Jonas Kaufmann on the difficulty of the tenor range

"60 Minutes" is the most successful television broadcast in history. Offering hard-hitting investigative reports, interviews, feature segments and profiles of people in the news, the broadcast began in 1968 and is still a hit, over 50 seasons later, regularly making Nielsen's Top 10.

[artisticafflair]

He is beautiful, when I hear his voice I always feel emotional. 🥲. He is a gift, he gives us such joy.

[ethelspichler]

Superb. Voice and man polite gentleman educated all congrats for you. Sincerely yours Ethel Brazil

[josecidasilva]

KAUFMANN não sei alemão, nem inglês, pf. Tradução para o português do Brasil desejando muita saúde e grandes sucessos p vc sempre KAUFMANN. Boa madrugada. VOZ vibrante, potente mas de uma suavidade impressionante e sua magnífica VOZ trás gdes emoções em meu coração que bate sempre de alegria quando te ouço cantar KAUFMANN. Fica com as bênçãos de DEUS.

[tovehansen]

SIR GUT to hear love to hear sbovt it good answer from MR. JONAS KAUFMANN 🙏🏻❤GREETTINGS FROM LADY FROM DENMARK 🇩🇰

[AAA-ww]

07/07/2024

2- Ever since I was five years old, I have been passionate about singing, especially lyrical music, and I have trained as a tenor. Unfortunately, my mother's family didn't show much interest in my talent, and my father never had the chance to hear me sing, even though he was the one who passed on his talent to me.

I once planned to attend the music academy in Tehran, but my mother didn't encourage me to pursue it.

After coming to the US, I wanted to study music at a university. However, my brother discouraged me, saying, "Don't you see how big Pavarotti is?" Despite knowing he was wrong, I didn't defend my position.

For about five years, I practiced in a private singing class. Unfortunately, nobody could help, and my vocal range declined, making it a struggle to reach higher octaves after a few concerts.

It wasn't until I was thirty years that I decided to change my approach to singing technique, and things started to improve, but I haven't completely mastered it yet.

I am a lyrical vocalist tenor.

[Roy-G-Biv]

This .43 video could have been an email.

[gillianomotoso]

The interesting thing about this clip is, it implies that voice type is not just innate but learned behavior, and that tenorial singing is a challenge to pull off because it involves pulling the chest or mixed chest register to “unnatural” territories for a man.

Indeed, even his speaking voice strikes as someone who has utilized that register for years, and nowhere does that imply that simply by nature that happens rather than by trained behavior based on if anything a natural predilection for it. He could have also trained to sing countertenor (male in female range) if he wanted, as he demonstrates that range here too, but he was most pulled toward tenor performance. And indeed, when it comes to baritonal singing, you can’t just say that it’s about only being able to sing to G4 or A4 rather than that B4-D5 range, because baritone singing tends to be more conversational and gradual than tenorial singing, even in opera. It can partly mean that, but even if it did, being able to sing up to Ab4 in full voice does not preclude being able to sing up to C5.

And when you reach bass territory, the stylistic goals become even more different, as the E4 or even C4 is not as prime of an achievement in it as the bottom-end, say, F2-A2 on average in performance as required, is appreciated. Once you sing high in your range more often, you could be considered baritone or bass, but just as much potential do you have to aspire toward at very least a dramatic or spinto tenor way of singing. At very least, his comments correspond with this and I can’t disagree with them very much at all.

[oksanatulpa]

It considered to be the higer voice - more near to angel.In medivial chorus it was important. Women were not alowed to sing in church for a long time and tenors for men were rare, because of that there were a tradition of castratos in medevial chorus that was forbidden more than a century ago. Now days all male voices are natural but rare .

[AAA-ww]

When Kaufmann sings like this, I get discouraged. I don't know how he feels after!


Metaphysician philosopher

[hansolowe]

Just upload the whole thing. Why give a short crappy clip from the show?

To lure me? I live in Europe, this is where I can watch the show, not tv.

[jefolson]

It's a combination of ones physical structure and training to free it up. With an intimate variety of sizes and shapes of humans, how can everyone fit neatly into 3 types for men 3 for women. Apart from the high pitch, above the speaking range, tenor singing is a style. Most men are somewhere. Between types with over lapping ranges but the color varies. Kauffman is a nice man and good singer. I prefer the squillo and brightness of the Italian tenor. Kauffman sounds darker than the baritones he sings with. His Wagner is good but lacks the helden tenor ring. So he is an original. A law unto himself.

[cfwsimon]

i have a high C (C5) without training. but its screamed. haha. my lowest comfy note is a Bb2 or the most days an A2

[johnroberts]

Checkout Firestone Tenors 1950-63....were the teachers better? The air? The diet? Where have all the tenors gone, long time passing....

[crystallogician]

huh. expected his speaking voice to be deeper

[elsalohengrin]

Very interesting around noon time I imitated Königen der Nacht because iI was thinking researching about Koleratur Arias, and asking my self when a Tenor is imitating is if he using a so called Kopfstimme? Becuase a Counter-Tenor is using he so called Brust-Stimme. And so fast I can find here?
Kaufmann said once in a Germain Interview, that he can sing the Queen of the night at 3 am at a Bar, after several beers....
Just Tenors? In my youth my imagination the American Bariton Robert Hale ;-)
Wie oft soll ich das korrigieren, wie immer diese billige Veränderung meiner Rechtschreibung, Manipulkation, unterstes Niveau und wirklich lächerlich!
P.S. War Mozart Deutscher oder Österreicher, Allgemeinbildungsfrage, es wird hier wohl auch kaum hier jemand wissen, dass Jonas kurz aus der Arie Königin der Nacht "gesungen hat"

[TitanMoon]

Best opera singer ever. Makes Pavarotti sound like a dog's breakfast

[NiuBalance]

Ha ha ha ha...when you are a BASS be a TENOR is the impossible dream...good night kaufy...🌙

[anthonyb]

That is absolutely not the speaking voice I was expecting.