A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Chest-Voice

CHEST-VOICE. That no voice is 'produced' throughout its extent, in precisely the same manner, is certain. The results of the different manners of vocal 'production'—three in number—are sometimes spoken of in England as 'chest-voice,' 'head-voice,' and 'falsetto.' The classification and terminology adopted by the French, viz. 'first, second, and third registers,' are however much to be preferred, since the causes of the variety of timbre they indicate, of which little is known, are left by them unassumed. The average compass of each vocal register is perhaps naturally an octave; but the facility with which the mode of production natural to one register can be extended to the sounds of another renders this uncertain. By 'chest-voice' is commonly understood the lowest sounds of a voice, and any others that can be produced in the same manner; in other words, the 'first register.'

[ J. H. ]