John Alexander Blyth wrote:
vtec> True contralto voices are rare and prized - even the Met usually has
mezzos
vtec> sing contralto roles most of the time, so it's hardly surprising that
vtec> people don't really know what to do with them.
Unfortunately, it seems that the common practice of having
mezzo-sopranos sing contralto literature has had a rebound effect in
that many people hiring mezzos expect us to sound like contraltos!
I've just been revisiting some of the arias from Bach's Mass in B
minor, and both my teacher and I agree that the Soprano II arias fit
me better than the alto arias, although I can sing them both. This is
logical: I am a low soprano, or "half-soprano"(mezzo-soprano), not an alto
(contralto).
Does anybody know when the term "mezzo-soprano" came into common usage
and how it migrated from describing a lower soprano voice into a
catchall term for any low female voice?
Vicki Bryant, real mezzo-soprano
Naperville, IL
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