Vocalist.org archive


From:  Karen Mercedes <dalila@R...>
Date:  Thu Jan 9, 2003  1:32 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Question

On Wed, 8 Jan 2003 livinnlovinit@a... wrote:

> Can someone explain to me the difference between a mezzo, spinto, and lyric
> soprano...then maybe I can figure out which I am. Thanks!


In modern (vs. historical) parlance, a mezzo-soprano is the female voice
that is higher than a contralto, but lower than a plain soprano. Thus it
indicates a relatively lower comfortable tessitura, and a relatively lower
absolute range.


By contrast, the terms "dramatic", "spinto", "lyric", and "leggero" don't
have anything to do with range, per se (though in reality, you will find
range differences and tessitura differences among these different voice
types) - but instead indicate differences in the "weight" or "power" of
the voice. The "heaviest" or "biggest" voice is the dramatic voice - it's
able to sing over a large orchestra. It often has other characteristics
that aren't shared to the same extent by the other voice categories - but
size/heft is the main defining factor. The "spinto" (which literally means
"pushed" in Italian) is in essence a lyric voice that has been given more
weight to it somehow - either through genetics or by technical effort -
but which isn't a true dramatic voice. A lyric voice is the most common in
all categories (soprano, mezzo, alto, tenor, baritone, and bass), and is
"lighter" than a spinto and dramatic. The "leggero" is the lightest of the
voice weights. One of the other things that tends to go along with the
difference in vocal weights is a difference in vocal agility. The larger
the voice, generally, the less agile it is (there are exceptions of course
- dramatic coloratura sopranos who defy the "rule" that big voices don't
move as easily as light ones). For this reason, there are expectations
associated with each voice weight. A leggero singer who has not got easy
coloratura/fioratura ability will, frankly, be of little interest to
anyone. A dramatic voice that has this ability will be greatly prized,
because it is so much rarer.

There are dramatic voices and lyric voices in all categories: soprano,
mezzo, contralto (though contraltos are so rare, people rarely make a
distinction between dramatic and lyric ones), tenor, baritone, and bass
(the term for a lyric bass is a "basso cantante"). The terms leggero and
spinto are generally reserved for the highest voices - sopranos and
tenors. There are more of these types of voices (at least more sopranos -
don't know about tenors...I always thought baritones were more common than
tenors), and thus more room for creating "subgroups" than there are with
the rarer mezzos, contraltos, and basses. Don't know why there aren't more
subgroups of baritones - as I said, I thought these were actually more
common than tenors. But in any case, in the opera world, the conventions
are that it's usually the sopranos and tenors who are the "heroines" an
"heroes" of the operas, while the mezzos and baritones play the secondary
leads, and the contraltos and basses play the supporting roles.

We'll talk about countertenors another day.

Karen Mercedes
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
________________________________
One must be something if one
wishes to put on appearances.
- Ludwig von Beethoven




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