Vocalist.org archive


From:  Edna Huelsenbeck <huelsen@b...>
Edna Huelsenbeck <huelsen@b...>
Date:  Fri Mar 16, 2001  2:53 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Gay? Re: What's a countertenor?


>from Linda.
>>In renaissance music the tenor ("holder") was the voice which was
>>singing the cantus firmus, the plainsong melody, often in long notes; it
>>didn't designate any particular range. The expression "contra-tenor"
>>dates from the same period,
>
>Thank you Linda, you have just supported my arguement.
>No examples of the period of which you speak are in existance
>(I assume), so of course it is quite safe to choose the term to
>describe anything you like because there is no possible way
>of proving or disproving it. This is an old trick!

Um, you're kidding, right? I _really_ hope you are. A vast repertoire
of Renaissance choral music still exists today, and there are a lot
of people who like to sing it. Even non-specialist choruses (high
school, college, and community) sing some of this repertoire, and
there are many groups that specialize in early music. (Check out the
one I sing with: http://www.musicaspei.org)

The Harvard Dictionary of Music definition of "contratenor" begins
"In music of the 14th and 15th centuries, a part written 'against'
the tenor part." (Under "countertenor," it says to see
"contratenor.") Note that it is a PART, not a voice type, unlike
modern usage.


Edna Huelsenbeck (singer of alto, countertenor, and tenor parts as
needed, but never going to have the right timbre to be an operatic
contralto)
--

---|)-------------------------------------------------------------
---|--- Edna Huelsenbeck -----------------------------------------
--/|--- huelsen@b... ---------------------
-| |')- http://www.brahms.biology.rochester.edu/edna/ ------------
--\|/-------------------------------------------------------------
|
'

emusic.com