OMG. Did anyone see the most recent episode of American Idol? It was mostly a snore, but one auditioner caught my attention. Not for his talent or presence, but because of his relevance to last week's posts. As soon as Matthew Miller walks in and speaks to judges Simon, Paula, Brandy, and Randy, my mouth just falls open. In the most effeminate voice I've ever heard from a man [he's twenty years old, I believe], he tells the judges that he loves to sing and is in love with Kelly Clarkson. He then proceeds to sing a Kelly Clarkson song, in the original female octave. It's not falsetto at all. It's full-throated belting with what sounds like the voice of a child… but much bigger and louder. What's more astonishing is that the guy is at least 6'4", with grossly disproportionately long legs and arms (I'm dying to find a full-length photo or video… anyone?). He's got no hint of facial hair. He's a little soft and pudgy, but has a pretty thick torso, and his facial features are decidedly those of a young adolescent. Does any of this sound familiar?

Diner Bitch said:

Next is Matthew Miller, who looks like a boy, but sounds like Kelly Clarkson. He sings (of course) "Before Your Love" and Simon looks bewildered. Way, way bewildered. Paula is jealous and Randy asks if anyone ever told this? person he sounds like a woman. And they have—a skinny black woman, in fact. Simon feels that Matthew needs to figure out if he?s Matthew or Martha before they all vote no. And before you all tell me I'm being mean, even Brandy was confused by Matthew?s gender, so don?t start.

I am absolutely convinced that what we witnessed was a modern, honest-to-gourd castrato. If not a surgical one, then maybe an endocrinological one. At the very least, he was a sopranist of some kind. What, what? Endocrinological, surgical, sopranist, falsetto? I'm sure that with all the reading over the past week, things have gotten a little mixed up. First things first: to put singers and their voice parts into perspective, I suggest visiting Andreas Kopp's Male Soprano Page. He provides exhaustive lists and discographies for: "adult male singers singing in the soprano range," "singers of the past with unusual high voices, natural altos," and "high countertenors." I've tried to distill it further in the diagram below. The terminology is pretty clear, but some names include portions of the other groups. The real confusion is over the term countertenor, which was originally used to refer to males with extremely high voices, but have no abnormal endocrinological or testicular condition. Also referred to as the haute-contre and the tenor altino, the voice is a natural male alto that does not employ falsetto, per se. As the male alto falsettists became popular in this century, they also took on the term countertenor. Now it tends to refer almost exclusively to male falsettists singing in a lower female range [like David Daniels]. This should not be confused with someone like Aris Cristofellis, a male falsettist sopranist, who is unfortunately referred to as a countertenor on this fan page. At this point, things get terribly nebulous, and there are often arguments over usage and technicalities that go beyond "correct" or "incorrect." The fact is that mis-use and overlapping make it difficult to label some singers. But here's how I see it:

Whatever. Anyway, Seattle Opera just announced its 2005-2006 season. Remember when good singers got at least as many performances as the bad ones?