The German Fach (pl. Fächer, literally "compartment") (German pronunciation: [ˈfax, ˈfɛçəɐ]) system is a method of classifying singers, primarily opera singers, according to the range, weight, and color of their voices. It is used world wide, but primarily in Europe, especially in German-speaking countries and by repertory opera houses. The Fach system is a convenience for singers and opera houses. A singer who is identified as being of a certain Fach or voice type will usually be asked to sing only roles that belong to that Fach. This prevents a singer from being asked to sing roles which he or she is incapable of performing. Opera companies keep lists of available singers by Fach so that when they are casting roles for an upcoming production, they do not inadvertently contact performers who would be inappropriate for the part. Below is a list of Fächer, their ranges as written on sheet music, and roles generally considered to appropriate to each. When two names for the Fach are given, the first is in more common use today. Where possible, an English equivalent of each Fach is listed; however, not all Fächer have ready English equivalents. Note that some roles can be sung by more than one Fach and that many singers do not easily fit into a Fach: for instance some sopranos may sing both Koloratursopran and Dramatischer Koloratursopran roles. In addition, roles traditionally more difficult to cast may be given to a voice other than the traditional Fach. For instance, the "Queen of the Night" is more traditionally a dramatic coloratura role, but it is difficult to find a dramatic coloratura to sing it (particularly given the extreme range). Therefore, the role is often sung by a lyric coloratura. [edit] Lyrischer Koloratursopran / Koloratursoubrette  - English equivalent: Coloratura soprano or Lyric Coloratura soprano
- Range: From about middle C to the F two-and-a-half octaves above middle C (F6)
- Description: Usually (but not always) a light soprano who has a high voice. Can often have small voices lacking the richness and resonance of a dramatic soprano. Must be able to do fast acrobatics with easy high notes. Many have extremely high ranges (with notes above the F of the "Queen of the Night", but there are also singers in this Fach who do not regularly sing higher than the high E flat. Often, women who sing dramatic coloratura roles have the ability to cross over to the more lyric roles (and vice versa); for instance, Joan Sutherland, Lucia Popp, Diana Damrau, and Natalie Dessay.
- Roles:
- Oscar, Un ballo in maschera (Giuseppe Verdi)
- Tytania, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Benjamin Britten)
- Zerbinetta, Ariadne auf Naxos (Richard Strauss)
- Olympia, Les contes d'Hoffman (Jacques Offenbach)
- Adele, Die Fledermaus (Johann Strauss Jr.)
- Adina, L'elisir d'amore (Gaetano Donizetti)
- Marie, La fille du régiment (Gaetano Donizetti)
- Amina, La sonnambula (Vincenzo Bellini)
- Amenaide, Tancredi (Gioachino Rossini)
- Elvira, I puritani (Vincenzo Bellini)
- Singers:
[edit] Dramatischer Koloratursopran - English equivalent: Dramatic coloratura soprano
- Range: From about middle C to the F two-and-a-half octaves above middle C
- Description: The same as above, only with a more dramatic, rich voice. Often heavier and more lyrical than a Coloratura soprano. Must also be able to do fast vocal acrobatics and reach high notes, such as the F6 of the "Queen of the Night". Some of the best examples of this voice type are Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland, and June Anderson. This is a very rare vocal fach, as thick vocal cords are needed to produce the large, dramatic notes, which usually lessens the flexibility and acrobatic abilities of the voice.
- Roles:
- Donna Anna, Don Giovanni (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
- The Queen of the Night, Die Zauberflöte (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
- Konstanze, Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
- Rosalinda, Die Fledermaus (Johann Strauss Jr.)
- Semiramide, Semiramide (Gioachino Rossini)
- Lucia, Lucia di Lammermoor (Gaetano Donizetti)
- Fiordiligi, Così fan tutte (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
- Imogene, Il pirata (Vincenzo Bellini)
- Norma, Norma (Vincenzo Bellini)
- Leonora, Il trovatore (Giuseppe Verdi)
- Violetta, La traviata (Giuseppe Verdi)
- Maria, Maria Stuarda (Gaetano Donizetti)
- Lady Macbeth, Macbeth (Giuseppe Verdi)
- Odabella, Attila (Giuseppe Verdi)
- Abigalle, Nabucco (Giuseppe Verdi)
- Singers
[edit] Deutsche Soubrette / Charaktersopran - English equivalent: Soubrette
- Range: From about middle C to the C two octaves above middle C
- Description: a beautiful, sweet light lyric voice usually capable of executing florid passages similarly to that of a coloratura. The range is usually intermediate between that of a coloratura and lyric soprano.
- Roles:
- Singers:
[edit] Lyrischer Sopran  - English equivalent: Full Lyric Soprano
- Range: From about B below middle C to the C two octaves above middle C
- Description: a more supple-sounding soprano, capable of legato, portamento, and some agility; generally has a more soulful and sensuous quality than a soubrette, who tends to be largely flirtatious and somewhat tweety. The voice is very common and purity of sound within it is essential. It is the "basic" soprano voice in that it's not found at either extreme of the soprano range of voices; nor is it known for having particular vocal attributes such as power, stamina, technical prowess, or agility. However, there are several lyric sopranos that possess many of these vocal attributes, thus allowing them to sing a broader variety of roles. Nevertheless, the core of the true fundamentally lyric voice does not encompass such traits. Innocence, vulnerability and pathos are usually conveyed in the music written for the characters portrayed by the lyric soprano because of this endearing simplicity.
- Roles:
- Mimì, La bohème (Giacomo Puccini)
- Magda, La rondine (Giacomo Puccini)
- Lauretta, Gianni Schicchi (Giacomo Puccini)
- Liù, Turandot (Giacomo Puccini)
- Pamina, Die Zauberflöte (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
- Micaela, Carmen (Georges Bizet)
- Marguerite, Faust (Charles Gounod)
- Manon, Manon (Jules Massenet)
- Antonia, Les contes d'Hoffmann (Jacques Offenbach)
- La Contessa, Le nozze di Figaro (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
- Amelia Grimaldi, Simon Boccanegra (Giuseppe Verdi)
- Thaïs, Thaïs (Jules Massenet)
- Rusalka, Rusalka (Antonín Dvořák)
- Tatyana, Eugene Onegin (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)
- Singers:
[edit] Jugendlich Dramatischer Sopran  - English equivalent: Light dramatic soprano
- Range: From about A below middle C to the C two octaves above middle C
- Description: The Italian version of this fach is the spinto, which literally means pushed. Thus, a light dramatic soprano must generally push her basically lyric instrument to create big sounds that can cut through an orchestral or choral climax. This voice is sometimes referred to as a "young" or "youthful" dramatic soprano although this term doesn't necessarily refer to the singer's age but rather to the tonal quality of the voice. Depending on the singer, however, this voice type can be more versatile, as it lies at neither extreme of the soprano spectrum. Spintos are occasionally able to take on lighter mezzo roles, or, conversely, lyric and even coloratura roles.
- Roles:
- Madama Butterfly, Madama Butterfly (Giacomo Puccini)
- Manon Lescaut, Manon Lescaut (Giacomo Puccini)
- Suor Angelica, Suor Angelica (Giacomo Puccini)
- Elizabeth de Valois, Don Carlo (Giuseppe Verdi)
- Leonora, La forza del destino (Giuseppe Verdi)
- Amelia, Un ballo in maschera (Giuseppe Verdi)
- Marschallin, Der Rosenkavalier (Richard Strauss)
- Elsa, Lohengrin (Richard Wagner)
- Susannah, Susannah (Carlisle Floyd)
- Donna Elvira, Don Giovanni (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
- Magda Sorel, The Consul (Gian Carlo Menotti)
- Aida, Aida (Giuseppe Verdi)
- Liza, The Queen of Spades (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)
- Floria Tosca, Tosca (Giacomo Puccini)
- Singers:
[edit] Dramatischer Sopran - English equivalent: Full dramatic soprano
- Range: From about the A below middle C to the C two octaves above middle C
- Description: Characterized by their rich, full sounding voices, dramatic sopranos are expected to project across large orchestras, a feat that requires a powerful sound. Dramatic sopranos are not expected to have the vocal flexibility of the lighter Fachs. Although most dramatic sopranos have a darker more robust quality to the voice, there are some that possess a lighter lyrical tone. In these instances, however, the substantial amount of volume and endurance normally associated with the dramatic soprano voice is still present. The darker voiced dramatic soprano may even make a foray into the dramatic mezzo-soprano territory with great success.
- Roles:
- Singers:
[edit] Hochdramatischer Sopran - English equivalent: Wagnerian soprano
- Range: From about the G below middle C to the C two octaves above middle C
- Description: A voice equal to the demands of operas of Wagner's maturity. Basically, a full dramatic soprano voice taken to the next dimension. The voice is substantial, very powerful, and even throughout the registers. It is immense, stentorian and even larger than the voice of the "normal" dramatic soprano. Although the two voices are comparable and are sometimes hard to distinguish between, this voice has even greater stamina, endurance and volume than the former. Successful hochdramatische are rare: only one or two appear in a generation.
[edit] Koloratur-Mezzosopran - English equivalent: Coloratura mezzo-soprano
- Range: From about the G below middle C to the B two octaves above middle C
- Description: Found especially in Rossini's operas, these roles were written originally for altos with agility and secure top notes. Today they are often played by mezzo-sopranos and sometimes even by sopranos. At times a lyric or full lyric soprano with a flexible voice will assume the roles as written while a true coloratura soprano will sing the same music transposed upwardly to a higher key.
- Roles:
[edit] Lyrischer Mezzosopran / Spielalt - Range: From about the G below middle C to the B two octaves above middle C
- English equivalent: Lyric mezzo-soprano
- Description: a lyric soprano's instrument in a lower range; the resulting sound is less piercing, more lachrymose and rather sensitive. The voices are so similar in fact that many lyric mezzos with strong extensions to their upper vocal registers make the transition to singing as sopranos at some point in their careers.
- Roles:
[edit] Dramatischer Mezzosopran - English equivalent: Dramatic mezzo-soprano
- Range: From about the G below middle C to the B two octaves above middle C
- Description: Dramatic mezzo-sopranos have ranges very similar to a dramatic soprano. The main difference is the endurance and ease in which the two voice-types sing - a mezzo will concentrate singing most of the time in her middle and low registers and will go up to notes like high B-flat only at the dramatic climax. Consequently, many dramatic mezzo-sopranos have success in singing some dramatic soprano roles that are written with a lower tessitura.
- Roles:
[edit] Dramatischer Alt - English equivalent: Dramatic Contralto
- Range: From about the F below middle C to the F two octaves above
- Description: Stylistically similar to the dramatic mezzo, just lower. Sings usually around the break between the chest-voice and middle-voice. Many mezzos tried their luck in these roles, yet real altos fare better. A deep, penetrating low female voice. This is a very rare voice type with a darker, richer sound than that of a typical alto.
- Roles:
- Singers:
[edit] Tiefer Alt - English equivalent: Low Contralto.
- Range: From about the E below middle C to the E two octaves above
- Description: A low female voice.
- Roles:
[edit] Spieltenor / Tenor Buffo - English equivalent: (Lyric) comic tenor. It is quite possible for a young Spieltenor to eventually work into the lighter Lyrischertenor category; the deciding factor will be the beauty of voice.
- Range: From about low C to the B an octave above middle C (C to b')
- Roles:
- Singers:
[edit] Charaktertenor - English equivalent: Character tenor. Must have good acting abilities.
- Range: From about the B below low C to the C an octave above middle C (B to c')
- Roles:
- Singers:
[edit] Lyrischer Tenor - English equivalent: Lyric tenor
- Range: From about low C to the C-F an octave above middle C (C to c')
- Roles:
- Tamino, Die Zauberflöte (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
- Belmonte, Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
- Rodolfo, La bohème (Giacomo Puccini)
- Ferrando, Così fan tutte (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
- Almaviva, Il barbiere di Siviglia (Gioachino Rossini)
- Arturo, I puritani (Vincenzo Bellini)
- Elvino, La sonnambula (Vincenzo Bellini)
- Ramiro, La Cenerentola (Gioachino Rossini)
- Nemorino, L'elisir d'amore (Gaetano Donizetti)
- Alfredo, La traviata (Giuseppe Verdi)
- Il Duca, Rigoletto (Giuseppe Verdi)
- Don Ottavio, Don Giovanni (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
- Faust, Faust (Charles-François Gounod)
[edit] Jugendlicher Heldentenor - English equivalent: Light dramatic tenor
- Range: From about low C to the C an octave above middle C (C to c')
- Description: A tenor with a dramatic extended upper range with the necessary brightness to come through the orchestra's texture.
- Roles:
- Don José, Carmen (Georges Bizet)
- Lohengrin, Lohengrin (Richard Wagner)
- Siegmund, Die Walküre (Richard Wagner)
- Radames, Aida (Giuseppe Verdi)
- Manrico, Il trovatore (Giuseppe Verdi)
- Idomeneo, Idomeneo (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
- Calaf, Turandot (Giacomo Puccini)
- Cavaradossi, Tosca (Giacomo Puccini)
- Florestan, Fidelio (Ludwig van Beethoven)
- Canio, Pagliacci (Ruggero Leoncavallo)
- Don Alvaro La forza del destino(Giuseppe Verdi)
- Max, Der Freischütz (Carl Maria von Weber)
- Dick Johnson, La fanciulla del West (Giacomo Puccini)
[edit] Heldentenor - English equivalent: Heroic Tenor
- Range: From about the B below low C to the C above middle C (B to c2)
- Description: A full dramatic tenor with baritonal facility in the middle range and the brightness necessary to pierce a thick orchestral texture.
- Roles:
- Singers:
[edit] Lyrischer Bariton / Spielbariton - English equivalent: Lyric baritone
- Range: From about the B below low C to the G above middle C (B to g')
- Description: A sweeter, milder sounding baritone voice, lacking harshness.
- Roles:
- Singers:
[edit] Kavalierbariton - English equivalent: A metallic voice, that can sing both lyric and dramatic phrases, a manly noble baritonal color, with good looks. Not quite as powerful as the Verdi baritone or Charakter bariton who is expected to have a powerful appearance on stage, perhaps muscular or physically large.
- Range: From about the A below low C to the G# above middle C (A to g#' )
- Description: Harsher, more pronounced than the Lyric baritone.
- Roles:
- Singers:
[edit] Charakterbariton - English equivalent: Verdi Baritone.
- Range: From about the A below low C to the G# above middle C (A to g#')
- Description: A voice particularly effective with passages in its higher reaches. A high tessitura vis-a-vis the range extremes.
- Roles:
- Singers:
[edit] Heldenbariton - Range: From about the G below low C to the F# above middle C (G to f#')
- Description: Means 'heroic baritone'. In the German opera houses a true Heldenbariton is a prized possession: a singer with exciting power at command and a brightly resonant quality.
- Roles:
- Examples:
[edit] Lyric Bassbariton/Low Lyric Baritone - English equivalent: Lyric Bass-baritone.
[edit] Dramatic Bassbariton/Low DramaticBaritone - English equivalent: Dramatic Bass-baritone.
[edit] Bass Fächer [edit] Basso Cantante/Lyric Bassbariton/High Lyric Bass - English equivalent: Lyric Bass-baritone.
- Basso Cantante means 'singing bass'.[2]
- Roles:
- Duke Bluebeard, Bluebeard's Castle (Béla Bartók)
- Don Pizarro, Fidelio (Ludwig van Beethoven)
- Count Rodolfo, La sonnambula (Vincenzo Bellini)
- Blitch, Susannah (Carlisle Floyd)
- Méphistophélès, Faust (Charles Gounod)
- Don Alfonso, Così fan tutte (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
- Leporello, Don Giovanni, Don Giovanni (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
- Figaro, Le nozze di Figaro (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
- Boris, Boris Godunov (Modest Mussorgsky)
- Don Basilio Il barbiere di Siviglia (Gioachino Rossini)
- Silva, Ernani (Giuseppe Verdi
- Philip II, Don Carlos (Giuseppe Verdi)
- Count Walter, Luisa Miller (Giuseppe Verdi)
- Zaccaria, Nabucco (Giuseppe Verdi)
- Singers:
[edit] Hoherbass/Dramatic Bassbariton/High Dramatic Bass - English equivalent: Dramatic Bass-baritone.
- Roles:
[edit] Jugendlicher Bass - English equivalent: young bass
- Range: *Range: From about the E below low C to the F above middle C (E to f')
- Description: A young man (regardless of the age of the singer).
- Roles:
[edit] Spielbass/Bassbuffo/Lyric Buffo - English equivalent: Lyric comic bass
- Range: From about the E half an octave below low C to the F above middle C (E to f')
- Roles:
[edit] Schwerer Spielbass/Dramatic Buffo - English equivalent: Dramatic comic bass
- Range: From about the C one octave below low C to the F above middle C (C to f')
- Roles:
[edit] Lyric Seriöser Bass - English equivalent: Low bass. Italian: Basso Profundo.
- Basso profundo is the lowest bass voice type. According to J. B. Steane in Voices, Singers, and Critics, the basso profundo voice "derives from a method of tone-production that eliminates the more Italian quick vibrato. In its place is a kind of tonal solidity, a wall-like front, which may nevertheless prove susceptible to the other kind of vibrato, the slow beat or dreaded wobble."
- Roles:
- Singers:
[edit] Dramatic Seriöser Bass - English equivalent: Dramatic low bass. Dramatic Basso Profundo is a powerful basso profundo voice.
- Roles:
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