After having witnessed live ruined voices with strident tops, woofing low notes and no middle at all, I am more and more convinced that a dramatic voice is made.
It has to develop size and stamina as a lyric voice first, and when it is well worked out it is when it can face dramatic roles. The singer must be skilled so as not to hurt him/herself.
Yes, I imagine that from the time they are training, the potential for dramatic repertoire can be perceived; big, naturally dark voices. But why would someone start their career in roles like Tosca if they don't live in post-war Greece?

 

Sometimes, maybe, but there are dramatic voices which are always dramatic voices. Starting as a mezzo is probably more likely than starting as a lyric. Joan Sutherland started singing mezzo arias, Callas sounding like a contralto. Before Dusolina Giannini started her career as a dramatic soprano she was singing Azucena at 13.

 

It's because of the weight of the chest voice that a dramatic soprano can be mistaken for a mezzo or contralto early on. The core of the chest voice is recognized as something other than a typical lyric soprano. Something heavier, deeper, stronger. Usually that is a mezzo. The dramatic soprano is a rare voice type. Usually the voice isn't graced with the high notes as well as a booming chest voice. Takes a bit of time to recognize what the voice is, and a good teacher will not want to stress or force....or rush the development of the top. Soft palate work to properly cover the top is slow to develop properly in a heavy voice. It is the most difficult actually. So then the teacher will start with stretching the chest voice on both ends to see what is actually there. Stretching the top comes a little later.

 

Absolutely correct, considering a voice that sings at the core or in the most comfortable of its range throughout the development process elongates naturally and blooms with more ease as time goes by - this is akin to an athlete first building musculature using the safest of methods so that their system can be gradually prepared for more tricky/dangerous maneuvers later down the line without causing much damage. Stretching the voice to achieve a bigger range very early on tends to wear the voice quicker.

 

I think for dramatic female voices the four-fach classification is slightly unhelpful e.g. dramatic coloratura, dramatic soprano, dramatic mezzo, contralto. Just high, middle, and low works better. High dramatics would include singers like Callas, Sutherland, and Nilsson. Middle would encompass Ponselle, Traubel, Flagstad, Simionato, Bumbry, Verrett etc. and low for the true contraltos, Homer, Butt, Barbieri etc.

Most true dramatic voices of the mid-range should be able to cope with what we would term low dramatic soprano roles and high mezzo roles (Eboli/Amneris for instance).

 

I've really enjoyed the comments in this thread and I agree with the OP. As to whether dramatic voices are made or already exist, is it not that the weight of the voice is innate, but these voices need more training for the voices to come out. (Do correct me if I'm wrong.)

Are there any examples of dramatic sopranos who sang mezzo roles in the early part of their career? There are the obvious mezzos who had a go at being dramatic sopranos, but that's not the same thing.

N.

 

There are no dramatic singers today on the popular stages. Dramatic voices don't sit in the middle, I think that is a very easy and logical mistake that people make. People think of voice types as being linear from light to heavy, when that is not really how voice types works. Sopranos and mezzo sopranos are actually more linear, female voice are just more flexible in general, but male voices are not. First and foremost dramatic voices are huge in size, the color of the voice doesn't really matter. In many ways a dramatic tenor and a lyric baritone are actually opposite voices. The lyric baritone will have a much smaller and more flexible voice. They would be able to handle coloratura and florid passages. A lyric baritone might sound closer to a lyrical tenor. A real dramatic tenor has a huge and powerful voice. Anything that is huge is much more difficult to move around, therefore these are less flexible voices. Dramatic roles requires less flexibility so it does not tend to be a problem. Therefore thinking of these voices as being in the middle in not entirely correct. Many tenors will sing as baritones because they struggle with the passaggio, not because they really sound like a baritone. But it is more difficult in general for dramatic tenors to sing over the passaggio. Ramon Vinay is an interesting example, he was really a baritone, but obviously he did sing dramatic tenor roles for a while. When he returned to singing baritone he did not suddenly turn into a lyric baritone, he switched from dramatic tenor roles to dramatic baritone roles.

There are many problems, the obvious one is that singing should not be taught at university. Many singers that are hired today have a masters degree in singing. Imagine just how small this pool of singers really are. Not all people have the inclination and financial means to study specifically at university for years on end. Many voices are lost in the process. Most dramatic singers will not even qualify for university in first place. Professors and university types live in bubble they only appreciate artistry, I am sure there some exceptions but they are very rare. Most university types will clutch at their pearls when they hear a real dramatic voice. If you read Birgit Nilsson's biography there is one vocal coach who told her that she sounds like a foghorn and he insinuated that it would be better for her to stop singing. Young Birgit Nilsson would never qualify for the opera program at most universities.
People are taught to sing in a way which is not feasible in real life. Most singers, when they sing on a big stage for the first time says that they had to sing out far more than what they were taught in university. Basically they favor small voices.

Recordings are the other main problem. It is very easy to record small round and covered voices, and simply make them much louder. This is even done in live steaming performances these days, when you listen to the Met on demand you are not actually hearing the real vocal size of the singers, the volume is manipulated. It is easy to get away with this because only a few people will really see the performance live, while you can get thousand of views on youtube. But basically the recording problem already started in the 40's and 50's, singers recorded roles that they would never really sing on stage. It is easy to record lyrical singers in dramatic roles. The problem is people buy these recordings and they come to expect a certain sound. When they perhaps see a live performance or listen to a recording of a real dramatic voice they find it crude. You are creating a wrongful expectation for the role. Everywhere that opera is discussed you will see people asking for recommendations for studio recordings and the people always promote singers they like that are not really meant to sing to the roles. Someone would ask for a recommendation of Pagliacci and people will recommended Pavarotti, instead of someone like Mario Del Monaco who sang this role very well. They will listen to Vesti La Giubba and think Mario Del Monaco sounds crude or he doesn't sing in a nice legato line, meanwhile Canio kills two people in cold blood live on stage, this is not a character that requires a nice legato line and artistry. Opera recordings made lots of money from the turn of the 20th century until the 90's when the whole music industry collapsed. However, opera was always meant to be a live acoustic artform, it was never meant for the recording industry. All recordings today are so heavily modified they create a completely false and distorted view. I don't think people realize how much recordings are distorted.

 

There are no dramatic singers today on the popular stages. Dramatic voices don't sit in the middle, I think that is a very easy and logical mistake that people make. People think of voice types as being linear from light to heavy, when that is not really how voice types works. Sopranos and mezzo sopranos are actually more linear, female voice are just more flexible in general, but male voices are not. First and foremost dramatic voices are huge in size, the color of the voice doesn't really matter. In many ways a dramatic tenor and a lyric baritone are actually opposite voices. The lyric baritone will have a much smaller and more flexible voice. They would be able to handle coloratura and florid passages. A lyric baritone might sound closer to a lyrical tenor. A real dramatic tenor has a huge and powerful voice. Anything that is huge is much more difficult to move around, therefore these are less flexible voices. Dramatic roles requires less flexibility so it does not tend to be a problem. Therefore thinking of these voices as being in the middle in not entirely correct. Many tenors will sing as baritones because they struggle with the passaggio, not because they really sound like a baritone. But it is more difficult in general for dramatic tenors to sing over the passaggio. Ramon Vinay is an interesting example, he was really a baritone, but obviously he did sing dramatic tenor roles for a while. When he returned to singing baritone he did not suddenly turn into a lyric baritone, he switched from dramatic tenor roles to dramatic baritone roles.

There are many problems, the obvious one is that singing should not be taught at university. Many singers that are hired today have a masters degree in singing. Imagine just how small this pool of singers really are. Not all people have the inclination and financial means to study specifically at university for years on end. Many voices are lost in the process. Most dramatic singers will not even qualify for university in first place. Professors and university types live in bubble they only appreciate artistry, I am sure there some exceptions but they are very rare. Most university types will clutch at their pearls when they hear a real dramatic voice. If you read Birgit Nilsson's biography there is one vocal coach who told her that she sounds like a foghorn and he insinuated that it would be better for her to stop singing. Young Birgit Nilsson would never qualify for the opera program at most universities.
People are taught to sing in a way which is not feasible in real life. Most singers, when they sing on a big stage for the first time says that they had to sing out far more than what they were taught in university. Basically they favor small voices.

Recordings are the other main problem. It is very easy to record small round and covered voices, and simply make them much louder. This is even done in live steaming performances these days, when you listen to the Met on demand you are not actually hearing the real vocal size of the singers, the volume is manipulated. It is easy to get away with this because only a few people will really see the performance live, while you can get thousand of views on youtube. But basically the recording problem already started in the 40's and 50's, singers recorded roles that they would never really sing on stage. It is easy to record lyrical singers in dramatic roles. The problem is people buy these recordings and they come to expect a certain sound. When they perhaps see a live performance or listen to a recording of a real dramatic voice they find it crude. You are creating a wrongful expectation for the role. Everywhere that opera is discussed you will see people asking for recommendations for studio recordings and the people always promote singers they like that are not really meant to sing to the roles. Someone would ask for a recommendation of Pagliacci and people will recommended Pavarotti, instead of someone like Mario Del Monaco who sang this role very well. They will listen to Vesti La Giubba and think Mario Del Monaco sounds crude or he doesn't sing in a nice legato line, meanwhile Canio kills two people in cold blood live on stage, this is not a character that requires a nice legato line and artistry. Opera recordings made lots of money from the turn of the 20th century until the 90's when the whole music industry collapsed. However, opera was always meant to be a live acoustic artform, it was never meant for the recording industry. All recordings today are so heavily modified they create a completely false and distorted view. I don't think people realize how much recordings are distorted.

I think about 80% of those "lyric baritones who sound closer to lyric tenors" are...actually tenors. Sure, there is individual variation (compare Nilsson and Ponselle if we're talking dramatic sopranos), but timbre is still extremely important for determining voice type. If it were the other way around, you could hear it both ways: coloratura sopranos who sound like mezzos, basses that sounded like Verdi baritones, etc. Likewise, there is variation in vocal weight/lack thereof within all voice types (for baritones, Nelson Eddy was on the lighter end, Cornell MacNeil was on the large end)

My next claim is where things get more controversial: if a singer has a small voice, there are really only two possibilities
1. They have health issues that limit the requisite muscles and/or posture
2. They...aren't actually good at singing.


I'm not saying all voices are equally big (Kirsten Flagstad clearly had more ability to project than Mary Costa), but in the old days, we had coloratura sopranos like Elvira de Hidalgo, and leggiero tenors like Hermann Jadlowker and Luciano Pavarotti with huge voices. Any healthy person can be taught to sing with a big voice. It's only a matter of degree.

 

I sound like a tenor but have the range of a baritone. LOL
Linda Watson is a dramatic soprano who sang here as Kundry ( most beautifully). She knew her voice would not mature till later so became an investment banker till her mid 30s when she began her career. The problem was I think that she didn't learn the ins and outs of surviving a long role onstage as when I heard her less than 10 years later she had lost the top and developed a wobble. Flagstad did it right by singing less challenging roles till she began as a Wagnerian soprano around age 40.