Wednesday, December 15
Origins of Trrill
A couple quick things about Trrill.
We've noticed that a lot of other sites are listing Trrill on their links lists and blogrolls. There seem to be varying takes on how to refer to us. If you care at all, you're welcome to list this site as, simply, Trrill. Capital-T, without the ".com". I know how it must bug some people to have an all lowercase name sitting in your sidebar when the rest of the links are capitalized properly. We just like the lowercase-T for the logo. It's purty.
Speaking of the logo, a few people have enquired about the origins of the site's name and tagline, as well as the sound sample that used to play in concert with the opening of the main page. The inspiration and source of all of it was a recording of the Austrian contralto, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, singing the Brindisi from Lucrezia Borgia. Schumann-Heink made her operatic debut at the age of seventeen [singing Azucena, no less], had a repertoire of approximately 150 roles, was a regular at the Met from 1898 to 1903, and sang her farewell from that theater in 1932 [aged 71]. She was charmingly energetic and generous with the public, especially during the war.
Here she is with the Brindisi in 1903, at the height of her talent and fame. She recorded the aria more than once [in a chewy German translation], but this recording is the less familiar Columbia Studios version with piano accompaniment. Note the easy and reflexive use of the chest tones, the accuracy and plumminess of the turns, the messa di voce from 2:01 to 2:08, and the real inspiration [and source of the first opening sound sample] for this site—the buoyant, even trill at 2:15. Plus, the accent in her spoken introduction just makes ya wanna eat gingerbread and have perfect posture.
Speaking of the logo, a few people have enquired about the origins of the site's name and tagline, as well as the sound sample that used to play in concert with the opening of the main page. The inspiration and source of all of it was a recording of the Austrian contralto, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, singing the Brindisi from Lucrezia Borgia. Schumann-Heink made her operatic debut at the age of seventeen [singing Azucena, no less], had a repertoire of approximately 150 roles, was a regular at the Met from 1898 to 1903, and sang her farewell from that theater in 1932 [aged 71]. She was charmingly energetic and generous with the public, especially during the war.
Here she is with the Brindisi in 1903, at the height of her talent and fame. She recorded the aria more than once [in a chewy German translation], but this recording is the less familiar Columbia Studios version with piano accompaniment. Note the easy and reflexive use of the chest tones, the accuracy and plumminess of the turns, the messa di voce from 2:01 to 2:08, and the real inspiration [and source of the first opening sound sample] for this site—the buoyant, even trill at 2:15. Plus, the accent in her spoken introduction just makes ya wanna eat gingerbread and have perfect posture.
MP3 Download Ernestine Schumann-Heink - Brindisi from Lucrezia Borgia.
More Schumann-Heink links:- Hear her other version of the Brindisi [RealPlayer required]
- Madame loved a witty one-liner.
- A thorough biographical article by Richard Amero.
- Amazon's Schumann-Heink collection.
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