This is a post that I wrote a couple of years ago on my personal blog. It seems fitting to share it here. Enjoy!
Original Post Date: June 4, 2007
I am a mezzo soprano. It basically means that I am not a soprano and I am not an alto. I used to be an alto. I sang Alto 2 in high school and college. My voice has raised considerably since then. I can now sing a high C, if I'm warmed up and if I worked up to it.
Anyway, that's not what I'm writing about. Here's the thing...since I am a mezzo soprano (a lyric mezzo soprano, if you want to get technical), I can sing pretty much anything. There problem comes when I am trying to buy vocal books. I have recently decided to learn 4 songs by Stefano Donaudy. I went to the music store to order the book, so I can my voice teacher's back to her, and I had the choice between the high voice and the low voice books. Ummmmmm....which do I need? I have absolutely no idea. So I ordered both. This is the not the first time this has happened. When I did the Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel program with my mom and friend last year (2 years ago? When was that? We've done it a couple of times.) I had to have the High Voice and Low Voice books. I sang two songs, one out of each book. Because of my range and the tessaturas of the songs, I couldn't sing them both out of the same book. I have a feeling the same thing is going to happen with the Donaudy songs. Oh, well. I guess it's my lot in life, being a mezzo!!!
If you're still confused about the whole "mezzo soprano" thing, I have a great explanation I gave to lady at choir practice last night. She heard me sing a really high note and wanted to know why I wasn't singing soprano. I replied "I'm a mezzo soprano. If I want to sing for a long period of time, I have to sing alto." That's the best explanation I have. Any other mezzos want to weigh in on this?
Got a response from my friend "K":
I'm there for you girl: I top out at a high e flat when I'm warmed up, but then I can also get to a low C (that is, below middle). People at [college] had me sing soprano for almost two years because they figured with a high range I must be soprano. BUT it's not what you can sing, but where the warmth is in your voice, and for me it's mezzo. Also mezzos are just cooler people in general. BUT it's always nice to have flexibility in range to keep people guessing, am I right? How's that for an explanation?
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Being a high tenor, the problem that I usually run into is that the art song compilations in the High Key, are not high enough to be comfortable with the tessatura! However, after that little chuckle, I would like to respond to your explanation of what a Mezzo-Soprano is. The entire fach system was developed as a classification system that defined range, but the idea of Baritone, and Mezzo-Soprano are fairly recent concepts. If you look at the score for Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte, Fiordiligi (usually a soprano with dramatic tendancies), Dorabella (usually a mezzo-soprano), and Despina (completely dependent on the production,) are all labled as soprani. The difference was if you were a low soprano and a high soprano. The only issue that I take with your friend's explanation is that it is not where the warmth is, but where the BEAUTY is. (I misunderstand "warmth," for "beauty" then please excuse me) One might hear people like Marilyn Horne, or Cecilia Bartoli, they can sing the high florid passages, but the comfort and the real beauty of the voice is in the lower register. Also it is a common issue that dramatic sopranos are mistaken for Mezzo-soprano because of the color of the voice, and the other way around. Some mezzos with glorious high registers could develop one day, with the proper guidance and instruction, to become a dramatic soprano. The difficult thing to address is the inherent identity crises that mezzo soprani have. I say revel in the ability to sing lower than many tenors, and higher than many soprani. Bask in the unique quality of your voices, and don't try and put a label on it!
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