Vocal Colors Female Singing Voice
Vocal Colors Female Singing Voice
Vocal Colors Female Singing Voice
An outstanding mezzo-soprano voice has a rich and full quality and is considered
effective in transmitting a sense of dramatic power and deep emotion. A number of
composers have written music specifically for the mezzo-soprano voice. In opera, the
best-known parts for the voice include Princess Eboli in Don Carlos (1867) and Amneris
in Aïda (1871), both by Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. Also composed for a mezzo-
soprano is the title role in Carmen (1875), by French composer Georges Bizet.
C. Alto or Contralto lowest of the three principal ranges of voice found in women or young
boys. The contralto has a range of about two octaves upward from E or F below middle
C. Originally the term also was applied in choral music to the highest male voice, the
countertenor, or male alto. In modern times it generally refers to the vocal part below the
soprano part of a musical composition; contralto is the term for the voice or the
performer. Today women who have a rich, weighty quality in the lower register are called
contraltos. In combination with the name of an instrument (alto trombone, alto
saxophone), the word alto denotes an instrument with a range just below the highest
range reached by that family of instruments. The alto clef is the C clef, so placed as to
indicate that middle C is on the third line of the staff.
Male singing voice.
A. Tenor, highest natural adult male voice, having an approximate range of two octaves,
starting usually at C below middle C.
Two classes of tenor are generally recognized
1. Tenore robusto - The dramatic tenor (“robust tenor”), with a quality in its
lower register that resembles that of the baritone, and the lighter and more
agile lyric tenor.
2. Heldentenor - less common tenor voices, (German Held, “hero”), a dramatic
voice naturally powerful enough to project over the large orchestras required
for some German operas;
3. Countertenor, or male alto, a light voice above and overlapping the normal
tenor range, which can be produced either by falsetto or by full-voice singing
by a tenor having a very high range.
The term tenor is derived from the Latin tenere (“to hold”). In medieval music the
tenor part was so named because it “held” the basic melodic line, known as the
cantus firmus, to which the other voices furnished countermelodies.
B. Baritone, a voice range and a wind instrument. The baritone voice is the male singing
voice intermediate between the bass and the tenor, having a normal compass of about two
octaves upward from the second A below middle C.
The instrument called a baritone is brass, with a cup mouthpiece, a conical bore, three valves,
and the same general range as the trombone. The term baritone is often also applied to similarly
pitched brass instruments such as the euphonium, which has a narrower bore and four or five
valves, and the tenor horn, which is a three-valved relative of the cornet.
C. Bass (voice) (Latin basis, “base, foot, pedestal”; influenced by French basse and Italian
basso), deepest, or lowest, male singing voice. The normal range of the bass voice is
about two octaves, with its lowest note usually an octave and a sixth below middle C.
Trained basses can reach notes considerably lower and higher; for example, the
contrabass (an especially deep voice developed principally in Russia) can range nearly an
octave below the normal lowest note.
Basses classification
2. basso cantante (Italian, “singing bass”), a voice with a well-developed upper range.
3. basso buffo (Italian, “comic bass”), an agile voice suited to comic operatic roles. A
bass baritone combines both basso profondo and basso cantante qualities, with a
slightly higher than normal range.
The term bass also is used for the normally lowest-pitched member of a family of instruments,
for example, the bass clarinet; a contrabass instrument has a range below the usual bass member
of the family. Bass also denotes the lowest part in a musical composition.