Sorry to be the one to throw the spanner in the works but I've heard
quite a few contraltos just in the last two years alone. I live in
Europe and first came across a "true" contralto while accompanying a
friend in Andorra where she was participating in masterclasses with
Monserrat Caballé. Until then I'd never really heard a true
contralto but fell in love with the voice as soon as I heard it and
started up my own collection of recordings.
I then heard another amazing one during Richard Miller's
masterclasses in Salzburg during the summer of 2002. We also have a
very talented contralto taking classes with my singing teacher.
Admittedly they are rarer than sopranos but finding them is not
exactly like finding a needle in a haystack. As for mezzos ..... I'm
a mezzo :-) I like to think of myself as rarer than a
soprano ... ;-)
I have to say, though, that at the same masterclasses in Andorra,
there was another girl who sang as a contralto but was told she
wasn't. It was quite heart-breaking for her to be told that she was
in fact a mezzo and that the colour of her voice was not a true
contralto colour, she was simply cabaple of singing low which is not
the only criteria for a contralto.
My own view on this subject is that there are probably plenty of
contralto's out there but they've never learnt to sing!!! I have
friends who say "I can't sing". When they do, I've noticed that they
have 'alto ranges and just find it uncomfortable trying to sing
high! How much talent is lost simply because people are afraid to
sing because they cannot sing along to certain types of music and
have no confidence?!!!
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