Fachs aplenty

Yet another great addition on the Wikipedia site--an entry on Fach. For the uninitiated, a primer on how voices are pigeonholed categorized into faecher:

The Fach system is a convenience for singers and opera houses. A singer who is identified as being of a certain Fach will usually be asked to sing only roles that belong to that Fach. This prevents a singer from being asked to sing roles which he or she is incapable of performing. Opera houses keep lists of available singers by Fach so that when they are casting roles for an upcoming production, they do not inadvertently contact performers who would be inappropriate for the part.

For the record, I've always found that the fach system can be limiting and encourage younger singers to seek out the repertoire they truly love in various genres and languages (with the approval of teacher+coach) instead of determining in which fach your voice lies and then learning the repertoire you're *supposed* to sing within that category.