Tenor

Tenor, highest natural adult male voice, having an approximate range of two octaves, starting usually at C below middle C. Two classes of tenor are generally recognized: the dramatic tenor (Italian tenore robusto, “robust tenor”), with a quality in its lower register that resembles that of the baritone, and the lighter and more agile lyric tenor. Two other, less common tenor voices are the heldentenor (German Held, “hero”), a dramatic voice naturally powerful enough to project over the large orchestras required for some German operas; and the countertenor, or male alto, a light voice above and overlapping the normal tenor range, which can be produced either by falsetto or by full-voice singing by a tenor having a very high range. The term tenor is derived from the Latin tenere (“to hold”). In medieval music the tenor part was so named because it “held” the basic melodic line, known as the cantus firmus, to which the other voices furnished countermelodies. See also Singing.