# Which voice type gets the best and worst roles?



## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

contraltos (and, to a lesser extent, mezzos) complain that they only get to pay "witches, britches and bitches", but honestly, I think mezzo and contralto roles are cool as hell. they can be sinister and witch-like like Azucena or Klytemnestra, dark and seductive like Delilah or Carmen or heroic like a Rossini pants role (to date, Arsace is one of the most interesting roles I've ever come across. something about it is captivating in a way that no soprano role will come close to).

*worst roles*
imo, the fach which gets the short end of the stick is _tenors_. sure, it's fun to play the hero once or twice, but when most of your roles are love sick teenagers, suicidal artists and star crossed lovers who get killed....that gets old very quickly.

sopranos can have similar issues, but their characters have a lot more variety, more nuance, and, once you venture outside of baroque masterwork solos and teapot coloratura aria, the potential to be quite formidable. unlike tenors, sopranos also get to explore the middle and registers and play around with a wider range of colors in the voice.

there are a few tenor roles which are quite nice, but overall, it's not repertoire I'd be rushing to sing.

*best roles*
_bass!_ almost every bass role in existence is badass. they get to play kings, conquerors, sinister villains, patriarchs.....pretty much anything related to power or authority.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Interesting perspective on tenors. They get great arias to sing and plenty of applause when their high notes don't crack, but high-voiced male characters (sometimes erroneously known as "heroes") do tend to be stupid, pathetic, or just cardboard. Look at the tenor roles of Strauss and Puccini; who the heck _are_ those guys, and who cares, when we can't take our eyes off Callas or Schwarzkopf?

As for basses, I don't know that power and authority are all that interesting, but basses do get to be funny too; there are the Osmins and Dulcamaras as well as the Philips and Hagens (but the less said about Ochs the better - I don't think Strauss liked the male voice at all). If you include bass-baritones, you get to include Wagner's Dutchman, Wotan, Alberich, Sachs, Amfortas, and Klingsor. But if you want to give those roles to baritones, then baritones may have the edge over basses for interesting parts. You can hardly top Rigoletto and Don Giovanni.

Actually I don't have a sure answer to the question. But as in straight theater and literature, the villains and "character" roles - usually the lower voices in opera - often have the most interesting motivations and stage business. Didn't Verdi originally think of calling _Otello_ "Iago"?


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> Interesting perspective on tenors. They get great arias to sing and plenty of applause when their high notes don't crack, but high-voiced male characters (sometimes erroneously known as "heroes") do tend to be stupid, pathetic, or just cardboard. Look at the tenor roles of Strauss and Puccini; who the heck _are_ those guys, and who cares, when we can't take our eyes off Callas or Schwarzkopf?


bingo! 
speaking of being "erroneously known as heroes", I generally find the dramatic baritone more heroic than most tenors. 
some more powerful tenors who fit the bill (generally spintos. dramatic tenors often sound pre-maturely old), but a powerful baritone voice is a more _mighty_ sound and, imo, comes across more formidable, albeit without the youthful endearment some people find in a higher, brighter voice


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> contraltos (and, to a lesser extent, mezzos) complain that they only get to pay "witches, britches and bitches", but honestly, I think mezzo and contralto roles are cool as hell. they can be sinister and witch-like like Azucena or Klytemnestra, dark and seductive like Delilah or Carmen or heroic like a Rossini pants role (to date, Arsace is one of the most interesting roles I've ever come across. something about it is captivating in a way that no soprano role will come close to).
> 
> *worst roles*
> imo, the fach which gets the short end of the stick is _tenors_. sure, it's fun to play the hero once or twice, but when most of your roles are love sick teenagers, suicidal artists and star crossed lovers who get killed....that gets old very quickly.
> ...


Oddly enough, I've always thought basses get some of the worst roles, if by "worst" you mean "dull." Examples would be the reverend in LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR or Oroveso in NORMA. These roles don't have to _come across_ as dull, of course, but to the casual listener their music tends to sound dull. (I make an exception for Giorgio in I PURITANI, because he sings that lovely "Cinta di fiori" piece.)


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Simon Boccanegra blows this thread away.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Bellinilover said:


> Oddly enough, I've always thought basses get some of the worst roles, if by "worst" you mean "dull." Examples would be the reverend in LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR or Oroveso in NORMA. These roles don't have to _come across_ as dull, of course, but to the casual listener their music tends to sound dull. (I make an exception for Giorgio in I PURITANI, because he sings that lovely "Cinta di fiori" piece.)


I think that the role of Oroveso, as it was written by Bellini, suffers from the problems that the singer that was due for the premiere at La Scala, Vincenzo Negrini, was already sick of the heart issues that will kill him a few years later, and Bellini decided not to write a proper aria for him, but use the singer with care, and supported by the chorus. Bellini, as with other passages of "Norma", had in his mind to rewrite the score for Oroveso's role, but he was surprised by his own death before the could do that.

Well, Richard Wagner wrote an aria for Oroveso, though: 






Personally, I do love Oroveso's music, and especially his Act2 scene with the chorus:


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## SalieriIsInnocent (Feb 28, 2008)

I've always been mad that my voice didn't get just a little deeper, as I loved the bass roles, and would've probably pursued opera, had I been a bass.


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Supposedly, Strauss hated tenors and wrote lousy roles for them . However, the role of the emperor in Die Frau Ohne Schatten, difficult as it is , is wonderful when sung as beautifully as Placido Domingo does on the superb Solti recording on Decca . I don't believe he ever sang it live on stage .
Too bad old tricky Dick never heard this performance .


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

How about: The Woodbird and the voice from heaven for beginning soprano


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Bellinilover said:


> Oddly enough, I've always thought basses get some of the worst roles, if by "worst" you mean "dull." Examples would be the reverend in LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR or Oroveso in NORMA. These roles don't have to _come across_ as dull, of course, but to the casual listener their music tends to sound dull. (I make an exception for Giorgio in I PURITANI, because he sings that lovely "Cinta di fiori" piece.)


well, non-Rossini bel canto didn't have a whole lot of prominent bass roles. in contrast, if you look at Verdi, Wagner, Rossini or various Eastern European music, you'll find a number of satisfying roles and pieces for bass


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Indeed, Russian opera mustn't be forgotten, or some of the great Russian basses. Feodor Chaliapin, Mark Reizen and Boris Christoff certainly found plenty of interesting material to keep them busy.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Indeed.

There are great Russian opera roles for basses. This is one of my favourite arias for the fach:


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

schigolch said:


> Indeed.
> 
> There are great Russian opera roles for basses. This is one of my favourite arias for the fach:


^you beat me to the punch (the singer rather than the aria)


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> well, non-Rossini bel canto didn't have a whole lot of prominent bass roles. in contrast, if you look at Verdi, Wagner, Rossini or various Eastern European music, you'll find a number of satisfying roles and pieces for bass


Donizetti's _Marino Faliero_ and _Don Pasquale_ star the bass. Otherwise, it's Sulpice and Raimondo, and a lot of supporting roles...

Don't forget French opera! There are a lot of good roles for basses - Méphistophèles, Cardinal Brogni (La Juive), Bertram (Robert le Diable), Marcel (Les Huguenots), Zacharie (Le Prophète), Peter the Great (Étoile du Nord), Don Pédro (Vasco da Gama), Don Quichotte, &c.


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> contraltos (and, to a lesser extent, mezzos) complain that they only get to pay "witches, britches and bitches", but honestly, I think mezzo and contralto roles are cool as hell. they can be sinister and witch-like like Azucena or Klytemnestra, dark and seductive like Delilah or Carmen or heroic like a Rossini pants role (to date, Arsace is one of the most interesting roles I've ever come across. something about it is captivating in a way that no soprano role will come close to).
> 
> *worst roles*
> imo, the fach which gets the short end of the stick is _tenors_. sure, it's fun to play the hero once or twice, but when most of your roles are love sick teenagers, suicidal artists and star crossed lovers who get killed....that gets old very quickly.
> ...


Most tenor roles in bel canto are elderly fathers; virile young lovers are women in drag!

Tenor parts in French opera are often not the ardent young lovers of Italian opera - they're psychologically complex revolutionaries, politicians, explorers and artists - Énée, Masaniello, Jean de Leyde, Vasco, Cellini.

Éléazar, the Jewish father in _La Juive_, was intended to be a bass role. It was changed to a tenor part for Adolphe Nourrit, who wanted a meaty role.


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Those who can't sing get the worst roles, because they don't get roles at all.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> contraltos (and, to a lesser extent, mezzos) complain that they only get to pay "witches, britches and bitches", but honestly, I think mezzo and contralto roles are cool as hell. they can be sinister and witch-like like Azucena or Klytemnestra, dark and seductive like Delilah or Carmen or heroic like a Rossini pants role (to date, Arsace is one of the most interesting roles I've ever come across. something about it is captivating in a way that no soprano role will come close to).
> 
> *worst roles*
> imo, the fach which gets the short end of the stick is _tenors_. sure, it's fun to play the hero once or twice, but when most of your roles are love sick teenagers, suicidal artists and star crossed lovers who get killed....that gets old very quickly.
> ...


Definitely agree with you about bass roles and they're often far more interesting than tenor roles.

I have never understood why Odabella preferred that wimp Foresto when she could have had Attila on a plate.


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## kkatz (Apr 2, 2016)

I think Altos receive less challenging music and the least exciting roles in general. It's a peculiar voice part to cast, because although the music itself may be challenging, its scale is not as extreme as sopranos'. For example, I am always impressed by the Queen of the Night's aria in Act Two, but I don't know of any arias sung by Altos.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

kkatz said:


> I think Altos receive less challenging music and the least exciting roles in general. It's a peculiar voice part to cast, because although the music itself may be challenging, its scale is not as extreme as sopranos'. For example, I am always impressed by the Queen of the Night's aria in Act Two, but I don't know of any arias sung by Altos.


I can help with that =)













or if you're into pants roles


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