Re: Coloratura: Why only sopranos & mezzo-sopranos?

In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Divamanque <
spam"@earthlink.net> wrote:

> Where did you get THAT idea?  SFAIK, every composer who wrote florid
> vocal music (aka "coloratura") did so for all voice categories.

I don't think that's true, Evelyn.  You are thinking only of the
composers who wrote when coloratura was the prominent style -- Handel,
Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, etc -- and they did indeed write it for
every voice part.

But for those writing in a style which is predominantly non-coloratura,
with coloratura a special feature to be turned to only occasionally, it
is generally used for the high voices only.  Did Delibes write
coloratura for male voices?  Did Massenet? Did Gounod?  Aside from a
lone cadenza at the end of an aria, where did Verdi write coloratura
for baritone?  Perhaps some example exists, but I can't think of it,
whereas a half dozen famous passages of soprano coloratura by Verdi
come immediately to mind.

mdl