Axwell@a... wrote:
> Yes, but isn't the vocal usage different than what the castrattos did?
> Didn't the castrattos sing normally rather than on the edge of their
> cords or in a yodel position ? Or whatever a falsettist does? Why do
> you assume that the sound of a falsettist is similar to the sound of
> castratto?
There is a difference between a falsettist and a real countertenor (at
least by my definitions). A falsettist does, as you say, use only the
edge of his full-length vocal cords, using breath pressure as the
primary determinant of pitch. A man with a legitimate countertenor
instrument, however, uses a different technique. The fact that David
Daniels can do a crescendo or decrescendo on a given note proves it. A
true falsetto note cannot be amplified because the breath pressure is
used to control pitch.
The ability to phonate in this way is not so much mechanical as it is
neurological. The traditional castrati repertoire tells us they most
likely had root tenor or tenorino speaking voices. What made them
special was that their lack of testosterone virtually guaranteed the
preservation of the upper range which most boys lose in their teenage
years.
This is not far off from the case of Daniels, Mera or Asawa, who all
have root tenor speaking voices. Their ability to sing in the upper
range with full volume control implies they are using a mechanism much
closer to a woman's had voice than to falsetto. Of course, these singers
still sound somewhat like men because of the resonance of their vocal
tract... resonance is a much more important indicator of final sound
that of the source vibration, assuming comparable levels of harmonic
complexity in the original tone (and assuming fully adducted cords, they
should be equivalent).
So to sum it all up, countertenors who have a true upper head voice
probably *do* sound more like castrati than mezzos because: 1) they have
a male vocal tract and 2) they have the lower tenor extension which many
mezzos lack. This doesn't even begin to address the issue of dramatic
believability, which probably is relatively unimportant, considering
Handel himself did not seem to care much whether a given role was played
by a man or woman.
-Tako
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