Male tenor voices. Male voices

Currently, professional voices have a very widely developed classification. Meanwhile, in the early periods of the 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 the vocal repertoire became more complex, this classification became 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, Gryzunov, 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 highest male voice; in sound it can be compared to the timbre of a cello doubled by a clarinet, and perhaps a bassoon, as the dramatic notes of the voice's shades intensify.
Voice volume from C small octave (sometimes B large octave) to C2; for tenor-altino to C-sharp2-D2. Judging by Sobiin’s aria with the choir “What is a blizzard for us” from “Ivan Susanin” (IV d.), in which D-flat is also found2, obviously, earlier dramatic tenors had these notes in their volume, the “Working middle” can be considered the segment from E-F of the small octave to F-sharp - G of the first octave.
The lower segment of the altino tenor and lyric tenor also sounds weak and inexpressive, like that of the coloratura and lyric-coloratura soprano; on the piano, with light accompaniment, it sounds satisfactory. Higher notes sound lighter, brighter and more serene, becoming similar to a viola (hence - altino), while maintaining lightness, pleasantness and tenderness and acquiring some masculinity. These two voices are characterized by great mobility. Although they cope with coloratura technique quite easily, but not to the same extent as their corresponding female voices,
The lyric tenor is often called the di grace tenor and this addition gives a clear idea of ​​this voice.

The dramatic tenor or, as it was previously called, the tenor “di forza” (tenor of strength), or heroic, also testifies to certain properties, and mainly to the ever-increasing strength of the voice, its power, masculinity, and determination. To imagine its timbre, to the previous “fusion” of cello and bassoon, you need to add a horn, and perhaps a trumpet.
This dramatic-heroic sound intensifies towards the top; At the same time, some tension is felt in the upper segment.
The lyric-dramatic tenor is intermediate between the lyrical and dramatic, but depending on the subjective performance data, it approaches either the first or the second. We have already said above that dramatic voices are becoming less and less common and that their repertoire is dominated by lyrical-dramatic voices. This phenomenon is also observed among tenors. The lyric-dramatic tenor has, in general, the same properties as the lyric-dramatic soprano.
Let us also mention the characteristic tenor, an invariable participant in all performances, playing supporting roles. However, among them there are also very noticeable ones. A characteristic tenor can be both lyrical and dramatic, but, most importantly, it does not go beyond the “working middle”. He must work over such a small, comparatively average, segment so that any dynamic shade, any characteristic sound, for example, excessive obsequiousness, or, conversely, a threatening whisper, or perhaps a scream, can all be easily accomplished. Such, for example, is the dramatic role of Shuisky (“Boris Godunov”), the comic role of Vinokura (“May Night”).
The properties of characteristic voices, and these can be both female and male, are revealed in the process of performing practice, less often at the beginning, more often when the singer already masters the skill of performing, but his vocal capabilities are subject to age-related changes. In theatrical practice there are not yet the terms “characteristic soprano, mezzo-soprano or baritone,” although there are such roles, for example, Domna Saburova (“The Tsar’s Bride”) or Sister-in-Law (“May Night”), however, the characteristic tenor and characteristic bass already exist.
A specific feature of male voices is the so-called falsetto sound, which is very similar in timbre to the female voice. Before the discovery made by Dupre, all tenors used this sound, taking sounds above A-flat of the second octave. To notate this method, the word “falsetto” is written above the corresponding notes (which means fistula, which is the name by which this sound is known among the people). This sound can almost always be heard when performing, for example, the aria “Oh, give me oblivion, dear” (“Dubrovsky”) and the cavatina “Slowly the day faded away” (“Prince Igor”). In both cases, the tenor takes the last syllable in the word “come” (with which both Dubrovsky’s aria and Vladimir Igorevich’s cavatina ends) in falsetto.
There is also another technique of singing, inherent in all male voices, this is singing “mezzo-voce”, that is, in a low voice. It can be compared to the muted sound of strings or brass (forte can be clearly heard, but it sounds as if in the distance, muffled). This is almost not typical for women's voices.

For light tenors, and sometimes for lyric-dramatic tenors, works are also created in the form of vocalises, that is, without words.
The images embodied by the tenor are very diverse: from young heroes to respectable old people. Moreover, it is characteristic that the parts of the highest male voices - tenors-altiio and tenors - are often intended for old people (for example, singer Bayan, Tsar Berendey, Astrologer, Fool-for-Christ, etc.), but most often they are young lovers.
The repertoire of lyric-dramatic and dramatic tenors is almost the same (due to the rare appearance of dramatic voices, as we already discussed in the section on dramatic soprano).
Speaking about the ever-decreasing influx of strong, powerful dramatic voices - most often in the categories of soprano, tenor, bass - we do not associate this circumstance with the vocal school, although individual miscalculations in this area are possible. The reason for this is probably some physiological changes in the human body, depending on changes in the conditions surrounding it. It is possible that there is another reason, which has been discussed and written more than once, namely: in schools, not only general education, but even music schools, there is still no proper musical education, and, consequently, there is no accounting, no selection of votes, no and their “growing”.
We make this digression as a reservation, so that when listening to the corresponding works, students take into account that the part of the dramatic tenor is probably also sung by a lyric-dramatic tenor.
Tenor-altino, lyrical light and strong tenor, we recommend listening to the following parts:

Almaviva, cavatina “Soon the golden east” (I d.)—Rossini, “The Barber of Seville.”
Leopold, part - Halevi, "Jew".
Duke, ballad “Ta il eta” (I d.); song “The Heart of a Beauty” (IV d.)—Verdi, “Rigoletto”.
Nadir, romance “In the radiance of a moonlit night” (I d.) - Bizet, “The Pearl Seekers”.
Faust, Cavatina “Hello, innocent shelter” (PG d.) - Gounod, “Faust”.
Romeo, cavatina “Sun, quickly rise” (I act., 2 k.) - Gounod, “Romeo and Juliet”.
Werther, aria "Oh, don't wake me" - Massenet, "Werther".
Harlequin, serenade “O Colombina” (2 parts)—Leoncavallo, “Pagliacci”.
Lohengrin, story “In a foreign land, in a distant mountain kingdom” (Sh d., 2 k.)—Wagner, “Lohengrin.”
Rudolph, arioso “The hand is completely frozen” (I stage)—Puccini, “La Bohème.”
Bayan, song “There is a desert land” (I d.) - Glinka, “Ruslan and Lyudmila”.
Holy Fool, song-saying “The moon is moving, the kitten is crying”; lament “Flow, flow, bitter tears” (IV d., 3 k.) - Mussorgsky, “Boris Godunov.”
Gritsko, thought “Why are you, my heart, crying and groaning” (I d.) - Mussorgsky, “Sorochinskaya Fair”.
Astrologer, appeal to King Dodon “Glorious be the great king” (I d.)—Rimsky-Korsakov, “The Tale of the Golden Cockerel.”
Berendey, cavatina “Full, full of miracles” (II d)—Rimsky-Korsakov, “The Snow Maiden”.
Indian guest, song “Can't Count Diamonds” (4 parts) - Rimsky-Korsakov, “Sadko”.
Levko, song “The Sun is Low” (I d.); arioso and the song “Sleep, my beauty” (III d.) - Rimsky-Korsakov, “May Night”.
Vladimir Igorevich, cavatina “Slowly the day faded away” (II d.) - Borodin, “Prince Igor”.
Sinodal, arioso “Turning into a falcon” (I d., 3" k.) - Rubinstein, “Demon”.
Vladimir, romance “Oh, give me oblivion, dear” (I d., 2 k.) - Napravnik, “Dubrovsky”.
Lensky, aria “Where, where have you gone” (II act, 4 k.) - Tchaikovsky, “Eugene Onegin”.
Young gypsy, song “Look, under the distant arch” - Rachmaninov, “Aleko”.
Alyosha Popovich, 2nd song “Flowers bloomed in the field” (I d) - Grechaninov, “Dobrynya Nikitich”,
Salavat Yulaev, part - Koval, "Emelyai Pugachev".
A bedraggled little man, the song “I had a godfather” (final of the 6th movement)—Shostakovich, “Katerina Izmailova.”
Kupchik, romance “I Don’t Know Why” (IV d.) - Khrennikov, “Mother”.
In symphonic literature there is also an interesting example of the part of the first tenor solo (teor-altino) - Knipper's Third Symphony (I and IV movements).
In the above list, only in the part of the Astrologer the author indicates that it is performed by an altino tenor. However, the role of the Draped Little Man was performed for the first time by an altino tenor (all its structure and character confirm the correctness of this). And, of course, only an alto tenor can sing the first tenor solo in Knipper's Third Symphony. The remaining parts - Berendey, and Count Almaviva, and the Holy Fool, and Salavat, and the Indian Guest, and Bayan, and Harlequin and a number of others can also be well performed by a tenor-altino.

In Almaviva's cavatina you can show off both the inserted C and the coloratura of the inserted cadences.
We recommend listening to the lyric-dramatic and dramatic tenor in the following roles:

Raoul, romance “All the charm is in her” (I d.), duet of Valentina and Raoul (IV d.)—Meyerbeer, “The Huguenots.”
Vasco da Gama, aria “Oh, wonderful land” (IV d.)—Meyerbeer, “African Woman”.
Manrico, song “Eternally Alone with Longing” (I d., 2 k.); aria “When before the altar” (III d., 2 k.); cabaletta “No, daring villains will not succeed” (I. 1, 2.) - Verdi, “Il Trovatore”.
Radames, romance “Sweet Aida” (I d.)—Verdi, “Aida”.
Othello, arioso “I say goodbye to you forever, memories” (II d.); monologue “God, you could have given me shame” (III d.); monologue “I am not terrible, although armed” (IV d.)—Verdi, “Othello.”
Samson, part - Saint-Saëns, “Samson and Delilah”.
Jose, aria “You see how sacredly I preserve the flower” (II d.) - Wiese, “Carmen”.
Yenik, arioso “How can you believe” (And so on) - Smetana, “The Bartered Bride.”
Yontek, thought “The wind howls between the mountains” (IV d.) - Monyushko, “Pebble”.
Sigmund, spring song “The darkness of winter is now defeated” (I d.) - Wagner, “Walkyrie”.
Siegfried, the heroic song of the melting “Yotyig! Notung! The fighting sword" and the song of sword forging (I d.)—Wagner, "Siegfried",
Walter, song “The Garden Is Illuminated” (III act, 1 book)—Wagner, The Mastersingers of Nuremberg.”
Johnson, arioso “Let her believe that I am free” (III d.) - Puccini, “The Girl from the West.”
Kalaf, arioso “Don’t cry, my Liu” (Gd.); Arioso “Don’t you dare sleep” (III d.)—Puccini, “Turandot.”
Sobiin, part - Glinka, “Ivan Susanin”.
Sadko, recitative and aria “If only I had a treasury of gold” (I volume); “Height, height, heavenly” (4 books) - Rimsky-Korsakov, “Sadko”.
Vakula, song-complaint “Where are you, my strength?” (I d., 2 k.) - Rimsky-Korsakov, “The Night Before Christmas.”
Herman, arioso “I don’t know her name”; oath “You will receive a fatal blow. Thunder, lightning." (final I d.); aria, "What is our life?" (7 k.)—Tchaikovsky, “The Queen of Spades.”
Vakula, aria “Oh, what is my mother, what is my father” (2 parts); aria-song “Does your heart hear, maiden” (2nd act, 1st chapter) - Tchaikovsky, “Cherevichki”.
Nero, stanzas “Oh, sadness and melancholy” - Rubinstein, “Nero”.
Ker-Ogly, song “Let the thunder roar”, arioso “We are all brothers”, aria “I am devoted to you” (NG d.) Gadzhibekov; "Ker-Ogly".
Lenka, lullaby (final 4 k.); song “It glows from behind the forest” (6 parts)—Khrennikov, “Into the Storm.”
Pierre Bezukhov, arioso “If only the most beautiful”, finale (b k.) - Prokofiev, “War and Peace”.
Matyushenko, song “Oh, you, wind” (II episode); recitative and arioso “What if I lead people the wrong way?” (III d.); monologue “So, in Temkin style, go back?” (IV d.)—Chishko, “Battleship Potemkin.”
Bohun, recitative and aria “O native land” (III d.) - Dankevich, “Bogdan Khmelnitsky”.
Nazar, aria “Fog, fog through the valley” - Dankevich, “Nazar Stodolya”.
Jalil, aria “Farewell, Kazan”; “Is this how I knew you” (final)—Zhiganov, “Musa Jalil.”
All works indicated in the list are performed by both lyric-dramatic and dramatic tenor. Moreover, parts from the previous list such as Rudolf (“La Boheme”), Dubrovsky, Faust, Romeo were performed with success by a lyric-dramatic and dramatic tenor if the singer had a good school (for example, I. A. Alchevsky, I. V. Ershov). But even in the above list, some parts are performed by strong lyric tenors, such as the part of Lykov, Guidon, Iontek; Calaf, - each type of voice compensates for what it lacks with what it itself is endowed with in predominant quantities.
But there are parts that should be performed only by dramatic tenors, so that the strength and power of their voice matches the image of the hero embodied on stage; such, for example, are Sadko, Vakula, Sigmund, Siegfried, Samson, Othello. When listening, all this must be taken into account, especially when translating the idea into an essay.
Among the vocalises we can recommend:

Shuisky, scene with Boris (2nd stage) -Mussorgsky, “Boris Godunov”. Misail, scene in the tavern (2nd act, 1st part)—Mussorgsky, “Boris Godunov.”
Popovich, scene with Khivrey (2nd stage)—Mussorgsky, “Sorochinskaya Fair”.
Clerk, part (I d.) - Mussorgsky, “Khovanshchina”. Bomelius, scene with Lyubasha (II d.) - Rimsky-Korsakov. "The Tsar's Bride".
Vinokur, story “In the evening, as I remember” (I dm 1 book) - Rimsky-Korsakov, “May Night”.
Sopel, part (4 parts) - Rimsky-Korsakov, “Sadko”.
Brooch, part - Borodin, "Kiyaz Igor".
Ovlur, “Let me, prince, say a word” (II d.) - Borodin, “Prince Igor.”
Triquet, verses “What a wonderful day this is” (II d.) - Tchaikovsky, “Eugene Onegin”.
The school teacher, the scene with Solokha and the song “Baba Has Become Attached to the Demon” (2nd episode)—Tchaikovsky, “Cherevichki.”
Vashek, aria “Mother said so” (etc.)—Smetana, “The Bartered Bride.”
Nazar, song “The Bear is Addicted” (II d.) - Kabalevsky, “Taras’s Family”.
Mishuk, song “Oh, you beautiful girls” (I d.)—Dzerzhinsky, “Quiet Don”.
Two ancient old men, scene at a wedding “What year of the oath?” - Dzerzhinsky, “Quiet Don”.

Lyric tenor is a rather loose concept. Owners of this type of voice can sound both light and quite strong, sometimes they can even be confused with dramatic tenors, they sound so “voluminous” and powerful. The peculiarity of the lyric tenor is its softness of sound production, the ability to achieve a very quiet sound, great mobility of the voice, usually lightness of timbre, but at the same time, unlike the light tenor, these voices already sound quite courageous, strong, sometimes even with some baritone notes in the timbre. At the top they usually have C - C Sharp, and sometimes D of the second octave.
Some lyric tenors, possessing excellent technique, sometimes allow themselves to sing heavier repertoire, designed for a different type of voice.

Beniamino Gigli. A soft lyric tenor (of the first half of the twentieth century), he had a light timbre, often sang piano, so that he seemed to sing not with his voice but rather with a falsetto, but if he wanted, he could show that he had far from a light voice and, so to speak, “give away " sound.
The Cry of Federico "The Arlesian" by Francesco Cilea.
This aria is mostly sung by Gigli on the piano, but at the climactic moments he allows himself to give more sound. It is precisely these parts, more designed for the breadth of voice, cantilena, and softness of sound, that are most suitable for lyric tenors.

Laugh Pagliacci "Pagliacci" Leoncavallo.
In this aria, Gigli sings at the limit of his voice, and quite possibly at the limit of his emotional capabilities. Benjamino was a very kind and emotional person; in one of his interviews, he said that when he made his debut as Canio, during the aria “Laugh the Clown,” he felt so sorry for his hero that he left the stage in tears and was able to continue the performance only after a while.

Jussi Björling, the famous Swedish singer, lyric tenor, possessing a large range and sonority of his voice, could compete with almost any dramatic tenor when necessary, but the lyrical nature of his voice also allowed him to sing very softly and easily.
Sometimes Bjerling is classified as a lyric-dramatic tenor, but I think this classification is erroneous, he simply had a wide dynamic range, he could expand and narrow the timbre of his voice, but he was still lyrical in nature.

Federico cry. Unlike Gigli, Björling sings with a big sound, and does not make such a “falsetto” sound, anyway, he sings lyrically, allowing the sound to flow smoothly, only sometimes turning it into a stormy stream.

Laugh clown. In this aria, Bjerling has almost nothing left of his lyrical sound; all the power of his voice, all the timbral volume is involved, sometimes it may even seem that it is not a tenor but a light baritone who is singing.

Luciano Pavarotti. Luciano probably had the most ideal technique; his repertoire included roles from the lightest, usually performed by light tenors, like the opera “La Daughter of the Regiment,” to the heavy, requiring a powerful sound of the part of Otello from Verdi’s opera of the same name.

Federico cry. Luciano’s style here is somewhat similar to Gigli’s, there is also a lot of light sound, though without falsetto overtones, he does not put pressure on the sound anywhere, he sings easily, softly, the sound flows completely freely.

Laugh clown. Unlike Björling, Pavarotti tried to maintain a lyrical sound in this part, although he significantly added strength to his voice.

Duet of Iago and Othello "Othello" by Giuseppe Verdi.
Here, Luciano has already tried to show his voice and the energy contained in it as much as possible. However, even here he did not try to show that he was a dramatic tenor.

All singing voices are divided into women's, men's and children's. The main female voices are soprano, mezzo-soprano and contralto, and the most common male voices are tenor, baritone and bass.

All sounds that can be sung or played on a musical instrument are high, medium and low. When musicians talk about the pitch of sounds, they use the term "register", implying whole groups of high, middle or low sounds.

In a global sense, female voices sing sounds of a high or “upper” register, children’s voices sing sounds of a middle register, and male voices sing sounds of a low or “lower” register. But this is only partly true; in fact, everything is much more interesting. Within each group of voices, and even within the range of each individual voice, there is also a division into high, middle and low register.

For example, a high male voice is a tenor, a middle voice is a baritone, and a low voice is a bass. Or, another example, singers have the highest voice - soprano, the middle voice of vocalists is mezzo-soprano, and the low voice is contralto. To finally understand the division of male and female, and at the same time, children’s voices into high and low, this tablet will help you:

If we talk about the registers of any one voice, then each of them has both low and high sounds. For example, a tenor sings both low chest sounds and high falsetto sounds, which are inaccessible to basses or baritones.

Female singing voices

So, the main types of female singing voices are soprano, mezzo-soprano and contralto. They differ primarily in range, as well as timbre coloring. Timbre properties include, for example, transparency, lightness or, conversely, saturation, and strength of voice.

Soprano– the highest female singing voice, its usual range is two octaves (entirely the first and second octave). In opera performances, the roles of the main characters are often performed by singers with such a voice. If we talk about artistic images, then a high-pitched voice best characterizes a young girl or some fantastic character (for example, a fairy).

Sopranos, according to the nature of their sound, are divided into lyrical and dramatic– you yourself can easily imagine that the parts of a very tender girl and a very passionate girl cannot be performed by the same performer. If a voice easily copes with fast passages and flourishes in its high register, then such a soprano is called coloratura.

Contralto– it has already been said that this is the lowest of women’s voices, moreover, very beautiful, velvety, and also very rare (in some opera houses there is not a single contralto). A singer with such a voice in operas is often assigned the roles of teenage boys.

Below is a table that names examples of opera roles that are often performed by certain female singing voices:

Let's listen to how women's singing voices sound. Here are three video examples for you:

Soprano. Aria of the Queen of the Night from the opera “The Magic Flute” by Mozart performed by Bela Rudenko

Mezzo-soprano. Habanera from the opera Carmen by Bizet performed by the famous singer Elena Obraztsova

Contralto. Ratmir's aria from the opera "Ruslan and Lyudmila" by Glinka, performed by Elizaveta Antonova.

Male singing voices

There are only three main male voices - tenor, bass and baritone. Tenor Of these, the highest, its pitch range is the notes of the small and first octaves. By analogy with the soprano timbre, performers with this timbre are divided into dramatic tenors and lyric tenors. In addition, sometimes they mention such a variety of singers as "characteristic" tenor. “Character” is given to it by some phonic effect - for example, silveriness or rattling. A characteristic tenor is simply irreplaceable where it is necessary to create the image of a gray-haired old man or some cunning rascal.

Baritone– this voice is distinguished by its softness, density and velvety sound. The range of sounds that a baritone can sing is from A major octave to A first octave. Performers with such a timbre are often entrusted with courageous roles of characters in operas of a heroic or patriotic nature, but the softness of the voice allows them to reveal loving and lyrical images.

Bass– the voice is the lowest, can sing sounds from F of the large octave to F of the first. The basses are different: some are rolling, “droning”, “bell-like”, others are hard and very “graphic”. Accordingly, the parts of the characters for the basses are varied: these are heroic, “fatherly”, and ascetic, and even comic images.

You are probably interested to know which of the male singing voices is the lowest? This bass profundo, sometimes singers with such a voice are also called octavists, since they “take” low notes from the counter-octave. By the way, we have not yet mentioned the highest male voice - this tenor-altino or countertenor, who sings quite calmly in an almost feminine voice and easily reaches the high notes of the second octave.

As in the previous case, male singing voices with examples of their operatic roles are displayed in the table:

Now listen to the sound of male singing voices. Here are three more video examples for you.

Tenor. Song of the Indian guest from the opera “Sadko” by Rimsky-Korsakov, performed by David Poslukhin.

Baritone. Gliere's romance “The nightingale soul sang sweetly,” sung by Leonid Smetannikov

Bass. Prince Igor's aria from Borodin's opera "Prince Igor" was originally written for baritone, but in this case it is sung by one of the best basses of the 20th century - Alexander Pirogov.

The working range of a professionally trained vocalist's voice is usually two octaves on average, although sometimes singers and singers have much greater capabilities. In order for you to have a good understanding of tessitura when choosing notes for practice, I suggest you get acquainted with the picture, which clearly demonstrates the permissible ranges for each of the voices:

Before concluding, I want to please you with one more tablet, with which you can get acquainted with vocalists who have one or another voice timbre. This is necessary so that you can independently find and listen to even more audio examples of the sound of male and female singing voices:

That's all! We talked about what types of voices singers have, we figured out the basics of their classification, the size of their ranges, the expressive capabilities of timbres, and also listened to examples of the sound of the voices of famous vocalists. If you liked the material, share it on your contact page or on your Twitter feed. There are special buttons under the article for this. Good luck!

- (Italian tenore). High male voice. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. TENOR high male voice. A distinction is made between the heroic t. (the strongest) and the lyrical t. (the most gentle). Dictionary of foreign words... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

And (obsolete) TENOR, tenor, husband. (Italian tenore from Latin teneo I hold (implies: I hold the main melody, cf. 4 meanings). 1. High male voice. Dramatic or heroic tenor. Lyric tenor. Lohengrin’s part was written for tenor. Sing ... ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary

Modern encyclopedia

See singer... Dictionary of Russian synonyms and similar expressions. under. ed. N. Abramova, M.: Russian Dictionaries, 1999. tenor tenorishko, tenor; voice, singer, instrument; trombone, dombra, saxophone, saxhorn Dictionary of Russian syn... Synonym dictionary

Tenor- (Italian tenore, from Latin teneo I hold, I direct), 1) a high male singing voice. There are lyrical, dramatic, lyric-dramatic tenors. 2) A wind musical instrument that is part of a brass band. 3) Composite... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (Italian tenore from Latin tenor uniform movement, tension of the voice, from teneo I hold, direct),..1) a high male singing voice. There are lyrical, dramatic, lyric-dramatic2)] A brass wind musical instrument, part of ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

tenor- lively (Zlatovratsky); tall (Andreev); vagrant (Ertel); skittish (Leskov); sonorous (Andreev) Epithets of literary Russian speech. M: Supplier of His Majesty's court, the Quick Printing Association A. A. Levenson. A. L. Zelenetsky. 1913. tenor O... ... Dictionary of epithets

tenor- a, m. tenor, it. tenore. 1. The highest male voice. BAS 1. The loud tenor of the Dorpat student was no longer lonely, because in all corners of the room people started talking and laughing. Thick. Youth. 2. A singer with such a voice. BASS 1. Tenors rise to ... Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language

TENOR, a, plural. a, ov and s, ov, husband. 1. High male voice. Lyrical t. Dramatic t. 2. A singer with such a voice. | decrease tenor, rka, husband (to 1 value). | adj. tenor, aya, oe (to 1 value). Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu.... ... Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

tenor- tenor, plural tenor, b. tenors and obsolete tenors, tenors. The pronunciation [tenor] is outdated... Dictionary of difficulties of pronunciation and stress in modern Russian language

Books

• Tenor. Vladislav Piavko. From the chronicle of lives lived... , . A book dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the birth and 35th anniversary of the creative activity of the outstanding Russian singer Vladislav Piavko. Created in the genre of collage from the artist’s autobiographical notes, stories...
• Nikolay Figner. Tenor. Arias from operas. Nikolai Figner (1857-1918) - Russian singer (lyric-dramatic tenor). In 1887 he made his debut on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater. In his first season he attracted attention as Othello, performing...