And why aren't there mezzo-soprano countertenors? When I listen to Andreas
Scholl, I hear a voice that is unquestionably "alto-ish" in colour. By
contrast, despite the fact he calls himself an alto, when I hear David
Daniels, I hear nothing remotely "alto-ish". I hear, instead, a voice that
is very comparable in colour and timbre to many female lyric mezzos. So
given the world is not yet ready for true fach-gradation of the voice type
(or roles), can we at least add the one classification to better represent
what we're actually hearing?
By the way, you countertenors aren't the only one's short-changed in the
_fach_ department. According to the _fach_ system (and Italian and French
equivalents), EVERY contralto is obviously able to sing EVERY role in the
contralto repertoire - from Mozart's Mitridate and Rossini's
Isabella to Wagner's Erda and Menotti's Madame Flora. I've always known
that we contraltos were superwomen who could "do it all" (particularly
compared with the poor sopranos, who have had to have more gradations in
fach defined for them than for any other vocal classification) - but did
this superwomandom have to be systematised?
KM
=====
My NEIL SHICOFF Website:
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/shicoff/shicoff.html
My Website:
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
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We're sitting in the opera house;
We're waiting for the curtain to arise
With wonders for our eyes,
A feeling of expectancy,
A certain kind of ecstasy,
Expectancy and ecstasy....Sh's's's.
- Charles Ives
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