The transition from Castrati to Mezzo-Soprano Roles in Opera

Conclusion

Pants Roles/Trouser Roles

(lyric, coloratura)

final thoughts and questions

When mezzos get to play women!

• How are mezzo-soprano roles being written now?
• How will mezzo-soprano roles develop through the 21st century?
• Mezzo-roles have been affected by changing history and they will continue to develop as culture evolves.
• More opportunities grow for mezzo-sopranos as they are able to to perform with the appropriate style and appreciation of what the role demands.
• Knowing the developmental history from the castrati to mezzo-sopranos in opera and knowing where these roles are going will help best prepare aspiring mezzo-soprano opera singers today.

• Handel rote the first pants roles (Sextus from Julio Cesare in 1724)
• Boy characters, not heroes
• The early pants roles were primarily written between the time when castrati were near the end of their reign and before the Victorian age
• Disguise of class and gender was vogue on stage (Cherubino)
• During the 1800s pants roles were written, but they were mostly asexual characters or very innocent in nature (Puck, the Heavenly Voice in Verdi’s Don Carlos and Hansel from Humperdinck's Hansel und Gretel)
• The 20th century introduces provacative pants roles (Quote paper)
• Cherubin from Cherubin (1905), Octavian from Der Rosenkavalier (1911) and the Composer in Ariadne aug Naxos (1916)
• Mlle. Artot was a mezzo-soprano hired by Strauss to be in his operas. She refused to play Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier becuase of the strong lesbian connotations.

Cultural history

Roles (typically lyric or dramatic)

Octavian (Susan Graham) and Marschallin (Renee Fleming) in the opening scene of Der Rosenkavalier.

• Marguerite from La damnation de Faust (Berlioz), Dalila from Samson et Dalila (Saint-Saëns), Charlotte from Werther (Massenet), Carmen from Carmen (Bizet), etc.
• Azucena from Il trovatore (Verdi), Brangäne from Tristan und Isolde (Wagner), Gertrude from Hansel and Gretel (Humperdinck), Klytämnestra from Elektra (Richard Strauss), Fricka from Das Rheingold, Die Walküre (Wagner), The Countess from The Queen of Spades (Tchaikovsky), etc.

• During the 1800's many female roles were written for mezzo-sopranos as an outcome of Victorian ideals.
• Many French composers of the time wrote siren roles for lyric mezzo-sopranos and these tend to be leading roles. The exception to this rule is Angelina (Cinderella) in Rossini's La Cenerentola, and Rosina in Rossini's Barber of Seville.
• Many German composers, with the exception of Verdi, typically wrote the unpleasant characters for dramatic mezzo-sopranos. For the most part these are secondary roles.

Dalilah, Samson et Delilah (Saint-Saëns): "Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix"- Olga Borodina, Placido Domingo

Azucena, Il trovatore (Verdi): "Stride la Vampa"- Dalora Zaijick

20th Century Roles

• Nancy and Mrs. Herring from Albert Herring (Britten)
• The Old Lady from Candide (Bernstein)
• Linda and Irina from Lost in the Stars (Kurt Weill)
• Erika from Vanessa (Barber)

Hero Roles

performed by mezzos (coloratura)

• Serse, Serse (Handel)*
• Julius Caesar, Giulio Cesare (Handel)
• Ruggiero, Alcina (Handel)
• Ariodante, Ariodante (Handel)*

"Sacrificium"

Porpora, Caldara, Araia, Leothe, Vinci, Monteverdi, etc.

The Castrati Roles

From men to women

The Transition from Castrati to Mezzo-Sopranos in Opera

• Higher is better...oh, and also men! (read quote)
• Hero roles- kings, warriors, poets and gods
• When Napoleonic powers took over Italy, castration began to be illegal (end of 18th and beginningof 19th centuries).
• During the French Revolution there was a push for gender equality
• Victorian thought on gender- heterosexuality is glorified, castrati not masculine enough
• 1844 almost all castrati extinct
• 1878 Pope Leo XIII announced that the church no longer would accept the use of castrati

Alessandro Moreschi

1858 – 1922

Strong Roots

Cause of development and transitions

“I’m either the girl who doesn’t get the guy, or I am the guy, …-Marilyn Horne

• The castrati are the root of the development of operatic roles for the mezzo-soprano
• The evolution of European culture is what changed the performance practice of this register of singing in opera.
• As culture changes, so do these roles.

Witches, Bitches or Britches

types of mezzo roles

• Travesti roles inherited from the castrati (men)
• Pants roles written for mezzos (boys)
• Roles where mezzos play women (siren, witches, stepmother, etc.)