History Main / AltoVillainess

* Madame Morrible from ''{{Theatre/Wicked}}''. Though the wizard is the one initially responsible for the oppression in Oz, Madame Morrible pushes him to greater levels of tyranny and summons the storm that brings Dorthy's house to Oz.

%% * Played straight in most of GilbertAndSullivan's operettas: Ruth in Theatre/ThePiratesOfPenzance, Katisha in Theatre/TheMikado...

* Music/{{Mothy}} being [[TrueArtIsAngsty Mothy]], there are a lot of characters who fulfill this role. [[ExtremeOmnivore Banica Conchita/Master of the Graveyard]] [[{{Music/Vocaloid}} (Meiko);]] [[BigBad Irina]] (Iroha); [[{{Satan}} The Master of the Hellish Yard]], although no one's quite sure if she ''is'' [[SatanIsGood a villain]] (Gumi); and [[{{Yandere}} Kayo]] and [[MagnificentBastard MA]] (Luka) are the most obvious examples, but there are numerous aversions: [[OmnicidalManiac The Master of the Court]], [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Riliane]], [[AxCrazy Arte]], [[BrokenBird Margarita]], and [[LoveMakesYouCrazy Eve]] all have very high voices, being played by Miku and Rin.

* Music/{{Mothy}} being [[TrueArtIsAngsty Mothy]], there are a lot of characters who fulfill this role. [[ExtremeOmnivore Banica Conchita/Master of the Graveyard]]([[Music/{{Vocaloid Meiko]]); [[BigBad Irina]](Iroha); [[{{Satan}} The Master of the Hellish Yard]], although no one's quite sure if she ''is'' [[SatanIsGood a villain]](Gumi); and [[{{Yandere}} Kayo]] and [[MagnificentBastard MA]](Luka) are the most obvious examples, but there are numerous aversions: [[OmnicidalManiac The Master of the Court]], [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Riliane]], [[AxCrazy Arte]], [[BrokenBird Margarita]], and [[LoveMakesYouCrazy Eve]] all have very high voices, being played by Miku and Rin.

* Somewhat surprisingly, opera tends to avert this trope more often than not, partially because the pitch of the voice is perhaps more commonly correlated to a character's age than to their moral alignment, and also because sopranos tend to hog most of the bigger female roles. Some of the most notable evil or borderline evil female roles - the Queen of the Night from ''Theatre/TheMagicFlute'', Lady Macbeth from Verdi's ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'', Puccini's ''Theatre/{{Turandot}}'', Richard Strauss's ''Theatre/{{Salome}}'', Alban Berg's ''Lulu'', and Katerina from Shostakovich's ''Lady Macbeth of Mzensk'' - thus are soprano parts. However, Bizet's femme fatale ''Theatre/{{Carmen}}'' was originally scored for a mezzo (like Delilah from Saint-Saëns's ''Samson and Delilah''), but has also often been performed as an alto (or a soprano) and thus usually has a deeper voice than her foil, the angelic Micaela, and Herodias from ''Salome'' is a mezzo or alto. Klytemnestra from Strauss's ''Elektra'' is nominally a mezzo-soprano, but with much darker inflections than the soprano title character.

A subtrope of EvilSoundsDeep. In musical theatre, the main hero will often be [[TenorBoy tenor]] if male or [[TheSoprano soprano]] if female. If the villain is female, however, she will often sing alto. This is quite often the case if the villainess is LargeAndInCharge. Compare BassoProfundo.

* Mother Gothel, witch and main antagonist in Disney's ''{{Tangled}}'', is voiced by Donna Murphy.
* Eartha Kitt provides the voice of the villainous Yzma in ''TheEmperorsNewGroove''.

* Shenzi the hyena in the stage adaptation of ''Disney/TheLionKing''.
* Somewhat surprisingly, opera tends to avert this trope more often than not, partially because the pitch of the voice is perhaps more commonly correlated to a character's age than to their moral alignment, and also because sopranos tend to hog most of the bigger female roles. Some of the most notable evil or borderline evil female roles - the Queen of the Night from ''The Magic Flute'', Lady Macbeth from Verdi's ''Macbeth'', Puccini's ''Turandot'', Richard Strauss's ''Salome'', Alban Berg's ''Lulu'', and Katerina from Shostakovich's ''Lady Macbeth of Mzensk'' - thus are soprano parts. However, Bizet's femme fatale Carmen was originally scored for a mezzo (like Delilah from Saint-Saëns's ''Samson and Delilah''), but has also often been performed as an alto (or a soprano) and thus usually has a deeper voice than her foil, the angelic Micaela, and Herodias from ''Salome'' is a mezzo or alto. Klytemnestra from Strauss's ''Elektra'' is nominally a mezzo-soprano, but with much darker inflections than the soprano title character.

* Music/{{Mothy}} being [[TrueArtIsAngsty Mothy]], there are a lot of characters who fulfill this role. [[ExtremeOmnivore Banica Conchita/Master of the Graveyard]]([[Music/{{Vocaloid Meiko]]); [[BigBad Irina]](Iroha); [[{{Satan}} The Master of the Hellish Yard]](although no one's quite sure if she ''is'' [[SatanIsGood a villain]]); and [[{{Yandere}} Kayo]] and [[MagnificentBastard MA]](Luka) are the most obvious examples, but there are numerous aversions: [[OmnicidalManiac The Master of the Court]], [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Riliane]], [[AxCrazy Arte]], [[BrokenBird Margarita]], and [[LoveMakesYouCrazy Eve]] all have very high voices, being played by Miku and Rin.

%% * Mother Gothel, witch and main antagonist in Disney's ''{{Tangled}}'', voiced by Donna Murphy.

* Winifred "Winnie" Sanderson, the leader of the Sanderson sisters and the main antagonist in ''Film/HocusPocus'', played by Bette Midler.

* Averted in ''AcrossTheUniverse,'' in which the female lead has a mezzo-soprano voice that borders on alto, as do most of the women.

[[AC:Film]]
* Averted in ''Across the Universe,'' in which the female lead has a mezzo-soprano voice that borders on alto, as do most of the women.

[[AC:Western Animation]]
* Ursula the sea witch, the main antagonist in ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'', has Pat Carroll's throaty alto, opposing the more crisp and pure higher range of Ariel, the protagonist. The contrast is most clear at the end of Ursula's "Poor Unfortunate Souls", when she commands Ariel to sing. (This is reduced in the stage version, where Ursula sings in a generally higher register.)

%% * Mother Gothel, witch and main antagonist in Disney's ''{{Tangled}}'', voiced by Donna Murphy.

* From ''{{Theatre/Wicked}}''. Though the wizard is the one initially responsible for the oppression in Oz, Madame Morrible pushes him to greater levels of tyranny and summons the storm that brings Dorthy's house to Oz.

* Shenzi the hyena in the stage adaptation of TheLionKing

%% [[AC:Film]]
%% * Winifred "Winnie" Sanderson, the leader of the Sanderson sisters and the main antagonist in ''Film/HocusPocus'', played by Bette Midler.

A subtrope of EvilSoundsDeep. In musical theatre, opera, etc., the main hero will often be [[TenorBoy tenor]] if male or [[TheSoprano soprano]] if female. If the villain is female, however, she will often sing alto. This is quite often the case if the villainess is LargeAndInCharge. Compare BassoProfundo.

* Somewhat surprisingly, opera tends to avert this trope more often than not, partially because the pitch of the voice is perhaps more commonly correlated to a character's age than to their moral alignment, and also because sopranos tend to hog most of the bigger female roles. Some of the most notable evil or borderline evil female roles - the Queen of the Night from ''The Magic Flute'', Lady Macbeth from Verdi's ''Macbeth'', Puccini's ''Turandot'', Richard Strauss's ''Salome'', Alban Berg's ''Lulu'', and Katerina from Shostakovich's ''Lady Macbeth of Mzensk'' - thus are soprano parts. However, Bizet's femme fatale Carmen was originally scored for a mezzo, but has also often been performed as an alto (or a soprano) and thus usually has a deeper voice than her foil, the angelic Micaela, and Herodias from ''Salome'' is a mezzo or alto.

%% * Mrs. Meers from ''ThoroughlyModernMillie''.
%% * Lucy from ''{{Theatre/Thirteen}}''.
* [[spoiler:Madame Morrible]] from ''{{Theatre/Wicked}}''. Though [[spoiler:the wizard]] is the one initially responsible for the oppression in Oz, [[spoiler: Morrible]] pushes him to greater levels of tyranny and [[spoiler: summons the storm that brings Dorthy's house to Oz and kills Nessa]]. Her "surrpetitially" in "Thank Goodness" falls on one of the lowest female-sung notes in the musical, and her contralto contrasts with the voices of the two protagonists: superficially heroic Glinda has a peppy soprano, and main character Elphaba belts out many of her songs. Not so coincidentally, [[spoiler: Morrible]]'s only two songs each feature one of those two, highlighting the contrast.

%% * Mrs. Lovett in ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet''.
%% * Audrey II from ''Theatre/LittleShopOfHorrors''. Though voiced by a man, she does refer to herself as a mother.

[[AC:Film]]

* Mrs. Meers from ''ThoroughlyModernMillie''.
* Lucy from ''{{Theatre/Thirteen}}''.

* Miss Hannigan from ''{{Annie}}''.
* Mayoress Cora Hoover Hooper in ''AnyoneCanWhistle''.
* Mrs. Lovett in ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet''.
* Audrey II from ''Theatre/LittleShopOfHorrors''. Though voiced by a man, she does refer to herself as a mother.
* The Killer Queen from ''WeWillRockYou''.

** Gioacchino Rossini subverts expectations in ''La Cenerentola'', a modernized "Cinderella". [[SignificantName Angelina]] is a mezzo, her two stepsisters are an alto and a soprano.
** RichardWagner averts this trope with Venus and Ortrud (soprano, sometimes mezzo), Fricka (mezzo, though she's more an antagonist than a villainess), and Kundry (mezzo or soprano).
** GiuseppeVerdi has scored both Azucena from ''Il Trovatore'' and Amneris from ''Aida'' as altos (they can also be played by mezzos)
** The Countess from Tchaikovsky's ''Pique Dame'' is played by a mezzo or alto.
** The Witch in Engelbert Humperdinck's ''Hänsel und Gretel'' can be performed by a soprano, mezzo or a tenor.
** In ''The Love of the Three Oranges'' Prokofiev averts it with Fata Morgana (soprano), plays it straight with Princess Clarisse (alto), and turns it up to eleven with the cook (a bass in drag). He also scores Hélène as an alto in his operatic adaptation of ''WarAndPeace''.

* Winifred "Winnie" Sanderson, the leader of the Sanderson sisters and the main antagonist in ''Film/HocusPocus'', played by Bette Midler.

* Katrina Stoneheart from the 1980s ''[[WesternAnimation/PoundPuppies1980s Pound Puppies]]'' series (who was voiced by the same actress as Ursula).
* Mother Gothel, witch and main antagonist in Disney's ''{{Tangled}}'', voiced by Donna Murphy.

* Somewhat surprisingly, opera tends to avert this trope more often than not, partially because the pitch of the voice is perhaps more commonly correlated to a character's age than to their moral alignment, and also because sopranos tend to hog most of the bigger female roles. Some of the most notable evil or borderline evil female roles - the Queen of the Night from ''The Magic Flute'', Lady Macbeth from Verdi's ''Macbeth'', Puccini's ''Turandot'', Richard Strauss's ''Salome'', Alban Berg's ''Lulu'', and Katerina from Shostakovich's ''Lady Macbeth of Mzensk'' - thus are soprano parts. However, Bizet's femme fatale Carmen was originally scored for a mezzo, but has also often been performed as an alto (or a soprano) and thus usually has a deeper voice than her foil, the angelic Micaela.