Male Soprano - It's just wrong?!

[Naki Rat]

[MisterD]

...and on the other side of the ledger

[nudemetalz]

Sort of like getting hit in the nackers......
Speaking from an open mind - "very talented".
Not my cuppa tea though. I'll keep my Pink Floyd, ta.

[slofox]

More commonly known as counter-tenors. Some of them are just mind-boggling....eg this dude...



Frankly I see nothing wrong with using your voice however you can...

[<G>]

More commonly known as counter-tenors. Some of them are just mind-boggling....eg this dude...


Frankly I see nothing wrong with using your voice however you can...

This is lovely to listen to.

[ManDownUnder]

The guy is good (on the Britain has Talent). Not what I expected given his appearance but he's got a bloody talent!

[Metalor]

Male sopranos really impress me. Outstanding use of head-voice.

The dude on britain's got talent sounds a bit amatuerish to me.

[PrincessBandit]

In the Baroque period castrati were highly sought after by the ladies; both for their (apparently) beautiful voices and the other side benefit......
Promising boy sopranos were "done" in order for them to keep their soprano vocal range, but with all the power of the male frame.

It used to be a very popular musical form back then, but died out - gee I wonder why? But certainly it was nothing unusual back in those days.

Certainly not what I expected from looking at him; so proof, if ever it was needed, of "don't judge a book by it's cover"!

[Metalor]

In the Baroque period castrati were highly sought after by the ladies; both for their (apparently) beautiful voices and the other side benefit......
Promising boy sopranos were "done" in order for them to keep their soprano vocal range, but with all the power of the male frame.

Wasn't that because chicks weren't allowed to sing in productions etc? Dunno if that's the right period but in Shakespear days that was the case, woman were in big shit if they got caught.

[PrincessBandit]

Wasn't that because chicks weren't allowed to sing in productions etc? Dunno if that's the right period but in Shakespear days that was the case, woman were in big shit if they got caught.

From "Baroque Music" by Claude Palisca: "The part of Caesar was written for the famous alto castrato Senesina. Castrated male sopranos and alto were Handel's preferred voices for heroic parts such as that of Caesar. (If operated upon before his voice changed, a boy possessing a naturally good voice, could with age and training develop a powerful, smooth, agile projection, while preserving the high pitch. When Handel could not find a good castrato , he sometimes wrote a youthful male role for a woman soprano, but he usually preferred women for female roles.)" .........[and continuing] "Cleopatra, the prima donna part, first sung by the great Francesca Cuzzoni, likewise has eight arias....."

Shakespeare (late 1500s - mid 1600s) was before the time of Bach and Handel (two of the most easily recognised of the Baroque composers) so the ban on women on stage been just a "theatre-at-that-time" thing or simply superceded by the realism of having women on stage for female roles.

[Oscar]

Wouldn't a male be a "Soprana"?

More commonly known as countertenors or sometimes sopranists.

My wife is a mezzo-soprano and after years of listening to her and her pals I find high male voices a bit naff.
And that guys choice of the Nossum Dorma is just wrong - it wasn't written for that register (and yes, I know females have done it before, but it doesn't make it right).
He should have sung a female part to show off that voice.

[PrincessBandit]

Wouldn't a male be a "Soprana"?

Don't know, never heard the term "soprana" before. But I do believe the female counter part of a Sultan is a Sultana. Yum, I like sultanas, especially in cake...

[Oscar]

Don't know, never heard the term "soprana" before. But I do believe the female counter part of a Sultan is a Sultana. Yum, I like sultanas, especially in cake...

In Italian words ending in "a" are feminine and "o" are masculine.
So - "Prima Donna" (First Lady), which corresponds with the leading male "Primo Uomo".

This has, of course just blown my Soprana/Soprano theory out of the water....

[slofox]

He should have sung a female part to show off that voice.

Or, even more betterer, a counter tenor part...

[Headbanger]

What that needed.....

Was a viking running on stage and performing some axe murder (on the tri-sexual with the bitch voice), and Dimebag Darrells ghost appearing in flames and laying down some more of the most legendary riffs ever ripped out of hell.

FUCCCCK YEAH!!!!!!!