primo tenoren.
/ˌpriːməʊ tɛˈnɔːri/, /ˌpriːməʊ tɛˈnɔːrɛi/, U.S. /ˈˌprimoʊ təˈnɔri/ The principal tenor in an opera or opera company; a tenor of the highest rank; (also) the part sung by the principal tenor.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musician > singer > opera-singer > [noun] > chief male singer
first man1757
primo tenore1798
primo uomo1829
primo tenore assoluto1848
1798 Sel. Celebrated Foreign Lit. Jrnl. 2 185 The famous David sang the primo tenore. Never did nature endow a man with such vocal organs as she has bestowed on him.
1826 Times 20 Nov. 2/4 The actors engaged are..Douzelli, primo tenore, from Paris; and Zuchelli and Galli, primi bassi, likewise from Paris.
1855 ‘G. Eliot’ in Fraser's Mag. July 50/2 He will write no part to suit a primo tenore.
1955 E. Dent in H. Van Thal Fanfare for E. Newman 86 The first half of the nineteenth century..was the triumph of the prima donna over the primo uomo,..though she soon had to face her rival in the primo tenore.
1996 R. Miller Art Singing 89 How easy it is..to become distracted by media-induced warfare between prime donne or, more currently, primi uomini (today, more precisely, primi tenori).
2002 N.Y. Mag. 9 Sept. 82/2 This apparently indestructible primo tenore carries on..as the star of this year's opening-night gala on September 23.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1798