|

A dramatic mezzo-soprano has a strong medium register, a warm high register and a voice that is broader and more powerful than the lyric and coloratura mezzo-sopranos. This voice has less vocal facility than the coloratura mezzo-soprano. The range of the dramatic mezzo-soprano is from approximately the G below middle C to the B two octaves above middle C. The dramatic mezzo-soprano can sing over an orchestra and chorus with ease and was often used in the 19th century opera, to portray older women, mothers, witches and evil characters. Verdi wrote many roles for this voice in the Italian repertoire and there are also a few good roles in the French Literature. The majority of these roles however are within the German Romantic repertoire of composers like Wagner and Strauss. Like Coloratura mezzos, dramatic mezzos are also often cast in lyric mezzo-soprano roles.

Dramatic mezzo-soprano roles in opera and operettas

• Azucena, Il trovatore@ (Verdi)
• Amneris, Aida (Verdi)
• Brangäne, Tristan und Isolde (Wagner)
• Carmen, Carmen (Bizet)@ (Also Lyric Mezzo)
• The Countess, The Queen of Spades (Tchaikovsky)
• Dalila, Samson et Dalila (Saint-Saëns)@
• Dido, Les Troyens (Berlioz)@
• Eboli, Don Carlos (Verdi)
• Herodias, Salome (Richard Strauss)
• The Witch, Hänsel und Gretel (opera) (Humperdinck)
• Judith, Bluebeard’s Castle (Bartók)@ (Also Dramatic Soprano)
• Kundry, Parsifal (Wagner)@ (also Dramatic soprano)
• Klytemnästra, Elektra (Richard Strauss)
• Laura, La Gioconda (Ponchielli)
• Marina, Boris Godunov (Mussorgsky)
• Mother, Hänsel und Gretel (opera) (Humperdinck)
• Ortrud, Lohengrin (Wagner)
• Princess de Bouillon, Adriana Lecouvreur (Cilea)

@-denotes a lead role

Dramatic mezzo-soprano singers