Introduction
From the late nineteenth century it has been the exception for composers and
publishers to print the names of singers on music editions (except in some complete
vocal scores of operas), but before that time, especially in England and France, it was
common practice. The practice enhanced immeasurably the historical interest of
printed editions, our knowledge of singers, of voices in general, and of performing
styles in particular. Perhaps the most important information to be derived from it
relates to performance practice, especially the ornamentation, or embellishments, that
singers applied to their music, based on their vocal capabilities, on the traditions of the
day, and on the special wishes of composers.
Particularly from the last decade of the eighteenth century and until the midnineteenth century, it was quite common for singers’ ornamentation to be printed in
the musical text. Important examples will be found in this collection under Nancy
Storace, Elizabeth Billington, Catalani, Velluti, Pasta, Malibran, Giulia Grisi, Jenny
Lind, and others. Where ornamentation was not printed, it was sometimes added,
usually in pencil, to individual copies of publications belonging to or used by singers;
for some of the many examples here see under Tenducci, Banti, Mara, Catalani,
Velluti, Pasta and Grisi. Several examples of printed and manuscript embellishments
are illustrated in this catalogue.
The catalogue relates primarily to singers and singing in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries. It is devoted to the repertoires of well-known singers and
provides information about their vocal ranges and styles of singing. It is arranged in a
single alphabet by singer and comprises songs, arias and other vocal music that was
both composed by the singers themselves or was ‘merely’ sung by named singers.
Although most of the music in the collection dates from before 1900, we did not wish
to exclude two songs composed by Caruso (1911/12) and a complete operetta by
Richard Tauber (1934).
*
This is an extensive collection, consisting of more than 700 individual printed editions
or manuscripts and containing over 1100 vocal items. More than 200 of these editions
or manuscripts, comprising over 500 vocal pieces, are the works of singers who also
composed; the remainder are sung by named singers. The catalogue gives brief
biographical details of all the singers followed by descriptions of the majority of the
items; its arrangement is explained before the first page of the descriptions. Other than
the singer-composers themselves, the composers include Ariosti, Arne, Bellini,
Berlioz, Bononcini, Cimarosa, Donizetti, Eccles, Flotow, Gasparini, Gluck, Handel,
Mancini, Martín y Soler, Meyerbeer, Mozart, Paisiello, Piccinni, Daniel Purcell,
Rossini, Sacchini, Sarti, Spontini, Verdi and Weber. Among the authors and librettists
are Richard Cumberland, da Ponte, Garrick, Longfellow, Thomas Moore, de Musset,
Pushkin, Walter Scott, Sheridan and Turgenev. The type of vocal music ranges from
airs, ariettas, cantatas, romances, canzonettas, operatic arias (and a few concerted
pieces), nocturnes, methods, exercises, vocalises, canons, and additional and substitute
arias introduced by singers into operas ― for example by Billington, Mara, Braham,
Catalani and Pasta.
Of special interest, of course, is the music composed by the singers themselves,
for most of it must have been written with the singer-composer’s own voice and
special capabilities in mind. Almost 50 composers (marked ♦ in the catalogue) and
some 500 pieces come into this category, including important items or groups of items
by Isabella Colbran, Girolamo Crescentini, Domenico Donzelli, Gilbert Duprez, JeanBaptiste Faure, Manuel García (i), Michael Kelly, Giuseppe Millico, Venanzio
Rauzzini, Tenducci, Velluti and Pauline Viardot. Of perhaps the greatest significance
are the comprehensive collections of Maria Malibran and Caroline Unger, each of
whom is represented by almost all her known works.
As will already have been noticed, the singers named above include many of
the most starry names from the history of singing since 1700. Of these, Nancy
Storace, Elizabeth Billington, Angelica Catalani, Pasta and Jenny Lind are particularly
well represented. There are also many others who created roles for major composers.
For instance, the collection is especially strong in those who sang in first
performances of Handel’s works ― including Cecilia Arne, John Beard, Susanna
Cibber, Thomas Lowe, Margherita L’Épine, Nicolini, Anastasia Robinson, Senesino
and Valentini. To the names of the several castrati already mentioned can be added
those of Aprile, Farinelli, Marchesi, Millico, Pacchierotti, Roncaglia, Rubinelli and
Tenducci: in all, twelve castrati are represented in the collection. Although the
principal interest may lie in the voices of the best-known singers, it is also instructive
to examine the degree of vocal expertise that was expected of those who were
primarily regarded as actors, in days when music and theatre were inextricably linked.
Among other features that contribute to the importance of the collection are the
presence of several manuscripts, including autograph works of Manuel García (i),
Caroline Unger, Gilbert Duprez and Jean-Baptiste Faure, and especially interesting
copyist manuscripts relating to Farinelli, Crescentini, Catalani and Velluti. Further,
from the 1820s onwards more than a dozen of the printed editions include portraits of
singers as plates, as frontispieces or on title-pages; these include fine examples of
Lind, Malibran, Sontag, and Viardot. There are also many attractive title-pages
embellished with vignettes or ornamental borders. Of additional interest are the places
or circumstances of performance that are often mentioned ― specific opera houses,
concerts and concert halls, pleasure gardens, provincial and foreign cities, and musical
festivals. And in these days when gender studies are so fashionable, it is worth noting
that about 30% of the singer-composers are women.
We are not aware that a collection along these lines has been attempted and
catalogued before, and we are hopeful that it will lead to new research in a number of
fields and to more investigation into those editions of music, largely ignored hitherto,
that are not necessarily firsts but, just as interestingly, are contemporaneous with the
early performances.