tenor
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The approximate range of the tenor voice.
Highest range of the adult male singing voice when not using falsetto, approximately C3–A5. It is the preferred voice for operatic heroic roles. Well-known tenors are Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo. It is also used before the name of an instrument that sounds in the same range as the tenor voice, for example tenor saxophone.
The word comes from the Latin teneo ‘I hold’, because it ‘held’ the plainsong theme in early polyphony.
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