[Magdalen] Counter-tenors

[Marion Thompson]

I cut my teeth on Alfred Deller and still have the Oiseau Lyre recording of
Come, ye Sons of Art' that I bought around the mid 50s.   I noted his
plaque at Southwark Cathedral.

Marion, a pilgrim

On Mon, Nov 23, 2020 at 6:08 PM Jay Weigel <jay.weigel at gmail.com> wrote:

> I met the American countertenor Russell Oberlin when I was quite young,
> thanks to an odd set of circumstances involving a childhood friend of my
> father's who was, at the time, playing with the New York Pro Musica. I sat
> quietly and listened to the conversation, but all I remember from it was
> the wee nugget that there were pretty much two types of
> countertenors--those who were baritones singing falsetto, and those who
> just never stopped singing in that range. Mr. Oberlin said that he had just
> never lost his upper register. I remember thinking it was kind of odd,
> because when he spoke he sounded like any other adult male. I think I was
> about 12 or 13 at the time.
>
> On Mon, Nov 23, 2020 at 2:16 PM Romain Kang <romain at kzsu.stanford.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > There used to be an ongoing dispute about what "counter-tenor" is
> > supposed to mean.  Historically, the term came from having 3-part
> > polyphony with the cantus firmus roughly corresponding to modern tenor
> > range, with "contratenor bassus" below and "contratenor altus" above.
> > Hence, the modern "bass" and "alto."
> >
> > I'm not sure where the lines are currently drawn, but one school used
> > "countertenor" to refer to any adult male singing in the alto range or
> > higher.  Within that category are "falsettists" who can also comfortably
> > sing in the bass to baritone range, though vocal production is clearly
> > different between high and low ranges.  Then there are "haut-contres"
> > (term borrowed from French) whose vocal compass extends into the higher
> > ranges without obvious difference in tone/production.
> >
> > I have the film, "Countertenors" on a DVD I've been meaning to watch
> > for several years now, but it's still gathering dust in its original
> > shrinkwrap...
> >
> > Romain
> >
> > On Fri, Nov 20, 2020 at 10:18:30PM +0000, Roger Stokes via Magdalen
> wrote:
> > > I have long thought that traditional men and boys choirs have suffered
> > from
> > > a lack of depth in the Alto part. This evening I have been listening to
> > the
> > > transmission of a concert version of Handel's opera "Ariodante". While
> > the
> > > title role (which was originally sung by a castrato) was sung by a
> > > mezzo-soprano another major male roile was sung by a counter-tenor.
> This
> > is
> > > in the vocal range of an Alto but has far more depth of timbre than can
> > be
> > > offered by men singing falsetto.
> > >
> > > Roger
> > >
> >
>