Mezzo-soprano
| Voices for choir singers | |
|---|---|
| Female voices | Male voices |
 Soprano (S) |
 Tenor (T) |
 Mezzo-soprano |
 baritone |
 Alt (A) |
 Bass (B) |
A mezzo-soprano ( plural the mezzo-soprano , in Switzerland also the mezzo-soprano ; from Italian mezzosoprano "half soprano", French bas-dessus ; derived from Italian mezzo , "medium") is a vocal range of women or boys that lies between alto and soprano and differs from the soprano in that it has a darker timbre and a slightly lower vocal range (about a to f '' ). Particularly characteristic of the mezzo-soprano is the abundance of notes in the middle register.
Just as the baritone appears in two very different timbres (as tenor and as bass baritone ), depending on whether it is closer to one or the other vocal genre, the mezzo-soprano has either soprano or alto timbre and its range either expands more towards the height or more towards the depth.
A singer or a singer of this pitch is Mezzosopranist or mezzo-soprano or simply "mezzo-soprano" called.
A common task for mezzo-sopranos are so-called trouser roles , i.e. the portrayal of a (mostly young) man (see examples below).
Typical mezzo-soprano roles are:
- Georges Bizet , Carmen - title role ( voice : lyric mezzo-soprano )
- WA Mozart , Le nozze di Figaro - Cherubino (lyric mezzo-soprano)
- Giuseppe Verdi , Il trovatore - Azucena (Dramatic Mezzo-Soprano)
- Richard Strauss , Der Rosenkavalier - Octavian (lyric mezzo-soprano)
- Richard Strauss, Ariadne auf Naxos - composer (lyric mezzo-soprano)
- Engelbert Humperdinck , Hansel and Gretel - Hansel (lyric mezzo-soprano)
- Giuseppe Verdi , Aida - Amneris (Dramatic Mezzo-Soprano)
A number of important mezzo-sopranos are featured on the list of famous classical music singers .
