The Supernatural Voice: A History of High Male SingingThe use of high male voices in the past has long been one of the most seriously misunderstood areas of musical scholarship and practice. In opening up this rich subject (to readers of all sorts) with refreshingly clear perspectives and plenty of new material, Simon Ravens' well-researched book goes a very long way to rectifying matters. Ravens writes damnably well, and if the story that emerges is necessarily a complex one, his treatment of it is always engagingly comprehensible.' ANDREW PARROTT Tracing the origins, influences and development of falsetto singing in Western music, Simon Ravens offers a revisionist history of high male singing from the Ancient Greeks to Michael Jackson. This history embraces not just singers of counter-tenor and alto parts up to and including our own time but the castrati of the Ancient world, the male sopranists of late Medieval and Renaissance Europe, and the dual-register tenors of the Baroque and Classical periods. Musical aesthetics aside, to understand the changing ways men have sung high, it is also vital to address extra-musical factors - which are themselves in a state of flux. To this end, Ravens illuminates his chronological survey by exploring topics as diverse as human physiology, the stereotyping of national characters, gender identity, and the changing of boys' voices. The result is a complex and fascinating history sure to appeal not only to music scholars but to performers and all those with an interest particularly in early music. Simon Ravens is a performer, writer, and director of Musica Contexta, with whom he has performed in Britain and Europe, regularly broadcast, and made numerous acclaimed recordings. Ravens had previously founded and directed Australasia's foremost early music choir, the Tudor Consort. Between 2002 and 2007 his regular monthly column Ravens View appeared in the Early Music Review, to which he still regularly contributes. |
Contents
Chapter 1 The Discovery of Alfred Deller | 1 |
Physiology and Terminology | 6 |
Chapter 2 The Ancient World to the Middle Ages | 12 |
The Historically Developing Human Larynx | 38 |
Chapter 3 Renaissance Europe | 45 |
Extempore 3 Are We Too Loud? The Impact of Volume on Singing Styles | 66 |
Chapter 4 Late Medieval and Renaissance England | 71 |
Cultural Stereotypes and the High Male Voice | 90 |
The Etymology of the CounterTenor | 144 |
Chapter 7 The Nineteenth Century | 149 |
Gender Identity and Falsetto | 182 |
Chapter 8 The Early Twentieth Century | 186 |
Falsetto in Popular Music | 201 |
Chapter 9 The Modern CounterTenor | 206 |
224 | |
237 | |
Chapter 5 Baroque Europe | 96 |
Changing Boys Voices and Nascent Falsettists | 123 |
Chapter 6 Baroque England | 130 |
Backcover | 245 |
Common terms and phrases
accessed 6 April Alfred Deller alto voice Andrew Parrott Bach Bach’s baritone Baroque bass boys Burney Cambrai Cappella castrati cathedral century chant Chapel Royal chest voice choral church choirs Cistercian composers contemporary context contralto Contratenor counter counter-tenor counter-tenor voice Dufay early music England English eunuch Europe evidence falsettists falsetto singing falsetto voice French Handel haute-contre Haydn head voice heard Hugh Griffith human height instruments Italian Italy John Knyvett later London male alto male voice mean medieval modal and falsetto modal voice modern counter-tenor Moreschi musicians mutation notes octave œ œ œ Olga Neuwirth opera Parrott performance practice perhaps pitch polyphony Purcell Purcell’s range recorded reference Renaissance Renaissance music role sang significant singers solo soloist song sopranists soprano sound style suggests sung tenor term Tippett today’s tone Tosi Tosi’s Translation treble Tudor vocal vocal types voces voci voix words writing written Wulstan Ziryab