Thomas Pynchon, Against The Day (722):
As it turned out, however, this was too much to expect of Derrick Theign, who, ordinarily a bit more taciturn, now flew without warning into high-tessitura dismay, the moment Cyprian arrived at the pensione in Santa Croce loudly ejecting what would soon amount to gallons of mucus and saliva […].
Tessitura: the general pitch level or average range of a vocal or instrumental part in a musical composition: an uncomfortably high tessitura. (Pensione.)
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