I am very excited. You and I are about to embark on a wonderful journey of arias from my favorite operas. An aria is a vocal piece; it is that moment when the action in the opera pauses (I’d argue time stops) and characters get to showcase their voices and tell you about their world.
In all honesty, I, and I suspect most people, usually listen to operas because of the arias – they are the pillars that hold the opera together. Opera without arias is like borscht without beets. (I figured I’d go Eastern European on you.)
Arias come in different forms: solos (one singer), duets (two singers, usually a love song), and ensembles (multiple singers singing at once). I love them all. But I especially love to watch for interactions between singers in duets and ensembles. There, I pay attention not just to the individual voices but also to the body language between singers. Are they just singing their solo tracks, or do they feed off each other’s energy?
If you are not into opera or are new to it, look at these music notes as a gentle introduction to this wonderful world of opera. If you are an opera pro, you’ll get to re-listen to your favorite operas and compare different performances.
I’ll tag this series of notes as #TimelessArias – this way you can go back and explore my past notes.
We are going to start our exploration with a solo from La Boheme, by Giacomo Puccini.
La Boheme: “What a cold little hand”
“What a cold little hand” (“Che gelida manina”)
Let me provide you context: Rodolfo’s bohemian friends have just left for Café Momus, when Mimì (Rodolfo’s future love interest) knocks on his door, looking for a light for her candle. This is where the spark between Rodolfo and Mimì is lit. Both their candles blow out in a draft, and as she searches for her dropped key in the darkness, Rodolfo finds her hand and takes it in his.
