Although sometimes defined as a musical part rather than as a vocal style, the term countertenor is often used to refer to the highest male voice. Many countertenor singers perform roles which were originally written for castrati in Baroque operas (see "Monteverdi" below.) The most visible icon of the twentieth century was Alfred Deller. Benjamin Britten wrote the leading role of Oberon in his setting of A Midsummer's Night Dream (1960) especially for him. The vocal range of a countertenor is equivalent to that of a contralto, mezzo-soprano or, less frequently, a soprano.The name tenor derives from the Latin word tenere, which means "to hold". In Medieval and Renaissance music where two or more melodic voices are heard, the tenor was the structurally fundamental or "holding" voice. All other voices were calculated in relation to the tenor. The tenor voice can be classified as follows: the leggiero tenor, which is light and agile, and is frequently found in the operas of Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini. The Peruvian, Juan Diego Florez is one example; the lyric tenor, which is a warm, graceful voice with a bright, full timbre. It is the "typical" voice of a tenor, and covers a large repertoire. The Canarian, Alfredo Kraus is considered an outstanding representative of this voice type; the spinto tenor is epitomised in the Spanish singer, Plácido Domingo. Their voices have a lyric and dramatic quality, and they are suitable for a wide range of roles, for example, Rodolfo in Puccini's La Bohème (1896), Alfredo in Verdi's La Traviata (1853) or Calif in Puccini's Turandot (1926); the dramatic tenor, who has a ringing, very powerful, robust type of voice. Roberto Alagna is a contempory example of this voice type.
The baritone is the most common type of male voice. The greatest and most enduring parts for this voice type were composed by Mozart. They include Figaro and Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro (1786) , Guglielmo in Cosi Fan Tutte (1790), Papageno in Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute, 1791) and Masetto and the Don in Don Giovanni (1787).
The bass is the lowest and "darkest" male voice, and can be subdivided into several subcategories including basso profundo, basso buffo, basso cantante and dramatic bass. In Mozart, characters from the lower social strata, like servants, were relegated to basses: Leporello in Don Giovanni and Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro are but two examples. The 'serious' bass, whose vocal colour must carry a sense of nobility and wisdom, is represented by Sarastro in The Magic Flute. Comic basses abound in the works of Rossini: Mustafà in L'Italiana in Algeri (1813) and Dr. Bartolo and Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville, 1816).
Sources:
Clasificiación General de las Voces Masculinas. Iniciación a la Ópera. 2008 - 2009. Talleres y Cursos Culturales. ULPGC.
Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_type#Male_voices
Image: The Man by Safak Tulga.
