‖ falsetto
(falˈsɛtto, fɒlˈsɛtəʊ)
Also 8 erron. falsetta.
[It., dim. of falso false. Cf. F. fausset.]
1. A forced voice of a range or register above the natural; the head voice.
| 1774 Walpole Let. Earl Strafford 11 Nov., There is a full melancholy melody in his [Leoni's] voice, though a falsetta. 1799 Young in Phil. Trans. XC. 142 The same difference..takes place between the natural voice and the common falsetto. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVI. 419/1 The term basso falsetto has been proposed to designate this voice [a feigned lower voice], but the term lower falsetto is more accurate. 1855 Smedley H. Coverdale lvii. 390 ‘To whom do I refer?’ repeated her husband in the highest note of his shrill falsetto. 1879 Grove Dict. Mus. 501/2 The male counter-tenor, or alto voice, is almost entirely falsetto. |
| fig. 1796 Burke Regic. Peace i. Wks. 1808 VIII. 103 The mock heroick falsetto of stupid tragedy. 1814 Scott Drama (1874) 186 All is tuned to the same smooth falsetto of sentiment. 1875 Swinburne Ess. & Studies 249 Much of the poem is written throughout in falsetto. |
2. One who sings with a falsetto voice.
| 1789 Burney Hist. Mus. IV. 44 You are pleased..to compare the falsetti of former times with the soprani. 1884 F. Niecks Dict. Mus. Terms, Falsetto, a singer who sings soprano or alto parts with such a voice. |
3. attrib.| 1826 Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 276 A sort of falsetto tone in her speech. 1854 Bushnan in Circ. Sc. (c 1865) I. 286/2 The falsetto voice has more of a humming character. 1876 Foster Phys. iii. vii. (1879) 605 The vocal cords are seen to be wide apart when falsetto notes are uttered. 1889 Spectator 9 Nov. 623/2 The last sentence..seems to us to go perilously near making a falsetto conscience out of the antipathies of strait-laced men. |
Hence
falˈsettist, one who sings in falsetto.
| 1889 Harper's Mag. LXXVII. 73 Soprano falsettists were once common enough in France. 1892 Daily News 28 July 6/2 The Italian tenor..is an ‘incomparable falsettist’. |