One other factor: fashion. Opera goes through phases of expecting a
certain sound (timbre) of voice in certain roles. For example, the role
of Danilo in Lehar's MERRY WIDOW and Eisenstein in Strauss's DIE
FLEDERMAUS are two roles that began life as tenor roles, but have through
the years been taken on increasingly by baritones, then gone back to
tenors, then to baritones, etc. These are the so-called "baritenor" roles
that sit, tessiturawise, on a kind of fence while having ranges that
aren't terribly demanding (no altitudinous high notes), so that both types
of voices can sing them successfully. The Drum Major in WOZZECK is
another role that has been sung successfully by baritones, despite being
scored for tenor (Bartione Nelson Eddy was the first person to sing the
role at the Met, for example).
Sometimes a particular singer can make such a mark singing an "out of
fach" role that he/she redefines that role - or at least expands its
possible performers - forever. Case in point: Don Giovanni - a baritone
role sung so amazingly well by basso cantante Ezio Pinza that no one bats
an eye these days when bassos undertake the role - it has been sung
successfully, for example, in recent years by Terfel and Ramey.
Then there are roles like Carmen, which was conceived in a higher
register, for soprano, rewritten by the composer for the singer-at-hand, a
mezzo, but fashion dictated, for decades after Bizet's death, that Carmen
would be sung primarily (though not exclusively) by sopranos - until the
'30s, in fact, when mezzos like Rise Stevens "retook" the role, so that by
the post-war years, Carmen was/is considered a mezzo-soprano role.
Mezzos at both ends of the spectrum are, in fact, increasingly "taking
over" roles that were never intended (by the composer) for them. Santuzza
in CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA is one example: this is a role that is sung much
more often these days by mezzos than by sopranos; Kundry in PARSIFAL is
another example; others: Adalgisa in NORMA, Giulietta in TALES OF
HOFFMANN, Giovanna Seymour in ANNA BOLENA.
Early in the 20th Century, Mozart's Cherubino was as likely to be sung by
sopranos as by mezzos. Nowadays, not only is Cherubino considered a mezzo
role, but increasingly Zerlina is being sung by mezzos (and quite
successfully).
I always find it fun to go through old opera guides, e.g., the old Victor
Book of the Opera, from around the turn of the 20th century, to get an
idea of what type of voices the audiences of that time expected in
different roles. According to my 1911 edition of the Victor Book, for
example, Aennchen in FRESCHUETZ is a mezzo-soprano role, as is Sophie in
WERTHER - while Charlotte is a soprano. Part of the confusion may have
stemmed, I have heard, from the fact that "mezzo-soprano" had a different
meaning in the 19th Century than it does today, and was meant to designate
some kind of young, "not quite ready for prime time" soprano who would
eventually blossom into a soprano, but in the meantime whiled her time
away singing what today are considered soubrette soprano roles. I'm not
sure I "buy" this. I tend to think it more likely that the big dramatic
roles like Charlotte did belong to the sopranos then - out of popular
taste - so that the smaller, less demanding roles with limited ranges were
given to slightly lower-voiced singers to provide vocal contrast. I've
always found it interesting that Tchaikovsky gave his soubrette role, in
ONEGIN, to a contralto - but this may not be the unusual "freak" it seems;
it may well be that in Tchaikovsky's day, the soubrette was expected to
have the lower voice, compared with the more dramatic (theatrically, if
not vocally) soprano heroine.
Karen Mercedes
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
***************************************
Verdi and Wagner delighted the crowds
With their highly original sound.
The pianos they played are still working,
But they're both six feet underground.
- Michael Palin
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