Scan 52
The American history and encyclopedia of music, 1908
34 lines. Read by computer on 11 September 2026. Printed page 27. See the scan on archive.org.
1alti
2tenor. Also as a noun, altos. As used in the phrase, alti naturali, the natural male altos. Altos is used to indicate the alto voices, or parts written for alto voices or instruments.
3altieramente (äl-ti-ä-rä-män'-tě) It. adv.
4Haughtily; proudly; loftily.
5altierazza (äl-ti-ä-rët'-tsä) It. n.
6Loftiness, sublimity.
7altisonante (äl-ti-sō-nän'-tě) It. adj.
8Loud sounding.
9altisono (äl-ti-sō'-nō) It. adj.
10Sonorous.
11altissimo (äl-ti-s'-sī-mō) It. adj.
12Highest. Superlative of alto. The octave beginning on g''' on the fourth added line above the treble staff to f''' two octaves above the fifth line of the treble staff. Abbr. altiss.
13Altist (äl-ti-st') Ger. n.
14A name for the singer who took the first alto part, or alto primo. One with an alto, falsetto counter-tenor, or contralto voice. In German it is applied to a male alto.
15altista (äl-tës-tä) It. n.
16altiste (äl-tëst) Fr. n.
17See Altist.
18Altistin (äl-ti-s'-tīn) Ger. n.
19A contralto. Feminine of Altist.
20altitonans (äl-ti-tō-nāns) Lat. adj. and n.
21Sounding from on high: a term used in the Sixteenth Century to denote the alto or counter-tenor part, the highest for the natural male voice.
22Altklausel (äl'-klow-zěl) Ger. n.
23Alto clause: the alto having the leading part in a perfect cadence or close.
24alto (äl-tō) It. adj.
25Literally, high.
261. Applied to high male, counter-tenor, and low female, contralto, voices.
272. Alto is applied also to one of the stringed instruments which is a little larger and a fifth lower in pitch than an ordinary violin, and takes a position in harmony which corresponds in register to the alto voice. In the expansion of the compass of instrumental music, alto, formerly the highest of low parts, has become the lowest of high parts, the tenor taking its place. Consequently, the terms alto and tenor are often applied to the same instrument, e. g., the viola is called tenor violin by the English and alto by the French. The instruments called alto in English and French and alt in German are usually spoken of in Italian as contralto. Abbr. a.
28alto Fr., Eng., It. n.
29Either the masculine form of the It. adjective alto used as a substantive, or a noun derived from the Latin adjective altus (high). In Italy before the violin came into use the tenor viol took the high parts in string compositions, and hence was called the alto di viola. When this instrument gave way to the tenor violin, the viola, the name was retained and alto has remained the name of the tenor violin both in Italy and France. In the latter country the saxhorn alto in E b, a military band instrument, is also called the alto. In vocal music one whose voice is between tenor and mezzosoprano, an alto, counter-tenor or contralto singer. Alto at first signified the highest male part, sung by high tenor (counter-tenor) voices. Later boys took the part, and now for many years it has been sung by women with low voices (contraltos). The term is seldom used at present in the strict meaning, but is interchanged with contralto, which is properly higher than alto, the part between the soprano and tenor in mixed choruses being called alto and sung usually by contraltos. Abbr. a.
30alto clef.
31The C clef on the third line of the staff is called the alto clef, and since the note, middle C, is always on the same line of the staff as the C clef, middle C, or C' is on the third line. Middle C is also on the added line above the bass cleff and on the added line below the treble clef, so these three lines correspond, and the two upper lines of the alto staff correspond to the two lower lines of the treble and the second and third lines added above the bass. This clef is also called the counter-tenor and viola-clef. Formerly it was used to denote the alto part in vocal music, but now it is used only in viola and alto trombone music and is usually written Equivalent to altschlüssel and altzeichen (Ger.).
32alto, compass of
33In the old music, called mensurable because it had a fixed time value for its notes, the rules for singing were difficult and took many years to mas-
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