Women's voices: Tell me what love is

Two different approaches to love by The Voices today: Mozart and Bill Withers, via Frederica von Stade and Eva Cassidy.

The aria “Voi che sapete” is from The Marriage of Figaro. It’s sung by the page Cherubino, whose adolescent hormones are, well, driving his behavior. But the joke (or part of it) is that Cherubino is what’s known as a “trouser role”—he’s sung by a woman, typically a mezzo or a contralto.

It’s one of those things where you have to make an effort to willingly suspend disbelief. Especially as the singers cast in the role age.

But then, there’s no real point in listening to opera if you’re going to go all WYSIWYG about it.

I’m kind of torn about which mezzo to give you, but since I’ve got other entries from Cecilia Bartoli, I thought I’d let you enjoy von Stade. I just love her voice. 

The aria is basically Cherubino asking the women in his life whether what he’s feeling is love, as it’s both pleasure and suffering. Well, welcome to the world, boyo.

I first saw a live, in-person performance of Figaro at some Stately Home, probably in Berkshire or Hampshire; one of the Home Counties outside of London, anyway. It was one of those deals where a touring company sets up in the estate grounds, you bring a picnic, and sit on the lawn to watch the show. So of course I always associate this song with my friends Valerie, Tony and David, who took me.

Good times.

(BTW, the producers of the 1995 mini-series, Pride and Prejudice, had Lizzy sing an English version at the crucial post-Darcy-in-the-pond dinner party. Frankly, I dunno how she manages to sing at all knowing he’s looking at her that way.)

And now, as they say, for something completely different. In "Ain't No Sunshine", Eva Cassidy is telling us about established love—though apparently no less, ah, powerful than Cherubino’s.

I know (I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know…), if you can get Bill Withers’ original version out of your head, I think you’ll like Cassidy’s cover.