What is Breeches role?
A '''breeches role''' is a part in an [[opera]] in which a woman plays the role of a man. It is also called a '''trouser role''' (British) or '''pants role''' (U.S.) or '''travesti role''' (the Italian word). It is called a breeches role because breeches are tight-fitting, knee-length [[trousers]]. These used to be worn by men at the time that breeches roles became popular. Sometimes breeches roles are in [[Play (theatre)|plays]], but they are usually in opera. Breeches roles are usually female singers acting the role of a young man. They are normally sung by [[mezzo-soprano]]s or [[contralto]]s with light voices because they can often sound boyish. In the [[17th century|17th]] and [[18th century|18th centuries]] it was normal to have [[actor]]s and actresses who cross-dressed. It was the time when [[castrato]] singers were popular. These castrati were men pretending to be women, but there were also women pretending to be men (especially when the actress was trying to deceive another character) and the audiences were used to this kind of thing. As they gradually stopped the horrible practice of [[castration|castrating]] young boys in the late 18th century these male characters started to be sung by mezzo-sopranos instead. [[Mozart]] wrote an opera called ''The Marriage of Figaro''. In this opera the role of Cherubino, a young [[page]] boy, is sung by a mezzo-soprano. Other famous examples include the role of Siebel in [[Antonín Dvořák|Dvořák’s]] opera ''Rusalka'' and the role of Prince Orlofsky in [[Johann Strauss II|Johann Strauss’s]] opera ''Die Fledermaus''. Composers from the [[20th century]] do not usually have breeches roles in their operas. There is the role of Oktavian in [[Richard Strauss|Richard Strauss’s]] opera ''[[Der Rosenkavalier]]'' (1911), but this opera was deliberately trying to produce the old-fashioned atmosphere of Mozart’s time. [[Benjamin Britten]] wrote an opera called ''Midsummer Night’s Dream'', based on [[Shakespeare|Shakespeare’s]] play. There is no breeches role here. Instead, the