(Fr.: ‘mixed voice’).
A vocal technique involving the blending of the chest and head registers in the middle range, especially in male singers. Manuel García (Traité complet de l’art du chant, Paris 1840–47/R) was the first to define the term, although the practice is described much earlier. Tosi (1723) urged the male singer ‘to leave no Means untried’ to unite the two registers, ‘for if they do not perfectly unite, the Voice will be of divers Registers, and must consequently lose its Beauty’. Although García defines this term as a mixture of the two basic registral mechanisms, he also considers the term ‘improper’ as the actual mixing of mechanisms is physiologically impossible. He argues that the effect was created by the use of a mezzo voce (half voice) in the chest register. See also Voix sombrée.
ELLEN T. HARRIS