Contralto

 ( Italian Opera Terminology ) 

A contralto () is a classical music female singing human voice whose vocal range is the lowest of their voice type.

The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare, similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically between the F below middle C (F₃ in scientific pitch notation) to the second F above middle C (F₅), although, at the extremes, some voices can reach the D below middle C (D₃) or the second B above middle C (B₅). The contralto voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, lyric, and dramatic contralto.

---

History "Contralto" is primarily meaningful only in reference to classical and singing, as other traditions lack a comparable system of vocal categorization. The term "contralto" is only applied to female singers; men singing in a similar range are called "". The Italian terms "contralto" and "alto" are not synonymous, "alto" technically denoting a specific vocal range in choral singing without regard to factors like tessitura, vocal timbre, vocal facility, and vocal weight.

James Stark (2025). 9780802086143, University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9780802086143

However, there exists some French choral writing (including that of Ravel and Poulenc) with a part labelled "contralto", despite the tessitura and function being that of a classical alto part. The Saracen princess Clorinde in André Campra's 1702 opera Tancrède was written for Julie d'Aubigny and is considered the earliest major role for bas-dessus or contralto voice.The part of Clorinde is notated in the soprano clef (original score: ), but, although it never descends below d′, tradition has it that it was the first major bas-dessus (contralto) role in the French opera history (

Julie Anne Sadie (1997). 9780195221862, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195221862

---

Vocal range

{ \new Staff \with { \remove "Time_signature_engraver" } f4 f''4 }

The contralto has the lowest vocal range of the female , with the lowest tessitura;

D. Ralph Appelman (1986). 9780253203786, Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253203786

it is between tenor and mezzo-soprano.

Although tenors, baritones, and basses are male singers, some women can sing as low (albeit with a slightly different timbre and texture) as their male counterparts. Some of the rare female singers who specialized in the tenor and baritone registers include film actress Zarah Leander,Brigitte Peucker. The Material Image: Art and the Real in Film. Stanford University Press 2007. p. 120 the Iranian āvāz singer Hayedeh, the child prodigy Ruby Helder (1890–1938),

and Bavarian novelty singer Bally Prell.Archived at Ghostarchive and the target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Wayback Machine: The Guiness World Record for lowest note by a female is D₂, by Helen Leahey.

---

Subtypes and roles in opera Within the contralto voice type category are three generally recognized subcategories: coloratura contralto, an agile voice specializing in florid passages; lyric contralto, a voice lighter in timbre; and dramatic contralto, a deep, dark, and bold contralto voice.

The coloratura contralto was a favorite voice type of Rossini's. Many of his roles listed below were written with this type of voice in mind. Lyric contraltos are heavily utilized in both the French and English operatic repertoire. Many of the Gilbert and Sullivan contralto roles are best suited with a lyric contralto voice. Ma Moss in The Tender Land is a notable lyric contralto role. The dramatic contralto voice is heard in much of the German operatic repertoire. Erda in Der Ring des Nibelungen and Gaea in Daphne are both good examples of the dramatic contralto.

True operatic contraltos are rare, and the operatic literature contains few roles written specifically for them with most of those roles singing notes outside of their defined range. Contraltos sometimes are assigned feminine roles like Teodata in Flavio, Angelina in La Cenerentola, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Isabella in L'italiana in Algeri, and Olga in Eugene Onegin, but more frequently they play female villains or Breeches role. Contraltos may also be cast in roles originally written for castrato. A common saying among contraltos is that they may play only "witches, bitches, or Breeches role."

Examples of contralto roles in the standard operatic repertoire include the following:

• Angelina^*, La Cenerentola (Rossini)
• Arnalta, L'incoronazione di Poppea (Monteverdi)
• Arsace, Semiramide (Rossini)
• Art Banker, Facing Goya (Michael Nyman)
• Azucena^*, Il trovatore (Verdi)
• Auntie^*, landlady of The Boar, Peter Grimes (Benjamin Britten)
• The Baroness, Vanessa (Samuel Barber)
• Bradamante, Alcina (Handel)
• La Cieca, La Gioconda (Ponchielli)
• Cornelia, Giulio Cesare (Handel)
• The Countess^*, The Queen of Spades (Tchaikovsky)
• Didone, Egisto (Cavalli)
• Dryade, Ariadne auf Naxos (Richard Strauss)
• Erda, Das Rheingold, Siegfried (Richard Wagner)
• Felicia, Il crociato in Egitto (Meyerbeer)
• Madame Flora (Baba), The Medium (Menotti)
• Fidès, Le prophète (Meyerbeer)
• Florence Pike, Albert Herring (Britten)
• Gaea, Daphne (Richard Strauss)
• Geneviève, Pelléas et Mélisande (Claude Debussy)
• Griselda, Griselda (Antonio Vivaldi)
• Hélène Bezukhova, War and Peace (Prokofiev)
• Hippolyta, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Britten)
• Isabella^*, L'italiana in Algeri (Rossini)
• Katisha, The Mikado (Gilbert and Sullivan)
• Klytemnestra^*, Elektra (Richard Strauss)
• Lel, The Snow Maiden (Rimsky-Korsakov)
• Little Buttercup, H.M.S. Pinafore (Gilbert and Sullivan)
• Lucretia, The Rape of Lucretia (Britten)
• Maddalena^*, Rigoletto (Verdi)
• Magdelone, Maskarade (Carl Nielsen)
• Mamma Lucia, Cavalleria rusticana (Pietro Mascagni)
• Ma Moss, The Tender Land (Aaron Copland)
• Malcolm^*, La donna del lago (Rossini)
• Margret, Wozzeck (Alban Berg)
• Maria, Porgy and Bess (George Gershwin)
• The Marquise of Berkenfield, La fille du régiment (Donizetti)
• Marthe, Faust (Charles Gounod)
• Marilyn Klinghoffer, The Death of Klinghoffer (Adams)
• Mary, Der fliegende Holländer (Wagner)
• Miss Todd, The Old Maid and the Thief (Menotti)
• Mother, The Consul (Menotti)
• Mother Goose, Mother Goose (Felix Jarrar)
• Mother Goose, The Rake's Progress (Igor Stravinsky)
• Mrs. Noye, Noye's Fludde (Benjamin Britten)
• Mrs. Prin, Tabula Rasa (Felix Jarrar)
• Mistress Quickly, Falstaff (Verdi)
• Norn (I), Götterdämmerung (Wagner)
• Olga^*, Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky)
• Orfeo, Orfeo ed Euridice (Gluck) (originally for castrato)
• Orlando, Orlando Furioso (Antonio Vivaldi)
• Orsini, Lucrezia Borgia (Donizetti)
• Polina, The Queen of Spades (Tchaikovsky)
• Preziosilla "La forza del destino" (Verdi)
• Ratmir, Ruslan and Lyudmila (Mikhail Glinka)
• Rosina^*, The Barber of Seville (Rossini)
• Rosmira/Eurimene^*, Partenope (Handel)
• Ruth, The Pirates of Penzance (Gilbert and Sullivan)
• Schwertleite, Die Walküre (Wagner)
• Smeaton, Anna Bolena (Donizetti)
• Sosostris, The Midsummer Marriage (Michael Tippett)
• Stella, What Next? (Elliott Carter)
• Tancredi, Tancredi (Rossini)
• Ulrica, Un ballo in maschera (Verdi)
• Widow Begbick^*, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (Kurt Weill)
• 3rd Woodsprite, Rusalka (Dvořák)
• La Zia Principessa, Suor Angelica (Giacomo Puccini)
• Zita, Gianni Schicchi (Giacomo Puccini)

^* indicates a role that may also be sung by a mezzo-soprano.

---

See also

• Category of contraltos
• Fach, the German system for classifying voices
• List of contraltos in non-classical music
• List of operatic contraltos
• Voice classification in non-classical music

---

Further reading

• Berton Coffin (1960). 9780810801882, Rowman & Littlefield. . ISBN 9780810801882
• Anne Peckham (2025). 9780876390474, Berklee Press. . ISBN 9780876390474
• Brenda Smith (2025). 9781597560436, Plural Publishing. ISBN 9781597560436

---

External links

Post Comment