Countertenor

A countertenor (also contra tenor) is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo-soprano, generally extending from around E₃ to D₅ or E₅, Countertenors often have tenor or baritone chest voices, but sing in falsetto or head voice much more often than they do in their chest voice.

The nature of the countertenor voice has radically changed throughout musical history, from a modal voice, to a modal and falsetto voice, to the primarily falsetto voice that is denoted by the term today. This is partly because of changes in human physiology (increase in body height) and partly because of fluctuations in pitch.

The term first came into use in England during the mid-17th century and was in wide use by the late 17th century. The use of adult male falsettos in polyphony, commonly in the soprano range, was known in European all-male sacred choirs for some decades previous, as early as the mid-16th century. Modern-day ensembles such as the Tallis Scholars and the Sixteen have countertenors on alto parts in works of this period. There is no evidence that falsetto singing was known in Britain before the early 17th century, when it was occasionally heard on soprano parts.

In the second half of the 20th century, there was great interest in and renewed popularity of the countertenor voice, partly due to pioneers such as Alfred Deller and Russell Oberlin, as well as the increased popularity of Baroque opera and the need of male singers to replace the castrati roles in such works. Although the voice has been considered largely an early music phenomenon, there is a growing modern repertoire collection for countertenors, especially in contemporary music.

Terminology

Particularly in the British choral tradition, the terms "male soprano" and "male alto" serve to identify men who rely on falsetto vocal production, rather than the modal voice, to sing in the soprano or alto vocal range. Elsewhere, the terms have less universal currency. Some authorities do accept them as descriptive of male falsettists, although this view is subject to controversy; they would reserve the term "countertenor" for men who, like Russell Oberlin, sing in the alto range with little or no falsetto, equating it with haute-contre and the Italian tenor altino. Adherents to this view maintain that a countertenor will have unusually short vocal cords however, the rise of which coincided with the arrival of a fashion for castrati. For example, the latter took several roles in the first performance of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo (1607). Castrati were already prominent by this date in Italian church choirs, replacing both falsettists and trebles; the last soprano falsettist singing in Rome, Juan [Johannes de] San[c]tos (a Spaniard), died in 1652. In Italian opera, by the late seventeenth century castrati predominated, while in France, the modal high tenor, called the haute-contre, was established as the voice of choice for leading male roles.

In England Purcell wrote significant music for a higher male voice that he called a "counter-tenor", for example, the roles of Secrecy and Summer in The Fairy-Queen (1692). "These lines have often challenged modern singers, who have been unsure whether they are high tenor parts or are meant for falsettists". Contemporary vocal treatises, however, make clear that Purcell's singers would have been trained to blend both methods of vocal production. In Purcell's choral music the situation is further complicated by the occasional appearance of more than one solo part designated "countertenor", but with a considerable difference in range and tessitura. Such is the case in Hail, bright Cecilia (The Ode on St Cecilia's Day 1692) in which the solo, Tis Nature's Voice", has the range F₃ to B₄ (similar to those stage roles cited previously), whereas, in the duet, "Hark each tree", the countertenor soloist sings from E₄ to D₅ (in the trio "With that sublime celestial lay"). Later in the same work, Purcell's manuscript designates the same singer, Mr Howel, described as "a High Contra tenor" to perform in the range G₃ to C₄; it is very likely that he took some of the lowest notes in a well-blended "chest voice".

18th century

"The Purcell counter-tenor 'tenor' did not flourish in England much beyond the early years of the [eighteenth] century; within twenty years of Purcell's death Handel had settled in London and opera seria, which was underpinned entirely by Italian singing, soon became entrenched in British theatres". Oberlin, however, harked back to the earlier tradition of countertenors using only their modal voices.

Today, countertenors are much in demand in many forms of classical music. In opera, many roles originally written for castrati (castrated males) are now sung and recorded by countertenors, as are some trouser roles originally written for female singers. The former category is much more numerous and includes Orfeo in Gluck's and many Handel roles, such as the name parts in Rinaldo, , and Orlando, and Bertarido in Rodelinda. Peter Giles, a professional countertenor and noted author on the subject, defines the countertenor as a musical part rather than as a vocal style or mechanism. In modern usage, the term "countertenor" is essentially equivalent to the medieval term contratenor altus (see above). In this way, a countertenor singer can be operationally defined as a man who sings the countertenor part, whatever vocal style or mechanism is employed. In comparison to female voices the male voice usually has an extended range towards the low notes, but the lowest parts of the range are usually not used. In actual practice, it is generally acknowledged that a majority of countertenors sing with a falsetto vocal production for at least the upper half of this range, although most use some form of "chest voice" (akin to the range of their speaking voice) for the lower notes. The most difficult challenge for such a singer is managing the lower middle range, for there are normally a few notes (around B₃) that can be sung with either vocal mechanism, and the transition between registers must somehow be blended or smoothly managed. Giustino, (Handel)

• Childerico, Faramondo, (Handel)
• David, Saul (Handel)
• Athamas, Semele (Handel)
• Joseph, Joseph and his Brethren (Handel)
• Hamor, Jephtha (Handel)
• Oberon, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Britten)
• David, Chichester Psalms (Bernstein)
• Priest, Taverner (Davies)
• Voice of Apollo, Death in Venice (Britten)
• Death, Ithuriel, Raphael, Paradise Lost (Penderecki)
• Prince Go-Go, Le Grand Macabre (Ligeti)
• Edgar, Lear (Reimann)
• Akhnaten, Akhnaten (Glass)
• Military Governor, A Night at the Chinese Opera (Weir)
• Mephistophiles, Historia von D. Johann Fausten (Schnittke)
• Vera Loman, Vera of Las Vegas (Hagen)
• The Refugee, Flight (Dove)
• The Guest, The voice behind the scene, Luci mie traditrici (Sciarrino)
• Kreon, Freispruch für Medea (Liebermann)
• Franz, Fritz, Doctor Ox's Experiment (Bryars)
• Raphael, Tobias and the Angel (Dove)
• Adschib ("the Wayward"), L'Upupa und der Triumph der Sohnesliebe (Henze)
• Trinculo, The Tempest (Adès)
• Artemis (travesti role), Phaedra (Henze)
• Fox/Coachman, The Adventures of Pinocchio (Dove)
• Herald, Medea (Reimann)
• Prospero, Ferdinand, The Enchanted Island (Pasticcio)
• First Angel/Boy, Written on Skin (Benjamin)
• Bishop Baldwin, Gawain (Birtwistle)
• Orpheus, The Second Mrs Kong (Birtwistle)
• Snake Priestess and 2 Innocents, The Minotaur (Birtwistle)
• Odysseus, Sirenen (Riehm)
• Terry, Marnie (Nico Muhly)

See also

• Fach, the German system for classifying voices
• Voice classification in non-classical music

References