G. F. Händel : Alcina, Oberto - Già vicino è 'l momento + Barbara

[@AML2000]

This part was actually written for William Savage to sing, who was a boy soprano at the time rather than a castrato. He would have been around the same age as Alois. Savage later sang both counter-tenor and bass in Handel's oratorios, and later directed the St. Paul's Cathedral Choir.

[@AML2000]

I don't know for sure, but I'd guess if he did sing in a choir it was one of the big London ones, St. Paul's, Westminster Abbey, or the Chapel Royal. By the time he appeared in Handel's operas (he had a part in Faramondo too), he probably was free-lancing. He first appeared as Joas in the London performance of Athalia at 15, and was around 17-18 when his voice changed, not unusual in the 18th century for boy singers.

[@humanbeing9718]

The tv-broadcaster ORF 2 has currently (!) reported that Alois already was 15yo when he had his first role in the opera house.

[@Toelzerfanclever]

In March 2016 the opera will be performed in the Semperoper Dresden - again with boy soloists of the Tölzer Knabenchor...:)))

[@Toelzerfanclever]

There was Elias Mädler (Tölzer Knabenchor) the boy soloist "Oberto" and I attended one performance. And...

[@errpee8277]

seen this yesterday in vienna with another tölzer sängerknabe. good show, but the boy in this video was better. ;)

[@MistShinobiify]

Well, such is life: boys grow up, hormones flow and everything changes. Besides, many great boy sopranos and altos developed into superb singers and musicians.

[@Toelzerfanclever]

Händel´s opera "Alcina" with a Toelzer boy soloist (Elias M. ?) as Oberto in July 2015 at ARTE: presse.arte.tv/apios/press_release/1522.pdfb

[@escolaniasds]

Toelzerfanclever No logro conectar Arte . Me dice que no está disponible (estoy en España). Gracias Art can not get connected. He says that is not available (I'm in Spain)

[@Toelzerfanclever]

Arte is not available in Spain ? Perhaps per livestream ? At the moment I myself indeed don´t make good experiences: www.arte.tv/guide/de/live Be sure that I shall make a recording of the tv broadcasting.

[@escolaniasds]

Toelzerfanclever Gracias por responder. El nuevo link también me dice: Video no disponible. De todas formas estaré atento. Gracias de nuevo por su atención. Thanks for answering. The new link also tells me: Video not available. Anyway I will be careful. Thanks again for your attention

[@Aliret]

I don't think so, because this opera still is in other channels but uncut (the whole opera). Yes, the whole channel that had it in separated arias was closed for copy-right reasons but not specifically because this opera.

[@colingilbey9799]

A fine performance but to be honest, I would like to have seen Elias in a production of this quality, which his ability deserved. This is a great performance by Alois and i shall be looking for this version of Alcina on Amazon

[@marekczerwinski2791]

I saw Elias at the Dresden Opera. Elias doesn't sound so good in the recordings. A bit like a lampshade. However, his voice was unbelievable live. An amazing talent.

[@Toelzerfanclever]

Der Ausschnitt war bereits auf einem anderen (?) KZbin-Channel hochgeladen, aber wieder gelöscht worden - aus urheberrechtlichen Gründen ?

[@carameloasakura]

Alois, after having so much power... will he settle for a tenor's voice? Or maybe for a contra alto's like Jaroussky's? It's a shame there's no place for someone who'd just rather keep a voice like that... no place for me... no hope... no life... just misery... hope he recovers somehow though...

[@johnstdominic9887]

He's now a countertenor

[@JacobKCarpenter]

Alois Muehlbacher's voice would have "broken" by now. He was still a boy soprano at around sixteen or 17 years of age; someone like him granted audiences an example of the lads Johann Sebastian Bach got to compose for. I think Muehlbacher decided to train as either a mezzo-sopranist or a sopranist like mezzo-sopranist Max Cencic once did, though I may be wrong. Nevertheless, while I'm not a fan of this young man at times, he sang wonderfully here. William Savage was a boy mezzo-soprano to clarify, at least by Geoerg Haendel's take; Oberto's lines extend only to A5 (a'').

[@Toelzerfanclever]

Händel´s opera "Alcina" with a Toelzer boy soloist (Elias M. ?) as Oberto in July 2015 at ARTE: @1522

[@johnstdominic9887]

Alois is a countertenor now; I have just found a recent YT video of him that features him singing in falsetto and speaking in a changed voice. His voice did break very late, though; you may have seen the video of him from 2-3 years ago singing some Brahms in a still unchanged voice, when he would have been 19 or 20. If pushed, I would say my all-time favourite treble is Clint van der Linde, and Alois would be joint second with Aksel Rykkvin. I prefer this rendition of 'Barbara' to the one on Aksel's album, but I realise that Alois was 15 here whereas Aksel was only 12 years and 9 months when he recorded it, plus Alois had the stimulus of a live performance. I would love to hear the now 14-and-a-half year old Aksel sing the aria in a live setting.

[@escolaniasds]

John St Dominic: MICHAEL KEPLER MEO is another of the soprano boys who sang "Barbara" in an extraordinary way. We can add you to the list of Boys Sopranos you have listed. Here in an essay with a young group. kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKebhH1ujqeWqpo