Talk:Da capo aria

I made the voice specification for "He was despised" into the non-committal "alto voice", because in fact, I don't know what voice Handel had in mind.

CelestianPower, if you'd like to restore the countertenor bit, please first check and cite reference sources. I reverted because, according to your edit summary, you were just going on the basis of your own memory. We really should take great care to avoid the possibility of propagating falsehoods, and any editing that just uses memory runs the risk of doing that.

Opus33 19:37, 26 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Handel seems to have notated "alto" himself [1], but that doesn't mean it wasn't sung by a male alto, as countertenors were then called. Also:

The soloists who participated in the first performance have never been identified with absolute certainty; however, it has been fairly well substantiated that among the soloists were Signora Avoglio and Mrs. Maclaine, sopranos; Mrs Cibber, Mr. William Lamb(e), Mr. Joseph Ward, mezzo-soprano and altos—the two gentlemen were altos, or countertenors. Mr. James Baileys and Mr. John Church were the tenors; Mr. John Hill and Mr. John Mason were basses. [2]

Note that there were both male and female alto soloists (none of the movements specifies a "mezzo-soprano"). —Wahoofive (talk) 20:54, 17 July 2005 (UTC)

Thanks, Wahoofive. I would conclude that we're probably safest with "alto voice", since the record leaves it open who sang alto? Opus33 17:26, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

Key relationships

I would very much like to see a section devoted to a discussion of the key relationships between the A and B sections of a da capo aria. What key changes are conventional, likely, or permissible between the A and B sections? How do these conventions change over time (from one period to another)? Are there any notable exceptions to any conventions or rules, with a list of unusual arias perhaps. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bandekafsh (talk • contribs) 11:54, 24 February 2018 (UTC)