mezzo-soprano

Information about mezzo-soprano

Voice Type (ranges)
Female voices
Soprano
Mezzo-soprano
Alto or Contralto
Male voices
Sopranist
Countertenor (Alto or Mezzo)
Tenor
Baritone
Bass-baritone
Bass
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A mezzo-soprano (meaning "medium" or "middle" "soprano" in Italian) is a female singer whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above (i.e. A3-A5 in scientific pitch notation, where middle C = C4). While mezzo-sopranos generally have a heavier, darker tone than sopranos, the mezzo-soprano voice resonates in a higher range than that of a contralto. The terms Dugazon and Galli-Marié are sometimes used to refer to light mezzo-sopranos, after the names of famous singers. A castrato with a mezzo-soprano range was also called a mezzo-soprano castrato or mezzista.

Mezzo-sopranos typically sing secondary roles in operas, with the protagonist in Bizet's Carmen and Rosina in Rossini's Barber of Seville as the most notable exceptions. Typical roles for mezzo-sopranos include witches, nurses, and wise women such as Azucena in Verdi's Il trovatore; trouser role (male characters played by female singers) such as Cherubino in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro; and villains and seductresses such as Amneris in Verdi's Aida. Mezzo-sopranos are also well represented in baroque music, early music and baroque opera, they are sometimes cast in soubrette roles if a more dramatic sound is desired, and some of the lower-tessitura soprano roles can be sung by mezzos as well. In current operatic practice, contraltos are also counted as mezzo-sopranos. For the different types of mezzo-sopranos, see voice type.

Some roles designated for lighter soubrette sopranos are sung by mezzo sopranos, who often provide a fuller, more dramatic quality. Such roles include Despina in Mozart's Così fan tutte and Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni. Mezzos also sometimes play dramatic soprano roles such as Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana, Lady Macbeth in Verdi's Macbeth, and Kundry in Wagner's Parsifal.

Mezzo-soprano roles in operas

The following are examples of mezzo-soprano roles in the popular operatic repertoire. Many mezzo-sopranos also sing designated alto roles, and some sing soprano roles as well.

Mezzo-soprano lead roles in operas

Other mezzo-soprano roles in operas

Mezzo-soprano trouser roles in operas

Mezzo-soprano roles in operettas

Each of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas has a prominent mezzo-soprano role. They are not listed here.

Mezzo-soprano roles in musicals

Many modern musicals have one or more "belt" roles that generally fall within the range of mezzo-soprano, some of which are listed below, but these examples are too numerous to list.

Notable mezzo-sopranos

Classical and operatic mezzo-sopranos

Classical and operatic singers are singers who have regularly performed unamplified classical or operatic music in concert halls and/or opera houses.

Contemporary and crossover mezzo-sopranos

See also

External links

Voice type (equivalent to the German Fach and similar Italian and French categorizations) is a system for categorizing classical and operatic solo singers, and the roles they sing, by the tessitura, weight and timbre of their unamplified voices in an opera house or
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Human voices may be classified according to their vocal range — the highest and lowest pitches that they can produce.

Vocal range defined

The broadest definition of vocal range, given above, is simply the span from the highest to the lowest note a particular voice
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soprano is a singer with a voice range from approximately middle C (C4) to "high A" (A5) in choral music, or to "soprano C" (C6, two octaves above middle C) or higher in operatic music.
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alto or contralto is a singer with a vocal range somewhere between a tenor and a mezzo-soprano. The term is used to refer to the lowest female singing voice, or to a kind of male singing voice utilizing falsetto called a countertenor.
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alto or contralto is a singer with a vocal range somewhere between a tenor and a mezzo-soprano. The term is used to refer to the lowest female singing voice, or to a kind of male singing voice utilizing falsetto called a countertenor.
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A sopranist (or sopranista) is a male classical singer with a voice-type and register equivalent to that of a female soprano.

The Sopranist Voice

A sopranist
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A countertenor is an adult male who sings in an alto, mezzo or soprano range, often through use of falsetto, or sometimes natural head voice. This term is used almost exclusively in the context of the classical vocal tradition, although numerous popular artists have
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alto or contralto is a singer with a vocal range somewhere between a tenor and a mezzo-soprano. The term is used to refer to the lowest female singing voice, or to a kind of male singing voice utilizing falsetto called a countertenor.
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Mezzo is:
  • mezzo , the Italian word for "half", "middle" or "medium".
  • The beginning of various Italian musical terms, e.g. Mezzo-soprano.
  • The Mezzo TV cable channel in France.

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tenor is a singer with a voice range from approximately C3 (one octave below middle C) to A4 (above middle C) in choral music, or up to "tenor C" (C5, one octave above middle C) or higher in operatic music (see voice type).
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Baritone (French: baryton; German: Bariton; Italian: baritono) is most commonly the type of male voice that lies between bass and tenor.
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A bass-baritone is a singing voice that shares certain qualities of both the baritone and the bass. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: Dutchman (in Der fliegende Holländer), Wotan (in the Ring
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A bass (or basso in Italian) is a male singer who sings in the deepest vocal range of the human voice. According to Grove Music Online, a bass has a range extending from around the F below low C to the E above middle C (i.e., F2–E4).
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Italian}}} 
Official status
Official language of:  European Union
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Vatican City
Sovereign Military Order of Malta

The template is . Please use instead.

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A singer is a musician who uses their voice to produce music. Often the singer is accompanied by musicians and instruments. While many people sing for pleasure, vocal skill is usually a combination of innate talent and professional training.
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alto or contralto is a singer with a vocal range somewhere between a tenor and a mezzo-soprano. The term is used to refer to the lowest female singing voice, or to a kind of male singing voice utilizing falsetto called a countertenor.
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Do or C is the first note of the fixed-Do solfege.

In Western music, the expression "middle C" refers to the note "C" (or "Do" in fixed-Do solfege) located exactly between the two staves of the grand staff, quoted as C4 in scientific pitch
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scientific pitch notation is given to one of several methods that name the notes of the standard Western chromatic scale by combining a letter-name, accidentals, and a number identifying the pitch's octave.
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Louise-Rosalie Lefebvre, also known as Madame Dugazon (1755-1821), was a French actress, dancer and singer.

Born in Berlin as the daughter of a dancing master at the court of Frederick II of Prussia, she returned to Paris with her parents in 1765.
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C̩lestine Mari̩ (November 1840 РSeptember 22 1905) a French mezzo-soprano, most famous for being the original Carmen.

She was born Célestine Marié de L'Isle in Paris. She was taught singing by her father, who was an accomplished musician.
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Common vocal ranges represented
on a musical keyboard

A castrato is a male soprano, mezzo-soprano, or alto voice produced either by castration of the singer before puberty or one who, because of an endocrinological condition, never reaches sexual maturity.
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Georges Bizet (October 25, 1838 – June 3, 1875) was a French composer and pianist of the romantic era. He is best known for his opera Carmen.

Biography

Bizet was born in Paris, France at 28 rue de la Tour d'Auvergne.
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Carmen is a French opera by Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Meilhac and Halévy, based on the story of the same title by Prosper Mérimée.

The opera was premiered at the Opéra Comique of Paris on March 3, 1875.
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Gioachino Antonio Rossini [1] (Pesaro, February 29, 1792 – Passy, November 13, 1868) was an Italian composer who wrote 39 operas as well as sacred music and chamber music.
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For the Beaumarchais play, see .


The Barber of Seville (Il barbiere di Siviglia) is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto (based on Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville
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Il trovatore (The Troubadour) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Leone Emanuele Bardare and Salvatore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez.
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A breeches role (also pants role or trouser role) is a role in which an actress appears in male clothing (breeches being tight-fitting knee-length pants, the standard male garment at the time breeches roles were introduced).
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For the Beaumarchais play, see .
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata (Trans: The Marriage [lit. Wedding] of Figaro or the Day of Madness), K.
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AIDA is an acronym used in marketing that describes a common list of events that are very often undergone when a person is selling a product or service:
  • A - Attention (Awareness): attract the attention of the customer.

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Baroque music describes an era and a set of styles of European classical music which were in widespread use between approximately 1600 and 1750.[1] This era is said to begin in music after the Renaissance and was followed by the Classical music era.
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