# Singers with the most heroic voices



## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

in your opinion, which singers have the more heroic voices? 

my top 10 (in no particular order)
1) Joan Sutherland
2) Sherrill Milnes
3) Franco Corelli 
4) Samuel Ramey
5) Robert Merrill
5) Jennifer Larmore
6) Shirley Verrett
7) Kirsten Flagstad
8) Lauritz Melchior
9) Hakan Hagegard
10) Anatoli Solovyanenko

honorable mention
1) Set Svanholm 
2) Nicolae Kondtratyuk
3) Regine Crespin
4) Jonas Kaufmann
5) Frieda Lieder
6) Cornell MacNeil
7) Joyce Didonato 

(notice there are just as many baritones on the list as tenors. if anything, I think the dramatic baritone is an overall more heroic voice than most tenors)


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I suppose that we're all expected to define heroic in our own way. I'll take the easiest way out I can think of and cite some voices I know well and think most suitable to heroic roles requiring lots of power and declamatory force, whether in Wagner or Verdi or Baroque opera or whatever. So, off the top of my winged helmet:

Sopranos: Eva Turner, Kirsten Flagstad, Gina Cigna, HelenTraubel, Birgit Nilsson
Mezzos/contraltos: Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Margarete Klose, Rita Gorr, Marilyn Horne (countertenors beware)
Tenors: Francesco Tamagno, Enrico Caruso, Lauritz Melchior, Francesco Merli, Mario del Monaco, Franco Corelli, Jon Vickers
Baritones: Tita Ruffo, Friedrich Schorr, Riccardo Stracciari, George London
Basses: Mark Reizen, Gottlob Frick


----------



## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> I suppose that we're all expected to define heroic in our own way. I'll take the easiest way out I can think of and cite some voices I know well and think most suitable to heroic roles requiring lots of power and declamatory force, whether in Wagner or Verdi or Baroque opera or whatever. So, off the top of my winged helmet:
> 
> Sopranos: Eva Turner, Kirsten Flagstad, Gina Cigna, HelenTraubel, Birgit Nilsson
> Mezzos/contraltos: Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Margarete Klose, Rita Gorr, Marilyn Horne (countertenors beware)
> ...


off the bat, I can see where our definitions differ (as you surmised, definition is up for interpretation). "heroic" to me entails a warmer, more passionate quality. Nilsson and Cigna would be too icy for me to consider them "heroic" (they sound more "evil queen" imo, like Lady Macbeth or perhaps Abigaile). Horne I would describe as heroic because the voice lacked a sort of vocal majesty and sheer power.

PS: some more honorable mention
1) Helen Traubel (should have added her earlier)
2) Rita Shane
3) Dmitri Hvorostovsky 
4) Giorgio Tozzi

additionally, Martina Arroyo deserves to be in my top 10 somewhere. how the hell did I forget her? lol


----------



## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> I suppose that we're all expected to define heroic in our own way. I'll take the easiest way out I can think of and cite some voices I know well and think most suitable to heroic roles requiring lots of power and declamatory force, whether in Wagner or Verdi or Baroque opera or whatever. So, off the top of my winged helmet:
> 
> Sopranos: Eva Turner, Kirsten Flagstad, Gina Cigna, HelenTraubel, Birgit Nilsson
> Mezzos/contraltos: Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Margarete Klose, Rita Gorr, Marilyn Horne (countertenors beware)
> ...


Woodduck stole my entire list away while I was sleeping but he must have dropped the page on the floor that included Sondra Radvanovsky and Richard Tucker. (I could even make a case for early Tebaldi)

Bala Boy: Dmitri Hvorostovsky surely has one of the most beautiful baritone voices ever, but heroic?? His voice isn't powerful enough to be in that category. (Unless your requisite for heroic is something different from mine)


----------



## graziesignore (Mar 13, 2015)

This is an odd question, since all tenors sound heroic to me by default, since they are always the heroes.  Although I guess leggero tenors aren't meant to sound that way.

I admit I don't really understand the concept of "vocal weight" except in very obvious cases. When I hear a baritone with a "big" sounding voice playing Di Luna, if it's a soft and foggy voice with no trace of blackness in it, I don't think such a baritone could be the best possible DiLuna.


----------



## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

graziesignore said:


> This is an odd question, since all tenors sound heroic to me by default, since they are always the heroes.  Although I guess leggero tenors aren't meant to sound that way.


to me at least, "heroic" implies something _formidable_ with a certain amount of conviction and fire in the voice



> I admit I don't really understand the concept of "vocal weight" except in very obvious cases. When I hear a baritone with a "big" sounding voice playing Di Luna, if it's a soft and foggy voice with no trace of blackness in it, I don't think such a baritone could be the best possible DiLuna.


that does make it difficult to explain the difference =P


nina foresti said:


> Woodduck stole my entire list away while I was sleeping but he must have dropped the page on the floor that included Sondra Radvanovsky and Richard Tucker. (I could even make a case for early Tebaldi)


not bad choices



> Bala Boy: Dmitri Hvorostovsky surely has one of the most beautiful baritone voices ever, but heroic?? His voice isn't powerful enough to be in that category. (Unless your requisite for heroic is something different from mine)


you don't necessarily need to be Wagnerian to have a heroic voice, although significant power is required


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I will confine my answers to women as I know them better. In no particular order: Joan Sutherland, Early Callas, Nilsson, Flagstad, Traubel, Varnay, Dame Clara Butt, Ewa Podles, Marilyn Horne, Gertrude Grob-Prandl, Eva Turner, Jessye Norman. The voice must be big and capable of inspiring goose flesh upon hearing.


----------



## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

Agnes Baltsa, particularly singing 'O Don Fatale'. Surely an heroic aria, a performance that changed my life.

Placido Domingo must be included! Jussi Bjorling, Maria del Monaco, and basically anyone who can pull of Di Quella Pira!


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

The word only usually applies to tenors - heldentenor is usually a strong voiced tenor like Melchior and Vickers, capable of singing heavy roles like Tristan, Siegfried and Otello. There are extremely few of them around - possibly Kauffmann is the only notable one today, although Botha and Heppner might qualify.


----------



## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

For the purposes of this thread, I will disregard the fact that _all_ basses are heroic,  and choose someone who (so I'm told) has a voice with plenty of heroic ooomph.


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

sospiro said:


> For the purposes of this thread, I will disregard the fact that _all_ basses are heroic,  and choose someone who (so I'm told) has a voice with plenty of heroic ooomph.


May I revise my list to include Jamie Barton. This was the biggest, most thrilling voice I ever heard live, even more so than Jessye Norman or Jane Eaglen. The hair stood up on the back of my arms when she cut loose .


----------



## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I will confine my answers to women as I know them better. In no particular order: Joan Sutherland, Early Callas, Nilsson, Flagstad, Traubel, Varnay, Dame Clara Butt, Ewa Podles, Marilyn Horne, Gertrude Grob-Prandl, Eva Turner, Jessye Norman. The voice must be big and capable of inspiring goose flesh upon hearing.


I tend to think of somewhat brighter voices when I think heroic, at least with female voices. at the very least, the top notes need to be a bit brighter (ex: even the bass and baritone examples I gave all have clear, ringing high notes). Varnay and Horne in particular had kind of strange sounding upper registers which made them sound less heroic imo.


----------



## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

All this thread is telling me is that everyone seems to have their own idea of what constitutes "heroic" and that it differs from person to person. 

So the thread is really about definition and not about singers.


----------



## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

GregMitchell said:


> All this thread is telling me is that everyone seems to have their own idea of what constitutes "heroic" and that it differs from person to person.


exactly, that's kind of the point. we are discussing what being "heroic" means to us and discussing the differences between how we view it vs how others do, with singers for purposes of example.


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> May I revise my list to include Jamie Barton. This was the biggest, most thrilling voice I ever heard live, even more so than Jessye Norman or Jane Eaglen. The hair stood up on the back of my arms when she cut loose .


I had the same experiences (except from seeing Norman and Eaglen live) this morning.
Forgot to ask the name, but then we have Seattleoperafan to put us out our misery of not knowing :tiphat:


----------



## kineno (Jan 24, 2015)

I would most definitely add Christine Goerke to the above-mentioned names. Such a fabulous mix of power and warmth. Seriously, if you haven't heard her lately, you really need to!


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

kineno said:


> I would most definitely add Christine Goerke to the above-mentioned names. Such a fabulous mix of power and warmth. Seriously, if you haven't heard her lately, you really need to!


I heard her in Norma a dozen years ago. Her top D made me not feel so cheated at not hearing Sutherland. It was huge. I've heard her voice has really gotten bigger and more solid as she's come into her prime. She may be the best dramatic soprano around today. Plus she is 6 f*cking feet tall!!! Talk about heroic.


----------



## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> you don't necessarily need to be Wagnerian to have a heroic voice, although significant power is required


Radvanovsky, Tebaldi and Tucker are not Wagnerians and either is Christine Goerke who someone else here wisely added to the list.


----------



## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

I may have forgotten to mention it but all basses are heroic and none more so than this guy. :devil:


----------



## kineno (Jan 24, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I heard her in Norma a dozen years ago. Her top D made me not feel so cheated at not hearing Sutherland. It was huge. I've heard her voice has really gotten bigger and more solid as she's come into her prime. She may be the best dramatic soprano around today. Plus she is 6 f*cking feet tall!!! Talk about heroic.


I've heard her Elektra, Fidelio, and Walküre Brünnhilde, and will be hearing her Siegfried Brünnhilde in a couple of weeks. I've also accompanied her on the organ in the Cavalleria Easter Hymn. It's a huge, huge voice, used with a great deal of intelligence and musicianship. Italianate legato is a very big priority of hers. I believe she's indeed our best current dramatic soprano (said with the disclaimer that she's a personal acquaintance).


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

sospiro said:


> I may have forgotten to mention it but all basses are heroic and none more so than this guy. :devil:


Glad to see you're doing okay after you birthday bash :lol:


----------



## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

nina foresti said:


> Radvanovsky, Tebaldi and Tucker are not Wagnerians and either is Christine Goerke who someone else here wisely added to the list.


Tebaldi never struck me as very heroic. certainly pretty, womanly, etc, but not really heroic.


----------



## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Pugg said:


> Glad to see you're doing okay after you birthday bash :lol:


Heehee. I had a fab day! Had a phone call from my niece who lives in Scotland and have booked a trip to see her and the family in April.


----------



## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Since Corelli and Del Monaco have been mentioned all ready I have to mention the following singer on the video. Not many singers have voices that can literally destroy opera houses  I guess that could be described as a pretty heroic voice.


----------



## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I heard her in Norma a dozen years ago. Her top D made me not feel so cheated at not hearing Sutherland. It was huge. I've heard her voice has really gotten bigger and more solid as she's come into her prime. She may be the best dramatic soprano around today. Plus she is 6 f*cking feet tall!!! Talk about heroic.


agreed, color me impressed. the combination of the dramatic mezzo/contralto middle register with the bright, heroic soprano top is pretty impressive


----------



## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

the much underrated Martina Arroyo. imo, this piece is about as heroic as it gets


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> Tebaldi never struck me as very heroic. certainly *pretty, womanly, e*tc, but not really heroic.


I think your description does not do justice to Tebaldi's fabulous instrument!


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> the much underrated Martina Arroyo. imo, this piece is about as heroic as it gets


She had a simply gorgeous, huge, boring voice ( I didn't say that). Pity her onscreen personality did not match her sparking TV talk show personality. My sister knew her in Switzerland. Said she was a riot. Unlike Price, her voice was big all the way up. I'm always bowled over when I first hear her singing on Sirius but get bored easily. Don't hate me.


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

DavidA said:


> I think your description does not do justice to Tebaldi's fabulous instrument!


I've heard her being described as a voice you could hear around the block and one person said she could rival Nilsson when she occasionally really cut loose. A lot of it had to do with the incredible amount of squillo she had. I never heard her live so I can't say with authority. Just hearsay. As a Southerner I place a lot of stock in hearsay;-)


----------



## Reichstag aus LICHT (Oct 25, 2010)

Diminuendo said:


> I have to mention the following singer on the video. I guess that could be described as a pretty heroic voice.


That'll be "hare-oic", I presume?


----------



## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Reichstag aus LICHT said:


> That'll be "hare-oic", I presume?


Well not really, since Bugs ain't singing


----------



## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I've heard her being described as a voice you could hear around the block and one person said she could rival Nilsson when she occasionally really cut loose. A lot of it had to do with the incredible amount of squillo she had. I never heard her live so I can't say with authority. Just hearsay. As a Southerner I place a lot of stock in hearsay;-)


I read from somewhere that sound engineers told her to turn her head away from the microphone in loud passages and high notes. In the following video with Del Monaco you can barely hear him in the last high notes at the end. How it was in the theater I can't say.


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Lauritz Melchior.

Jon Vickers was no slouch either.


----------



## Reichstag aus LICHT (Oct 25, 2010)

Christa Ludwig as Leonore (or Waltraute, for that matter) always sounded pretty heroic to me.


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Diminuendo said:


> I read from somewhere that sound engineers told her to turn her head away from the microphone in loud passages and high notes. In the following video with Del Monaco you can barely hear him in the last high notes at the end. How it was in the theater I can't say.


Having to back off from the microphones seems to be necessary for big voices. I seem to remember Nilsson complaining about it.


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> Having to back off from the microphones seems to be necessary for big voices. I seem to remember Nilsson complaining about it.


In her 2 CD live performances CD you can tell a HUGE difference in her voice when it is recorded further back in an opera house. It is much more a mixture of darkness and light and sounds much fuller rather than so focused. I recommend it for any Nilsson fan.Her high C on Siegfried recorded further back is simply not believable!!!! Also of note are some of the passages leading to the Immolation Scene. Full, darkly hued brilliance that is full throated and massive!!!!!!!!!!! 
A note about another MASSIVE Heroic voice, Eileen Farrell, she was a great pop singer as well, but she had to record her old standards from across the room


----------

