The Latin word quintus, also ''quinta'' or ''quinta vox'', refers to the fifth voice in addition to the '' superius'', '' altus'', '' tenor'' and '' bassus'' in a piece of vocal polyphony. In Baroque vocal music, this fifth voice was added to the principal part and then given to the tenor. The word was particularly used for printed partbooks of five-voice music, where the "quintus" melody might well be for different voices like the discantus or even the contratenor, in addition to the usual four. By overlaying voices in different planes, the compositional style of the seventeenth century was enriched with polyphonic sounds, expanding itself both to the low as well as the high pitch. The prevailing three or four voices of the latter half of the fourteenth and the first half of the fifteenth centuries, which are almost frequently intertwined between them, already in the latter half of the sixteenth century were preferred by four or five, or even more voices, by the addition of a ''quintus'', also called ''vagans'', and a ''sextus'' playing the part of a second '' cantus'', normally in the

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C ...

range.

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Musica Transalpina...: Tenor. Quintus. Sextus. Bassus
A 1588 partbook by William Byrd on Google Books Vocal music Voice types Tenors Polyphonic form Polyphonic singing Harmony {{music-theory-stub

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