Tenore di grazia

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Tenore di grazia, also called leggero tenor [lower-alpha 1] (graceful, light, and lightweight tenor, respectively), is a lightweight, flexible tenor voice type. [2] [3] The tenor roles written in the early 19th-century Italian operas are invariably leggero tenor roles, especially those by Rossini such as Lindoro in L'italiana in Algeri , Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola , and Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia ; and those by Bellini such as Gualtiero in Il pirata , Elvino in La sonnambula and Arturo in I puritani . [4] [5] [6] Many Donizetti roles, such as Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore and Ernesto in Don Pasquale , Tonio in La fille du régiment , are also tenore di grazia roles. One of the most famous leggero tenors of that period was Giovanni Battista Rubini, for whom Bellini wrote nearly all his operas. [7] [8] [9]

Contents

Classification and range

The tenor leggero voice is often misclassified. There are several reasons for this, the first being the lower register of the leggero tenor. [10] [11] [12] [13] The leggero tenor can go quite low, approximately to G below low C G2. [14] [15] Because of this, the leggero tenor is often misclassified as a baritone, normally a lyric baritone. [16] [17] This voice might also be classified as another type of tenor such as dramatic tenor. However, the leggero tenor possesses something that the other tenors do not: an upper extension that when not fully developed, sounds almost like a falsetto. [18] This "falsetto" however is part of a full voice mechanism and is more connected to what appears to sound like the full voice than a falsetto would. [19] [20] [ self-published source ] The upper extension normally starts around A-flat below Tenor High C and goes up to as high as the singer is comfortable with, normally E above High C and sometimes to F ♯ or G. [19] [21] [22] The highest vocal range needed in opera for this voice type is F above Tenor High C. [23] [24] This is sung as part of the role of Arturo in I puritani . [25] [26] [27] [28]

The light French lyric tenor is also often confused with the leggero tenor. [29] [30] Examples of the French tradition of a light and lyrical voice can be found in roles such as Georges Brown in La dame blanche , Chapelou in Le postillon de Lonjumeau, Nadir in Les pêcheurs de perles , Vincent in Mireille , and Gérald in Lakmé . [3] [22] [31] [32] [33]

Related Research Articles

A soprano ([soˈpraːno]) is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880 Hz in choral music, or to "soprano C" (C6, two octaves above middle C) = 1046 Hz or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which often encompasses the melody. The soprano voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, soubrette, lyric, spinto, and dramatic soprano.

The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian, historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second highest part, sung in choruses by either low women's or high men's voices. In vocal classification these are usually called contralto and male alto or countertenor.

A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is widely defined to be B2, though some roles include an A♭2 (two A♭s below middle C). At the highest extreme, some tenors can sing up to the second F above middle C (F5). The tenor voice type is generally divided into the leggero tenor, lyric tenor, spinto tenor, dramatic tenor, heldentenor, and tenor buffo or spieltenor.

A contralto is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type.

A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; Italian: [ˌmɛddzosoˈpraːno]; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above (i.e. A3–A5 in scientific pitch notation, where middle C = C4; 220–880 Hz). In the lower and upper extremes, some mezzo-sopranos may extend down to the F below middle C (F3, 175 Hz) and as high as "high C" (C6, 1047 Hz). The mezzo-soprano voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, lyric, and dramatic mezzo-soprano.

A coloratura soprano is a type of operatic soprano voice that specializes in music that is distinguished by agile runs, leaps and trills.

The tenore contraltino is a specialized form of the tenor voice found in Italian opera around the beginning of the 19th century, mainly in the Rossini repertoire, which rapidly evolved into the modern 'Romantic' tenor. It is sometimes referred to as tenor altino in English books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giovanni Battista Rubini</span> Italian opera singer

Giovanni Battista Rubini was an Italian tenor, as famous in his time as Enrico Caruso in a later day. His ringing and expressive coloratura dexterity in the highest register of his voice, the tenorino, inspired the writing of operatic roles which today are almost impossible to cast. As a singer Rubini was the major early exponent of the Romantic style of the bel canto era of Vincenzo Bellini and Gaetano Donizetti.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antonio Tamburini</span> Italian opera singer

Antonio Tamburini was an Italian operatic baritone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Domenico Donzelli</span> Italian opera singer 1790-1873

Domenico Donzelli was an Italian tenor with a robust voice who enjoyed an important career in Paris, London and his native country during the 1808-1841 period.

A voice type is a group of voices with similar vocal ranges, capable of singing in a similar tessitura, and with similar vocal transition points (passaggi). Voice classification is most strongly associated with European classical music, though it, and the terms it utilizes, are used in other styles of music as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilbert Duprez</span> French tenor, singing teacher and minor composer

Gilbert-Louis Duprez was a French tenor, singing teacher and minor composer who famously pioneered the delivery of the operatic high C from the chest. He also created the role of Edgardo in the popular bel canto-era opera Lucia di Lammermoor in 1835.

A spinto soprano is a type of operatic soprano voice that has the limpidity and easy high notes of a lyric soprano, yet can be "pushed" on to achieve dramatic climaxes without strain. This type of voice may possess a somewhat darker timbre, too, than the average lyric soprano. It generally uses squillo to "slice" through the sound of a full orchestra, rather than singing over the orchestra like a true dramatic soprano.

There is no authoritative system of voice classification in non-classical music as classical terms are used to describe not merely various vocal ranges, but specific vocal timbres unique to each range. These timbres are produced by classical training techniques with which most popular singers are not intimately familiar, and which even those that are do not universally employ them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dino Borgioli</span> Italian opera singer

Dino Borgioli was an Italian lyric tenor. Praised by critics for his musicianship, he was particularly associated with roles in operas composed by Mozart, Rossini, and Donizetti.

A lyric soprano is a type of operatic soprano voice that has a warm quality with a bright, full timbre that can be heard over an orchestra. The lyric soprano voice generally has a higher tessitura than a soubrette and usually plays ingenues and other sympathetic characters in opera. Lyric sopranos have a range from approximately middle C (C4) to "high D" (D6). This is the most common female singing voice. There is a tendency to divide lyric sopranos into two groups: light and full.

Baritenor is a portmanteau (blend) of the words "baritone" and "tenor." It is used to describe both baritone and tenor voices. In Webster's Third New International Dictionary it is defined as "a baritone singing voice with virtually a tenor range." However, the term was defined in several late 19th century and early 20th century music dictionaries, such as The American History and Encyclopedia of Music, as "a low tenor voice, almost barytone [sic]."

Falsettone is a term used in modern Italian musicology to describe a vocal technique used by male opera singers in the past, in which the fluty sounds typical of falsetto singing are amplified by using the same singing technique used in the modal voice register. The result is a bright, powerful tone, often very high-pitched, although the sound is still different from and more feminine than what is produced by the modal voice. The term falsettone is also used for the mixed vocal register that can be achieved using this technique.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manuel García (tenor)</span> Spanish tenor

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References

Notes

  1. ↑ Often also called leggiero tenor, [1] although that is not an Italian term.

Citations

  1. ↑ "The Tenor Voice – Lyrischer (hoher) tenor (c to c)", ipasource.com
  2. ↑ Soreanu, Cristina. "Nineteenth Century’s Donizettian Singers and their Contribution to the Development of the Vocal Technique." Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov, Series VIII: Performing Arts 2 (2014): 124–130.
  3. 1 2 Enrico Stinchelli (2002). Le stelle della lirica: i grandi cantanti della storia dell'opera. Gremese Editore. pp. 19–. ISBN   978-88-8440-192-2.
  4. ↑ Kent Carlson (2000). The leggero tenor in opera: 1754–1793. Garri Editions.
  5. ↑ Richard Boldrey; Janet Bookspan; Carol Kimball (1992). Singers' edition, operatic arias: soubrette. Pst. ISBN   9781877761034.
  6. ↑ George Henry Hubert Lascelles Earl of Harewood (2000). Opera. Rolls House Publishing Company.
  7. ↑ Walker, Evan. "The Fable of Adolphe Nourrit." Journal of Singing 64.4 (2008): 411.
  8. ↑ Nicholas Till (18 October 2012). The Cambridge Companion to Opera Studies. Cambridge University Press. pp. 131–. ISBN   978-0-521-85561-7.
  9. ↑ Storia della musica. Editoriale Jaca Book. 1995. pp. 296ff. ISBN   978-88-16-43917-7.
  10. ↑ May, Joshua M. "The Rise of the Tenor Voice in the Late Eighteenth Century: Mozart’s Opera and Concert Arias." (2014).
  11. ↑ Brent, Joseph (18 December 2014). Giovanni Paolo Bottesini as a composer for the tenor voice, as seen in his writing for Roberto Stagno, Angelo Masini, and Alberto Bozetti (PDF) (DMA). University of Georgia.
  12. ↑ Michael Edward Henstock (20 September 1990). Fernando De Lucia: son of Naples : 1860–1925. Duckworth. ISBN   978-0-7156-2325-1.
  13. ↑ Dan H. Marek (6 June 2013). Giovanni Battista Rubini and the Bel Canto Tenors: History and Technique. Scarecrow Press. pp. 8ff. ISBN   978-0-8108-8668-1.
  14. ↑ Opera. Rolls House Publishing Company. March 2008.
  15. ↑ Opera. Rolls House Publishing Company. March 2008. pp. 127ff.
  16. ↑ Arthur Elson (1915). The Book of Musical Knowledge: The History, Technique, and Appreciation of Music, Together with Lives of the Great Composers, for Music-lovers, Students and Teachers. Houghton Mifflin.
  17. ↑ Richard Boldrey; Robert Caldwell; Roger Pines; Janet Bookspan (1 June 1992). Singers' edition, operatic arias: lyric soprano, light lyric soprano. Pst. ISBN   9781877761027.
  18. ↑ Helena Matheopoulos (1 November 1986). Divo: great tenors, baritones, and basses discuss their roles . Harper & Row. ISBN   978-0-06-015634-3.
  19. 1 2 Dan Marek (2007). Singing: The First Art . Scarecrow Press. pp.  37ff. ISBN   978-0-8108-5711-7.
  20. ↑ Francois Nouvion (October 2012). Asile Hereditaire: The Life and Career of John O'Sullivan. Xlibris Corporation. pp. 411ff. ISBN   978-1-4771-5123-5.
  21. ↑ Naomi Adele André (1 January 2006). Voicing Gender: Castrati, Travesti, and the Second Woman in Early-nineteenth-century Italian Opera . Indiana University Press. pp.  127ff. ISBN   0-253-34644-4.
  22. 1 2 Laura Williams Macy (2008). The Grove Book of Opera Singers. Oxford University Press. pp. 136ff. ISBN   978-0-19-533765-5.
  23. ↑ Dorothea Link (2011). Arias for Vincenzo Calvesi: Mozart's first Ferrando. A-R Editions. pp. 15ff. ISBN   978-0-89579-717-9.
  24. ↑ Herbert Kupferberg (8 November 1988). The book of classical music lists. Penguin Books. ISBN   978-0-14-011188-0.
  25. ↑ Enciclopedia della musica. Rizzoli Ricordi. 1972.
  26. ↑ Roger Alier Aixalà; Roger Alier (1 January 2002). Historia de la ópera. Ediciones Robinbook. pp. 180ff. ISBN   978-84-95601-66-7.
  27. ↑ Friedrich Lippmann (1972). Bericht. Böhlau Verlag. ISBN   978-3-412-96772-7.
  28. ↑ BBC Music Magazine. BBC Magazines. 2008.
  29. ↑ Robert Cannon (16 February 2012). Opera. Cambridge University Press. pp. 391ff. ISBN   978-0-521-76302-8.
  30. ↑ Helena Matheopoulos (28 September 1999). The great tenors: from Caruso to the present. Vendome Press. ISBN   9780865652033.
  31. ↑ John Sullivan Dwight (1865). Dwight's Journal of Music. D.L. Balch. pp. 128ff.
  32. ↑ Gustav Kobbé (3 October 2014). The Complete Opera Book (Illustrated). B & R Samizdat Express. ISBN   978-1-4554-4648-3.
  33. ↑ RM, rassegna musicale italiana. Rassegna musicale italiana. 1997.

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