Vocalist.org archive


From:  Linda Fox <linda@f...>
Linda Fox <linda@f...>
Date:  Fri Mar 16, 2001  11:33 am
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Contraltos or Altos?


Reg Boyle wrote:
>
> Dear Linda,
> Unkind one, it is not in my nature to be mischievous!

As in "nughty"? Oh, I'm disappointed

(Total swerve, back in a minute): In a railway bookshop recently I saw a
small boy browsing through books, and eventually trotting round to his
mother with one of them. She was horrified and said "You put that right
back where you got it, those are for adults!" These confusions are
easily made, after all, what small boy could resist a book called "The
world's best _naughty_ jokes"?

(I'm back, you can come out now)

> Now this I find confusing because as I seem to recall from what little
> Latin I ever knew, Alt means two or the second part,

Altus means high. Alter can mean "other" as in alter ego - I don't
remember ever hearing it as meaning "two", but in any case, altus was
the root here, as used in the early voice designations. This is why alto
for a low female voice is actually nonsensical, but it's widely used.

>but it is also the German word for viola. Tell me if I'm wrong again.

How to say it nicely... hmmm... you're wrong again, I'm afraid, but one
point because it's the French word for viola, matching the alto voice.
The German viola is a Bratsche, which I've always assumed was a German
spelling of braccia/o, Italian for arm, from the name Viola da Braccio
(sp?) a viol held on the arm rather than a viola da gamba, a viol held
on the leg.

> To me a contralto is cello like!

Physically, maybe :o) but the cello's lowest octave and a half is beyond
the reach of most contraltos, and not all basses, let alone baritones,
can reach its lowest C.

> So I won't use 'alto' to mean contralto, because you've just given
> me another reason not to.

Even in the face of most choral music nowadays being designated SATB,
where the A, depending on the genre of music, would suggest either
sometimes, or usually, or almost always, female voices of that pitch? I
rarely see it classified as SCTB.

Cheers,
Linda


velluti@c...velluti@c...taylor23f@h...
  Replies Name/Email Yahoo! ID Date Size
10323 Re: Contraltos or Altos? Reg Boyle   Sat  3/17/2001   5 KB
10327 Choir Altos Solo Altos WAS: Contraltos or Altos? Tako Oda   Sat  3/17/2001   3 KB
10337 Re: Choir Altos Solo Altos WAS: Contraltos or Alt thomas mark montgomery   Sat  3/17/2001   2 KB
10340 Re: Choir Altos Solo Altos WAS: Contraltos or Alt Tako Oda   Sat  3/17/2001   3 KB
10407 Re: Choir Altos Solo Altos WAS: Contraltos or Alt Karen Mercedes   Mon  3/19/2001   3 KB
10428 Re: Choir Altos Solo Altos WAS: Contraltos or Alt velluti@c...   Mon  3/19/2001   2 KB
10450 Comparative size of castrati and countertenor voi Tako Oda   Tue  3/20/2001   5 KB
10452 Re: Comparative size of castrati and countertenor velluti@c...   Tue  3/20/2001   4 KB
10458 Why were castrati LOUD(ffffffffffffffffff)? taylor23f@h...   Wed  3/21/2001   4 KB

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