Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface: A Declaration of Disinterest
- Acknowledgements
- CHAPTER 1 The Discovery of Alfred Deller
- EXTEMPORE 1 An Inartistic Trick: Physiology and Terminology
- CHAPTER 2 The Ancient World to the Middle Ages
- EXTEMPORE 2 A Famine in Tenors: The Historically Developing Human Larynx
- CHAPTER 3 Renaissance Europe
- EXTEMPORE 3 Are We Too Loud? The Impact of Volume on Singing Styles
- CHAPTER 4 Late Medieval and Renaissance England
- EXTEMPORE 4 Reserved Spaniards: Cultural Stereotypes and the High Male Voice
- CHAPTER 5 Baroque Europe
- EXTEMPORE 5 Into Man's Estate: Changing Boys' Voices and Nascent Falsettists
- CHAPTER 6 Baroque England
- EXTEMPORE 6 A Musicological Red Herring: The Etymology of the Counter-Tenor
- CHAPTER 7 The Nineteenth Century
- EXTEMPORE 7 The Bearded Lady: Gender Identity and Falsetto
- CHAPTER 8 The Early Twentieth Century
- EXTEMPORE 8 The Angel's Voice: Falsetto in Popular Music
- CHAPTER 9 The Modern Counter-Tenor
- Bibliography
- Index
EXTEMPORE 4 - Reserved Spaniards: Cultural Stereotypes and the High Male Voice
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface: A Declaration of Disinterest
- Acknowledgements
- CHAPTER 1 The Discovery of Alfred Deller
- EXTEMPORE 1 An Inartistic Trick: Physiology and Terminology
- CHAPTER 2 The Ancient World to the Middle Ages
- EXTEMPORE 2 A Famine in Tenors: The Historically Developing Human Larynx
- CHAPTER 3 Renaissance Europe
- EXTEMPORE 3 Are We Too Loud? The Impact of Volume on Singing Styles
- CHAPTER 4 Late Medieval and Renaissance England
- EXTEMPORE 4 Reserved Spaniards: Cultural Stereotypes and the High Male Voice
- CHAPTER 5 Baroque Europe
- EXTEMPORE 5 Into Man's Estate: Changing Boys' Voices and Nascent Falsettists
- CHAPTER 6 Baroque England
- EXTEMPORE 6 A Musicological Red Herring: The Etymology of the Counter-Tenor
- CHAPTER 7 The Nineteenth Century
- EXTEMPORE 7 The Bearded Lady: Gender Identity and Falsetto
- CHAPTER 8 The Early Twentieth Century
- EXTEMPORE 8 The Angel's Voice: Falsetto in Popular Music
- CHAPTER 9 The Modern Counter-Tenor
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
A performance of Victoria's Requiem comes to mind, in which I mistakenly attempted to impose an English restraint upon certain passages. Only when the full-blooded Spanish texture was allowed to come into its own did the piece become more comfortable to sing and the performance achieve a more obvious reflection of the intentions of the composer.
David WulstanWhether based on nation, race, gender or occupation, stereotyping is a practice which we lapse into more than we might care to admit. Be it the restrained Englishman or the full-blooded Spaniard, at some time most of us will use this type of broad brush to tar a group of people. Perhaps its dubious value can best be gauged by our willingness to typecast others, but not ourselves. On British roads most drivers will be wary of white vans, which are regarded as synonymous with cavalier driving. Yet the same drivers, if and when they find themselves behind the wheel of a white van, are unlikely suddenly to see themselves as irresponsible. This is not to say that stereotypes are wholly erroneous. Like clichés, they are unlikely to gain currency without some basis in reality. Yet how widely we can use that currency is another matter. Stereotypes are not universally applicable, even in our own time and country. And if typecasting is an unreliable way to pass judgment on those we experience at first hand, what possible value can it have in judging people outside our own orbit?
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- Information
- The Supernatural VoiceA History of High Male Singing, pp. 90 - 95Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2014