Vocalist.org archive


From:  John Alexander Blyth <BLYTHE@B...>
Date:  Thu Aug 24, 2000  4:27 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist-temporary] Re: Perceptions of the mezz-soprano sound


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
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John Blyth
Baritono robusto e lirico
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada

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