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One of the most famous contraltos was Kathleen Ferrier. There are not so many female singers who call themselves contraltos these days. It has become more fashionable to be a mezzo-soprano. It is partly because it has become fashionable to use men for the alto parts in music by Bach and other Baroque composers, like it would have been performed in those days.

Operatic roles which need a contralto include Lucretia in Britten's Rape of Lucretia and Erda in Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen.

The word alto can also mean: the second line down in 4 part choir music. In old music the alto line was written in a special clef called the “alto clef”, which is the same as the “viola clef” (a C clef in which the middle line is middle C).

Altos in modern music