The mid range female voices have a tessitura that runs from G3 to B5 (the usual caveat applies!) Maybe because this range is the ‘norm’ for women’s voices, mezzo operatic roles abound, ranging from the coloratura of Rossini’s Rosina in the Barber of Seville to the darker tones of Bartók’s Judith in Bluebeard’s Castle and beyond. Seemingly paradoxically (it’s because their ranges overlap) mezzos also frequently end up in travesty roles (see below), playing adolescent males (Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro; Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel; Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier; etc.)
And here are a few examples:
The boys...
Mozart:
Marriage of Figaro
Cherubino – Voi che sapete
Cherubino – Non so più cosa son
Mozart:
Così fan tutte
The women...
Dorabella – Smanie implacabili
Dorabella – È amore un ladroncello
Rossini:
The Barber of Seville
Rosina – Una voce poco fa
Stravinsky:
The Rake’s Progress
Baba the Turk – As I was saying…
Lieder...
Mahler:
Das Knaben Wunderhorn
Rheinlegendchen
[Little Rhine legend]
Mahler:
Das Lied von der Erde
Der Einsame im Herbst
[The lonely one in Autumn]
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The Art of Listening 