The tenor is the highest of the standard male voice-types, though the countertenor sings higher notes. The Irish tenor, the Italian tenor, the Heldentenor, the lyric tenor, the dramatic tenor, the coloraturo tenor, the English tenor. What do they all have in common? Top CΓÇÖs and a triumphant expression. Or at least B flats.
ΓÇ£Il tenoreΓÇ¥, the Italian for the tenor, comes from the verb ΓÇ£tenereΓÇ¥, which means ΓÇ£to holdΓÇ¥.
In mediaeval plainsong, where the story of modern classical singing starts out, the tenor was the voice that held the plainsong itself, the main solo narrative line. The tenor has claimed predominance ever since, and is the voice that has most captured the public imagination.
There are many types of tenor voice required for different schools of composition. To a large extent the modern divisions are on national lines. The italian tenor is the king of tenors. He doesn’t have to be Italian. Plaÿido Domingo and José Carreras were both born in Spain, but are masters of the Italian repertoire.
The Italian characteristic sound can be powerfully energetic, and also sensually mellifluous. It is the pure voice of passion. At his best, the italian tenorΓÇÖs larynx seems to set up a direct link with the emotional network of his brain. And he can transmit the detailed movement of his passions over the sound of a big Verdi or Puccini orchestra to the back of a three thousand seater auditorium.
If its size youΓÇÖre after, the German Heldentenor is the beefiest of all. He is epitomised in WagnerΓÇÖs Siegfried, the hero of the Ring Cycle. The primary feature of his voice is power and stamina to get through long, heavy r├┤les, though he is also required to express simple sentiment in passages of lyrical singing.
In contrast, the coloraturo tenor needs all the delicate agility of his soprano equivalent and a pure consistent sound that always sounds secure. The tenor in MozartΓÇÖs operas, the earlier Italian tenors (in operas by Handel, Bellini, Rossini), the English, French, Russian, Irish tenors, are supple and sensitive. A different technique, and a different way of thinking.
