Reg Boyle <bandb@n...> wrote:
Reg Boyle <bandb@n...> wrote:
> 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, but it is also
> the German word for viola. Tell me if I'm wrong again. This also
> fits in very well with a voice weaving above or below the
> melody, as you describe for a contra-tenor. I could not imagine
> a contralto doing that, nor do I think it would sound all that good!
> To me a contralto is cello like!
Please tell me you're kidding! The word alto means high, short for
contratenor altus (high line against the held melody). I can't
believe I've been having this serious conversation with you about the
origins of the word tenor and countertenor without this common
understanding.
Some musicologists believe the people who sang "tenor" lines at the
beginning of European polyphony were higher baritones. It was
probably tenors that sang "contratenor altus", since the tessitura
tends to be about a third higher, usually. Soprano probably
comes "superius" or highest. Treble, probably "triplum", or "third
voice". So there goes that theory that naturally high voiced men
somehow "own" the word tenor!
Tako
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