Definitions by Lorelili
hostile
Most of the definitions here are embarrassingly incorrect; hostile means "antagonistic", "contentious", "combative", "unfriendly", "antisocial", "belligerent", "unsympathetic", "scrappy", "quarrelsome", "disagreeable".
Hostile basically means "of or relating to an enemy"; unfriendly or inhospitable. Marked by a feeling of ill will toward somebody.
Hostile basically means "of or relating to an enemy"; unfriendly or inhospitable. Marked by a feeling of ill will toward somebody.
Casey Anthony's looked like a marble statue as she watched people take the stand, her face a calm mask which barely hid the hostile spoiled brat beneath.
The gangbangers walked the streets of the slum, their faces angry and hostile as they glanced about.
The gangbangers walked the streets of the slum, their faces angry and hostile as they glanced about.
vocal weight
In opera, vocal weight is a term used to describe how "light" or how "heavy" that a voice is and by extension what kind of roles that it is suited to.
Lighter voices are associated with lyric voices while heavier voices are associated with dramatic voices; lyric voices are usually brighter, sweeter, and more agile while dramatic voices are usually powerful, rich, and darker than their lyric counterparts.
Spinto voices, usually limited to tenors and sopranos, are a kind of bridge between lyric and dramatic voices, "light heavyweights" in a manner of speaking.
Lighter voices are associated with lyric voices while heavier voices are associated with dramatic voices; lyric voices are usually brighter, sweeter, and more agile while dramatic voices are usually powerful, rich, and darker than their lyric counterparts.
Spinto voices, usually limited to tenors and sopranos, are a kind of bridge between lyric and dramatic voices, "light heavyweights" in a manner of speaking.
Vocal weight may or may not be obvious immediately; a singer needs a number of opinions before any determination is reached. Vocal weight is also a strong mark of who gets to sing what in opera. Lyric voices usually play more vulnerable characters while dramatic voices usually play bold, strong characters.
Lyric voices are strong, but they're light; they don't like to sing very loudly very often and often sound forced when they do so. Lyric voices are designed for smooth, sweet singing, agile passages and clear diction.
Dramatic voices are bigger and heavier than lyric voices and their power makes them more difficult to maneuver through flowery coloratura passages, but dramatic voices are designed to sing loudly; they can sing over a large orchestra more easily than lyric voices can and are filled with emotion in addition to power.
Spinto voices are light but powerful and are essentially lyric voices with a strong dramatic edge (squillo, or "ping"), which allows them to cut through a full orchestra (rather than sing over it like a true dramatic voice).
Lyric voices are strong, but they're light; they don't like to sing very loudly very often and often sound forced when they do so. Lyric voices are designed for smooth, sweet singing, agile passages and clear diction.
Dramatic voices are bigger and heavier than lyric voices and their power makes them more difficult to maneuver through flowery coloratura passages, but dramatic voices are designed to sing loudly; they can sing over a large orchestra more easily than lyric voices can and are filled with emotion in addition to power.
Spinto voices are light but powerful and are essentially lyric voices with a strong dramatic edge (squillo, or "ping"), which allows them to cut through a full orchestra (rather than sing over it like a true dramatic voice).
vocal weight by Lorelili July 9, 2011
baritone
The medium male singing voice in opera and non-classical music (although in choir, baritones must either choose the tenor or bass part). Baritones in opera have a range from G2 (the second G below middle C) to G4 (above middle C). This is the most common male voice type.
Sitting between the tenor and bass, the baritone typically plays supporting roles (fathers, older men, servants, friends of the hero) as well as the villain: corrupt legal authorities, evil prison wardens, and other nasty characters. Often teamed with the mezzo-soprano.
Many pop singers and Broadway singers are baritones, although the vocal categories used in opera are not applied to them. Examples include Robert Goulet, Elvis Presley, Mark Salling, Michael Buble, Bruce Springsteen, Jim Morrison, Ringo Starr, Eddie Vedder, John Cougar Mellencamp, David Lee Roth, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Neil Diamond, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Johnny Cash, Tim Curry, Philip Quast, and Leonard Cohen
Sitting between the tenor and bass, the baritone typically plays supporting roles (fathers, older men, servants, friends of the hero) as well as the villain: corrupt legal authorities, evil prison wardens, and other nasty characters. Often teamed with the mezzo-soprano.
Many pop singers and Broadway singers are baritones, although the vocal categories used in opera are not applied to them. Examples include Robert Goulet, Elvis Presley, Mark Salling, Michael Buble, Bruce Springsteen, Jim Morrison, Ringo Starr, Eddie Vedder, John Cougar Mellencamp, David Lee Roth, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Neil Diamond, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Johnny Cash, Tim Curry, Philip Quast, and Leonard Cohen
According to vocal weight/voice type, baritones are divided into at least four subcategories:
Lyric baritone: a light, mellow voice without the harshness of the dramatic baritones, he usually plays the comic relief. Examples include Thomas Allen, Thomas Hampson, Robert Merrill, Simon Keenlyside, and Nathan Gunn.
Cavalier baritone: a lyric baritone with a strong dramatic edge, albeit not a true dramatic voice. Plays powerful, virile characters. This is not a common voice.
Verdi baritone: Subset of the dramatic baritone, specializing in roles by Giuseppe Verdi; should have strong high notes and lots of squillo ("ping"). Examples include Tito Gobbi, Leonard Warren, Carlos Alvarez, and Dmitry Hvorostovsky.
Dramatic baritone: A powerful, rich, full, sometimes harsh voice reserved for many villains in opera. Examples include Juan Pons, Norman Bailey, and Tom Krause.
Bass-baritone: coming in both lyric and dramatic timbres, this voice combines the depth of the bass with the tessitura of the baritone. Examples include Bryn Terfel, George London, and Hans Hotter.
Lyric baritone: a light, mellow voice without the harshness of the dramatic baritones, he usually plays the comic relief. Examples include Thomas Allen, Thomas Hampson, Robert Merrill, Simon Keenlyside, and Nathan Gunn.
Cavalier baritone: a lyric baritone with a strong dramatic edge, albeit not a true dramatic voice. Plays powerful, virile characters. This is not a common voice.
Verdi baritone: Subset of the dramatic baritone, specializing in roles by Giuseppe Verdi; should have strong high notes and lots of squillo ("ping"). Examples include Tito Gobbi, Leonard Warren, Carlos Alvarez, and Dmitry Hvorostovsky.
Dramatic baritone: A powerful, rich, full, sometimes harsh voice reserved for many villains in opera. Examples include Juan Pons, Norman Bailey, and Tom Krause.
Bass-baritone: coming in both lyric and dramatic timbres, this voice combines the depth of the bass with the tessitura of the baritone. Examples include Bryn Terfel, George London, and Hans Hotter.
contralto
The low female singing voice in opera, choir, and non, classical music (the alto part in choir is sung by contraltos and mezzo-sopranos with strong low notes). The contralto has a range from F3 (below middle C) to G5 (the second G over middle C). This deep, dark female voice is the rarest female voice and they are known to sound almost like men on their lowest notes.
Sitting between mezzo sopranos and tenors, contraltos have relatively few roles in opera as little has been written specifically for them and what roles they have are usually that of maidservants, mothers, grandmothers, and friends of the heroine, but they occasionally get hardy roles, notably witches and goddesses. They also play roles originally meant for castratos (when mezzo-sopranos, countertenors, tenors, and baritones don't take them).
A number of pop singers and Broadway performers are contraltos, although they are not farther distinguished as they would be in opera. Examples include Fiona Apple, Cher, Toni Braxton, Etta James, Sarah Vaughn, Alicia Keyes, Diana Krall, Lisa Gerrard, Amy MacDonald, Yulia MacLean, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Reba MacIntire, Stevie Nicks, Katy Perry, Carly Simon, Ana Carolina, Emily Haines, Judy Garland, Chaka Khan, and Annie Lennox.
Sitting between mezzo sopranos and tenors, contraltos have relatively few roles in opera as little has been written specifically for them and what roles they have are usually that of maidservants, mothers, grandmothers, and friends of the heroine, but they occasionally get hardy roles, notably witches and goddesses. They also play roles originally meant for castratos (when mezzo-sopranos, countertenors, tenors, and baritones don't take them).
A number of pop singers and Broadway performers are contraltos, although they are not farther distinguished as they would be in opera. Examples include Fiona Apple, Cher, Toni Braxton, Etta James, Sarah Vaughn, Alicia Keyes, Diana Krall, Lisa Gerrard, Amy MacDonald, Yulia MacLean, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Reba MacIntire, Stevie Nicks, Katy Perry, Carly Simon, Ana Carolina, Emily Haines, Judy Garland, Chaka Khan, and Annie Lennox.
Based on vocal weight/voice type, contraltos are divided into three subcategories:
Coloratura contralto: light, agile, flexible, capable of vocal acrobatics (a rare voice).
Lyric contralto: stronger than coloratura contralto, but lighter and tamer than the dramatic contralto. Most common contralto voice.
Dramatic contralto: A powerful, rich, dark female voice and very rare.
Operatic contraltos include Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Maureen Forrester, Kathleen Ferrier, Marian Anderson, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Nathalie Stutzmann, Ewa Podles, Anna Larsson, and Sonia Prina.
Coloratura contralto: light, agile, flexible, capable of vocal acrobatics (a rare voice).
Lyric contralto: stronger than coloratura contralto, but lighter and tamer than the dramatic contralto. Most common contralto voice.
Dramatic contralto: A powerful, rich, dark female voice and very rare.
Operatic contraltos include Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Maureen Forrester, Kathleen Ferrier, Marian Anderson, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Nathalie Stutzmann, Ewa Podles, Anna Larsson, and Sonia Prina.
spinto
In singing, this refers to a soprano or tenor voice type of a vocal weight between a lyric voice and a dramatic voice, a "light heavyweight" voice.
Lyric voices are light, smooth, sweet, and agile; dramatic voices are heavy, rich, powerful, and full of emotion.
"Spinto" is Italian for "pushed" (this should not imply force) and applied to a tenor or a soprano it means a lyric voice which can be "pushed" to large musical climaxes at moderate intervals. This effect is achieved by a sharp edge in the voice's tone (squillo), which allows it to "cut" through a full orchestra (rather than singing over it like a true dramatic voice).
Since spinto voices bridge lyric and dramatic voices, they are able to play a wide range of roles in opera (but a spinto is not a common voice type).
Lyric voices are light, smooth, sweet, and agile; dramatic voices are heavy, rich, powerful, and full of emotion.
"Spinto" is Italian for "pushed" (this should not imply force) and applied to a tenor or a soprano it means a lyric voice which can be "pushed" to large musical climaxes at moderate intervals. This effect is achieved by a sharp edge in the voice's tone (squillo), which allows it to "cut" through a full orchestra (rather than singing over it like a true dramatic voice).
Since spinto voices bridge lyric and dramatic voices, they are able to play a wide range of roles in opera (but a spinto is not a common voice type).
A spinto tenor or spinto soprano may or may not have a darker color than their lyric counterparts; they often have the color of a baritone/mezzo-soprano and the high tessitura of a tenor/soprano.
Famous operatic spinto sopranos and spinto tenors include Renata Tebaldi, Leontyne Price, Michele Crider, Aprile Millo, Renata Scotto, Mario Lanza, Mario Frangoulis, Carlo Bergonzi, Placido Domingo, and Franco Corelli.
Pop singers who could qualify include Kelly Clarkson, Michelle Branch, Rachelle Lampa, Diana DeGarmo, Adam Lambert, Adam Pascal, Clay Aiken, Freddy Mercury, Steven Tyler, and Michael Jackson.
Famous operatic spinto sopranos and spinto tenors include Renata Tebaldi, Leontyne Price, Michele Crider, Aprile Millo, Renata Scotto, Mario Lanza, Mario Frangoulis, Carlo Bergonzi, Placido Domingo, and Franco Corelli.
Pop singers who could qualify include Kelly Clarkson, Michelle Branch, Rachelle Lampa, Diana DeGarmo, Adam Lambert, Adam Pascal, Clay Aiken, Freddy Mercury, Steven Tyler, and Michael Jackson.
ingenue
A stock character in opera, theater, and literature. She is a girl or young woman who is endearingly wholesome and innocent. Very similar to the girl next door.
She is generally portrayed as sweet, gentle, virtuous, beautiful, demure, with the wide-eyed innocence of a child and she is very often naive. She is often the victim of the libertine, whom she may have mistaken for the hero. Often she still lives with her parents, owing to her youth and naivete.
She is usually the foil for the dangerously seductive femme fatale.
She is often involved in a romantic subplot, usually with the boy next door and the romance is typically innocent and chaste.
The ingenue is typically played by a lyric soprano in opera and musicals.
She is generally portrayed as sweet, gentle, virtuous, beautiful, demure, with the wide-eyed innocence of a child and she is very often naive. She is often the victim of the libertine, whom she may have mistaken for the hero. Often she still lives with her parents, owing to her youth and naivete.
She is usually the foil for the dangerously seductive femme fatale.
She is often involved in a romantic subplot, usually with the boy next door and the romance is typically innocent and chaste.
The ingenue is typically played by a lyric soprano in opera and musicals.
The ingenue includes the following characters:
Joanna in Sweeney Todd
Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz
Giselle in Enchanted
Pollyanna
Snow White
Rapunzel
Cosette in Les Miserables
Sandy in Grease
Maria in West Side Story
Christine in Phantom of the Opera
Ophelia in Hamlet
Juliet in Romeo and Juliet
Ariel in The Little Mermaid
Belle in Beauty and the Beast
Penny in Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Mimi in La Boheme
Tatiana in Eugene Onegin
Joanna in Sweeney Todd
Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz
Giselle in Enchanted
Pollyanna
Snow White
Rapunzel
Cosette in Les Miserables
Sandy in Grease
Maria in West Side Story
Christine in Phantom of the Opera
Ophelia in Hamlet
Juliet in Romeo and Juliet
Ariel in The Little Mermaid
Belle in Beauty and the Beast
Penny in Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Mimi in La Boheme
Tatiana in Eugene Onegin
mezzo-soprano
The medium female singing voice in opera and non-classical music (although in the choir, the mezzo-soprano and the contralto are lumped together as altos). The mezzo-soprano has a range of two octaves from A3 (below middle C) to A5 (just two notes short of high C). This is the most common female voice.
Situated between the soprano and contralto, the mezzo-soprano typically plays supporting roles (mothers, maidservants, friends of the heroine) as well as villainous women like the femme fatale (the saying among mezzo-sopranos and contraltos is that they play "witches, britches, and bitches").
Many pop singers are mezzo-sopranos, although the vocal subcategories used in opera are not applied to them. Examples include Madonna, Beyonce, Patti Lupone, Ethel Merman, Tori Amos, Mary J. Blige, Aretha Franklin, Jennifer Hudson, Whitney Houston (since the mid-1990s), Enya, Janet Jackson, Barbra Streisand, Alanis Morissette, and Sarah McLachlan.
Situated between the soprano and contralto, the mezzo-soprano typically plays supporting roles (mothers, maidservants, friends of the heroine) as well as villainous women like the femme fatale (the saying among mezzo-sopranos and contraltos is that they play "witches, britches, and bitches").
Many pop singers are mezzo-sopranos, although the vocal subcategories used in opera are not applied to them. Examples include Madonna, Beyonce, Patti Lupone, Ethel Merman, Tori Amos, Mary J. Blige, Aretha Franklin, Jennifer Hudson, Whitney Houston (since the mid-1990s), Enya, Janet Jackson, Barbra Streisand, Alanis Morissette, and Sarah McLachlan.
Based on vocal weight/voice type, mezzo-sopranos re divided into three subtypes:
Coloratura mezzo-soprano: Light, flexible, pure, very agile and sings very ornate passages (very rare voice). Examples include Cecilia Bartoli, Marilyn Horne, and Jennifer Larmore, and Vivica Genaux.
Lyric mezzo-soprano: Light, mellow, strong and often plays trouser roles (a woman who plays boys and adolescent males) as well as perfectly feminine characters. Examples include Frederica von Stade, Anne Sophie von Otter, Tatiana Troyanos, and Katherine Jenkins.
Dramatic mezzo-soprano: Powerful, rich, warm and with a stronger (and seductive) lower range than a soprano, she is reserved for the roles of villains (temptresses, femmes fatales, witches) as well as mothers and friends of the soprano. Examples include Grace Bumbry, Dolora Zajick, Denyce Graves, Olga Borodina, and Viorica Cortez.
Mezzo-sopranos can't sing high notes as easily as sopranos (they sound appropriately wild and crazed when they do), but they get their revenge by playing some of the spiciest roles ever.
Coloratura mezzo-soprano: Light, flexible, pure, very agile and sings very ornate passages (very rare voice). Examples include Cecilia Bartoli, Marilyn Horne, and Jennifer Larmore, and Vivica Genaux.
Lyric mezzo-soprano: Light, mellow, strong and often plays trouser roles (a woman who plays boys and adolescent males) as well as perfectly feminine characters. Examples include Frederica von Stade, Anne Sophie von Otter, Tatiana Troyanos, and Katherine Jenkins.
Dramatic mezzo-soprano: Powerful, rich, warm and with a stronger (and seductive) lower range than a soprano, she is reserved for the roles of villains (temptresses, femmes fatales, witches) as well as mothers and friends of the soprano. Examples include Grace Bumbry, Dolora Zajick, Denyce Graves, Olga Borodina, and Viorica Cortez.
Mezzo-sopranos can't sing high notes as easily as sopranos (they sound appropriately wild and crazed when they do), but they get their revenge by playing some of the spiciest roles ever.
mezzo-soprano by Lorelili July 7, 2011