It is easier to tell with singers who do folk, jazz or musical theatre whether or not they’d do well in opera. I don’t care about a singer’s range for opera, I care about the beauty of their tone. When a singer is deliberately emphasizing the rough edginess of their sound, it’s very difficult to say what the ‘naked’ sound of their instrument would be.
As to the singers you list as possibilities, I can’t tell. Like a classical singer, they are all capable of singing the words with expression, in time and in tune. Again, in my opinion - the main differences between pop/rock/folk styles of singing and classical singing are
- the ability to project the voice to fill a hall over a piano, a chamber ensemble, a choir or an orchestra without amplification.
- the ability to sing with an even tone quality throughout the register.
- the ability to sing long phrases with an even breath.
- the ability to have independent control of dynamics, pitch, tone quality and rhythm. In other words, can you sing that note fortissimo? Can you sing it pianissimo? Can you do a crescendo over this phrase without speeding up, and without changing the shape of the vowel you are singing?
Have a listen to these two YouTube vids -
Pavarotti/Sting “Panis Angelicus”
Pavarotti/Bono “Ave Maria”, taken from the Schubert lied.
Now, I don’t want to make Sting or Bono look bad - they chose their own way to sing these two pieces, and these two easy classical songs are in a style that Pavarotti is utterly familiar with. I just want to point out a couple of things.
Listen to how often Bono has to breathe, breaking up the phrase (A— [breathe] ve Ma-ri-- [breathe] i-a); listen for how Pavarotti sings the whole phrase (A----ve Ma-ri-----a).
Listen to how Pavarotti sustains a note with the same tone quality at the beginning and at the end.
Look at the tension in Sting’s upper body, neck and face - he is not at all comfortable, in fact he’s really working. What’s up with the reverb in Sting’s second verse? Was that the sound man’s way of helping him look good even though his stamina was starting to give out? Whereas Pavarotti’s technique makes the song seem effortless. For him, it probably was.
That’s just a quick illustration of the difference between a classical singer’s technique and a rock singer’s technique.
I wouldn’t get so hung up on range. I can think of at least four examples off the top of my head where the same Opera/Operetta role can be sung by more than one voice type -
Rosina in ‘Il Barbiere di Siviglia’ by Rossini - she can be sung by a mezzo or a soprano. The aria is transposed up a half-step, from E Major to F Major. The choice depends on whether the conductor/director wants to emphasize her young innocence (Soprano) or her scheming duplicity (Mezzo)
Wozzeck in ‘Wozzeck’ by Berg - he can be a Bass (Walter Berry was stunning in the role), a Bass-Baritone (Franz Grundheber) or a Baritone (Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau sang the first recording and it was a fantastic role for him.) Conductors and directors make this decision based partly on the sound quality they want and the acting abilities of the singers available.
Pelléas in ‘Pelléas et Mélisande’ by Debussy - is he a tenor with low notes or a baritone with high notes? My personal preference is for the Baritone - it’s more exciting to hear someone at the peak of their register in the duet with Mélisande. The downside is that it’s a few weeks of anxiety for the baritone; he has to be in the peak of condition.
Eisenstein in ‘Die Fledermaus’ by Johann Strauss - again, tenor or baritone? In this particular case, it affects the casting for Falke and Frank. If Eisenstein is a tenor, Falke can be a high baritone and Frank can be a baritone. If Eisenstein is a high baritone, Falke has to be a lower baritone and Frank ought to be a bass, which makes for a challenging evening for Frank.
One of these days, fachverwirrt, we ought to sit down and figure out what roles we have in common.
