Reg Boyle <bandb@n...> wrote in re: tenor/countertenor
Reg Boyle <bandb@n...> wrote in re: tenor/countertenor
> Tako that sounds awfully like first and second tenor to me?
Right. The point being Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass were and still are
relative terms that only have relevance in a family of instruments.
The viola is the alto of the string family. Doesn't mean it has any
relationship in range or timbre to an alto sax, alto flute, alto
recorder, choir alto, or an operatic contralto.
Similarly, operatic tenors do not have a monopoly on the word tenor,
not even in the world of singing (tenors in most other vocal genres
are either tenorinos, hautes contre or falsettists)! Operatic
countertenors have exactly as much right to use their fachname as
tenors do theirs. Countertenor, haute contre, contralto all have the
same root, and they are all valid because they each are the voice
part "higher" than the tenor in a family of instruments - classical
solo singers.
Tako
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