operatic silliness

[rivendellrose]

I am so very amused by this attempt to cast Harry Potter characters into stereotypical operatic categories. Especially because yes, even with just musical theater background, some of that sounds awfully familiar. Like how damned impossible it is to get anything other than 'older woman' or 'chorus girl' if you're an alto.

Not that I was fabulous enough to deserve lead roles, mind you. But still, it irked me. I couldn't even practice lead songs in my voice lessons, except in my higher range. *Grumbles*

In other news, I hate The Coquette, and I want to go home. Otherwise, day has been quite good.

Comments

[irish279.livejournal.com]

I was a voice major my first year of college, and I'm a coloratura. I'm Trelawney! Whee!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Okay, here I go proving my complete lack of musical theory education - what the heck is a coloratura? I'm assuming some variety of soprano, remembering her description for Trelawney....

Lucky me - as an alto/mid-soprano (especially as one chronically cast as older women) I get to play McGonagall!

[irish279.livejournal.com]

Abnormally high soprano with a very light (and usually bright) sound. My voice bottoms out at the B below the staff. Most sopranos have four or five notes below that.

Have you ever seen Mozart's Die Zauberflote? The Queen of the Night is a coloratura, and her aria is the most famous coloratura aria with those high Fs. Other coloratura roles I think of off the top of my head are Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Leonora in Il Trovatore, and Violetta in La Traviata.

Hope that helps.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Sadly, I am vastly uneducated in the ways of opera - I keep swearing I'm going to get down to a show at the opera house, but never doing it. Ah well. I get the idea of what you're describing, even if I'm not totally comprehending the examples.

And, speaking as an alto who used to aspire to mid-soprano.... holy crap that's a high vocal range you've got. Casting directors must've loved you.

[irish279.livejournal.com]

I think what you are is most likely a mezzo-soprano. Most people who sing alto in choirs assume that's their voice part, but in actuality, true altos have lower ranges than a lot of men. Mezzo-sopranos have very warm tones and they are able to reach high Cs (on the staff, not above the ledger) with ease. Sound right?