Giulio Caccini (1551-1618)
Treatise: Le nuove musiche (1602)
 First and foremost a singer and teacher who rejected polyphony in favor of
expressive solo singing with simple accompaniment, and he composed his
own music in order to make the best use of his new techniques of singing
(Stark, Bel Canto,197)
 Carried this style of singing to the rest of Italy (Stark, 196)
 Wrote Le nuove musiche in 1602—says that one should sing ‘with a full and
natural voice, avoiding falsetto…without being constrained to accommodate
himself to others (Stark, Bel Canto, p. 35) This book is a collection of
monodies for solo voice and basso continuo. It includes very particular rules
on ornamentation as well as praise for his own style of music.
 Believed in transposing
Bovicelli (1555-1594)
 One of the first authors to advocate silent breathing in 1594
Lodovico Zacconi (1555-1627)
Treatise: Prattica di musica (1592)
 Prattica di musica had the most detailed early description of registers
 Differentiated between voices that were “dull” and those that were ‘biting’
(mordente). He related these qualities to vocal register: the lower register
known as the chest voice (voce di petto) and the upper register as the head
voice (voce di testa)/falsetto
 He preferred the bright chest voice- thought head voices were ‘dull’ and
‘annoying (Stark, Bel Canto, pg. 59) (referring to male singers)
 The singer should ‘undertake only as many figures as he can comfortably
accommodate on one breath.’
 forced chest voice offends and tones should be omitted instead of sung
poorly (Stark, Bel Canto, pg. 59)
 two registers: voce piena e naturale (full and natural voice) and the voce finta
(feigned voice/falsetto) (pg. 59)
Pier Francesco Tosi (1653-1732)
Treatise: Opinioni de’ cantori antichi, e moderni (Observations on the Florid
Song) (1723) Provides a unique glimpse on the technical and social aspects of
Baroque music
 School of singing in Bologna
 He was a castrato and his writings are not as concerned with the changed
voice
 Used terms voce di petto/testa
 Believed in uniting the registers together, otherwise the voice would be
limited in range
Giambattista Mancini (1714-1800)
Treatise: Pensieri e riflessioni pratiche sopra il canto figurato (Practical Reflections
on the Figurative Art of Singing) (1774)
 Coined the term “chiaroscuro”
 He was a castrato
 First talked about the two register model-head/falsetto (he and Tosi used
terms interchangeably) and the chest voice.
 Believed in the smiling mouth shape (shortens resonating cavity)
 Discusses how to sing embesllishments, trills, messa di voce
 “the most necessary thing for success, is the art of knowing how to conserve
the breath and manage it”
 Messa di voce is the secret to beautiful singing (pg. 96)
Manuel Garcia I (1775-1832)
 one of the most celebrated tenors: Rossini wrote tenor part for him in Barber
of Seville
 Moved from Seville to Madrid to sing and compose and direct
 Moved to study and perform in Paris-criticized for over-embellishing
 1811-1816 Moved to study in Naples and found new wife
 Moved back to Paris and opened singing schools (also in London) and wrote
Exercises and Methods for Singing in 1824.
Manuel Garcia II (1805-1906)
Treatises: Mémoire sur la voix humaine (Memoir of the Human Voice)(1840), Hints
on Singing (1894)
 Baritone
 First who attempted to explain tone quality in a systematic way by making
clear distinction between effects of glottal settings and the effects of the
resonance tube (Stark, Bel Canto, pg. 36)
 Invented laryngoscope in 1855
 Coup de la glotte- firm glottal closure to ensure a ringing quality-once that
initial sound was made, there could be modifications of that sound caused by
‘the changes in the tube which the sounds traverse’ (Stark, Bel Canto, 36-37)
 Believes dullness in the sound can be remedied by pinching the glottis
vigorously (Stark, Bel Canto, pg.38)
 Science rather than imagery
 High palate and expanded pharynx
 Breath management not a major emphasis for Garcia (Stark, Bel Canto, pg.
97)
 His voice was ruined by the age of 24 from being pushed onto stage at early
years
 He worked in military hospitals where he got to study the larynx and neck
wounds
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1840- Memoir sur la vox(check on this)- 2 register theory voce di petto and
voce di testa (middle mix place he called falsetto)
1894- Wrote Hints on Singing-3 registers
Marilyn Horne, Joan Sutherland, Beverly Sills, Dietrich Fischer Diskau all can
trace lineage back to Garcia
Maintained that timbre modifications help to unite falsetto and chest register
Francesco Lamperti (1811-1892)
Treatise: A Treatise on the Art of Singing (1877)Used resonance imagery, but
recognized that imagery was illusory
 Did not like coup de la glotte (although there is one quote from Lamperti Sr.
about the “shock of the glottis”
 Effort in the chest rib area should be avoided- diaphragmatic breathing
 Mr. Appoggio man! Column of air
 3 registers females: Chest, mix, head
 2 registers male: Chest mix
 emphasis on posture and muscles in thorax
 trained first in full voice than gradually towards pianissimo, used lots of <>,
portamento, legato
 advocated a dark tone associated with an expanded pharynx as a starting
point to be brightened sufficiently to create chiaroscuro
 “there is no such thing as nasal voice, head voice, chest voice, etc.”
 Appoggio, according to Lamperti, is “all the notes, from the lowest to the
highest, are produced by a column of air over which the singer has perfect
command, by holding back the breath, and not permitting more air than is
absolutely necessary for the formation of the note to escape from the lungs”
Mathilde Marchesi (1821-1913):
Treatise: Methode de chant theorique et pratique (Theoretical and Practical
Vocal Method) (1885)
 German
 Only taught women
 Her writings based on Garcia
 Chief advocate of coup de la glotte
 Ten Singing Lessons
 Most successful teacher who used Garcia’s teachings and she had many
famous students
 Registration is “the alpha and omega of the formation and development of
the female voice; the touchstone of all singing, old a new”
Giovanni Battista Lamperti (1839-1910)
Treatise: Die Technik des Bel Canto (The Technics of Bel Canto) (1905)
 son of Francesco Lamperti
 diaphragmatic breathing, shoulders slightly back
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singers should inhale only through the mouth, mouth slightly opened
breath control the foundation of all vocal study
started exercise in medium part of register
tongue lies flat
3 registers
students use mirror
mezzo sop and dramatic sopranos were the same thing
messa di voce
advocated a dark tone associated with an expanded pharynx as a starting
point to be brightened sufficiently to create chiaroscuro
Henry Holbrook Curtis (1856-1920)
 ‘relaxed throat’ method
 place tone in facial resonators
 ‘to sing dans le masque (into the mask)…requires the soft palate and uvula to
be lowered’—this results in nasal quality
 "The shock, or coup de glotte, is death to the voice; it is born of
ignorance, and to teach or allow its continuance is a crime. We have no words
strong enough to condemn it."
Luisa Tetrazzini (1871-1940)
 This feeling of singing against the chest with the weight of air pressing up against it
is known as “breath support,” and in Italian we have even a better word, “appoggio,”
which is breath prop.
William Vennard (1909-1971)
 Silent [h] guy
 Bernouli effect is at work during phonation (later discovered not applicable
to singers
Johan Sundberg (1936-)
 Discounted the importance of both the nasal cavity and head and chest
resonances as ‘not relevant to the major acoustic properties of the vowel
produced in professional operatic singing (1977, p. 55)
 Cautions against firm glottal closure
 Three types of phonation: “breathy”, “flow”, and “pressed”
 Suggested that nasal resonance is not relevant to the major acoustical
properties of the vowels produced in professional operatic singing
James Stark (1938-)
 Believes in “the call” to bring power and control to the voice
 Right away work on appaggio and chiaroscuroIngo Titze-
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Favours flow phonation-believes pressed phonation is hyperadduction and
breathy voice is hypoadduction. He maintains the ‘pressed voice carries with
it a higher risk of damage’ (Stark, 27)
Henderson
 relaxed throat
 "All the muscles of the throat should be easy and reposeful in good tone
formation....Singers should never be conscious of effort in the throat....The
whole neighborhood of the throat should be kept quiet.”
Clippenger
 against Garcia
Blanche Marchesi
 Garcia devotee
 Hates nasal resonance
 Associated the production of vowels with ‘sounding boards’
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Daniel Bloem-H
Bel Canto is coup de la glotte and appoggio (breath support)
William Shakespeare (1849-1931)
 The Art of Singing (1921) “Poor breathing can cause singing in which the
tongue stiffens so the tone and pronunciation are impeded. The jaw, lips, and
eyes are rigidly fixed and the face assumes an unnatural expression”
 “The more naturally we wish to sing, the greater is the necessity of learning
how to control the breath. Until the student has(done this) he will not dare
to sing with the open throat”
 “Unless the throat is open, there will be harsh, throaty, or nasal sounds”
 Followed Lamperti legacy
Hermann Hemholtz
 Responsible for developing the framework which would later become known
as forment theory
Johann Sundberg
 Suggested that nasal resonance is not relevant to the major acoustical
properties of the vowels produced in professional operatic singing