Voice type in the context of Countertenor

A soprano (Italian pronunciation: [soˈpraːno]) is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C₄) = 261 Hz to A₅ in choral music, or to soprano C (C₆) or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which often encompasses the melody. The soprano voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, soubrette, lyric, spinto, and dramatic soprano.

A bass is a type of classical male singing voice and has the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a vocal range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C (i.e., E₂–E₄). Its tessitura, or comfortable range, is normally defined by the outermost lines of the bass clef. Categories of bass voices vary according to national style and classification system.

Italians favour subdividing basses into the basso cantante (singing bass), basso buffo (comical bass), or the dramatic basso profondo (deep bass). The American system identifies the bass-baritone, comic bass, lyric bass, and dramatic bass.

The tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest-voice type. Composers typically write music for the tenor in the range from the second B below middle C, to the G above middle C (i.e. B₂ to G₄) in choral music – and from the second B-flat below middle C, to the C above middle C (B♭₂ to C₅) in operatic music – but the range can extend at either end. Subtypes of the tenor include the leggero tenor, lyric tenor, spinto tenor, dramatic tenor, heldentenor and tenor buffo (also known as the spieltenor).

A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the Greek βαρύτονος (barýtonos), meaning "low sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C (i.e. F₂–F₄) in choral music, and from the second G below middle C to the G above middle C (G₂ to G₄) in operatic music, but the range can extend at either end. Subtypes of baritone include the baryton-Martin baritone (light baritone), lyric baritone, Kavalierbariton, Verdi baritone, dramatic baritone, baryton-noble baritone, and the bass-baritone.

Vocal range is the range of pitches that a human voice can phonate. A common application is within the context of singing, where it is used as a defining characteristic for classifying singing voices into voice types. It is also a topic of study within linguistics, phonetics, and speech-language pathology, particularly in relation to the study of tonal languages and certain types of vocal disorders, although it has little practical application in terms of speech.

In music, SATB is a scoring of compositions for choirs or consorts of instruments consisting of four voice types: soprano, alto, tenor and bass.

The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (from Latin: altus), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In four-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by either low women's or high men's voices. In vocal classification these are usually called contralto and male alto or countertenor.

The alto flute is an instrument in the Western concert flute family, pitched below the standard C flute and the uncommon flûte d'amour. It is the third-most common member of its family after the standard C flute and the piccolo. It is characterized by its rich, mellow tone in the lower portion of its range. The bore of the alto flute is considerably larger in diameter and longer than the C flute and requires a larger column of air (volume of air) from the player, though it also requires a slower airspeed. This gives it a greater dynamic presence in the bottom octave and a half of its range. Its range is from G₃ (the G below middle C) to G₆ (4 ledger lines above the treble clef staff) plus an altissimo register stretching to D♭₇. It uses the same fingerings as the C flute and piccolo, but is a transposing instrument in G (sounding a perfect fourth lower than written).

British music that uses this instrument often refers to it as a bass flute, which can be confusing since there is a distinct instrument called the bass flute. This particular naming confusion originated in the fact that the modern C flute is pitched in the same range as the Renaissance tenor flute; implying that a lower-pitched instrument should be called 'bass', following the pattern of other instruments. However, the flute family's pitch-range naming system does not correspond correctly to human voice pitches (see description of ranges in the C flute article).

A mezzo-soprano (Italian: [ˌmɛddzosoˈpraːno], lit. 'half soprano'), or mezzo (English: /ˈmɛtsoʊ/ MET-soh), is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above (i.e. A₃–A₅ in scientific pitch notation, where middle C = C₄; 220–880 Hz). In the lower and upper extremes, some mezzo-sopranos may extend down to the F below middle C (F₃, 175 Hz) and as high as "high C" (C₆, 1047 Hz).The mezzo-soprano voice type is generally divided into coloratura, lyric, and dramatic.

A contralto (Italian pronunciation: [konˈtralto]) is a classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest of their voice types.

The contralto voice type is fairly rare. A contralto's range is similar to that of a mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor – typically from the F below middle C (F₃ in scientific pitch notation) to the second F above middle C (F₅), although, at the extremes, some voices can reach the D below middle C (D₃) or the second B♭ above middle C (B♭₅). The contralto voice type includes coloratura, lyric, and dramatic contraltos.

In music, tessitura (English: /ˌtɛsɪˈtʊərə/ TESS-ih-TOOR-ə, UK also /-ˈtjʊər-/ -⁠TURE-, Italian: [tessiˈtuːra]; pl. tessiture; lit. 'weaving' or 'texture') is the most acceptable and comfortable vocal range for a given singer (or, less frequently, musical instrument). It is the range in which a given type of voice presents its best-sounding (or characteristic) timbre. This broad definition is often interpreted to refer specifically to the pitch range that most frequently occurs within a given part of a musical piece. Hence, in musical notation, tessitura is the ambitus, or a narrower part of it, in which that particular vocal (or less often instrumental) part lies—whether high or low, etc.

However, the tessitura of a part or voice is not decided by the extremes of its range, but rather by the share of this total range which is most used. Hence, it is referred to as the "heart" of a range. For example, throughout the entirety of Wagner's Ring, the music written for the tenor role of Siegfried ranges from C♯₃ to C₅, but the tessitura is described as high because the phrases are most often in the range of C₄ to A₄.

Spinto (Italian for "pushed") is a vocal term used to characterize a soprano or tenor voice of a weight between lyric and dramatic that is capable of handling large musical climaxes in opera at moderate intervals. (Sometimes the terms lirico-spinto or jugendlich-dramatisch are used to denote this category of voice.)

The spinto voice type is recognisable by its tonal "slice" or squillo. This enables the singer to cut through the wall of sound produced by a full Romantic orchestra in a wide variety of roles, excluding only the most taxing ones written by the likes of Richard Wagner (such as Brünhilde, Isolde, Tristan and Siegfried), Giacomo Meyerbeer (John of Leyden), Verdi (Otello), Puccini (Turandot, Calaf) and Richard Strauss (Elektra).

"Gretchen am Spinnrade" (Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel), Op. 2, D 118, is a Lied composed by Franz Schubert using the text from Part One, scene 15 of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust. With "Gretchen am Spinnrade" and some 600 other songs for voice and piano, Schubert contributed transformatively to the genre of Lied. "Gretchen am Spinnrade" was composed for soprano voice but has been transposed to accommodate other voice types. Schubert composed "Gretchen am Spinnrade" on 19 October 1814, three months before his eighteenth birthday.