Sing out Louis!

March 13, 2006 9:48 PM

Can a young kid sing the Queen of the Night's aira, stay in tune and hit the notes? This one should probably steer clear of opera fans carrying sharp knives until he passes puberty.
posted by BlueMetal (27 comments total)

Arrg. It's aria. Sorry ....
posted by BlueMetal at 9:49 PM on March 13, 2006

Is this the same kid that was going to print out the internet?
posted by baklavabaklava at 10:04 PM on March 13, 2006

Not at all terrible. Decent breath control. Impressive voice for the age. But a bit flat and sharp here and there, young or not. I kept expecting his voice to change mid-phrase.
posted by loquacious at 10:49 PM on March 13, 2006

MeFi == MySpace more and more every day.

Decent post: what is the Queen of the Night's aria? What is its history? Famous recitations? Counter examples by way of links to mp3s and other videos.

Crappy post: this one. I mean, not even the this-isn't-a-one-link-FPP-because-I-also-linked-to-wikipedia link?
posted by ChasFile at 10:51 PM on March 13, 2006

Nevermind, I found the wikipedia link. It was in (actually, comprised entirely) your other FPP.
posted by ChasFile at 10:54 PM on March 13, 2006

Astonishing for a kid that age. I think the pianist made more mistakes than he did.

Of course, as some of the comments on the linked sites noted, he's *never* going to live that video down :)
posted by pjern at 11:48 PM on March 13, 2006

Damn revisionist stagings: if I see one more "Magic Flute" set in a gender-crossed von Trapp Family Lodge, I'll hit a high E.
posted by rob511 at 12:31 AM on March 14, 2006 [1 favorite]

Where's Matteo when we really need him??
( Dearest Matteo, some links about the aria and the opera would really help here)
For the snarkers, you have no idea how much work went in to that! Yes a bit flat (and sharp!) on occasions but what Loquacious says, surprising control for his age.
posted by Wilder at 2:05 AM on March 14, 2006

I don't think he'll ever reach these dizzy heights of success. (YouTube link)
posted by samstarling at 2:11 AM on March 14, 2006

Realplayer, but the BBC has a version of the aria by someone who's been thru puberty.

This kid is apaprently 13 or 14 now, so he shouldn't have to worry about the knife for much longer lol.

For those that aren't aware, the aria is one of the most noted from from The Magic Flute. While a lot of people simply refer to it as 'The Queen Of The Night Aria', it's a misnomer, if for nothing more than The Queen Of The Night has more than one aria. The title of this aria is ""Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" (Vengeance of Hell stirs within my heart).
posted by aristan at 2:37 AM on March 14, 2006

ack... the closing tag went AWOL!
posted by aristan at 2:38 AM on March 14, 2006

This is my favorite aria. I once saw a video of it being performed by Mary Lou Fallis, a wonderfully funny colouratura, where she went up and down the aisles during the highest bits, frightening people that she might just blow them away with her voice.
posted by jb at 2:46 AM on March 14, 2006

For comparison [direct link to .ogg], Wikipedia has a sample of Florence Foster Jenkins singing the same. This kid sounds better now, right?
posted by teleskiving at 5:02 AM on March 14, 2006

No post on the Queen of the Night aria is complete without a reference to Florence Foster Jenkins' rendition.
posted by cbrody at 5:11 AM on March 14, 2006

teleskiving beat me to it!
posted by cbrody at 5:12 AM on March 14, 2006

Sadly, I thought this post was about The Bodyguard.
posted by Gator at 6:13 AM on March 14, 2006

The Magic Flute is my favorite opera and that's one of my fav arias. Ah Mozart!
That little rascal looked so unhappy going through the impressive vocal gymnastics but he did reach 100,000 downloads.
posted by nickyskye at 6:20 AM on March 14, 2006

Chiming in: that's my favourite aria of all time, as well. As a smoker and an alto, I can't even *dream* about most of those notes.

I enjoyed seeing him do it.
posted by Savannah at 7:07 AM on March 14, 2006

hi Wilder!


funnily enough, I was working on a Zauberflote post -- but about the Ingmar Bergman film version, not the opera per se; anyway, another interesting character is Emanuel Schikaneder, author of the libretto, who deserves a post of his own here one of these days -- that crazy old man, literally a fool for love

re: the opera, I've been lucky enough to be present, twice, for Il Flauto Magico conducted by the world's best living Mozart conductor, Riccardo Muti -- ah his sweet woodwinds, the shadowy cellos, the light-as-air Fugato. the opera's thick symbolisms have never ruined, for me, the intense pleasure of the music. even if I can't shake the clammy feeling of Mozart's imminent death (two months after the premiere, so broke that he ended up in an unmarked grave, now lost forever). Mozart himself, already in limine mortis, conducted the premiere, and weeks later as he lay dying he kept telling his wife that his only wish was to be able to listen, again, to his last opera. a friend who had come to visit the great maestro sat down at the piano and sang for him, "Der Vogelfanger bin ich ja" -- if you think about it, the perfect aria to sing for Mozart's last hurrah. I always considered Zauberflote and La Clemenza di Tito to be Mozart's last word, certainly not the imperfect Requiem -- just imagine the kind of opera seria composer he could have become -- as he was writing it, he saw Zauberflote as a begininng of a new career, not as his farewell.

whether the Queen of the Night is supposed to be Marie Therese, the Vatican, the Virgin Mary or the Jesuits is quite irrelevant to me, a simple man and a fan of simple fabula -- I leave that to the fevered fantasy of the unhappy directors who have to dream up a Zauberflote that actually makes sense on a 2006 stage.

so, for those who'd like to check out a more professional version of this opera: the best conducting, in my opinion, is Toscanini's (Salzburg 1937, live, but the singers are nothing to write home about). Klemperer and Furtwängler, a bit stiff and too dark for how I see this opera (and remember, Mozart wrote it almost as cabaret, as middlebrow entertainment in a time of dire financial straits, it wasn't created as SERIOUS ARTISTIC STATEMENT, that's what it became in the following centuries), those versions I was saying, are nonetheless excellent. I love Fricsay's thin, mercury sound, but I admit I am an unabashed Fricsay fan.

oh, and the boy is not as bad as some of you think. that aria is a fucking nightmare for sopranos with 25 years of pro-level study under their belts. he could have been worse.
posted by matteo at 7:33 AM on March 14, 2006

I forgot: for those who dig visuals, maestro Levine's version is shallow but elegant, and a lot of fun
posted by matteo at 7:35 AM on March 14, 2006

Wow, that's really amazing. He did a great job! Thanks for the link.
posted by Democritus at 8:04 AM on March 14, 2006

I really like Karl Böhm's classic recording-- a great cast, with Roberta Peters as the Queen. (Some think her voice is too light. I like it, though.)

This opera is often sung in translation because of all the spoken dialogue. Trivia point: when it's sung in Italian, the Queen is known as Astrofiammante.
posted by Pallas Athena at 8:09 AM on March 14, 2006

Die Zauberflöte was the first opera I ever saw live. I was literally dragged in to see it, having considered such entertainments to be the province of the old and tiresome. It was at the NY City Opera and singspiel though it may be, it opened my eyes.
posted by BlueMetal at 9:32 AM on March 14, 2006

Another vote for QN2A as one of the best arias experiences ever. For what it's worth, this seems liek a good place to mention Kenneth Branagh's upcoming film adaptation of the opera. Yes, yes, Branagh, and yes his decision to set it during WWI is... odd. On the other hand, the movie is apparently non-profit, which means that they will be using ticket sales to essentially bribe movie theatres into showing the film.
posted by Squid Voltaire at 10:04 AM on March 14, 2006

By the way, BlueMetal, kudos on your post title.
posted by rob511 at 12:10 PM on March 14, 2006

Here's a translation of the aria for any who are interested
(I did this myself and take responsiility for all errors)

The vengeance of Hell is brewing in my heart.
Death and destruction burn around me!
If through you Sarastro does not feel the agony of death,
Then you are my daughter no more! (cadenza)

Outcast be for ever,
Abandoned be for ever,
And severed be for ever all bonds of nature,
If by you Sarastro is not destroyed.
Hear, hear, hear, gods of vengeance! Hear a mother’s oath!
posted by Pallas Athena at 2:44 PM on March 14, 2006

funnily enough...

re: the opera...

whether the ...

so, for those ...

oh, and the boy...

matteo, is this your protest against capitalism?
posted by languagehat at 10:49 AM on March 15, 2006