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From:  "Jeffrey Snider <snide76258@y...
Date:  Sat Jan 4, 2003  12:55 am
Subject:  Mezzos and contraltos (was: Re: [vocalist] I Need To Be Enlightened On This...)

I did my dissertation on the songs of Sidney Homer, and necessarily
spent a lot of time researching his wife, Louise Homer. NEVER was
Louise referred to as a "mezzo-soprano." (Nor was Schumann-Heink, or
anyone else as far as that goes.) However, most of the roles she
sang, we would consider "mezzo" roles today: Amneris, Azucena,
Dalila, etc.

A quick glance at Musical America will show that there are
comparitively few "contraltos" out there, and lots of "mezzos". I
studied at Indiana with Martha Lipton, who told us that early in her
career she billed herself as a "contralto" because, in her words, "I
wanted to be something nobody else was." She soon found that all she
was getting offered were oratorio solos and "old lady" parts. She
started billing herself as a mezzo.

It's really too bad that we have lost this distinction. I find that
there is a general confusion about the two voice types. From what I
have seen, the mid to late 19th-Century concept of "mezzo-soprano"
was more like a "second soprano" than a high contralto.

Adding to this confusion is that many "mezzo" roles are, in fact,
soprano roles. Check out the score: Siebel, Cherubino, Dorabella, and
many other roles usually sung by mezzos are in fact listed as soprano
roles.





  Replies Name/Email Yahoo! ID Date  
21737 Re: Mezzos and contraltos (was: Re: [vocalist] I Need To Be EnlighteLloyd W. Hansonlwh1 Sat  1/4/2003  
21739 The Original Three Tenors.Jamesbandbau Sat  1/4/2003  
21757 Re: The Original Three Tenors.John Linkjohnlink010254 Sat  1/4/2003  
21766 Re: The Original Three Tenors.Jamestranquil2404 Sun  1/5/2003  
21746 Basses and baritonesJeffrey Snider <snide76258@y...>snide76258 Sat  1/4/2003  
21750 Re: Mezzos and contraltos (was: Re: [vocalist] I Need To Be EnlighteEdward Norton  Sat  1/4/2003  
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