Currently, professional voices have a very widely developed classification. Meanwhile in early periods development of vocal art, this was very simple. There were two types of male and two types of female voices - a classification that has been preserved to this day in choirs. As it becomes more complex vocal repertoire this classification began to become more and more differentiated. In the men's group, an intermediate voice first emerged - the baritone. Then there was further division in each of the groups. The highest male tenor voice has a working range from C to the second octave.
Male voices:
Female voices:
Tenor altino, which has particularly high notes, sounds transparent and light. Usually these voices are not particularly strong, but they are capable of reaching D second octave. The role of the Astrologer in Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden Cockerel is usually entrusted to this kind of voice.
Lyric tenor is a tenor with a warm, gentle, silvery timbre, capable of expressing the entire lyrical range of feelings. It can be quite large and rich in sound. Sobinov and Lemeshev, for example, had a typical lyric tenor.
Characteristic tenor. A tenor who has a characteristic timbre, but does not have the beauty and warmth of a lyrical voice or the richness, richness and power of a dramatic one.
A lyric-dramatic tenor is a voice capable of performing a wide range of roles, both lyrical and dramatic. However, it cannot achieve the power and drama of a purely dramatic voice. These include the voices of Gigli, Nelepp, Uzunov.
A dramatic tenor is a large voice with a large dynamic range, capable of expressing the most powerful dramatic situations. The range of the dramatic voice may be shorter, not including high C. For example, the part of Othello in the opera Otello by Verdi was written for the dramatic voice. Dramatic tenors include, for example, the voice of Tamagno, Caruso, Monaco.
The lyric baritone, sounding light and lyrical, is close in character to the tenor timbre, but still always has a typical baritone tint. Parts written for this voice have the highest tessitura. Typical roles for this type of voice are Georges Germont, Onegin, Yeletsky. Lyric baritones - Battistini, Rodents, Becky, Migai, Gamrekeli, Lisitsian, Nortsov.
A lyric-dramatic baritone with a light, bright timbre and significant strength, he is capable of performing both lyrical and dramatic roles. Such voices include, for example, Khokhlova, Gobbi, Kherlya, Konya, Gnatyuk, Gulyaev. The roles of Demon, Mazepa, Valentin, and Renato are most often performed by voices of this character.
A dramatic baritone is a darker-sounding voice of great power, capable of powerful sounding in the central and upper range of the voice. The dramatic baritone parts are lower in tessitura, but at the moments of climax they rise to the highest notes. Typical roles are Iago, Scarpia, Rigoletto, Amonastro, Gryaznoy, Prince Igor. For example, Titta Ruffo Warren, Savransky, Golovin, Politkovsky, London had a dramatic baritone.
Bass, the lowest and most powerful male voice, has a working range from fa big octaves to F first. Among this type of voice, there are high bass, central (singing, cantante) and low bass. In addition, octavist basses are considered a very valuable voice in choirs, capable of taking on the lowest sounds of the large octave and even some sounds of the counter-octave.
Bass range
High bass, melodious bass (cantante), has a working range of up to F first octaves at the top. This is a voice with a light, bright sound, reminiscent of a baritone timbre. Sometimes some such voices are called baritone basses. Baritone basses perform the roles of Tomsky, Prince Igor, Mephistopheles, Count Almaviva in Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro”, and Nilakanta in Delibes’ “Lakmé”. Such basses include the voices of Chaliapin, Ognivtsev, and Hristov.
The central bass has a wider range and has a pronounced bass timbre. These voices can play not only high tessitura parts, but also lower ones, including the lower notes C F major octave, such as Gremin, Konchak, Ramfis, Zorastro, Sparafucil. The central basses include the voices of G. and A. Pirogov, Reisen, I. Petrov, Pints, V. R. Petrov, Gyaurov.
The low bass, in addition to a particularly thick bass color and shorter in the upper part of the voice range, has deep, powerful, low notes. This is the so-called profunda bass. Such basses include the voices of Mikhailov and Paul Robeson.
Octavist basses who find a place in choirs can sometimes take a range of counter-octave sounds, reaching astonishingly low sounds. There are cases when the voice could descend to F counter octaves.
There are also a number of different types in processed female voices.
The lyric tenor is a type of high-pitched male voice. Often the lyric tenor is called the tenor "di-grazia", which means grace and beauty. The tenor's range is approximately from the minor octave to C to the second. Transitional notes – fa-fa#. But as we know, the voice is determined not by the range, but by the timbre coloring. The lyric tenor has a soft timbre, but at the same time sonorous and bright, gentle and sensitive throughout the tessitura of the range. In operas, lyric tenors most often perform young guys, lovers, young kings, sons, princes. The lyric tenor is a very beautiful and sensitive male voice. The lyric tenor easily copes with virtuosic technical parts. Possessing melody and melodiousness, lyric tenors can perform the most soulful male arias. In addition to the lyric tenor, there are several more gradations of tenors - these are the dramatic tenor and the lyric-dramatic tenor. Singers with different types of tenors differ in timbre in to a greater extent, rather than by range.
Often young performers try to determine their voice by range. This is a big mistake, because the most important thing in determining the type of voice is its timbre. For example, the middle of the first octave is part of the range of both tenor and baritone; how then can one determine the type of voice in this tessitura? You need to listen to the character of the sound! Only an experienced teacher can do this, so at the beginning of your singing career you simply cannot do without a good teacher.
Another sign that will help determine your voice type is transition notes. Their location is directly related to the structure of the vocal apparatus and cords. The thinner and shorter the chords, the higher the voice, and the higher the transition section or transition notes are. For a developed tenor, this section is in the range from E to G sharp of the first octave. But you need to keep in mind that gradually, depending on training, this transitional area can shift upward. The voice of an experienced singer is very different from his voice at the very beginning of vocal lessons. An accomplished vocalist can sing in the chest register much higher than the apparatus previously allowed him.
This gradation of voices has great value at the opera. In many modern vocal genres such timbral subtleties are not required, and knowledge of the nuances of timbre may not always be useful to vocalists. But still, if you are going to practice vocals professionally, you need to understand the nuances of your profession as much as possible in order to become a brilliant performer.
Three - bass, baritone and tenor.
Tenor – tall male singing voice, perhaps the most popular voice in the world. Translated from Latin, tenor means uniform movement, tension of the voice.
Range soloists from “C” of the small octave to “C” of the second, and in choral parts the upper limit is the “A” of the first octave. Soloists value very highly the ability to cleanly and firmly take B-flat from the first to the second.
Transitional note (between the chest and head registers) - E-F-F-sharp of the first octave.
The tenor part is written in treble clef (an octave higher than the actual sound), as well as in bass and tenor clefs.
By timbre and range there are:
- countertenor
- altino-tenor
- lyric tenor (tenore di grazia)
- lyric-dramatic tenor
- dramatic tenor (tenore di forza)
- characteristic tenor
Countertenor (Counter-tenor) - the highest of the male operatic voices, the range of “C” is the small octave - “B” is the second! Until recently, it was relatively rare, but is now becoming increasingly widespread.
It is worth noting that counter-tenor is not even a voice type, it’s a SINGING TECHNIQUE. As a rule, baritones who sing strongly in the falsetto register become counter-tenors. The sound of a countertenor is similar to the sound of a female voice.
Listen to the song "El Condor Pasa" ("Flight of the Condor") Peruvian composer Daniel Robles (1913) performed by the world famous countertenor Fernando Lima.
This song ranges from F-sharp minor to D of the second octave.
Tenor-altino is a variety lyric tenor, which has a well-developed upper register, the range reaches "E" of the second octave. Usually this voice has a small range, which imposes restrictions on the repertoire.
The role of the Astrologer in Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Golden Cockerel was written for the altino tenor.
Lyric tenor. The largest number of roles in the operatic repertoire were written specifically for him: Faust (Gounod's Faust), Lensky (Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin), Alfred (Verdi's La Traviata), Pierre Bezukhov (Prokofiev's War and Peace).
In the operas of Rossini and Mozart, the tenor is required to have very high vocal mobility and a wide range. Therefore, the concept arose Rossini (Mozart) tenor.
Listen to Richard Croft - American opera singer, who is often characterized as a lyric tenor or "Mozart tenor", performs the Mithridates Aria superbly "Vado incontro al fato estremo"(“I’m going to meet you halfway unusual fate") from Mozart's opera.
Notice how big the jumps are in this game.
Lyric-dramatic tenor capable of performing the roles of both lyric and dramatic tenor.
Listen to the singing of one of a kind Russian singer Alexander Gradsky.
Music by A. Pakhmutova, lyrics by N. Dobronravov, “How young we were,” song from the movie “My Love in the Third Year”
The range in this performance of Gradsky’s “A” is large - “D” of the second octave!
Dramatic tenor. This voice is found less often in operas than the lyric tenor, but magnificent roles have been created for it - images of people with contradictory characters whose fate is tragic: Jose (Bizet's "Carmen"), Othello (Verdi's "Otello"), Herman (Tchaikovsky " Queen of Spades"). The arias of these heroes sound much more tense and dramatic.
There is also a concept heroic Wagnerian tenor. Wagner's operas are incredibly large-scale, and colossal stamina is required from the performer to continuously sing heroically, powerfully, forcefully for several hours in a row.
Listen to the German opera singer and dramatic tenor Jonas Kaufmann sing.
Richard Wagner opera "Lohengrin" "In fernem land"
I am sure that I will not be mistaken if I begin to assert that the male tenor voice is the object of desire for the masses of young men who dream of a vocal career. I believe that this is the influence of fashion, which acts indirectly through composers who write modern vocal material primarily for a high male voice.
“How to make your voice tenor?”- even such a question, which any person more or less versed in the realities of vocals would simply consider stupid, can be found on the Internet, and in one form or another on this site under the heading “Have you asked? I answer..."
It’s good if a young man knows exactly what type of voice he has and chooses a repertoire that best suits the capabilities of his body. But often the exact opposite happens - having objectively, by nature, a completely different type of voice, the beginning vocalist tends to sing notes that are too high for him. What does this lead to? To constant overstrain of your vocal organs, and here it is, this overstrain is a direct path to illness and subsequently to loss of voice.
One of the signs is the tenor voice range
So, it is already clear that the tenor has a high voice. How tall? CLASSIC defines the range of the tenor voice as C minor - C second octave.
Does this mean that the tenor singer will not be able to sing D second (or big B)? No, of course he can. But here QUALITY playing notes outside the range may be different. We must understand that we are talking about classical music(and vocals).
At the same time, starting from a certain note of the first octave (it is different for different voice subtypes), the tenor uses mixed media– mixed, this section is marked yellow. That is, one way or another, the head register works in the voice, but not in its own pure form, but as an “admixture” to breast milk. Tenor is the name for a classical male voice; calling a pop or rock singer a tenor is not entirely correct.
Firstly, classical vocal works, which are written to be performed by a tenor singer, do not go beyond the named range, and secondly, the classics do not use a pure male head voice (based on the falsetto register), therefore the tenor is limited to the second octave , although it may be better to talk about Re-Mi (but there are exceptions to this rule - the counter-tenor, more on him below). Thirdly, classical vocal technique (we must not forget about this) is distinguished by its own characteristics.
What is a tenor like?
To be fair, we should talk about subtypes of the tenor voice, because this type of male voice itself can also be different. There is the following gradation:
counter-tenor (in turn divided into alto and soprano) is the highest voice, making full use of the “head” part of the range (upper register). This is a thin boyish voice, which either did not disappear during the period of mutation, but was preserved along with a lower, chesty, masculine timbre, or a product of the development of the voice in this particular manner of singing. If a man purposefully develops his top part range, then with a certain nature he will be able to sing like a counter-tenor. This high-pitched male voice is very reminiscent of a female one:
E. Kurmangaliev “Dalilah’s aria”
M. Kuznetsov “Aria of the Queen of the Night”
The light tenor is the highest voice, which, nevertheless, has a full-bodied chest timbre, which, although it sounds very light and airy, nevertheless differs from the female one:
H. Florez “Granada”
lyric tenor– soft, thin, gentle, very mobile voice:
S. Lemeshev “Tell, girls, your girlfriend...”
lyric-dramatic tenor– a richer, denser and more overtonal timbre, compare its sound with a light tenor singing the same song:
M. Lanza “Granada”
dramatic tenor- the lowest of the family of tenors, already close in timbre to a baritone, he is distinguished by the power of sound, therefore the parts of many main characters in opera performances were written for such a voice: Othello, Radomes, Cavaradossi, Callaf... And Herman in “The Queen of Spades” too He
V. Atlantov “Herman’s Aria”
As you can see, with the exception of the highest subspecies, the rest differ from each other not in their range, but in their TONE, or, as it is also called, “voice color”. That is, TIMBRE, and not range, is the main characteristic that allows us to classify male voices and tenor, among other things, as one or another type and subtype.
Main distinctive feature tenor voices - its timbre
Famous researcher Professor V.P. Morozov talks about it this way in one of his books:
“This feature turns out to be more important in many cases than even the range feature, since we know that there are, for example, baritones who take tenor highs, but, nevertheless, these are baritones. And if a tenor (in terms of timbre, no doubt) does not have tenor highs, then for that reason alone one should not consider him a baritone...”
The most significant mistake of young people who do not yet have vocal experience is trying to determine their voice solely by its range. For example, both a baritone and a tenor sing in the middle of the first octave, what should we do? Listen to the nature of the sound of the voice. How can you hear it? And contact a specialist! At the age of 16-20, the brain has not yet had time to form certain auditory ideas about how an average male voice sounds compared to a high one in the same part of the range. This is the knowledge and experience of a vocal teacher, to whom you need to turn.
By the way, even a teacher will not always determine the type of voice from one listening; at least, to distinguish a dramatic tenor from a lyric baritone, you need to work hard! Therefore, it is not at all important to know exactly the type of your voice if you strive to sing modern repertoire, and do not learn opera parts. This has long been understood in the West, where vocal teachers define the voices of their students, classifying them into three types - low, medium or high. I talk about this in the article “Transitional areas of the voice - our vocal beacons” on this site.
The transition section is another sign that the voice type is tenor
It must be said that another distinctive feature of the voice type will be transitional sections (transitional notes). Their “location” on the height scale is directly related to the structure of the vocal apparatus, mainly, of course, the vocal folds. The thinner and lighter the singer's folds, the higher the sound they create without using the falsetto, head register. That is, the higher the transition note in the voice will be (more precisely, the entire section).
For any tenor, the transition note can be anywhere in this section; this does not mean that a dramatic tenor will have a transition to E, and a lyric or light one to G. You can't measure with a ruler! Yes, and the singer’s experience will play a role significant role, and here's why.
The fact is that gradually, with voice training, the transitional area shifts somewhat upward, because an experienced, seasoned voice is completely different from a beginner’s voice, like an adult athlete compared to a teenager. A professional can sing higher in a clear chest register than a beginner with the same voice type, this is a consequence of skill development. It follows from this that if a beginner is assigned a transition note as D of the first octave, this does not mean that his voice type is baritone. It’s just that over time, with the right training, the transition note can shift to both Mi and Fa.
So, a vocalist needs to have TIMBRE tenor voices first. Considering only the existing one at the moment the range and location of the transition note, the exact type of voice cannot be determined. You need to pay attention to ALL THREE aspect, while the timbre is the greatest.
Why is it not entirely fair to consider modern high-pitched voices of rock and pop stars from the point of view of a standard classifier? Aren't they tenors?
Let's talk about this at.
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Singing voices can be classified in various ways. Division into groups is carried out taking into account physiological characteristics, timbre, mobility, pitch range, location of transition notes, and other parameters. The most convenient and popular today, known since the 16th century, is the classification of vocalists by gender and range. In our vocal studio we distinguish six main types:
- baritone;
- tenor.
- contralto;
- mezzo-soprano;
- soprano.
Characteristics of the singing voice
Soprano. The most high variety female vocal voices. It stands out for its imagery, sonority, transparency, and flight. The vocalist is characterized by a light, agile, open sound. Soprano character:
- dramatic;
- lyrical;
- coloratura
There are also singers with lyric-dramatic, lyric-coloratura soprano.
Famous soprano vocalists: Montserrat Caballe, Maria Callas. Famous stars of Russian opera: Vishnevskaya G.P., Kazarnovskaya L.Yu., Netrebko A.Yu. Parts written for soprano: Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute by Mozart), Violetta (La Traviata by Verdi). Pop singers with soprano: Lyubov Orlova, Valentina Vasilievna Tolkunova, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears.
Mezzo-soprano. It is remembered for its rich, rich sound, sonorous, deep timbre. It sounds lower than soprano, but higher than contralto. Subtypes: dramatic, lyrical. Famous owners of this type were Tatyana Troyanos, Obraztsova E.V., Arkhipova I.K. The operatic role of Amneris in Aida was written for mezzo-soprano. Mezzo-soprano pop singers: Avril Lavigne, Lady Gaga, Lana Del Rey.
Lowest, rarest female voice– contralto. It is distinguished by a velvety powerful sound and luxurious chest notes. Examples of contralto can be found in Tchaikovsky’s operas “Eugene Onegin” (Olga), Verdi’s “Un ballo in maschera” (Ulrika). The soloist was a contralto Mariinsky Theater M. Dolina. Contralto singers on stage: Cher, Edita Piekha, Sofia Rotaru, Courtney Love, Katy Perry, Shirley Manson, Tina Turner.
High male types voices are represented by lyric, dramatic or lyric-dramatic tenor. They are characterized by mobility, melodiousness, lightness, and softness. An example of a lyric tenor is Lensky in Eugene Onegin, a dramatic tenor is Manrico from Il Trovatore, and a lyric-dramatic tenor is Alfred (the hero of La Traviata). Famous tenors: I. Kozlovsky, S. Lemeshev, Jose Carreras. Tenors on stage: Nikolai Baskov, Anton Makarsky, Jared Leto, David Miller.
The name "baritone" comes from Greek and means heavy. The sound is between bass and tenor. It is distinguished by great strength and brightness in the upper half of the range. There are lyrical ones (Figaro in “ Barber of Seville"Rossini) and dramatic (Amonasro in Verdi's Aida) baritones. Of the famous opera singers Baritone was played by Pasquale Amato, D.A. Hvorostovsky. Pop baritone singers: Joseph Kobzon, Mikhail Krug, Muslim Magomayev, John Cooper, Marilyn Manson.