You got a problem with countertenors, buster? Some of my best friends are countertenors.
Well actually... I do have a couple problems with them.
Firstly, some of them are just plain awfull, but people just accept that "that's what a countertenor sounds like". There is no reason to sound like a cat being strangled, no matter what type of voice you sing in. Good countertenors proove this.
Secondly, and more importantly, they've more or less hoaxed the whole opera audience into thinking they're good replacements for castrati. Castrati were boys castrated before puberty so that their voices
didn't drop when they became adults, countertenor's are men who's voices did drop, but choose to sing in falsetto ( our beloved Klaus Nomi being an example ). Now put that way, you'd think most people would get that these are not the same thing, but nowdays all the old castrati parts are automatically given to countertenors. Women's voices are much, much closer to castrati voices than countertenors. The vocal chords are the same, the castrati just had more powerfull lungs to perform the vocal stunts they did. Sure, they're male roles, but castrati looked like women minus a few features and taller. So give women the roles! Besides, everyone loves lesbians.
I should say that I do like some countertenors, and many have nice voices. Like
this guy. Anyone notice the alt text (or whatever you'd call the comments in the bubble over the cartoon) changed to a Klaus Nomi recommendation/reference? Earlier it said 'click for translatenfun' or something similar.
I was wondering about that, I thought my memory was playing tricks on me.