Discussion:
Why the stuttering tenor?
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Singer709
2003-12-26 04:40:23 UTC
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Why is Basilio a stutterer (as in Nozze, for example)? Is this a
tradition or is there some reason?
Parterrebox
2003-12-26 05:22:20 UTC
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Post by Singer709
Why is Basilio a stutterer (as in Nozze, for example)?
Basilio doesn't stutter in FIGARO; Don Curzio does. And he's a stutterer
because that was at the time of composition a sure-fire comic "bit." Sort of
the way flatulence is now.
Hans Christian Hoff
2003-12-26 12:39:06 UTC
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Post by Parterrebox
Post by Singer709
Why is Basilio a stutterer (as in Nozze, for example)?
Basilio doesn't stutter in FIGARO
No, there he patters. There is a stuttering lawyer in die Fledermaus, who is
also (dr.) Blind.

Regard

Hans
Richard Loeb
2003-12-26 13:34:12 UTC
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He certainly stutters in the famous Kleiber recording from 1955 and very
funny he is too (Hugo Meyer-Welfing) Richard
Post by Hans Christian Hoff
Post by Parterrebox
Post by Singer709
Why is Basilio a stutterer (as in Nozze, for example)?
Basilio doesn't stutter in FIGARO
No, there he patters. There is a stuttering lawyer in die Fledermaus, who is
also (dr.) Blind.
Regard
Hans
Xise
2003-12-26 20:49:44 UTC
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And, what about The Bartered Bride?

Regards,
Ximena
Singer709
2003-12-26 17:39:25 UTC
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Post by Parterrebox
Post by Singer709
Why is Basilio a stutterer (as in Nozze, for example)?
Basilio doesn't stutter in FIGARO; Don Curzio does. And he's a stutterer
because that was at the time of composition a sure-fire comic "bit." Sort of
the way flatulence is now.
Sorry, yes, you're correct, it's Curzio. So this is simply a comic bit
that is common in period opera (and maybe drama)? Makes sense. I was
wondering whether it came into vogue because of some one singer who
made it his sthick, and it caught on.
GRNDPADAVE
2003-12-26 17:48:42 UTC
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Subject: Re: Why the stuttering tenor?
Date: 12/26/2003 11:39 AM Central Standard Time
Post by Parterrebox
Post by Singer709
Why is Basilio a stutterer (as in Nozze, for example)?
Basilio doesn't stutter in FIGARO; Don Curzio does. And he's a stutterer
because that was at the time of composition a sure-fire comic "bit." Sort
of
Post by Parterrebox
the way flatulence is now.
Sorry, yes, you're correct, it's Curzio. So this is simply a comic bit
that is common in period opera (and maybe drama)? Makes sense. I was
wondering whether it came into vogue because of some one singer who
made it his sthick, and it caught on.
~~~~~~~
It appears that in 18th and 19th century, lawyers and notaries were lampooned
by having them stutter.

When Despina (in COSI FAN TUTTE) appears as a notary, she affects a stutter.

The lawyer in Act I of DIE FLEDERMAUS stutters.

Speech defects no longer seem funny to us.

A non-legal stutterer is featured in THE BARTERED BRIDE. It strikes me as cruel
to have him depicted as such (and tormented for it).

==G/P Dave
Aage Johansen
2003-12-26 22:41:29 UTC
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Post by GRNDPADAVE
..
It appears that in 18th and 19th century, lawyers and notaries were
lampooned by having them stutter.
When Despina (in COSI FAN TUTTE) appears as a notary, she affects a stutter.
Maybe Despina stutters, but isn't the usual approach (when doing a notary)
a very nasal production? I thought this (the nasality) really did
characterize the notary (and maybe other officials?).
--
Aage J.
Parterrebox
2003-12-26 22:43:30 UTC
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Post by GRNDPADAVE
When Despina (in COSI FAN TUTTE) appears as a notary, she affects a stutter.
Huh? In what production? I have never in my life heard a Despina who stuttered,
and there certainly is no stutter written into the music.
A Tsar Is Born
2003-12-27 20:48:53 UTC
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Post by Singer709
Post by Parterrebox
Post by Singer709
Why is Basilio a stutterer (as in Nozze, for example)?
Basilio doesn't stutter in FIGARO; Don Curzio does. And he's a stutterer
because that was at the time of composition a sure-fire comic "bit." Sort of
the way flatulence is now.
Sorry, yes, you're correct, it's Curzio. So this is simply a comic bit
that is common in period opera (and maybe drama)? Makes sense. I was
wondering whether it came into vogue because of some one singer who
made it his sthick, and it caught on.
Yes. The first singer of Don Basilio and Don Curzio, Michael Kelly (aka
Ochelli), who lived to write his memoirs as the last surviving member of the
original cast, claims to have persuaded Mozart and da Ponte that a
stuttering Curzio was sure-fire. It was, so they left it in.

(Kelly also claims never to have heard a Figaro remotely as good as that
first season's run in 1786. These boastful Irishmen.... On the other hand,
would anyone out there have a pirate of it, so we can hear for ourselves?)

Hans Lick

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