Javier Camarena

Scofield: You’ve released your new CD, which is simply fantastic, it’s a recording of Il pirata by Bellini. I know the audience is going to be ecstatic over this recording. For one thing, Il pirata is not very often performed, simply because it’s so difficult for the tenor to sing it. Even when it is performed, I understand some of the producers have been known to cut out high notes and the difficult parts of the tenors that they have in hand can’t sing it. But you, on this recording, sing it exactly as it was written by Bellini, and that requires an amazing virtuosity in singing. How do you do it?

Camerena: And effort! [Laughter] I am just so happy I could make that recording. Of course, for a live performance, I will go with the producers and cut a lot of things, because it is really hard. We have to understand something about Il pirata. When this was written by Bellini, there were many things different as we know opera today. First of all, when Bellini premiered Il pirata in 1827, there has been quite a notorious evolution in the construction of the instruments in the orchestra. All the instruments are brighter, and to even make the sound brighter, the tuning standard changed from A432 to A440. Some orchestras are tuning to A442. Maybe in terms of intonation and in the sound for the ear, it’s not that much but in the level of muscle and effort for the voice, it is a huge difference. I’m used to singing L’elisir d’amore, for example, we are doing it here in Bergamo a full score version, every single note that Donizetti wrote in this production, but with the original orchestra with antique instruments, and the sound and the intonation are quite different, it feels really low for singing.

And the main thing is that vocal technique was completely different as we know it today. From chronologies and some of the reviews and studies from that time, we know Giovanni Rubini used to sing in a falsetto mode that wouldn’t be understandable today. He and Gilbert Duprez revolutionized the way of singing, most of all for the tenor’s voice, as we know. For example, in “Ah! mes amis” (Pavarotti version), it is full of harmonic round sounds, and not with the falsetto which actually was written by Donizetti in that way. That can give us an idea of how Il pirata would have sound back then. It makes it not so crazily difficult as it is now, because then you know you are trying to go to not only the high Cs, but we have a lot of high Ds as well. It is a very complex opera in terms of melody but also dramatically, because it is like an early romantic role already and that makes it even more challenging in terms of interpretation. I’m very happy, as I said at the beginning, that we could do this recording. Actually the recording is not completely mine, this is from the Prima Classic, and Marina Rebeka was very kind to invite me to do this recording. I’m very proud of this project, the full version is there, even with the alternative ending. I was able to sing all these crazy music as Bellini wrote it, and it’s really great that it is there for the history of the opera.

Scofield: It is really great, and you have explained so much to us about why this Il pirata is so difficult in our own time, because of the change in vocal technique. I think, Javier, you’re saying Il pirata is the hardest role you’ve ever sung in your entire career, is that right?

Camerena: [Laughter] It was! I must say actually, there is a harder one. I could not perform it. I just dropped it, because it was really crazy. This was not even a Bellini role, it was a Donizetti role actually, also written for Rubini. This opera is Marino Faliero. It was harder because it was even higher than Il pirata. If you know “Ah! mes amis”, that is with these high notes in the high Cs. In Marino Faliero, I think the role is Fernando, he has the second aria going for high Es. So not only there are the high notes, it is a very demanding role right from the beginning. It’s kind of like the role of Lindoro in L’italiana in Algeri from Rossini. He begins with this beautiful aria, and then right after the aria, you have to do this duet with Mustafà which also is not in a very comfortable range of the voice. So, Marino Faliero is kind of like that. Also Marino Faliero was originally not written in the city Donizetti usually would write. Donizetti went to Paris, and Rossini was helping and guiding him, and made some adjustments to the score and made it a really crazy opera for a tenor. I actually studied some of this opera, and I actually did a recording on the second aria, and I don’t think we’re going to be able to sing this live ever, because it is really hard.