Spoiler alert! Don’t look at this post until you’ve listened to part 13.

So, now you’ve heard about one of opera’s biggest quirks: trouser roles. It’s quite common for women to play male roles. Composers write what they want to hear and if a female voice suits their plans better, they’ll just create what’s called a ‘trouser role’.

You should have seen my face the first time I attended an opera without informing myself about the singers 😉 I knew it was a love story, and much to my surprise, two women stepped onto the stage. I didn’t mind, of course.

One of the most famous trouser roles is ‘Cherubino’, the part Milly sings in the story. Watching Cherubino can be quite the spectacle. I thought I’d post two videos of the arias mentioned in this week’s episode.

Oh, one more thing! Everything mentioned in the episode really is a part of ‘The marriage of Figaro’ plot. Undressing included! In the actual opera, The Countess and Suzanna (the maid) undress Cherubino (played by a woman…) to then dress him up as…a woman. Told you opera was quirky!

The first aria with the maid Suzanna as heard on the podcast:

The second aria where Cherubino sings for the Countess:

In some productions, Cherubino and The Countess will get quite flirty. In others, The Countess is more guarded. In The Diva Story, the director chose to give Cherubino a bit more confidence and The Countess is charmed off her socks by the young Cherubino (or Milly…)

Undressing Cherubino and dressing him up as a woman:

A completely different Cherubino I actually like a lot (starts at 2’20”):