|Cherubino,<br />''the Count's page''||mezzo-soprano<ref>Though the character is a young man, Cherubino has traditionally been sung by a mezzo-soprano. This is known in opera as a "pants role," which means that the audience accepted the character as a man while knowing full well that the singer was a woman. In ''Figaro'' Mozart plays with this convention by having Cherubino dress as a woman in Act II.</ref>