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Information about Tessitura

In music, the term tessitura (Italian: texture) generally describes the most musically acceptable and comfortable timbre for a given voice or, less frequently, musical instrument. This broad definition is often interpreted to refer specifically to the pitch range that most frequently occurs within a given piece, or part, of music. For example, throughout the entirety of Wagner's Ring, the music written for the role of Siegfried ranges from C#3 to C5, but the tessitura is described as high because the tenor phrases are most often in the range of C4 to A4.

In musical notation, tessitura is the range of notes implied by a clef.

Melodic contour may also be considered to be an important aspect of vocal tessitura.

The "tessitura" concept addresses not merely a range of pitches but as well the arrangement of those pitches. Tessitura considerations include these factors: proportion of sudden or gradual rises and falls in pitch - speed of pitch changes; the relative number of very high or low notes; whether lines and phrases of music in the piece tend to rise or fall – the muscular abilities of a singer may be more suited to one or the other direction.

See also



  •  • [ e] Opera terms
Aria • Aria di sorbetto • Arioso • Bel canto • Breeches role • Burletta • Cabaletta • Cadenza • Cantabile • Castrato • Cavatina • Chest register • Claque • Coloratura • Comprimario • Convenienze • Coup de glotte • Da capo • Diva • Fach • Falsetto • Fioritura • Gesamtkunstwerk • Head register • Intermezzo • Leitmotif • Libretto • Melodrama • Melodramma • Monodrama • Messa di voce • Opera house • Passaggio • Portamento • Prima donna • Prompter • Recitative • Regietheater • Rptiteur • Sitzprobe • Spinto • Sprechgesang • Squillo • Stagione • Surtitles • Tessitura • Timbre • Vibrato
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In music, timbre, or sometimes timber, (from Fr. timbre; IPA /'tæmbəɹ/ as in the first two syllables of tambourine, or /'tɪmbəɹ/, like timber)[1]
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A singer is a musician who uses their voice to produce music. Often the singer is accompanied by musicians and instruments. While many people sing for pleasure, vocal skill is usually a combination of innate talent and professional training.
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A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. In principle anything that, produces sound, and can somehow be controlled by a person playing it, can serve as a musical instrument.
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Pitch is the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound. While the actual fundamental frequency can be precisely determined through physical measurement, it may differ from the perceived pitch because of overtones, or partials, in the sound.
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In music, the range of a musical instrument is the distance from the lowest to the highest pitch it can play. For a singing voice, this is known as vocal range.

The range of a musical part is the distance between its lowest and highest note.
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Wilhelm Richard Wagner (22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883) was a German composer, conductor, music theorist, and essayist, primarily known for his operas (or "music dramas" as they were later called).
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Der Ring des Nibelungen, (The Ring of the Nibelung), is a cycle of four epic music dramas by the German composer Richard Wagner. The operas are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied.
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Music notation or musical notation is any system which represents aurally perceived music through the use of written symbols. Diverse systems of music notation have been developed in various cultures.
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note has two primary meanings: 1) a sign used in music to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound; and 2) a pitched sound itself. Notes are the "atoms" of much Western music: discretizations of musical phenomena that facilitate performance, comprehension, and analysis
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clef (from the French for "key") is a musical symbol used to indicate the pitch of written notes.* Placed on one of the lines at the beginning of the staff, it indicates the name and pitch of the notes on that line.
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Melodic motion is the quality of movement of a melody, including nearness or farness of successive pitches or notes in a melody. This may be described as conjunct or disjunct, stepwise or skipwise, respectively.

Bruno Nettl (1956, p.
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In music, a register is the relative "height" or range of a note, set of pitches or pitch classes, melody, part, instrument or group of instruments. A higher register indicates higher pitch.
  • Example 1: Violins are in a higher register than cellos.

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''This article discusses the use of ambitus in the Middle Ages, for other uses, see Vocal range


The ambitus of a Gregorian chant is the range, or the distance between the highest and lowest note. Different chants vary widely in their ambitus.
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aria (Italian for air; plural: arie or arias in common usage) in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer.
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The Aria di sorbetto, or "sherbet aria", was a convention of Italian opera in the early nineteenth century.

Background

Nineteenth-century audiences would rarely listen to an opera straight through, preferring instead to talk among themselves, eat, and drink for much
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In classical music, arioso is a style of solo opera singing between recitative and aria. Literally, arioso means airy. The term arose in the 16th century along with the aforementioned styles and monody. It is commonly confused with recitativo accompagnato.
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Bel canto (Belcanto, bel canto) (Italian, beautiful singing), an Italian musical term, refers to the art and science of vocal technique which originated in Italy during the late seventeenth century and reached its pinnacle in the early part of the nineteenth century
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A breeches role (also pants role or trouser role) is a role in which an actress appears in male clothing (breeches being tight-fitting knee-length pants, the standard male garment at the time breeches roles were introduced).
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A burletta (Italian, meaning little joke), also sometimes burla or burlettina, is a musical term generally denoting a brief comic Italian (or, later, English) opera.
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A Cabaletta is form of aria within 19th century Italian opera. It usually refers specifically to the second half of a double aria: a faster or more rhythmic movement following a cantabile section.
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In music, a cadenza (Italian for cadence) is, generically, an improvised or written-out ornamental passage played or sung by a soloist or soloists, usually in a "free" rhythmic style, and often allowing for virtuosic display.
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Cantabile is a musical term meaning literally "singable" or "songlike" (Italian). It has several meanings in different contexts. In instrumental music, it indicates a particular style of playing designed to imitate the human voice.
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Common vocal ranges represented
on a musical keyboard

A castrato is a male soprano, mezzo-soprano, or alto voice produced either by castration of the singer before puberty or one who, because of an endocrinological condition, never reaches sexual maturity.
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Cavatina (Italian diminutive of cavata, the producing of tone from an instrument, plural cavatine) is a musical term, originally a short song of simple character, without a second strain or any repetition of the air.
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The chest register is the speaking vocal range of a singer, for example, in baritones, notes below the E above middle C (C4, C1 in European notation). It is the major bulk of most male voices, however, in female voices, falsetto voices are also utilized in most cases for screaming
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Claque (French for "clapping") is, in its origin, a term which refers to an organized body of professional applauders in French theatres and opera houses. Members of a claque are called claqueurs.
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Coloratura has several meanings. The word derives from the Italian colorare (to colour; to heighten; to enliven) or colorazione (colouring, coloration).

Its most well-known meaning is applied to voice type - i.e.
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A Comprimario is a supporting role in an opera. Derived from the Italian "con primario", or "with the primary", the term refers to a performer who sings small role pieces.
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Convenienze (literally, 'conveniences') were the rules relating to the ranking of singers (primo, secondo, comprimario) in 19th-century Italian opera, and the number of scenes, arias etc. that they were entitled to expect.
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