FEW areas of musical study have engendered as much confusion as the (sometimes) interrelated topics of the ‘falsetto’ voice and the singing of ‘alto’ parts in earlier centuries. Some of this confusion is entirely understandable: at almost every turn we may encounter unknowable pitch standards, terminological riddles, or a sheer dearth of evidence. Much of it, however, is of our own making: in particular, the endemic failure to distinguish different repertories, different traditions, or different periods, coupled not infrequently with an apparent belief in a single ‘true countertenor’ of the past.

My broad aim is thus to encourage some fundamental rethinking about the place of falsetto singing – if any – in a number of specific vocal traditions. But on the present occasion I shall limit myself to a single period and country (18th-century France), one which, despite an abundance of relatively clear documentation, has nevertheless remained prone to misunderstanding. My approach has been to keep speculative interpretation to a minimum and, wherever possible, to allow the sources to speak for themselves. (All are given both in their original language and in translation.) More specifically, this study aims to take a fresh look at the nature of the haute-contre in this period.

With his admirably succinct article ‘The Enigma of the Haute-Contre’ (1974), Neal Zaslaw sought to clear up ‘the vexed question of whether the haute-contre – the designation of the voice to which the leading male roles in French opera from Lully to Rameau were usually assigned – was a natural or a falsetto voice’. He concludes: ‘a balanced appraisal of all the historical evidence seems to suggest that the haute-contre in 18th-century French music was sung falsetto only by rare exception’ – in other words, that the voice was essentially the same as our high tenor. Mary Cyr (1977) concurred and presented further valuable information, adding: ‘it remains to be determined what unusual circumstances might have prompted the use of falsetto, when, and by whom.’

René Jacobs (1983) sees things differently: the haute-contre was indeed a high tenor, but one that was significantly different from those we know today.