Formation of the Classification of the Male Voice - Coursework Example

Formation of the ification of the Male Voice College: Voice categorization is one of the controversial issues in the history of music due to the fact that there have never existed a clear and common classification at least during a specific time span. As any other classification, voice classification has undergone an evolution, which accompanied evolution of choral, operatic and orchestral styles and music itself. Today, there is a great range of terms, which define operatic voices, as well as a significant number of categories, in accordance to which these voices are classified. The history of voice classification started with the definition of the only male voice, tenor, and these days musical theorists and pedagogues differentiate three main types of male voices as well as a great number of their subtypes. Despite a bulk of literature on the issue, voice categorization is still hotly debated. Although there are controversial questions within the issue, one thing is clear: voice categorization is what helps singers save their voice for many years as it helps match repertoire and voices, and this face proves the importance of the problem. This paper is focused on the process of formation of the classification of the male voice. At first, it is necessary to define a range of terms, which are used when it comes to the issue of voice categorization. One of the main and, perhaps, one of the first vocal qualities, vocal range plays a significant role in the classification of voices. Put in simple words, it is the interval between the lowest and the highest note a specific voice can sing; very often, vocal pedagogues specify the definition mentioning that range is the interval between musically useful notes a voice can produce (Boldrey & Caldwell, 2000). This suggests that different voices may have similar ranges but the quality of sound produced may differ. Due to this, in the nineteenth century, one more quality was adopted as one of the primary criterion, and this is regarded as the important shift in the formation of voice classification. This refers to the Italian term “tessitura”, which is defined as the most comfortable range for a singer to perform within and in which a voice performs with ease of sound and production. The idea of having a special ease of sound is directly associated with the introduction of the category of timbre (Cotton, 2007). The latter is defined as the color and the size of the voice (Boldrey & Caldwell, 2000). In the context, size is not a measurable quantity but rather the ability to project in different settings and over instruments. Thus, timbre also allows defining types of orchestration over which a particular voice can project. For instance, a voice with a lyric timbre cannot sing over a brass section. Overall, as it follows from the above-mentioned, every criterion is important when it comes to voice classification.  At some point of its history, music was monophonic and was represented mostly by plainchants. At that very time, women were banned from singing in churches by the Papal decree based on the interpretation of the biblical writings of Apostle Paul. “Mullier taceat in ecclesia’, or “Let the woman be silent in church,” says the rule. Consequently, only males were allowed to sing. As music was monophonic, there was only one voice named “tenore”. As music evolved and became polyphonic, two voices were added; sopra (above) and basso (below). It was sopra that was added the first (approximately in the thirteenth century). Basso was also named contratenor because it was written against tenor (“contra” = “against”). In accordance with Boldrey and Caldwell (2000), in the early operas, only these three voices were used for the majority of roles. What is more, even in the nineteenth century, before the appearance of the modern orchestra, singers were trained to perform almost everything: they were taught and had to perform in “either idyllic or dramatic fashion, and produce both fast florid passages and expressive sustained long lines, full of color and dynamic nuances […]” (Boldrey & Caldwell, 2000). Also, accordingly to other sources, the initial three-part church harmony was comprised of the following voices: the countertenor altus, meaning (against and above” the tenor, the tenor (in Latin, “one who holds”), and the countertenor bassus, meaning “against and below”). During the early ears of opera as well as the next two centuries, high male voices were the main ones, with the majority of them being castrato voices (“Men getting high,” 2014).   A castrato is defined as one of the types of male singing voices. In the classification of castrati, as well as other voices at that time, it was the category of range that was used. All in all, there were three types of castrati voices: soprano, mezzo-soprano, and contralto. Therefore, in addition to the existing types of male voices, three types of the castrati voices were added. Because of the great popularity of castrati, traditional high female voice, tenor, was in the shadows till the nineteenth century and the society’s reaction to the extravagance and artificiality characteristic of the previous centuries (“Men getting high,” 2014). Tenor and bass were defined and differentiated easily and clearly; this fact does not hold true for baritone, though. At the early stages of its history, this voice was used alongside with bass as the lowest male voice. In the seventeenth century, the term “baritone” was used to describe average male voice in a choir. The range of this voice was defined and established only in the eighteenth century; still, in a great number of operatic works, low baritone roles were marked as bass roles. With the decline of the popularity of castrati, baritone was finally accepted as a male voice different from bass (Jander, Steane, Forbes, Harris & Waldman, 2001). Before the age of the modern orchestra and development of new operatic styles, all the voices were referred to as lyric, meaning all of them were trained for lyric theatre. The introduction of larger orchestras and evolution of opera in the nineteenth century was followed by the emergence of new categories used for the classification of voices (Boldrey & Caldwell, 2000). The major role in the introduction of new categories was played by vocal pedagogues. For instance, one of them was Spanish music educator and singer Manuel Garcia, who invented a laryngoscope and focused on such categories and timbre, register, passaggi rather than range to separate voice types (Cotton, 2007). Due to the evolution of vocal techniques in the nineteenth century, there appeared a wide range of schools that dealt with voice classification and training. With the aim to summarize the developments of his predecessors, Rudolf Kloiber wrote a book titled Handbuch der Oper (Handbook of Opera) in 1951. The main term used in his work is Fach. In the German language, this word has several meanings. In the context of opera, Fach (Facher, plural) describes both a particular category of voice and the roles sung by that type of voice. In his work, alongside with four main categories of voice, such as soprano, contralto, tenor, and bass, Kloiber analyses two intermediated voices: baritone in men and mezzo-soprano in women. They comprise the six-category model. Kloiber begins with the description of the basic vocabulary used to characterize the tones of the above-mentioned voices (Cotton, 2007). Apart from that, he also presents such standards of voice categorization as volume, color (quality), weight, tessitura, range, transition points, registers, and size (small vs. large). From the lowest to highest, the main male categories are bass, baritone, and tenor. Within each category, there are subdivisions. For the tenor voice, they are Countertenor, Lyric Tenor, Acting Tenor, Dramatic Tenor, Character Tenor. For the baritone voice, they are Lyric Baritone, Cavalier Bariton, Character Baritone, and Dramatic Baritone. For the bass voice, the subdivisions are Character Bass, Acting Bass, Heavy Acting Bass, and Serious Bass (“25 voice types,” 2012) . Today, there is no definite answer on the question on the number of vocal categories. In fact, the number of these categories may differ from county to country. Each country uses different criteria in the categorization of voices and roles. In accordance with Boldrey and Caldwell (2000), the Germans tend to refer to weight rather than range and define low and high basses, rather than dramatic and lyric. In addition to this, they focus on acting styles, such as character and serious voices. The Italians, in their turn, base their classification on weight and define three types of lyric tenor, such as lirico-spinto, lirico, and leggero. In France, every type of baritone is called bariton, and there is only one separate type – Martin baritone (Boldrey & Caldwell, 2000). In other words, there is no commonly accepted categorization of male voices; still, everyone distinguishes three main types, tenor, baritone, and bass. Overall, the disagreement on the problem of voice classification lies in the choice of the criteria for categorization. Still, there have been defined main categories, based on which voices are classified. In fact, voice categories indicate both similarities and differences between particular voices as well as their subtypes. These days, the work by Rudolf Kloiber is regarded as one of the fullest descriptions of voice categories; still, it is not accepted as the universal one. References 25 voice types and the Fach system. (2012, September 17). Retrieved from http://choirly.com/voice-types-fach-system/ Boldrey, R., & Caldwell, R. (2000). Singers edition: Operatic arias. Caldwell Publishing Company. Cotton, S. (2007). Voice classification and Fach: Recent, historical, and conflicting systems of voice categorization. (Doctoral dissertation, The University of North Carolina). Jander, O., Steane, J. B., Forbes, E., Harris, E. T., & Waldman, G. (2001). Baritone. In S. Sadie & J. Tyrell (Eds.), The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). Macmillan. Men getting high: Falsettists, countertenors, pop, rock, and opera. (2014, April 24). 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