Okay, I got curious & looked it up in the American Heritage Dictionary:
1. "A voice or voice part having a range between a soprano and
contralto."
2. "A woman having such a voice." [Italian: mezzo, half (see
mezzo-relievo) + soprano.}
Mezzo-relievo means "half-relief" - a sculpture technique.
This doesn't help, does it?
Pat Smith
On Thu, 24 Aug 2000 09:37:29 -0500 Mike & Vicki Bryant
<mbryant@f...> writes:
> 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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