English

Noun

tessitura ‎(plural tessituras or tessiture)

1. (music) The vocal range of a singer.
   • 1995, Anthony Burgess, Byrne:

     Byrne shrugged. He started writing a bravura / Opera based on Cleopatra’s death, / Exploiting all Maria’s tessitura, / With a high F before her final breath.

   • 2006, Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador 2007, p. 257:

     Anne's talented voice made the lines I had written swoop, howl, and whine through an authentically Thatcherite tessitura [...].

2. (music) how a musical instrument sounds in different parts of its range

Italian

Etymology

tessere +‎ -tura. Compare Spanish tejedura, Portuguese tecedura, Romanian țesătură, Friulian tiessidure.

Noun

tessitura f ‎(plural tessiture)

1. weaving
2. weaving mill
3. (music) range (of a voice or an instrument)

Related terms

• tessere

Anagrams

• eruttassi