The countertenor | Netherlands Bach Society
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- What exactly is a countertenor and how do countertenors use their voice? Alex Potter discusses the falsetto technique, the use of male voices in Bach's time and the tradition of countertenors with The Netherlands Bach Society in this short documentary for All of Bach.
*Rectification: Alex Potter subsequently checked his statement about the cantata 'Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten' (BWV 202) and found that BWV 199, not BWV 202, was more likely written for the falsettist Adam Immanuel Weldig, who was also Bach's landlord.
Recorded for the project All of Bach on 29th October 2019 in Utrecht. If you want to help us complete All of Bach, please subscribe to our channel bit.ly/2vhCeFB and consider donating bit.ly/2uZuMj5.
All of Bach is a project of the Netherlands Bach Society / Nederlandse Bachvereniging, offering high-quality film recordings of the works by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by the Netherlands Bach Society and its guest musicians. Visit our free online treasury for more videos and background material allofbach.com/en/. For concert dates and further information go to www.bachvereni....
Alex Potter, countertenor
I'm a countertenor too and I understand what Alex Potter means when he describes people's reaction. I love Alex Potter's voice, it's an inspiration for me the way he sings with purity and clarity.
He is my favourite....and ofcourse James Bowman
I remember the first time I encountered this, singing the alto arias in a Messiah at university. I started singing 'But who may abide' and saw that exact look on the faces of a group of students to my left, and thought 'I'm in so much trouble here'. Got to the the end of the aria, top F cadenza etc., and they all stood up and applauded. From that moment on I did the same thing as Alex, just enjoy the reaction we get from pleasantly surprising people!
Yep (waves at Dan). Me too. My favourite WTF moment was actually at a Cambridge Tolkien Society readthrough of the Brian Sibley radio play adaptation of Lord of the Rings, whose music by the late lamented Stephen Oliver originally had David James of the Hilliard Ensemble singing bits of it (e.g. the Eagle Aria, "Sing ye people of the Tower of Guard", which also has a top F in it). Now, I got into this readthrough as Gimli the Dwarf (channelling F.S.Trueman for the voice) and only the organisers knew I was a CT.
So, 5 hours of being a gruff beer-swilling bearded fat dorf, a bit of baritone singing here and there, and then the good guys win the big battle of the Pelennor Fields. Then I get up, soar to this top F (after a discreet sherry) and there was a repeated set of CLUNKS from the audience as jaws hit floor.
I LOVED that moment.
This was simply BRILLIANT! So well explained, and a humbleness and simplicity which go quite directly to the heart. I heard Andreas Scholl in Winterthur, Switzerland when he was 'just' a raising star. We had never heard of him and on the way home, I said: This is a man to shine widely and on a steep way up..... I LOVE counter tenors (not all, mind you) and I absolutely adore his last sentence he says with a sunny smile: Life is wonderful, isn't it!
I am a great fan of countertenors and love the pure alto sound. Great interview
There is something unique about male voices. The English boy treble is a sound unmatched, and now that English cathedrals are allowing girls into their choirs, they usually sing separately because otherwise they would spoil that almost “hooting” bell-like quality that only boys can achieve. As for countertenors, they also have a quality quite unlike that of a female alto voice, having a different resonance and power, and which sounds far better in most early music up to Bach and Handel. I love the sound of the countertenor!
I really love your beautiful high voice and I am also huge fan of countertenors of the NBS😍👍
For us old 'uns, Alfred Deller was our introduction to the countertenor voice.
Alfred Deller was also your introduction to the misuse of the term _countertenor_ to refer to an adult male falsettist. Historically, the term _countertenor_ did not refer to a voice range. In ancient scores you will find baritone-range and alto-range parts both labelled "countertenor" in the very same system! You won't find any voice part labelled "countertenor" in the music of the Baroque.
Worth also looking into a singer before Deller who arguably had a better voice and certainly a better technique, Hatherley (sometimes Athelney) Clarke. Superb voice.
Ik hou van contratenor zangers , en ben erg blij met de NBS die verschillende contratenoren "in dienst heeft"
Dankjewel Alex Potter voor dit intervieuw en voor jouw stem
As a countertenor myself (not as good as him obviously) I can say it takes a lot of practice getting a clear sound and not straining your throat when singing, but practice and you WILL get good at it
I love this guy's attitude.
I would rather listen to a countertenor than a soprano any day for the purity of sound! Thanks for this very interesting video. You have a very beautiful voice in whatever range you sing.
yes, there are very few sopranos I can stand, Maria Keohane is an exception.
Great video! Potter seems like a lovely man too.
Bach loves these players! I am a time traveler and he said you all are the best! I took him to a cafe and we enjoyed some of your interpretations on my pc - he was enthralled! 💯
Highly informative! Thank you for sharing this. The countertenor voice sounds wonderful in Bach, quite elegant and austere.
We need that complete performance which we can hear a part of at 5:25, it was great!
Quite enjoyed this reflection on the countertenor. Please be assured that one is as unfinished and changing at 70 as at 40.
I think especially for a tenor who actually sings the tenor range in head voice this could be common depending on how usable your falsetto is, like i could prob hit close to the top of the staff in falsetto with out a problem
Ive been wondering about Netherlands todays tradition about this topic and im glad he mentioned it. It would be interresting to hear more in depth from Veldhoven as well, as Potter mentioned important historical practices
The first time I heard a countertenor it was in the late 1980s, the Matthew Passion in Naarden and the countertenor was René Jacobs. If I recall it correctly Ton Koopman conducted the Netherlands Bach Society. Van Veldhoven at that time was artistic leader and choir repetitor.
We had student tickets, so I was sitting behind a pillar and I only figured out Jacobs was a countertenor when one of my fellow students allowed me to lean a bit aside and look.
I genuinely thought in the initial stage it was misspelled in the booklet and the alto was named Renée Jacobs, and then that sound came, it was a "what on earth is that????" feel.
Thank you for a wonderfully informative video and for your amazingly beautiful voice on so many of the NBS videos, keep safe in these difficult times.
Kompakte und verständliche Erklärung des Kontratenors zusammen mit guten musikalischen Beispiele. Sein britisches Englisch klingt auch sehr angenehm. Danke fürs wertvolle Onlinestellen!
Thank you so much for explaining! I love all the counter tenors in the NBS
Este video es muy informativo. Seguramente se requiere un duro entrenamiento, digno de atleta de alto rendimiento, para controlar las cuerdas vocales con esa precisión.
Entiendo que desde la Antigüedad en el teatro griego y japonés los papeles femeninos eran interpretados por hombres: sociedades patriarcales y heteronormativas.
Hoy en día, el argumento de preferir contratenores, tendría que fundamentarse en consideraciones artísticas de timbre, de color y de volumen; incluso de intenciones dramatúrgicas, de artificio deliberado, para darle mayor realismo a una ficción.
Desde luego las convenciones sociales cambian y deberían ser evaluadas conforme a los criterios prevalecientes en cada época y lugar.
Sigue componiéndose para la cuerda de contratenor: Akhnaten (Philip Glass 1984), Three Sisters (Peter Eötvös 1998), Only the Sound Remains (Kaija Saariaho 2015) y así.
Wonderful! Keep making your beautiful performances!
Countertenors (as known today) used to sound very different, with fuller, richer voices similar to that of a woman in quality and ability. Examples: Domenico Mancini and Ben Millett, later Russell Oberlin. Modern countertenor don't have pure registration and generally have weak, unclear, throaty, sometimes thick or thin nasal voices. 😢 I hope in the future singers try to go back to the great belcanto tradition and revive this beautiful art. 🎉
Great!!! Alex Potter, this is a fantastic video. Thanks!
Brilliant! (all contraltos are female of course and Ferrier and Heynis have a wonderful timbre that is unique. Surely you can't think of them as male?).
Would Bach have used falsetto singers at Leipzig, or pre voice change boy altos, aged, say 16 years old?
Great personality!
Very informative, thank you!
Bravo Alex!
What is the piece at 6:42?
I prefer countertenors in early music - they sound better!
His voice is very similar to James Bowman's voice
Um grande abraço a todos desde o Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.Peçamos a proteção de DEUS para todos os europeus.
What a handsome man 😍😍
Asking for the separation of church and music might be a bit too much for some people, but at least avoiding touchy subjects would be nice. Some people love it, some people can't stand it, and some people think men are stealing women's jobs because of it. It's more of the preservation of traditions that's preventing me from making Baroque music a more social activity rather than a solo activity. Western cultures have been promoted around the world for centuries now, and it's not unreasonable for other people around the world to just like the music without anything else attached to it because they simply aren't familiar with the underlying traditions and culture.
Countertenors rarely cause me to ask "is that a man or a woman?" For example, nothing about your voice suggests a female contralto. You clearly have a countertenor timbre. It's unmistakeable.
Please...right or wrong? "...stealing jobs..."? Music is an art form, plain and simple. It does not have (or care about) any subjective opinion about anything. Therefore it cares nothing about gender...in fact, it doesn't/can't even acknowledge that gender even exists. What matters, is which type of voice suits a particular part. I love the "sound" produced by some female altos, and I love the sound produced by some countertenors. Each is unique, and that uniqueness is what should guide the decision making process as to which voice is used - not historical practices, or current political correctness policies. // When the time machine is invented, I'm first in line...back to Leipzig, 1730ish...I'll take some of the NBS recordings with me. Before they burn me at the stake, I'll watch the "old wig's" eyes and face...he'll smile, certainly...I'll ask him (in my halting Deutsch) what he thinks? I'm sure his response will be; NBS, never cease...ever. [ Dang, he stole my line ]
Zelf ben ik een countertenor, maar welk koor ik ook probeer, ik wordt door een stalker nagejaagd die rubbisch op mijn naam heeft gezet en mensen maar even hoeven te googlen op mijn naam of ik word alweer gedumpt zoals ik gisteravond bemerkte bij een koor in Beverwijk. Ter informatie ik zing de hoge D hetgeen een organist tot mij zei.
Obviously I am quite ambigious about counter altos because I am an alto who loves Baroque. Indeed I think they steal the jobs of women singers and I don't think in the 21st century there is any reason to repeat the mistakes of the 18th century and leaving women out. We also don't approve of slavery anymore for instance. It is now, and now we are here and men and women are supposed to be equal. So I think it is an invalid argument to say: Bach did it like this, that is why we do it like this.
This having said, I think mr. Alex Potter sings beautifully and so does Maarten Engeltjes and some other countertenors. I used to be a big fan of James Bowman when I was young. Still am!
But still it hurts a little bit, especially when there are 8 people, 6 of them men.
I completely agree that there is still misogyny in the world of music, but I feel as though countertenors are very much still needed! The sound of a countertenor speaks to me in such a different way than any other voice type, I find it not as a replacement for a female alto but a completely different instrument. Can't agree more about some of the terrible misogyny amongst so many aspects of music, I just don't agree with the countertenor point!
@Anka Voskuilen Women's voices were used in Germany in Bach's time in opera and in noble and royal households as singing maids, but not in church music. In fact, there were not even women instrumentalists in the church music. If the argument for using boys' and men's voices instead of women's voices were simply "Bach did it this way," then you would not even see women instrumentalists in the ensemble. But that is a not the argument. The actual argument is that we are trying to match the sound of the ensemble used in church music in Bach's time when performing his church music. That is also the reason we use gut strings and period instruments. It is also the reason Veldhoven sometimes divides the vocal ensemble into concertists and ripienists.
tut-tut. love the depth of the counter-tenor voice that requires the strength, control, and stamina the music demands. any female performer of merit has as good a chance to generate fans and interest. the music is so beautiful. i am amazed at the exquisite talents that have surfaced recently - both guys and gals - it's COMPLETELY ASTONISHING! YOWZER! ! !
@Anka Voskuilen Countertenors are not "stealing the jobs of women." The goal of historically informed performances is to attempt to reproduce the *sound* of period vocal and instrumental ensembles, not to advance women's rights or promote notions of gender equality.
Perhaps you don't know that the exclusion of women's voices from music in the church is a tradition that dates back to the Middle Ages. The tradition derives the biblical injunction "women shall be silent in the church." That is why churches in England, Germany, France, Italy, and other European countries established boys choirs to sing the upper parts in church music. Such choirs continue to this day. In Germany, women's voices were not used in churches until the 19th century.
well, art is long and life is short. men and women are people but are male and female all the same. any problems? ; )
All I've listened to for the past 15 years is Bach. I still can't stand watching countertenors. It's just off-putting. I also think female altos sound better.
Although i respect your opinion, I cant help but love a counter tenor, Listen to Potter on Bach's 131 movement three, his voice is so beautifully contrasted by the Female voice which enters in fugue. it really wouldn't be the same if they just used 2 women for that piece imo!
I don't respect your opinion in the least. If you can't stand watching countertenors, then don't watch. Just listen.
It is so true, countertenors do steal women's job. Especially in repertory written for castratos when women are so better. Fuller voices, rounder sound, stronger and louder. Countertenors are hired even for soprano parts [ both soprano castrato or female soprano en travesti]. I like cts but I prefere them in repertory written for cts. In music written for castratos women are so, so superior in any possible way.
this is why I hate Bel Canto singers, this dude sings in baritone/high baritone using falsetto... Mike Matijevic is a real counter tenor, in chest voice high baritone, and head voice up to c6
Steve Perry - natural first tenor, Dio- natural 3rd tenor... etc
No good at all.