(It.: ‘chest voice’; Fr. voix de poitrine).
One of the two primary registers of the singing voice. The voice resonating from the chest is lower in pitch and bigger and darker in sound than that resonating from the head (see Voce di testa). Beginning in the 18th century, singing tutors discussed these registers at length, taking various positions on how to unite the break (passaggio) between them. The increasing use of the chest voice in the higher register to create a more powerful sound was hotly contested in the 18th and 19th centuries (see Voix mixte and Voix sombrée). See Singing.