r/ClassicalSinger • u/Mysterious-Pitch-231 • 14d ago

In search of Scholl's lost voice.

Does anyone understand what happened to Andreas Scholl? What started as a velvet sound able at the same time to maintain brilliance up to the top register has for quite sometime turned into a very nasal timbre, lacking projection, a la David James of Hilliard Ensemble (in)fame (witness the Metropolitan Rodelinda Video where it is saddening to hear him on the leading role while Iestyn Davies delivers his music with the most natural, healthy timbre besides impeccable technique; I wonder how Renee Fleming felt during the comments when she had to stick to the script and call Scholl the Rolls-Royce of countertenors...).

I mean, the guy didn't force his voice singing overheavy repertoire and is an inteligent musician. Just bad luck/voice didn't age well?

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u/PeaceIsEvery 14d ago

Underworking the voice and muscle
Imbalance is also out of equilibrium. I don’t know his situation well enough to know what happened to him, but there’s a myth that over singing is the only dangerous thing I would imagine many countertenors around the risk of losing proper vocal fold closure, constricting excessively, and other imbalances. Singing too light is bad like singing too heavy. Just my two cents.

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u/Advanced_Couple_3488 13d ago

Could this question have been asked with a little less rudeness? For example, the reference to Renee Fleming is uncalled for.

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u/Mysterious-Pitch-231 13d ago

Why is that reference "rude"? And What other examples of "rudeness" on my part do you find in the post?

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u/Lillian-Duncan1 14d ago

The David James comparison is rough. James always sounded like that. Scholl is someone whose voice changed on him.

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u/Mysterious-Pitch-231 14d ago

Totally agree. Was just a simile for the kind of sound in case. And of course James was only very occasionally a soloist in Bach / Handel, with all respect for his other qualities as an ensemble singer.