Contralto

The vocal genre Alt (Latin altus = "high" vox alta = " high voice "; Mz the old woman, in Switzerland, the elders ) called in music the deeper voice of women or boys' voices ( " boy alto " ) or the very high male voice. The vocal range is about g - e''. In English, French and Italian contralto calls this voice, whereas particularly deep female voices are also referred to as a contralto in German. In analogy to pitch old there are musical instruments in the pitch Alt.

The name comes from the four -part male choir set ( in the chest and falsetto register), in which the second voice carries the name countertenor altus. This here has a vocal range of about e-e '' (some castrati also reached nor the d'' ', but then corresponds to the soprano range ).

A singer of this voice is called " alto " or simply " Old ". Corresponding male voices are indicated by " alto ", " Altus " or " counter-tenor ". A number of significant altos is listed on the list of famous singers of classical music. Old games in major roles are relatively rare. Known Alt- sections are:

• Giuseppe Verdi, Il trovatore: Azucena
• Giuseppe Verdi, Rigoletto: Maddalena
• Camille Saint- Saëns Samson et Dalila: Dalila
• Richard Wagner, Das Rheingold: Erda
• Richard Wagner, Siegfried: Erda

The voice of the old can be performed both boy alto, as well as female voices, as well as of men's voices, each with a different sound. Alto parts of early music are sung by countertenors. In particular, in performances, which lay on historical performance practice and historical experience of sound value, one tries to occupy the votes according to the state of research and the customs of the time of the composer.

Smooth transition for mezzo- soprano

Since singers with pure contralto are rare, Altrollen be sung by singers with deep mezzo- soprano. Likewise, singers can take high Old Mezzo soprano roles as well as the alto parts are themselves rare. Since the transition between the two vocal registers is fluent in any case, many singers both alto and mezzo- soprano roles in her repertoire.

Contralto

The German term " contralto " is a very rare voice. Do not corresponds to the Italian contralto, but is the name of a very deep female voice between alto and tenor. In vocal range and scope nearly a correspondingly high tenor vocal tone and darker and deeper than that of a contralto tessitura. Best-known singer in the German language was Zarah Leander; applies in the classical sector Kathleen Ferrier (1912 - 1953) until today as an outstanding exception voice.

Boy alto

As a boy alto tone of voice is called, which corresponds to the old, but is sung by a boy before his voice broke. Some men are singing after his voice broke in the Alto. This is usually done through the use of head voice or falsetto technique, but a different sound generated as a boy's voice. For a long time boys' voices good singer were obtained by castration. This method is no longer practiced today. A higher boy's voice is also known as a boy soprano. Boys 'voices traditionally sing the high tones of voice in boys' choirs.

Typical roles for boy alto include:

• Third boy in The Magic Flute (Mozart)
• Shepherd boy in Tosca ( Puccini )
• Joash in Athalia ( Handel )
• Boy's voice in the Chichester Psalms (Bernstein )
• Boy's voice in Romeo and Juliet ( Heinrich Suter Master )
• Puck in Oberon ( Weber)