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Alto   /ˈæltoʊ/   Listen
Alto

adjective
1.
Of or being the lowest female voice.  Synonym: contralto.
2.
Of or being the highest male voice; having a range above that of tenor.  Synonym: countertenor.
3.
(of a musical instrument) second highest member of a group.



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"Alto" Quotes from Famous Books



... dinner. In the evening she sat in her place in the choir. In the Withams' pew sat Lottie and Albert—no Arthur. Albert kept glancing up. Alvina could not bear the sight of him—she simply could not bear the sight of him. Yet in her low, sweet voice she sang the alto to the hymns, right to ...
— The Lost Girl • D. H. Lawrence

... of utterance. It looks broken, but does not sound broken. Purcell simply went steadily through the canticle, setting each verse as he came to it to the finest music possible. The song "Vouchsafe, O Lord," is an unmatched setting of the words for the solo alto, full of very human pathos; and some of the choral parts are even more brilliant than the odes. The Jubilate is almost as fine; but we must take both, not as premature endeavours to work Handelian wonders, but as the full ...
— Purcell • John F. Runciman

... at once indicated, he was an ignorant man. He had never had musical instruction; he spoke of soprano as "tribble," of alto as "counter," and of baritone as "bear-tone"—a mispronunciation that had ...
— A Busy Year at the Old Squire's • Charles Asbury Stephens

... discovery in Cuba, and so back to the same Rio del Sol which he had passed the day previous. Of the two mountains seen on both sides of this entrance, the principal one corresponds with the peak called Alto de Juan Daune which lies seven leagues west of Punta de Maternillos. The wind continuing north, he stood east fourteen leagues from Cape Cuba, which we have supposed the lesser island of Guajava. It is here rendered sure that the point of little Guajava was believed by him to be the extremity ...
— The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (Vol. II) • Washington Irving

... good will to them personally. Senhor Canto e Castro, who arrived at Mosambique two days after our departure to take the office of Governor-General, was well known to us in Angola. We lived two months in his house when he was Commandant of Golungo Alto; and, knowing him thoroughly, believe that no better man could have been selected for the office. We trust that his good principles may enable him to withstand the temptations of his position; but we should be sorry to have ours tried in a den of slave-traders with the miserable pittance ...
— A Popular Account of Dr. Livingstone's Expedition to the Zambesi and Its Tributaries • David Livingstone

... air "God Save the Queen!" or, as we call it, "America," written in this method. The lower line, of course, is the alto: ...
— Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 22, August, 1878 • Various

... (adv.). Along with kune kun. Aloof, to keep eviti. Aloud lauxte. Alphabet alfabeto. Alps Alpoj. Already jam. Also ankaux. Altar altaro. Alter aliigi. Alteration aliigo. Altercation malpaco. Alternate alterni. Alternative elekteco. Althea alteo. Although kvankam. Altitude alto. Alto aldo. Altogether tute. Alum aluno. Always cxiam. Amalgam amalgamo. Amalgamate unuigi. Amalgamation unuigo. Amanuensis skribisto. Amass amasigi. Amateur nemetiisto. Amaze miregigi. Amazed, to be miregigxi. Amazement mirego. Amazing miriga. Amazon ...
— English-Esperanto Dictionary • John Charles O'Connor and Charles Frederic Hayes

... noted here that had not previously been seen east of the Divide was the pygmy nuthatch, a little bird which scales the trunks and branches of trees like all his family, but which is restricted to the Rocky Mountains. Like the white-breasted nuthatch, he utters an alto call, "Yang! yang! yang!" only it is soft and low—a miniature edition of the call of its ...
— Birds of the Rockies • Leander Sylvester Keyser

... passed his friend Giacomo's shop, and through the window saw Miriam talking to her father. Instantly it struck him that Miriam was the girl for him, and he began to whistle the air to "Hark the Lark," for he was a member of the Cowfold Glee Club, and sang alto. This was on the 25th May. Miriam being accustomed to walk in the fields in the evening, and Mr. D. Farrow being fully aware of her custom, he met her on the 26th and after some preliminary skirmishing requested her ...
— Miriam's Schooling and Other Papers - Gideon; Samuel; Saul; Miriam's Schooling; and Michael Trevanion • Mark Rutherford

... parole fur tanto infiammate E circundate di virtu d' amore, Che ben parean da Dio fussin mandate, E molto se n' allegra nel suo core: "Da poi che piace all' alto Dio Signore, Io son contenta d' essere ...
— Fra Angelico • J. B. Supino

... of voice-production, the subject is complicated by initial misunderstandings. Numerous people suppose, for example, that the vocal registers are synonymous with the different kinds of voices, and speak of the alto, soprano, bass or tenor register as if register stood for quality, which it does not. Another complication results from the fact that certain phenomenal voices, chiefly tenor, literally rise superior to the law of vocal registers. Thus, a phenomenal tenor like Duprez sang with ease the ...
— The Voice - Its Production, Care and Preservation • Frank E. Miller

... the Sabbath. I was twenty-one that day. Marjie and I sang in the choir, and most of the solo work fell to us. Dave Mead was our tenor, and Bess Anderson at the organ sang alto. Dave was away that day. His girl sweetheart up on Red Range was in her last illness then, and Dave was at her bedside. Poor Dave! he left Springvale that Fall, and he never came back. And although he has been honored and courted ...
— The Price of the Prairie - A Story of Kansas • Margaret Hill McCarter

... "Academie" sighed in silent awe; The fiddlers trembled as he looked around, For fear of some false note's detected flaw; The "Prima Donna's" tuneful heart would bound, Dreading the deep damnation of his "Bah!" Soprano, Basso, even the Contra-Alto, Wished him five fathom under ...
— The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 4 • Lord Byron

... entrance to the barracks of the gendarmerie, is worthy of inspection. It consists of four arches—two of equal size, for the admittance of chariots and horsemen, and two less ones for pedestrians. The centres of the two larger arches are decorated by the head of a bull, in alto-relievo; and above each of the smaller arches is a niche, evidently meant for the reception of ...
— The Idler in France • Marguerite Gardiner

... encouraged me to join the choir as a boy in 1861 and taught me music, and my first position in the church in connection with its musical services was as organ blower. I afterwards took my seat with the adults, singing treble, then alto and tenor, and I have now the treble score of several anthems copied by myself at ...
— Some Reminiscences of old Victoria • Edgar Fawcett

... industry, genius, efforts, and expense, may have invented or produced any new and original design for a manufacture, whether of metal or other material or materials, any original design for a bust, statue, bas-relief, or composition in alto or basso-relievo, or any new and original impression being formed in marble or other material, or any new and useful pattern, or print, or picture, to be either worked into or worked on, or printed, or painted, or cast, or otherwise ...
— Scientific American, Vol.22, No. 1, January 1, 1870 • Various

... costly journey was to ascend the rivers La Plata, Paraguay and Alto Paraguay, and see if it were possible to establish a port and town in Bolivian territory on the shores of the lake. After some months of untiring energy and perseverance, there was discovered for Bolivia a fine port, with depth of water for any ordinary river ...
— Through Five Republics on Horseback • G. Whitfield Ray

... brackets. It is, of course, impossible to surmise who may have been the author, but it is certain that, whoever he was, he had attained to a remarkable skill in writing effective music. If we consider the prescribed limitations in which he worked, with nothing lower than the second alto part for his bass, it is surprising to notice the sonority of sustained tone that is got by skilful disposition of the harmonies, while the beautiful antiphonal effect at the point "Vive le Roi" is of a kind that must appeal to hearers of all ...
— The Story of Rouen • Sir Theodore Andrea Cook

... give Mexico a lesson; in New England the war was not popular. Hostilities began, and two sharp battles were fought, before war was actually declared. General Zachary Taylor, with a force much inferior to that of the enemy, defeated the Mexicans at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, and drove them out of Texas. At Resaca the American dragoons under Captain May charged straight upon a Mexican battery, killing the gunners and capturing the Mexican general La Vega just as he was about to apply a match to one of ...
— The Land We Live In - The Story of Our Country • Henry Mann

... too, it wuz a noble seen. After you rose up the steps and went inside, you found yourself in a middlin' big room all surrounded by figures in what they called Alto Relief, or sunthin' to that effect. I don't know what Alto they meant. I don't know nobody by that name, nor I don't know how they relieved him. But I s'pose Alto when he wuz there wuz relieved to think that the figures wuz all so noble and impressive. Mebby he had been afraid they wouldn't ...
— Samantha at Saratoga • Marietta Holley

... touched it, had she lifted her arms, and she appeared to have retreated as far in the gloomy den as the barriers allowed. Thinking that perhaps the girl was praying, the warden's wife waited some minutes, but no sound greeted her; and so motionless was the figure, that it might have been only an alto rilievo carved on the wall. Pushing the door open, Mrs. Singleton entered, and deposited on the iron bed a waiter covered with a snowy napkin. At the sound, Beryl turned, and her arms fell to her side, but she shrank back against the wall, as if solitude were her ...
— At the Mercy of Tiberius • August Evans Wilson

... congregation, in the comparative absence of roads, came in boats or sleighs, according to the season. The church was well built of hard gray stone, with fir pews and a cedar roof: iron letters fixed in the walls spelled out such holy mottoes as "LUX L. I. TENEBR. ORIENS EX ALTO," and "SI DE. PRO NOBIS QUIS CONTRA NOS," and commemorated side by side the names of William III., king of England, William Penn, proprietary, and Charles XI. of Sweden. Swedish services were continued up to ...
— Lippincott's Magazine, Volume 11, No. 26, May, 1873 • Various

... play on the Choir and bring out the melody on the Swell Vox Humana or Cornopean; or to play a fugue with the full power of the Great organ (except the Trumpet) and bring out the subject of the fugue every time it enters, whether in the soprano voice, the alto, tenor, or bass. ...
— The Recent Revolution in Organ Building - Being an Account of Modern Developments • George Laing Miller

... parts of Trentino-Alto Adige region are predominantly German speaking; significant French-speaking minority in Valle d'Aosta region; Slovene-speaking minority ...
— The 1990 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency

... and accuracy of fire will often more than compensate for inferiority in the number of guns; as was the case at the battle of Palo Alto, in the Mexican War, where the enemy's guns outnumbered ours ...
— A Treatise on the Tactical Use of the Three Arms: Infantry, Artillery, and Cavalry • Francis J. Lippitt

... do all the voting, and, we suppose, all the fighting, too.... Our Philadelphia girls object to fighting and holding office. They prefer the baby-jumper to the study of Coke and Lyttleton, and the ball-room to the Palo Alto battle. They object to having a George Sand for President of the United States; a Corinna for Governor; a Fanny Wright for Mayor; or a Mrs. Partington for Postmaster.... Women have enough influence over human affairs without being politicians.... ...
— A Short History of Women's Rights • Eugene A. Hecker

... and Uncle Bob joined in, and then the Candy Man, and presently the entrance of Dr. Prue was proclaimed by a vigorous alto. The effect was most gratifying to the performers, and from the piano Margaret ...
— The Little Red Chimney - Being the Love Story of a Candy Man • Mary Finley Leonard

... campanilla y principia la leccion de espanol. El maestro pregunta. El discipulo se levanta y responde. El se sienta, abre su libro y lee una frase, dos frases. El cierra su libro y repite las frases. El habla alto y distintamente. Algunas veces habla bajo e indistintamente. Otras veces habla muy lentamente porque no ha estudiado su ...
— A First Spanish Reader • Erwin W. Roessler and Alfred Remy

... seemed to dart through the interstices of "rests", to thread its slender way along infinitesimal crevices of silence. One might have supposed that the booming bass, the eager chattering soprano, the tenor with its thin crust of upper layers, and the throaty fillings of the alto, could have left no vantage points for an obligato. Yet it was Hamilton Gregory's voice that bound all together in divine unity. As one listened, it was the inspired truth as uttered by Hamilton Gregory that ...
— Fran • John Breckenridge Ellis

... alto voice made Mary suddenly aware of what she was singing, and she gave a guilty little start, glad that her mother could not know that her thoughts had all been absorbed in planning to get away from the home she was ...
— Mary Ware's Promised Land • Annie Fellows Johnston

... palace inhabited by Joanna II. of Naples. Near the church of St. Jacques is another old residence, with an odd decoration on its front in the shape of colossal figures of Adam and Eve, executed in alto-rilievo, which have their feet on either side of the doorway and their heads above the fifth story. The tree of knowledge, over-laden with its dangerous fruit, flourishes between the windows of what was once ...
— Lippincott's Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science, April 1875, Vol. XV., No. 88 • Various

... reputation of bearing fairly well on alternate years. The present (1924) being the favorable year, the trees had a good sprinkling of nuts in clusters of as many as 5 each, when seen on July 23. A few miles farther north, in the town of Mont Alto, at an altitude of about 1000 feet, near the location of the State Forestry School of Pennsylvania, another tree said to be 65 years old, and having a girth at breast height of 65 inches, on the residence grounds of Mr. H. B. Verdeer, is apparently as hardy as are the ...
— Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Fifteenth Annual Meeting • Various

... N. height, altitude, elevation; eminence, pitch; loftiness &c adj.; sublimity. tallness &c adj.; stature, procerity^; prominence &c 250. colossus &c (size) 192; giant, grenadier, giraffe, camelopard. mount, mountain; hill alto, butte [U.S.], monticle^, fell, knap^; cape; headland, foreland^; promontory; ridge, hog's back, dune; rising ground, vantage ground; down; moor, moorland; Alp; uplands, highlands; heights &c (summit) 210; knob, ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget

... small towns. At the mouth there is the port, a spot entirely desert, and without any water in the immediate neighbourhood. Five leagues higher up stands Freyrina, a long straggling village, with decent whitewashed houses. Again, ten leagues further up Ballenar is situated, and above this Guasco Alto, a horticultural village, famous for its dried fruit. On a clear day the view up the valley is very fine; the straight opening terminates in the far-distant snowy Cordillera; on each side an infinity of crossing lines are blended together in a beautiful haze. ...
— A Naturalist's Voyage Round the World - The Voyage Of The Beagle • Charles Darwin

... named Belle Pope Calhoun who played the piano at parties given for white children—nice white children that would have passed Curtis Carlyle with a sniff. But the ragged little "poh white" used to sit beside her piano by the hour and try to get in an alto with one of those kazoos that boys hum through. Before he was thirteen he was picking up a living teasing ragtime out of a battered violin in little cafes round Nashville. Eight years later the ragtime craze hit the country, and he took six darkies on the Orpheum circuit. Five ...
— Flappers and Philosophers • F. Scott Fitzgerald

... Lord, 1750-1810). In command at Trafalgar after Nelson's death. Died in command of the Mediterranean Fleet, and the corpse is represented arriving home: supporters Fame and the Thames; alto-relievo on the ship's side illustrates the progress of navigation. A fine ...
— Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of St. Paul - An Account of the Old and New Buildings with a Short Historical Sketch • Arthur Dimock

... the Rio Grande and attacked the Americans at Fort Brown, Taylor was at Point Isabel. Hurrying southward to the relief of the fort, he met the enemy at Palo Alto, beat them, pushed on to Resaca de la Palma, beat them again, and soon crossed the river and took possession of the town of Matamoras. There he remained till August, 1846, waiting for supplies, reinforcements, and means of transportation, when he began a march ...
— A School History of the United States • John Bach McMaster

... solar system, was an astrologer and believed that he could predict the career of a man by finding what star was in the ascendant at his birth. He believed in what is called the music of the spheres, and he ascribed the qualities of the music—alto, bass, tenor and treble—to certain of the planets. Another man kept an idiot, whose words he put down and then put them together in such a manner as to make promises, and waited patiently to see that they were fulfilled. Luther believed he had actually ...
— Lectures of Col. R. G. Ingersoll, Volume I • Robert Green Ingersoll

... i' fui appie d' un colle giunto, La ove terminava quella valle, Che m' avea di paura il cuor compunto; Guarda' in alto, e vidi le sue spalle Vestite gia de' raggi del pianeta, Che mena dritto ...
— A Hidden Life and Other Poems • George MacDonald

... fragments; a piece of china, the centre of which is ornamented in a style totally different from the generality of china, in eight or ten compartments, and painted in such a manner that the festoon of leaves fall over and hide the fruit most picturesquely; two ivory cups, one in alto, the other in basso relievo; the latter the finer and most charmingly carved; a small group in bronze by John Bologna, "Dejanira and the Centaur," admirably done. Here are tables of the rarest marbles, one composed of a block from the ...
— Recollections of the late William Beckford - of Fonthill, Wilts and Lansdown, Bath • Henry Venn Lansdown

... alto-relievo in the Lateran Museum, Rome, representing an actor selecting a mask, contains a contrivance for reading a roll (fig. 12) which may have been usual in libraries and elsewhere, though I have not met with another instance of it. A vertical support attached to the ...
— The Care of Books • John Willis Clark

... resident in Berkeley, Oakland, Alameda, San Rafael, Sausalito, Mill Valley, San Mateo, Redwood City and Palo Alto were next telephoned to, and when this long and expensive task was done, Ex-Private Bill Peck emerged from the telephone booth wringing wet with perspiration and as irritable as a clucking hen. Once outside the hotel he raised his haggard face to heaven and dumbly queried of the Almighty ...
— The Go-Getter • Peter B. Kyne

... already named, about thirty symphonies six string trios, a few divertimenti in five parts, a piece for four violins and two 'celli, entitled "Echo," twelve minuets for orchestra, concertos, trios, sonatas and variations for clavier, and, in vocal music, a "Salve Regina" for soprano and alto, two violins and organ. It would serve no useful purpose to deal with these works in detail. The symphonies are, of course, the most important feature in the list, but of these we shall speak generally when treating of Haydn ...
— Haydn • J. Cuthbert Hadden

... over another, consisting each of threescore arcades. The entrance into the arena was by four great gates, with porticos; and the seats, of which there were thirty, rising one above another, consisted of great blocks of stone, many of which still remain. Over the north gate, appear two bulls, in alto-relievo, extremely well executed, emblems which, according to the custom of the Romans, signified that the amphitheatre was erected at the expence of the people. There are in other parts of it some work in bas-relief, and heads or ...
— Travels Through France and Italy • Tobias Smollett

... warblin' sof an' lo' Slide ho'n an' saxophones, Jazz syncopated tones, Snare drum an' lead cornet, Alto an' clarinet, Las', but not least, dar cum Cymbals an' big bass drum— O! whut ...
— The Book of American Negro Poetry • Edited by James Weldon Johnson

... women to come early this afternoon to have their voices tried with a view to their taking parts in the hymns. A good many came and seemed to enjoy the novelty. Several will sing alto, which they very quickly picked up. I asked them because I thought they might feel a little out in the cold if the men learnt part-singing and they ...
— Three Years in Tristan da Cunha • K. M. Barrow

... surround consists, properly speaking, of islands. When this description of land is not formed wholly of river deposit, as sometimes happens, or is raised above the level of the highest floods, it is called Ygapo alto, and is distinguished by the natives from the true islands of mid-river, as well as from the terra firma. We landed at one of the cacao plantations. The house was substantially built; the walls formed of strong upright posts, lathed across, plastered with mud and whitewashed, ...
— The Naturalist on the River Amazons • Henry Walter Bates

... magno misceri murmure pontum. Emissamque hiemem sensit Neptunus, et imis Stagna refusa vadis; graviter commotus, et alto Prospiciens, ...
— Diderot and the Encyclopaedists - Volume II. • John Morley

... educational work, in September, 1912, the National Association was notified that Arizona was ready for the final contest and asked to send Miss Gregg. She came and again campaigned the State and through her efforts every labor organization pledged its support. Mrs. Alice Park of Palo Alto, California, came at her own expense and took charge of the distribution of literature. Mrs. Munds went to Phoenix and opened headquarters in the Adams Hotel and ten weeks were spent in a most strenuous ...
— The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume VI • Various

... Phrygia (47); a curious sepulchral inscription from Halicarnassus (48), forbidding any one, except relations, from occupying the tomb to which it belonged; a bas-relief from Thessaly (51) representing a dedication of hair to Poseidon: an alto-relievo torso of Triton (56); and the pedestal of the statue of Jupiter Urius (55), which stood in the temple of that god, at the mouth of ...
— How to See the British Museum in Four Visits • W. Blanchard Jerrold

... Dicite sacrorum praesides nemorum Deae, &c. Quis ille primus cujus ex imagine Natura solers finxit humanum genus? Eternus, incorruptus, aequaevus polo, Unusque et universus exemplar Dei.—And afterwards, Non cui profundum Caecitas lumen dedit Dircaeus augur vidit hunc alto sinu, &c. ...
— The Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Volume 5 (of 5) of the Raven Edition • Edgar Allan Poe

... observed, exude a balsamic odour. But supposing a traveller ever so heretical, I would advise him by no means to neglect this pilgrimage; since every part of the recess he visits is decorated with the most exquisite sculptures. Sansovino and the best artists have vied with each other in carving the alto relievos of the arcade, which, for design and execution, would do honour to the ...
— Dreams, Waking Thoughts, and Incidents • William Beckford

... subsequently slain with what is termed a lance. But Socrates actually killed the first whale he ever struck, with the harpoon; and from that moment he became an important personage in the fisheries of those seas. That blow was a sort of Palo Alto affair to him, and was the forerunner of many similar successes. Indeed, it soon got to be said, that "with Bob Betts to put the boat on, and old Soc to strike, a whale commonly has a hard time on't." It is ...
— The Crater • James Fenimore Cooper

... which are sculptured representations of the town of Manchester, and emblems of trade and commerce. In the wings are niches for statues of Solon and Alfred; in the medallions of the attic are busts in alto relievo of Pythagoras, Lycurgus, Hale, and Locke. The building contains various apartments for conducting the public business of the town: on the principal floor is a splendid room, 132 feet long, 43 ft. 8 in. wide, and 51-1/2 feet in height to the centre of the principal dome. The room ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. - Volume 20, No. 567, Saturday, September 22, 1832. • Various

... coleta de cabellos; o de crines de caballo, o las barbas que echa el maiz por arriba estando en la mazorca; y la cabeza que tienen algunas hachas y martillos en contra del tajo, y la cabeza del horcon, y las nubes levantadas en alto y que dan que denotan segun dice tempestad de agua. Partes, enpartimientos. Cuenta para pueblos, para partes, parrafos i articulos, diferencios y ...
— The Maya Chronicles - Brinton's Library Of Aboriginal American Literature, Number 1 • Various

... improvisational part-singing that I ever heard arose from the throats of utterly illiterate black laborers in a tobacco factory. One has but to attend a colored church, whether North or South, to hear men and women break naturally into alto, tenor or bass parts (and even subdivisions of these), to realize how instinctively the Negro musical mind thinks harmonies. I have heard players in colored bands perform one part on an instrument and sing another ...
— The Journal of Negro History, Volume 3, 1918 • Various

... undulating white line, unobscured by weeds and twigs, and very obvious a quarter of a mile off in many places where in summer it is hardly distinguishable close at hand. The snow reprints it, as it were, in clear white type alto-relievo. The ornamented grounds of villas which will one day be built here may still preserve some trace ...
— English Prose - A Series of Related Essays for the Discussion and Practice • Frederick William Roe (edit. and select.)

... dunque, eterno Padre, il canto, 10 Che gi festi al gran Cantor Ebreo, Che poi tant' alto feo Suonar la ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Vol I and II • Samuel Taylor Coleridge

... the tinkle of a bell and the chant of alto child-voices in the street, and, looking out, you will see two little boys clad in some refuse of the Church's wardrobe, one of whom carries a crucifix or a big black cross, while the other rings a bell and chants as he loiters along; now stopping to chaff with other boys of a similar ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 4, No. 24, Oct. 1859 • Various

... just an ordinary family; two or three of the children were handsome and the rest plain, three of them rather clever, two industrious, and two commonplace and dull. Rebecca had her father's facility and had been his aptest pupil. She "carried" the alto by ear, danced without being taught, played the melodeon without knowing the notes. Her love of books she inherited chiefly from her mother, who found it hard to sweep or cook or sew when there was a novel in the house. Fortunately books were ...
— Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm • Kate Douglas Wiggin

... before the voice is properly equalized, it will become hard, harsh and hoarse, and they will fail in correct intonation. A mistake in this direction not only ruins the middle register but destroys the voice altogether. The consequence of encouraging forte singing is to change a soprano rapidly to an alto; and they will generally sing alto equally forte because their vocal cords have lost their elasticity through overstraining and the notes will no longer answer to piano. . . . . The fact is that reckless singing often breaks tender voices ...
— The Child-Voice in Singing • Francis E. Howard

... that are to be sung, by the minister, and they put a bookmark in the book at the proper place. One morning they all got up to sing, when the soprano turned pale, as an ace of spades dropped out of her hymn book, the alto nearly fainted when the queen of hearts dropped at her feet, and the rest of the pack was distributed around in the other books. They laid it onto the tenor, but he swore, while the minister was preaching, that he didn't ...
— Peck's Compendium of Fun • George W. Peck

... week later, in Palo Alto, California, Anthony Fox slammed the gate of Miss Mix's garden loudly behind him, and eyed the Mix homestead with disapproval. The house was square and white, with doors and windows open to spring ...
— Poor, Dear Margaret Kirby and Other Stories • Kathleen Norris

... least sluggish is the blood flowing in the veins of Spizella pallida, for he is a vivacious little body, flitting about actively in the hedges and bushes, and sometimes mounting into the trees, chanting his little alto strain all the while, as if his life depended upon it. He is one of the comparatively few birds who is lavish of ...
— Our Bird Comrades • Leander S. (Leander Sylvester) Keyser

... away towards successful military achievements. The story of all republics and of all free governments shows this. We know in the case now before us, that so soon as brilliant success had attended General Taylor's operations on the Rio Grande, at Palo Alto, and Monterey, spontaneous ...
— The Great Speeches and Orations of Daniel Webster • Daniel Webster

... aria for tenor, "Haste, ye Shepherds, haste to meet Him." The evangelist gives them the sign, followed by the chorale which closed the first part, in another form, "Within yon Gloomy Manger lies." The bass recitative, "O haste ye then," preludes the exquisite cradle-song for alto, "Sleep, my Beloved, and take Thy Repose,"—a number which can hardly be excelled in the sweetness and purity of its melody or in the exquisiteness of its instrumentation. This lovely song brings us to the close, which is an exultant shout from ...
— The Standard Oratorios - Their Stories, Their Music, And Their Composers • George P. Upton

... with sticks. They did the same on the two following days waiting for the ships, which had been missing ever since the 22d of August. At the end of six days they made their appearance, and all three proceeded to the island Beata, twelve leagues from Alto Velo. Hence they continued to coast along Hispaniola, in sight of a delightful country, which was a plain of about a mile broad, before the hills began to ascend, and so populous, that in one place there seemed to be a continued town for the length of a league; and in that plain ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. III. • Robert Kerr

... that this was not the best way of doing what in the Commentarius Solutus he calls on himself to do—"taking a greater confidence and authority in discourses of this nature, tanquam sui certus et de alto despiciens;" and the rhetorical Redargutio Philosophiarum and writings of kindred nature were laid aside by his more serious judgment. But all these fragments witness to the immense and unwearied labour bestowed in the midst of a busy life on his undertaking; they suggest, ...
— Bacon - English Men Of Letters, Edited By John Morley • Richard William Church

... in the restaurant of the theater in a group of musicians belonging to the orchestra whom he was scandalizing by his artistic judgments. They were not all of the same opinion: but they were all ruffled by the freedom of his language. Old Krause, the alto, a good fellow and a good musician, who sincerely loved Christophe, tried to turn the conversation: he coughed, then looked out for an opportunity of making a pun. But Christophe did not hear him: he went on: and Krause ...
— Jean-Christophe, Vol. I • Romain Rolland

... comprising the squadron. As they passed out to sea with ever-increasing speed the forts on either side of the bay fired a farewell salute; and the spectacle of the sun sinking over Monte Bajo and the Centinela Alto, coupled with the lurid flashes of flame and clouds of white smoke from Forts San Antonio, Bueras, Valdivia, and the Citadel, constituted a picture the grandeur of which ...
— Under the Chilian Flag - A Tale of War between Chili and Peru • Harry Collingwood

... alto! No, by tan! I began thinking about tan. I began to think what color I turned when I made my last exposure about two years ago. I did use to get a pretty good tan. I used to get a sort of bronze, if ...
— The Beautiful and Damned • F. Scott Fitzgerald

... de Monte Alto, sometimes styled de Moaldis or Mohaut (now Mold, 6 miles from Hawarden, where the mound of the castle remains), were hereditary seneschals of Chester and lords of Mold. Roger de Montalt inherited Hawarden, ...
— The Hawarden Visitors' Hand-Book - Revised Edition, 1890 • William Henry Gladstone

... va nella citta dolente; Per me si va nell'eterno dolore; Per me si va tra la perduta gente; Giustizia mosse'l mio alto fattore; Fecemi la divina potestate, La somma sapienza e'l primo amore. Dinanzi a me non fur cose create Se non eterne, ed io eterno duro: Lasciate ogni speranza voi che'ntrate. Queste parole di colore ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No. 118, August, 1867 • Various

... O'Neill's deep, smooth alto flowed into Betty's soprano; and at the last all nine girls joined in "Adeste Fideles." Christmas morning began ...
— The Children's Book of Christmas Stories • Various

... the damaged rag-stick buck lendin' a mouthful or two of cl'ar, bell-like alto yelps to the harmony of the evenin'. Bill who's a wonder in feathers an' bells, an' whose colour-scheme would drive a temp'rance lecturer to drink, while zippin' about in the moonlight gets his eye on her. Mighty likely Bill's smitten; but ...
— Wolfville Nights • Alfred Lewis

... La Tinchina dell' alto Mare. Fiaba toscana raccolta ed illustrata da Giuseppe Pitre. Quattrasteriscopoli, 1882. ...
— Italian Popular Tales • Thomas Frederick Crane

... interval of an octave are also said to be in unison, altho this is not literally exact; this usage arises from the fact that bass and tenor voices in attempting to sound the same note as the soprano and alto will in fact sound a note an octave below. Music may denote the simplest melody or the most complex and perfect harmony. A symphony (apart from its technical orchestral sense) is any pleasing consonance of musical ...
— English Synonyms and Antonyms - With Notes on the Correct Use of Prepositions • James Champlin Fernald

... "Golungo Alto, 25th October, 1854.—It occurs to me, my dearest Mary, that if I send you a note from different parts on the way through this colony, some of them will surely reach you; and If they carry any of the ...
— The Personal Life Of David Livingstone • William Garden Blaikie

... flamma furentibus Austris Incidit; aut rapidus montano flumine torrens Sternit agros, sternit sata laeta boumque labores, Praecipitesque trahit silvas: stupet inscius alto Accipiens sonitum saxi ...
— Old English Plays, Vol. I - A Collection of Old English Plays • Various

... Ingalls of 2702 Bush St., San Francisco and George Deatherage (the G.D. mentioned earlier). Deatherage now lives and operates out of St. Albans, W. Va. He organized the American Nationalist Confederation which used to have its headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif. Both these gentlemen also ...
— Secret Armies - The New Technique of Nazi Warfare • John L. Spivak

... duchesse lace in the neck and sleeves and the lovely red crepe shawl falling gracefully from her shoulders, there were many a moist eye and tightened throat at the thought that this was the last time. Her fine voice with its rich alto vibrations was as strong and resonant as fifty years ago, and her practical, matter-of-fact speech, followed by the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw's lively stories, soon dispelled the sadness and put the audience in a cheerful mood. Miss ...
— The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV • Various

... American country to proclaim its independence. Although there had been some movements of insurrection in 1809 in Alto Peru (now Bolivia), they were soon quelled and the country once more placed under the dominion of Spain. As a result, Peru was in position to send reinforcements to the royalists in Chile and was a ...
— Simon Bolivar, the Liberator • Guillermo A. Sherwell

... e queta, Ed in alto intelletto un puro core Frutto senile in sul giovenil fibre, E ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Volume I • Percy Bysshe Shelley

... proper degree and distribution of light we may consult a great master of effect. Il lume grande, ed alto, e non troppo potente, sara quello, che rendera le particole de' corpi molto grate. Tratt. della Pittura di LIONARDO DA VINCI, ...
— Poems • Samuel Rogers

... the universe, was an astrologer, and really believed that he could predict the career of a man by finding what star was in the ascendant at his birth. This great man breathed, so to speak, the atmosphere of his time. He believed in the music of the spheres, and assigned alto, bass, tenor, and treble to ...
— The Ghosts - And Other Lectures • Robert G. Ingersoll

... to three hundred and seventy-five feet. It is built of Portland stone, and is adorned with a beautiful portico in the centre, consisting of four Doric columns supporting an enriched entablature, decorated with a group of figures in alto-relievo, representing Hibernia and Britannia presenting emblems of peace and liberty. A magnificent dome, supporting a cupola, on whose apex stands a colossal figure of Hope, rises nobly from the centre of the building to a height of one hundred and twenty-five feet. It ...
— Three Years in Europe - Places I Have Seen and People I Have Met • William Wells Brown

... suelo Subes vestida de estrellas Mas bela que las mas bellas A ser la gloria del cielo Pues para tan alto vuelo Con un favor sin igual Sois Maria concebida ...
— Chimes of Mission Bells • Maria Antonia Field

... conjunx hc verbula prudens, His verbis plane quod ait vir monstrat inane: Rebus inops quidam . . . (bone vir, tibi dicam) Vas oleo plenum, longum quod retro per vum Legerat orando, loca per diversa vagando, Fune ligans ar(c)to, tecto[que] suspendit ab alto. Sic prstolatur tempus quo pluris ematur[atur] Qua locupletari se sperat et arte beari. Talia dum captat, hc stultus inania jactat: Ecce potens factus, fuero cum talia nactus, Vinciar uxori quantum queo nobiliori: Tunc sobolem gignam, se meque per omnia dignam, ...
— Chips from a German Workshop - Volume IV - Essays chiefly on the Science of Language • Max Muller

... of. He had executed a large alto- rilievo monument of my mother, which is now in my parish church, and the model of which is on the landing of one of the staircases of the National Gallery. His studio was always an interesting lounge, for he was ever ready to lecture upon antique marbles. To ...
— Tracks of a Rolling Stone • Henry J. Coke

... strike certain other notes, I produce a discord, and the sound is unpleasant. We cannot have harmony without a difference in pitch and quality, but we can have difference in pitch and quality without harmony. To produce perfect music, we must have soprano, alto, tenor and bass to carry all the parts. The tenor and soprano would furnish us a very poor concert, and the alto and bass alone would produce rather monotonous music. But we have studied harmony in music until we ...
— How to Become Rich - A Treatise on Phrenology, Choice of Professions and Matrimony • William Windsor

... duet, "Come where my love lies dreaming," they glided arm in arm to the piano, and now Miss Marchmont implored of some one to come where her love lay dreaming, in a shrill treble, while her mother repeated the request in a very fair alto. ...
— A Heart-Song of To-day • Annie Gregg Savigny

... arranged it all, and for an hour the singing went on, the favorite hymns of each being sung in turn. For the most part, Mrs. Murray sat silent, but now and then she would join with the others, singing alto when she did so, by Hughie's special direction. Her voice was not strong, but it was true, mellow, and full of music. Hughie loved to hear her sing alto, and more especially because he liked to join in with her, which he was too ...
— The Man From Glengarry - A Tale Of The Ottawa • Ralph Connor

... to sing or play an extempore second 'part' to a written melody. The point was that it should be extempore; if written down it ceased to be true descant, and was then called 'prick-song.' A rough example may be had in the extempore bass or alto which some people still sing in church instead of the melody. A more accurate example of descant would be this—let A sing a hymn tune, say the Old 100th, and let B accompany him extempore with a separate melody within the bounds of harmony. B is 'descanting' on the ...
— Shakespeare and Music - With Illustrations from the Music of the 16th and 17th centuries • Edward W. Naylor

... equally prompt, and the first collisions occurred at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, near the Rio Grande. General Taylor repulsed the enemy with little difficulty and but small loss, and, crossing the Rio Grande, advanced upon and captured Matamoras. Thus far the hostilities had proceeded when a formal declaration of war was made against ...
— The Nation in a Nutshell • George Makepeace Towle

... pueri,' Marsus dicebat et Hernicus olim 180 Vestinusque senex, 'panem quaeramus aratro, Qui satis est mensis: laudant hoc numina ruris, Quorum ope et auxilio gratae post munus aristae Contingunt homini veteris fastidia quercus. Nil vetitum fecisse volet, quem non pudet alto 185 Per glaciem perone tegi, qui summovet Euros Pellibus inversis; peregrina ignotaque nobis Ad scelus atque nefas, ...
— Helps to Latin Translation at Sight • Edmund Luce

... grand flames. Ah! I had never heard what music was in my life before! Then the sisters sang one of those grand impressive duets of Abbot Steffani[6] which confine themselves to notes of a low register. My soul was stirred at the sound of Teresina's alto, it was so sonorous, and as pure as silver bells. I couldn't for the life of me restrain my emotion; tears started to my eyes. My uncle coughed warningly, and cast angry glances upon me; it was all of no use, I was really quite beside myself. This seemed to please the sisters; they began ...
— Weird Tales. Vol. I • E. T. A. Hoffmann

... "Qual l'alto Egeo, perche Aquilone o Noto Cessi, che tutto prima il volse e scosse, Non s'accheta pero, ma 'l suono e 'l moto Ritien de l'onde anco agitate e grosse; Tal, se ben manca in lor col sangue voto Quel vigor che le braccia ai colpi mosse, Serbano ancor l'impeto ...
— Stories from the Italian Poets: With Lives of the Writers, Vol. 2 • Leigh Hunt

... sez I, in still firmer axents, "It hain't a-settin' a good example to the schoolchildren in Palo Alto and the United States." ...
— Samantha at the World's Fair • Marietta Holley

... who deny woman's right to sing bass that she is needed for the treble and alto parts. Needed by whom? Needed by man? But who gave man the right to set up his needs as the law of woman's life? If man needs treble and alto, I hope he may get them. He has the undoubted right to sing both parts to suit his own fancy, ...
— Lessons in Life - A Series of Familiar Essays • Timothy Titcomb

... evident by the adroit boy's costume, made of gray fustian and adorned with patches on the knees and elbows; by his pale, hungry-looking face; and, by his small, angular and bony figure. This boy spoke in a metallic alto, elucidating his words with grimaces and gesticulations, and he often used words whose meaning was known but ...
— Foma Gordyeff - (The Man Who Was Afraid) • Maxim Gorky

... stone, the bronze, and the iron ages commenced their respective epochs. It seems sufficient to give the order and to mention a few of the early weapons with which we are acquainted, either through actually finding them, or by seeing representations of them on early works of art, such as alto-relievos ...
— Broad-Sword and Single-Stick • R. G. Allanson-Winn

... sat in the front seat of the galleries, the bass singers in the front seat on the bachelors' side, the treble in the front seat on the spinsters' side, and the alto and tenor singers in the wings of the end gallery, separated by Dr. Partridge's pew. For, as in most New England churches at this date, the "old way," of purely congregational singing by "lining out," had given place to select choirs, an innovation however, over which the elder ...
— The Duke of Stockbridge • Edward Bellamy

... stabulis armenta; neque ullae Aut herbae campo apparent, aut arbore frondes: Sed jacet aggeribus niveis informis, et alto Terra gelu late, septemque assurgit in ulnas; Semper hiems, semper spirantes frigora Cauri. Tum Sol pallentes haud unquam discutit umbras; Nec cum invectus equis altum petit aethera, nec cum Praecipitem Oceani rubro lavit aequore ...
— The Discovery of America Vol. 1 (of 2) - with some account of Ancient America and the Spanish Conquest • John Fiske

... think that the guns of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma will soon usher in the Mexican war. The "pathfinders" are cut off from home news. He will join the ...
— The Little Lady of Lagunitas • Richard Henry Savage

... began to form a smile of such appealing and inimitable sweetness that Voltaire would have trusted him; a smile alto-gether rose-leaves. "Then I lose you," he said, "for my only chance to know you was in keeping it hidden from ...
— The Two Vanrevels • Booth Tarkington

... somebody's boots were keeping time after a very unorthodox fashion. Next came a song—"Old Folks at Home"—and in spite of her resentment Ethelyn found herself listening intently as James' rich, deep bass, and John's clear tenor, and Andy's alto joined in the chorus with Melinda's full soprano. The Markham boys were noted for their fine voices; and even Richard had once assisted at a public concert; but to-night he did not sing—his thoughts were too intent upon the wife upstairs and what she might be thinking ...
— Ethelyn's Mistake • Mary Jane Holmes

... little group broke into the four-part harmony of a fine chorale. One rarely hears such voices. Betty had a grand soprano, and on the edge of the group stood a little lad singing like a bird, in an alto of such sweet pathos as would have made him ...
— A Flat Iron for a Farthing - or Some Passages in the Life of an only Son • Juliana Horatia Ewing

... in their appearance. One of the exercises they enjoy most is the singing. It would be hard to find a colored boy or girl who does not sing, and many of them have very sweet voices. They are able to sing the alto with very little practice. It often surprises me to find how well they keep their parts. One day we had a very severe shower, and it was so dark we could not see the black-boards or see to work, so I let them sing for nearly an hour. All over the building, if you could ...
— American Missionary, Volume 44, No. 6, June, 1890 • Various

... modeling room during the last year. Upon his return from the field a series of models to illustrate the Chaco ruins, architecturally the most important in the Southwest, was commenced. Two of these, viz, the ruin of Wejegi and that of a small pueblo near Pueblo Alto, have been finished and duplicates have been deposited in the National Museum. The third, alarge model of Peasco Blanco, is still uncompleted. All of these models are made from entirely new surveys made in the summer of 1884. The scale used ...
— Seventh Annual Report • Various

... so? I love to sing," and her face was a-light with pleasure. "But it seems to me that it isn't, well—neither alto nor soprano; I can't keep it to ...
— The Girls at Mount Morris • Amanda Minnie Douglas

... "Lucinda." ... Leistungsfaehigste Fabrik in Biscontos, Bolachas, Bonbons, Konfitueren und allen besseren Backwaaren. Escriptorio und Verkauf en gros: Alto Cabral.[75] ...
— The German Element in Brazil - Colonies and Dialect • Benjamin Franklin Schappelle

... which compose a whole, as can the painter, who places it before you with the truth of nature. And the same thing befalls the poet as the musician, who sings by himself a song composed for four singers; and he sings the treble first, then the tenor, then the alto and then the bass, whence there results no grace of harmonious concord such as harmonious rhythms produce. And the poet is like a beautiful countenance which reveals itself to you feature by feature, that by so doing you may never be {89} satisfied by its beauty, which consists ...
— Thoughts on Art and Life • Leonardo da Vinci

... understand me when I asked in English where Sir John Maltravers was. He had evidently, however, received instructions to take me at once to my brother, and led the way to an inner part of the house. As we proceeded I heard the sound of a rich alto voice singing very sweetly to a mandoline some soothing or religious melody. The servant pulled aside a heavy curtain and I found myself in my brother's room. An Italian youth sat on a stool near the door, and it was he who had been singing. At a few words from ...
— The Lost Stradivarius • John Meade Falkner

... even when singing over their wine, in which they sometimes exceed. At Trau one Sunday afternoon we saw a party of eight or ten sitting round a table in a cafe as serious as if at a funeral, with wine before them, and enjoying their melancholy music. On this occasion the alto part was flat, and the effect was not as good as it is out of doors. Later we came across more than one group of four, standing where two streets met, and singing without looking at each other. In the narrow ancient streets the notes sounded quite in character with the surroundings ...
— The Shores of the Adriatic - The Austrian Side, The Kuestenlande, Istria, and Dalmatia • F. Hamilton Jackson

... city takes a week. There are other forks that are navigable. Above Cuyaba and Caceres launches go up-stream for several days' journey, except during the dryest parts of the season. North of this marshy plain lies the highland, the Plan Alto, where the nights are cool and the climate healthy. But I wish emphatically to record my view that these marshy plains, although hot, are also healthy; and, moreover, the mosquitoes, in most places, are not in sufficient numbers to be a serious pest, ...
— Through the Brazilian Wilderness • Theodore Roosevelt

... to respond, unless it were good old Mr. Hodges, who pitched so high that few could follow him; while Mrs. Captain Simpson—whose daughter, the organist, had been snubbed at the last choir meeting by Mr. Hodges' daughter, the alto singer—rolled up her eyes at her next neighbor, or fanned herself furiously in ...
— Aikenside • Mary J. Holmes

... wine submitted to these gentlemen, although it was slightly alcoholised, yet possessed the following desirable qualities: it was fine, because it was derived from the finest and ripest Alto Douro grapes, the Verdeilho and Bastardo; it was full, owing to its great vinosity and high amount of natural alcohol, yet free from adventitious syrup; and it was pure, because free from all those faults which ...
— The Art of Living in Australia • Philip E. Muskett (?-1909)

... not be less than sixty feet long, by forty feet wide and forty high;—and almost entirely composed of Salzburg marble,[98] which is of a deep red tint, but mellow and beautiful. The columns, in exceedingly bold alto-relievo, spring from a dado about the height of a man's chest, and which is surmounted by a bold and beautiful architrave. These columns, of the Ionic and Corinthian orders, judiciously intermixed, rise to a fine bold height: ...
— A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany, Volume Three • Thomas Frognall Dibdin

... America, and hear the guitar accompany, and one of these old, heart-breaking Spanish love-songs mount into the night air, perhaps in a deep baritone, perhaps in that high-pitched, pathetic, womanish alto which is so common among Mexican men, and which strikes on the unaccustomed ear as something not entirely human, but ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition - Vol. 2 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson

... she steps rapidly toward me and I perceive in her hand a most statesmanlike roll of MSS. The eyes scan me coolly and interrogatively but the pleasant voice gives me a yet pleasanter greeting. There's something very attractive, even fascinating in that voice—a faint echo of the alto vibration—the tone of power. Her smile is very sweet and genial, and lights up the pale, worn face rarely. She talks awhile in her kindly, incisive way. "We're not foolishly or blindly aggressive," says she, tersely; "we don't lead a fight against the true and noble institutions of the world. We ...
— The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 1 of 2) • Ida Husted Harper

... principles upon which the Pilgrims founded their Commonwealth—Morality, Education, Law, and Freedom. Each was wrought from a solid block of granite. On the face of the buttresses, beneath these figures are alto-reliefs in marble, representing scenes from Pilgrim history. Upon the four faces of the main pedestal are large panels for records. The right and left panels contain the names of those who came over in the Mayflower. The rear panel is plain, being reserved for an inscription at some ...
— Modern Eloquence: Vol III, After-Dinner Speeches P-Z • Various



Words linked to "Alto" :   vocalizer, vocaliser, vocalist, pitch, alto relievo, high, low-pitched, singing voice, low, singer, high-pitched, music



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