Soprano or baritone depends less on range than on where singing feels easy
Choirs sort singers by how high or low they can reach. Opera judges soloists differently, by tessitura, the stretch of notes where a voice sits comfortably most of the time. That distinction explains why two singers with similar ranges can be labelled quite different voice types, and why some change labels over a career.
Voice classification grew up inside European classical music and weighs range, vocal weight, timbre and the points where a voice shifts gear, known as the passaggio. No single system rules; the German Fach system and choral classifications are just two among many. Opera houses use the labels to match voices to roles, though critics note they are sometimes applied so rigidly that a singer gets cast only within one box.
Most systems agree on seven broad categories. Women are generally grouped as soprano, mezzo-soprano and contralto; men as countertenor, tenor, baritone and bass. A child with an unbroken voice is a treble, a term once tied to boy sopranos that widened once girls joined children's choirs in the 20th century. Before puberty boys and girls sound alike because their larynxes are similar in size.
The extremes are striking. A typical soprano spans middle C to high C, and some coloratura roles climb to the F above that. A true operatic contralto is so rare that mezzo-sopranos often take roles written for one. At the bottom, a bass typically sits between the second E below middle C and the E above it, with some reaching down to C2. Countertenors, the highest men, usually sing in falsetto and often take baroque parts first written for castrati; Alessandro Moreschi, the last real castrato, died in 1922.
Categories break into subtypes. Sopranos alone split into five, from nimble coloratura and light soubrette to the heavier dramatic soprano, and the French prize two in-between shades named Dugazon and Falcon. Real careers blur the lines anyway. Maria Callas and Placido Domingo sang across many types, Grace Bumbry switched voice part over time, and Leonie Rysanek's voice deepened with age. Mozart complicated matters by tailoring roles to particular singers with remarkable voices.
Source: Voice type
