Fach, Fächer and You

• Range: middle C to high C
• Kloiber describes the physical appearance as “Petite” and the voice as flexible and tender, gentle or delicate.
• Roles include Papagena and many of the -ina roles, Despina, Barbarina, etc. Roles including Adina and Oscar in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera are listed as Soubrette but often sung by lyric coloraturas.

• Listed by Kloiber as a “Spielfach”
• Range: middle C to F above high C
• Attractive, perhaps silky timbred voice with great flexibility.
• Roles include Norina and Adina, but also, Zerbinetta, Sophie, Ilia, Blondchen, many Händel roles and Olympia and the high coloratura roles found in Halévy and Meyerbeer, for example.
  • Vocal Timbre can vary widely as do the roles, but must be also have line and dynamic flexibility.

Seriöser Fach

• Middle C to F above high C
• Described as very flexible with a great top and strong carrying power.
• Cover a huge amount of repertoire and undoubtedly combines previously separate Fächer, so don’t worry if you don’t fit all the roles.
• Includes great bel canto roles like Bellini’s Norma nand I Puritani, Donizetti Anna Bolena, Lucia, etc., Fiordiligi, Donna Anna, Queen of the Night, Traviata, Abigaille, and even Puccini’s Manon.
  • A true dramatic coloratura is much sought after and some of these roles are specialty items, like the Queen of the Night, which can make a career almost on that single role alone. But beware, just because you can hit all the notes doesn’t mean that the voice has the power.

• Seriöser
• Range-middle C to high C        
• Kloiber describes is as a creamy voice, with beautiful gleam and a noble line.
• Roles stretch from Bellini Sonnambula to Beethoven Marzellina, and include Michaela, Susanna in Nozze di Figaro, Elvira in Giovanni, Puccini roles Mimi, Lauretta and Liù.

• Soprano voice with great volume that can create dramatic high points.
• Range: middle to high C
• Roles include most of the Italian lirico-spinto-soprano roles found in Verdi and Verismo: Amelia in Ballo, Desdemona, Leonora in Trovatore, Margarita in Boito’s Mefistofeles. In the German repertoire the first stepping stone is often Agathe in Der Freischütz, but this Fach now includes Elsa in Lohengrin, Sieglinde in Die Walküre, Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, as well as Chrysothemis in Stauss’ Elektra and the Marshallin

• Range: middle G to high Bflat
• Roles include the Donizetti Queens, Händel Giulio Cesare, and of course the Rossini Mezzos.

• Listed as a Spiel Fach
• Range G below middle C to high Bflat
• A smooth, supple sound, with great personality and characterization abilities.
• Roles include bel canto roles such as Bellini’s Romeo, Sara in Roberto Devereux, Cherubino, Dorabella as well as many French roles. Although listed as a Spiel Fach many roles require very serious singing.

• Flexible but metallic voice with a dark timbre which carries strongly over a large orchestra.
• ZWISCHENFACH
  • (Sings both Soprano and Mezzo roles and often develops into a Dramatic Soprano..
• Range from G below middle C to high Bflat.
• Roles include La Favorita (Leonor de Guzman), the Mother in Hänsel u. Gretel, Laura in La Gioconda, the Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos, Octavian in Rosenkavalier, Federica in Luisa Miller or Preziosilla in Forza. Wagner roles include Fricka and Waltraute in the Ring, and Brandgäne in Tristan.

• -listed with Lyrische Mezzo, but different roles. Requires strong acting in character roles, but includes Lola in Cavalleria, Frugola in Tabarro and Florence Pike in Albert Herring.

• Listed as a Spiel Fach,
• Range low G to high Bflat
• Like Lyric Mezzo, flexible with strong characterization ability.
• Lucretia in Britten’s Rape, Händel roles like Brandamnte in Alcina, Cornelia in Giulio Cesare, Mrs. Quickly in Verdi’s Falstaff.

• Range: low G to high Bflat. Like dramatic Mezzo, Kloiber calls for a flexible voice with a well developed top and bottom and dramatic power.
• NB: Although the listed ranges differ by whole step, Kloiber combines the role list for these two Fächer, since very few theaters have more than one soloist covering these roles. A true Ulrica or Erde is rare. Most often the slightly higher dramatic alto covers these roles. A true Ulrica might have trouble with the tessibura of some of these roles.

• Range low F to high A
• A fully developed voice with a powerful lower register
• Roles include Ulrica in Ballo, Erde in Wagner’s Ring, Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria, and Sia Principessa in Suor Angelica and La Cieca in Giocanda.