Tenore

As Printed on a Score

Labels the tenor staff (Tenore; T. or Ten. later; Tenori, or Tenore I and II, for a divided section), written in treble clef sounding an octave lower — often with a small 8 under the clef — or, in older editions, in tenor clef. Ten. also abbreviates tenuto: over a note it is tenuto, at the head of a vocal staff the tenor. In keyboard music tenore marcato asks for a middle-register line to stand out.

Abbreviations: T., Ten.

Also spelled: Tenori

How Composers Use It

The high adult male voice, roughly C3 to A4 in a choir and higher for soloists, with its most ringing, heroic notes near the top of the staff; in opera it is usually the hero or the lover. In choral writing it carries inner harmony above the bass and can take the tune for a change of colour. As an adjective it names the tenor size of an instrument family — trombone tenore, sassofono tenore.

Example

Franz, “Abends” (Sechs Gesänge, Op. 16), piano, m. 7: “Tenore ben marcato” — the accompaniment’s tenor-register line is to stand out; the same words return at m. 15.

Related Terms