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Subject:
From:
Steven Schwartz <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 24 May 1999 08:10:35 -0500
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Ron Chaplin:

>I was wondering what the artistic purpose was for countertenors.  Were
>there female altos during the Baroque period? Was it because the tradition
>was for men singers only and only gradually were women accepted? In
>Handel's oratorio Esther, the part of the Priest of the Israelites is sung
>by a countertenor.  Was this to give an other-worldly quality to the part?

Perhaps.  I do know that the voice was prized mainly for its agility.

Steve Schwartz

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