Most Difficult Arias

[RedIbis]

Last night I watched a documentary on an opera competition at the Met in NYC on PBS. I love Italian opera, but I'm not particularly well versed in the art. I've always loved Pagliacci, especially with Pavorotti, but have never been a big fan of the German operas, until last night.

I was very impressed with these young singers and the enormous work that is obviously involved in preparing for such a competition. So my question is, what are the most difficult arias for singers? I will be scouring youtube and amazon.com to bolster my collection. Thanks, your feedback is appreciated.

 

[Rolfe]

Marter Aller Arten
There's a tenor aria that's often omitted from Entfuhrung which is also blue murder. I think Mozart liked to push people.
Come Scoglio
The original version of Abscheulicher in Beethoven's Leonore, before he re-wrote it as Fidelio
Der Holle Rache can only be sung by a very few people due to the range required
Zerbinetta's aria from Ariadne auf Naxos, ditto

These are the first few that popped into my head. I'll ask my Mum tonight, she was a professional opera singer.

Rolfe.

 

[Lucian]

Marter Aller Arten
There's a tenor aria that's often omitted from Entfuhrung which is also blue murder. I think Mozart liked to push people.
Come Scoglio
The original version of Abscheulicher in Beethoven's Leonore, before he re-wrote it as Fidelio
Der Holle Rache can only be sung by a very few people due to the range required
Zerbinetta's aria from Ariadne auf Naxos, ditto

These are the first few that popped into my head. I'll ask my Mum tonight, she was a professional opera singer.

Rolfe.

Der Holle Rache was the first thing that sprang to my mind. Plenty of sopranos make stabs at those high notes, but they don't sound very pretty.

 

[Rolfe]

It's not that hard if you have the top F in your voice though. There are others that are technically much more difficult.

Rolfe.

 

[RedIbis]

Thanks for the recommendations. That's some great stuff.

 

[JohnG]

ETA: Oops, didn't see Lucian already mentioned the following aria. I'll leave it here if you want to listen to the clip:

I'm no expert, but the Queen of the Night aria "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" from The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte) certainly sounds like it would be tricky:

 

[Rolfe]

Actually, not so much if you have the voice to take the high notes.

Mozart deliberately wrote Come Scoglio to annoy a soprano he was pissed-off by, who thought she was the cat's pyjamas, so it's technically a lot more difficult. There are some concert arias which are fiendish too, the more so because nobody is going to act while they're singing them.

I did ask Mum last night, but she got all superior about the basic nature of the question, which I thought was a pity. (She has sung the Queen of the Night on stage, and said she found the first aria the more difficult one, with Der Holle Rache being relatively straightforward because she could sing the top Fs without struggling.)

Rolfe.

 

[RedIbis]

I did ask Mum last night, but she got all superior about the basic nature of the question, which I thought was a pity.

Rolfe.

Sorry to sound like such a neophyte.

 

[calebprime]

Don't worry about that, Mr. Ibis.

Opera singers--notorious prima donnas, 'n all.

And, Mum thought the basic premise was flawed, not Rolfe.

just trying to help. i like music.

eta: It is Not Hard, It is Not Easy. (Except, or course, when it is hard or easy.)

We should ask 'World's Highest Tenor' Stefan Zucker.

 

[Rolfe]

Sorry to sound like such a neophyte.

Oh, she's just a snob.

I tried explaining that if everyone contributed their candidates from the repertoire they were familiar with, then we'd get a good cross-section, but no dice. She saw the documentary you saw and wasn't impressed by the talent, I think.

It's interesting that most of what we've talked about has been Mozart. I'm sure there are Verdi, Bellini and Donizetti things that are completely murderous, I'm just not familiar with that area.

Rolfe.