Sopranist

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A sopranist (also, sopranista or male soprano) is a male singer who is able to sing in the vocal tessitura of a soprano usually through the use of falsetto vocal production. This voice type is a specific kind of countertenor.^[1] In rare cases an adult man may be able to sing in the soprano range using his normal or modal voice and not falsetto due to endocrinological reasons, like Radu Marian, and Jorge Cano or as a result of a larynx that has not completely developed as in the case of Michael Maniaci.^[2]

Voice type

Female voices Soprano Mezzo-soprano Contralto Male voices Countertenor Tenor Baritone Bass

Contents 1 Voice 2 Controversy over the term male soprano 3 Repertoire 4 Known sopranists (Classical) 5 References 6 See also 7 External links

[edit] Voice

A sopranist is able to sing in the soprano vocal range which is approximately between C4 and C6, though at times may expand somewhat higher or lower. Men of all voice types can possess the wide-ranged and effective reinforced falsetto needed to produce the contralto, mezzo-soprano and soprano vocal ranges. Some countertenors can sing up into the female vocal tessituras using the modal register (normal singing production) and need not employ any falsetto. However, this extension does not reach into the upper part of soprano range going no further than an E5 or F5. Therefore sopranists must at some point employ falsetto to sing notes in the upper part of the soprano tessitura.^[3] The exception would be those rare singers mentioned above.

[edit] Controversy over the term male soprano

Typically, the term "soprano" refers to female singers but at times the term "male soprano" has been used by men who sing in the soprano vocal range using falsetto vocal production instead of the modal voice. This practice is most commonly found in the context of choral music in England. However, these men are more commonly referred to as countertenors or sopranists. The practice of referring to countertenors as "male sopranos" is somewhat controversial within vocal pedagogical circles as these men do not produce sound in the same physiological way that female sopranos do.^[1] The singer Michael Maniaci is the only known man who can refer to himself as a true male soprano because he is able to sing in the soprano vocal range using the modal voice like a woman would. He is able to do this because his larynx never fully developed as do most other men's voices during puberty.^[4]

[edit] Repertoire

There is a large body of music for the male soprano that was written when it was common to use a castrato - a voice type which, for all intents and purposes, no longer exists, as the practice of castrating trebles was abolished before the end of the 19th century. Sopranists are very rare, since most countertenors are altos and mezzos. In fact, probably because early famous countertenors were altos (like Alfred Deller), it was believed for a long time that countertenors can only be altos (and later, mezzo countertenors, like David Daniels or Jochen Kowalski were recognized). While there is some modern repertoire written for countertenors (sometimes written specifically for certain singers, like Britten's Death in Venice, which has a part that was written specifically for James Bowman, or David Daniels, for whom a cantata was recently composed), at present there only a small number of modern pieces written specifically for the sopranist vocal type.

Common vocal ranges represented on a keyboard

Soprano

Countertenor or Mezzo-soprano

Contralto

Tenor

Baritone

Bass

[edit] Known sopranists (Classical)

Present day sopranists include:

• Simone Bartolini
• Jorge Cano
• Max Emanuel Cencic
• Ouatu Florin Cezar
• Aris Christofellis
• Robert Crowe
• Anton Diva
• Pasi Hyökki
• Philippe Jaroussky
• Vyatcheslav "Slava" Kagan-Paley
• Paul Laumont
• Adam Lopez
• Angelo Manzotti
• Radu Marian
• Javier Medina
• Ghio Nannini
• David Newman
• Tomotaka Okamoto
• Michael Maniaci
• Dariusz Paradowski
• Greg Pritchard
• Arno Raunig
• Brian Charles Rooney
• Oleg Ryabets
• André Vásáry
• Alan Vu
• Jörg Waschinski
• Brian Rivera-Bruno
• Wilson Jermaine Heredia

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b} McKinney, James (1994). The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults. Genovex Music Group. ISBN 13: 978-1565939400. 
2. ^ The man with the 300-year-old voice - Times Online
3. ^ Giles, Peter (1982). The Countertenor. Muller Publishing Co.. 
4. ^ Times Article October 2007

[edit] See also

• Superius
• Farinelli

[edit] External links

• The Male Soprano
• Leandro Samuel Bermudez Lafont sings G. F. Handel's Spero Placare (Radamisto)
• The World of the Castrati and Male Soprano
• Radu Marian sings Zeffiretti innamorati
• Male Sopranos & Altos
• Gregg Pritchard sings Nessun Dorma
• Patrick Husson sings Gregorio Allegri's Miserere as first soprano
• Vyatcheslav "Slava" Kagan-Paley sings the Ave Maria
• Vyatcheslav "Slava" Kagan-Paley sings Brahms' Lullaby