The Bel Canto Singing Style (II)

Diction

Tosi has a great deal to say about diction, and much of it pertains to the singing of divisions:

Every teacher knows that the divisions sound unpleasant on the third and the fifth vowels (the i or the u).10 But not everyone knows that, in good schools, they are not permitted even on the e and o if these two  vowels are pronounced closed. . . Even more ridiculous is when a singer articulates too loudly and with such forceful aspiration that, for example, when we should hear a division on the a, he seems to be saying ga ga ga. This applies also to the other vowels.

Some earlier Italian writers, such as Camillo Maffei, said that the u vowel sounded like howling, especially since the Italian word for howling is ululando. The i was rejected because it was thought to produce the sounds made by small animals. Agricola is critical of basses who, when singing divisions, “put an h in front of every note, which they then aspirate with such force that, besides producing an unpleasant sound, it causes them unnecessarily to expend so much air that they are forced to breathe almost every half measure.

Ornamentation

 

Divisions

Tosi indicates that ornaments should be performed with proper concern for the affect of the text and that attention be paid to the preferred vowels (a and o) and to the type of articulation—slurred in the pathetic arias and detached in the lively ones. While sounding easy, the ornamentation should, in fact, really be difficult, though it should never sound studied. Dynamic colors are important, and the use of the piano in the pathetic adagio is especially effective, as is also a type of “terrace dynamics” (use of piano and forte without intermediate shadings) in the allegro. Choosing the appropriate place for an ornament is important; therefore, the singer should take care not to overcrowd it. It should never be repeated in the same theater because the connoisseurs would take notice. Tosi advises the singer to practice divisions that contain leaps after learning those that move by step.

Tosi uses the following five adjectives to describe the “whole beauty” of divisions: perfettamente intonato, battuto, eguale, rotto, and veloce. The first and last adjectives, “perfectly in tune” and “fast,” need no explanation. The term battuto, discussed above under the section articulation, refers to the vocal technique involving the motion of the entire larynx that was essential to the basic agility of the voice. Eguale means that the notes within the division should be “equal” in volume. Rotto (lit., broken) means “distinct.” Simply put, battuto refers to the specific technique the singer is to use, while rotto refers to the effect perceived by the listener.

 

Cercar la Nota

Tosi advises the teacher to “teach his students to sing all of the leaps within the scale with perfectly pure intonation, confidently, and skillfully.” Agricola warns of a fault noticed in many Italian singers, whereby

with a leap, even a small one, they sing, before they get to the higher note, one or even two or three lower notes. These are indistinct and may even be sung with a sharp aspiration. They even introduce ad nauseum this cercar la nota (searching for the note) to interval leaps larger than a third—which was not common practice among the ancients.

One of the first theorists to describe the cercar dalla nota is Giovanni Battista Bovicelli, depending on the harmony of the other parts.” Christoph Bernhard specifies that it is the “note directly below the initial note,” employed either at the beginning or during the course of a phrase and performed in a gliding manner very imperceptibly to the initial note. Besides its function as an ornament, the cercar della nota is also a vocal technique used in the modern era to enable the singer to reach a high note more easily.

 

Messa di Voce, Messa di Voce Crescente, and Strascino

We have observed that the messa di voce was a critical element of a singer’s training. First seen merely as a device or ornament, the messa di voce is obviously intended by Caccini when he speaks of il crescere e scemare della voce (the crescendo and decrescendo of the voice) as one single grace, which is performed on a whole note. One of the first writers to use the term, Tosi defines the messa di voce as “beginning the tone very gently and softly and letting it swell little by little to the loudest forte and thereafter letting it recede with the same artistry from loud to soft.”

A special effect that can be used instead of the appoggiatura in making an ascent is the messa di voce crescente. The adjective crescente simply means “rising.” The effect is applied to a long-held note with a swell that gradually rises by a semitone.

The strascino, or “drag,” was like a glissando or slide. Tosi uses the term not only to denote an extremely slurred manner of singing, but also to indicate a special ornament consisting of a slowly descending glissando scalar passage, considered especially effective in the pathetic style. He also says it involves an alternation of loud and soft, and it also seems to entail a tempo rubato over a steady bass. The drag is distinguished from the messa di voce crescente primarily in that the latter encompasses only the interval of a rising half step, whereas the drag can ascend or descend and may have a wider compass. It is found in the works of Claudio Monteverdi and Sigismondo d’India, where on very affective words one sometimes finds an ascent of a chromatic half step, accompanied by a slur (see Example 2.1).