> The irony is that there is almost as much variety in countertenors as > there are in all female voices, let alone a range group, like mezzos > (of course, there don't seem to be enough "dramatics" out there to > warrant that category for CTs, at least yet). I tried to categorize > David Daniels last week as a "medium lyric countertenor" (to be more > specific, I would have like to have said medium lyric mezzo-sopranist > countertenor).
All countertenors are lyric and calling anyone "medium" anything is exactly what makes vocal labels seem silly. "Medium" smacks of ego, not vocal quality. Can you imagine Marily Horne referring to herself as a "medium" lyric mezzo, or Thomas Allen a "medium" baritone? You sing what you can sing successfully and that is what places you in a fach. If you can successfully sing Florestan, Canio, Otello and Siegfried, then you can call ones self a dramatic tenor. When countertenors can sing Santuzza, Eboli, Erda and Dalila, then we'll begin to call them dramatic. And as to soprano falsettists, are these people singing high Bb and C? I haven't heard any.
On a side note, Graham, does the fach system recognize countertenor at all, and do you know of any houses who have a full-time countertenor on roster?
Mark Montgomery
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