Vocal weight refers to the perceived "lightness" or "heaviness" of a singing voice. This quality of the voice is one of the major determining factors in voice classification within classical music. Lighter voices are often associated with the term lyric and are usually brighter and more agile; heavier voices are often associated with the term dramatic and are usually powerful, rich, and darker. Other voice types like the spinto soprano have a more medium vocal weight. Vocal weight can also affect overall vocal agility; heavier voices often have more difficulty maneuvering through florid coloratura passages than their lighter counterparts, as their weight and power compromises agility. Likewise, dramatic roles are often written with larger orchestras in mind as dramatic voices can carry more easily over larger ensembles.
Famous quotes containing the words vocal and/or weight:
“With sweet May dews my wings were wet,
And Phoebus fir’d my vocal rage;
He caught me in his silken net,
And shut me in his golden cage.
He loves to sit and hear me sing,
Then, laughing, sports and plays with me;
Then stretches out my golden wing,
And mocks my loss of liberty.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)
“Not the less does nature continue to fill the heart of youth with suggestions of his enthusiasm, and there are now men,—if indeed I can speak in the plural number,—more exactly, I will say, I have just been conversing with one man, to whom no weight of adverse experience will make it for a moment appear impossible, that thousands of human beings might exercise towards each other the grandest and simplest of sentiments, as well as a knot of friends, or a pair of lovers.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)