tessitura

Borrowed from Italian tessitura. Doublet of texture.

• IPA^(key): /tɛsɪˈtʊəɹə/
• Rhymes: -ʊəɹə

tessitura (countable and uncountable, plural tessituras or tessiture)

1. (music) The 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.

   Hyponyms: soprano, mezzo-soprano, contralto, counter tenor, tenor, baritone, bass

   Coordinate term: compass

   • 1995, Anthony Burgess, Byrne:

     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.

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

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

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

     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.

From tessere +‎ -tura. Compare Spanish tejedura, Portuguese tecedura, Romanian țesătură, Friulian tiessidure.

• IPA^(key): /tes.siˈtu.ra/
• Rhymes: -ura
• Hyphenation: tes‧si‧tù‧ra

tessitura f (plural tessiture)

1. weaving
2. weaving mill
3. (music) tessitura (most acceptable and comfortable vocal range for a given singer or musical instrument)

• tessere

• → English: tessitura
• → German: Tessitur
• → Spanish: tesitura

• tessitura in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

• eruttassi