Here is a quote from The New Grove Dictionary of Opera: "The term itself was first used by J.J.Quantz, writing of Faustina Bordoni: he is quoted by Burney (History, iv, 1789, pp.318ff) as saying that she had "a less clear than penetrating mezzosoprano voice', with the range b to g"; he also used the term of the castrato Senesino..." The article goes on to suggest that the term gained more currency much later when high sopranos became in vogue and singers who would have previously been classified as sopranos got the moniker mezzosoprano. I'm personally inclined to feel that Burney was thinking of timbre rather than range, and that timbre crept back into the picture when composers and impresarios realized that that they would be excluding some of the most luscious voices if they kept on insisting on all those really high notes. john
At 09:37 AM 8/24/00 -0500, you wrote: >Karen Mercedes wrote: >tec> The origin of the term "mezzo-soprano" was once explained to me as >vtec> applying not to the sound of the singer's voice, but to the fact that the >vtec> "mezzo-soprano" was the soprano-in-training (vs. the prima donna). And >vtec> thus, not quite a "full" soprano. > >vtec> I thought this explanation sounded goofy. Has anyone else heard it? > >I've never heard anything like that before, but as yet, I haven't >heard any better explanation. > >Vicki Bryant >Naperville, IL > > > > > > > > John Blyth Baritono robusto e lirico Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
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