Tenor (redirected from Tenor vocals)

tenor, highest natural male voice. In medieval polyphony, tenor was the name given to the voice that had the cantus firmus, a preexisting melody, often a fragment of plainsong, to which other voices in counterpoint were added. The cantus was arranged in notes of long duration, hence the term tenor, from the Latin tenere, to hold. In about the 12th cent., when this practice arose, the various parts in polyphonic music were roughly equal in range, and it was some centuries later that tenor came to denote a voice of any certain range. The male alto range is termed countertenor. In certain families of instruments the member whose register corresponds to that of the tenor voice is called tenor, e.g., tenor horn and tenor trombone.

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tenor

High male voice range, extending from about the second B below middle C to the G above it. In the polyphony of the 13th–16th centuries, the tenor was the part that held (Latin, tenere: “to hold”) the cantus firmus. Tenor voices are often classified as dramatic, lyric, or heroic (heldentenor). In instrument families, tenor refers to the instrument in which the central range is roughly that of the tenor voice (e.g., tenor saxophone).

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tenor

1. Music

a. the male voice intermediate between alto and baritone, having a range approximately from the B a ninth below middle C to the G a fifth above it

b. a singer with such a voice

c. a saxophone, horn, recorder, etc., intermediate in compass and size between the alto and baritone or bass

d. (as modifier): a tenor sax

2. 

a. (in early polyphonic music) the part singing the melody or the cantus firmus

b. (in four-part harmony) the second lowest part lying directly above the bass

3. Bell-ringing

a. the heaviest and lowest-pitched bell in a ring

b. (as modifier): a tenor bell

4. Law

a. the exact words of a deed, etc., as distinct from their effect

b. an exact copy or transcript

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Tenor 

(1) A high male singing voice with a range from C below middle C to A above. The main types of tenor are the lyric tenor, or tenore di grazia, and the dramatic tenor, or tenore di forza. The lyric tenor is characterized by its soft timbre, ability to sing tuneful melodies, and mobility. The dramatic tenor is distinguished by great force and breadth of sound over the entire range. There is also a lyric-dramatic tenor and an alto, which reaches E above high C.

(2) A musical wind instrument used in wind bands. The term also refers to some musical instruments, usually of middle register, belonging to a given family—as, for example, the tenor saxophone or tenor dombra.

(3) In the Middle Ages, from the 12th century, the voice in contrapuntal composition that carried the main melody, or cantus firmus. At first the tenor was a low voice; with the addition of the bass, it became the middle voice of a polyphonic work.