Tenor Totally Explained

Everything about Tenor totally explained

:This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type. The tenor is the highest male voice within the modal register, just above the baritone voice. The typical tenor voice lies between the C one octave below middle C (C3) to the C one octave above middle C (C5). The low extreme for tenors is roughly B3 (two Bs below middle C). At the highest extreme, some tenors can sing up to two Fs above middle C (F5).
Within opera, the lowest note in the standard tenor repertoire is A3 (Mime, Herod), but few roles fall below C3 (one octave below middle C). The high extreme: many tenor roles in the standard repertoire call for a "tenor C" (C5, one octave above middle C). While some operatic roles for tenor require a darker timbre and fewer high notes, it's generally accepted that any tenor should be able to sing with a full timbre up to an A4. In the leggiero repertoire the highest note is an F5 (Arturo in I puritani), therefore, very few tenors can have this role in their repertoire.

Origin of the term

The name "tenor" derives from the Latin word tenere, which means "to hold". In medieval and Renaissance polyphony between about 1250 and 1500, the tenor was the structurally fundamental (or ‘holding’) voice, vocal or instrumental. All other voices were normally calculated in relation to the tenor, which often proceeded in longer note values and carried a borrowed Cantus firmus melody. Until the late 15th century introduction of the contratenor bassus, the tenor was usually the lowest voice, assuming the role of providing a harmonic foundation. It was also in the 15th century that "tenor" came to signify the male voice that sang such parts. Thus, for earlier repertoire, a line marked 'tenor' indicated the part's role, and not the required voice type. Indeed, even as late as the seventeenth century, partbooks labelled 'tenor' might contain parts for a range of voice types.

Tenor in choral music

In four-part choral music, the tenor is the second lowest voice, above the bass and below the soprano and alto. While certain choral music does require the first tenors to ascend the full tenor range, the majority of choral music places the tenors in the range from approximately B2 up to A4. The requirements of the tenor voice in choral music are also tied to the style of music most often performed by a given choir. Orchestra choruses require tenors with fully resonant voices, but chamber or a cappella choral music (sung with no instrumental accompaniment) can quite successfully rely on light baritones singing in falsetto.
   Even so, one nearly ubiquitous facet of choral singing is the shortage of tenor voices. Most men tend to have baritone voices and for this reason the majority of men tend to prefer singing in the bass section of a choir (however true basses are even more rare then tenors). Some men are asked to sing tenor even if they lack the full range, and sometimes low altos are asked to sing the tenor part.
   In bluegrass music, the melody line is called the lead. Tenor is sung an interval of a third above the lead. Baritone is the fifth of the scale that has the lead as a tonic, and may be sung below the lead, or even above the lead (and the tenor), in which case it's called "high baritone."
   In rock and hair metal, there's a style of singing (that most of them use), that requires a tenor to use a head voice/falsetto scream to sing most of the melodies. This allows then to stay on high treble notes (many close to or on tenor C) for extended amounts of time. Singers of this style include Axl Rose from Guns N' Roses, Joe Elliot of Def Leppard, Brian Johnson and Bon Scottof AC/DC, Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, and Kevin DuBrow of Quiet Riot.
   It term tenor is also applied to instruments to indicate their range in relation to other instruments of the same group. For instance the tenor saxophone.

Tenor voice classification

Within Choral and pop music, singers are classified into voice parts based almost solely on range with little consideration for other qualities in the voice. Within classical solo singing, however, a person is classified as a tenor through the identification of several vocal traits, including vocal range (the lowest and highest notes that the singer can reach), vocal timbre, vocal weight, vocal tessitura, vocal resonance, and vocal transition points (lifts or "passaggio") within the singer's voice. These different traits are used to identify different sub-types within the tenor voice sometimes reffered to as fächer (sg. fach, from German Fach or Stimmfach, "vocal category"). Within opera, particular roles are written with specific kinds of tenor voices in mind, causing certain roles to be associated with certain kins of voices.
Following are the operatic tenor fächer, with their standard repertory roles:

Leggiero tenor

The male equivalent of a lyric coloratura, this voice is light and very agile and is able to perform dextrous coloratura passages. The Leggiero tenor has a range of approximately the C one octave below middle C (C3) to the E above tenor C (E 5) with some leggiero tenors being able to sing up to the F or even G. This voice is the highest tenor voice and is sometimes referred to as "tenore di grazia". This voice is utilized frequently in the operas of Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini, and the highest Baroque repertoire for tenors. Leggiero tenors also frequently perform roles in the light-lyric tenor repetoire. To hear an example of a Leggiero tenor (Juan Diego Florez in the role of Tonio from Donizetti's La fille du régiment) click on this link: Watch Here ====Leggiero tenor roles in opera and operettas====
    � * Count Almaviva, The Barber of Seville (Rossini)

   * Arturo, I puritani (Bellini) � * Belmonte, The Abduction from the Seraglio (Mozart)

   * Elvino, La sonnambula (Bellini) � * Ernesto, Don Pasquale (Donizetti)

   * Ferrando, Così fan tutte (Mozart) � * Gualtiero, Il pirata (Bellini)

   * Lindoro, L'italiana in Algeri (Rossini) � * Nemorino, L'elisir d'amore (Donizetti)

   * Don Ottavio, Don Giovanni (Mozart) � * Don Ramiro, La Cenerentola (Rossini)

   * Tonio, La fille du régiment (Donizetti)

Leggiero tenor singers

� * John Aler

   * Luigi Alva � * Rockwell Blake

   * Juan Diego Flórez � * William Matteuzzi

   * Chris Merritt � * David Miller

   * Tito Schipa � * Ferruccio Tagliavini

   * Fritz Wunderlich

Lyric tenor

A warm graceful voice with a bright, full timbre that's strong but not heavy and can be heard over an orchestra. Lyric tenors have a range from approximately the C one octave below middle C (C3) to the D one octave above middle C (D5). There is a tendency to divide lyric tenors into two groups:

Light lyric tenor- A light-lyric tenor has a slighty warmer sound than the Leggiero tenor and some coloratura facility but doesn't have quite as high of an upper extension as the leggiero tenor. This voice is used frequently within French comic operas.

Full lyric tenor- A full-lyric tenor that has a more mature sound than a light-lyric tenor and can be heard over a bigger orchestra. To hear an example of a Full lyric tenor (José Carreras in the role of Rodolfo from Puccini's La bohème) click on this link: Watch Here

   ====Light-lyric tenor roles in opera and operettas====
    � * Chapelou, Le postillon de Lonjumeau (Adolphe Adam)

   * George Brown, La dame blanche (François-Adrien Boïeldieu) � * Gérald, Lakmé (Delibes)

� * Nadir, Les pecheurs de perles (Bizet)

   * Vincent, Mireille (Gounod)
====Full-lyric tenor roles in opera and operettas====
    � * Alfredo, La traviata (Verdi)

   * David, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Wagner) � * Duke of Mantua, Rigoletto (Verdi)

   * Edgardo, Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti) � * Elvino, La sonnambula (Bellini)

   * Faust, Faust (Gounod) � * Hoffman, The Tales of Hoffman (Offenbach)

� * Idomeneo, Idomeneo (Mozart)

   * Rodolfo, La bohème (Puccini) � * Roméo, Roméo et Juliette (Gounod)

   * Tamino, Die Zauberflöte (Mozart) � * Werther, Werther (Jules Massenet)

   * Wilhelm Meister, Mignon (Ambroise Thomas)

Lyric tenor singers

� * Roberto Alagna

   * Marcelo Álvarez � * Joseph Calleja

   * José Carreras � * Giacomo Aragall

   * Nicolai Gedda � * Rolando Villazón

   * Alfredo Kraus � * Valentin Teodorian

   * Ion Piso � * Carlo Tagliabue

   * Joseph Schmidt

Spinto tenor

This voice has the brightness and height of a lyric tenor, but with a heavier vocal weight enabeling the voice to be "pushed" to dramatic climaxes without strain. Some spinto tenors may have a somewhat darker timbre than a lyric tenor as well, without being as dark as a dramatic tenor. Spinto tenors have a range from approximately the C one octave below middle C (C3) to the D one octave above middle C (D5).
To hear an example of a Spinto tenor (Luciano Pavarotti in the role of Riccardo from Verdi's Un ballo in maschera) click on this link: Watch Here

====Spinto tenor roles in opera and operettas====
    � * Alvaro, La forza del destino (Verdi)

   * Andrea Chénier, Andrea Chénier (Umberto Giordano) � * Canio, Pagliacci (Leoncavallo)

   * Don Carlos, Don Carlos (Verdi) � * Don José, Carmen (Bizet)

   * Erik, Der fliegende Holländer (Wagner) � * Ernani, Ernani (Verdi)

� * Manrico, Il trovatore (Verdi)

   * Mario Cavaradossi, Tosca (Puccini) � * Maurizio, Adriana Lecouvreur (Cilea)

   * Pinkerton, Madama Butterfly (Puccini) � * Riccardo, Un ballo in maschera (Verdi)

   * Turiddu, Cavalleria rusticana (Pietro Mascagni)

Spinto tenor singers

� * Carlo Bergonzi

   * Jussi Björling � * Enrico Caruso

   * Luciano Pavarotti � * Aureliano Pertile

   * Ludovic Spiess � * Giovanni Martinelli

   * Giuseppe Di Stefano

Dramatic tenor

Also "tenore di forza" or "robusto" – a ringing and very powerful, rich, heroic tenor. The dramatic tenor has an approximate range from the C one octave below middle C (C3) to the C one octave above middle C (C5). To hear an example of a Dramatic tenor (Franco Corelli in the role of Radames from Verdi's Aida) click on this link: Watch Here

====Dramatic tenor roles in opera and operettas====
    � * Calaf, Turandot (Puccini)

   * Otello, Otello (Verdi) � * Radames, Aida (Verdi)

� * Rodolfo, Luisa Miller (Verdi)

   * Samson, Samson et Dalila (Saint-Saëns)

Dramatic tenor singers

� * Franco Bonisolli

   * Franco Corelli � * José Cura

   * Mario del Monaco � * Plácido Domingo

   * Zurab Andzhaparidze � * Vladimir Atlantov

Heldentenor

A rich, powerful, and dramatic voice. As its name implies, the Heldentenor (English: heroic tenor) vocal fach features in the German romantic operatic repertoire. The Heldentenor is the German equivalent of the tenore drammatico, however with a more baritonal quality: the typical Wagnerian protagonist. The keystone of any heldentenor's repertoire is arguably Wagner's Siegfried, an extremely demanding role requiring a wide vocal range, great stamina, and extended dramatic suspension. The Heldentenor has an approximate range from the C one octave below middle C (C3) to the C one octave above middle C (C5). To hear an example of a Heldentenor (Lauritz Melchior in the title role of Wagner's Lohengrin) click on this link: Watch Here

====Heldentenor roles in opera and operettas====
    � * Florestan, Fidelio (Beethoven)

   * Tannhäuser, Tannhäuser (Wagner) � * Loge, Das Rheingold (Wagner)

   * Lohengrin, Lohengrin (Wagner) � * Parsifal, Parsifal (Wagner)

� * Siegfried, Götterdämmerung (Wagner)

   * Siegfried, Siegfried (Wagner) � * Siegmund, Die Walküre (Wagner)

   * Walter von Stolzing, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Wagner) � * Tristan, Tristan und Isolde (Wagner)

Heldentenor singers

� * Bernd Aldenhoff

   * Ben Heppner � * James King

   * Ernst Kraus � * Lauritz Melchior

   * Josef Tichatschek � * Jon Vickers

   * Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld � * Wolfgang Windgassen

Tenor buffo or Spieltenor

A tenor with good acting ability, and the ability to create distinct voices for his characters. This voice specializes in smaller comic roles. The range of the tenor buffo is from the C one octave below middle C (C3) to the C one octave above middle C (C5). The tessitura of these parts lies lower than the other tenor roles. These parts are often played by younger tenors who have not yet reached their full vocal potential or older tenors who are beyond their prime singing years. Only rarely will a singer specialize in these roles for an entire career. To hear an example of a Tenor buffo (Norbert Orth in the role of Monostatos from Mozart's The Magic Flute) click on this link: Watch Here

====Tenor buffo roles in opera and operettas==== � * Don Basilio, The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart)

* Mime, Siegfried (Wagner) � * Monostatos, The Magic Flute (Mozart)

* Pedrillo, The Abduction from the Seraglio (Mozart)

Tenor roles in operettas

All of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas have at least one lead lyric tenor character; other notable roles are:

Candide (Candide)

Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus)

Camille, Count de Rosillon (The Merry Widow)

Prince Karl (The Student Prince)

Captain Dick (Naughty Marietta)Further Information

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