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Alto   /ˈæltoʊ/   Listen
Alto

noun
(pl. altos)
1.
A singer whose voice lies in the alto clef.
2.
The lowest female singing voice.  Synonym: contralto.
3.
The highest adult male singing voice.  Synonym: countertenor.
4.
(of a musical instrument) the second highest instrument in a family of musical instruments.
5.
The pitch range of the lowest female voice.



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"Alto" Quotes from Famous Books



... a half? Why had Fate cursed him with a pink-and-white complexion, so that the members of his own club had nicknamed him "the Babe," while street-boys as they passed pleaded with him for a kiss? Why was his very voice, a flute-like alto, more suitable—Suddenly an idea sprang to life within his brain. The idea grew. Passing a barber's ...
— Tommy and Co. • Jerome K. Jerome

... to regard Coniferae as a northern form, that I experienced a feeling of surprise when, in ascending from the shores of the South Pacific toward Chilpansingo and the elevated valleys of Mexico, between the 'Venta de la Moxonera' and the 'Alto de los Caxones', 4000 feet above the level of the sea, I rode a whole day through a dense wood of Pinus occidentalis, where I observed that these trees, which are so similar to the Weymouth pine, were associated with fan palms* ('Corypha ...
— COSMOS: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. 1 • Alexander von Humboldt

... trained by an official of the Venetian arsenal, seemed like a real lagoon idyll. They generally sang only three-part naturally harmonized folk-songs. It was new to me not to hear the higher voice rise above the compass of the alto, that is to say, without touching the soprano, thereby imparting to the sound of the chorus a manly youthfulness hitherto unknown to me. On fine evenings they glided down the Grand Canal in a large ...
— A Wanderer in Venice • E.V. Lucas

... and with the pupils rolled under the lids. He was suddenly afraid. Overcome by the strangeness of the man's condition, he took him by the shoulder and shook him. "Are you asleep?" he said, with his voice jumping into alto, and again, "Are ...
— When the Sleeper Wakes • Herbert George Wells

... makes it easily heard. It is a most lovable instrument. "Candor, artless grace, soft joy, or the grief of a fragile being suits the oboe's accents," says Berlioz. The peculiarity of its mouth-piece gives its tone a reedy or vibrating quality totally unlike the clarinet's. Its natural alto is the English horn (Plate V.), which is an oboe of larger growth, with curved tube for convenience of manipulation. The tone of the English horn is fuller, nobler, and is very attractive in melancholy or dreamy music. There are few players on the English horn in ...
— How to Listen to Music, 7th ed. - Hints and Suggestions to Untaught Lovers of the Art • Henry Edward Krehbiel

... plaudite ventres Plaudite mystili tecta per vncta coqui Pila sit albanis quaecunq; ornata lagaenis Pingue suum copo limen obesus amet Occupat insubres altissimus ille nepotum Gurges & vndantes auget & vrget aquas Millia sex ventri qui fixit Apicius alto Inde ...
— Cooking and Dining in Imperial Rome • Apicius

... Choir consisted of men, lads, and boys, with about half a dozen little girls. The boys and girls, of course, sang alto and treble; the lads alto, if they could manage nothing better; and the men bass and tenor. There were eight men between thirty and fifty years of age, six lads like Walter, and ...
— Archie's Mistake • G. E. Wyatt

... sometimes they do. The choir is furnished with the numbers of the hymns 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 know ...
— Peck's Compendium of Fun • George W. Peck

... It was a strange thing to lie awake in nineteenth-century 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 ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition - Vol. 2 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson

... poor Jack behind the door;" and so, striking only on the chords common to all hearts, he bowed all, for he who can inspire the illiterate and poor, callous with ignorance and toil, can move also the better informed. Here, also, that voice of his, which rose above the choir and organ, sang the alto in those chorals which he gave to the world. Monmouth, sung in this great church by five thousand voices, must needs have ...
— Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands V2 • Harriet Beecher Stowe

... capture of the City of Mexico; and (3) the seizure of California. Taylor's object was to maintain the line of the Rio Grande, then to advance into Mexico and injure the Mexicans as much as possible. The battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma (May 8, 9, 1846) were fought before the actual declaration of war. These victories made Taylor master of the Rio Grande. In September he crossed the Rio Grande. So far all had gone well. But in the ...
— A Short History of the United States • Edward Channing

... 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 ...
— At the Mercy of Tiberius • August Evans Wilson

... 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 ...
— The Girls at Mount Morris • Amanda Minnie Douglas

... 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 ...
— Chips from a German Workshop - Volume IV - Essays chiefly on the Science of Language • Max Muller

... assistance of the most skillful operatives. The book is folio in size, and will be published early in the fall. The letter press has long been finished, and only waiting for the completion of the plates. These are twelve, and their subjects are Palo Alto, the Capture of Monterey, Buena Vista: the Landing at Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Cherubusco, Molino del Rey, two views of the Storming of Chapultepec, and Gen. Scott's entrance into the city of Mexico. The lithographs ...
— International Weekly Miscellany, Vol. I, No. 6 - Of Literature, Art, And Science, New York, August 5, 1850 • Various

... reverberating through those vast arches made the whole scene very impressive. As women in many of the churches are not permitted to take part in the sacred ceremonies, the choir is composed of men, and boys from ten to fifteen who sing the soprano and alto. But these old ideas, like the old Roman wall that still surrounds that ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume III (of III) • Various

... German (parts of Trentino-Alto Adige region are predominantly German speaking), French (small French-speaking minority in Valle d'Aosta region), Slovene (Slovene-speaking minority ...
— The 2002 CIA World Factbook • US Government

... brilliant 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 multitude ...
— The Standard Oratorios - Their Stories, Their Music, And Their Composers • George P. Upton

... diamond in Miss Anthony's flag pin representing the victory of his state the preceding year; and in Arizona one of the highlights of the campaign was the splendid effort of Mrs. Frances Munds, the state president, and Mrs. Alice Park, of Palo Alto, California, who were carrying on the work in their headquarters with tremendous courage, and, as it seemed to me, almost unaided. Mrs. Park's specialty was the distribution of suffrage literature, which she circulated with remarkable judgment. The Governor ...
— The Story of a Pioneer - With The Collaboration Of Elizabeth Jordan • Anna Howard Shaw

... land they 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

... heartiness and feeling. The O'Shaughnessys themselves would have constituted a creditable choir, for Pat's still unbroken voice was a joy to hear as he joined in the air with Bridgie and Pixie, the Major rolled out a sonorous bass, Jack sang tenor, while Esmeralda's alto was rich and full as an organ stop. They sang with heart as well as voice, as indeed who can help singing those wonderful words? First, the heralds' call to Christendom to greet the great festival of the year, the birthday of its Lord: "Christians, awake! ...
— Pixie O'Shaughnessy • Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey

... las esferas de la vida publica, mientras dicten a la mujer lo que debe hacer y lo que no debe hacer; y, a su vez, la mujer sera incompetente de cuidar de sus propios intereses y de dirigir sus propios destinos mientras no mire mas alto, mientras preste su asentimiento a la superioridad del hombre y crea que su destino es simplemente servir y complacer al hombre para el lecho y el hogar, en vez de ser su verdadera ayuda y compania para el progreso y ...
— The Woman and the Right to Vote • Rafael Palma

... remained there for a short period, obtaining reenforcements. In September fought the enemy at Monterey and captured that town. The following February fought and won the battle of Buena Vista. In the meantime, besides engagements less important, he had won the victories of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, which created great enthusiasm throughout the Union. The terms of capitulation granted by him to the enemy at Monterey were not approved by the Government at Washington. Soon ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Volume - V, Part 1; Presidents Taylor and Fillmore • James D. Richardson

... innanzi a me medesmo piacqui, Empiendo d'un pensier' alto, e soave Quel core, "ond' hanno i ...
— Literary Remains (1) • Coleridge

... wryteth, that the wyse man Socrates had a coursed scoldinge wyfe, called Xantippe, the whiche on a daye after she hadde alto[217] chydde him powred a * * * * * potte on his heed. He, takynge all paciently, sayde: dyd nat I tell you that, whan I herde Xantippe thonder so fast, that it wolde ...
— Shakespeare Jest-Books; - Reprints of the Early and Very Rare Jest-Books Supposed - to Have Been Used by Shakespeare • Unknown

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

... 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 true, ...
— The Crater • James Fenimore Cooper

... Biscoutosfabrik "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

... of extraordinary events. British-American Civilization and Spanish-American Society have come into collision, each in its fullest maturity. The armies of the North have penetrated the chapparels at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma—passed the fortresses of Monterey, and rolled back upon the heart of Mexico the unavailing tide of strong resistance from the mountain-side of Buena Vista. Martial colonists are encamped on the coasts of California, ...
— Life and Public Services of John Quincy Adams - Sixth President of the Unied States • William H. Seward

... and voice not merely in the Gloria in Excelsis, but in the Te Deum, which was the closing act of all. And no sooner had the clerk given out the first verse of that great hymn, than it was taken up by five hundred voices within the church, in bass and tenor, treble and alto (for every one could sing in those days, and the west-country folk, as now, were fuller than any of music), the chant was caught up by the crowd outside, and rang away over roof and river, up to the ...
— Westward Ho! • Charles Kingsley

... 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 ...
— The Nation in a Nutshell • George Makepeace Towle

... the advance of Taylor into the disputed territory was an act of war, and active hostilities had commenced. While the general was hastening to reinforce one of the forts attacked, he came upon the Mexicans drawn up in order of battle at Palo Alto. An action, mostly with artillery, followed, and the enemy were defeated and driven from the field. It was the first battle fought in thirty-one years with any foe other than Indians, by American soldiers. Grant ...
— Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 2 of 8 • Various

... 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 affection ...
— The Personal Life Of David Livingstone • William Garden Blaikie

... 'I mio saper misura Certa fosse e infallibile di quanto Puo far l'alto Fattor della ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. II, No. 8, June 1858 • Various

... of masonry, some of which were evidently portions of a boldly moulded cornice that had once adorned the inner walls of the structure, while others bore upon their faces signs of having been exquisitely sculptured in alto or basso rilievo. It was a melancholy sight, even to the unimpressionable Dick, this irreparable ruin of a once noble and surpassingly beautiful building; but Phil, as he gazed round him in silence, was so deeply moved that, for the moment, he seemed to have entirely forgotten ...
— Two Gallant Sons of Devon - A Tale of the Days of Queen Bess • Harry Collingwood

... nervously with the stem of a wine-glass. Outside, the rain chattered in the darkness and the alto of the wind came in long organ notes into the din of the cafe. He caught sight of Dorn pulling an unholy-looking woman through ...
— Erik Dorn • Ben Hecht

... me; but he was an Italian, and did not 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

... Hall should give a common garb and air to the great mass of the Boston population; but it seems not to be so; and perhaps what is most singular is, that the natural make of the men has a conformity and suitableness to the dress. Glazed caps and Palo Alto hats were much worn. It is a pity that this picturesque and comparatively graceful hat should not have been generally adopted, instead of falling to the exclusive use ...
— Passages From The American Notebooks, Volume 2. • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... all 'round West Point. Cap'in Shattuck out about Palo Alto said to us niggers one day, 'Stop your foolishness—go live among your white folks an' behave. Have sense an' be good citizens.' His advice was good an' we soon broke up ...
— Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves - Mississippi Narratives • Works Projects Administration

... her clear forehead. Gorgeous, wavy blonde hair, with a reddish tinge, crowned her small round head. Her amber-gold complexion had the mellowness of a ripe peach. There was something strange about her voice: an alto that at times dropped into a deep baritone ...
— The Comedienne • Wladyslaw Reymont

... you have done yet. I can recommend it."—Earl Barnes, Professor in Leland Stanford University, Palo Alto, Cal. ...
— Almost A Man • Mary Wood-Allen

... though the difficulty of the trebles and the altos was always the difficulty of his choir, it no longer seemed insuperable. With the large amount of money at his disposal, he could afford to pay almost any amount of money for a good treble or alto, so every boy in London who showed signs of a voice was brought to him. But in three or four years a boy's voice breaks, and the task of finding another to take his place has to be undertaken. Very often this is impossible; ...
— Evelyn Innes • George Moore

... some small figures, it is composed of stones very much disintegrated, with curious blocks of kucha work, and large Babylonish bricks; the smaller figures are much destroyed, some completely; all are in alto-relievo. ...
— Journals of Travels in Assam, Burma, Bhootan, Afghanistan and The - Neighbouring Countries • William Griffith

... singer and will draw such a crowd that we will make more than we will have to pay her. Olive Kirk thought our local talent good enough and Minnie Clow won't sing at all now in the choruses because she would be so nervous before Mrs. Channing. And Minnie is the only good alto we have! There are times when I am so exasperated that I feel tempted to wash my hands of the whole affair; but after I dance round my room a few times in sheer rage I cool down and have another whack at it. Just at present I am ...
— Rilla of Ingleside • Lucy Maud Montgomery

... "By her low 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 I ...
— The Beautiful and Damned • F. Scott Fitzgerald

... truly. A fierce "Alto ahi!" sounded below. Then there were musket shots and the confusion of many scrambling feet. Murguia had routed out the church barracks. And when torches were brought, the soldiers discovered that they had hands on Miramon and Mejia. But the false sentinels ...
— The Missourian • Eugene P. (Eugene Percy) Lyle

... Francese, ed in Tedesco!... ci s' allontana impazientito, e corre piu lunge!... I castagni divengono rari.... Aride roccie annunziano il vertice dell' Apennin. Ancora una breve salita, e poi ci sara sul piu alto pinacolo del Prato Fiorite. Ma al pie del viattolo e un inciampo! e l'occhio sconfortato scorge la livrea di un groom e da un lato una sentimentale Lady, che si e arrampiccata piu lassa e prosaicamente seduta ...
— Notes and Queries, Number 189, June 11, 1853 • Various

... University, at Palo Alto (about thirty miles south of San Francisco), felt the full force of the earthquake and was badly wrecked. Only two lives were lost as a result of the earthquake, one of a student, the other of a fireman, ...
— The San Francisco Calamity • Various

... the beautiful carol, Adele now singing alto, and the vision of the beautiful Christmas Spirit, and the tones of Patty's exquisite voice, gave the guests assembled in the hall a Christmas memory ...
— Patty's Social Season • Carolyn Wells

... there is necessarily more to attract attention. Like Tintern also, it is unroofed—yet this unroofing has proceeded from a different cause: of which presently. The side aisles present you with a short flattened arch: the nave has none: but you observe a long pilaster-like, or alto-rilievo column, of slender dimensions, running from bottom to top, with a sort of Roman capital. The arched cieling and roof are entirely gone. We proceeded towards the eastern extremity, and saw more frightful ravages ...
— A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany, Volume One • Thomas Frognall Dibdin

... and wave, please," said Miss Hargrove; and then, in an alto rich with her heart's deep feeling, she ...
— Nature's Serial Story • E. P. Roe

... 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

... shoemaker, who was a thrifty man, asked Strollo what was the matter with the shoes he had on, so Strollo craftily said they hurt his feet. Then he ate a hearty breakfast, and bought a better cigar than he had ever smoked before. There was a bookstore near by and he purchased some books—"Alto Amore" and "Sua Maesta e Sua Moneta" ("The Height of Love" and "His Majesty and His Money"). He would read them on the train. He felt warm and comfortable now and not afraid at all. By and by he went back on the train to Lambertville and smoked and read all the way, ...
— True Stories of Crime From the District Attorney's Office • Arthur Train

... year passed under the open sky in the sunshine in summer and in winter working after school in town where men were wanting, and where a boy could always find work. He grew brown and lean, and as his voice grew squeaky and he sang alto in the school, he became more and more crafty and masterful. The fact that his mother was the teacher, did not give him more rights in school than other boys, for she was a sensible woman, but it gave him a prestige on the playground that he was not slow to take. He ...
— A Certain Rich Man • William Allen White

... refractory singers. There was no one 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 ...
— Aikenside • Mary J. Holmes

... talk so! Do you forget, marchesa, that it was under the banner of the blessed Holy Countenance (Vulturum di Lucca), miraculously cast on the shores of the Ligurian Sea, that your great ancestor Castruccio Castracani degli Antimelli overcame the Florentines at Alto Passo?" ...
— The Italians • Frances Elliot

... the battle of the Centaurs." This is the earliest work that we know from the master's hand to which we can give a date; it already shows his double love for the Hellenistic and for the Tuscan styles. The degree of relief is alto-rilievo, like those on the Roman sarcophagi and the pulpits of the Pisani; in shape it is almost as high as it is long; this unusual proportion is similar to some of the divisions of the bronze reliefs in the Donatello pulpits at San Lorenzo. The struggling figures, ...
— Michael Angelo Buonarroti • Charles Holroyd

... science of astronomy, Leland Stanford's twenty millions to the Alto University of Learning, open to all students, are illustrations of ...
— The Adventures of a Forty-niner • Daniel Knower

... was dark enough for the blinds and shutters to be all thrown open in their rooms, they heard a carriage coming down the avenue. It, too, stopped under the window, and in a moment they recognised the twang of Malcolm's banjo and Miss Allison's guitar. "It's a serenade," called Eugenia. "What a good alto ...
— The Little Colonel's House Party • Annie Fellows Johnston

... livelihood by singing at church festivals and private entertainments and in time became known widely as the most capable boy soprano in Naples. Money came more plentifully, and he was able to live generously. In a short time his voice was transformed into a marvelous alto, and he soon found himself in great demand and was surfeited with attention from the rich and powerful. It was about this time that King Edward, then Prince of Wales, heard him sing in a Neapolitan church ...
— Caruso and Tetrazzini on the Art of Singing • Enrico Caruso and Luisa Tetrazzini

... evening meal was cleared away, he took down the guitar, and sung several ballads, the old "General" accompanying him with his rich deep bass, and Alice with her clear birdlike alto; and the sweet melody of the trio's voices called forth round after round of rapturous applause from the road-agents camped upon the slope, and from the Utes who were lounging here and there among the flower-beds of the valley. But of the ...
— Deadwood Dick, The Prince of the Road - or, The Black Rider of the Black Hills • Edward L. Wheeler

... for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford University and a Consulting Full Professor of Linguistics at Stanford University. Until 2001, he was also a principal scientist at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. His research centers on automated classification systems, with a focus on classifying documents on the Web with respect to their linguistic properties. He has published his research in numerous professional ...
— Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) Ruling • United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

... order to gratify personal ambition. All the circumstances of his rise and popularity, from the beginning of his career, when, amid blood and smoke, he made the heroic defence of Fort Harrison, to the wonderful battles of Palo Alto, Resaca, and Buena Vista, and at last the attainment of the Presidential chair—all repel the slightest suspicion of sinister motive, or a wish for individual aggrandizement. The unwavering rule of his life—his guide in every action—was the ...
— Sword and Pen - Ventures and Adventures of Willard Glazier • John Algernon Owens

... natural and easy process, of occasional insolence and general negligence. One of the soft, but unpleasant missiles just alluded to flew by the master's head one morning, and flattened itself against the wall, where it adhered in the form of a convex mass in alto rilievo. The master looked round and saw the young butcher's arm in an attitude which pointed to it unequivocally as the source from which the projectile had taken ...
— Elsie Venner • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

... violins in the orchestra, or sustains long notes with the other wood wind instruments, or is used in those conversational passages with other instruments that lend such a charm to orchestral music. The lower notes are not powerful. Mr. Henry Carte has, however, designed an alto flute in A, descending to violin G, with excellent results. There is a flute which transposes a minor third higher than the ordinary flute; but it is not much used in the orchestra, although used in the army, as is also a flute ...
— Scientific American Supplement No. 819 - Volume XXXII, Number 819. Issue Date September 12, 1891 • Various

... 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 sunlight ...
— Poor, Dear Margaret Kirby and Other Stories • Kathleen Norris

... lowest. These overtones lead over from the purest chest tones, slowly, with a constantly changing mixture of both kinds of resonance, first to the high tones of bass and baritone, the low tones of tenor, the middle tones of alto and soprano, finally, to the purest head tones, the highest tones of the tenor-falsetto or soprano. ...
— How to Sing - [Meine Gesangskunst] • Lilli Lehmann

... of the Cumaean Sibyl, very early applied to the coming of Christ:— Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo. Jam redit et virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna: Jam nova progenies caelo demittitur alto.—Ecloga, iv. 5-7. ...
— The Divine Comedy, Volume 2, Purgatory [Purgatorio] • Dante Alighieri

... Mills, would drop in and join the little party. Almira used to sing Auld Robin Gray, What Will You Do, Love, and Robin Adair, to the great enjoyment of everybody; and she persuaded Lyddy to buy the old church melodeon, and learn to sing alto in Oh, Wert Thou in the Cauld Blast, Gently, Gently Sighs the Breeze, and I know a Bank. Nobody sighed for the gayeties and advantages of a great city when, these concerts being over, Lyddy would pass crisp seedcakes and raspberry ...
— The Village Watch-Tower • (AKA Kate Douglas Riggs) Kate Douglas Wiggin

... folded away under the neck. When about to bite, this style was shot out straight, and the antennae embraced it closely. After death the fly lost its distinctive white marks. Only one of this species did we see at this camp. The third fly, called "chufwa," pitched a weak alto-crescendo note, was a third larger than the house fly, and had long wings. If this insect sang the feeblest note, it certainly did the most work, and inflicted the most injury. Horses and donkeys streamed with blood, ...
— How I Found Livingstone • Sir Henry M. Stanley

... Raphael is in the Vatican; the basso (or perhaps the alto) relievo of Algardi, on one of the altars of St. Peter, (see Dubos, Reflexions sur la Poesie et sur la Peinture, tom. i. p. 519, 520.) Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A.D. 452, No. 57, 58) bravely sustains the truth of the apparition; which is rejected, however, by the most learned ...
— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 3 • Edward Gibbon

... of corn—with hardly a tree, excepting those occasionally along the road, within a boundary of ten miles. Chalons is a large and populous town; but the churches bear sad traces of revolutionary fury. Some of the porches, once covered with a profusion of rich, alto-relievo sculpture, are absolutely treated as if these ornaments had been pared away to the very quick! Scarcely a vestige remains. It is in this town where the two great roads to STRASBOURG—one by Metz, and the other by Nancy—unite. The ...
— A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany, Volume Two • Thomas Frognall Dibdin

... buttresses are seated figures emblematical of the 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 future ...
— Modern Eloquence: Vol III, After-Dinner Speeches P-Z • Various

... 15, 1845. During the Mexican War (1846-1848) took part with his regiment in active service, and was in all the battles fought by Generals Scott and Taylor except that of Buena Vista. Was brevetted for gallant conduct at the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, but declined the honor. At the battle of Monterey distinguished himself by volunteering to run the gantlet and bring ammunition for the troops into the city. September 8, 1847, was appointed brevet first lieutenant for gallant conduct at Molino ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Ulysses S. Grant • James D. Richardson

... and its 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 ...
— Lippincott's Magazine, Volume 11, No. 26, May, 1873 • Various

... 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

... dei Laghi, and toward Monte Tormino and Monte Cremone, all three outlying defenses of Arsiero. Meanwhile the right wing of the Austrian army, after storming Col Santo, had moved toward Monte Pasubio, and the left wing had stormed the Sasso Alto, commanding the Armentara Ridge, enabling the Austrians to advance into the Sugana Valley ...
— The Story of the Great War, Volume V (of 8) • Francis J. (Francis Joseph) Reynolds, Allen L. (Allen Leon)

... 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

... young gentleman named Valentine Veery, who was a distant cousin of Jolly Robin's, was the singing leader. He had been chosen on account of his being able to sing both alto and soprano at the same time. And as soon as everybody had found a comfortable seat ...
— The Tale of Jasper Jay - Tuck-Me-In Tales • Arthur Scott Bailey

... education, who made his fortune in bonanza days in Nevada, and who drank up what he had made with the boys who have long since passed away. As a hopeless sot he visited the gold cure at Los Gatos. Not finding much relief, he walked over to Palo Alto to borrow of me his fare to San Francisco. He said that he was going to pawn his goods for a fare to Nevada, where he meant to kill himself. Whether he did so or not, I do not know; for ten years have gone by and I have ...
— The Call of the Twentieth Century • David Starr Jordan

... "At Palo Alto," says he, "I took my rank in the troop as second sergeant, and while upon the field my horse was wounded in the jaw by a grape-shot, which disabled him for service. While he was plunging in agony I dismounted, and the ...
— Thrilling Adventures by Land and Sea • James O. Brayman

... fluted and reeded pillars; great arcs of heavily-carved sculpture, which appeared to have served as architraves from pillar to pillar, along the face of the proscenium, where there was every trace of having been a colonnade; and other blocks sculptured with figures of animals in alto-relievo. There were generally two figures on each block, and among those which could be recognized were the dog and the lion. Doors opened from the proscenium into the retiring-rooms of the actors, under which were the vaults where the beasts ...
— The Lands of the Saracen - Pictures of Palestine, Asia Minor, Sicily, and Spain • Bayard Taylor

... suggested. In the second Violin she recognised a friend of the first, who sought by all possible means to display him to advantage, seldom thought of himself, and kept up the conversation rather by assenting to what was said by the others than by advancing any ideas of his own. The Alto was a grave, learned, and sententious man. He supported the discourse of the first Violin by laconic maxims, striking for their truth. The Bass was a worthy old lady, rather inclined to chatter, who said nothing of ...
— The Violin - Its Famous Makers and Their Imitators • George Hart

... had begun which was to prove so eventful for at least two of the ships 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

... machine was to carry a guide-point at one side over the bust or alto-relievo to be copied, and at the other side to carry a corresponding cutting-tool or drill over the alabaster, ivory, jet, or plaster of Paris to be executed. The machine worked, as it were, with ...
— Men of Invention and Industry • Samuel Smiles

... property they possessed. The people of Padua, finding themselves in equal danger, and knowing that, having became master of Aquileia, Attila would next attack themselves, also removed with their most valuable property to a place on the same sea, called Rivo Alto, to which they brought their women, children, and aged persons, leaving the youth in Padua to assist in her defense. Besides these, the people of Monselice, with the inhabitants of the surrounding hills, driven by similar fears, fled to the same rocks. But after Attila ...
— History Of Florence And Of The Affairs Of Italy - From The Earliest Times To The Death Of Lorenzo The Magnificent • Niccolo Machiavelli

... and Tommy, and Mollie, and Janie. Most of them want to learn, and are quite tidy 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 ...
— American Missionary, Volume 44, No. 6, June, 1890 • Various

... is up by 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 he don't ...
— Wolfville Nights • Alfred Lewis

... "the question is not one Of reasoning, but of simple sentiment. As it would shock me, should a woman speak In virile baritone, so would I shudder To hear a grave proposal marriageward In alto or soprano." ...
— The Woman Who Dared • Epes Sargent

... from motives of piety or curiosity have visited the sacred island of Iona, must remember to have seen the guide point out the tomb of Ewen, with his figure on horseback, very elegantly sculptured in alto- relievo, and many of the above facts ...
— Folk-Lore and Legends - Scotland • Anonymous

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

... only the three works here mentioned, but also the Problemi del piu alto interesse scientifico, geometricamente risoluti e dimostrati, Naples, 1861. His quadrature was defended by Giovanni Motti in a work entitled Matematica Vera. Falsita del sistema ciclometrico d'Archimede, quadratura del cerchio d'Anghera, ricerca algebraica dei lati di qualunque poligono regolare ...
— A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume II (of II) • Augustus de Morgan

... commenced with a choir piece, when the organ and other instruments accompanied seven singers, four women and three men. The women especially had voices of power and compass. Alto, tenor, and bass were fairly sustained, as well as soprano, and the whole effect was good. The piece, which was not easy, but suitable in liturgical character, was well rendered both in forte and piano passages. This time Ambrose, another native, presided ...
— With the Harmony to Labrador - Notes Of A Visit To The Moravian Mission Stations On The North-East - Coast Of Labrador • Benjamin La Trobe

... illuminated by kerosene lamps, and as she drew nearer she even descried Ossian himself, seated at the cabinet organ in his shirt-sleeves, practicing the Christmas anthem, his daughter holding a candle to the page while she struggled to adjust a circuitous alto to her father's tenor. On the hither side of the Popham house, and quite obscured by it, stood Letitia Boynton's one-story gray cottage. It had a clump of tall cedar trees for background and the bare branches of the elms in front were hung lightly with snow ...
— The Romance of a Christmas Card • Kate Douglas Wiggin

... was born, as Mrs Deane was in the habit of telling any friends who came to visit her for the first time at Nottingham. It was built in the Italian style of architecture, with a fine double flight of steps to the principal entrance, over which was an equestrian alto-relievo of Charles the Second. The flat roofs were surrounded by balustrades, and the spaces between the long terrace of windows were filled up with architraves and entablatures, which produced a rich and picturesque though somewhat heavy effect. ...
— John Deane of Nottingham - Historic Adventures by Land and Sea • W.H.G. Kingston

... 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, quaecumque est, ...
— Helps to Latin Translation at Sight • Edmund Luce

... of movement 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 ...
— A Treatise on the Tactical Use of the Three Arms: Infantry, Artillery, and Cavalry • Francis J. Lippitt

... C.F. 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

... represents a note of music, and that the irregularity of their arrangement indicates the succession of these notes; so that each of these crooked lines signifies the movement of one of the parts of the melody, the four moving approximately together denoting the treble, alto, tenor and bass respectively, though they do not necessarily appear in that order in this astral form. Here it is necessary to interpolate a still further explanation. Even with a melody so comparatively simple as this there are tints and shades far too finely modulated to be reproduced on any ...
— Thought-Forms • Annie Besant

... ex alto liceret intueri, quemadmodum deficientem lunam ex longinquo spectare possumus, videremus tempore eclipsis solis terrae aliquam partem lumine solis deficere, eodem plane modo ...
— The Discovery of a World in the Moone • John Wilkins

... intrudes in an orchestral work, my dream-world of music vanishes. Mother Church is right in banishing, from within the walls of her temples the female voice. The world, the flesh, and the devil lurk in the larynx of the soprano or alto, and her place is before the footlights, not as a vocal staircase to paradise. I say this, knowing in my heart that nothing is so thrilling as Tristan and Isolde, and my memory-cells hold marvellous pictures of Lilli Lehmann, Milka Ternina, and Olive ...
— Ivory Apes and Peacocks • James Huneker

... teacher of voice-production is obliged to solve. Like so many other branches in the art 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 ...
— The Voice - Its Production, Care and Preservation • Frank E. Miller

... inconuenyence Howe great vengeaunce, and howe bytter punysshement Hath god oft takyn for this synne and offence Howe many Cytees hye and excellent Hath Uenus lost, destroyed, and alto brent What lordes and howe many a great estate Hath loue lost, murdred, ...
— The Ship of Fools, Volume 1 • Sebastian Brandt

... busy as a bee in preparing his noontide meal for the day. This man seemed to have the islet all to himself, however, no one else being visible on any part of it. He sang his song, in a cracked, contre alto voice, and appeared to be happy in his solitude. Occasionally he talked to himself aloud, most probably because he had no one else to speak to. We shall record one of his recitatives, which came in between the strains of a very inharmonious air, the words of which treated of the seas, while the ...
— Jack Tier or The Florida Reef • James Fenimore Cooper

... 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 Duke of Stockbridge • Edward Bellamy

... as indicating any want of kindly feeling and 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 ...
— A Popular Account of Dr. Livingstone's Expedition to the Zambesi and Its Tributaries • David Livingstone

... of this 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 ...
— Through Five Republics on Horseback • G. Whitfield Ray

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

... a vision of the old Paduans, fleeing from their once wealthy city before the devastating conqueror Attila. Driven from the land, they seek the sea, and take refuge on the long spits of sand lying in a vast lagoon beyond the mouths of several rivers. Settling down on the Rivo Alto (Rialto), they commence to build a city, henceforth to be the wonder and admiration of the world. Then a thousand years of glorious and active life. There is a thrill almost of amazement at the magnificent courage and audacity of this wondrous city, risen like Aphrodite ...
— Fair Italy, the Riviera and Monte Carlo • W. Cope Devereux

... moment. I even went to church on Sunday mornings quite regularly; not his own somewhat severe place of worship, it is true! But the Foundling Hospital. There, in the gallery, would I sit with my sister, and listen to Miss Dolby and Miss Louisa Pyne and Mr. Lawler the bass—and a tenor and alto whose names I cannot recall; and I thought they sang as they ought to have sung, and was deeply moved and comforted—more than by any preachments in the world; and just in the opposite gallery sat Leah with her mother; and I grew fond of nice clean little boys and girls who sing pretty ...
— The Martian • George Du Maurier

... 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 have evoked divine ...
— How to Become Rich - A Treatise on Phrenology, Choice of Professions and Matrimony • William Windsor

... 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 ...
— The Lost Girl • D. H. Lawrence

... writing for the orchestra was so strong that I procured a score of Don Juan, and set to work on what I then considered a very careful orchestration of a fairly long air for soprano. I also wrote a quartette in D major after I had myself sufficiently mastered the alto for the viola, my ignorance of which had caused me great difficulty only a short time before, when I was studying ...
— My Life, Volume I • Richard Wagner

... to the Incarnation, that passage in Virgil[AD]: "Jam nova progenies caelo demittitur ab alto." ...
— Readings in the History of Education - Mediaeval Universities • Arthur O. Norton



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



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