| The tenor is the highest male voice in opera. | | | | in their operas, and German school tenors do not |
| Please don't let anyone convince you otherwise. | | | | put it on their resume. Of the Italians, Giuseppe |
| Yes, there are countertenors, castrati, and who | | | | Verdi disliked the "high C" intensely, and his operas |
| knows what all else. For all intents, however, the | | | | do not feature it. Giacomo Puccini, on the other |
| tenor is the STANDARD highest male voice in | | | | hand, seemed to have no problem with it, |
| opera. | | | | employing it in his opera scores where he saw fit. |
| Tenors always get to sing the best parts. There | | | | Gaetano Donizetti occasionally abused it (there is |
| are the heavyweights of opera. The composers | | | | a tenor aria in one of his operas that features |
| responsible for establishing the three major opera | | | | eight (!) high C's). |
| periods figured that all romantic and/or heroic | | | | Italian school tenors tend to employ (and |
| roles should be performed by tenors. The tenor is | | | | overuse) the so-called belcanto technique. The |
| the ultimate lover, the quintessential hero, the | | | | term had a very specific meaning - a long time |
| sentimental darling, the moneymaker for opera | | | | ago. Today, when you hear a tenor "sob" while |
| companies. | | | | singing, you know it's "belcanto." It always gets |
| While the types of roles for other opera voices | | | | the ladies in the audiences. German school tenors |
| were established during the Baroque period, the | | | | are far more austere. Because the text is very |
| tenor came into his own (so to speak) only with | | | | important in Richard Wagner's operas, German |
| the advent of "Grand Opera" - in the Nineteenth | | | | school emphasizes clean, unimpeded word |
| Century. Before that, weak, inconsequential roles | | | | delivery, phonetic clarity of the highest degree. |
| were given to tenors in which the vocal power did | | | | Tenors from all over the world follow either Italian |
| not figure among the basic requirements. | | | | or German school. Some Italian-school tenors take |
| Among other skills, Italian school tenors feature | | | | on German roles towards the end of their |
| the ability to sing the "high C" - the highest note | | | | careers, when their voices begin to show signs of |
| (to all intents) in the tenor range. It is literally a | | | | "darkening" - when they have nothing to lose. |
| million-dollar note. It is very difficult to sing it | | | | There are, however, exceptions. Placido Domingo, |
| powerfully and naturally without slipping into | | | | initially an Italian-school tenor, reinvented himself, |
| falsetto tones. German opera composers (i.e. | | | | rebuilding his voice seemingly from scratch, to sing |
| Richard Wagner, mostly ... ) did not use this note | | | | Wagnerian operas - very successfully. |