Anyone remember my old opera thread

[Elok]

Countertenor or Castrato (highest male voice): In ye olden days, yes, the Church selected boys who showed exceptional vocal promise to be castrated to preserve their high voices. As a consequence, a great deal of the male leads in Baroque operas are for male castrati. While the practice more or less died out in the late 18th and early 19th century, there were still castrati to be heard up until the early 1900s. Today, such roles are either sung by women, transposed to lower male voices or sung by countertenors, which are just men who sing very high without being neutered. Famous countertenors include David Daniels and Rene Jacobs.

Shameless, minor jack: my wife tells me that Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin is a countertenor. Would you say that's an accurate characterization of his voice? I imagine you're not the biggest Zeppelin fan, but as you're under fifty I'm sure you've heard "Stairway to Heaven" a minimum of twelve times...

[Asher]

Baritone voices are sexiest.

Matt Berninger

[Barnabas]

Shameless, minor jack: my wife tells me that Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin is a countertenor. Would you say that's an accurate characterization of his voice? I imagine you're not the biggest Zeppelin fan, but as you're under fifty I'm sure you've heard "Stairway to Heaven" a minimum of twelve times...

I think he isn't even a tenor that can go very high, and he sings a lot in falsetto, he had to double track his highest notes in albums for fullness of sound

This guy Zappa chose to cover/parody STH is better than Plant, go to 06:31

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p3Ue3ncH3g

[Dr Strangelove]

I remember the original thread.

Netflix has a modest, but growing,selection of opera offerings. Not asll of them are necessariy the best versions of any given opera though.

[Boris Godunov]

Shameless, minor jack: my wife tells me that Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin is a countertenor. Would you say that's an accurate characterization of his voice? I imagine you're not the biggest Zeppelin fan, but as you're under fifty I'm sure you've heard "Stairway to Heaven" a minimum of twelve times...

No, he's not a countertenor that I can hear. Sounds like a pop tenorish voice, but since he doesn't sing with a classical technique, it's not so easy to tell.

Here's a countertenor in action:

[Boris Godunov]

Baritone voices are sexiest.

Skip to 1:05ish here:

[Al B. Sure!]

Baritone voices are sexiest.

Ahem... I won't say what I was in high school choir

[Boris Godunov]

Probably an alto.

[Al B. Sure!]

Probably an alto.

actually I wasn't even a baritone. I was a corny bass I couldn't sing for jack but I did it to try to talk to a girl (that failed miserably). The choir teacher thought my voice had a great resonance but I never did learn how to sing.

[Boris Godunov]

High school "bass" = middling baritone in the real world. The male voice doesn't fully mature until mid-30s.

This is what a true bass sounds like:

[Al B. Sure!]

Question... in the last two videos you posted, why are those men all shirtless and looking nothing like a Pavarotti?

[Boris Godunov]

Question... in the last two videos you posted, why are those men all shirtless and looking nothing like a Pavarotti?

I dunno. Why is it that when you're shirtless you look nothing like Jake Gyllenhaal in Jarhead?

[Elok]

No, he's not a countertenor that I can hear. Sounds like a pop tenorish voice, but since he doesn't sing with a classical technique, it's not so easy to tell.

Here's a countertenor in action:

At the first note, my balls made a violent attempt to retreat up into my inguinal canal for safety. No, Robert Plant is most assuredly not a countertenor.

[Boris Godunov]

Yeah, I figured your sexual insecurity wouldn't let you enjoy it, but thought I'd post it anyway. Too bad, it really is a beautiful performance of a great piece. *shrug*

[Al B. Sure!]

Yeah, I figured your sexual insecurity wouldn't let you enjoy it, but thought I'd post it anyway. Too bad, it really is a beautiful performance of a great piece. *shrug*

I am amazed by how soprano-like it sounds. Is it possible that this Philippe Jaroussky has a hormonal (testosterone) deficiency? His face and build are both very boyish as well.

(googling, turns out that he's 32!)