Interview, Franco Fagioli on Handel

The Argentinian countertenor Franco Fagioli has become something of a regular Presto interviewee: the infectious energy which he brings to making music comes across just as strongly when he’s discussing it, so it’s always a great pleasure to catch up with him about his latest recording projects and plans for future staged repertoire. In the wake of his discography to date (which have included world premiere recordings of operas by Vinci, Hasse and Pergolesi, and solo albums of Porpora and lesser-spotted Rossini), his new collection of Handel arias is comparatively mainstream, including ‘greatest hits’ such as ‘Ombra mai fu’, ‘Dopo notte’ and ‘Cara sposa’ – but any suggestion that this is simply Another Handel Countertenor Album are blown out of the water as soon as he starts deploying his phenomenal three-octave range to full effect. Read on to discover more about the role which Handel has played in Fagioli’s career to date, his thoughts on the evolution of the composer’s style, and the challenges of taking on high-lying castrato roles which are now almost exclusively sung by mezzos.

In the booklet-notes you mention that the recording-process for this album ‘has been a bit like taking photographs of particular moments that I want to capture for all time’: can you share any such moments involving the roles showcased here?

First of all I should speak about some very precious moments involving Rinaldo’s 'Cara sposa', which was maybe the first baroque aria I learned with my teacher in Tucumán in Argentina:it helped me to get into the opera school at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and also to win Neue Stimmen (a very special competition run by the Bertelsmann Stiftung in Gütersloh). With Rodelinda, I was very happy to get a Premio Abbiati prize in Italy: in fact every time I do opera in Italy feels very special, because of the feeling that that I am doing opera in the country that creates opera!

The arias here span almost three decades of Handel’s career – how much do you think his style changed in those thirty years?

Handel was a hugely intelligent man who had the opportunity to travel a lot and study different styles, and he took particular advantage of being in Italy at a time when a lot of change was going on with regard to the structure of opera. Within his lifetime the typical baroque opera seria started to change, moving towards a more Classical form - as for instance in Serse where we see a move away from da capo arias, and the introduction of more stock comic characters and comic theatrical situations. That is one of the points that show me this futuristic aspect of Handel.

The roles featured on this selection were written for some very different voices, including several of the greatest castratos of the age such as Carestini, Senesino, Caffarelli and Nicolini. Your fellow countertenor Xavier Sabata recently told me that he thinks of Senesino as ‘his’ castrato – do you have one too?!

(My greetings to Xavier – a great colleague and a very great friend!). For me, I think I would have to say Carestini – I feel his music fits me extremely well and I simply love to sing it!

When we’ve spoken before about ornamentation, you’ve mentioned that your embellishments are often informed by what’s going on in the staging – how do you approach the process for a studio-recording?

Most of the arias in this album are from roles which I’ve already performed on stage, so I still have a feeling of what was going on, and therefore the ornamentation (even if I change it slightly) already has this dramatic background; if I haven’t done the aria on stage in a complete performance, what I do is simply to imagine the emotional situation. I always write my variations at the last moment - never at the beginning of the study, because I think that the variations should be the conclusion of a complete understanding of the aria. So what I try to do is just to get as deep as possible into the mood of the character in that particular moment.

The opening track, ‘Agitato da fiere tempeste’, is the version from the pasticcio Oreste rather than the more familiar one from Riccardo Primo – how different is it (other than the higher key) and why did you choose this version?

This is a very nice question, because besides simply loving this aria I also wanted to demonstrate how flexible the practice of opera was in those times; sometimes when we stage opera today it can look as if we are doing a museum-piece, and it's easy to forget that the score was not written for our voice or our instruments. What happened with ‘Agitato’ is as simple as Handel having two versions: one in B flat (for Riccardo Primo) which was sung by Senesino and another in D (for Oreste) which was sung by Carestini. Two different singers, two different throats, two different voices, so he just changed the key – how simple is that?! He did it purely for practical reasons: they used to work with what they had on their hands, and if that meant making changes then they got on with it with absolutely no problem, regret or guilt. I’m not saying that nowadays we have to do it like they did in the past, and I’m not saying we have to do crazy things - but we have to be conscious of the praxis of the music we perform.

You cover an astonishing three octaves on this recording, and one of the things that sets you apart from other countertenors is your ability to dip down into a strong baritone register: how do you manage this, and is there any evidence that some of the castrati would have been able to do the same?

What I do is just use all of the voice I have: if it’s there, why not use it, right?! The Italian school of bel canto singing teaches you to use all your registers (chest, medium, high) so that’s what I do, and the castrati did the same: maybe they didn't venture quite so low or quite so high, but the basic principle still stands. It’s very common to see how castrati used to sing one phrase in the higher octave and then another in the lower: for example, the Caffarelli disc I did includes the aria ‘Passaggier che sulla sponda’ where Porpora writes the first phrase in the middle octave and the second in the octave below, just to showcase the two different voices. The castrati had the ability to show this duality, this androgyny, and it continued to be important well into the nineteenth century: if you look at a lot of Rossini opera, especially the trouser-roles like Tancredi or Calbo in Maometto Secondo, there’s still this emphasis on showing off the female and male qualities in the same voice.

Because of its high tessitura, you must be one of the first male singers in centuries to sing Ariodante! Do you have plans to take on any other roles that are usually performed by high mezzos these days?

Indeed – I think that up until now ‘Dopo notte’ had never been recorded by a countertenor! (I have some colleagues that perform the role, but haven't recorded it). I did it on stage and had a wonderful time: I think it’s one of the parts that best fits my kind of singing. I am already singing quite a lot of ‘mezzo’ roles (for example Piacere in Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, the title-role in Serse, Idamante in Mozart’s Idomeneo, Sesto in La clemenza di Tito), and I certainly intend to keep on doing it! I don’t think I would venture into German repertoire, but in Italian repertoire there are many other roles I would do.

Finally, which Handelians (living or dead) have influenced and inspired you most profoundly?

Vocally, mostly mezzos: I love to listen to people like Anne Sofie von Otter, Cecilia Bartoli, Jennifer Larmore and Marilyn Horne, who are a huge inspiration for me. And David Daniels is great, of course. In terms of conductors, I must mention René Jacobs (it was very interesting to work with him even though we didn’t do Handel) and Diego Fasolis. but I could say so many names! I get my inspiration from the people that put music first, always!