On Mon, 29 Jan 2001, Lloyd W. Hanson wrote:
> Here is another view, for what it is worth. I would never call Marilyn
> Horne a contralto. The voice has a much too bright, nasal quality in its
> low register to meet the criteria of a rich, deep contralto.
Ms. Horne does not consider herself a contralto. She stated that she is
asked this at almost every master class she gives (she always opens the
floor for questions at the end of each session.) Besides the quality of
her lower register, as Lloyd mentioned, the timbre of her upper register
resembles that of a mezzo as well - much closer to a soprano in color.
> I would be more inclined to call Christa Ludwig a contralto but she sings
> roles that cross many boundaries
I have always thought of Regina Resnik and Brigitte Fassbaender as
contraltos. I have sometimes wondered about Janet Baker, but I only have
to return to her early recordings to dismiss that thought. Someone
mentioned Marian Anderson, Kathleen Ferrier and Maureen Forrester:
another contralto of that generation was Lili Chookasian. Even farther
back were Bruna Castagna (one of my favorite voices), Chloe Elmo, Karin
Branzell, Clara Butt, and Ernestine Schumann-Heink. For what it's worth, I
have always considered Natalie Stutzmann a singer who falsely colors her
voice; the timbre has no core and she has problems with pitch. To my ears,
she is a singer whose performance level doesn't warrant recording contracts
and I've never read any press of any public performances. Don't get it,
but I've never heard her live. I believe Hanna Schwarz called herself a
contralto in the early years of her career (and may still occasionally.)
> C. Bartoli is clearly a high mezzo at best and could have been trained as a
> soprano. Contralto, never. She was wise to enter the professional world
> as a mezzo because the soprano field is so badly overcrowded.
J. B. Steane referred to Bartoli as a contralto? The only thing I can
think is that he was comparing her to the vocal type labelled contralto
during Rossini's era, which is quite different than what we use the term
for today.
Mark Montgomery
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