Charis’ Rataplan
By Charis Postmus
The hunt for the perfect piece, is a challenging and unpredictable quest for every budding soprano…
Finding repertoire that suites the voice; offers a technical challenge; engages the audience; AND speaks to an individual’s personality is a difficult task.
Most are lucky to find a piece that meets half the criteria after hours of searching and often singers will still grow to dislike the piece after a few months in a practice room.
BUT, every now and then a singer will come across a hidden gem.
A song that not only sets the performer apart, but stokes their passion for the craft.
I was lucky enough to stumble across such a piece at 3am, deep in a wormhole of YouTube performance videos.
Sung by the incomparable Cecilia Bartoli, her joy and playfulness emanated so strongly through the music, I was captivated and immediately began searching for a copy of the music.
Little did I know the obstacles ahead of me!
The piece known simply as “Rataplan” was composed for the vivacious Spanish soprano Maria Malibran in the early 19th century.
The composer remains a mystery and as a result, copies of the music have been ill-preserved.
After weeks of searching, it became clear that the music did not exist in the internet archives and the only professional recording of the song was the one I had originally heard by Cecilia Bartoli.
I had all but given up, were it not for my old music teacher and mentor; Kristel Hawksworth.
Rising to the challenge, Kristel somehow discovered which symphony orchestra played on Bartoli’s recording. She then found the contact information for the orchestra’s librarian in Switzerland and sent them an email about the score.
Weeks later, we struck gold :
“ Dear Kristel (this name sounds like one from my home town…)
Attached to this mail you find what I found.
Definitely missing is the 2nd violin…
Regarding the drum part: In those days I was playing myself the field drum and I remember that ther was no music whatsoever.
So I just improvised
Regarding the voice part: Cecilia B. always had her own music.
I hopefully was of any help.
All the best and greetings from cold Switzerland
Hans-Peter “
From there, Kristel took the time to transcribed and transposed the music Hans-Peter had sent, filling in the missing parts.
Fast forward two years and a couple of score edits later: and the piece will finally be performed with MetSO in their 2025 Winter Concert!
All thanks to the tenacious efforts of Kristel and the generosity of a Swiss librarian.
Now when I perform this piece, I will not only be thinking about my love for the music, but my love and appreciation for those who went out of their way to support me and making my ambitions a reality.
Now click through to read
Charis’ Full Bio