# Heroic middle and low range voices



## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

in general, tenors and sopranos get all the glory playing the hero/heroin, but imo, plenty of lower voices sound just as heroic.

I'll start with a few of my favorites 

Hakan Hagegard 





Shirley Verrett 





Jennifer Larmore and Samuel Ramey 





Joyce DiDonato





Cornel Macneil 





Mykola Kondratyuk


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Verrett was great both as a soprano and a mezzo, but the mezzo part of her voice was the most stunning. It was so beautiful.
David Hansen, the countertenor, has a beautiful, rich lower register.
Jennifer Larmore.
Ewa Podles
Jessye Norman!!!!
Christine Goerke
Marilyn Horne
George London
Samuel Ramey 
Leonard Warren


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Verrett was great both as a soprano and a mezzo, but the mezzo part of her voice was the most stunning. It was so beautiful.
> David Hansen, the countertenor, has a beautiful, rich lower register.
> Jennifer Larmore.
> Ewa Podles
> ...


Christine Goerke is a soprano, she's not allowed 

anyway, interesting list. personally, Horne and Podles don't really strike me as "heroic", but other than that, solid list.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> Christine Goerke is a soprano, she's not allowed
> 
> anyway, interesting list. personally, Horne and Podles don't really strike me as "heroic", but other than that, solid list.


I am a failure as an forum friend. I should have listened more to your specifications more closely. Goerke has a lower register worthy of a contralto... much as Jessye Norman did. I also found Ewa Podles lower register spine chilling as Erda. Have you heard Horne do any of those heroic castrati parts with her booming chest voice pronouncements???


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I am a failure as an forum friend. I should have listened more to your specifications more closely.


you're fine 



> Goerke has a lower register worthy of a contralto... much as Jessye Norman did. I also found Ewa Podles lower register spine chilling as Erda.


Jessye Norman basically _was_ a contralto :lol:



> Have you heard Horne do any of those heroic castrati parts with her booming chest voice pronouncements???


indeed, but for some reason, the word "heroic" doesn't come to mind (like "badass" more than heroic, if that makes any sense lol). 
one exception was actually a clip you shared. I was like  





adding a few more to the list

Sherrill Milnes





Eula Beal (she sounds like a jugendlich dramatischer sopran with low notes!)





Brigitte Fassbaender





Robert Merrill


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## BaritoneAssoluto (Jun 6, 2016)

If people don't mind me bumping
George London:









Boris Christoff:





Samuel Ramey:





Jennifer Larmore:





Sherrill Milnes:









And last but not least the great Soprano Falcon/Low Assoluta of her time:
Shirley Verrett:


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

BaritoneAssoluto said:


> If people don't mind me bumping
> George London:
> 
> 
> ...


How could we? You have as much right as anybody else to post.:tiphat:


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

BaritoneAssoluto said:


> If people don't mind me bumping
> George London:
> 
> 
> ...


it's only been a week since I last posted. you're fine XD


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Samuel Ramey


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Rosa Ponselle as a tenor: Russian Gypsy Song


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Rosa Ponselle as a tenor: Russian Gypsy Song


I watched the Pace, Pace, ............... also.
Phenomenal.:tiphat:


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Pugg said:


> I watched the Pace, Pace, ............... also.
> Phenomenal.:tiphat:


OH YES!!!!!!! There is an aria from La Vestale where the voice doesn't go up so high the sound gets distorted and you really get a sense of why her voice was the second largest to Flagstads. They had a contest singing in the empty opera house with witnesses in the back..



 Her voice was so dark and bright at the same time... and astonishingly large. Her high C was iffy and went away, but she could sing down to the C down below middle C with no discernable register shifts .I used this clip in my speech on Ponselle on Youtube, and in the club they were amazed.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> OH YES!!!!!!! There is an aria from La Vestale where the voice doesn't go up so high the sound gets distorted and you really get a sense of why her voice was the second largest to Flagstads. They had a contest singing in the empty opera house with witnesses in the back..
> 
> 
> 
> Her voice was so dark and bright at the same time... and astonishingly large. Her high C was iffy and went away, but she could sing down to the C down below middle C with no discernable register shifts .I used this clip in my speech on Ponselle on Youtube, and in the club they were amazed.


One of the greatest vocal recordings of all time. Every time I hear it I'm in disbelief. Thanks for posting it again.


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