The contralto voice in opera and classical music has a range which typically lies between the F below middle C (F3) to two Fs above middle C (F5). In the lower and upper extremes, some contralto voices can sing from the E below middle C (E3) to two B♭s above middle C (B♭5).[1] The contralto voice has the lowest tessitura of the female voices and is noted for its rich and deep vocal timbre.[2] True operatic contraltos are very rare.[3] The following is a list of contralto singers who have regularly performed unamplified classical or operatic music in concert halls and/or opera houses.[4]
A–L
edit_-_Alboni,_Marietta_(1826-1894),_contralto_3.jpg)
- Eunice Alberts (1927–2012)[6]
- Marietta Alboni (1823[7]–1894)
- Marian Anderson (1897–1993)[8][9]
- Fanny Anitúa (1887–1968)[10]
- Cecil Arden[11] (1894–1989)
- Germaine Bailac (1881–1977)
- Fedora Barbieri (1920–2003)
- Eula Beal (1919–2008)[12]
- Marianne Brandt (1842–1921)[13]
- Karin Branzell (1891–1974)[14]
- Muriel Brunskill (1899–1980)[15]
- Clara Butt (1872–1936)
- AnnaMaria Cardinalli (born 1979)
- Marie-Louise Cébron-Norbens (1888–1958)
- Lili Chookasian (1921–2012)[13]
- Belle Cole (1845[16] or 1853[17]–1905)[18]
- Kate Condon[19] (1877–1941)
- Clorinda Corradi (1804–1877)[20]
- Christine Nielson Dreier (1866–1926)[21]
- Kathleen Ferrier (1912–1953)[22]
- Maureen Forrester (1930–2010)[23]
- Delphine Galou (born 1977)
- Anna Girò (circa 1710 or 1711–1748 or later)[24]
- Louise Homer (1871–1947)[25]
- Edna Indermaur (1892–1985)[26]
- Jenny Twitchell Kempton (1835–1921)[27]
- Gillian Knight[28] (born 1934)
- Anna Larsson[29] (born 1966)
- Marie-Nicole Lemieux (born 1975)[30]
- Gisela Litz[31] (1922–2017)
- Louise Kirkby Lunn (1873–1930)[32]
M–Z
edit- Adelaide Malanotte (1785–1832)[33]
- Bernadette Manca di Nissa (born 1954)
- Marietta Marcolini (c. 1780–1855)[33]
- Margaret Matzenauer (1881–1963), who sang mostly mezzo-soprano roles though[33]
- Antonia Merighi (died 1764)[33]
- Sara Mingardo (born 1961)
- Sigrid Onégin (1889–1943)[34]
- Rosmunda Pisaroni (1793–1872)[33]
- Ewa Podleś (1952–2024)[35]
- Marie Powers (1902–1973)[36]
- Sonia Prina[37] (born 1975)
- Maria Radner (1981—2015)[38]
- Geltrude Righetti[39] (1793–1862)
- Anastasia Robinson (c. 1692–1755)[40]
- Sofia Scalchi[41] (1850–1922)
- Ernestine Schumann-Heink (1861–1936)[42]
- Annice Sidwells (1902–2001)
- Monica Sinclair (1925–2002)[43]
- Nathalie Stutzmann[44][45] (born 1965)
- Hilary Summers[46]
- Vittoria Tesi (1700–1775)[47]
- Kerstin Thorborg (1896–1970)
- Claramae Turner (1920–2013)
- Francesca Vanini-Boschi (?–1744)[33]
- Lucia Elizabeth Vestris (1797–1856)[48]
- Helen Watts (1927–2009)[49]
- Portia White (1911–1968)[50]
- Marta Wittkowska[51] (1882–1977)
See also
editReferences
editNotes
edit- ^ McKinney 1994.
- ^ Appelman 1986.
- ^ Myers 1996.
- ^ Unless otherwise indicated all names on this list appear in either Jander et al. or Myers 1996.
- ^ Jones 2019.
- ^ Cody, Judith (2002). Vivian Fine: A Bio-bibliography. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 232. ISBN 9780313254741.
- ^ Claude Egerton Lowe (1896). A Chronological Cyclopaedia of Musicians and Musical Events…. Weekes & Co. p. 49. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
- ^ Stamberg, Susan (9 April 2014). "Denied A Stage, She Sang For A Nation". National Public Radio. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
- ^ Dowd, Vincent (9 April 2014). "The opera singer who changed the civil rights movement". BBC. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
- ^ Omshanti (26 October 2009). "Fanny Anitua (1887–1968)". Music of Middle Latin America.
- ^ Arden, Cecil. "Only to Thee". Victor via AHR. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
- ^ St. Austell, Edmund (13 September 2015). "Eula Beal, Contralto". Great Opera Singers.
- ^ a b Hall 2002, p. 725
- ^ Hall 2002, p. 1093.
- ^ The Musical Times, "Muriel Brunskill", vol. 121, no. 1646 (April 1980), p. 267
- ^ George E. Hendry (1903). "Belle Cole...American Contralto". Art UK. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
- ^ Johnston, Roy (2017). The Musical Life of Nineteenth-Century Belfast. Routledge. ISBN 9781351542104.
- ^ The New York Times, "Death of Belle Cole", 6 January 1905, p. 9
- ^ Coliseum...Exposition and Congress of Woman's Achievements (from Volume 47). The Advocate: America’s Jewish Journal. 13 June 1914. p. 685.
- ^ Rutherford 2006, p. 175.
- ^ Willard, Frances Elizabeth; Livermore, Mary Ashton Rice (1893). "DREIER, Mrs. Christine Nielson". A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life (Public domain ed.). Charles Wells Moulton. p. 260.
- ^ Huizenga, Tom (15 May 2012). "Kathleen Ferrier: A Voice Not Forgotten". National Public Radio. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
- ^ Tommasini, Anthony (17 June 2010). "Maureen Forrester...Dies at 79". The New York Times.
- ^ Talbot, Michael, "Girò [Tessieri], Anna (Maddalena)", in Sadie, Stanley (ed), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (II, p. 433). New York, Grove (Oxford University Press), 1997. ISBN 978-0-19-522186-2
- ^ "Louise Homer...Dies At 76". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 7 May 1947.
- ^ "Musical treat is coming next week". The Johnsonian. Vol. 11, no. 36. Winthrop University. 18 July 1925. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
- ^ "Famous Singer of Olden Days was San Francisco Discovery". San Francisco Chronicle, 20 March 1921. p 4.
- ^ Simeone, Nigel; Tyrrell, John (2015). Charles Mackerras. Boydell & Brewer. p. 259. ISBN 9781843839668.
- ^ Oron, Ayreh (September 2005). "Anna Larsson (Contralto)". Bach Cantatas Website.
- ^ So, Joseph, "Quebec Contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux Makes a Brilliant Ontario Debut", La Scena Musicale, 30 July 2001
- ^ Ericson, Raymond (16 August 1964). "Lortzing's Operas Do Not Travel Too Well". The New York Times.
- ^ Hall 2002, p. 473.
- ^ a b c d e f Celletti 2000, pp. 236–245
- ^ Shawe-Taylor, Desmond, "Onégin, Sigrid", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy. Accessed 4 November 2009 via subscription
- ^ Midgette, Anne (16 October 1998). "A Voice as Rare in Type as in Beauty", The New York Times. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
- ^ "Music: Contralto on Broadway". Time. 30 June 1947.
- ^ "Sonia Prina". Houston Grand Opera. 2008. Archived from the original on 6 July 2010. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
- ^ Garry Humphreys (26 March 2015). "Maria Radner: Internationally acclaimed contralto who was due to make her Bayreuth Festival debut later this year". The Independent. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
- ^ Gallo, Denise P. (2002). Gioachino Rossini: A Guide to Research. Psychology Press. p. 44. ISBN 9780815334743.
- ^ Dean, Winton, "Robinson, Anastasia", in Stanley Sadie|Sadie, Stanley (ed), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (III, pp. 1360–1361). New York, Grove (Oxford University Press), 1997. ISBN 978-0-19-522186-2.
- ^ Amy Louise Peyton (1983). Nightingale of the North. Breakwater Books. p. 135. ISBN 9780920502259.
- ^ "Schumann-Heink, Great Singer, Dead. Native of Bohemia, She Won World-Wide Acclaim in Opera and Concerts". The New York Times. Associated Press. November 18, 1936.
- ^ "Monica Sinclair". Naxos. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
- ^ Ashley, Tim (13 November 2014). "Handel: Heroes from the Shadows CD review – a force to be reckoned with". The Guardian.
- ^ "Nathalie Stutzmann : une voix en or", La Dépêche du Midi, 14 October 2009
- ^ "Hilary Summers". RNCM. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
- ^ Dr. Michael Lorenz (31 March 2016). "The Will of Vittoria Tesi Tramontini". Michael Lorenz.
- ^ Entry: Vestris [née Bartolozzi] Lucia Elizabeth [Eliza Lucy], in Sadie, S. (ed), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (IV, pp. 979–980). New York, Grove (Oxford University Press), 1997. ISBN 978-0-19-522186-2
- ^ Steane, John, "Obituary: Helen Watts, contralto", Gramophone, 23 October 2009
- ^ King, Betty Nygaard; So, Joseph K.; Macpherson, James B. (June 21, 2017). "Portia White". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Archived from the original on March 23, 2020. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
- ^ Otto Sarony Co. (July 1912). "Marta Wittkowska...Aida (Photo)". New York Public Library. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
Sources
edit- Appelman, D. Ralph (1986). The Science of Vocal Pedagogy: Theory and Application. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-20378-6.
- Celletti, R. (2000). "Requiem per il contralto". La grana della voce. Opere, direttori e cantanti (in Italian) (2nd ed.). Rome: Baldini & Castoldi. ISBN 88-8089-781-0.
- Hall, Charles J. (2002). Chronology of Western Classical Music: 1751–1900. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-415-94216-0.
- Jander, Owen; Steane, J. B.; Forbes, Elizabeth; Harris, Ellen T. "Contralto". Grove Music Online. (subscription required)
- Jones, Randye (10 September 2019). "Marian Anderson Biography". AfroVoices.com. Retrieved 2007-02-12.
- McKinney, James (1994). The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults. Genovex Music Group. ISBN 978-1-56593-940-0.
- Myers, Eric (December 1996). "Sweet and Low: the case of the vanishing contralto". Opera News. Vol. 61, no. 7. pp. 18–21. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
- Rutherford, Susan (2006). The Prima Donna and Opera, 1815–1930. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-85167-X.