contralto

1. The lowest female voice or voice part, intermediate in range between soprano and tenor.
2. A woman having a contralto voice.

[Italian : contra-, below (from Latin contrā-, contra-) + alto, alto; see alto.]

adjective

Being a sound produced by a relatively small frequency of vibrations: alto, bass, deep, low, low-pitched. See sounds/pleasant sounds/unpleasant sounds/neutral sounds or silence.

A voice with the approximate compass g-e″. The term denotes the lowest female voice; when it was first used it could also denote a falsetto male singer or a castrato. It originated as an abbreviation of the 15th-century ‘contratenor altus’.

In early opera, the contralto range was used primarily for the representation of comic old women; later, it was favoured for female roles of tragic dignity, such as Handel's Cornelia (Giulio Cesare). It was used for prima donna parts in the early 19th century, particularly by Rossini (for example Cinderella in La Cenerentola and Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia). As the castrato voice fell into disfavour, composers often wrote heroic contralto roles. But more often a contralto is chosen for such roles as villainess, sorceress or older woman; Verdi's roles include the old gypsy Azucena (Il trovatore), and Wagner's sorceress Ortrud (Lohengrin).

The lowest range of the female singing voice; alto.

Dansk (Danish)
n. - kontraalt

Nederlands (Dutch)
alt(partij/ -zangeres)

Français (French)
n. - contralto (voix, chanteur)

Deutsch (German)
n. - Alt

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (μουσ.) κοντράλτο

Italiano (Italian)
contralto

Português (Portuguese)
n. - contralto (m) (Mús.)
adj. - de contralto (Mús.)

Русский (Russian)
контральто

Español (Spanish)
n. - contralto

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - altstämma, kontraalt, kontraaltstämma

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
最低的女低音

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 最低的女低音

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 최저 여성음, 콘트랄토 가수

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - コントラルト, コントラルト歌手
adj. - コントラルトの

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) أوطأ الأصوات النسائيه في غناء الأوبرا, مغنيه أوبرا‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮אלט נמוך, קונטראלטו‬

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