A big thank you to Jean Wakefield, who has been sending in suggestions for new contraltos since the Contralto Corner began, way back when it was only a small feature on my other site: Show Me Something Interesting.

This week, Jean has suggested the Norwegian contralto Anne Gjevang, who performs a deliciously viscous version of "Va', l'error mio palesa" from Mozart's Mitridate.

Thanks again Jean!

Hello again! The wonders in our little Corner of the world just keep on coming!

Jean Wakefield, a regular contributer here at the Contralto Corner, has sent through another suggestion for a contralto for you all to listen to: Brazilian contralto Maura Moreira. You can hear her singing the famous aria of Dalila, "Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix".

Thanks again to Jean for her continued support!

Well, this is a first for the Contralto Corner: a piece scored for not one, but three contraltos! It comes from the work called Beatus Vir, specifically from the version (RV 795) composed for the women of the Ospedale della Pietà, a home for abandoned children where Vivaldi worked from 1703 to 1715 and from 1723 to 1740. The Pietà ensemble was all female, with women taking all the singing roles, including tenor and bass! There are records of an Anna dal Basso (the ladies were not known by surnames, but by the voice type or instrument they played) who by all accounts could sing well below C3.

The particular piece in the video below, which was forwarded to me by Jean Wakefield, who also made previous suggestions of ladies to be included in the Contralto Corner, is called "In Memoria Aeterna". Richard Vendome - Artistic Director of the Vivaldi's Women project, which recreated the choir of the Pietà with women singing all parts from Soprano to Bass - suggested that the lowest of the three contralto parts, which had a much lower tessitura than the other two, was "possibly written for Ambrosina", a contralto with "a voice like thunder, just like a tenor".

In the video below, the lowest part is performed by Welsh contralto Hilary Summers with the other parts being take by contraltos Nathalie Stutzmann and Alexandra Gibson. The piece is in the key of C minor, with Summers' first entry coming on a solid G3. She stays below the stave for the majority of the work, and hits both F#3 and F3 natural! In fact, as they are at "Baroque pitch", Summers is starting on a F3 and hits an E3!. Excellent stuff.

Hello everybody! I hope the New Year is being kind to you all.

Jean Wakefield, a veteran contributor to the Contralto Corner, has suggested four more contraltos for us all to listen to. Many thanks Jean for your continued interest and support!

The first in the list is Sigrid Onegin, a Franco-Germanic contralto born in Sweden. She lived from 1889 to 1943, singing at the Met, Covent Garden and Bayreuth, in roles such as Orfeo, Eboli, Erda and Amneris. She also created the role of Dyrad in Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos. She sings Eboli's "O Don Fatale" from Verdi's Don Carloin the video below.

The next contralto is the great Armenian Lili Chookisian, the key contralto at the Met in the 60's, 70's and early 80's. She died in April last year, but her great performances have stayed with us. Like Ewa Podles, she was capable of both cavernous chest tone and a ringing C6. In the video below, she sings the fearsome aria "Re Dell'Abisso" from Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera.

The Welsh contralto Hillary Summers is another dramatic contralto, like Chookasian and Podles, with a fierce chest register. Her she performs "Peccator Videbit" from Vivaldi's Beatus vir, the version for the Ospedale della Pietà, RV 795, which he wrote for a very low-voiced female singer. Summers handles the F3 and E3 with ease.

Swiss contralto Ursula Ferri is another "assoluta" contralto with a very wide range. In a previous post, we heard her hit a C3, and in this clip, Gaea's scene from Richard Strauss' Daphne, she sings a plethora of Eb3's on stage. Go Ursula!

After seeing the Contralto Corner site, Jean Wakefield, herself a Contralto, contacted me and told me about three more Contraltos that should be included in the Contralto Corner. These singers are Jeanne Gerville-Reache(1862-1915) from France, and Kerstin Thorborg (1896-1970) and Anna Larsson (b 1966) from Sweden.

Gerville-Reache had a brilliant but short career, premiering the role of Geneviève in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, before dying aged 32 from Ptomaine poisoning, while Thorborg, who had to move twice to escape from the Nazis, was regraded as one of the finest actresses in Opera. The last of these Contraltos, Larsson, is still singing, and is due to sing with Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra at the Armstrong Concert Hall on 18th March this year.

After reading an article about Contraltos in the Classical Singer magazine, Jean decided to write in to us here at Show Me Something Interesting. Jean says:

"Contralto voices are so rare that many people don't realize there are differences within the category, just like with Soprano and Mezzo voices. Many seem to think that a Contralto is essentially a female Tenor or Baritone."

It is indeed true that many concert houses (and some opera houses) persist in labeling all non-Soprano voices as Mezzos. It is this lack of exposure, and the denial sections of the industry of the very existence of the Contralto voice, that leads many singers do be trained as Mezzos, or indeed to leave the classical world altogether to join the Jazz, Blues, R&B and Pop worlds, where the voice type receives much greater appreciation.

This situation is beginning to change, as more and more women are calling themselves Contraltos in their own marketing. Many great Contraltos can be found now in Scandinavia, such as Larsson, and there are more main-stream Contraltos from all countries, such as Prina, Mingardo, Mijanovic, and Lemieux. Of course, the breakthrough in the modern era was the great Polish Contralto Ewa Podles. YouTube also plays a great role in creating exposure for the Contralto voice, as Jean herself says:

"Thanks to YouTube, I've discovered Eula Beal, and the next generation of Contralto voices plus recordings of other Contralto voices I've heard about, Maureen Forrester, Dame Clara Butt and Jeanne Gerville-Reache."

It was via YouTube that I myself found out about many of the Contraltos listed here. Beginning with Gerville-Reache, I shall be producing YouTube playlists for each Contralto so it will be easier for Contralto enthusiasts to find recordings of their favorite performers.

Finally, Jean also has an interesting hobby: she makes bead and chain maille jewelry! Many thanks to Jean for writing in, and for shedding light on these excellent Contraltos. If you know of any Contraltos that you think should be a part of the Contralto Corner, please contact me via the Contact page.