chenweijie81@y... wrote: chenweijie81@y... wrote: > I have heard of the term "hautes contre" but don't know > exactly who they are.Is it a classication of voice like baritones??? > From some of the previous forums,they are considered rare among the > guys only???How do we tell whether a person is a hautes contre??? > Why are they rare???I wonder why... .
Haute contre is literally "high counter", or short for the original, contratenor altus (high counterpoint to the held line). Countertenor parts were altus or bassus relative to the melodic line, or the tenor.
So the root is basically the same as the english "countertenor", but in practice, the voice is produced differently. The French-style haute contre singer is usually a very high tenor who has an imperceptible gear change from chest voice to light head voice (or falsetto, as some would call it). The change is usually above F#4, so the basic tone is very tenor-like. Mark Padmore, Stevie Wonder and Werner Marschall are examples of this kind of singer.
The English-style countertenor generally switches much lower (a fifth to an octave), so the basic tone is much more falsetto-ish, and some would say, feminine in tone. You're probably familiar with this sound. David Daniels is a very popular countertenor right now.
They are both higher than tenor, but haute contre is usually considered a variety of tenor, while countertenor is generally considered its own category.
Hope this is helpful.
Tako Oda
|
| |