Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The lowest female voice or voice part, intermediate in range between soprano and tenor.
- noun A woman having a contralto voice.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In modern music, the voice intermediate in quality and range between soprano and tenor, having a usual compass of about two octaves upward from the F below middle C; the lowest of the varieties of the female voice.
- noun A singer with a contralto voice.
- Pertaining to, or possessed of the quality of, a contralto: as, a contralto voice.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The part sung by the highest male or lowest female voices; the alto or counter tenor.
- noun the voice or singer performing this part.
- adjective (Mus.) Of or pertaining to a contralto, or to the part in music called contralto.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun music The lowest female voice or voice part, higher than
tenor and lower thansoprano . The terms contralto andalto refer to a similar musical pitch, but among singers, the term contralto is reserved for female singers; the equivalent male form iscounter-tenor . Originally thecontratenor altus was a high countermelody sung against thetenor or main melody.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective of or being the lowest female voice
- noun the lowest female singing voice
- noun a woman singer having a contralto voice
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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But the title-rôle in the original Italian version was written for, and sung by, Guadagni, an artificial contralto (_contralto musico_).
Style in Singing W. E. Haslam
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Her majestic contralto is heard in concert halls and opera houses around the world and we were lucky today to have her give us a sample with "0 Canada".
Out of Character 1986
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Joscelyn Burnett, the famous contralto, is spending a few days in Kensington on her return from her Maritime concert tour.
Chronicles of Avonlea Lucy Maud 1912
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She has more knowledge of the theatre, more science, taste, and energy, than any of them; but her voice, a soft contralto, is out of use and feeble.
Life in Mexico, During a Residence of Two Years in That Country Frances Erskine Inglis 1843
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She remembered her voice that had been called a contralto, low and deep; and how she used to sing the simple songs she knew.
The Border Legion Zane Grey 1905
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The mistake was not as absurd as it may seem, for it is a fact that the voice which is called a contralto, if it is a good and clear and fairly resonant voice, sounds at a distance very much indeed like a 'cello or the lower register of a violin.
Jason Justus Miles Forman 1895
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It was a madrigal this time, airy and changing, and sung by four men, one of whom had a beautiful male contralto, which is a rarity even in Italy.
Stradella 1881
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One of the recurring themes was the large contingent of "Midwest Mafia Merolini" centering in Iowa, such as contralto Suzanne Hendrix above...
Archive 2009-06-01 sfmike 2009
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One of the recurring themes was the large contingent of "Midwest Mafia Merolini" centering in Iowa, such as contralto Suzanne Hendrix above...
Meet The Merolini sfmike 2009
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'Oh, father, father!' she says, kind of contralto, 'can this be true?
Cabbages and Kings 1904
bourdonnement commented on the word contralto
witches, bitches & britches.
November 5, 2010