Wiktionary
n. 1 (context music English) The vocal range of a singer. 2 (context music English) how a musical instrument sounds in different parts of its range
Wikipedia
In music, tessitura (, texture; ) is the most musically acceptable and comfortable range for a given singer or, less frequently, musical instrument; the range in which a given type of voice presents its best-sounding texture or timbre. This broad definition is often interpreted to refer specifically to the pitch range that most frequently occurs within a given piece, or part, of music. For example, throughout the entirety of Wagner's Ring, the music written for the role of Siegfried ranges from C to C, but the tessitura is described as high because the phrases are most often in the range of C to A.
In musical notation, tessitura is used to refer to the compass in which a piece of music lies—whether high or low, etc.—for a particular vocal (or less often instrumental) part. The tessitura of a piece is not decided by the extremes of its range, but rather by which part of the range is most used. The tessitura of a part will often influence which clef a particular piece of music is written in. Melodic contour may also be considered to be an important aspect of vocal tessitura.
The "tessitura" concept addresses not merely a range of pitches but also the arrangement of those pitches. Tessitura considerations include these factors: proportion of sudden or gradual rises and falls in pitch—speed of pitch changes; the relative number of very high or low notes; whether lines and phrases of music in the piece tend to rise or fall—the muscular abilities of a singer may be more suited to one or the other direction.
Although frequently ignored in discourses on tessitura, the volume (loudness) which a singer is able to maintain for dramatic effect will often influence which " fach" (voice type) or tessitura he or she specializes in. For example, a lyric tenor may have the vocal range to sing Wagner or other dramatic roles, but to maintain the loudness required for dramatic intensity over the span of an opera performance could either inflict vocal damage or be simply beyond the innate ability. Verdi's Otello is a good example of the need for a voice capable of substantial power throughout the length of a performance of the opera.
Tessitura is an enterprise application used by performing arts and cultural organisations to manage their activities in ticketing, fundraising, customer relationship management, and marketing. It refers to itself as "arts enterprise software".
Usage examples of "tessitura".
When the man spoke, his tessitura was just as one would have predicted: precise, carefully modulated, colorless.
If the Viennese fiddled while Rome burnt perhaps there were worse occupations, and when it was over--the catastrophe he saw so clearly--they would still quarrel at the barbers about the high C of some soprano not yet born, or argue over the tessitura of a newly imported tenor.
Dame Tessitura had a beard you could strike a match on and a nose flattened half across her face, but she was still one of the best basses who ever opened beer bottles with her thumb.