# female baritones?



## norman bates

I had never listened anything like this before. Her name is Hallbjörg Bjarnadóttir, and it seems she was able to sing anything from the baritone register, where she sounds exactly like a man to soprano parts.






There are other singers (I'm obviously talking about female singers) with the ability to sing parts so low?


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## SixFootScowl

I like contraltos but that lady is way too deep. That is about as bad as a counter tenor to me.


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## Vaneyes

Frightening proposition.


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## SixFootScowl

And that hair cut sure makes the whole impression that much worse.


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## Barelytenor

*And ... Welcome to Contralto Corner!*

Actually, if you go to the longer YouTube version, that says that she can "sing soprano, alto, tenor, and bass."

Yma Sumac eat your heart out.

Curiouser and curiouser: I think it was Jimmy Dean that said, "You can see a lot just by looking." I couldn't resist Googling Madame Bjarnadóttir (hey, try to keep the cognitive dissonance down to a minimum here, will ya?) and discovered:

TA DAAAAA!

*Contralto Corner! *I am linking to the page on that site that has a photo of a noticeably older Hallbjörg Bjarnadóttir (so they say; please ignore any resemblance to Edith Bunker in All in the Family), but there are lots of other contraltos virtually hanging out on this site, and there is mighty powerfully scary singing going on in some of the resultant pages.

You can't make this stuff up.

http://www.contraltocorner.com/blog/category/hallbjoumlrg-bjarnadoacutettir

:tiphat:

Kind regards,

George


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## SixFootScowl

Contralto Corner lists one of my favorites, Ewa Podles. Here is a favorite aria of hers that got me into contraltos. You notice as low as she goes, she never really sounds like a man. It is a womanly voice through and through.


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## Vaneyes

Florestan said:


> And that hair cut sure makes the whole impression that much worse.


I tried searching for a different hairstyle in this genre, with no success.


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## Pugg

Florestan said:


> I like contraltos but that lady is way too deep. That is about as bad as a counter tenor to me.


Way, way to deep, she sounds like Willard White.


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## Barelytenor

Barelytenor said:


> Actually, if you go to the longer YouTube version, that says that she can "sing soprano, alto, tenor, and bass."
> 
> Yma Sumac eat your heart out.
> 
> Curiouser and curiouser: I think it was Jimmy Dean that said, "You can see a lot just by looking." I couldn't resist Googling Madame Bjarnadóttir (hey, try to keep the cognitive dissonance down to a minimum here, will ya?) and discovered:
> 
> TA DAAAAA!
> 
> *Contralto Corner! *I am linking to the page on that site that has a photo of a noticeably older Hallbjörg Bjarnadóttir (so they say; please ignore any resemblance to Edith Bunker in All in the Family), but there are lots of other contraltos virtually hanging out on this site, and there is mighty powerfully scary singing going on in some of the resultant pages.
> 
> You can't make this stuff up.
> 
> http://www.contraltocorner.com/blog/category/hallbjoumlrg-bjarnadoacutettir
> 
> :tiphat:
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> George


I mean, Yogi Berra. Jimmy Dean is the sausage guy.


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## hpowders

Wow! A female baritone!. Doesn't get much sexier than that!


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## Reichstag aus LICHT

Pugg said:


> Way, way to deep, she sounds like Willard White.


I thought she sounded like Droopy occasionally.


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## Barelytenor

*And Now for Something Entirely Different: Bally Prell*

More amazement from Contralto Corner:

"Bally Prell (Born September 14, 1922 in Munich, died 20 March 1982 in Munich; real name: Agnes Pauline Prell) was a Munich performer, singer, and folk singer, who performed in the Baverian dialect.

Prell was born the daughter of folk singer and composer Ludwig Prell on Leopold Street 77 in Schwabing, a district in the Bavarian Capitol of Munich, where she lived her entire life. As early as five years old, she performed at Munich's Odeon Hall and wowed the audience with her voice. Her voice was a soft tenor, which enabled her to sing classical arias.

On 31 October 1953, she appeared for the first time in Munich's Platzl with her song, "Die Schönheitskönigin von Schneizlreuth" ("The Beauty Queen of Schneizlreuth"). The song used Prell's unusual vocal range and decidedly un-beauty queen-like appearance to caricature the emerging beauty craze. The program included the music composed by her father "Isarmärchen." Prell remained connected to the Platzl the rest of her life."

The folks at Contralto Corner have her in their Contralto Profondo classification, along with the aforementioned Hallbjörg Bjarnadóttir. And here is Bally Prell singing "Una furtiva lagrima":






:tiphat:

Kind regards,

George


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## Vaneyes

hpowders said:


> Wow! A female baritone!. Doesn't get much sexier than that!


Yes it does.


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## Pugg

Reichstag aus LICHT said:


> I thought she sounded like Droopy occasionally.


Close, very close.


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## Barelytenor

Actually, Bally Prell sings "Una furtiva lagrima" down a minor third from the key Donizetti wrote it, G minor versus B flat minor. So in her version, the low note at "invidiar sem-bro" is the D in the middle of the bass clef.

:tiphat:

Kind regards,

George


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