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Singers perform different vocal adaptations to sing both lyrical and popular music. The mechanism M1 (modal register) is predominant, but a small portion uses the mechanism M2 (falsetto register). In the lyrical singing, it is the countertenor who makes this peculiar vocal emission. The present study analyzed through nasofiberscopic, glottic, and supraglottic adjustments performed by countertenors, as well as the presence and level of the singer’s formant. The tasks (two interval leaps - a minor sixth and a perfect fourth – and a crescendo in sustained note) were taken from an aria by Georg Friedrich Haendel. During the crescendo, a lowering of the larynx and pharyngeal widening were observed; pharyngeal constrictions and laryngeal elevation were observed in both leaps executions; no glottal chink or air leak were detected. Singer’s formant was identified on all subjects. Professional countertenors performed better than non-professional because they had a higher level of singer's formant and, supralaryngeal adjustments that favor vocal emission with less constrictions and a higher degree of larynx lowering, therefore compatible with better vocal emission.

Singers perform different vocal adaptations to sing both lyrical and popular music. The mechanism M1 (modal register) is predominant, but a small portion uses the mechanism M2 (falsetto register). In the lyrical singing, it is the countertenor who makes this peculiar vocal emission. The present study analyzed through nasofiberscopic, glottic, and supraglottic adjustments performed by countertenors, as well as the presence and level of the singer's formant. The tasks (two interval leaps - a minor sixth and a perfect fourth - and a crescendo in sustained note) were taken from an aria by Georg Friedrich Haendel. During the crescendo, a lowering of the larynx and pharyngeal widening were observed; pharyngeal constrictions and laryngeal elevation were observed in both leaps executions; no glottal chink or air leak were detected. Singer's formant was identified on all subjects. Professional countertenors performed better than non-professional because they had a higher level of singer's formant and, supralaryngeal adjustments that favor vocal emission with less constrictions and a higher degree of larynx lowering, therefore compatible with better vocal emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the middle of the 19th century, Franz Schubert's song cycles Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise are not only considered as an outstanding contribution to the Lied genre, but also as “romantic” compositions par excellence, whose protagonists might be depicted adequately only by performances of male singers. The “masculine nature” (Carl Lafite) of these thoughts, emotions and actions might be inappropriate for female singers. This attitude, which is still present today (even amongst professional musicians and musicologists), though, contradicts not only the performance practice of the early 19th century, but even Schubert's handling of his songs. In fact, the idea of these two cycles as “men's cycles” has only developed in the course of the 19th century, when various impacts such as the general upvaluation of the Lied genre, the transfiguration of the composer, the interpretation of his songs as being a personal statement, and the idea of Werktreue shaped the reception of Schubert's compositions. These factors led to the consolidation of strong and still valid power structures, in which men are regarded as the norm, whereas women (and other alternative voice categories like countertenors) appear as deviation from this norm. These structures are tightly related to similar conditions and principles which have been outlined in the past decades by the masculinity studies on higher levels of our society. In this paper, I will set out this whole process by delineating the performance practice at Schubert's time, his own attitude (insofar as it is possible), the various influences of romantic musical aesthetics, and the development of the mentioned performance tradition towards the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Furthermore, a number of statements from the 21st century will demonstrate that these concepts are still common today, and I will correlate them with some certain principles pointed out by masculinity studies from the last decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents author's comments on the fundamental changes in the operation of musical textures with shared scoring and texts. It mentions that the heuristic tools were, patterns of ranges, the nature, and frequency of tenor-contratenor part crossing, the incidence of large leaps, and imitation.

A thorough reappraisal of the historical credentials of today’s ‘countertenor’ is long overdue. In a series of extensively annotated case studies, well-known critical evidence is re-examined and new information introduced, predominantly from the 15th and 16th centuries. Familiar-looking words (fausset/falsetum) turn out to have misled, and the presumption of a tradition of falsetto singing in the Middle Ages is found to have no real foundation. Similarly, modern concepts of pitch have caused us to misinterpret the notation of earlier composers, and thus to imagine the need for a particularly high adult male voice where none is needed.The article focuses on musical items mentioned in Dufay’s will, on the emergence of the ‘full’ choir (spanning some three octaves rather than just two), on the meaning of ‘voces mutatae’, and on a revised understanding of the 16th-century English choir. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In his centenary year, this article is an examination of the background, career, style and influence of the first famous countertenor of modern times: Alfred Deller. It covers critical and public reaction to a rediscovered voice and its repertory, the special nature of Deller as a performer, and his own attitudes towards a theoretical and/or intellectual approach to historically informed performance practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Summary: Purpose: Professional male altos (countertenors) mostly use a register function, which is considered to be derived from falsetto. However, the sound produced differs in professional altos compared with the modal register or falsetto of untrained voices. The aim of this study was to analyze differences of the vocal tract shapes in male alto register functions. Material and Methods: Dynamic real-time magnetic resonance imaging of eight frames per second was used to analyze the vocal tract profile in seven professional male altos who sang on the vowel /a/, an ascending and descending scale from G3 (196Hz) to E4 (330Hz). The scale included their register transition from modal register to stage (counter) falsetto and naïve falsetto. Results: Register transitions from modal register to stage falsetto were associated with increased lip opening, jaw retraction, elevation and back positioning of the tongue, pharynx narrowing, uvula elevation, drop of larynx height, and tilting of the larynx. Differences between stage and naïve falsetto were found mostly with regard to lip opening and pharynx width. Conclusions: The differences between the vocal tract configurations might have an impact on the acoustic characteristics observed in professional male alto register functions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Evidence is presented contrary to widely held assumptions about all-vocal performance of French chansons written before 1500. While some of these concepts have long been known—the linear character of individual lines, and the different nature of the contratenor—the authors bring new evidence to bear on the question: harmonic anomalies and the occurrence of multiple notes. The fact that all three types of evidence here are found only in the contratenor part recalls an old concept, much disparaged in the recent literature, known as the ‘English a cappella heresy’: that the contratenor of the late 15th century, in the hands of Antoine Busnoys and his contemporaries—including much of the music of the five central Loire valley chansonniers—appears to have been created for performance on a plucked string instrument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers contratenor parts in equal-cantus Italian motets found in the manuscript Bologna Q.15 from codicological, contrapuntal and stylistic perspectives. After establishing criteria for contratenor classification, the paper collates a lexicon of rules governing contratenor behaviour in fourteen motets by Johannes Carmen, Johannes Ciconia, Christoforus de Monte, Antonius Romanus, Matheus de Brixia, and Antonius de Civitate. Four paradigmatic motets are presented as case studies. Q.15 is the earliest (or only extant) source for many of these contratenors, several of which were probably added by a later composer, and they exhibit remarkably similar behaviour that we might term a 'Q.15 style'. Finally, the lexicon is employed to distinguish between the features of an original contratenor and a later one, and the paper posits that studying contratenors can offer a unique window into fifteenth-century compositional thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article profiles New York-based New Wave performer Klaus Nomi. It notes his contemporary writings in the 1970s and early 1980s as he offered exciting views on total freedom to build one's identity with independence. It mentions the impact of Nomi's appearances onstage and offstage from contemporary drama on 17th century English opera regarding his baritone-countertenor voice.

The author reflects the issue on whether there was a theoretical discourse to accompany the composition of ballatas and madrigals for three voices in Italy around 1400. He notes that the treatises teach the composition of contratenor to an existing cantustenor framework. However, none of them were codified in writing before 1450. He relates that study of these texts shows that they do not transmit a unified set of regulations, but concerns with different issues and offers contradictory advice. He contends that the significance of these texts for musical practice can only be applicable to each single text.

Discusses the vocal category known as 'countertenor,' which centers on the octave above the tenor voice. References to the appearance of countertenors in choral music; Analysis of pertinent topics and relevant issues; Implications on studies of music.

Reviews the classical music recordings of countertenors. Popularity of countertenors; Voice quality of David Daniels; Drew Minter's recital of `Handel: Arias for Senesino'; Brian Asawa's rendition of `The Dark Is My Delight.'