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From: Karen Mercedes
To: VOCALIST <vocalist>
Subject: Re: Tenor timbre vs baritone timbre
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

On Wed, 15 Dec 1999, Oluseun Ekunwe wrote:

> Hi list,
>
> I had my audition and I was called in a second time so that the head man
> could listen to me. WOW. THey even said that I can get a scholarship but are
> not sure how much.
>
> ANyhow, the first man who listened to me said that I have baritonal timbre(
> he is a baritone but can sing from a c2 to a high c in chest voice) . This
> was new to me as I thought that the difference between a tenor and a
> baritone was simply the range.

snip

> My question is this: how does one's natural timbre dictate his fach when he
> can sing from bass to tenor?


Timbre, which is the combination of vocal weight and vocal colour, is one
of several indicators of one's vocal category. The other indicators are
the notes on which the "breaks" (passagii - upper and lower) occur,
absolute and working range, and most comfortable tessitura.

Timbre can be a good indicator of one's true vocal category, but it isn't
always reliable. Listen to tenor Giuseppe Giacomini, for example, and
you'd swear you were listening to a baritone...except that he's got the
requisite top notes to comfortably and effectively sing Puccini's Dick
Johnson, Leoncavallo's Canio, and Verdi's Otello.

The problem is, in that _fach_ (Italian tenore drammatico), the tessitura
tends to be a bit lower than it is in the tenore spinto and tenore lirico
_fachs_ - the same is true of much German Heldentenor repertoire. So
many singers who started life as baritones manage, through careful
development of their upper registers, to "convert" to dramatic tenors,
some with marked success (e.g., Lauritz Melchior). These same tenors
have proved to be less successful in some of the higher spinto and most
lyric roles, and some haven't really managed to develop the rock-solid
technique to continually manage the higher _fach_ consistently well
(Giacomini is an example of a baritonal tenor who hasn't always been
successful; Nicola Martinucci is another). Ramon Vinay was a baritone who
"converted" to tenor temporarily, with success - particularly in the role
of Otello (he was one of the greatest Otellos ever, and still sets the
standard for that role) - then switched back. He's one of the few singers
to sing both Don Jose and Escamillo.

On the other hand, there are also some baritones (mainly lyric) who, it
could be argued, are actually lazy tenors. Thomas Hampson has been cited
as one of these, and it's interesting to hear his renderings of the tenor
operetta standards on his new operetta CD - he truly does have an upper
extension and "ring" that Placido Domingo might envy.

Domingo is another interesting case. He began his career as a baritone,
but in early auditions the auditors observed that he was actually a tenor
(based on his timbre). However, he has gone on record as saying he is
truly a baritone who has to work to sustain the tenor _fach_. On the
other hand, he has also gone on record as saying he is truly a tenor, and
was never really a baritone. I'd guess that his position depends on how
hard a time he's having with those high Bs on any given day. :) Listen to
his Figaro on the undistinguished BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA recording he made
and you will realise that there's no way this man was ever truly a
baritone. He is a tenor who has simply never found the technical key to
unlocking his top notes. If you ever watch him (ideally on TV or video,
where you can see his face close up), you'll see that he does a really
weird thing with his tongue when he goes for those top notes, and he also
does what a lot of tenors tend to do - thrusts the chin down and slightly
forward (when, in fact, he should be lifting the "upper jaw" up to achieve
that extra opening/unhinging, with the lower jaw dropping and tucking in
very slightly). Carreras also does this. I always worry when I see too
much of a singer's lower teeth, and this is definitely a problem for both
of these tenors on their top notes.

So the answer to your question is: timbre is only one piece of the puzzle.


Karen Mercedes
=====
There is delight in singing,
tho' none hear Beside the singer.
- Walter Savage Landor
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