# Opera terms



## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

I've noticed there is a fair number of members that are relatively new to Opera, and perhaps could be interesting for them if we put together in a thread, the definition and examples of some usual terms, that sometimes are taken for granted.

Of course, this won't add anything to more seasoned opera lovers, but they can contribute to the thread, so in this way everyone can be involved.

If there is another thread with the same purpose, please merge it or just delete if it is a full repeat.

We could start with _*messa di voce*_.

This is a technique used by the singer to attack a note in _piano_ or _pianissimo_, let it grows gradually to _forte_ or _fortissimo_, and then go back to _piano_. The only feature of the note that is changing, is the volume.

This is a very difficult technique, only for a _virtuoso_, and requires an amazing ability to manage vibration of the singer's vocal chords, as well as an stupendous breath control.

Let's listen to some examples.

First, Maria Callas in _La Gioconda_, in her 1952 recording, in the phrase "Enzo adorato! Ah, como ti Amo!", starting with a high B-flat, in _piano_, and then move to _mezzoforte_ and _forte_, with a blinding brilliance.






Then, as we have already commented in the thread about _La Traviata_, there is a wonderful high D-flat (not written) sung by Magda Olivero in 1940, just before "Sempre Libera", in origin just a murmur and projected to _forte_ with an amazing technique. We can listen from 3:30 in the link below.

http://www.divshare.com/flash/playlist.php?myId=10701178-581&new_design=true&skinId=1

Also, instead of just one note, there can be a _messa di voce_ linked to a full phrase with several notes. Just listen to Caruso in "Una furtiva lagrima", in the sentence 'Che più cercando io vo... m'ama! Lo vedo! Lo vedo!'.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Just to add to the general crazy messa di voce-ness, here's Cecilia Bartoli, possibly the most technically accomplished singer of our time doing a quintuple messa di voce as she encores part of the aria _Son qual nave_ from the opera Artaserse by Riccardo Broschi and Johann Adolph Hasse:


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Aksel said:


> Just to add to the general crazy messa di voce-ness, here's Cecilia Bartoli, possibly the most technically accomplished singer of our time doing a quintuple messa di voce as she encores part of the aria _Son qual nave_ from the opera Artaserse by Riccardo Broschi and Johann Adolph Hasse:


Thanks Aksel - I love her!!


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Excellent. I was thinking the same thing yesterday. Useful info would be a description of voice types with examples, and different kids of aria (da capo, cavatina etc). I've read the definitions but having aural examples would be great. And I think we should have transfer the defnitions (minus chat) a it as a sticky, Alma, so that we can continue to refer to it.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Excellent. I was thinking the same thing yesterday. Useful info would be a description of voice types with examples, and different kids of aria (da capo, cavatina etc). I've read the definitions but having aural examples would be great. And I think we should have transfer the defnitions (minus chat) a it as a sticky, Alma, so that we can continue to refer to it.


I agree. References always come in handy.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

I thought the voice types were already addressed. (in fact, I was thinking in "trill" for next entry).

If this is not the case, of course it can be interesting to go thru them, with role examples, singer examples and audio examples.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

schigolch said:


> I thought the voice types were already addressed. (in fact, I was thinking in "trill" for next entry).
> 
> If this is not the case, of course it can be interesting to go thru them, with role examples, singer examples and audio examples.


I'm not sure if they have. I know we had a soprano thread a while ago, but I don't think we have a complete reference.

And I do think it is a _very_ good idea to go through the different affectations and ornaments and how they are executed.


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## FragendeFrau (May 30, 2011)

I love this idea! thanks so much. As it happens I have been wondering about messa di voce specifically so was thrilled to see that as your first entry.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

schigolch said:


> I thought the voice types were already addressed.
> If this is not the case, of course it can be interesting to go thru them, with role examples, singer examples and audio examples.


Only soprano, (for me personally the least interesting), and in another thread where they will quickly get lost. I think it was rgz, here, but no audio examples. I think we could expand this with video examples.



> ... I was thinking "trill" for next entry


This is uncanny. Not only was I also thinking this thread would be useful at the same time as you, but as I was walking home this morning I was thinking "trill" too! Can you read my mind half-way across the world?


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Ok, so another central opera term: *Da capo aria*

A da capo aria is a kind of aria that was very popular in the baroque era. The structure of a da capo aria is ABA, ternary, which means that the aria opens with a theme A. Then follows theme B, different in mood, key, texture and sometimes tempo. Then there is a repeat of theme A, although this time, it is often very floridly ornamented. The singers were expected (and to a certain extent still are) to invent their own ornaments and variations in the A section. The repeat of the A section was often (and still is) used by singers for them to showcase all of their skills and technical brilliance, like messa di voce, trills and making the coloratura of the aria even more difficult.
The arias aren't necessarily that fast, although many are.

The reason why a da capo aria is called a da capo aria is because the A section is repeated. Da capo literally means "from the head" or "from the top".

Examples of da capo arias:

*Son qual nave* from Artaserse by Riccardi Broschi sung by Cecilia Bartoli:






*The Trumpet Shall Sound* from Messiah by Georg Friedrich Händel






*Bel contento* from Flavio, re de' Langobardi by Georg Friedrich Händel






*Dove sei? *from Rodelinda, regina de' Longobardi by Georg Friedrich Händel
There is some recitative before the aria begins in this clip. The aria proper begins at 2:23.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

*Da capo arias*

I'd like to add this example of a da capo aria where the ornamention of the repeated A section is so excessive as to sound entirely different from the original version.

"Piangero la sorte mia" from Handel's "Giulio Cesare in Egitto"


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Great idea as usual, schigolch (such an acquisition, an asset for this forum! We're lucky to have you!). I would suggest that after trill you do passagio. Several examples of narrow versus wide versus wobbly vibrati would be good too. Other more basic things like recitativo secco, accompagnato, arioso, parlando, ensemble in crescendo, and types of arias - caballeta, cavatina, da capo, etc. 

We should then merge this thread with that one with the vocal fachs. 

A full explanation of the various operatic subtypes - example, what's the difference between opéra bouffe and opera buffa - in spite of the similar names, not the same thing at all - would be also interesting.

Let's not forget modernist and contemporary operas, with definitions and examples of diatonic vs. atonal music, serialism, minimalism, etc.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

mamascarlatti said:


> Only soprano, (for me personally the least interesting), and in another thread where they will quickly get lost. I think it was rgz, here, but no audio examples. I think we could expand this with video examples.
> 
> This is uncanny. Not only was I also thinking this thread would be useful at the same time as you, but as I was walking home this morning I was thinking "trill" too! Can you read my mind half-way across the world?


Yeah, I think we can just expand rgz's example for sopranos with more singers and more roles, and then use the same template for the rest of voice types.

Rather, I guess "trill" is such an obvious choice...


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Another da capo aria just because I find the performance of it so hilarious. Thanks to Nat for showing me this video in the first place.

*Agitata da due venti* from Griselda by Antonio Vivaldi


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Almaviva said:


> Let's not forget modernist and contemporary operas, with definitions and examples of diatonic vs. atonal music, serialism, minimalism, etc.


A brief introduction to the 12-tone system.

Tonality, the musical system used in the West since the 16th century, is only one of the many ways that can be used to write music. If we could get our hands on all the music written by mankind, most of this music won't be tonal. Gregorian chant, javanese gamelan, Navajo lullabies, hindustani ragas... or operas like _Lulu_, are outside of the tonal system.

Some people, naively, think that there is a kind of mathematical or physical reality that impose some specific chords, or relations among them. But there isn't. It's just a convention.

During the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th, composers like Wagner, Debussy, Mahler were going more and more outside the limits of tonality. Schönberg was the first to flatly renounce tonality, and start "atonal music", breaking with the attractions among notes, and armonic relations. However, Schönberg was not happy because atonalism was more a denial of tonality, that something new.

12-tone was not a try to refine atonalism, but rather to use as the basic stone of the new musical building "atonicism", to take away the tonic, and give all the notes the same importance. Because, how do you give more importance in a musical phrase to some notes, over others?


By repeating the note more

By playing it longer

By placing it in a determined place

By stressing the rhythm in this note...

12-tone techniques try to avoid these situations, and place all the notes in the same plane.










Looking at the piano keyboard, we can see there is an unit that repeats itself, formed by 5 black keys, and 7 white keys. This unit is an octave and is divided in 12 notes, that are the basis of the western armonic system. Together, they are the chromatic scale:

C - C sharp - D - D sharp - E - F - F sharp - G - G sharp - A - A sharp - B

or

0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11

and the distance between two adjacent notes, is a semitone.

Within the 12-tone system, all the 12 notes must be played (in any octave) before you can start again the cycle. When the order in which the notes are played is decided, we get a 12-tone series, that gets indentified by its numerical sequence. In this way, the following 12-tone series:

D - E - F - F sharp - C - C sharp - B - A - D sharp - A sharp - G - G sharp

is also: 2 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 0 - 1 - 11 - 9 - 3 - 10 - 7 - 8

and it will be for us a prime series, P(2), the 2 is because starts in D, and could be the basis to write one piece of music.

We can use three basic techniques to work with series:

a) Transposition, each note of the prime series moves up or down a fixed number of semitones. If we move down P(2) two semitones, we get 0 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 10 - 11 - 9 - 7 - 1 - 8 - 5 - 6, i.e. a P(0) 12-tone series.

b) Retrograde, each note in the prime series invert the original ordering. In our example it will be :

R(2) ==> 8 - 7 - 10 - 3 - 9 - 11 - 1 - 0 - 6 - 5 - 4 - 2

c) Inversion, each notes is replaced by her mirror note in the chromatic scale, taking as center the first note in the prime series. In our example;

I(2) ==> 2 - 0 - 11 - 10 - 4 - 3 - 5 - 7 - 1 - 6 - 9 - 8

Of course all three transformations can be combined.​
Also, the composer can choose to present the 12-tone series either in the melody, or in the harmony. That means that our P2) can be just played note after note or, maybe, we can start with D, the use a chord with E, F, F sharp and C, continue in the melody with B, another chord using A, D sharp, A sharp and G,...

All this in the octave you want, with the instruments you want, the rhythm you want,....

It's a system less predictable than tonality, and you can use it to write marvels like Alban Berg's violin concert, _Dem Andenken eines Engels_.

In the opera world, there are several very good pieces. Just to name a few:

_Lulu_ by Alban Berg

_Moses und Aron_ by Schönberg

_Karl V_ by Ernst Krenek


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

The *trill* is perhaps the most used of the different _abbellimenti_ (ornaments).

Basically, it's a quick fluctuation between two notes, that normally are one semitone, or one tone away.

Trill duration is usually fixed by the main note. There are different kind of trills, in the end they are very dependent, not only on the markings in the score, but on the fantasy of the interpreter.

Let's listen to some examples.

1.- _Mezzotrillo_. This is brief and rapid (it's called _mordente_, if very rapid). In the beggining of the cabaletta "Quando rapito in estasi", Callas trills on the underlined notes:

Quando rapito in estasi....

col favellar del core mi giura eterna...






2.- _Cresciuto_. This is to join together several ascending trills. (of course, _calato_ will be to join together descending trills).

Again Maria Callas, this time as Anna Bolena singing "Copia iniqua", shows how to trill in 0:34 and 2:08 (col perdono sul labbro si scenda)






3.- _Radoppiato_, on the same note with the trill notes inserted in the middle, or at the end. If done with different degree of intensity, it's called _ribattuto_.

There is one famous trill, crowned by three small notes, by Rosa Ponselle in the cabaletta "Ernani, involami". This is monumental singing at 3:19:

Ah, vola o tempo e presto






Trills can be used for many things. For instance, Marilyn Horne is invoking the flicker of the flames in this "Stride la vampa", with several short trills, and a lengthy one in:

che s'alza al ciel.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

schigolch said:


> Some people, naively, think that there is a kind of mathematical or physical reality that impose some specific chords, or relations among them. But there isn't. It's just a convention.


But is it really nothing more than a coincidence that the three notes of the major triad (C, E, and G, for example) are also the first three differing notes of the natural harmonic series (the overtones that sound when you pluck a string)?

I realize that the notes on the piano do not exactly match their natural harmonic counterparts, but that's just because of the fudging done to create the equal temperament system. It would still seem to me that the notes of the major chord, and the tonal system as a whole, derive at least some of their expressive dynamics from their approximation of the harmonic series.

Wagner, for one, seemed to hold to such a "naive" notion as well--at least in the prelude to Das Rheingold, when he used the notes of the Eb major chord in rising harmonic series to suggest the unsullied world of Nature.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

By "naive", I mean some people just tends to think that tonal music is the "natural" way to write music, instead of just one system, among many. 

Then, we can use the expressive capabilities of tonality, like those of other systems, to create and to suggest wathever we want, including the unsullied world of Nature. The only limit is the talent and the creativity of the composer.


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## FragendeFrau (May 30, 2011)

Can we ask questions in this thread? Happy for you to remove them when you 'stickify' the thread later.

Having understood your explanation of "messa di voce" I came across this (quote):

"Having spent most of the evening in *mezza voce*, he could legitimately exploit the thrilling power of his full voice again and again." (singer now singing more operatic lieder)

1) what is mezza voce? (not the same as "messa di voce"?)
2) what is voix mixte? (a term I also hear in these reviews/discussions)

Thank you!!


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

schigolch said:


> By "naive", I mean some people just tends to think that tonal music is the "natural" way to write music, instead of just one system, among many.


I would say that tonality is "natural" to the extent that it derives from certain natural properties of the harmonic series. But of course other systems may derive from other natural properties--or from purely human conventions--and still be equally effective in their own right.


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

FragendeFrau said:


> Can we ask questions in this thread? Happy for you to remove them when you 'stickify' the thread later.
> 
> Having understood your explanation of "messa di voce" I came across this (quote):
> 
> ...


I'm not a singer, but I'll at least try to answer one of the questions. I kinda-sorta know what voix mixte is, but I can't find any sources in English.

1) _Mezza voce_ literally translated means "half voice", and is used in scores to indicate that the singer (or, in some cases instrumentalist) sing (play) softer, with a medium volume. So mezza voce is not in any way related to messa di voce.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

_Mezza voce_ is indeed the concept explained by Aksel.

About 'voix mixte' is a more elusive thing, that needs a more extensive consideration. We can incorporate this in the thread, in coming posts.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

amfortas said:


> I would say that tonality is "natural" to the extent that it derives from certain natural properties of the harmonic series. But of course other systems may derive from other natural properties--or from purely human conventions--and still be equally effective in their own right.


All the musical sytems derive from physical properties of sound, ultimately. But all of them, not only one. And the way we built from those properties, is entirely human convention, again for all systems.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

schigolch said:


> All the musical sytems derive from physical properties of sound, ultimately. But all of them, not only one. And the way we built from those properties, is entirely human convention, again for all systems.


I would definitely agree that all musical systems derive from physical properties of sound--though not all derive from the natural harmonic series.

And I would also agree that the systems derived from natural properties are human conventions. Certainly the division of the octave into twelve notes of equal intervals is entirely conventional and largely arbitrary--whether those notes are used in the tonal system or a twelve-tone row.


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## FragendeFrau (May 30, 2011)

schigolch said:


> _Mezza voce_ is indeed the concept explained by Aksel.
> 
> About 'voix mixte' is a more elusive thing, that needs a more extensive consideration. We can incorporate this in the thread, in coming posts.


Thank you both! I have of course tried to google voix mixte and as you say could find nothing in English. Thank you for including it in future.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Well, let's face now the concept of 'voix mixte'.

In origin, as we can deduce for its name, is a french concept. The idea was to amalgamate somehow the more powerful chest voice, and the weaker head voice. From here the 'mixte' (mixed).

One of the best examples we can find is Beniamino Gigli, in the beginning of Nemorino's cavatina _Quanto è bella, quanto è cara_. Just listen to the smooth, light sound.






This technique has been related mostly to tenors, but also a baritone like Ivanov or a bass like Kipnis used something similar sometimes.

We can try to understand the concept better using a small fragment from _Aida_.










In the third Act there is a beautiful duet between Radames and Aida, "Pur ti riveggo". Radames must reach a high A-flat in the phrase: _il ciel de' nostri amori_, on the 'i', that is quite difficult. Moreover, the score is marked as _dolce_. It must be a very delicate note, evocative, quite lyrical. How can a heroic tenor sings this note?. It just there, at the top of his tessitura. Will he use the 'voix mixte'?.

In the attached audio file, we can listen to 9 tenors.

Voix Mixte - Aida

The first 3 give the note with their full voice: John Vickers, Franco Corelli and Giacomo Lauri-Volpi.

The second 3 also attack with the full voice, but try to soften the sound, and look for the "mixte": Jussi Bjorling, Carlo Bergonzi and Gigli himself.

The last 3 go for the "mixte" from the beginning: José Carreras, Max Lorenz and Pavarotti.

Listening to this, we can figure out what "mixte" is, and also decide our favorite approach for the passage. Personally, I go for Max Lorenz.


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## FragendeFrau (May 30, 2011)

Thank you so much! That really was helpful, especially the 'mix-tape' (mixte-tape?) of examples! I think I understand it now!


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

The *passaggio *is the transition between the chest voice and the head voice. When amateur/non-trained singers sing, they're using the chest voice - which is the same one we use to speak. They are breathing through the vocal cords and modulating the pitch by flexing their vocal cords, and the volume by increasing or decreasing the amount of air that is being expelled from the lungs. However to achieve more power and resonance, singers must use the head voice, which augments the sound that is coming from the vocal chords by using the spaces in their heads - mouth, nasal cavities, etc, and the way the head bones vibrate, as a sort of resonance chamber to amplify the voice. Correct use of the head voice can only be achieved by training (the amateur singer usually doesn't know how to transition to it appropriately). If singers are increasing the power with which they are producing a certain note, at one point they go as strongly as they can with the chest voice, and need next to transition to the head voice. The moment when the transition occurs - that is, they call to their help the bones and the cavities in their heads and push the power up - is called the passaggio. The higher the note, the more it will only be produced in a loud and well projected way (audible from a distance - think of those cavernous opera houses) if it's done in the head register (amateur singers are familiar with the phenomenon that makes them lose power when they try to go up the higher reaches of their range) - this is why the passaggio points are often referred to as residing on certain notes of the scale, above which singers will have to go to the next register if they want to be heard.

So, it's not just a question of volume (it's actually not entirely correct to understand this from the standpoint of volume). Usually people *can* use a higher pitch if they drop the volume. It's a question of going up in pitch but in a still powerful and very audible way - this can only be done by switching to the head register.

The main problem here is that once they make use of the head voice, it's a different set of cavities with different dimensions, therefore the sound waves produced by this additional chamber result in different set of amplitude/frequency of vibrations and sound quality of the vibrations - this other set is called another register (see below) - or in other words, when you up the pitch and go into another set of vibrations, the timbre of the voice may change.

A poorly executed passaggio, therefore, will produce a sudden change in timbre that will be unpleasant to the ear and be heard as a vocal error. The trick of the well executed passaggio is to amplify the resonance and the power, but to conserve even the same timbre so that the voice soars to the next level without sounding like a sudden break has occurred.

You've heard this, even if (in case you're a novice) you didn't know that it was a passagio error. You're familiar with tenors who push their voices up and then - eeeewww, something is not right - and you cringe! This is called a passaggio break or a register break.

Here on the other hand is, for your delight, an example of well executed passaggi:

At 1:50, and also at 3:49 and even more explicit at 4:03 and then in the long modulation from 4:28 through 4:46.






Why are we talking about a passage - passaggio? Because it is a transition between registers. A register or vocal registration is a modality of production of sound with the same vibratory pattern. Notes can be produced and sang along the same vibratory pattern. There are four types of registers - chest, middle (for females; for males, zona di passagio, see below), and head; these three are the most common ones that both males and females can produce; and then males can produce another one called fry register, and females another one called whistle register .

To make things more complex, the classical Italian school of singing recognizes two different degrees of passaggio - first and second (primo passaggio, secondo passaggio). In between them, is what we call the zona di passaggio for men, or the middle register for women.

Many vocal teachers don't acknowledge the existence of a middle register, but might instead treat the middle section of the voice as a zona di passaggio in which the chest and head tones will become blended or mixed. There may also be some disagreement on what constitutes head voice or how it is defined, and this confusion may explain why some teachers call the lighter tone of the voice that begins at the first passaggio in female students (or any tone that is produced at pitches above the chest register) "head voice" whereas classical Italian-style teachers would refer to this register as "middle" and the register beginning around E5-F#5 (at the second passaggio) as the true head register.

The primo passaggio is the point between the speech-inflection range - that is, the range of pitches that people use to speak - and the call range - that is, the point in which they would have to yell in order to try to speak.

About the interval of a major forth above this, is the point of the secondo passaggio which is the end of the zona de passaggio and the beginning of the true head voice.

If someone tries to sing the same note and push it up in volume without readapting/reconfiguring the muscles to incorporate the head voice vibrations into it - that is, increasing volume with the chest but not doing the passaggio - the voice becomes strained due to increasing effort and discomfort.

The tenor's primo passaggio, (typically occurring somewhere between C#4 and E4, depending on the individual's voice), lies roughly a minor or major third above that of the baritone, (usually occurring around B3 or Bb3), with his secondo passaggio occurring roughly a major fourth above his primo passaggio. Most women experience their first registration pivotal point between Eb4 and G4, and their second passaggio between Eb5 and G5, with the alto's voice switching into the next register a little earlier in the ascending scale than the soprano's voice would.

To make the passaggio smooth, a singer needs to allow the larynx to progressively make changes (e.g., the vocal folds should ideally change into different vibratory patterns and either elongate or shorten gradually) while ascending and descending in pitch. These progressive elongations or shortenings are physiologically called static laryngeal functions. It's by learning to control these functions that a singer can sing the passaggio without a register break. In musical terms, this gradual transition is called aggiustamento.

Breaks are typically marked by noticeable changes of tone quality and volume. For example, when a female singer moves upward from her chest register into her middle register, her tone may abruptly become thin and weak, or her voice may crack or even cut out completely. Flatting or sharping notes are other problems that may occur during the passagio.

By the way, let's define a bit more the odd/zebra registers I've mentioned above - the ones that are less common, unlike the chest/middle/head ones.

The fry register (or pulsing register) is only possible for males. It sounds like a frying, sizzling, or rattling sound. It's the lower vocal register that can be produced by a human voice. This is used to obtain pitches at very low frequency. These pitches lay below the chest register. Not all singers can access them - some basses can. In addition to this, it is damaging to the voice and frequent use will cause voice deterioration.

The whistle register (or flagiolet) occurs between C6 and D7 and is the highest sound a human voice can produce, only accessible to females. It sits above the head voice. It sounds like a whistle, obviously, thus its name. It is bright and edgy and ideally should be very similar to the head voice, to allow for a swift and pleasant transition into it. Most females except true contraltos can learn to produce the flagiolet.


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## FragendeFrau (May 30, 2011)

Wow, excellent! Gotta rush off to work but a few more "fragen":

1) could you please explain the notation used for notes? I see this everywhere and have been unable to figure it out (don't have a keyboard in front of me)

2) Interesting that you mention "speech inflection range" with "call range" as being higher because I noticed (SORRY about this example but as of yet I have limited listening experience) on the Andrea Chenier aria, when both Kaufmann and Westbroek "speak" a line ("Son io!"), both pitch their voices much LOWER than their actual speaking voices--I did the same, when trying to get the attention of an unruly high school class. I also pitch my voice a bit lower (and slower) when reading in church.

Last scene of Andrea Chenier (it's long) but after months of listening I STILL get chills when they hit those high notes together (whatever the note is):






No time to watch the Pavarotti clip now but will try to do so later. THANKS again for the hard work, everyone! This is amazing!


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

*Passagio*

With regards to passagio, I'd like some audio examples of a singer who is having trouble making the transition and has a clear break ie



> ...a poorly executed passaggio...


(although it seems a bit mean to ask for this)

The reason being that done well, it seems effortless....


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> With regards to passaggio, I'd like some audio examples of a singer who is having trouble making the transition and has a clear break ie
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I agree - that would be useful. Then I'd know what it _shouldn't_ sound like.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

FragendeFrau said:


> Wow, excellent! Gotta rush off to work but a few more "fragen":
> 
> 1) could you please explain the notation used for notes? I see this everywhere and have been unable to figure it out (don't have a keyboard in front of me)


The letter/number notation refers to a complete piano keyboard with 88 keys. The Middle C (this most important key) is the fourth C from left to right, therefore it is called C4. If you only count white keys, Middle C is the 24th white key from left to right. The note C marks the beginning of each octave, so the D above Middle C is labeled D4, while the B below Middle C is part of a different octave - the third octave - therefore it is labeled B3. One octave above C4, you have C5 which starts another octave. These notes simply written with a letter and a number are the white keys on the keyboard. Now, the small b and the # that can be written between the letter and the number refer to the black keys on the keyboard, either # for sharp or b for flat. Actually it is not b but rather a little symbol that looks like a b, called a b rotundum, but instead of inserting a symbol, in the name of convenience we just type a small b. In French, this symbol is called bémol (and the sharp symbol is called a bé carré or square b). A sharp raises the pitch of a note one semitone, while a flat lowers the pitch one semitone. So when I write F#5 I'm referring to the black key that is located immediately to the right of the fifth F key.

If you sit in front of a keyboard, you can determine your vocal range by hitting the keys and trying to reproduce the sound with your voice.

Here are the common vocal ranges, counting from Middle C:


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> With regards to passagio, I'd like some audio examples of a singer who is having trouble making the transition and has a clear break ie
> 
> (although it seems a bit mean to ask for this)
> 
> The reason being that done well, it seems effortless....


I'll be in the lookout for one. Two days ago I watched a DVD of Giordano's Marcella - the only one that exists - and in the second scene when the character Drasco comes in and talks to the character Giorgio to relay some bad news to him about the situation in their homeland, Giorgio then tries to execute the passagio, but produces a clear passagio break. This is one clear example if you have that DVD. I haven't located a YouTube of it yet, but if I bump into one I'll paste it here.


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## FragendeFrau (May 30, 2011)

Thanks, Alma! Once I know that middle C is C4, alles klar.

Oh and imagine this--the very day after the explanations here, I came across this in a review:

"_not even Vickers could have managed the astounding *messa di voce* on the G of "Gott", the first note Florestan is given to sing as Act 2 opens in the dungeon. This marks an artistic and technical advance on the version on Kaufmann's recital album where, impressive though that is, he simply starts *mezza voce* and swells the note_"

Now, since amazon is taunting me by NOT sending out this CD which I ordered months ago, even though the release date is past , I will eventually have (at least someone's idea of) a direct comparison of the two techniques. :cheers:


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Here you have a passagio break at 4:20, and another one not as bad at 5:06; then there is one very clear at 6:01 (then right after that she does it better); these are all in the primo passagio. Then in the secondo passagio she starts by doing it well then she has a little break (a change in timbre, not too bad) at 8:18.






Here you have a break at 1:12 and at 1:52:













She demonstrates it in an exaggerated manner here:


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

FragendeFrau said:


> Thanks, Alma! Once I know that middle C is C4, alles klar.
> 
> Oh and imagine this--the very day after the explanations here, I came across this in a review:
> 
> ...


Unfortunately, this is not always agreed and you will read sometimes that the high C for the tenor (C5 according to the pitches above), it's named C4. While the high C for the soprano will be C5, instead of C6. Also there is another notation using c', c'', c''',... It's a little bit annoying, but normally one can easily understand by the context.

About 'mezza voce', is not a 'technique', it's a dynamics indication, just singing in a moderate volume. It seems that Mr. Kaufmann (I haven't listened to him singing this in that aria's CD, so I don't have an opinion) instead of a 'messa di voce' (remember the basics: start piano, go forte, and back to piano), is just singing _mp_ or _mf_ (mezzo piano, mezzo forte) and go to forte.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

FragendeFrau said:


> Now, since amazon is taunting me by NOT sending out this CD which I ordered months ago, even though the release date is past , I will eventually have (at least someone's idea of) a direct comparison of the two techniques. :cheers:


I also pre-ordered this CD from Amazon, and received notice on Tuesday (the date of its North American release) that it's being shipped. I expect it to arrive probably tomorrow or Saturday. Did you order from Amazon's U.S. branch?


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

MAuer said:


> I also pre-ordered this CD from Amazon, and received notice on Tuesday (the date of its North American release) that it's being shipped. I expect it to arrive probably tomorrow or Saturday. Did you order from Amazon's U.S. branch?


I ordered from Presto Classical and had it within 4 days, halfway across the world. Not gloating or anything.


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## ooopera (Jul 27, 2011)

Superb. Ultimative.

Gott! Welch dunkel her is to die for.

Kaufmann <3, Stemme <3, Abbado <3

Btw: I have ordered it from www.mdt.co.uk (and paid 17 €)


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Ahem... this discussion is veering a bit off topic, isn't it, guys?


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

To get back on topic: now that I've listened to the Abbado _Fidelio_, I have to agree that what Kaufmann does with the opening word in "Gott, welch' Dunkel hier" does not fit the definition of messa di voce contained in Schigolch's original post.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

*Voice types*
This one is pretty basic, folks, but we do have some opera novices joining from time to time so I thought I should write it up.

To classify a voice, we need to take into consideration range, tessitura, vocal weight, and color (timbre). Many opera houses will keep lists of singers classified this way, for casting purposes.

While for choral singers the range matters most, for solo singers tessitura is often more important than range.

So, what is range, and what is tessitura?

Range is the interval of notes a singer is able to produce. It goes from the lower note the singer can utter, to the highest. However, many of these notes are not useful, because the extremes (the lowest and the highest part) may suffer in volume and be inaudible in an opera house without amplification. Besides, when a singer goes too low or too high, there is discomfort and changes in tone. Tessitura is the comfort zone, the interval of notes where the singer is most comfortable and maintains a pleasant tone of voice. So while choral singers can add their voices to each other and be able to go usefully beyond the tessitura, soloists shouldn't be venturing too often beyond their tessitura.

Sometimes singers are misclassified. Lyric baritones can be thought to be tenors because their voices are light and "tenor-like" in vocal quality. Some females who can sing high notes are said to be sopranos, but actually they may be mezzo-sopranos with an unusually long range.

Singing too frequently in the wrong tessitura can strain the voice and lead to wear and tear.

Timbre is the quality or color of the voice.

Vocal Weight defines whether a voice is light or heavy. It is determined by the thickness of the vocal folds. The thicker the vocal folds are, the less agile and flexible the voice is. Therefore, heavier voices are less agile for florid coloratura, and less flexible for staccato. 
On the other hand, lighter voices are not as well equipped for legato, and have trouble projecting above and beyond the orchestra.

(By the way, staccato refers to notes that are sung one after the other but are unconnected with the preceding note - it's Italian for detached. Legato refers to notes that are tied together and are sung smoothly and connected).

So, it's by thinking of these characteristics that voice fachs are determined.

Lighter voices are often called _lyric_ and have a timbre that is smooth, silky, mellow, sensitive, graceful, soft, with good agility and strong diction.

_Coloratura _voices are light but with great agility and can handle floridly ornamented or embellished lines, such as running passages, staccati, and trills (the latter has already been defined above).

Heavier voices are often called _dramatic _because they are large, strong, powerful, vigorous, and rich, and can sing over a full orchestra (even those with one hundred or more instruments). They are not as agile, but are capable of giving gravitas to a role.

_Spinto _voices are somewhat in between _lyric _and _dramatic _voices. They can display brightness and height like a lyric voice, but can also be pushed to dramatic effects without strain. It is often said that spinto voices slice through the orchestra instead of singing over it like a dramatic voice. Sometimes spinto voices are called "baby dramatic."

_Soubrette _as a voice type is a concept that is somewhat controversial. It started as a definition of a role - young, flirty, active roles - often a spicy servant that mocks the masters and is a mix of a a somewhat promiscuous airhead and a street-wise person. As singers who were cast to sing/play these roles often had a warm, bright, sweet timbre with lighter weight than other sopranos, and also richer in the middle and upper middle of their voices than in the upper range, this term got to be applied to this exact voice type and today we can classify a voice as _soubrette _regardless of the role being sung.

Male voices also have the same general classification, with _light-lyric _(leggiero in Italian) being applied to the male equivalent of a lyric coloratura, _lyric _refering to a strong yet light voice with a high tessitura, _spinto _referring to a voice in between lyric and dramatic, and _dramatic _referring to a powerful, rich voice with a lower tessitura.

These classifications can combine - e.g., lyric coloratura soprano.

In addition to this, we say _full _when a voice is more mature and more suitable for mature roles, with less of a youthful quality, as opposed to the youthful quality of light voices and soubrette voices.

_Heldentenor _- (heroic tenor) refers to a dramatic tenor with baritone qualities, or a baritone with unusually strong top register who can reach the tenor range. These singers are suitable for the German romantic repertoire and for Wagnerian roles such as Siegfried, Tristan, Lohengrin, and Tannhäuser.

So, the above terms are adjectives applied to the voice types. Then, you'll see these adjectives applied to the range itself, that is, to the interval of notes the singer can produce, as in, for example, _full dramatic soprano_.

These ranges are:

Male voices

Contrabass - a bass who can sing G1 or lower is called a sub-bass, a contrabass, or a basso profundo.

Bass - the typical range is F2-E4, with the comfort zone falling between G2 and A3. True basses are rarer that bass-baritones, which are baritones who can also access bass notes.

Baritone - typically F2-G4 in choral music and G2-E4 in operatic music.

Tenor - Usually C3-G4, although the extremes can vary.

Countertenor - males with high vocal ranges or who can project falsetto pitches in a clear sound. They have ranges equivalent to the female ranges alto, mezzo-soprano, and soprano. A male soprano is often called a sopranist.

Female voices

Contralto - lowest range for female singers who can sing below E3

Alto - E3-E5

Mezzo-soprano - A3-F5

Soprano - C4-A5 or higher.

Sopranino - Sopranos who can sing higher than C#6


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Of course we are all writing basic stuff here , this is the goal of the thread, just to provide a point of reference for things that are usually taken for granted, but can be difficult for a person starting his interest in Opera to fully understand.

On this vein, let's explore then the vocalities defined in the post above.

I will start by lyric baritone. Please feel free to add any other type or complete my entry.

Baritone comes from greek, and means "low voice". However, it just there in the middle between tenor and bass. It's a relatively modern concept. Choir music usually identified only four voices: tenor, soprano, bass and alto. The origin of the baritone, and its split from bass, is in the beginning of the 19th century.

It's a fairly common voice type, most males are baritones. Vocal chords measure usually between 2,2 and 2,4 centimeters. A good, and average, baritone has a range of A1 to A3, but most important to sing many operatic roles is to get bright and powerful notes in F3 and G3.

*Lyric baritone*

It's the less dark of baritones, light, flexible, able to perform some agilities. This type of baritone can sing some roles from Mozart like Count Almaviva, Guglielmo or even Don Giovanni, that has sometimes been sung by basses like Pinza, Siepi or Ghiaurov, but a lyric baritone is closer to what we know about the vocality of Luigi Bassi, the first Don.

For Bellini and Donizetti roles, this is the ideal baritone, if he can also provide some weight in his low octave. Those belcanto baritones sing in a fairly central tessitura, with limited high notes, but of course need some coloratura. The two more outstanding roles are Riccardo, from _I Puritani_, and Enrico, for _Lucia di Lammermoor_. The first baritones (Tamburini, Ronconi, Barroilhet,...) were just starting their careers, when those roles were being composed.

Let's listen to Mattia Battistini singing "Ah per sempre io ti perdei" to understand better this type of voice:

Mattia Battistini - Ah per sempre io ti perdei

Some verdian roles, like Germont in his aerial canzonetta "Di Provenza", or the beatiful aria "Questo amor, vergogna mia", from Puccini's Edgar can also be sung by a lyric baritone:

Mario Ancona - Di Provenza

In Wagner roles, we have Wolfram from _Tannhäuser_:

Herbert Janssen - O Du mein holder Abendstern

Thomas Hampson or Simon Keenlyside are examples of the lyric baritone in the 21st century.

There are two lyric subtypes usually mentioned. The *Baryton-Martin* (name comes from Jean-Blaise Martin), with a great range, less rotund low register, light timbre, used for comic roles, but also for some dramatic, like Pelléas, first sung by Jean Périer, and also the *Spielbariton* or *Kavalierbariton*, a very light baritone, with coloratura, a kind of buffo baritone. Papageno is a typical role, but Figaro from _Barbiere_, Dandini from _Cenerentola_ or Malatesta from _Don Pasquale_ can also be well served by this type of baritone, like the still young Sesto Bruscantini.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Verdi baritone*

Though this is a popular denomination, due to the fact that most Verdi baritone roles fall into this category, it's better to use something like 'spinto' to assimilate to the tenor voice. We are talking here about a vocality between the lyric baritone of the above post, and the dramatic baritone, that we will soon address.

Apart from Verdi (Nabucco, Don Carlo from _Ernani_, Rigoletto, Luna, Renato, Don Carlo di Vargas, Posa, Amonasro, Iago, Ford,...), other roles like Barnaba, Gerard or Scarpia are also well served by this type of baritone.

Many historical baritones can be considered here, from the great Verdi baritones of the end of 19th century and beginnings of the 20th: Giuseppe de Luca, Tita Ruffo, Riccardo Stracciari, Pasquale Amato... to american baritones like Lawrence Tibbett, Cornel McNeil,... to the still active Leo Nucci or Renato Bruson.

A couple of examples by Ruffo and Bruson:











In german opera, we can find Mandryka from _Arabella_, or Wozzeck himself.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

schigolch said:


> *Verdi baritone*
> 
> Though this is a popular denomination, due to the fact that most Verdi baritone roles fall into this category, it's better to use something like 'spinto' to assimilate to the tenor voice. We are talking here about a vocality between the lyric baritone of the above post, and the dramatic baritone, that we will soon address.
> 
> ...


Brilliant! Am learning so much here.

Coincidentally I'm listening to this right now.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

About Falstaff, the role not the opera, in my view perhaps is better to cast a lyric baritone, though his bittersweet moods can also call for a more weighty voice. In any case, what's more important in this case is to get a very good 'fraseggiatore', like Victor Maurel, the creator of the role, de Luca, Mariano Stabile or, of course, Renato Bruson himself.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

schigolch said:


> About Falstaff, the role not the opera, in my view perhaps is better to cast a lyric baritone, though his bittersweet moods can also call for a more weighty voice. In any case, what's more important in this case is to get a very good 'fraseggiatore', like Victor Maurel, the creator of the role, de Luca, Mariano Stabile or, of course, Renato Bruson himself.


What about Ambrogio Maestri? I've got this DVD & I really like it & I'm hoping to see his Falstaff live at ROH next year.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

He was Falstaff at Liceu last December. His physique du role is perfect (around 6'3'' and close to 300 pounds). He sung the role well, with subtlety, good phrasing, brilliant acting... howecer his top notes didn't come as handy as some years ago, in the DVD. His best moments were "va, vecchio John", the second act duet with Ford and "mondo ladro".


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

During the first decades of the 19th century in Italy, a huge number of new operas were being performed. Many composers and librettist were working on them, and all shared a formal language, a way to build the opera.

It was the librettist's responsibility to outline the ordering of the different scenes: arias, duets, ensembles,... Just like preparing a canvas for a painter, but in this case leaving the drama prepared to receive the music. Of course, the composer could also interact with the writer, but many of the composers: Mercadante, Pacini, Vaccai, Donizetti himself,... were happy to trust the poet with this preparation, and if the poet was a very good one, like Romani or Cammarano, with more reason.

Others, like Bellini or the young Verdi, were much more involved since the beginning.

This will be the standard framework in italian _melodramma_ for a "scena ed aria", to be sung by a soloist:










'Versi sciolti' is the style for recitative, generally poetry written in 'endecasillabi' (hendecasyllable) or 'settenari' (heptasyllable). They are use freely, without rhyme or just the occasional rhyme. Of course, one line of verse can be divided into several characters.

However, in other sections, the poetry is usually rhymed, using only one meter, or combining two, mainly 'settenari', 'ottonari' (eight syllables) and 'senari' (six syllables).

In earlier centuries the recitativo "secco" was accompanied by a harpsichord and a violoncello. However, in _melodramma_, this type of recitative was no longer used, or just occasionally, and replacing the harpsichord by a violoncello, reinforced by double bass. The "accompagnato" employed the whole orchestra, and was more singable, moving from 'parlando' to 'arioso'.

The "cantabile" itself, it's what sometimes is called 'aria'. The aria proper is however recitative+cantabile+tempo di mezzo+cabaletta. When the "cantabile" is the first appearance of a leading role, it receives the name of "cavatina".

Let's hear an example of *Scena ed Aria*, using Pollione's solo number in _Norma_.


Recitative *Svanir le voci* (in C minor)

Cantabile (in this case, as it's the first number of Pollione, also a cavatina) *Meco all'altar di Venere* in C major.

Tempo di mezzo in E-flat major

Cabaletta *Me protegge, me difende* in E-flat major.






The schema for a duet will be similar, introducing sometimes a "tempo d'attaco" before the "cantabile". Basically, the orchestra play the melody and the singers are interchanging lines in a kind of arioso, as an introduction to the "cantabile" proper, giving a nice contrast.

Again we can go to _Norma_ for an example. In the fantastic duet between Pollione and Adalgisa, we have a typical bellinian melody *Va crudele / E tu pur*, with the "tempo d'attacco" in F minor, before the cantabile in A-flat major, sang with fury and desperation by Pollione, with passion and remorse by Adalgisa:






In case of an ensemble the schema is the same, but instead of "cabaletta" the last section receives the name of "stretta".


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Dramatic baritone*

A step beyond the italian 'spinto', just bordering with the bass (or bass-baritone), it's this type of baritone, found mainly in German Romantic opera. A voice darker, more heroic, wide, with strong deep notes.

We can find the origin of this voice in roles like Pizarro or Lysiart (from _Euryanthe_), but of course the main characters are from Wagner: Telramund, Alberich, Hans Sachs and Wotan. Then, some Strauss roles can also be assigned to this fach, like Jokanaan, Orestes or Barak.

Some of the best dramatic baritone (Heldenbariton ) voices are Anton van Rooy, Friedrich Schorr, Ferdinand Frantz, Hans Hotter, George London, Theo Adam ... Today, we can listen to Alan Titus, Albert Dohmen or Donald McIntyre.

A couple of examples:











Also, some roles in russian opera come to mind. Above all, Boris Godunov, especially in the Rimski Korsakov version, that lift the role up to G3. A good example is Alexander Pirogov:


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Lyrical Mezzo*

All mezzosopranos should share a (more or less) dark timbre, at the very least darker than sopranos, and some robust low notes. Though there are some mezzos that can reach a C5, the usual top limit is in the B or B-flat 4, with the low limit around G2.

The lyrical mezzo is the most similar to the soprano. It must be flexible, and with an easy top range. A typical example of lyrical mezzo is Adalgisa (that was in origin a soprano, Giulia Grisi, but tradition has cast the role as mezzo).

Many trouser roles are also perfect for a lyrical mezzo: Orsini from _Lucrezia Borgia_, Octavian from _Der Rosenkavalier_, _Orlofsky_ from _Die Fledermaus_... Also some Mozart parts, like those of Cherubino or Idamante can be sung by this type of voice.

Some historical singers comes to mind: Teresa Berganza, Tatiata Troyanos, Yvonne Minton,... Today, we can mention Liliana Nikiteanu or Carmen Oprisanu.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

I have some questions:

What is vibrato? How does it arise in the voice naturally (I know most pop singers, such as Whitney Houston "fake" it by vibrating the jaw)? What is an "ideal" amount of vibrato (perhaps with videos), and how or when does it become undesirable "wobble"? Any major opera singers who sing with very little vibrato, or too much wobble?


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Dramatic Mezzo*

Some of those voices are today singing the roles of alto-coloratura (drammatica d'agilità) that Rossini created: Malcolm, Isabella, Angelina, Arsace, Tancredi, Neocle... even the original Rosina. However, there are no longer voices like that of Adelaida Malanotte or Rosmunda Pisaroni. Those roles are usually sung by mezzos like Marilyn Horne some years ago, or Daniela Barcellona today. Also, given that _castrati_ are even in less availability that Malanottes or Pisaronis, they take charge of some roles from Handel, Vivaldi and other Baroque composers, singers like Vivica Genaux.











Other roles need darker voices, of greater weigth in the lower octave, but able also to rise safely to the top notes: Dido from Berlioz's _Les Troyens_, Azucena, Ulrica, Eboli, Amneris, Laura, Dalila,... Historically we can find singers like Irene Minghini-Cattaneo or Gianna Pederzini. Then in more recent years Fedora Barbieri, Giulietta Simionato,... Today, one of the best representatives of this fach is Dolora Zajick:











In german repertoire, there are also several important roles: Waltraute, Fricka... even they can be cast as Ortrude, Venus or Kundry, dramatic roles that can be sung either by sopranos or mezzos. Perhaps the greatest active singer, Waltraud Meier, is a good example:


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Couchie said:


> I have some questions:
> 
> What is vibrato? How does it arise in the voice naturally (I know most pop singers, such as Whitney Houston "fake" it by vibrating the jaw)? What is an "ideal" amount of vibrato (perhaps with videos), and how or when does it become undesirable "wobble"? Any major opera singers who sing with very little vibrato, or too much wobble?


Vibrato is the alternation between two pitches (frequencies) that are very close together - it sounds like a pulsation. 
It shouldn't vary by more than one semitone around the note that is being sung, in both directions, that is, half a semitone up and down from the pitch center.
It adds warmth to the voice and improves intonation centering (that is, it is easier to maintain the pitch when singing vibrato than it is when singing a straight tone).
Vibrato has certain parameters.
They are:
Oscillation or pitch excursion
Temporal rate (cycles per second) - ideally it is six to eight cycles per second
Amplitude variance

Vibrato is useful to rest the voice a bit, since a sustained pitch is more tiresome to produce.
True vibrato is an alternating pulse in the laryngeal muscles. Like you said, it's not to be produced by vibrating the jaw.
This alternating pulse is similar to what happens when you lift a weight and after a certain point of long tension or strain your muscles start to shake. The muscles of the larynx start to pulse in response to subglottic pressure.

But it's not just the larynx. These vibrations also transmit to the tongue, epiglottis, and pharyngeal wall. They get to be visible in the neck muscles of singers with thin necks and prominent Adam's Apple (but being too visible may be a sign of forceful and incorrect production).

When the muscles of the larynx develop chronic fatigue and weakness due to overuse of the voice or aging, they stop being able to sustain and contain the vibrato, resulting in wobble or tremolo (more on this later).

Vibrato shouldn't be overused either, even when well done. Singers who sing with constant vibrato get to be as predictable and uninteresting as those who don't use vibrato at all.

The problem with using the wagging jaw or tongue to fake a vibrato (instead of allowing the laryngeal muscles to vibrate) is that it becomes strenuous and forceful, with too much tension. This is referred to as "the Gospel jaw." Another trick like moving the stomach in and out with the hands will make the voice waver but it is not a true vibrato. Some singers will pant and train their diaphragm to pulsate, which is called diaphragmatic vibrato, but this type of vocalization produces a tremolo, not a vibrato.

Tremolo is an effect in which dynamic level (in other words, volume) changes but the pitch remains the same.

Singers must also be careful to avoid mixing a trill and a vibrato. The trill has wider pitch excursion and is not the natural vibrancy rate of the voice (which is the vibrato, not the trill). Like schigolch has explained, a trill will be an alternation between two notes (therefore going from one semitone to the next) or even notes one tone apart, while the vibrato will be a vibration around the pitch center. The maximum pitch excursion of a well-produced vibrato is at least half of that of a trill, or even four times smaller.

Vibrato errors:

When a singer is not technically skilled in producing a natural vibrato, errors may occur. The vibrato may not happen, or happen too fast, too slowly, too narrowly, or too widely.

Here are some of these errors:

Caprino, or goat-like - it's when instead of vibrating in between a semitone, the voice instead produces a pulsation of only one note, like the bleating of a goat. Its frequency is higher than that of a healthy vibrato.

An overly wide and slow vibrato is called a vocal wobble. It has a larger variation in pitch and its frequency is lower. It happens due to several defects, such as improper adduction (closure) of the vocal chords due to chronic weakness, or a shaking diaphragm, or too much thickness in the vocal chord mass, or excessive use of the chest voice.

The tremolo is an overly fast oscillatory rate affecting the volume. It happens when singers try to support the vibrato by using too much pressure.

So how is the natural, healthy, correct vibrato produced?

It is a steady tonal oscillation of the pitch center - a slight variation in pitch. It results from an open pharynx, or open throat, in which the external and the intrinsic muscles remain in a relaxed "ooh" posture along with healthy closure (adduction) of the vocal chords and good breath management. It needs to vibrate in an even rate which can only be achieved with good breathing technique. There is need for good posture with alignment of back, neck, and head. Subglottic pressure needs to be moderate and regulated by the support muscles (abdominal, intercostal, pectoral muscles).

Good vibrato needs relaxation, but not too much relaxation. Relaxing the vocal apparatus is essential to allowing or inciting vibrato.

Vibrato can also be undesirable in certain situations. When a singer is singing a melisma (string of notes on a single syllable) the singer needs to suppress the vibrato. It is also undesirable in very quick passages (there is no time for each note to accommodate the vibrato). In choral music, different singers will have different frequencies of vibrato so they must all suppress it otherwise the effect will be unpleasant and destroy the quality of a unison passage. Singers will need to sing in straight tone.

Therefore, singers need to not only learn to produce the vibrato, but also to suppress it because they can't use it when they are singing an ensemble. However singing in straight tone can limit the color of the voice, so, some choral directors want to achieve choral blend through other means such as vocal alignment and acoustical alignment.

As for YouTube examples, our good schigolch is great at finding these things, so I'll defer to him instead of going on a goose chase.

Like I said to Nat a while back, if I bump into good examples I'll be happy to post them, but in the meantime schigolch will likely find much better ones.

Edit - I did bump into one. In this trio the two females produce several examples of well-executed vibrati, especially the mezzo-soprano who at 1:00 and beyond does it effortlessly, while the soprano does vibrate the jaw a little (although the result is still very beautiful). At about 1:50, 1:55 to 2:00 you'll see that the soprano's vibrato is a bit wider than the mezzo's (nothing outrageous but just to demonstrate a difference in width).






To understand the difference between vibrato and trill, it's good to listen to the above, and then listen to Marilyn Horne in schigolch's example in a previous post - Horne is not vibrating one single note by one half of a semitone up and down, but is oscillating between two notes and producing both notes - which is a trill, not a vibrato.

So now we gotta get to examples of bad technique. I'll be on the lookout for those.

OK, got it, a very excellent demonstration of caprino and wobble. This voice teacher demonstrates the whole gamut, you may skip the first 4:30 that refer to no non-operatic music. What he calls controlled vibrato to me sounds like a slow trill (at 8:00), but other than that I think this is a good educational video (of course all these educational videos exaggerate things a bit, but it gets really easy to understand).


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Almaviva said:


> Vibrato shouldn't be overused either, even when well done. Singers who sing with constant vibrato get to be as predictable and uninteresting as those who don't use vibrato at all.


Historically informed performance aside, I think use of vibrato with any period of opera if the singer wishes to do so and when, has as much to do with his/her artistic taste as it does his/her technical abilities.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

The pure belcanto technique (i.e., during the Baroque period, and the first decades of the 19th century) used vibrato very sparsely. Singing was more smooth. Vibrato is more a legacy of the Romantic era, and it was supposed to convey emotion.

And yes, it depends on the singer ability and aesthetic convictions.

Of course, there is also an involuntary vibrato, usually a side effect of aging, and worn-out voices. Not even the great are free from this. Just listen to Callas in recording from the 1960s.

Other vibratos are quite striking to a modern audience, but are part of the singing technique, and very beautiful on their own grounds. Let's take for instance this "vibrato stretto" in all the tessitura, of great singers like:

Alessandro Bonci






Magda Olivero


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Canto di sbalzo* stands for producing adjacent, or very near, notes with a big difference in pitch.

This is a surprising effect, and difficult to sing well. Some great composers, since the Baroque, have used this. Mozart, for instance, requires the singer a distance of 12 notes, from G2 to C4, in _Vado incontro al fato estremo_, from _Mitridate_ (though it's true that the top note will be produced in 'falsettone' at the time of Mozart's writing).

But let's present two of those situations in Verdi.

First, Abigaille must descends two octaves, from C5 to C3. at the end of the terrible recitative _Ben io t'invveni_. Listen to Maria Callas from 3:30 to 3:40. This is very difficult, and even more difficult to do it so well. In any case, Callas changes the text from 'fatal sdegno' to 'sdegno fatale' to use the "o" as a support to anchor the voice:






The other example is from _Ballo_, in the romanza "Di tu se fedele", where Verdi requested the tenor a jump of 13 notes. Few have been able, and perhaps the best rendition is this one from Jussi Björling (in swedish). Look for it at 0:50:


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

To complete the 'vibrato' part, this is one of the five qualities that determine the timbre of the voice, according to the classification by Husson, that I find the most appealing. The other four are:

*1) Colour*

According to this quality, voices are 'clear' or 'dark'.

Clear voices are Pavarotti, Fischer-Dieskau, Tebaldi, Berganza,...

Dark voices are Hans Hopff, Ferdinand Frantz, Jessie Norman, Kirsten Flagstad,...

*2) Volume*

According to this quality voices are 'small' or 'big'

Small voices are Juan Diego Florez, Cecilia Bartoli, Elly Ameling, Natalie Stutzman...

Big voices are Tancredi Pasero, Lauritz Melchior, Birgit Nilsson, Astrid Varnay,...

*3) Thickness*

According to this quality voices are 'thick' or 'thin'

Thick voices are Burchuladze, Hans Hotter, Kathleen Ferrier, Elena Suliotis,...

Thin voices are Luigi Alva, Helmuth Krebs, Natalie Dessay, Sumi Jo, ...

*4) Mordente*

According to this quality voices are "bright" or "opaque".

Bright voices are Mario del Monaco, Ettore Bastianini, Mirella Freni, Rosa Ponselle, ...

Opaque voices are Vinay, Jon Vickers, Agnes Baltsa, Vivica Genaux,...


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

schigolch said:


> *Canto di sbalzo* stands for producing adjacent, or very near, notes with a big difference in pitch.
> 
> The other example is from _Ballo_, in the romanza "Di tu se fedele", where Verdi requested the tenor a jump of 13 notes. Few have been able, and perhaps the best rendition is this one from Jussi Björling (in swedish). Look for it at 0:50:


Interesting that you have mentioned this. Have a look at the comment and then the correction by the poster _Agorante_. I have the Philips CD & I've never found a DVD to equal it so have stopped looking.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Sorry, but I can't find that post, so don't know exactly what you mean.

To understand better this effect, it's good to remember that the first Riccardo was no other than Gaetano Fraschini (the "Tenore della maledizione"), a man with an uncanny ability for the 'canto di sbalzo'. He was also involved in the premiere of _La Battaglia di Legnano_ and _Stifellio_, and was admired by Verdi.

In my view, there is nothing wrong with getting this C up an octave, if there are going to be problems.

Another thing is that Verdi wrote this aria to be sung in a playful mood, with many markings of pp and ppp, while many tenors just sing 'mezzo forte' all the time, and we don't get the intention of the composer, of a constant swinging. This is far more serious.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

schigolch said:


> Sorry, but I can't find that post, so don't know exactly what you mean.
> 
> To understand better this effect, it's good to remember that the first Riccardo was no other than Gaetano Fraschini (the "Tenore della maledizione"), a man with an uncanny ability for the 'canto di sbalzo'. He was also involved in the premiere of _La Battaglia di Legnano_ and _Stifellio_, and was admired by Verdi.
> 
> ...


At first he wrote (sic)

"Carreras actually sings all the notes and gets the rhythm right. Only Domingo also does. Not Bjoerling, or Di Stefano, or Bergonzi. Listen to them all on the Verdi Discography site. Usually Bergonzi is the most accurate of the composer's intentions. I heard Bergonzi do this﻿ role in Vienna and Carreras do it in SF (1977). 
I remember hearing Carreras's name being mention by two men standing near me (I don't speak Germen) as they discussed Bergonzi. They too knew that Jose was better than Carlo."

then he corrected himself (sic)

"I'm a little embarassed﻿ to have to admit that Carreras does not in fact sing all the notes in this particular performance. Like most tenors, he here skips the low C (one octave below middle C) on "irati." I was referring to his Phillips studio recording where he does sing it. As far as I know Bergonzi never sang that note (and he started as a baritone). This is a sort of Chris Merritt note. No one is perfect in this aria but Carreras is close."

schigolch - Thank you so much for all this fascinating information. You have increased my knowledge & understanding of opera more than I could have done by just reading books.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Well, I don't remember this Philips studio right now, but I doubt Mr. Carreras ever sung the low C. You can listen to these two youtubes from the 1970s, where he is just going for the C3:











It's true that Domingo was normally singing the low C (if I were a more evil person than I am, maybe I'd say he was more likely to get in trouble with the A-flat 3 that with the low C ). You have already listened to Jussi, another good practitioner was Richard Tucker:






And Marcelo Alvarez has tried, with not precisely brilliant results.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Another of the most common _abbellimenti_ are *scales*. They could be chromatic (the whole 12 notes) or diatonic (the seven notes in each major or minor scale). Ascending or descending.

This is easy to grasp, I think. Just a couple of examples (both with Callas ):

Diatonic scale in _Quando, rapito in estasi_, at the words "Il ciel per me si schiuda il ciel per me", between 1:40 and 2:00.






Chromatic scale at the end of _Casta Diva_, at the words "tu fa nel ciel" at around 5:00


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Countertenor*

This is a voice produced by a widening of the head register. It's a falsetto voice, emitted using extensive work on the high pitched resonances in the head.

From the point of view of timbre, it's a voice between soprano and contralto. A clear, piercing, pure voice.

From a historical point of view, the origin of this fach is in the Middle Ages, in choral music. However, the appearance of the _castrato_ was a blow for the countertenor. Composers like Handel were writing parts for this fach (for instance, in the _Messiah_), and then rewriting for _castrato_.

The resurgence of the fach took place just after the Second World War, with artists like Alfred Deller, and new roles like Oberon in Britten's _A Midsummer Night's Dream_.

Sometimes, there is a tendency to confuse the countertenor with the french 'haute-contre' that in reality is a singer more in the likeness of Juan Diego Flórez, or the english light tenor roles, that are more for someone like John Mark Ainsley.

We can recognize three types of countertenor:

*1) Soprano*

This is the lightest countertenor voice. It can easily reach beyond C5, and perform some coloratura. Michael Maniaci, Aris Christofellis or Dominique Visse are singers belonging to this fach:






*2) Mezzo-soprano*

This is the more usual voice, and it was the voice of Alfred Deller. It was also, probably, the color of the _castrato_ voice. There are many singers we can enjoy in this fach, like James Bowman, Andreas Scholl, Brian Asawa, David Daniels or Iestyn Davies:






*3) Alto*

The timbre is similar to the woman alto. It can also use some resonance outside the head voice. Some examples are René Jacobs or Carlos Mena:


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

I was about to write up a list of opera genres with their definitions, main characteristics, and representative composers, when I found out that Wikipedia contributors have done it already and quite well, so I see no need to redo it here. I'll just post a link to that page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera_genres

Don't miss the very useful link on the bottom of the page, "Operas by Genre" - when you click on it you get to an alphabetic list of genres, and when you click on each genre, you get to an alphabetic list of the operas that are representative of that genre. Pretty neat.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

schigolch said:


> *Countertenor*
> 
> We can recognize three types of countertenor:
> 
> ...


I must offer some alternatives to the oddly voiced Dominique Visse who might put people off counter-ternors for life!

I never get tired of listening to this wonderful Monteverdi aria





\

Michael Maniaci is a bona fide soprano as he didn't have a conventional journey through puberty. No falsetto for him


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## ooopera (Jul 27, 2011)

My favourite:


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

ooopera said:


> My favourite:


Yes, he and Bejun Mehta are my favourite "mezzo" countertenors. That cold song is so oddly compelling, isn't it?


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## ooopera (Jul 27, 2011)

Yes! I heard him singing it live and it was so much thrilling! Unforgettable!


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

ooopera said:


> Yes! I heard him singing it live and it was so much thrilling! Unforgettable!


He chose another offering from "O, solitude" when I heard him earlier this year. I would have loved the cold song but it was great to hear him in person anyway.

Very appropriate music for us today - we are being reminded of our proximity to Antarctica:


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

mamascarlatti said:


> Very appropriate music for us today - we are being reminded of our proximity to Antarctica:


Oh my, Nat! Quite a snowfall. Here in Illinois, meanwhile, it's "Summertime, and the livin' is easy."

But what goes around comes around, doesn't it?


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Very appropriate music for us today - we are being reminded of our proximity to Antarctica:


Wow is that Auckland? I heard on the radio this morning that Wellington had had snow but they didn't mention your 'hood.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

sospiro said:


> Wow is that Auckland? I heard on the radio this morning that Wellington had had snow but they didn't mention your 'hood.


No, we had snow but it didn't settle. But it IS freezing and the country is at a standstill.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Following our brief review of the different _abbellimenti_, there are a few somewhat more subtle effects to discuss.

*Appogiatura* is a small note that takes away the time value of the note it prefixed, and is normally a tone or semitone lower. The singer somehow must rest ("appogiare") on the small note.

In the first act of _La Sonnambula_, in the recitative 'Care compagne' there are several appogiaturas. We can listen to Gruberova, always a master of _fioriture_:

_Care compagne e voi tenere amici che alla gioa mia tanta parte
prendete, oh come dolci scendo d'Amina al core i canti che v'inspira il vostro amore_.






*Acciacatura* is a quick, very brief, 'appogiatura'. In Rosina's cavatina from _Il Barbiere_ there is a passage in semiquavers that requires 'acciacatura'. We can listen to Teresa Berganza (superb here) at 0:47:

_Si Lindoro mio sarà, lo giurai. la vincerò_






If instead of one small note, we use two (generally the first equal to the principal, and the second a tone or semitone higher), this is a *mordente*. In this case we use as an illustration a fragment of _Che gelida manina_, sung by one of the greatest Rodolfos, Luciano Pavarotti, at 0:40:

_Ma per fortuna e una notte di luna e qui la luna l'abbiamo vicina._


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

mamascarlatti said:


> I must offer some alternatives to the oddly voiced Dominique Visse who might put people off counter-ternors for life!
> 
> I never get tired of listening to this wonderful Monteverdi aria
> 
> ...


Fascinating! Since this is his natural voice, I wonder if Mr. Maniaci is as close as we come in modern times to the sound of the castrati.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Serialism*

After the 12-tone system was in place for a quarter of a century, more or less, a further step was taken, trying to determine an ordering not only for the pitches, but also for the note values, the dynamics, the rythm,.. This was called "serialism" or "total serialism".

Perhaps the easiest way to understand what that means, is to review a seminal piece by Olivier Messiaen, _Mode de valeurs et d'intensités_, for piano.

Messiaen prepared 3 series of 12 elements. Then each element in each series is assigned a note (among 12), an octave (among 3), a value (among 24) , a dynamic (among 7) and a way to play the note (among 12).

Then the notes of the three series are arranged in descending mode, adding to each element one more note value, as configured in the series. (In the first, that begins with a demisemiquaver, we add in each element another demisemiquaver, for instance). The different ways to play the notes and the dynamic levels can be freely distributed. Of course all this prefigures somehow the content of the piece.

We can hear the result:






This is the basics, it was further developed by other composers, notably Pierre Boulez and Karel Goeyvaerts. Later, random elements were added, and serialism fragmented into several different flavours, that dominated classical music until well into the 1970s.

Now, serialism is mostly defunct, except as the basis of some other compositional systems. In the history of opera, we can find some interesting pieces that are using partly serialism techniques, such as:


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Interesting web of sounds. Not the type I would I want to listen to every day, but interesting nonetheless. I think it works particularly well with opera. It seems to have an inherent dramatic quality.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Alto*

This was the old 'altus' of ancient poliphony, that was many times incorporated by countertenors, castrati or even children.

As a woman's voice, it's very rare. Her dark color, her velvety tone, her cello sound, her consistency are trademarks ot this fach.

What operatic roles are suitable for altos?. Not very many. The Sorceress from _Dido and Aeneas_, Zia Principessa, Clitemnestra, even Ulrica... Some wagnerian roles like Erda o Waltraute... They are mostly sung by dramatic mezzos, anyway.

Great historical altos:

Kathleen Ferrier - Where 'er You Walk - Semele

Marian Anderson - Re dell' abisso - Un Ballo in Maschera

Ernestine Schumann-Heink - Höre mit sin - Götterdämmerung

Ewa Podles - Ogni indugio d'un amante - Rinaldo


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

schigolch said:


> *Alto*
> 
> This was the old 'altus' of ancient poliphony, that was many times incorporated by countertenors, castrati or even children.
> 
> ...


There are also other, less dramatic roles for contraltos, like Mistress Quickly in Verdi's Falstaff, and three (yes three, as in one, two, three) leading roles in Pergolesi's comedy Lo frate 'nnamorato.

Rossini also wrote the characters of Rosina (in Barbiere) and Angelina (in La cenerentola) for a contralto named Geltrude Righetti.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Fiato* is the air, the breath, that allows singing.

A singer with a lot of _fiato_, is a singer with a great lung capacity, and that knows how to exploit it. Sometimes you need to introduce air in a short time, and need to use what is called _fiati rubati_, very brief inhalations between notes.

One aria that needs this _fiati rubati_ is Duca's "Parmi veder le lagrime", that we can hear in the voice of Luciano Pavarotti:






About some examples of fantastic fiatos, let's take for example Cesare Valletti in the difficult aria from _Don Giovanni_, "Il mio tesoro". After the A3 on 'tornar' around 2:27.






Or Alfredo Kraus in _La Favorita_'s "Spirto Gentil".






_Spirito gentil ne' sogni miei brillasti un dì ma ti perdei: 
fuggi dal cor, mentita speme, larve d'amor, fuggite insieme. 
Donna sleal, a te d'accanto del genitor scordava il pianto; 
la patria, il ciel; e in tanto amore, 
d'onta mortal macchiasti il core._

Starting from 3:00, after the second 'Ahime', he gently descended into the repetition of 'Spirto Gentil' but instead of breathing in 'ne' sogni miei' like everyone else, he continued with the same breath until just before "brillaste un di".


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

schigolch said:


> *Fiato* is the air, the breath, that allows singing.
> 
> A singer with a lot of _fiato_, is a singer with a great lung capacity, and that knows how to exploit it.


To mention a related term, a singer's incorrect expulsion of air is known as *Fiatulence*.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Interesting definition.... could you please link some examples in youtube?


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

amfortas said:


> To mention a related term, a singer's incorrect expulsion of air is known as *Fiatulence*.


Oh God, I love it!! :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

MAuer said:


> Oh God, I love it!! :lol: :lol: :lol:




You do?? The audience here seem to enjoy it also. Well the guy next to me farted nearly all the way through _Lucia di Lammermoor_.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

sospiro said:


> You do?? The audience here seem to enjoy it also. Well the guy next to me farted nearly all the way through _Lucia di Lammermoor_.


Amfortas' definition only covered singers . . . not members of the audience.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

MAuer said:


> Amfortas' definition only covered singers . . . not members of the audience.


:lol:

And all sopranos* will say amen to that

* & mezzos & contraltos


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

amfortas said:


> To mention a related term, a singer's incorrect expulsion of air is known as *Fiatulence*.


Here's a sad example . . .

How the _Don Carlo_ Friendship Duet Became Instead Rodrigo's Premature Death Scene:


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Sfumatura*: The singer dissolve, soften, the sound, until it almost fade away. It's normally used at the end of a phrase, or between words to introduce some variations in the singing line.

One undisputed master was Tito Schipa (today, perhaps the best practitioner is Juan Diego Flórez). In "Parmi veder le lagrime", we can find in the phrase:

_Scorrenti da quel ciglio,
Quando fra il dubbio a l'ansia
Del subito periglio_

just before 'quando' and 'subito', in the middle of the phrase (starting in 2:11). And a fantastic one at the end of the aria, en el 'Non invidiò per te".






*Smorzatura*: It's very similar to _sfumatura_, the only difference is that, on top of the dynamics, there is also a slow down of the rythm.

Once again let's listen to Schipa, singing "Celo e mar", in the phrase:

_L'angiol mio verra dal cielo?
L'angiol mio verra dal mare?_

starting in 0:37


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*BASS*

This is the lowest voice, used since antiquity to offer a harmonic support for the melodic lines sung by more lighter voices.

The chest resonances are paramount. Passage is usually around D-flat 3, with an average tessitura of F1-G3.

In the Baroque period, there were more often written low notes, descending to E1, D1 or even lower. However, the composers of the Romantic era rarely go beyond F1, that is about a kind of limit. Even in Verdi's times, everyone in the audience was expecting the F1 of Sparafucile at the end of the duo with Rigoletto, to judge the note and the singer. But the tendency to give the bass higher notes, a lighter line of singing, was unstoppable. Wagner, for instance, never requires anything lower than a G1.

*Profondo*

The old "serioso" of italian music. It needs a stupendous consistence in the middle and low ranges. Also, to offer the dramatic function usually required from them, they need the proper timbre and color for that.

Some standard repertoire roles are Sarastro, Prince Gremin, Cardenal Brogni, Marcel (from _Huguenots_), the Grand Inquisitor, Rocco, Pimen... In Wagner operas, Hunding, Hagen, Fafner,.... granitic voices. A little more lighter roles like Gurnemanz or Heinrich also need this kind of bass voice. Even Sir Morosus, the Strauss character from _Die schweigsame Frau_.

A few examples of outstanding bass profondo voices:

Ivar Andresen - Brogni's cavatina

Alexander Kipnis - O Isis und Osiris

Emanuel List - Lohengrin

Gottlob Frick - Hagen

Today, we have still a giant like Salminen, or good singers like Hans-Peter König.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Buffo Bass*

There are parts written in a bass tessiture that are comic in nature. For instance, Osmin (that can be also served by a profondo with acting abilities), Leporello, Don Bartolo, Don Magnifico, Don Pasquale, Dulcamara...

In german opera, this voice is commonly named _Spielbass_.

There is usually a fine line here to walk between the acting and the singing. Comic effects are welcome, but can't be the only basis of the performance.

Historically we can find singers like Salvatore Baccaloni, Enzo Dara or Fernando Corena (this last one, bordering with the excess of caricature mentioned above). Today, one of the best singers of the fach is Carlos Chausson.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Lyrical Bass*

This is the traditional _basso cantante_.

Many roles are written for this fach. Roundness, balance, strong low notes, but ability to sing also with the same colour in the center of the tessitura...

Verdi was one of the composers that made use frequently of this kind of voice: Zaccaria, Silva, Fiesco, Procida, Attila, Filippo,... In italian opera we can find also the Mefistofele from Boito, Raimondo, Baldasarre, Colline,... Roles like Ivan Susanin, Dosifei, Varlaam, Don Alfonso, Gounod's Mefistofeles, Daland, Marke, ... are more examples.

Of course, the first name of a singer coming to mind is Fiodor Chaliapin. In the russian school there are also very good basses, like Mark Reizen. From Bulgaria, Boris Christoff or Nicolai Ghiaurov.

Perhaps the most accomplished singers of the fach came from Italy: Nazareno de Angelis, Ezio Pinza, Cesare Siepi, Tancredi Pasero... Historical french basses like Pol Plançon or Marcel Journet, Jerome Hines,...

Still singing are artists like Samuel Ramey or Ruggero Raimondi but the best bass of our times is the german René Pape.

Feodor Chaliapin - Ivan Susanin

Boris Christoff - Attila

Tancredi Pasero - Don Carlo

Samuel Ramey - Mefistofele

René Pape - Tristan und Isolde


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## GoneBaroque (Jun 16, 2011)

*Lyrical Bass - Jerome Hines*


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

schigolch said:


> *Lyrical Bass*
> 
> Boris Christoff - Attila


Not heard this before - awesome!! Thank you schigolch!



schigolch said:


> ...but the best bass of our times is the German René Pape.


Seeing him soon in Faust


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## CountessAdele (Aug 25, 2011)

Oh this is an amazing thread and a wonderful resource!! Thank you for making it!!


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Minimalist music, in a simple yet accurate sense, it's the one made using just a few musical materials: a few notes, pieces that perpetuates themselves, works that takes a (very) long time to evolve, compositions with _tempi_ reduced to just a couple of notes per minute,...

We can find pieces like this one from Erik Satie:






But in another, and most important to Opera, sense, we call minimalism to the music coming from the US in the 1960s, and composers like Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass or La Monte Young. This work by Terry Riley is perhaps the most famous icon of the trend:






What means minimalism in Opera?. Basically, some pieces written by a group of composers, using minimalist techniques, to a variable extent.

First, we can hear the first operas by Philip Glass, perhaps the best examples of minimalist opera itself (as definition, not talking about the quality of the piece at hand, here):

Glass - _Einstein on the Beach_

Glass - _Satyagraha_

Glass - _Akhnaten_​
In 1987, John Adams presented his first opera, the very succesful _Nixon in China_:

Adams - _Nixon in China_​
Steve Reich has never composed an opera, but there are a couple of 'video-operas' instead:

Steve Reich - _The Cave_​
In Europe, we can trace minimalism in operas written by Nyman or Andriessen:

Nyman - _The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat_

Andriessen - _De Materie_​


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Canto sillabato*:

It's a resource for buffo opera. Basically, is a set of notes with the same value, sung very quickly, generally without melody.

The most outstanding example is Bartolo's aria: "A un dottor della mia sorte". Listen below from 3:13.






Other well known situations are in the duet Malatesta/Don Pasquale, or in the second Act aria for Don Magnifico in _La Cenerentola_, with an staggering 157 consecutive A2.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

schigolch said:


> *Canto sillabato*:
> 
> It's a resource for buffo opera. Basically, is a set of notes with the same value, sung very quickly, generally without melody.
> 
> ...


This always sounds so difficult, even for native speakers.


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## AmericanGesamtkunstwerk (May 9, 2011)

I'm wondering... how common is the term "Heldentenor" outside of Wagner fans? I wrote a baritone part that goes up to A in the treble clef, so i keep billing the part as a Heldentenor, but i'm not sure if anyone knows what that is because all the singers I meet are into andrew lloyd webber. Bizet at best (which I imagine is how it must be for any teenager not (yet) in a top conservatory)


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Of course, "heldentenor" is a term usually applied to Wagner's repertoire. We can find some roles from other composers and use a "heldentenor", the usual suspect being Florestan, but this is first and foremost a Wagner thing.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Transposition* is the changing of the pitch of a composition, without making other changes, usually in order to suit the needs of a particular singer, or make it easier to sing for many singers.

Of course, this could be done both towards lower notes (the most common) or towards higher notes. For instance, speaking of "Casta Diva", when we say it's written originally by Bellini in G major, but it's almost always transposed to F major, what we are saying is:

G major scale: *G - A - B - C - D - E - F sharp - G*
F major scale: *F - G - A - B flat - C - D - E -F*

So, if Bellini would have written a high C for Norma, by changing the tonality and transposing the soprano can avoid the feared high C (the fourth note in the G major scale), and sings in its place a high B flat (the fourth note in the F major scale).

Of course, we could also continue transposing to E major, and further down. Listen to Marion Anderson singing "Casta Diva":


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*CASTRATI*

The singers par excellence from the 18th century and the performers of choice of 'Opera Seria'.

The Castrato is a male singer that was being castrated before his puberty. The objective of this operation was to prevent the normal evolution of the larynx, and in this way produce in an adult male the same tessitura of a female singer. Combined with extensive training, the final result was a tremendous lung capacity and breath control, associated with exciting top notes and extraordinary flexibility. Soon, they were the most famous and well paid singers in Europe. Instead of castrati, they were referred usually as 'musici'.

It seems the origin of this practice was in Spain and Italy, in the 17th century, mainly to use them as Church singers (in many places, female singers were forbidden to sing in the religious services), as they were preferred to the falsetists. It was just a small step to get them also into singing Opera.

By early 18th century, most of the male protagonist roles in Opera were trusted to a castrato. This was due basically to aesthetic convictions (a preference for the high-pitched voices as a symbol of spirituality), and also the musical demands of the "canto fiorito".

'Opera Seria' was the ideal scenario for the castrati and some very famous singers like Nicolo Grimaldi (NICOLINI), Antonio Maria BERNACCHI, Francesco Bernardi (SENESINO), Giovanni CARESTINI, Gaetano Majorano (CAFFARELLI), or Carlo Broschi (FARINELLI) were dominating the operatic stage. The only exception was Paris, where they were not allowed to perform in Opera, though they could offer the occasional concert.

















_Senesino and Farinelli

_​By the 1740s there were growing concerns about the ethics of castrating young males to make them singers (we know the story of some important and famous castrati, but many of the children operated were not finally able to sustain a succesful career), and also 'Opera Seria' started its long decline. The castrato roles were little by little disappearing, though we can find some of them even as late as early 19th century, like in Meyerbeer's _Il Crociato in Egitto_, written in 1824. After they were no more employed in the Opera House, some of them were still performing for the Church, one of the latest being Alessandro Moreschi, the only castrato voice ever recorded, in 1902 and 1904, when he was still in his forties.






The roles written for castrati are now performed usually by mezzo-sopranos or, more recently, countertenors. Sometimes, they are also adapted for baritone or tenor.

We will never know for sure how the great castrati really sounded on stage. They will always be there, the heroes and the victims of an instant suspended in time, the promise of a great beauty forever unattainable to us.

​


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Sprechgesang* is a type of vocal technique between speech and song.

There are some examples in German opera since the 19th century, but the most famous embodiment was in Schoenberg's _Pierrot Lunaire_ (1912).






Nevertheless, Schoenberg himself created later a full role in sprechgesang, in his unfinished opera _Moses und Aron_. All Moses's interventions use sprechgesang.

A proper rendition of sprechgesang is not always easy, as the exact middle point between speech and song is rather elusive, and for the spoken voice the pitch variations are not that many. However, many operas since WWII use sprechgesang, including non-German composers like Benjamin Britten or Luciano Berio.

Schoenberg's disciple Alban Berg claimed to use a different technique for his operas _Wozzeck_ and _Lulu_ sometimes identified as *sprechstimme*. According to Berg's instructions: "sprechstimme is a spoken melody. In singing the performer stays on the note without change; in speaking he strikes the note but leaves it immediately by rising or falling in pitch". He also devised some intermediate stages between speech and song, i.e. intermediate stages of sprechstimme.

However, most musicians tend to use both terms interchangeably.

In the score, those techniques are identified by using 'x's in place of conventional noteheads, or using a point or a dash in the stem.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

schigolch said:


> Nevertheless, Schoenberg himself created later a full role in sprechgesang, in his unfinished opera _Moses und Aron_. All Moses's interventions use sprechgesang.


This is a nitpick, but he does have one single sung line in the first scene between him and Aron (who has one or two sprechgesang lines to match).

Great job on the glossary, by the way. It's great that you've returned to it, even two years later.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

A c*adenza* (cadence) is a series of ornaments performed before the end of an aria. The origins are in early 18th century, when the singers inserted "cadenze" (marked in the score by a "punto coronato"), usually of their own invention, and many times even improvised.

However, starting in the Classical period, the composers themselves included them in their works. One of the best known examples is the "cadenza" in Gilda's 'Caro Nome'. Not that singers completely forgot about inserting their own stuff, generally written by other composers, and not by the author of the opera. Some famous ones are Tita Ruffo's in the toast of Hamlet, or Lauri-Volpi's at the end of 'La donna è mobile'. Even today, a baritone like Leo Nucci sometimes adds brief "cadenze" to display his power in the high register. And, of course, the Bel Canto renaissance since the 1950s give singers like Joan Sutherland great opportunities to showcase her virtuosism.

One interesting example is the "cadenza" at the end of the mad scene of Donizetti's _Lucia di Lammermoor_. It was composed, not by Donizetti, but by the (then retired) singer Mathilde Marchesi for her pupil, the great soprano Nellie Melba, back in 1889. From this moment on, it was widely celebrated, and the performances of singers like Maria Callas ensured her lasting popularity. Let's listen to Dessay's version (with the glass harmonica, instead of flute):


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*DA CAPO ARIA*

This is the most characteristic form for the aria in the Opera Seria repertory (also in other genres of the period, like the Oratorio). Structurally, it's divided in three sections, The first and second being sung with a different text, and the third a repetition, with some variations, of the first.










Section A

This first section of the aria tipically starts with an orchestral part, called 'ritornello'. The melodies present in this 'ritornello' are then used in the rest of the aria, both instrumental and singing, they keep coming (hence, the 'ritornello'). After this, there is the vocal part singing the text, twice, again separated by the 'ritornello', usually in shortened form. To close the section, we find the 'ritornello' again.

Section B

Should be in marked contrast with the first, not only because the text is different, but also because the composer will normally use another tonality, or will indicate a different tempo. Also, the orchestral accompaniment is usually more sparse, and there are less ornaments in the vocal part.

Section A'

It's a repetition of A, but now the singer is free to ornament the vocal line according to his fantasy. This was very important for the period's divos and divas, and partly explain why this type of aria was so popular.

Additionally, it was customary to execute some cadences at the end of the vocal part of each section (mainly in sections B and A'), also at the will of the singer, that could easily show his virtuosity while the orchestra is waiting for an agreed signal (a thrill, for instance) to pick up the music in the score.

The poems in the A and B stanzas allowed different metres and rhymes. In the score, "(fine)" was used to mark the end of section A, and "(da capo)" for the end of section B, that was also the signal to go back to section A and starts with the singer's _abbellimenti.

_Let's listen to a beautiful example, Händel's "Sta nell'Ircana" from _Alcina:

_


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Extended techniques* are basically non-"traditional" methods of playing an instrument. In search of unusual sounds, usually.

While we can consider that some of these techniques have been used for quite a long time, just like playing strings 'pizzicato' or 'col legno', most of them are contemporary, starting in the 20th century. Some are quite funny, not only to hear, but even to watch, like this piece for 'bowed piano' by Stephen Scott:






There are also 'extended vocal techniques' used in vocal music, including Opera. In fact, the sprechstimme mentioned in previous posts could be considered a kind of 'extended technique' itself. But let's listen to Ligeti's _Nouvelles Aventures_:






Perhaps the best integration of those techniques into musical drama are the works of Italian composer Salvatore Sciarrino:


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Portamento*
[HR][/HR]

This Italian word comes from "portare", and it means simply to slide the voice from one pitch to another, passing audibly for all intermediate pitches, but without stopping in any of them. This is the main difference between portamento and glissando, where the intermediates notes can be individually heard.

The decision to execute a portamento comes sometimes from the composer himself, indicated by a line joining together the two pitches. A Verdi's example is in the score for _Otello_, during Desdemona's aria in the fourth act, between the words 'testa' and 'Salce!' (in this case, on top of the sign, Verdi also wrote "portando la voce"):









Let's hear Victoria de los Angeles singing "The Willow Song" (at 5:22):






But more often, the decision to execute a portamento comes from the singer, and it's an expressive resource. Perhaps a good way to find out the difference is to use the same aria, with the same singer, but sung in two different ways. We are going to listen to the great Italian tenor Carlo Bergonzi, in one of his signature roles, Radames, singing the very famous aria: "Celeste Aida".

Here from the Arena of Verona, in 1966, singing with _portamenti_, providing a feeling of swinging with the music:






In this other performance, from Tokyo in 1973, he is much more restrictive with _portamenti_ (there is a little bit towards the end):


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## Novelette (Dec 12, 2012)

schigolch, it's an excellent way to speak of the difference between glissando and portamento.

In glissando, the discrete intermediate pitches are audible. In portamento, rather a continuous transition.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Aria di sorbetto*, is an (usually short) aria sung by a comprimario. The rather funny name comes from the period (early to mid XIXth century) custom of selling different refreshments when the main characters were offstage.

"Sorbetto", of course, means sorbet in Italian.

Often, some composers would even let the responsibility to write those small pieces to his collaborators, instead of writing them by themselves. As the century progressed, many of those arias were just cut from the score.

This is one example from _Il Barbiere_, Berta's aria "Il vecchiotto cerca moglie":


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Loggione* is the term used in Italian for "gallery", the place destined to fans that are unable or unwilling to pay the prices of seats in the stalls (however, in traditional U-shaped theaters, the "loggione" is usually one of the best places to enjoy opera). The term "loggionismo", as practiced by the "loggionisti" is a derived word designing the most radical fans in the audience, that can be compared to football supporters in their passionate behaviour.

For many years, Parma was the world capital of "loggionismo". There, Carlo Bergonzi was berated for singing the high B flat at the end of 'Celeste Aida' in pianissimo... as written by Verdi!. Other singers like Cornell MacNeil shouted back to the audience, and some performances were even interrupted during many minutes.

Of course, this was not restricted only to Parma. Here we can watch some incidents at la Scala, in 1976, with Carlos Kleiber conducting 'Otello':






Today, the audience tend to be a little bit more passive, for the good and for the bad, though now and then there are quite audible protests. Here it's an example with tenor José Cura and the people at Teatro Real, in Madrid:






Or with the current performance of _Un ballo in maschera_, again at La Scala:

http://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubb...ischi-alla-scala-in-italia-ce.html?ref=search

Other audiences are historically more restrained, and the lack of applause is usually the worst singers, conductor and orchestra need to face... Perhaps some stage directors are the exception to this rule in the 21st century.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

The *aria di baule*, a routine from late 17th century, it's usually associated with the 18th and the _castrati_, but in the first decades of the 19th was still quite usual in many Italian theaters.

An 'aria di baule' is used by the singer (in the 19th century it was usually, but not always, the prima donna) to replace one aria of the opera being performed, by other of the singer's choice, or just simply was added to the action.

A star like Giuditta Pasta herself, always in favor of fostering the drama, usually interpolated Giuseppe Nicolini's aria "Il braccio mio conquise" as the final number in Rossini's _Tancredi_. Maria Malibrán replaced the last scene of Bellini's _I Capuleti e I Montecchi_, with another coming from Vaccai's _Giulietta e Romeo_. And many singers took advantage of the singing lesson in _Il Barbiere_ to insert any aria they preferred. (Marilyn Horne did exactly that in Macerata, in 1980, singing "Di Tanti Palpiti" in the lesson).






The resistance of the theaters, publishing houses and the composers themselves to accept those liberties, were mining the 'aria di baule' until its dissapearance around the 1850s.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Squillo* is one of those terms that, once introduced into a meeting of 'seasoned operagoers', is likely to cause a heated discussion about what's the right definition, voices with and without "squillo", Plácido Domingo,...

"Squillo" comes from Italian, and it's related to the sound of a trumpet or a bell, a blast, "squillante". It's not in purity a singing technique (though the singing technique of a singer can affect the squillo in his voice), but rather a quality of the voice. It's corresponding to a brilliant sound, determined by the harmonics.

As we are all aware, when a sound is produced this responds to a determined fundamental frequency (for instance, 440Hz for A3), but by resonance there are other sounds also produced at the same time with different frequencies, multiple of the fundamental frequency, and volumes. Those are the harmonics. The combination of the harmonics is what we known as "timbre" of a voice, or an instrument, because the precise nature of those harmonics depends on the object producing the fundamental sound.

We usually say a sound is "brilliant" when there are many harmonics of loud volume. That doesn't mean, speaking of the human voice, that the voice is big itself. On the contrary, it could be small (it could also be big, of course), but the presence of those harmonics is making the overall sound, especially of the top notes, "brilliant", "penetrating", "able to cut through the loud orchestra",...

Also, to get more or less squillo (because some degree of squillo is present in any voice) in your voice, doesn't mean you are a better or worse singer. It's like playing a cello, or a trumpet.

For instance, and speaking of great singers:

'Small' voice, 'big' squillo --> Alfredo Kraus
'Small' voice, 'small' squillo --> Kiri Te Kanawa
'Big' voice, 'big' squillo --> Franco Corelli
'Big' voice, 'small' squillo --> Joan Sutherland​


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Spectralism* is a musical trend that focuses on manipulating the physical nature of sound, to produce music. It puts acoustic, and timbre, at the center, and use this as the foundation block to write a composition.

The origins of the movement are in France, during the 1970s, with a group of composers (Gérard Grisey, Tristan Murail, Hugues Dufourt,...) and also the IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique), in Paris. A couple of works that can provide a good introduction to spectral music are Grisey's _Les espaces acoustiques, _and Murail's _Gondwana_.

However, to understand better spectralism in Opera, let's use an example related with Kaija Saariaho's _L'amour de loin_.

The Finnish composer, working at the IRCAM since 1982, after reading a biography of the medieval troubadour Joufré Rudel, became fascinated with the subject of the love from afar ('amor de lonh', in Occitan). She wrote then _Lohn_, for soprano and electronics, that was one of the first steps to compose the opera:






Saariaho uses two 'spectral' techniques: the gradual, slow transformation of several musical elements, and the analysis of the sound, producing harmony through timbre. And also the use of electronics, stepwise:

1.- Take a sample of the different elements to introduce: human voice, water, wind, birds,..

2.- Analyze the spectrum of the instrumental sound, using resonance models

3.- Using a program to create filters, based on harmonical structures

4.- Merge together the samples of point 1 and the filters of point 3, replacing some resonances of the instruments by another source of sound.

5.- Place all the acoustic elements in the space where the piece is going to be played.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Zarzuela* is the traditional Spanish brand of musical theater. There is singing, and there are spoken dialogues, with a very variable importance of each element. However, in Zarzuela there are almost no recitatives, arioso is not used very much and most zarzuelas are structured as a set of musical numbers.

The roots of the genre are in Spanish 17th century theater, the period known as "Siglo de Oro" (The Golden Century). Some plays by Calderón de la Barca or Lope de Vega included incidental music. However, Italian opera was already performed in Spain by that date, but was not adapted to the taste of many people in the audience. Those were the origins of Baroque Zarzuela. The clash between Opera and Zarzuela continued during the 18th century.

This is an example of Baroque Zarzuela by José de Nebra: "Viento es la dicha de amor".






The golden age of Zarzuela, however, started in the 1840s. Two distinct genres ("género chico", usually one act pieces and "género grande", usually two acts, occasionally three acts, pieces) were staged. A list of the best known composers would include Francisco Asenjo Barbieri, Emilio Arrieta, Francisco Alonso, Tomás Bretón, Ruperto Chapí, Federico Chueca, Manuel Fernández Caballero, Federico Moreno Torroba, José Serrano, Pablo Sorozábal and Amadeo Vives. Zarzuela was also important in some countries like Venezuela, Cuba, México, Argentina or the Philippines Islands. Around the 1930s Zarzuela started to decline, and after the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) there were hardly any new Zarzuelas, and the old ones were less and less performed.

An example of "género chico", Federico Chueca and Joaquín Valverde's "La Gran Vía":






And an example of "género grande", Federico Moreno Torroba's "Luisa Fernanda":


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

When discussing about Rossinian tenors, they are usually divided into two groups:

*Baritenore* (Leicester, Otello, Rinaldo, Pirro, Rodrigo di Dhu,..) is a rather dark, robust voice, with his tessitura basically central, and jumps to the high notes, capable of some 'coloratura di forza'. Andrea Nozzari was the great singer for those roles, during Rossini's lifetime. A recent good example is the American tenor Chris Merritt.






*Contraltino* (Lindoro, Rodrigo, Don Narciso, Don Ramiro, Giannetto,..) is more at ease with the top notes, the tessitura is placed higher and he is able to perform more extended and difficult 'coloratura di grazia'. Giovanni David was one of the leading singers at the beginning of the 19th century, and we have a great tenor for these roles today in the Peruvian Juan Diego Flórez:






There are roles like Argirio that are somewhat in between both types, though in this case more inclined to the 'baritenore' type:


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

A *stecca* is any kind of vocal accident, though it's used mostly in relation with a failed (high) note.

One of the most famous examples in history is from the legendary Spanish tenor Julián Gayarre. He was singing _Les pêcheurs de perles_ in 1889, at Madrid. He failed the first high note in the aria "Mi par d'udir ancor" (he was singing the role in Italian). Pissed off by his failure, he sang again the aria at the end of the opera... only to fail again!. He turned to the audience and said (in Spanish): 'It's over'. He died a few days later, of consumption.

This is a biopic of Gayarre, with Alfredo Kraus as the protagonist:


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

This thread is pure awesomeness, but I want to suggest one thing. Could moderator edit the videos into links only, not embedded videos? Because I think that they not only slow down the thread loading but also one another - video played on this page works much slower than opened in another browser window.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

*Claque* is a French term used to denominate a group of people paid (or rewarded with a non-financial arrangement) by a third party (usually a singer, a composer, a rival, or even the management of a theater) to be present at a perfomance to applaud, or to boo, the performer, irrespective of the quality of the performance.

Usually the claques have always operated in favor of one artist, and against another. Hector Berlioz even wrote a small essay, "On the claque", describing the suual behaviour and psychology of this particular groups of musical aficionados.

One famous example happened at the premiere of _Norma_, in 1831. Bellini was in bad terms with another Italian composer, Pacini, and the lover of Pacini, Countess Samoyloff, organized an anti-Bellini claque that booed the opera, discouraged the young Bellini, and even made him believe that _Norma_ was a 'fiasco'.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

During the first two centuries of the history of Opera, roughly, the two lower male fachs were tenor and bass. The high voice for a male was always the castrato, and the tenor was not really very used. For instance, a great composer like Handel only wrote two really major operatic roles for tenor, Bajazet in _Tamerlano_, and Grimoaldo in _Rodelinda_, both for Francesco Borosini.

Little by little, the progressive disappearance of the castrati forced the composers either to choose between writing a trouser role, or use the tenors. This last was the choice of many, and the emergence of the tenor as the hero of Romantic Opera was assured.

However, in the first decades of the 19th century, the tenors were still singing the high notes in *falsettone*. This technique was, logically, never registered but it shouldn't be, in principle, very different to the mixed voice used later sometimes by singers like Gigli, Bonci or Rosvaenge. Or French tenors like David Devriès.The falsettone was the way legendary singers like Rubini sang the high notes. For instance, the first Pollione, Domenico Donzelli, wrote to Bellini: "I use my chest voice up to the high G, and then switch to falsettone". Then the composer, Bellini in this case, used to take this into account when writing the role, and so Donzelli was provided in his cavatina the opportunity to flaunt both his chest voice and his falsettone, with the high C included in 'Eran rapiti i sensi'.

Fast forward to the 1830s, and we can hear Gilbert Duprez giving the first high C in full voice, singing in _Guglielmo Tell. _Even if Rossini himself was shocked and rather disgusted by the sound produced, within a few years more, the falsettone was out of fashion everywhere.

Of course, the voice in falsettone of Rubini is for us rather a chimera, like the voice of the castrati. But perhaps we can try to imagine we are back to the early 19th century, listening to this performance by David Devriès:


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## Tayfun (Aug 17, 2014)

Very useful. Thank you all


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