Operatic Party Piece

[Humph Warden Bennett]

A ridiculous F5 put into a score by error, some use falsetto, others try to sing it in head voice.

To my ear this screeched note, at what is supposed to be the saddest part of the story, turns pathos into bathos, what do others think?

https://youtu.be/WR5Q3bWyikU

[Harrowby Hall]

I don't know I Puritani (or much Bellini in fact). I am surprised - if the note is accepted as erroneous - that sensitive conductors don't suggest more acceptable alternatives. But then, considering that some opera singers appear somewhat self-obsessed, the changed note may be treated as an insult to their masculinity. Its inclusion becomes a "tradition".

[Humph Warden Bennett]

My understanding is that the original note intended is Db5, which itself is outside what would normally be expected of a tenor, F5 is high even for an alto. IMHO "out there" notes are suitable for concert solo performances, rather than for a full performance.

This aria & chorus occurs late in the story, when the hero thinks that he is going to die & his friends imprisoned, for him to suddenly screech in the top half of the treble clef gives the impression that he is crying, quite at odds with his heroic role throughout the rest of the opera.