# Dramatic soprano/tenor is not a "high" voice



## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

There is a common misconception in opera that tenor/soprano is high voice, baritone/mezzo is medium voice and bass/contralto is low voice. In truth, real baritones and mezzos are fairly low, heavy voices while dramatic soprano and tenor are middle range. People lament the dearth of the latter in modern music, when in truth, they represent something closer to the middle of the human voice, not rare anomalies. On the other hand, competition for the former is pushed artificially high by all the mis-trained higher fach being told that because their voice is "in the middle", that it means they are baritone or mezzo, to the point where many have forgotten what a real baritone or mezzo even sounds like.

Properly trained, a dramatic soprano will have a chest voice that modern teachers would mistake for contralto, often stretching down to low E or even low D.





similarly, a true dramatic tenor is a dark, manly sound, not a voice which is supposed to sound boyish, youthful or bright. today, Giuseppe Giacomini would be cast as a baritone.






tl;dr:

perception
high voice: soprano/tenor
medium voice: mezzo/baritone
low voice: contralto/bass

reality:
very high: leggiero soprano/tenor 
high: lyric soprano/tenor
medium-high: spinto soprano/tenor
medium-low: dramatic soprano/tenor
low: mezzo/baritone
very low: contralto/bass


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Of course there are the freak voices of Nilsson, Eva Turner and Grob Prandl, that had all you described but also had a seemingly endless supply of notes in the high tessitura. Nilsson had a low speaking voice and easily sang the low F in Salome. Flagstad was very much what you described.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Of course there are the freak voices of Nilsson, Eva Turner and Grob Prandl, that had all you described but also had a seemingly endless supply of notes in the high tessitura. Nilsson had a low speaking voice and easily sang the low F in Salome. Flagstad was very much what you described.


low F#, but the point remains valid.


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