The Countess

The Countess - Last Night's Master Class
In last night's master class I sang Porgi amor and the recit to Dove sono. In English. As preferred by the conductor of this particular company I am singing the Countess at. The Countess requires vocal and breathing choreography, long phrases which require deep slow breaths. Singing the Countess is like Yoga: Its requires pure relaxation. You have to cut off the end of those phrases so that you can breath deep into your body. It is very meditative. I prefer the slower tempi to both arias because I personally need to breathe low and deep. Someone commented at the Master Class that my emotion was expressionless. While I understood what they meant, the Countess has a melancholy spirit in opening of Act 2 in Porgi amor. The music is tears. She is having a pity party. She is sort of "dead pan" until she says "give me back my treasure or let me die!" Unlike Dove sono's cabaletta when she says she would like to revive the "dead" emotion of her heartless lover, Porgi amor is pure steady vocalism; lyric, legato, coffee & cream. Mozart gives you time to pour on the milk. Which goes back to say that her emotion is rather vocal steady and not with the face. She is not Susanna. She is not coquette. It is not until Act 3 that she is ready to revive the Count's dead emotion. She and Ann Trulove have this "I'm going to get him back no matter what it takes." Therefore, I think I was right to sing Porgi amor with pure voice and not with the face. The face always stays calm in singing. I do not believe in mugging. I think mugging is a bad practice: Kathy Battle, Cecilia Bartoli, Natalie Dessay. One should always look beautiful while singing aka Marlena Malas.