The Bel Canto Singing Style (I)

Of the various national styles of singing in the Baroque era, the Italian style was the mainstream. There has been a more or less unbroken tradition of bel canto singing ever since Giulio Caccini wrote about it in his Le nuove musiche (1602). The classical bel canto style crystallized in the late seventeenth century, when musical considerations triumphed over the text-dominated style of the early part of the century. By that time Italian opera had become something of a commodity, and Italian signers were in demand throughout Europe. Unfortunately, for about the last three quarters of the century there are essentially no Italian treatises on singing. There are, to be sure, numerous treatises from German writers of this period, but while they were enthusiastic admirers of the Italian style, few of them had direct association with bel canto singers. Pier Francesco Tosi, a castrato singer and actor of some note, was, however, thoroughly conversant with the bel canto style. His Opinioni de’ cantori antichi, e moderni was published in 1723, chronologically beyond the limits of this guide, but by that time Tosi was well into his seventies. His ideas about singing were formed during the closing decades of the seventeenth century, when he was at the height of his career. Moreover, the title of the book clearly indicates Tosi’s awareness of the “ancient”—by which he means the style of his own heyday as a singer—and the “modern” styles of singing, and it is clearly the former that he prefers. Tosi’s treatise was translated into English by J. E. Galliard (1743) and into German by J. F. Agricola (1757). The latter’s copious annotations are often quite illuminating, even for seventeenth-century practice, in spite of their late date.

Articulation

Articulation is perhaps the key element that distinguishes early Baroque from modern vocal style. The incredibly facile technique of the finest Italian singers of the era can be seen in the florid written-out divisions that survive. These singers employed a rapid glottal articulation known as the “disposition of the voice” (disposizione della voce). Rather like a high laugh or giggle, with the air striking the soft palate, this technique facilitated rapid movement of the voice, though it is frowned on in modern vocal pedagogy. Later in the Baroque, when singers had to fill large performing spaces such as opera houses, this style of articulation fell out of favor. Glottal articulation is quite effective in intimate performance venues, but it is virtually inaudible in the far reaches of a large hall.

By the late seventeenth century, according to Tosi, there were two principal manners of articulating divisions—the battuto (detached, which replaced the glottal style) and the scivolato (slurred). Regarding the former, Agricola offers an interesting explanation:

When practicing, imagine that the vocal sound of the division is gently repeated with each note; for example, one must pronounce as many a’s in rapid succession as there are notes in the division—just as with a stringed instrument, where a short bow stroke belongs to each note of the division; and in the traverse flute and some other wind instruments [where] each note receives its own gentle impetus by the correct tongue stroke, whether single or double.

For the slurred divisions Agricola suggests that the singer pronounce only one vowel, which is not rearticulated, and over which the entire division is sung. For Tosi the battuto style of articulation is far more common than the scivolato: he allows only a descending or ascending four-note group to be slurred.

In addition to the two common types of articulation for divisions, Tosi discusses two other special types. The first of these is the sgagateata (lit., cackling), a pejorative term used in Italy to describe the glottal articulation. It was regarded as a fault because it is usually too feeble to be heard adequately. Tosi further disparages glottal technique for the reiteration of one tone. He writes,

What would he [the good teacher] say about those who have invented the astounding trick of singing like crickets? Who could ever have dreamed that it would become fashionable to take ten or twelve consecutive eighth notes and break them up by a certain shaking of the voice? . . . He will have even greater reason, however, to abhor the invention by which one sings in a laughing manner or sings in the manner of hens that have just laid an egg.

Singing Instruction

The quick glottal articulation, disposizione di voce, was an important element of singing instruction in the early part of the seventeenth century. It had not entirely disappeared by the last decades of the century, though Tosi disparages it. Agility, however, was extremely important. The trill was stressed as not only the hallmark of agility, but also as the foundation of agility; the fast notes must be practiced in order to make the trill more even. This was contrasted with long notes, called fermar la voce by Tosi. Italian singing teachers probably started with long notes as their first exercise.

Tosi rebukes the many singers of his day who, in their rejection of “old-fashioned” style, neglect to practice the messa di voce, a crescendo-decrescendo over a long note. He recommends that it be used sparingly and only on a bright vowel. Messa di voce was an important aspect of singing instruction, and when Roger North
suggested that one begin on the viol by playing long-held notes with a messa di voce, he probably was imitating singing instruction.

Tosi thus specifies two types of sustaining of the voice. The function of the fermar is to steady the voice on a long, sustained note without crescendo and make it capable of singing sustained notes evenly and without vibrato, whereas the messa di voce entails a crescendo-decrescendo and often the introduction of vibrato at the highest point of the crescendo.

Tosi’s observations for music students may be compared with descriptions of training regimens of the castratos in the papal schools and in Naples. Common to all are (1) emphasis on the practice of agility (ability to execute fast passages), (2) emphasis on exercises for long, sustained notes, (3) the study of composition, (4) work in front of the mirror, and (5) the study of literature and languages.

At the Papal Chapel school in Rome, students were required to devote themselves during the first hour of the morning to the practice of difficult divisions. A second hour was spent practicing the trill, and a third was devoted to developing correct and clear intonation—all this in the presence of the master and in front of a mirror, in order to watch the position of the tongue and the mouth. The morning regimen ended with two hours devoted to the study of expression, taste, and literature. In the afternoon, one half hour was devoted to the theory of sound, another half hour to simple counterpoint, and an hour to composition. The remaining time was spent practicing the keyboard and composing motets or psalms.