'C' - the high variety. The tenor's 'holy grail'. Described whimsically by some as the 'money notes'. Good examples found in Donizetti's tenor aria 'Pour Mon Âme' from 'Daughter of the Regiment'. Hear them sung admirably by Juan Diego Florez.

Cabaletta - (from 'cavatinetta', a little cavatina) the fast and brilliant final section in an aria of usually more than one movement.

Cameriera - Means 'chambermaid' (also like 'servetta'- a servant girl). Very common in 17th & 18th Century operas for those delightful soubrette roles.

Canción - Spanish for 'song' - but also a type of lyrical Latin American music popular in the first half of the 20th Century.

Cantata - originally, Italian for any sung piece. Now the meaning has narrowed to describe short sacred or secular vocal works. Usually for single voices, chorus and instrumental accompaniment.

Canticle - a non-metrical hymn based on biblical text that's used in some Church liturgies. Can also just mean a song, poem or hymn that's religious in character.

Cantilena -a sustained flowing melodic line usually sung 'legato'

Canto Carnaliesco - 15th & 16th century Florentine part song - with the tune given to the tenor - sung in carnival processions and usually rather 'naughty'!

Cantor - someone who leads or directs the singing in Luthern Churches or Jewish Synagogues (spectacularly, Bach at Leipzig).

Cantus firmus - (Latin - 'fixed song'). In Mediaeval music, where a pre-existing popular melody (usually Gregorian Chant) was wrapped, very formally, in contrapuntal parts by the composer. The tenor got the long slow notes of equal value while the other parts provided the 'entertainment'.

Canzone - Even though the Italian word ending might suggest a 'big' song or ballad, it's actually a scaled down madrigal - a part song in that style, but much less elaborate and polyphonic. (Think 'Madrigal Lite').

Canzonetta - somewhere between ...the above and the following... but mostly for a solo voice line.

Canzonet (from 'canzonetta' - a little song) - light songs written in England in the 1600s often for single voice and lute. Later in the 18th century, just 'a song' e.g. Haydn's 'My Mother bids Me Bind My Hair' (Schäferlied) In this later form, they often have 'pastoral' references. (Think 'Little Bo Peep'.)

Carmen - Latin for 'a song' and an opera by Bizet.

Castrati - Male sopranos and contraltos of the 17th and 18th centuries, many of whom became fashionable and famous but who must surely have asked themselves if it was all worth it! Velluti, one of the most famous of these lived from 1781 until 1861.

Catch - a part song that works in the same way as a canon or round - i.e. the vocal entries follow each other, but are constructed in such a way that the words become mixed up and re-form with another meaning - sometimes,with doubtful results! The Catch Club ('The Noblemen and Gentlemen's Catch Club)', was founded in London in 1761 for sociable meetings and the singing of catches. A 'Catch Club' still exists in London, but they may not sing catches now...

Cavata - a short 'Arioso' section following an 18th century recitative.

Cavatina - (possibly developed from 'cavata') a song in an opera that's usually less elaborate than the average operatic aria - a short piece or air with a sustained melodic line. (Not just the theme from 'The Deer Hunter'). Famous one - Rosina's Cavatina from Rossini's 'Il Barbiere Di Siviglia' - although with the wonderful Rita Streich, not the most simple!

Chanson - specialised meaning of 'song' in French - a medieval part song earlier than the madrigals that were popular in the rest of N. Europe. Like a lighter canzonet and often accompanied by lute. Sub-types: C. de Geste - heroic manly deeds and adventures; C. de Toile - for or about women and often assoc. with weaving or spinning ('toile' = Fr. 'cloth').

Chant - in church music, the singing of psalms to harmonised and measured tunes often with modified rhythms to fit the words.

Chant-fable - 13th century French narrative or story punctuated with songs.

Chanty - an old way to spell 'Shanty'.

Chest Voice - part of the singer's range used for singing lower notes - the resonance giving a sensation of coming from the chest. The opposite of 'head voice'.

Choral - type of singing associated with more than one voice - i.e. choirs.

Choral(e) - A Lutheran Hymn - originally in German it meant the choral parts of a Latin chant but with the Reformation came to mean a single unharmonised (monophonic) melodic line sung by a congregation. Many were adaptations of plainsong. In English, an 'e' is tagged on to avoid confusion with 'choral'.

Claque - the early 19th century opera equivalent of supporters' clubs or cheerleader team who would turn up at performances to cheer or boo. They originated in France (with a complex array of functionaries, like 'criers', 'laughers' and 'bisseurs' who shouted for encores) but rapidly spread to Italian opera houses. Often they were hired by promoters to applaud but also included fawning admirers of performers. Their leaders ('commissaires') regularly extorted money from singers too so that the claque would not boo them off the stage. Toscanini helped stop the practice as audiences developed a more decorous 'concert etiquette'.