can we please stop casting tenors and mezzos in male soprano roles and start casting, you know, proper sopranos?
this isn't just about anastasio- i'm also thinking about vitige from flavio ( renata pokupić in early opera company flavio is okay because she has a light voice and i genuinely couldn't tell she was a mezzo at first ), faramondo from his eponymous opera, achille/pirra from deidamia, etc. and this doesn't necessarily mean that those actors can't pull off those roles really well ( sonia prina, for instance, was fantastic in glyndebourne rinaldo ) but it still irks me.
it's on the same level as having a countertenor in that role ( unless said countertenor is samuel mariño, or just... any sopranist ). like, it may seem right to a lot of people, what with alto and mezzo-soprano being the "conventional" voice types for characters like these, but really it's... not. i feel like with some of these guys, them having the highest voice type is absolutely integral to their character. achille/pirra is one such example- the various layers of gender confusion, the contrast with the male alto who's more conventionally masculine ( ulisse ). having him played by a performer with a lower voice, regardless of their gender, nullifies all that.
( and this is my highly subjective personal opinion, but i feel like deidamia's merits, including the whole thing with achille/pirra, PARTICULARLY the whole thing with achille/pirra, aren't acknowledged enough. come on. give my girls a break. )
anyways, deidamia's just one opera, but by no means is it the only example of what i'm trying to talk about.
