Editing Tenor (section)

== History ==
The name "tenor" derives from the [[Latin]] word ''[[wikt:teneo#Latin|tenere]]'', which means "to hold". As noted in the "Tenor" article at ''[[Grove Music Online]]'':

<blockquote>In polyphony between about 1250 and 1500, the [tenor was the] structurally fundamental (or 'holding') voice, vocal or instrumental; by the 15th century it came to signify the male voice that sang such parts.<ref>Fallows, David; Jander, Owen; Forbes, Elizabeth; Steane, J. B.; Harris, Ellen T.; and Waldman, Gerald (2001). [http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.27667 "Tenor"] {{Subscription required}}. ''[[Grove Music Online]]''.</ref></blockquote>

All other voices were normally calculated in relation to the tenor, which often proceeded in longer note values and carried a borrowed [[Cantus firmus]] melody. Until the late 16th-century introduction of the [[contratenor]] singers, the tenor was usually the lowest voice, assuming the role of providing a foundation. It was also in the 18th century that "tenor" came to signify the male voice that sang such parts. Thus, for earlier repertoire, a line marked 'tenor' indicated the part's role, and not the required voice type; indeed, even as late as the eighteenth century, partbooks labelled 'tenor' might contain parts for a range of voice types.<ref name=Stark>{{cite book |title= Bel Canto: A History of Vocal Pedagogy |last= Stark |first= James |year= 2003 | location = Toronto, CAN |publisher= University of Toronto Press |isbn= 9780802086143 }}</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2017}}