HINSON, DANIEL ROSS, DMA Are You Serious? - The University of ...

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The phrase “Mozart tenor” is used to describe a lyric tenor voice well suited to
operatic roles created by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). The term also implies
that such a voice is generally incapable of the dramatic vocalism demanded by much of
the later operatic repertoire. Although the tenor roles in Mozart’s operas seldom contain
the high Bs (B 4 ) and Cs (C 5 ) 1 that would extend the requisite vocal range of the operatic
tenor in the nineteenth century, they present a broad spectrum of vocal and dramatic
challenges to singers of any era.
In his brief lifetime, Mozart wrote seventeen complete operas, all of which have
at least one tenor role, and many contain two or three. Seven of these operas (Idomeneo,
Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, La
clemenza di Tito, and Die Zauberflöte) are now firmly entrenched in the operatic
performance canon. The prominent differences between these operas are indicative of
the three distinct operatic traditions from which Mozart drew: Singspiel, opera seria, and
opera buffa.
The German language Singspiel, championed by Austrian Emperor Joseph II,
utilized spoken dialogue instead of recitative. Singspiele were sometimes serious, often
comic as in Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782), and occasionally a striking melding of
1 For point of reference, middle C is C 4 , and A 440 is A 4 .
1