on Rilling (1991)
Lynne Dawson—S2 on Hogwood, Christie
- Hogwood
- “Laudamus”—Frothy, bright tavern song, lacks punch, doesn’t really notice the oboe echoing her in middle section; orchestra has way more fun
- Christie
- “Laudamus”—playful, flirty, flouncy tavern song; having fun with orchestra and listener; at m69, ad libs a turn, which the oboe winks right back (Bernius and Arman versions also do this)
Anne Sophie von Otter—S2 on Solti, Marriner
- Solti
- “Laudamus”—folklike, secular; singer & orchestra both restrained, serious; more a maypole than a tavern song; lacks bounce, attitude
- Marriner
- “Laudamus”—tavern song; bouncy, saucy
One conductor has made two recordings with different soloists:
Helmuth Rilling (1991)
- Oelze
- “Christe”—operatic, meaningful, lots of vibrato
- “Et”—languid pace, one of only a handful over 9 minutes; sweet, unaffected, 1 to 1 intimacy; another gem with McNair & Auger (Bernstein)
- Verebics
- “Laudamus”—rambunctious, playful; kicks up her heels, but not enough to sizzle
Helmuth Rilling (2005)
- Damrau
- “Christe”—sweetly operatic, meaningful; dramatic rubatos & vibrato
- “Et”—dreamy, unhurried pace, like the 1991 version, over 9 minutes; operatic, meaningful; dramatic vibrato and annoying swells on many individual notes
- Banse
- “Laudamus”—operatic, restrained, serious; orchestra restrained as well
And finally, one conductor has written his own liner notes. Somary calls “Et incarnatus est” “…a song at once tender, rhapsodic, loving, and ecstatic”. That describes well the sound of the orchestra, but I found in my review that the singer was tenderly operatic; meaningful, slightly on the strident side of sweet, and sang flat; I thought she had a good cadenza.
I guess we could ask someone, but where’s the adventure in that?
NEXT: TIMINGS
