Thursday, August 26, 2010
Verdi's slap on Mongini's face!
The poor tenor, Mongini, makes all the way to Il Cairo only to have Verdi telling jouranlists that he considered the Milano premiere as the premiere (Italics his!).
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Pietro Mongini, the first Radames.
Pietro Mongini. Italian tenor, first Radames. Mayall Photo, London. (b Rome, 29 Oct 1839; d Milan, 27 April 1874). Italian tenor. He started his career as a bass, but by 1853 was singing tenor roles at Genoa. In 1855 he made his Paris début at the Théâtre Italien as Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), and in 1857 sang at Reggio Emilia in the first performance of Achille Peri’s Vittor Pisani and in Anna Bolena. He first appeared at La Scala in 1858 as Arnold (Guillaume Tell), and made his London début in 1859 as Elvino (La sonnambula) at Drury Lane, where he also sang Henri in the first London performance of Les vêpres siciliennes. In 1860 he sang Manrico at La Scala and Huon (Oberon) at Her Majesty’s Theatre. He returned to London every year from 1862 to 1873, singing either at Her Majesty’s, where his roles included Don Alvaro in the first London performance of La forza del destino (1867), or at Covent Garden, where he made his début as Gennaro in Lucrezia Borgia (1868). In 1871 he created Radames in Aida, at the Cairo Opera House. His heroic voice was not used with much subtlety, but in such roles as Arnold, Manrico and Don Alvaro the sheer brilliance of sound compensated for any lack of artistry.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Calvesi -- "Un'aura amorosa" 1789
Vincenzo Calvesi
(b Rome ; fl. 1777 – 1811 ), mezzo carattere, Il re Teodoro, Una cosa rara
Italian tenor.
His first known appearance was in Rome in 1777.
He sang in comic opera in Italy until 1782, specializing in mezzo carattere roles.
From 1782 to 1783 he sang in Dresden, and in 1785 he settled in Vienna, making his début there as Sandrino in Giovanni Paisiello's Il re Teodoro.
Except for a year's leave of absence in 1788 , which he spent mainly in Naples, he remained in Vienna until 1794.
A versatile lyric tenor, he created leading roles in operas by Vicente Martín y Soler (Una cosa rara and L’arbore di Diana), Stephen Storace (Gli sposi malcontenti and Gli equivoci) and Antonio Salieri (La grotta di Trofonio and Axur, re d’Ormus), as well as Ferrando in W. A. Mozart's Così fan tutte.
Un'aura amorosa
de nostro tesoro
un dolce ristoro
al cor porgera
al cor che nudrito
di speme d'amore
d'un'esca migliore
bisogno non ha.
In 1785 he sang the Count in the quartet ‘Dite almeno, in che mancai’ k479 and the trio ‘Mandina amabile’ k480 written by Mozart for Francesco Bianchi's La villanella rapita.
He was described in Grundsätze zur Theaterkritik ( 1790 ) as ‘one of the best tenors from Italy…with a voice naturally sweet, pleasant and sonorous’.
On his retirement from the stage in 1794 Calvesi returned to Rome, where he became one of the city's leading impresarios ( c 1796 – 1811 ).
Vincenzo's wife, Teresa, sang small roles in Vienna from 1785 to about 1789 , when she left on her own to pursue her career in London and Italy. A Giuseppe Calvesi is known to have been active 1784 – 91 ; he, and not Vincenzo, sang in London in 1787 and 1788 .
Bibliography and More Information about Vincenzo Calvesi
Dorotea Link : The National Court Theatre in Mozart's Vienna: Sources and Documents 1783–1792 (Oxford, 1998)
•J. A. Rice:
Antonio Salieri and the Viennese Opera (Chicago, 1998)
Read more: Vincenzo Calvesi Biography - ( b Rome ; fl 1777 – 1811 ), mezzo carattere, Il re Teodoro, Una cosa rara - Sang, Vienna, Mozart, Roles, Gli, and Antonio http://arts.jrank.org/pages/7700/Vincenzo-Calvesi.html#ixzz0xCgCsW4X
(b Rome ; fl. 1777 – 1811 ), mezzo carattere, Il re Teodoro, Una cosa rara
Italian tenor.
His first known appearance was in Rome in 1777.
He sang in comic opera in Italy until 1782, specializing in mezzo carattere roles.
From 1782 to 1783 he sang in Dresden, and in 1785 he settled in Vienna, making his début there as Sandrino in Giovanni Paisiello's Il re Teodoro.
Except for a year's leave of absence in 1788 , which he spent mainly in Naples, he remained in Vienna until 1794.
A versatile lyric tenor, he created leading roles in operas by Vicente Martín y Soler (Una cosa rara and L’arbore di Diana), Stephen Storace (Gli sposi malcontenti and Gli equivoci) and Antonio Salieri (La grotta di Trofonio and Axur, re d’Ormus), as well as Ferrando in W. A. Mozart's Così fan tutte.
Un'aura amorosa
de nostro tesoro
un dolce ristoro
al cor porgera
al cor che nudrito
di speme d'amore
d'un'esca migliore
bisogno non ha.
In 1785 he sang the Count in the quartet ‘Dite almeno, in che mancai’ k479 and the trio ‘Mandina amabile’ k480 written by Mozart for Francesco Bianchi's La villanella rapita.
He was described in Grundsätze zur Theaterkritik ( 1790 ) as ‘one of the best tenors from Italy…with a voice naturally sweet, pleasant and sonorous’.
On his retirement from the stage in 1794 Calvesi returned to Rome, where he became one of the city's leading impresarios ( c 1796 – 1811 ).
Vincenzo's wife, Teresa, sang small roles in Vienna from 1785 to about 1789 , when she left on her own to pursue her career in London and Italy. A Giuseppe Calvesi is known to have been active 1784 – 91 ; he, and not Vincenzo, sang in London in 1787 and 1788 .
Bibliography and More Information about Vincenzo Calvesi
Dorotea Link : The National Court Theatre in Mozart's Vienna: Sources and Documents 1783–1792 (Oxford, 1998)
•J. A. Rice:
Antonio Salieri and the Viennese Opera (Chicago, 1998)
Read more: Vincenzo Calvesi Biography - ( b Rome ; fl 1777 – 1811 ), mezzo carattere, Il re Teodoro, Una cosa rara - Sang, Vienna, Mozart, Roles, Gli, and Antonio http://arts.jrank.org/pages/7700/Vincenzo-Calvesi.html#ixzz0xCgCsW4X
Thursday, August 19, 2010
An excellent classification of tenors (with A-Z tenors and A-Z tenor roles)
Lirico-Leggiero tenor
The male equivalent of a lyric coloratura, this voice is a light lyric instrument, is very agile and is able to perform difficult passages of fioritura. The Lirico-Leggiero tenor has a range of approximately the C one octave below middle C (C3) to the D above tenor C (D5), with a few leggiero tenors being able to sing F5 and even higher while maintaining quality to the sound. Similarly, the lirico-leggero may be able to sing a little lower than the C3. The voice is the highest operatic tenor voice and is sometimes referred to as "tenore di grazia". This voice is utilized frequently in the operas of Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti and the highest Baroque repertoire for tenors.
Lirico-Leggiero Tenor Roles In Opera & Operettas:[2]
Count Almaviva, Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini)
Belmonte, The Abduction from the Seraglio (Mozart)
Ernesto, Don Pasquale (Donizetti)
Ferrando, Così fan tutte (Mozart)
Lindoro, L'italiana in Algeri (Rossini)
Don Ottavio, Don Giovanni (Mozart)
Don Ramiro, La Cenerentola (Rossini)
Tonio, La Fille du Régiment (Donizetti)
Lirico-Leggiero Tenor Singers:
John Aler
Luigi Alva
Ian Bostridge
Rockwell Blake
Lawrence Brownlee
Richard Croft
Juan Diego Flórez
Topi Lehtipuu
William Matteuzzi
Francesco Meli
Peter Schreier
Tito Schipa
Léopold Simoneau
Ferruccio Tagliavini
Cesare Valletti
[edit] Lyric tenor
A warm graceful voice with a bright, full timbre that is strong but not heavy and can be heard over an orchestra. Lyric tenors have a range from approximately the C one octave below middle C (C3) to the D one octave above middle C (D5) with some able to sing up to E♭5 and higher. Similarly, their lower range may extend a few notes below the C3. There are many vocal shades to the lyric tenor group, repertoire should be selected according to the weight, colors, and abilities of the voice.
Lyric Tenor Roles In Opera & Operettas:[2]
Alfredo, La traviata (Giuseppe Verdi)
Arturo, I Puritani (Vincenzo Bellini)
Chevalier, Dialogues des Carmélites (Francis Poulenc)
David, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Richard Wagner)
Il Duca di Mantova, Rigoletto (Giuseppe Verdi)
Edgardo, Lucia di Lammermoor (Gaetano Donizetti)
Elvino, La Sonnambula (Bellini)
Faust, Faust (Charles Gounod)
Fenton, Falstaff (Giuseppe Verdi)
Hoffmann, The Tales of Hoffmann (Offenbach)
Lensky, Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky)
Oronte, I Lombardi alla prima crociata (Giuseppe Verdi)
Pinkerton, Madama Butterfly (Giacomo Puccini)
Rinuccio, Gianni Schicchi (Giacomo Puccini)
Rodolfo, La Bohème (Puccini)
Roméo, Roméo et Juliette (Gounod)
Tamino, Die Zauberflöte (Mozart)
Werther, Werther (Jules Massenet)
Wilhelm Meister, Mignon (Ambroise Thomas)
Guillaume Tell, Arnold (Giacchino Rossini)
Lyric Tenor Singers:
Nazareno Antinori
Roberto Alagna
Marcelo Álvarez
Giacomo Aragall
Piotr Beczała
Evgeny Belyaev
Jussi Björling
Joseph Calleja
José Carreras
Richard Croft
Richard Crooks
Giuseppe di Stefano
Gerald English
Salvatore Fisichella
Miguel Fleta
Luigi Marini
Beniamino Gigli
Nicolai Gedda
Jerry Hadley
Pyotr Slovtsov
Tibor Kelen
Sergei Lemeshev
John McCormack
Francesco Marconi
Chris Merritt
Luciano Pavarotti
Jan Peerce
Alfred Piccaver
Jacques Pottier
Dmitri Smirnov
Leonid Sobinov
Richard Tauber
Joseph Schmidt
Robert Swensen
Alain Vanzo
Ramón Vargas
Fernando del Valle
Rolando Villazón
Gösta Winbergh
Fritz Wunderlich
Gustavo Zamora
Rok Krajnc
[edit] Spinto tenor
This voice has the brightness and height of a lyric tenor, but with a heavier vocal weight enabling the voice to be "pushed" to dramatic climaxes with less strain than the lighter-voice counterparts. (They are also known as "lyric-dramatic" tenors.) This fach is divided into lirico-spinto and drammatico-spinto, though it is an old-school Italian tradition to do so and Spinto tenors today are simply labeled "Spinto". Spinto tenors have a darker timbre than a lyric tenor, without having a vocal color as dark as a dramatic tenor. However, other spinto tenors, such as Carlo Bergonzi have brightly colored and lyrical sounding voices, but are nevertheless able to perform spinto roles due to large vocal size or high volume [2]. Spinto tenors have a wide range of flexibility within the fach system being able to perform such roles as Radames in Aida and Don Alvaro in La forza del destino as well as lighter roles such as the Duca in Rigoletto and Werther. The German equivalent of the Spinto fach is the Jugendlicher Heldentenor and encompasses many of the Dramatic tenor roles as well as some Wagner roles such as Lohengrin and Siegmund. The difference is often the depth and metal in the voice where some lyric tenors age or push their way into singing as a Spinto giving them a lighter tone and Jugendlicher Heldentenors tend to be either young heldentenors or true lyric dramatic voices giving them a dark dramatic tenor like tone. Spinto tenors have a range from approximately the C one octave below middle C (C3) to the C one octave above middle C (C5), and, like the lyric tenors, they are often capable of reaching D5 and sometimes higher. Similarly, their lower range may extend a few notes below the C3.[2]
Spinto Tenor Roles In Opera & Operettas:[2]
Andrea Chénier, Andrea Chénier (Umberto Giordano)
Canio, Pagliacci (Leoncavallo)
Des Grieux, Manon Lescaut (Puccini)
Don Carlo, Don Carlo (Verdi)
Don José, Carmen (Bizet)
Erik, Der Fliegende Holländer (Wagner)
Ernani, Ernani (Verdi)
Hermann, Queen of Spades (Tchaikovsky)
Idomeneo, Idomeneo (Mozart)
Macduff, Macbeth (opera) (Verdi)
Manrico, Il trovatore (Verdi)
Mario Cavaradossi, Tosca (Puccini)
Maurizio, Adriana Lecouvreur (Cilea)
Max, Der Freischütz (Carl Maria von Weber)
Pollione Norma (Bellini)
Stiffelio Stiffelio (Verdi)
Riccardo, Un ballo in maschera (Verdi)
Turiddu, Cavalleria rusticana (Pietro Mascagni)
Spinto Tenor Singers:
Carlo Bergonzi
Beniamino Gigli
Franco Corelli
Plácido Domingo
Giuseppe Giacomini
Jonas Kaufmann
Giacomo Lauri-Volpi
Francesco Merli
Giovanni Martinelli
Aureliano Pertile
Helge Rosvaenge
Georges Thill
Richard Tucker
[edit] Dramatic tenor
Also "tenore di forza" or "robusto" – a rich, emotive, ringing and very powerful, clarion heroic tenor. The dramatic tenor has an approximate range from the C one octave below middle C (C3) to the C one octave above middle C (C5).[2] Many successful dramatic tenors have historically avoided the coveted high C in performance. Their lower range tends to extend into the baritone tessitura or, a few notes below the C3.
Dramatic Tenor Roles In Opera & Operettas:[2]
Calaf, Turandot (Puccini)
Canio, I Pagliacci (Leoncavallo)
Cavaradossi, Tosca (Giacomo Puccini)
Dick Johnson, La fanciulla del West (Giacomo Puccini)
Don Alvaro, La forza del destino (Verdi)
Florestan, Fidelio (Beethoven)
Otello, Otello (Verdi)
Peter Grimes, Peter Grimes (Benjamin Britten)
Radames, Aïda (Verdi)
Samson, Samson et Dalila (Saint-Saëns)
Dramatic Tenor Singers:
Franco Bonisolli
Enrico Caruso
Giuseppe Giacomini later in career
Mario del Monaco
James McCracken
Aureliano Pertile later in career
Jean de Reszke
Vladimir Rosing
Francesco Tamagno
Ramon Vinay
[edit] Heldentenor
A rich, dark, powerful and dramatic voice. As its name implies, the Heldentenor (English: heroic tenor) vocal fach features in the German romantic operatic repertoire. The Heldentenor is the German equivalent of the tenore drammatico, however with a more baritonal quality: the typical Wagnerian protagonist. The keystone of the heldentenor's repertoire is arguably Wagner's Siegfried, an extremely demanding role requiring a wide vocal range and great power, plus tremendous stamina and acting ability. Often the heldentenor is a baritone who has transitioned to this fach or tenors who have been misidentified as baritones. Therefore the heldentenor voice might or might not have facility up to high B or C. The repertoire, however, rarely calls for such high notes. A Heldentenor is less a true tenor than a baritone with a strong top register. Heldentenor Roles In Operas & Operettas:[2]
Florestan, Fidelio (Beethoven)
Tannhäuser, Tannhäuser (Wagner)
Loge, Das Rheingold (Wagner)
Lohengrin, Lohengrin (Wagner)
Parsifal, Parsifal (Wagner)
Drum Major, Wozzeck (Berg)
Siegfried, Götterdämmerung (Wagner)
Siegfried, Siegfried (Wagner)
Siegmund, Die Walküre (Wagner)
Walter von Stolzing, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Wagner)
Tristan, Tristan und Isolde (Wagner)
Heldentenor Singers:
Bernd Aldenhoff
Giuseppe Borgatti
Karel Burian
Richard Cassilly
Mario del Monaco
Wilhelm Elsner
Stephen Gould
Ben Heppner
Siegfried Jerusalem
James King
Heinrich Knote
Ernst Kraus
Lauritz Melchior
Albert Niemann
Simon O'Neill
Ticho Parly
Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld
Peter Seiffert
Ludwig Suthaus
Set Svanholm
Josef Tichatschek
Jacques Urlus
Jon Vickers
Wolfgang Windgassen
Franz Völker
Ivan Yershov
Jess Thomas
René Kollo
[edit] Tenor buffo or Spieltenor
A tenor with good acting ability, and the ability to create distinct voices for his characters. This voice specializes in smaller comic roles. The range of the tenor buffo is from the C one octave below middle C (C3) to the C one octave above middle C (C5). The tessitura of these parts lies lower than the other tenor roles. These parts are often played by younger tenors who have not yet reached their full vocal potential or older tenors who are beyond their prime singing years. Only rarely will a singer specialize in these roles for an entire career.[2] In French opéra comique, supporting roles requiring a thin voice but good acting are sometimes described as 'trial', after the singer Antoine Trial (1737–1795), examples being in the operas of Ravel and in The Tales of Hoffmann.[11]
Tenor Buffo or Spieltenor Roles in Opera & Operettas:[2]
Count Danilo Danilovitsch, Die Lustige Witwe (Franz Lehár)
Don Basilio, The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart)
Mime, Siegfried (Richard Wagner)
Don Anchise/ Il Podestà, La Finta Giardiniera (Mozart)
Monostatos, The Magic Flute (Mozart)
Pedrillo, The Abduction from the Seraglio (Mozart)
Dr. Blind, Die Fledermaus (Johann Strauss II)
Slender, The Merry Wives of Windsor (opera) (Otto Nicolai)
Kálmán Zsupán, The Gypsy Baron (Johann Strauss II)
The Captain, Wozzeck (Alban Berg)
The Magician, The Consul (Gian-Carlo Menotti)
Beppe, I Pagliacci (Ruggero Leoncavallo)
Frantz, Les Contes d'Hoffmann (Jacques Offenbach)
Spoletta, Tosca (Giacomo Puccini)
Goro, Madama Butterfly (Giacomo Puccini)
Pong, Turandot (Giacomo Puccini)
Gastone, La traviata (Giuseppe Verdi)
Tenor Buffo or Spieltenor singers:
Charles Anthony
Nico Castel
Graham Clark (tenor)
Piero de Palma
Anthony Laciura
Michel Sénéchal
Darren Keith Woods
Heinz Zednik
Renato Ercolani
Gerhard Stolze
[edit] Operetta
Tenor Roles in Operetta: All of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operettas have at least one lead lyric tenor character; other notable roles are:
Candide, (Candide)
Eisenstein, (Die Fledermaus)
Camille, Count de Rosillon, (The Merry Widow)
Prince Karl, (The Student Prince)
Sheikh Red Shadow, (The Desert Song)
Captain Dick, (Naughty Marietta)
[edit] References
Specific references:
1.^ McKinney, James (1994). The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults. Genovex Music Group. ISBN 978-1565939400.
2.^ a b c d e f g h i j k Boldrey, Richard (1994). Guide to Operatic Roles and Arias. Caldwell Publishing Company. ISBN 978-1877761645.
3.^ Stark, James (2003). Bel Canto: A History of Vocal Pedagogy. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0802086143.
4.^ a b Smith, Brenda (2005). Choral Pedagogy. Plural Publishing, Inc. ISBN 978-1597560436.
5.^ Shortage of tenors acknowledged (but blamed on cultural discouragement)
6.^ Joseph Callega interview: mentions shortage of tenors
7.^ The disciplines of vocal pedagogy By Karen Sell: mentions shortage of tenors
8.^ Averill, Gage (2003). Four Parts, No Waiting: A Social History of American Barbershop Harmony. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195116724.
9.^ Cantwell, Robert (2002). Bluegrass Breakdown: The Making of the Old Southern Sound. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0252071171.
10.^ Appelman, D. Ralph (1986). The Science of Vocal Pedagogy: Theory and Application. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0253203786.
11.^ Cotte RJV. Trial, French family of musicians. In: The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Macmillan, London and New York, 1997.
General references:
David Fallows, Owen Jander. Tenor, Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy, grovemusic.com (subscription required)
The male equivalent of a lyric coloratura, this voice is a light lyric instrument, is very agile and is able to perform difficult passages of fioritura. The Lirico-Leggiero tenor has a range of approximately the C one octave below middle C (C3) to the D above tenor C (D5), with a few leggiero tenors being able to sing F5 and even higher while maintaining quality to the sound. Similarly, the lirico-leggero may be able to sing a little lower than the C3. The voice is the highest operatic tenor voice and is sometimes referred to as "tenore di grazia". This voice is utilized frequently in the operas of Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti and the highest Baroque repertoire for tenors.
Lirico-Leggiero Tenor Roles In Opera & Operettas:[2]
Count Almaviva, Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini)
Belmonte, The Abduction from the Seraglio (Mozart)
Ernesto, Don Pasquale (Donizetti)
Ferrando, Così fan tutte (Mozart)
Lindoro, L'italiana in Algeri (Rossini)
Don Ottavio, Don Giovanni (Mozart)
Don Ramiro, La Cenerentola (Rossini)
Tonio, La Fille du Régiment (Donizetti)
Lirico-Leggiero Tenor Singers:
John Aler
Luigi Alva
Ian Bostridge
Rockwell Blake
Lawrence Brownlee
Richard Croft
Juan Diego Flórez
Topi Lehtipuu
William Matteuzzi
Francesco Meli
Peter Schreier
Tito Schipa
Léopold Simoneau
Ferruccio Tagliavini
Cesare Valletti
[edit] Lyric tenor
A warm graceful voice with a bright, full timbre that is strong but not heavy and can be heard over an orchestra. Lyric tenors have a range from approximately the C one octave below middle C (C3) to the D one octave above middle C (D5) with some able to sing up to E♭5 and higher. Similarly, their lower range may extend a few notes below the C3. There are many vocal shades to the lyric tenor group, repertoire should be selected according to the weight, colors, and abilities of the voice.
Lyric Tenor Roles In Opera & Operettas:[2]
Alfredo, La traviata (Giuseppe Verdi)
Arturo, I Puritani (Vincenzo Bellini)
Chevalier, Dialogues des Carmélites (Francis Poulenc)
David, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Richard Wagner)
Il Duca di Mantova, Rigoletto (Giuseppe Verdi)
Edgardo, Lucia di Lammermoor (Gaetano Donizetti)
Elvino, La Sonnambula (Bellini)
Faust, Faust (Charles Gounod)
Fenton, Falstaff (Giuseppe Verdi)
Hoffmann, The Tales of Hoffmann (Offenbach)
Lensky, Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky)
Oronte, I Lombardi alla prima crociata (Giuseppe Verdi)
Pinkerton, Madama Butterfly (Giacomo Puccini)
Rinuccio, Gianni Schicchi (Giacomo Puccini)
Rodolfo, La Bohème (Puccini)
Roméo, Roméo et Juliette (Gounod)
Tamino, Die Zauberflöte (Mozart)
Werther, Werther (Jules Massenet)
Wilhelm Meister, Mignon (Ambroise Thomas)
Guillaume Tell, Arnold (Giacchino Rossini)
Lyric Tenor Singers:
Nazareno Antinori
Roberto Alagna
Marcelo Álvarez
Giacomo Aragall
Piotr Beczała
Evgeny Belyaev
Jussi Björling
Joseph Calleja
José Carreras
Richard Croft
Richard Crooks
Giuseppe di Stefano
Gerald English
Salvatore Fisichella
Miguel Fleta
Luigi Marini
Beniamino Gigli
Nicolai Gedda
Jerry Hadley
Pyotr Slovtsov
Tibor Kelen
Sergei Lemeshev
John McCormack
Francesco Marconi
Chris Merritt
Luciano Pavarotti
Jan Peerce
Alfred Piccaver
Jacques Pottier
Dmitri Smirnov
Leonid Sobinov
Richard Tauber
Joseph Schmidt
Robert Swensen
Alain Vanzo
Ramón Vargas
Fernando del Valle
Rolando Villazón
Gösta Winbergh
Fritz Wunderlich
Gustavo Zamora
Rok Krajnc
[edit] Spinto tenor
This voice has the brightness and height of a lyric tenor, but with a heavier vocal weight enabling the voice to be "pushed" to dramatic climaxes with less strain than the lighter-voice counterparts. (They are also known as "lyric-dramatic" tenors.) This fach is divided into lirico-spinto and drammatico-spinto, though it is an old-school Italian tradition to do so and Spinto tenors today are simply labeled "Spinto". Spinto tenors have a darker timbre than a lyric tenor, without having a vocal color as dark as a dramatic tenor. However, other spinto tenors, such as Carlo Bergonzi have brightly colored and lyrical sounding voices, but are nevertheless able to perform spinto roles due to large vocal size or high volume [2]. Spinto tenors have a wide range of flexibility within the fach system being able to perform such roles as Radames in Aida and Don Alvaro in La forza del destino as well as lighter roles such as the Duca in Rigoletto and Werther. The German equivalent of the Spinto fach is the Jugendlicher Heldentenor and encompasses many of the Dramatic tenor roles as well as some Wagner roles such as Lohengrin and Siegmund. The difference is often the depth and metal in the voice where some lyric tenors age or push their way into singing as a Spinto giving them a lighter tone and Jugendlicher Heldentenors tend to be either young heldentenors or true lyric dramatic voices giving them a dark dramatic tenor like tone. Spinto tenors have a range from approximately the C one octave below middle C (C3) to the C one octave above middle C (C5), and, like the lyric tenors, they are often capable of reaching D5 and sometimes higher. Similarly, their lower range may extend a few notes below the C3.[2]
Spinto Tenor Roles In Opera & Operettas:[2]
Andrea Chénier, Andrea Chénier (Umberto Giordano)
Canio, Pagliacci (Leoncavallo)
Des Grieux, Manon Lescaut (Puccini)
Don Carlo, Don Carlo (Verdi)
Don José, Carmen (Bizet)
Erik, Der Fliegende Holländer (Wagner)
Ernani, Ernani (Verdi)
Hermann, Queen of Spades (Tchaikovsky)
Idomeneo, Idomeneo (Mozart)
Macduff, Macbeth (opera) (Verdi)
Manrico, Il trovatore (Verdi)
Mario Cavaradossi, Tosca (Puccini)
Maurizio, Adriana Lecouvreur (Cilea)
Max, Der Freischütz (Carl Maria von Weber)
Pollione Norma (Bellini)
Stiffelio Stiffelio (Verdi)
Riccardo, Un ballo in maschera (Verdi)
Turiddu, Cavalleria rusticana (Pietro Mascagni)
Spinto Tenor Singers:
Carlo Bergonzi
Beniamino Gigli
Franco Corelli
Plácido Domingo
Giuseppe Giacomini
Jonas Kaufmann
Giacomo Lauri-Volpi
Francesco Merli
Giovanni Martinelli
Aureliano Pertile
Helge Rosvaenge
Georges Thill
Richard Tucker
[edit] Dramatic tenor
Also "tenore di forza" or "robusto" – a rich, emotive, ringing and very powerful, clarion heroic tenor. The dramatic tenor has an approximate range from the C one octave below middle C (C3) to the C one octave above middle C (C5).[2] Many successful dramatic tenors have historically avoided the coveted high C in performance. Their lower range tends to extend into the baritone tessitura or, a few notes below the C3.
Dramatic Tenor Roles In Opera & Operettas:[2]
Calaf, Turandot (Puccini)
Canio, I Pagliacci (Leoncavallo)
Cavaradossi, Tosca (Giacomo Puccini)
Dick Johnson, La fanciulla del West (Giacomo Puccini)
Don Alvaro, La forza del destino (Verdi)
Florestan, Fidelio (Beethoven)
Otello, Otello (Verdi)
Peter Grimes, Peter Grimes (Benjamin Britten)
Radames, Aïda (Verdi)
Samson, Samson et Dalila (Saint-Saëns)
Dramatic Tenor Singers:
Franco Bonisolli
Enrico Caruso
Giuseppe Giacomini later in career
Mario del Monaco
James McCracken
Aureliano Pertile later in career
Jean de Reszke
Vladimir Rosing
Francesco Tamagno
Ramon Vinay
[edit] Heldentenor
A rich, dark, powerful and dramatic voice. As its name implies, the Heldentenor (English: heroic tenor) vocal fach features in the German romantic operatic repertoire. The Heldentenor is the German equivalent of the tenore drammatico, however with a more baritonal quality: the typical Wagnerian protagonist. The keystone of the heldentenor's repertoire is arguably Wagner's Siegfried, an extremely demanding role requiring a wide vocal range and great power, plus tremendous stamina and acting ability. Often the heldentenor is a baritone who has transitioned to this fach or tenors who have been misidentified as baritones. Therefore the heldentenor voice might or might not have facility up to high B or C. The repertoire, however, rarely calls for such high notes. A Heldentenor is less a true tenor than a baritone with a strong top register. Heldentenor Roles In Operas & Operettas:[2]
Florestan, Fidelio (Beethoven)
Tannhäuser, Tannhäuser (Wagner)
Loge, Das Rheingold (Wagner)
Lohengrin, Lohengrin (Wagner)
Parsifal, Parsifal (Wagner)
Drum Major, Wozzeck (Berg)
Siegfried, Götterdämmerung (Wagner)
Siegfried, Siegfried (Wagner)
Siegmund, Die Walküre (Wagner)
Walter von Stolzing, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Wagner)
Tristan, Tristan und Isolde (Wagner)
Heldentenor Singers:
Bernd Aldenhoff
Giuseppe Borgatti
Karel Burian
Richard Cassilly
Mario del Monaco
Wilhelm Elsner
Stephen Gould
Ben Heppner
Siegfried Jerusalem
James King
Heinrich Knote
Ernst Kraus
Lauritz Melchior
Albert Niemann
Simon O'Neill
Ticho Parly
Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld
Peter Seiffert
Ludwig Suthaus
Set Svanholm
Josef Tichatschek
Jacques Urlus
Jon Vickers
Wolfgang Windgassen
Franz Völker
Ivan Yershov
Jess Thomas
René Kollo
[edit] Tenor buffo or Spieltenor
A tenor with good acting ability, and the ability to create distinct voices for his characters. This voice specializes in smaller comic roles. The range of the tenor buffo is from the C one octave below middle C (C3) to the C one octave above middle C (C5). The tessitura of these parts lies lower than the other tenor roles. These parts are often played by younger tenors who have not yet reached their full vocal potential or older tenors who are beyond their prime singing years. Only rarely will a singer specialize in these roles for an entire career.[2] In French opéra comique, supporting roles requiring a thin voice but good acting are sometimes described as 'trial', after the singer Antoine Trial (1737–1795), examples being in the operas of Ravel and in The Tales of Hoffmann.[11]
Tenor Buffo or Spieltenor Roles in Opera & Operettas:[2]
Count Danilo Danilovitsch, Die Lustige Witwe (Franz Lehár)
Don Basilio, The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart)
Mime, Siegfried (Richard Wagner)
Don Anchise/ Il Podestà, La Finta Giardiniera (Mozart)
Monostatos, The Magic Flute (Mozart)
Pedrillo, The Abduction from the Seraglio (Mozart)
Dr. Blind, Die Fledermaus (Johann Strauss II)
Slender, The Merry Wives of Windsor (opera) (Otto Nicolai)
Kálmán Zsupán, The Gypsy Baron (Johann Strauss II)
The Captain, Wozzeck (Alban Berg)
The Magician, The Consul (Gian-Carlo Menotti)
Beppe, I Pagliacci (Ruggero Leoncavallo)
Frantz, Les Contes d'Hoffmann (Jacques Offenbach)
Spoletta, Tosca (Giacomo Puccini)
Goro, Madama Butterfly (Giacomo Puccini)
Pong, Turandot (Giacomo Puccini)
Gastone, La traviata (Giuseppe Verdi)
Tenor Buffo or Spieltenor singers:
Charles Anthony
Nico Castel
Graham Clark (tenor)
Piero de Palma
Anthony Laciura
Michel Sénéchal
Darren Keith Woods
Heinz Zednik
Renato Ercolani
Gerhard Stolze
[edit] Operetta
Tenor Roles in Operetta: All of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operettas have at least one lead lyric tenor character; other notable roles are:
Candide, (Candide)
Eisenstein, (Die Fledermaus)
Camille, Count de Rosillon, (The Merry Widow)
Prince Karl, (The Student Prince)
Sheikh Red Shadow, (The Desert Song)
Captain Dick, (Naughty Marietta)
[edit] References
Specific references:
1.^ McKinney, James (1994). The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults. Genovex Music Group. ISBN 978-1565939400.
2.^ a b c d e f g h i j k Boldrey, Richard (1994). Guide to Operatic Roles and Arias. Caldwell Publishing Company. ISBN 978-1877761645.
3.^ Stark, James (2003). Bel Canto: A History of Vocal Pedagogy. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0802086143.
4.^ a b Smith, Brenda (2005). Choral Pedagogy. Plural Publishing, Inc. ISBN 978-1597560436.
5.^ Shortage of tenors acknowledged (but blamed on cultural discouragement)
6.^ Joseph Callega interview: mentions shortage of tenors
7.^ The disciplines of vocal pedagogy By Karen Sell: mentions shortage of tenors
8.^ Averill, Gage (2003). Four Parts, No Waiting: A Social History of American Barbershop Harmony. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195116724.
9.^ Cantwell, Robert (2002). Bluegrass Breakdown: The Making of the Old Southern Sound. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0252071171.
10.^ Appelman, D. Ralph (1986). The Science of Vocal Pedagogy: Theory and Application. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0253203786.
11.^ Cotte RJV. Trial, French family of musicians. In: The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Macmillan, London and New York, 1997.
General references:
David Fallows, Owen Jander. Tenor, Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy, grovemusic.com (subscription required)
Monday, August 16, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
Sunday, August 1, 2010
CAMPANINI -- created tenor role for Boito's Mefistofele in revised version 1875
Thanks to D. Shengold about this.
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