AHA!! Now that makes sense. I've often wondered why singers such as Marilyn Horne and Cecilia Bartoli are sometimes listed as mezzo-sopranos and sometimes as contraltos. Their voices have a quality that is different--more "weighty" than singers who are always listed as mezzo-sopranos, such as Frederica von Stade, for example, whose voice is somewhat lighter in quality.

Don (learn a fact a day) Firth