Zwischenfach: Paradox or Paradigm?

<p>Singers within the operatic world are expected to conform to the strict limits and dictates of the Fachsystem. Casting directors and opera companies prefer to be informed of which particular ‘Fach-box’ you tick when auditioning and it is becoming increasingly important for career advancement and name recognition to remain within that box. Yet what happens when your voice does not operate strictly within the predetermined requirements of a particular box? Or if the vocal category you supposedly assume is already ambiguous and contentious? Jennifer Allen’s DMA thesis, An Analysis and Discussion of Zwischenfach Voices, provides invaluable critical insight surrounding this enigmatic concept of voice categorisation. Allen argues that despite advances within vocal pedagogy, there remains a ‘gray area’ within the discussion. This elusiveness, to which Allen refers, pertains directly to the Zwischenfach voice type. Translated literally from German, the word Zwischen means ‘between’ and ‘Fach’ refers specifically to vocal specialisation as a way of categorising singers according to the weight, range and colour of their voices. Thus, in its most basic form, a Zwischenfach voice denotes a voice that lies between the vocal categories of soprano and mezzo-soprano. However, whilst Dr Rudolf Kloiber’s Handbuch der Oper (a staple for the operatic world) provides a definitive guide to vocal categorisation and continues to influence casting throughout Germany and Europe, the corresponding American Boldrey Guide acknowledges Zwischenfach as a voice that cannot be classified precisely in one particular Fach or another. This lack of uniform approach highlights not only the potential flexibility of this voice, but also the paradoxical nature of attempting to define a voice that defies standard classification. Indeed, as a young singer currently singing high mezzo-soprano repertoire, I have found the Zwischenfach labelling to be a paradox, for the upper extension of my voice also enables me potentially to sing some soprano roles. Therefore, is it conceivable to postulate that this term is a misnomer and merely highlights the issues associated with being constrained within the Fachsystem? In order to come to terms with these issues, then, my analysis of Zwischenfach labelling requires a separation of voice categorisation and the Fachsystem and an ongoing critique of these systems throughout my exegesis. In an attempt to determine its practicalities, the limits that it can impose, and how its boundaries have not always functioned so neatly, my critique focuses on elements such as convenience, marketability and professional development and life. An exploration of the relevance of aspects such as range, tessitura, passaggi, timbre, agility, physical characteristics, pitch of the speaking voice, and scientific tests is also necessary. Once a definition of Zwischenfach is established, I consider the “in between” nature of this vocal category as I investigate roles that develop out of this into the realm of the heavier, more dramatic voice. Finally, I explore the implications of switching between Fächer and divulge how I incorporate the contradictions within this category with the successful management of the label. The piecing together of existing scholarship surrounding this field of research and the practical application to my own expanding repertoire is invaluable in facilitating the expansion of my knowledge in regard to my own progression through Zwischenfach repertoire and roles.</p>

Zwischenfach: Paradox or Paradigm?

<p>Singers within the operatic world are expected to conform to the strict limits and dictates of the Fachsystem. Casting directors and opera companies prefer to be informed of which particular ‘Fach-box’ you tick when auditioning and it is becoming increasingly important for career advancement and name recognition to remain within that box. Yet what happens when your voice does not operate strictly within the predetermined requirements of a particular box? Or if the vocal category you supposedly assume is already ambiguous and contentious? Jennifer Allen’s DMA thesis, An Analysis and Discussion of Zwischenfach Voices, provides invaluable critical insight surrounding this enigmatic concept of voice categorisation. Allen argues that despite advances within vocal pedagogy, there remains a ‘gray area’ within the discussion. This elusiveness, to which Allen refers, pertains directly to the Zwischenfach voice type. Translated literally from German, the word Zwischen means ‘between’ and ‘Fach’ refers specifically to vocal specialisation as a way of categorising singers according to the weight, range and colour of their voices. Thus, in its most basic form, a Zwischenfach voice denotes a voice that lies between the vocal categories of soprano and mezzo-soprano. However, whilst Dr Rudolf Kloiber’s Handbuch der Oper (a staple for the operatic world) provides a definitive guide to vocal categorisation and continues to influence casting throughout Germany and Europe, the corresponding American Boldrey Guide acknowledges Zwischenfach as a voice that cannot be classified precisely in one particular Fach or another. This lack of uniform approach highlights not only the potential flexibility of this voice, but also the paradoxical nature of attempting to define a voice that defies standard classification. Indeed, as a young singer currently singing high mezzo-soprano repertoire, I have found the Zwischenfach labelling to be a paradox, for the upper extension of my voice also enables me potentially to sing some soprano roles. Therefore, is it conceivable to postulate that this term is a misnomer and merely highlights the issues associated with being constrained within the Fachsystem? In order to come to terms with these issues, then, my analysis of Zwischenfach labelling requires a separation of voice categorisation and the Fachsystem and an ongoing critique of these systems throughout my exegesis. In an attempt to determine its practicalities, the limits that it can impose, and how its boundaries have not always functioned so neatly, my critique focuses on elements such as convenience, marketability and professional development and life. An exploration of the relevance of aspects such as range, tessitura, passaggi, timbre, agility, physical characteristics, pitch of the speaking voice, and scientific tests is also necessary. Once a definition of Zwischenfach is established, I consider the “in between” nature of this vocal category as I investigate roles that develop out of this into the realm of the heavier, more dramatic voice. Finally, I explore the implications of switching between Fächer and divulge how I incorporate the contradictions within this category with the successful management of the label. The piecing together of existing scholarship surrounding this field of research and the practical application to my own expanding repertoire is invaluable in facilitating the expansion of my knowledge in regard to my own progression through Zwischenfach repertoire and roles.</p>

The New Franco-Italian School of Singing

The nineteenth-century web of teachers, singers, and teacher-singers suggests that coloratura can be examined from the perspective of treatises produced by vocal pedagogues. In addition to vocal instruction, the treatises provide clues as to interpretation, by recommending and describing vocal articulations and styles corresponding to melodic styles and role characterizations. This chapter examines pedagogical treatises in conjunction with musical scores and the careers of individual singers, attempting to trace ideas of coloratura articulation and florid-lyrical expression. The Paris Conservatoire endorsed certain teacher-singer lineages and sought to merge French and Italian traditions into a new school of singing led by three pedagogues: Laure Cinti-Damoreau, Gilbert-Louis Duprez, and Manuel Garcia II. The study reveals a bifurcation between singing styles that carries over from vocal pedagogy to the operatic stage. This division between agile, florid singing and declamatory, sustained singing heralded our modern, more familiar vocal categories, such as the coloratura soprano.

Side effects of medications in professional opera singers’ voice: survey findings

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Opera singers are classified under level I, as the elite vocal performers, being the quintessential representatives of this group. As the professional voice users, they meticulously observe any changes relevant to their health, therefore self-reported side effects should be taken under serious consideration. The aim of this study was to initiate the process of gathering general information about the most common side effects of medications taken by the opera singers.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> The study group consisted of 264 professional opera singers, treated in Clarós Clinic in a 35 years period, who were asked to complete a questionnaire. The response rate was 62.1% (n=164) with a male-to-female ratio being 1.27:1 (72 men and 92 women). 46 cases of adverse effects of medicines were updated and analysed. All the responses were collected between February and April 2018. </p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> The mean age of our study group was 38.3 for females and 49.95 for males, with the range between 18-83 years. The vocal categories were as follows: 39 tenors, 17 baritones, 14 basses, 64 sopranos, 23 mezzo-sopranos and 5 contraltos. Patients with chronic diseases and comorbidities represented the 39.1% of the study group. The most common adverse effect reported was dryness (15.2%). The most frequent voice side effects raised by singers were clearing the throat frequently (14.63%), hoarseness and coarse or scratchy sound (10.37%), and vocal fatigue (7.32%).</p><p><strong>Conclusions:</strong> We believe that exploring the subject of vocal side effects of medications in professional opera singers is extremely important.</p>

Inferring low-dimensional latent descriptions of animal vocalizations

Vocalization is an essential medium for social and sexual signaling in most birds and mammals. Consequently, the analysis of vocal behavior is of great interest to fields such as neuroscience and linguistics. A standard approach to analyzing vocalization involves segmenting the sound stream into discrete vocal elements, calculating a number of handpicked acoustic features, and then using the feature values for subsequent quantitative analysis. While this approach has proven powerful, it suffers from several crucial limitations: First, handpicked acoustic features may miss important dimensions of variability that are important for communicative function. Second, many analyses assume vocalizations fall into discrete vocal categories, often without rigorous justification. Third, a syllable-level analysis requires a consistent definition of syllable boundaries, which is often difficult to maintain in practice and limits the sorts of structure one can find in the data. To address these shortcomings, we apply a data-driven approach based on the variational autoencoder (VAE), an unsupervised learning method, to the task of characterizing vocalizations in two model species: the laboratory mouse (Mus musculus) and the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata). We find that the VAE converges on a parsimonious representation of vocal behavior that outperforms handpicked acoustic features on a variety of common analysis tasks, including representing acoustic similarity and recovering a known effect of social context on birdsong. Additionally, we use our learned acoustic features to argue against the widespread view that mouse ultrasonic vocalizations form discrete syllable categories. Lastly, we present a novel “shotgun VAE” that can quantify moment-by-moment variability in vocalizations. In all, we show that data-derived acoustic features confirm and extend existing approaches while offering distinct advantages in several critical applications.

Unsupervised Acoustic Analysis of the Vocal Repertoire of the Gray-Shanked Douc Langur (Pygathrix cinerea)

Unsupervised analyses of nonhuman vocal repertoires are important not only because they allow decoding species-specific displays, but also to understand the evolution of communication signals, which need objective quantitative investigations. We recorded more than 1000 vocalizations emitted by captive gray-shanked douc langur (Pygathrix cinerea). Putative vocal categories were first identified by their overall acoustic structure, considering duration and spectral properties. We processed each call using an automatic pairwise Dynamic Time Warping comparison, limiting the use of a priori assumptions. We then performed a cluster analysis that indicated the presence of 25 clusters, which we then labeled to seven vocal types according to spectrographic information.

Moving from Perceptual to Functional Categories in Songbirds

Category perception, as Herrnstein (1990) defined it, is a powerful and pervasive cognitive ability possessed by every species in which it has been adequately tested. We have studied category perception of vocal communication signals in songbirds for over 20 years. Our first studies provided us with an understanding of songbird vocal category production and perception, clarifying perceptual categorization and the underlying mechanisms. More recent work has moved towards understanding functional vocal categories such as sex, dominance, species, and geography. Some of our most recent work has moved into the realm of conceptual knowledge, with studies aimed at understanding birds’ ability to deal with concepts of sameness and danger (i.e., threat level). Here we provide key examples that effectively show the wide range of abilities possessed and used by songbirds.

A NEST OF NIGHTINGALES: CUZZONI AND SENESINO AT HANDEL'S ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC

Italian prima donna Francesca Cuzzoni (ca. 1698–1770) was the first internationally recognized virtuosa to sing high soprano women's roles. Although her work served as a model to the female performers who followed, no in-depth critical study has been written about her groundbreaking career on the opera stage of the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she was the celebrated prima donna from 1723 to 1728. During her tenure, the Royal Academy became one of the most important opera companies in Europe, rivaling those of the Viennese court, the Paris Opera, and the Italian opera houses of Naples and Venice. Her arrival on the London stage signaled a shift in the ways composers set roles in relationship to vocal categories and gender. In particular, Cuzzoni's superior virtuosic vocal abilities influenced and inspired German George Friedrich Handel's (1685–1759) compositional style and his musical treatment of dramatic elements.