Yuko Kamahora has surprising intro to this famous birdsong

Описание: Quiz: Can you name the work referenced in the opening of this arrangement?

THE SONGBIRD: Yuko Kamahora (釜洞祐子) was born in Osaka. She studied music in Kobe and Tokyo and won the Music Competition of Japan in 1982. She was granted a scholarship to study in Germany, and from 1986 to 1992 sang with the Kassel State Theater and made guest appearances in Dresden, Hamburg, Hannover, Munich, and Stuttgart in roles including Konstanze, Zerbinetta, Olympia, and Queen of the Night. In 1995 she appeared in "Orlando Paladino" at the Haydn Festival in Eisenstadt, then in the Telemann Festival in Madgeburg the following year. Back in Japan, Kamahora sang Zdenka at the newly opened opera house in Tokyo.

THE MUSIC: Alexander Alabiev (also Alyabyev or Alabieff) (1787 - 1851) wrote seven operas, 20 musical comedies, and more than 200 songs. Yet today he is really only known for his coloratura song, "The Nightingale" ("Solovei" or Соловей), which he wrote to a poem by Anton Delvig while in prison in 1825/26. It began to circulate in Russia as a popular concert or salon song, and became one of the earliest Russian art songs to become widely known in Western Europe. Soprano Pauline Viardot inserted it into Rosina's singing lesson scene in "The Barber of Seville" -- when other florid sopranos followed suit its popularity grew, and it now stands as one of the most commonly performed "bird song" recital showpieces for soprano. It has the feel of a folk song with a simple tune that builds as a sort of theme and variations with coloratura embellishments meant to mimic the warbling nightingale.