Alto (vocal)

The word "alto" refers both to a vocal range and to performers whose voices lie in that range: the alto is the second highest of the four commonly designated voice types in classical music, below the soprano and the above the usually male bass and tenor. The ideal of four-part choral texture, which gave the four common voice ranges their names, dates to the fifteenth century; "alto" (Italian for "high") dates back to that time and may have derived from contratenor altus ("higher line written in combination with the tenor line"). That term also gave rise to the word "contralto." Though altos today are generally female, male altos were the norm in classical music of many countries well into the eighteenth century: women were often prohibited from performing, and were replaced by boy altos or even by castrati--eunuchs groomed as vocalists. Some writers use the word "contralto" to refer specifically to a female alto, but others treat "alto" and "contralto" as synonymous.

Vocal Instruments