In later operas, pants roles represent male youths, but they are not
"prepubescent". In some cases, their pubescence is very much a part
of the story. Octavian is most certainly not prepubescent. Cherubino
and Siebel are young, but their behavior is clearly that of pubescent
teenagers.
Yes. I should have left off the "pre-." But the point remains that
none of these characters are fully adult, either emotionally or
biologically, and that the assigned vocal type is meant to
"realistically" model an unbroken boy's voice. It should also be borne
in mind that under the nutritional etc. conditions of earlier times,
boys' voices broke at a later age--sometimes as late as 19. (This has
important implications RE the staffing of cantus and altus singers in
Renaissance choirs--but back to pant roles.) Pant roles in Strauss and
later are deliberately retrospective in nature--a neoclassic gesture,
always to be experienced w. a raised eyebrow, and, especially in the
20th c., with no particular pretense or obligation of realism.
------------------------
Someone else asked about the origin of the chorus as an institution. It
is now generally held that the first choral composer was Johannes
Ciconia (1335-1411), who wrote thus because he could--the percentage of
singers able to sing harmony had reached a critical mass allowing
polyphonic choral singing as a realistic option for the first time. The
relative rhythmic simplicity required for choral writing (this was the
height of the ars subtilior, remember, and solo vocal lines--Ciconia's
included--had become unbelievably intricate) set the stage for early
Renaissance style of two generations later, but did not directly bring
this change about.
Andrew Stiller
Kallisti Music Press
http://home.netcom.com/~kallisti/
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