FanstRA 4: Richard Armitage’s Voice–Speaking and Singing by Delia La Fanetta, March 13, 2013 Gratiana Lovelace (Post#378)

Dear Readers,
Today I have a guest blogger friend, Delia La Fanetta, sharing her perceptions with you today about Richard Armitage’s voice–speaking and singing.  She shares her thoughts first in Italian and then in English.  I am thrilled to have her essay to share with you today.  Please help me give a warm welcome to Delia!
Cheers!   Grati ;->

Ho amato la voce di Richard Armitage dalla prima volta che l’ho sentita,  in North and South. L’inglese non è la mia prima lingua, spesso non capisco il significato di tutte le parole ma mi ha subito colpito la tonalità della sua voce, così profonda, roca, dura in alcune scene, profonda, dolce e sensuale in altre. Solo il tono della sua voce mi fa venire i brividi, ogni volta che lo ascolto.

Imparando a conoscere meglio il lavoro di Richard ho potuto apprezzare le sue doti come attore e la sua splendida voce non solo in film e tv drama ma anche nella recita di poesie e negli audiobooks.

Ed infine, la ciliegina sulla torta: Thorin che canta nello Hobbit. Da subito la sua voce in questo film mi è sembrata cambiata, ancora più profonda. Infatti ora sappiamo che  la voce di Thorin è il risultato di un lungo lavoro che Richard ha fatto sulla sua voce, per renderla adatta al personaggio. [Richard Armitage at Comic Con 2012, right]

Un passo molto importante, secondo R,  è stato lavorare sulla canzone dei nani. Nell’intervista da lui rilasciata al sito italiano BadTaste.it racconta così la sua ricerca per la voce perfetta per Thorin.

 

I loved the voice of Richard Armitage from the first time I heard it, in North and South. English is not my first language, often I do not understand the meaning of all the words but I was immediately struck by the tone of his voice, so deep, hoarse, harsh in some scenes… deep, sweet and sensual in others. Only the tone of his voice gives me the chills every time I hear it.

When I’ve learned more about the work of Richard, I’ve appreciated his talents as an actor and his wonderful voice not only in film and TV dramas, but also in the recitation of poems and in the audiobooks.

And finally, the icing on the cake:  Thorin singing in The Hobbit. From the beginning his voice in this movie seemed changed, even deeper. In fact, we now know that the voice of Thorin is the result of a lot of work that Richard has done on his voice to make it fit the character. [Richard Armitage portrait as Thorin  Oakenshield, right]

A very important step, according to RA, has been working on the song of the dwarves, Misty Mountains. In this interview  to the Italian website BadTaste.it, he talks about his quest for the perfect voice for Thorin.

 

“Lo Hobbit: un Viaggio Inaspettato, la nostra intervista a Richard Armitage”

“Q: Did you enjoy singing with the other dwarfs?

RA: I did, yes! It was actually a key moment in the development of the character because Tolkien describe the deep throating singing of the dwarfs so specifically. He really gave me a place to look for Thorin’s voice, because was important to me to find a voice for him witch I think was appropriate, so he could command his dwarfs with honor and nobility and, at the same time, have a kind of  sensitivity  to him…and also stand in front of an army and bellow orders to them …so that song helped me to find a tone for Thorin.

Q: Did you studied with Howard Shore?

RA: I actually studied with a team in NZ and Fran Walsh wrote the tune and of course Tolkien wrote the words. How it developed that tune in to what is now a leitmotiv for the dwarfs throughout the movie and it’s a beautiful theme, I think it’s almost a mantra and it’s the way the dwarfs are able to  seduce Bilbo on coming in the quest with them.”

Più avanti nella stessa intervista R dice:

Later in the same interview he says:

“ […] all that voice production that I did for my work with the Shakespeare company was very useful for Thorin”

Proprio al suo metodo di recitazione R fa riferimento in un’altra intervista, per il sito Film.it

RA talks about his acting method in another interview for Film.it

“Lo Hobbit: Film.it intervista i protagonisti” (Richard Armitage’s interview is at 5:40)

“Q: You said that you are a method actor and every time that I deal… I talk with method actors, like Viggo Mortensen for example, the question is: What’s the craziest thing you do to prepare for the role?

RA: It’s very difficult with this role because so much of the character is about the transformation and when you take that off you do walk away from it so…I think the idea of bringing Thorin with me was always there… I think the craziest thing I used to do is drive my car around Wellington with a Maori chant playing on the radio…I used to scream very loudly so that I can get a kind of gravity sound going in my voice and the reason that I used to do it in my car is because I didn’t want to disturb the neighbors”

Il riferimento al canto maori non è casuale. Nell’intervista al sito twitchfilm.com R dice:

The reference to Maori singing is not accidental. In the interview for  twitchfilm.com RA says:

 

http://twitchfilm.com/2012/12/interview-richard-armitage-talks-thorin-tolkien-and-being-a-leader-of-dwarves-in-the-hobbit-saga.html

“On my first day on the set I had to stand up in front of the entire company and speak Māori to a line of people who were giving us a Pōwhiri, which is like a welcoming ceremony to bless the soundstage. I was more terrified of that than the filming![….] That speech actually became part of my vocal work. Because I wanted to pitch my voice lower, and create a resonance for the character, I built a program of works, I used Shakespearean speeches to find certain things, but I also used that speech every day. I found there was something in Māori culture that’s essential to the feeling of Middle-earth.”

 

Lo stretto legame tra voce e musica è sempre stato ben chiaro a R. Nell’intervista del 2010 per l’audiobook Naxos “The Convenient marriage” , R dice che:

The close link between voice and music has always been clear to RA. In a 2010 interview  for the Naxos audiobook “The Convenient marriage”, he says:

 

“[…] I do think that there’s a resonance in music which is also the same in words; and actually you can see the progression from the spoken word into the sung word is fascinating because as a character becomes more animated, so the vibration in their speech grows and eventually you go into song. It was something we explored quite a lot when I was training as an actor and I find it’s very useful for characterizing voices because you almost have to sing certain voices.”

E certo la sua voce è per me sempre una musica emozionante!

His voice for me is always a lovely music.

“The voice of Richard Armitage: singing” by LaFanetta8