Editing Alto (section)

==Etymology==
In [[choral music]] for [[SATB|mixed voices]], "alto" describes the lowest part commonly sung by women. The explanation for the anomaly of this name is to be found not in the use of adult [[falsetto|falsettists]] in choirs of men and [[boy soprano|boys]] but further back in innovations in composition during the mid-[[Renaissance music#Early Renaissance music|15th century]]. Before this time it was usual to write a melodic ''cantus'' or ''[[superius]]'' against a [[tenor]] (from Latin ''tenere'', to hold) or 'held' part, to which might be added a [[contratenor]], which was in [[counterpoint]] with (in other words, against = contra) the tenor. The composers of [[Ockeghem]]'s generation wrote two contratenor parts and designated them as ''contratenor altus'' and ''contratenor bassus''; they were respectively higher and lower than the tenor part. From these derive both the modern terms "alto" (and contralto) and "[[Bass (voice type)|bass]]".