Voices
Soprano | upper | The highest vocal line |
Mezzo-soprano | middle-upper | Between soprano and alto |
Alto | high | Second-highest vocal line |
Contralto | against high | Alto, esp. a female alto |
Basso | low | Or "bass;" the lowest vocal line |
Basso profondo | deep and low | A very deep bass voice |
Castrato | castrated | A male singer, castrated so as to be able to sing soprano (now sung by women, conventional countertenors, or sopranisti) |
Read more about this topic: Italian Musical Terms Used In English
Famous quotes containing the word voices:
“And yet the sun pardons our voices still,
And berries in the hedge
Through all the nights of rain have come to the full,
And death seems like long hills, a range
We ride each day towards, and never reach.”
—Philip Larkin (19221986)
“The sound of tireless voices is the price we pay for the right to hear the music of our own opinions. But there is also, it seems to me, a moment at which democracy must prove its capacity to act. Every man has a right to be heard; but no man has the right to strangle democracy with a single set of vocal chords.”
—Adlai Stevenson (19001965)
“O, let us have him, for his silver hairs
Will purchase us a good opinion,
And buy mens voices to commend our deeds.”
—William Shakespeare (15641616)