Belle nuit o nuit d’amour-Tales of Hoffmann by Garanca/Netrebko2

We are going to try another multi-part series. We have looked at the use of a male and a female chorus; this time we are going to examine a song from opera, operetta and musical theatre from the standpoint of the use of a mixed chorus.

We will start with “Belle Nuit O Nuit d’amore” (loosely translated as Beautiful night, o night of love). This aria comes from Jacques Offenbach’s one opera, Le Contes d’Hoffmann (1881), which premiered one year after Offenbach’s death. We first brought you the recent recording by Anna Netrebko and Elina Garanca on March 11 as a song about love. This time we want you to focus on the chorus.

It is a subtle composition that uses a wispy thin vocal quality at the outset. Elina starts with a deep, almost masculine mezzo, then joined in beautiful harmony by Anna. The chorus can be found in the balcony overlooking the orchestra, with the women to the left and the men to the right. The chorus joins the two leads about halfway through the aria but so softly that you will hardly know they started to sing (unless of course we ask you to listen for it).

We are going to contrast this gentle aria with a much more robust song from an operetta in the next posting.