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From:  "Tako Oda" <toda@m...>
"Tako Oda" <toda@m...>
Date:  Sat Mar 17, 2001  6:12 am
Subject:  Choir Altos Solo Altos WAS: Contraltos or Altos?


Reg Boyle <bandb@n...> wrote:
Reg Boyle <bandb@n...> wrote:
> Now that there's a lull in the fire, I'm relieved to see that
> we agree that a contralto is NOT an alto .....whew... and that
> the CT approximates a mezzo soprano as a support voice in a
> chorus, rather than a soloist.

Not quite, but bear with me. It is all very convoluted, I agree.
Again, alto is still very much a relational term. In an all male SATB
choir, the assumption is that boy trebles are on soprano, and that
adult altos are on the alto part - with a tessitura a good 3rd below
the usual mixed SATB alto part, since most mixed SATB choir altos
have women who would be considered mezzos in a solo setting, who have
higher voices that the typical adult male alto.

The term "countertenor" was decided upon by Deller and Tippett
*specifically* to indicate a *solo* voice type. So a male adult alto
in a choir is not necessarily a countertenor.

> The implication this raises of course is the likely balance of
> such a combination, in that the CT may have needed the vocal
> size of a castrato to achieve the desired result.

It is unlikely that castrati sang alto parts in all-male choirs,
though they probably could have. I believe the castrati and boys sang
soprano, whereas the alto section was a mix of intact adult male
altos, older castrati, and teenagers. Choral church music from Italy
from this period is rarely done, so talking about castrati vs.
countertenors in HIP choral situations is probably pointless.

In a solo setting, you have to look at each individually. Castrati as
a group had larger voices than countertenors as a group, but I'm sure
there are CTs working today (Bejun Mehta, James Bowman, and a few
members of la gran scena) who have vocal size comparable if not
larger than some of the smaller-voiced castrati of years past.

Tako



  Replies Name/Email Yahoo! ID Date Size
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
10462 Re: Why were castrati LOUD(ffffffffffffffffff)? Tako Oda   Wed  3/21/2001   4 KB
10463 Re: Why were castrati LOUD(ffffffffffffffffff)? velluti@c...   Wed  3/21/2001   3 KB

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