tessitura

plural tessituras · plural tessiture

1. countableuncountableentertainmentThe most acceptable and comfortable vocal range for a singer or musical instrument; the range in which a given type of voice presents its best-sounding timbre.

   Anne's talented voice made the lines I had written swoop, howl, and whine through an authentically Thatcherite tessitura [...].

   2006, Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador, published 2007, page 257

   2 more examples

   Byrne shrugged. He started writing a bravura / Opera based on Cleopatra’s death, / Exploiting all Maria’s tessitura, / With a high F before her final breath.

   1995, Anthony Burgess, Byrne

   In classical voice training, and in the world of classical singing, voices are divided into categories dependent on timbre or tonal colour and tessitura or comfortable average pitch range.

   2014, Jane Streeton, Philip Raymond, Singing on Stage, A&C Black, →ISBN, page 146