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Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov Series VIII: Performing Arts • Vol. 7 (56) No. 2 - 2014

NINETEENTH CENTURY’S DONIZETTIAN SINGERS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE VOCAL TECHNIQUE

Cristina SOREANU1

Abstract: The has always reflected the historical times it has been going through. Romanticism brought on stage tragic themes, inspired from history, imposing the typology of the Romantic hero. The dramatic scoring, sketched by the profile of the Romantic roles, induced the need for powerful vocal emission and for wide extension of the vocal registers. A revolution in the field of the vocal technique occurred and new resonating modalities were thereby found. The female main characters dominated the Romantic period and the roles of heroines were entrusted to , the vocal typology with the widest expressive and technical palette. All opera creators’ general tendency was to confer real identity upon the protagonists. These exigencies turned into expressive connotations with nuances of heroic exaltation, in an innovating technical-vocal manner.

Key words: opera, Romanticism, vocal technique, typology.

1. Introduction would lose their own contours and only the extremely long and intricate cadencies The opera, as blending of all arts, has would be highlighted, technically always mirrored the historical times it has introduced for one’s personal fame. been going through; hence, in early nineteenth century, change was identically 2. Change of perspective a prerequisite and singing was adapted to the new requirements. In Italy, during the period 1820-1830, the Until that watershed moment in the art of taste for opera show developed, out of the the opera theatre, composers and singers audience’s desire to see and listen to tragic had been equal partners in show themes, inspired from history, in the sense construction; the composer would sketch a of Romanticism. There had been simple melodic line, to be subsequently forbidden, until then, the deeply tragic completed with variegated ornaments, by subjects, concluded with the death of one singers. or several characters; all theatres had Therefore, in a short while, the singers employed censors and the libretto had to transformed the opera show in a mere pass censorship. costumed concert, wherein the characters Romanticism brought on stage the

1 Faculty of Music, Transilvania University of Brasov. 126 Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov • Series VIII • Vol. 7 (56) No. 2 - 2014 sacrifice, the death for a noble cause, as prevailing voices of the Italian lyrical refusal of the compromise, imposing theatre, namely the and the . thereby the typology of the Romantic hero. The dramatic scoring, sketched by the These new subjects, with a powerful profile of the Romantic roles, led to the denouement, rapidly stood out on the need for powerful vocal emission and for lyrical stage, captivating the audience by wide vocal ranges. Therefore, the robust the possibility to step into the psychology voices of , sopranos or mezzo- of the main character, which chooses sopranos were a prerequisite, leading to a death, as unique option. revolution in the field of vocal technique, Under the influence of the libretto and likewise explained by new resonating out of necessity to bring on stage modalities (chest resonance for the believable characters, the vocal scoring and low register, as well as chest modified, in order to illustrate the heroes’ resonance in combination with head inner torment, and it became intensely resonance for the high register) and by new dramatic, by renouncing useless cadences respiratory modalities, with a view to and coloraturas and by pre-eminently using sustaining the dramatic phrases. Bellini the tessitura; whereas the acute range was and Donizetti introduced the tenor with only used for culminating moments, high vocal texture and of heroic nature – a climaxes, or in conclusive moments. typically Romantic genre of scoring, inexistent until then, in the . 2.1. Vocal technique and expressiveness The tenors’ vocal texture was much like the one of today’s , given that the Vocal-scenic expressiveness was the major ’s typology had not yet been perspective aimed by Romantic composers, clearly defined in Italy, in early nineteenth imposed by the musical drama of the time, as century (except Mozart’s , wherein well as by the main characters’ new the baritone’s voice acquired a special typologies; in Baroque Bel-canto opera, the distinction, by the roles destined to this triad of the main typologies was ensured by typology - , the Count and the , the tenor and the soprano; the Figaro, in Le Nozze di Figaro) whereas the Romantic Bel-canto opera placed in the tenor’s vocal scoring displays high texture, forefront, the triad made up of soprano, tenor, deprived of heroic character (Don Ottavio, baritone, as leaders of the dramatic conflict. in Don Giovanni, Ferrando, in Cosi Fan Vocal colour became, for the first time in Tutte); the differentiation between the two the history of the lyrical theatre, defining male typologies is clear and it transpires in differentiating the vocal fachs; therefore, from the texture of the vocal lines and the singers had to choose between the from the character’s personality). The flexible vocal genre, adequate for the combination between chest resonance and ornamented phrases, and the vocal genre head resonance conveys the brilliance and based on amplitude. homogeneity of the registers, allowing the Vocal technique, in early nineteenth direct attack of the high sounds. century, had not yet allowed a single voice to possess both flexibility, mobility in 2.2. Vocal typologies executing coloraturas, and amplitude, necessary for the Bellinian or Donizzetian- Vocal technique evolved thereby; timber specific phrases. The newly emerged vocal amplitude and register extension became sub-categories, the lyrical genre and the basic elements for the opera voice. In dramatic genre, mainly addressed the terms of amplitude, voices are nowadays C. SOREANU: Nineteenth Century’s Donizettian Singers and their Contribution … 127 divided in subcategories: lyric baritone, Donizetti, , characteristic dramatic baritone, leggero tenor, tenor di for the Romantic period, along with the grazia, lyric tenor, lyric- tenor, spinto-dramatic tenor). The voice of the dramatic tenor, heroic tenor, lyric mezzo- dramatic sopranos d’agilita interweaves soprano, dramatic mezzo-soprano, the qualities of the with , lyric-leggero soprano, the ones of the lyric-leggero soprano: lyric soprano, lyric-spinto soprano, spinto powerful voice, full tessitura and low soprano, dramatic soprano, dramatic register, flexibility, softness, easiness in soprano d’agilita. The German theory of attacking high sounds, agilita di forza. the vocal prescribes, with reference to Since late nineteenth century, roles such the soprano typology, the subdivision into as Norma or Abigaille (Nabucco), the following vocal groups, based on the extremely strong characters, who impose integration of the coloraturas and their authority on a community, have been ornaments into the dramaturgical musical sung by dramatic sopranos; whereas roles context and on the technical requirements, such as Amina (La Sonnambula) or Gilda which stood out throughout the twentieth (Rigoletto), characters who embody young, century. According to these ones, any simple women, who turn into innocent vocal typology is endowed with extension victims of their own personality, have been and flexibility, which allow the singer to sung by lyric-leggero sopranos. In the approach a wide repertoire, with a view to times of Bellini, Donizetti or Verdi, these fully manifesting one’s vocal technical roles were sung by dramatic sopranos aspect, as well as one’s acting, d’agilita. The vocal scoring for sopranos interpretative aspect. intensified, covering the whole ambitus. The vocal texture and dramatic aspect of the roles are the two ways to make a 3.1. Vocal-interpretative approach in distinction and further classification into contemporaneousness vocal typologies, with a view to distributing the roles based on the The ambiguity in terms of vocal- characteristics of each voice. interpretative approach to female Romantic Bel-canto roles, in contemporaneousness, 3. Main female characters starts from the absence of the nineteenth century’s total voices, despite the intense The main female characters dominated development of the vocal-technical the Romantic period; the roles of heroines phenomenon, during the last decades. The being entrusted to sopranos, which is the vocal scoring for wide register, towards vocal typology with the widest expressive both extremes of the vocal ambitus, allows and technical palette. The sopranos’ voice mezzo-sopranos with stable, firm emission may express the most variegated feelings, in the high register, as well as sopranos technically highlighted by cantilenas that with powerful tessitura and low register, of require homogeneity, equality of the air a strong timber, to assume Romantic roles. column; likewise, sustained in varied The exceptional natural endowments and dynamics. The themes of the Donizzetian technical skills of the current female voices operas call for special soprano voices, with denote a wide expressive palette, an exceptional natural endowments and intensely cultivated timbrality in the Bel- technical possibilities: dramatic soprano canto spirit, without deeming the closeness d’agilita (essential vocal typology in the to certain Romantic roles, an error, in the creation of Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano choice of the repertoire (Gioacchino 128 Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov • Series VIII • Vol. 7 (56) No. 2 - 2014

Rossini – Othello – Desdemona – soprano system was still rudimentary; yet it grows or mezzo-soprano, Gioacchino Rossini – in significance, once with the composers’ La Donna del Lago – Elena – soprano or vision upon the roles, as regards their vocal mezzo-soprano, Gaetano Donizetti – portrayal by a certain generalized typology Maria Stuarda – Elisabetta – soprano or of singers, more than their being pre- mezzo-soprano). eminently destined to a certain singer. The Nevertheless, most female Romantic mezzo-soprano voice stands out, after the roles evince clear register and vocal texture decline of the castrati, embodying distinct addressed to the sopranos’ typology, characters, as against sopranos; oftentimes, especially in the creation of Donizetti in full opposition with the femininity (Lucia di Lammermoor, Lucrezia – expressed by the sopranos’ roles. The Lucrezia Borgia) and Bellini (Norma, mezzo-sopranos’ personal or social Elvira – I Puritani). attributions on the opera stage are manifest The baritone voice is defined as halfway between feminism and male dramaturgical necessity, useful in features; the dramatic character and portraying male negative characters (a musical aspect of the great roles destined similar case are the low female voices), for mezzo-sopranos evince the masculinity who intervene in the love story between of scenic attitudes. The opposite are the soprano and tenor (Enrico – Lucia di inert roles of maid, nanny or mother. Lammermoor), forming the triangle of the A great number of Romantic creations intrigue underlying Romantic melodramas develop the idea of staging two main (the typology of the baritone voice is female characters, related to the theatrical accomplished in Verdi’s creation: Iago – convention called contrast of characters, Othello, Giorgio Germont – La Traviata, Il doubled by the association of contrasting Conte di Luna – Il Trovatore). vocal typologies, such as soprano – mezzo- “A romantic specificity is the manner of soprano, according to the model previously assigning the characters, depending on the imposed by Mozart’s operas (Vincenzo vocal typology, in line with the convention Bellini – Norma, Norma – soprano, emerged in the Italian lyrical theatre, Adalgisa – mezzo-soprano; Gaetano which prescribes that sopranos represent Donizetti – Maria Stuarda, Maria – lyrical heroic or tender, ailing characters; soprano, Elisabetta – mezzo-soprano or likewise, that tenors portray warriors, dramatic soprano). knights, heroic typologies, being permanently in the company of the 4. Main male characters characters embodied by sopranos, forming a couple of positive characters, as eternal Until mid-nineteenth century, A was the lovers, with moralizing effect on the last sound in the acute register of the tenor’s audience (Edgardo – Lucia di voice, to be issued with mixed resonance; Lammermoor, is a distinct hero in the and the emission in was used for the Romantic opera creation), in antithesis other high sounds. All tenors, during the with the female and male low voices, Romantic period, had a very good falsetto which constitute negative elements (in technique and achieved a mixture of Donizetti’s creation, the exception is resonances between registers, voce mista Leonora’s role – La Favorita, mezzo- (Andrea Nozzari 1775-1832, Manuel soprano).” [3] Garcia, senior 1775-1832, Domenico In the context of the nineteenth century, Donzelli 1790-1873, Giovanni Davide the fach-based voice-characterization 1790-1864, Giovanni Rubini 1794-1854). C. SOREANU: Nineteenth Century’s Donizettian Singers and their Contribution … 129

By the year 1835, in France, the tenor Vocal masculinity meant the discovery Gilbert Duprez (1806-1896) discovered the of the chest resonance, for the high register emission of the passage towards the high and for the emission of the extremely high register, as well as of all sounds making up notes – a procedure whereby the voice the high register, with chest resonance, and acquired the vehemence necessary for he became thereby the prototype of the emphasizing heroism. The two tenorial Romantic lyrical tenor. typologies, to wit the leggero tenor and the Romantic Bel-canto tenor (bari-tenore), 4.1. Technique of the vibrato shine in the forefront, along with the sopranos, amid the generalized lack of In Italy, Giovanni Rubini used, for the interest in the average voices, regarded as first time, the vibrato of the sounds; until inadequate for the heroic characters. then, most singers only used the sound The tenor’s voice acquires wide vibration in culminating moments, as expressive resonances in roles such as: against the other non-vibrated sounds. The Ugo (Parisina), Edgardo (Lucia di soprano Henriette Meric-Lalande took the Lammermoor), Gennaro (Lucrezia technique of the vibrato from Rubini and Borgia), Fernando (La Favorita), Riccardo was the first woman to have applied this di Chalais (Maria di Rohan), Enrico vocal emission in an opera show. An (Maria di Rudenz) or Nemorino (L’elisir elegant vibrato enhances any type of voice; d’amore) and Tonio (La filled du and in late nineteenth century, its use Regiment) for the comic genre or semi became normality among all singers. seria genre. They are the great It represents a technical element protagonists, to whom arias and duets of particularly valuable, which distinguishes great vocal difficulty and Romantic pathos among voices, much like timber does. are dedicated – a vocal typology in full High-quality vocal emission is based on expansion, conjugating male virility and an attentively studied vibrato, on a good the delicacy of the legato. distribution of the sound column and of the The vocal scoring is characterized by the air quantity, necessary for the process of syllabic chant and by an extremely reduced phonation. frequency of the ornamentation, which With reference to the noteworthy mainly addresses the high register, with a sopranos of the time, one can say that view to substantiating passionate, superb, Giuditta Pasta (1797-1865) and Maria grandiose personalities. Malibran are emblems of the Donizettian “The tenors’ Bel-canto style in glory, the only ones who drew close to the Donizetti’s creation refers to the composer’s vocal and scenic ideal. distinction of the vocal line, to a steady legato and to the spontaneity of the 5. Wide expressive resonances discourse. In opposition with the roles destined for tenors, the heroines’ figures All opera creators tended to confer a real are more varied, in vocal and dramaturgic identity upon the protagonists and to provide terms; the main female characters’ deep an explanation, in the case of the male roles. interiority transpires from their These new exigencies turned into expressive impossibility and interdiction to manifest connotations, laying the stress on heroic them, by explaining these contrasts.” exaltation and youthful impetus, in an The great female figures of Donizzeti’s innovating vocal-technical manner, by operas are a collectiveness of frailty, imposing the high tenor-related typology. wherein the contradiction of overall 130 Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov • Series VIII • Vol. 7 (56) No. 2 - 2014 society converge, which seem to be instrumentalists, as regards the party of the unleashed by the fate bearing the seal of all strings; the wood and brass wind heroines’ death. instruments blowers had four persons in Bringing the female voices on the opera their parties. The technical progresses in stage represented, in an aesthetic light, the the musical-instrument construction woman’s assertion, her detachment from allowed the composers to introduce, within the mediocrity whereto she had been the orchestral assembly, the English horn, condemned; in brief, a moral victory over the clarinet and the contrabassoon. existence. The sopranos’ voice bears narrative- 7. Conclusions expressive values; hence, the focus on centralizing female figures, through a The opera theatre still exerts its genre of show imposed and led by the fascination over the audience at large and concept of opera-specific chant. the spectators still pay special attention to In strict vocal terms, Romanticism all aspects thereof, although the shows substantiated three fundamental directions seem to be ever more subordinated to in the evolution of the vocal technique: the television or audio-video recording. The disappearance of the castrati, the century of communications has seized the imposition of all vocal typologies with sphere of the opera, whose each and every wide scoring and the emphasis on the ethic show is rendered public, debated and character of vocality. wholly consecrated to the media phenomenon. 6. Opera theatres Even under such circumstances, the opera preserves its own invaluable The vocal-dramatic style introduced by message destined for the audience, which composers and librettists, which was to be is deciphered through the overwhelming accomplished, thereafter, by singers, emotions and unique experiences that are enabled the enlargement of the space conveyed by the musical-scenic artistic act. afferent to opera theatres, in terms of both number of seats for the audience and scene References for the artists. Technical changes improve the show 1. Celletti, R.: Le grandi voci. Dizionario quality: the prompter’s box is set in the critico, biografico dei cantanti. Roma. middle of the stage, being opened towards Istituto per la collaborazione culturale, the stage; the orchestra pit is much 1964. enlarged, the conductor’s position – in 2. Garcia, M.: L’art du chant. Paris, 1947. front of the orchestra – is finally agreed 3. Reid, C.: Bel canto. Mainz, 1966. upon, so that the instrumentalists and 4. Scot, M.: The Record of Singing. soloists might be in permanent visual London. Duckworth, 1979. contact with the leader of the show, and 5. Steane, J.: The Grand Tradition. the sound mass could be directed rather Seventy Years of Singing on Record. towards the audience, than to the stage. New York. Scribner, 1974. Opera theatres of great capacity (La 6. Steane, J.: Voices Singers and Critics. Scala – Milano, 3600 seats) required, at the London. Amadeus Press, 1992. same time, a strong orchestral assembly; 7. Stefani, G.: Musica, Poetica e La Scala, in early nineteenth century, had Ideologia, second edition. Milano. an orchestra consisting of fifty Bompiani, 1987.