Falsetto

(It., small false one; Fr. fausset; Ger. Falsett, Fidelstimme, Fistel, Fistelstimme, Kopfstimme). The practice of voice production by using head rather than chest tones, particularly among TENORS, thus producing sounds well above the natural range.

Falsetto singing was widely practiced in the choirs at the Vatican and Italian cathedrals when the use of female or CASTRATI singers was inappropriate. Falsetto singers were also known as alti naturali, "natural alto singers," to distinguish them from voci artificiali, the "artificial voices" of the castrati. Another term for falsetto singers was tenorini, "little tenors."

From the Marx Brothers film A Night at the Opera:

Chico: That singer has a falsetto voice.

Groucho: That's funny. I had an uncle who had a falsetto teeth!

The word falsetto itself is a diminutive of the Italian falso, because the singer, although not castrated, applies a "false" way of voice production. Falsetto voices are often used in BAROQUE operas for comic effects. The part of the Astrologer in NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV'S LE COQ D'OR is cast in falsetto to indicate that he is a eunuch. Falsetto is also used in YODELING.