Micrologus; The Countertenor Voice

81-18 THE COUNTERTENOR VOICE

In the past on Micrologus, among other things, we have had shows about various instruments of early music, and shows featuring various performers of early music. Today's show is a cross between the two: “The Countertenor Voice.” For the most part, it's still a curiosity to audiences.

Basically, a countertenor is a man who sings in a high range, usually in an alto range, up to about E a 10th above middle C. But some exceptional countertenors can sing up to F-sharp, or even G in the soprano range. And usually this is done by what's called falsetto, a high voice, which differs from the normal speaking voice of the singer. In technical terms, when a man is singing full voice, the complete vocal folds, which stretch across the larynx in the throat, vibrate freely. But when a man is singing falsetto, only the central portions—say, central two-thirds or three-quarters of the vocal folds vibrate. I said that countertenor singing was something of a curiosity today. But there is one place where it has had an unbroken tradition since the Middle Ages, and that is in the churches of England. And in fact, it was from this choral context that the countertenor voice reemerged in the 20th century to take its rightful place in the performance of solo vocal music from earlier centuries. And the person which did that reemerging was a man named Alfred Deller.

He was born in 1912 and died in 1979. Since audiences were often aghast to hear him sing, he used to reassure them in his baritone voice and often introduced to them his son Mark, who also became a countertenor, and who now leads the Deller Consort.

We're going to hear Alfred Deller sing in a context in which I believe he is at his best: an unaccompanied song of rather folk-like character. In this case, “When that I was a little tiny boy,” the song sung by the Fool at the end of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.

MUSIC: “When that I was a little tiny boy,” performed by Alfred Deller.

I said that countertenors usually make their sound by singing in falsetto, and for the most part, that's true. Usually, as with Alfred Deller, countertenor does speak in the baritone range, but that's certainly not true of our next singer, Russell Oberlin. Oberlin, who is still alive, although no longer singing professionally, speaks with a very high voice. And it's said that even when he goes to his highest notes in singing, he doesn't have to “shift gears,” as the saying goes, into falsetto, that he uses full voice all the way up, and that his tone quality is the same from top to bottom.

We'll hear Oberlin sing one of the three medieval St. Godric songs, “Crist and Sainte-Marie.” He's assisted by Seymour Barab, viol.

[MUSIC: “Crist and Sainte-Marie,” one of the St. Godric songs, performed by Russell Oberlin, really a very distinctive voice, and one which is quite different from the light falsetto of Alfred Deller. Oberlin's voice, of course, is best known in association with the New York Pro Musica Antiqua, of which he was a founding member.

And the next singer whom we'll hear is also best known through association with an ensemble, the Early Music Consort of London. I'm speaking, of course, of James Bowman, although it's not so evident in the selections we'll hear.

Bowman has a huge voice, and I think it was when he began to sing in public that producers first realized that it was going to be possible once again to mount performances of early operas using men to sing the high vocal parts as they had done in the original performances. We'll hear Bowman in two songs again from a Shakespeare play, this time, The Tempest: “Full Fathom five” and “Where the Bee Sucks,” by Robert Johnson. He's assisted by Robert Spencer, lute.

[MUSIC: Countertenor James Bowman singing “Full Fathom five” and “Where the Bee Sucks,” by Robert Johnson]

Our next singer, Paul Esswood, has achieved fame as a singer of Bach arias, most notably with the monumental Das Kantatenwerk series, directed by Nicholas Harnoncourt and Gustav Leonhardt. Like Deller and Bowman, Esswood is a falsettist, but to me, his vibrato makes him sound more like a female contralto than do the other two. (This is not to say, of course, that countertenors should necessarily sound like a female contralto.) We'll hear him sing the aria. “Ein ungefärbt Gemüte,” from Bach's Cantata No. 24.

[MUSIC: Paul Esswood, countertenor, singing the aria, “Ein ungefärbt Gemüte,” from the cantata of the same name, No. 24 by J.S. Bach]

Another established countertenor of Esswood's generation is the Belgian, René Jacobs, and we have an example of his singing in the opening Adagio and Recitative of Nicola Porpora’s Cantata Or che una nube ingrata. He's joined by continuo players Gustav Leonhardt and Anner Bylsma.

[MUSIC: René Jacobs singing the opening Adagio and Recitative from Nicola Porpora’s Cantata, Or che una nube ingrata]

In spite of the fact that Jacobs is Belgian, continental countertenors are the exception. England continues to be the most active “breeding ground” for countertenors through her flourishing choral tradition and among the rivals for the spotlight, among the young up-and-coming countertenors in England, our next two singers.

The first is John York Skinner, who recently has been doing a lot of recording with the Consort of Musicke, directed by Anthony Rooley. We'll hear him in the beautiful “O rosa bella,” a piece by the 15th-century English composer, John Dunstable.

[MUSIC: John York Skinner singing John Dunstable “O rosa bella,” assisted by members of the Consort of Musicke]

The second of the up-and-coming English countertenors is David James, who's been heard already several times on Micrologus in performances with the Hilliard Ensemble. Like York Skinner, he has a tenor speaking voice, but unlike most tenors, he has a very powerful falsetto. In fact, his vocal production sounds almost as if it is somehow a combination of full voice and falsetto. We'll hear him in a very short selection, recorded live in concert. David James singing one of the three San Godric songs.

[MUSIC: Countertenor David James, singing “Sainte Nicholas,” one of the three St. Godric songs]

I could hardly end today's program without saying a few words about countertenors in North America. Naturally, they've been at a disadvantage considering the training and experience available to singers in England. And indeed, since the days of Russell Oberlin, who was born in Akron, Ohio, there have been few countertenors to approach his professional stature. But there are some excellent countertenors in North America now, and they deserve to be better known through concerts and recordings.

Some of these include Jeffrey Gall, who is active as a performer in New York and Boston; a young, and gifted Canadian countertenor, Alan Fast, who is making a name for himself in New York; and last but not least, Jeffrey Dooley, whom now we hear, assisted by Edward Brewer and Mary Springfels, in a performance of Purcell's “Hark the echoing air.”

[MUSIC: Jeffrey Dooley, assisted by Edward Brewer and Mary Springfels, in Purcell's “Hark the echoing air”]

Through performances by some of its finest exponents in the 20th century, you've been listening to a program exploring a very important instrument of early music: the Countertenor Voice.