...If we go by the logic that extreme voices like bassi and contralti are rare, we would also have to say that coloraturas and leggiero tenors are also rare. But they seem to be more plentiful. Why is that?
I think Redhed has a point. It has been my experience both as a student and a teacher that lighter voices get encouraged early because they are easier to coordinate.
In fact, fuller voiced tenors, quite a few I knew, were routinely trained as baritones. I was trained as a bass early on and then baritone.
Big voices just have more obstacles. They are quite plentiful but discouraged. It makes no sense that at one point large voices were available and now in our day when there is more Verdi, Puccini, Wagner being produced it is difficult to find true dramatic voices. Lighter voices are encouraged, Fached-up, and larger voices are left in the dust.
TS
Be not the slave of your own past. Plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep and swim far, so you shall come back with self-respect, with new power, with an advanced experience that shall explain and overlook the old.
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