Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface: A Declaration of Disinterest
- Acknowledgements
- CHAPTER 1 The Discovery of Alfred Deller
- EXTEMPORE 1 An Inartistic Trick: Physiology and Terminology
- CHAPTER 2 The Ancient World to the Middle Ages
- EXTEMPORE 2 A Famine in Tenors: The Historically Developing Human Larynx
- CHAPTER 3 Renaissance Europe
- EXTEMPORE 3 Are We Too Loud? The Impact of Volume on Singing Styles
- CHAPTER 4 Late Medieval and Renaissance England
- EXTEMPORE 4 Reserved Spaniards: Cultural Stereotypes and the High Male Voice
- CHAPTER 5 Baroque Europe
- EXTEMPORE 5 Into Man's Estate: Changing Boys' Voices and Nascent Falsettists
- CHAPTER 6 Baroque England
- EXTEMPORE 6 A Musicological Red Herring: The Etymology of the Counter-Tenor
- CHAPTER 7 The Nineteenth Century
- EXTEMPORE 7 The Bearded Lady: Gender Identity and Falsetto
- CHAPTER 8 The Early Twentieth Century
- EXTEMPORE 8 The Angel's Voice: Falsetto in Popular Music
- CHAPTER 9 The Modern Counter-Tenor
- Bibliography
- Index
EXTEMPORE 8 - The Angel's Voice: Falsetto in Popular Music
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface: A Declaration of Disinterest
- Acknowledgements
- CHAPTER 1 The Discovery of Alfred Deller
- EXTEMPORE 1 An Inartistic Trick: Physiology and Terminology
- CHAPTER 2 The Ancient World to the Middle Ages
- EXTEMPORE 2 A Famine in Tenors: The Historically Developing Human Larynx
- CHAPTER 3 Renaissance Europe
- EXTEMPORE 3 Are We Too Loud? The Impact of Volume on Singing Styles
- CHAPTER 4 Late Medieval and Renaissance England
- EXTEMPORE 4 Reserved Spaniards: Cultural Stereotypes and the High Male Voice
- CHAPTER 5 Baroque Europe
- EXTEMPORE 5 Into Man's Estate: Changing Boys' Voices and Nascent Falsettists
- CHAPTER 6 Baroque England
- EXTEMPORE 6 A Musicological Red Herring: The Etymology of the Counter-Tenor
- CHAPTER 7 The Nineteenth Century
- EXTEMPORE 7 The Bearded Lady: Gender Identity and Falsetto
- CHAPTER 8 The Early Twentieth Century
- EXTEMPORE 8 The Angel's Voice: Falsetto in Popular Music
- CHAPTER 9 The Modern Counter-Tenor
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
He had [an] extraordinary range that naturally included high notes, and then he had access to falsetto on top of that […] This type of male singing voice is usually called counter tenor. Among counter tenors, Michael was the best in my opinion.
angel_of_lightAs we reach the mid-twentieth century in our history it has become increasingly clear that, far from having a fixed identity, over time the counter-tenor has taken on a number of different guises. Before we come to the present incarnation of the counter-tenor, we might pause to look outside our standard, Western classical context, into the world of popular music. Can we find relatives of the modern falsetto counter-tenor in other spheres and hemispheres, now and in the past?
Historically, this is virtually impossible. If the arguments for what constitutes a counter-tenor can be far from leak-proof in the history of Western classical music, in non-literate traditions they are often holed well below the water-line. For instance, the theory that Sir Francis Drake might have been a counter-tenor has been seriously floated on nothing more substantial than the evidence that he sang in his father's church, liked the sound of his own voice, and liked music. Although not guilty of the original theory, as supportive evidence for Drake's being a counter-tenor Peter Giles cites a modern recording of an elderly sailor recalling a naval captain (around 1911) delivering orders in a high-pitched voice.
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- Information
- The Supernatural VoiceA History of High Male Singing, pp. 201 - 205Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2014