Thu-IV. Napoleon in Egypt - The Birth of the Dramatic Tenor

A Romantic  painting titled "Napoleon in Egypt". The figure of Napoleon and the dramatic tenor have a few things in common!

During the Baroque period, the young heroes and gods were mainly the domain of the Castrati. The macho roles, older heroes, kings and villains, were sung by baritones or basses. The world "baritone" itself comes from the Italian "baron" (related to the Spanish "varón" )  which means "man"... the baritone was "the voice of a man" or the "manly voice". We'll  revisit this tomorrow on "Baritone Friday". Notice that in the operas of Mozart, the main heroes are usually baritones like Don Giovanni or Figaro. Sure there are some tenors, but they were just supporing characters.

The aftermath of the French Revolution brought chaos and social change to Europe. Even Mozart was affected by this. That is why his later operas were revolutionary. The public no longer wanted to see mythical gods and heroes up on stage; they wanted to see ordinary people, like themselves. From this arose the great figure of Napoleon Bonaparte. a common man with no aristocratic background, a common man who rose to be the leader of his country. The thought was revolutionary and that is why at the beginning, he was admired by the masses of Europe. One of his greatest admirers was Ludwig Van Beethoven, who honored him with a symphony called "Buonaparte", Things turned quite sour the day Napoleaon crowned himself Emperor, and Beethoven tore off the front page of his symphony in a rage and remained it. Fortunately, he did not burn the score, but I bet he was tempted! Watch a video showing pictures of Napoleon and his times while listening to Beethoven's First Movement of his Symphony No 3, which was later renamed: Eroica

The public no longer wanted heroes and gods, but real people. They also wanted light entertainment, an escape from their drab lives into comedy, fantasy, or exotic adventure. A few decades earlier, Mozart, who was already ahead of his time,  had already started to thrill audiences with his light operas in the vernacular German, notably the Abduction from the Seraglio and the Magic Flute.

Along came Giacomo Rossini, who introduced a totally new "main character"....the Tenor! The tenor started out in comic roles. He was light and funny..He was, after all,.the common man. Thus Napoleon represented this common man, He was short and funny-looking, an antithesis to the tall god-like castrato. Napoleon, despite his humble looks, was no fool: he was destined for glory!

Thus, the tenor walked on to center stage and has stayed there pretty mush ever since! Though it was more or less the Germans who started this trend (Mozart, Beethoven, and Weber), it was Verdi who took the tenor to its greatest height and later passed the flame to Puccini and Wagner.

The aria of choice is going to be "Celeste Aida" from the opera of that name.

So, that is the background to our program on Tenor Thursday. Fortunately, I am way ahead of time in Jakarta, so I will be able to continue our journey tomorrow before it becomes Friday in Honolulu, where my sister lives! My mate is very strict about lights off during weekdays and any minute now he's going to march in here, turn off my air conditioner and spray my office with these noxious fumes of mosquito repellent!

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