Russell Oberlin: His life and his voice.
Item
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Title
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Russell Oberlin: His life and his voice.
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Identifier
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AAI3231948
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identifier
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3231948
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Creator
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Yiannoudes, Constantinos.
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Contributor
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Adviser: John Graziano
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Date
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2006
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Music | Biography
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Abstract
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Russell Oberlin is widely recognized by many as the leading countertenor of our time. He has been praised for his rare vocal quality, fluent technique, sensitive musicianship, impeccable taste and absolute mastery of style. He was one of the first twentieth-century singers who revived the rich repertoire written for the unusually high male voice of long-neglected masterpieces by seventeenth- and eighteenth-century composers such as Purcell, Bach and Handel as well as championing contemporary works by Britten, Bernstein, Thomson and Blitzstein. He has done much to restore to popularity this unfamiliar voice category and much of the music originally written for it. He performed extensively in concert, recital, opera and oratorio with many of America's foremost musical organizations. He was a founding member and soloist with the New York Pro Musica; he appeared on radio and television in the United States and Europe and recorded for Decca, Columbia, Esoteric and Experiences Anonymes. Oberlin believes that the term "countertenor" is not appropriate to describe the falsettists of the past and present. He never used his falsetto voice. Falsetto is mentioned in early vocal training treatises only as an exercise that may, in some cases, help the adult male develop flexibility in certain muscles that are also used in modal-voiced productions and to blend registers. Nowhere in music history is there to be found anything on the training of the falsetto voice as a singular vocal category. This fact gives great importance to this research on the rare, high tenor voice of Russell Oberlin. This dissertation explores in detail the life of Russell Oberlin as well as his extraordinary voice, and how he became such a great artist.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy Restricted.xlsx
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degree
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D.M.A.