Function of Singing Treatises
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
The Rise of the Tenor Voice in the Late Eighteenth Century: Mozart’S Opera and Concert Arias Joshua M
University of Connecticut OpenCommons@UConn Doctoral Dissertations University of Connecticut Graduate School 10-3-2014 The Rise of the Tenor Voice in the Late Eighteenth Century: Mozart’s Opera and Concert Arias Joshua M. May University of Connecticut - Storrs, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://opencommons.uconn.edu/dissertations Recommended Citation May, Joshua M., "The Rise of the Tenor Voice in the Late Eighteenth Century: Mozart’s Opera and Concert Arias" (2014). Doctoral Dissertations. 580. https://opencommons.uconn.edu/dissertations/580 ABSTRACT The Rise of the Tenor Voice in the Late Eighteenth Century: Mozart’s Opera and Concert Arias Joshua Michael May University of Connecticut, 2014 W. A. Mozart’s opera and concert arias for tenor are among the first music written specifically for this voice type as it is understood today, and they form an essential pillar of the pedagogy and repertoire for the modern tenor voice. Yet while the opera arias have received a great deal of attention from scholars of the vocal literature, the concert arias have been comparatively overlooked; they are neglected also in relation to their counterparts for soprano, about which a great deal has been written. There has been some pedagogical discussion of the tenor concert arias in relation to the correction of vocal faults, but otherwise they have received little scrutiny. This is surprising, not least because in most cases Mozart’s concert arias were composed for singers with whom he also worked in the opera house, and Mozart always paid close attention to the particular capabilities of the musicians for whom he wrote: these arias offer us unusually intimate insights into how a first-rank composer explored and shaped the potential of the newly-emerging voice type of the modern tenor voice. -
Historical Vocal Pedagogies
VC565 Historical Vocal Pedagogies Ian Howell [email protected] New England Conservatory of Music 23 September 2013 Monday, September 23, 13 Giulio Caccini b.1551 – d.1618 Florence, Italy Florentine Camerata – Recitative/Text Famous singer, music teacher, composer of Medici court Monday, September 23, 13 Giulio Caccini •Singers vs. instrumentalists •Voce piena, e naturale vs. voce finta •Avoid slides •Decrescendo from attack •Trillo vs. gruppo •Ornamentation for affect of text Monday, September 23, 13 Pier Francesco Tosi b.1647 – d.1742 Soprano Castrato Taught and performed across Europe, especially Vienna, London, and Bologna Monday, September 23, 13 Pier Francesco Tosi •Study solfeggio •voce di testa vs. voce di petto •Head voice soft ≠ shrieking trumpet •scales without separation of [h] or [g] •fast passages on [a], never [i] or [u] •avoid closed versions of [e] and [o] Monday, September 23, 13 Pier Francesco Tosi •Progressive exercises •expression towards a smile •Hold out the length of notes without shrillness and trembling •Messa di voce taught later •Teach on [a], [Ɛ], and [ɔ], not just on [a] •Drag voice high to low, but not low to high Monday, September 23, 13 Pier Francesco Tosi •Appoggiatura is most important grace •Trill is a necessity •No rules for teaching trill Monday, September 23, 13 Pier Francesco Tosi •Study with the mind •Listen to the best •Too much practice and vocal beauty incompatible Monday, September 23, 13 Giambattista Mancini b.1714 – d.1800 Bologna Castrato, studied with Bernacchi (also Senesino’s (Giulio Cesare) -
A Culture of Recording: Christopher Raeburn and the Decca Record Company
A Culture of Recording: Christopher Raeburn and the Decca Record Company Sally Elizabeth Drew A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Sheffield Faculty of Arts and Humanities Department of Music This work was supported by the Arts & Humanities Research Council September 2018 1 2 Abstract This thesis examines the working culture of the Decca Record Company, and how group interaction and individual agency have made an impact on the production of music recordings. Founded in London in 1929, Decca built a global reputation as a pioneer of sound recording with access to the world’s leading musicians. With its roots in manufacturing and experimental wartime engineering, the company developed a peerless classical music catalogue that showcased technological innovation alongside artistic accomplishment. This investigation focuses specifically on the contribution of the recording producer at Decca in creating this legacy, as can be illustrated by the career of Christopher Raeburn, the company’s most prolific producer and specialist in opera and vocal repertoire. It is the first study to examine Raeburn’s archive, and is supported with unpublished memoirs, private papers and recorded interviews with colleagues, collaborators and artists. Using these sources, the thesis considers the history and functions of the staff producer within Decca’s wider operational structure in parallel with the personal aspirations of the individual in exerting control, choice and authority on the process and product of recording. Having been recruited to Decca by John Culshaw in 1957, Raeburn’s fifty-year career spanned seminal moments of the company’s artistic and commercial lifecycle: from assisting in exploiting the dramatic potential of stereo technology in Culshaw’s Ring during the 1960s to his serving as audio producer for the 1990 The Three Tenors Concert international phenomenon. -
A Countertenor's Reference Guide to Operatic Repertoire
A COUNTERTENOR’S REFERENCE GUIDE TO OPERATIC REPERTOIRE Brad Morris A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF MUSIC May 2019 Committee: Christopher Scholl, Advisor Kevin Bylsma Eftychia Papanikolaou © 2019 Brad Morris All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Christopher Scholl, Advisor There are few resources available for countertenors to find operatic repertoire. The purpose of the thesis is to provide an operatic repertoire guide for countertenors, and teachers with countertenors as students. Arias were selected based on the premise that the original singer was a castrato, the original singer was a countertenor, or the role is commonly performed by countertenors of today. Information about the composer, information about the opera, and the pedagogical significance of each aria is listed within each section. Study sheets are provided after each aria to list additional resources for countertenors and teachers with countertenors as students. It is the goal that any countertenor or male soprano can find usable repertoire in this guide. iv I dedicate this thesis to all of the music educators who encouraged me on my countertenor journey and who pushed me to find my own path in this field. v PREFACE One of the hardships while working on my Master of Music degree was determining the lack of resources available to countertenors. While there are opera repertoire books for sopranos, mezzo-sopranos, tenors, baritones, and basses, none is readily available for countertenors. Although there are online resources, it requires a great deal of research to verify the validity of those sources. -
6 X 10.Long New.P65
Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-12109-5 - The Prima Donna and Opera, 1815-1930 Susan Rutherford Excerpt More information Introduction In Italy, a woman who writes for the These words begin another book: public is a strange thing. I will Geltrude Maria Giorgi Righetti’s therefore make myself courageous in brief but passionate defence of the silence of all, and I will speak of Rossini, written in 1823. It is a re- things that interest all Italian women: I mean Rossini and his music. I do markable document, not so much not seek praise, nor am I ambitious for what it says about Rossini, but for some prize; I write for the truth, because it represented a rare at- I want to verify some facts that have tempt by a female singer to inter- been bizarrely expounded, or vene in the public discourses believed with excessive ease; and if surrounding opera, to extend the I cannot cite other authors, and refer as all scholars do to the music of the voice that was welcomed and ap- Greeks and Egyptians, I will speak of plauded on the lyric stage into modern operas, and I too will say another, potentially far more hos- things that might deserve some tile arena. Conscious of the singu- 1 attention. larity of her stance as both woman and singer, Giorgi Righetti was nevertheless determined to venture into this other dimension: ‘I too will say things that might deserve some attention’. In contrast, the voices of other female singers only occasionally found their way into published material until much later in the century, although some, as we shall see, have survived through letters, diaries and other documents. -
Melodrama and Metatheatre: Theatricality in the Nineteenth Century Theatre
Spring 1997 85 Melodrama and Metatheatre: Theatricality in the Nineteenth Century Theatre Katherine Newey Metatheatricality has always been an important feature of the English theatre.1 In the case of melodrama on the nineteenth century popular stage, the genre as a whole is strongly marked by a metatheatrical awareness, and the self- referential nature of melodrama is one of its key modes of communication. The highly coded conventions of melodrama performance, with its over-determined practices of characterisation, acting, and staging, constitute a self-referential sign system which exploits the playfulness and artfulness of the theatre to a high degree. Such artfulness assumes that the spectator understands and accepts these codes and conventions, not simply as theatrical ploys, but as an approach to theatrical representation which is deliberately self-conscious and self-reflexive. Clearly, these theatrical practices extend the significance of metatheatricality beyond just those plays which fit easily into the obvious metatheatrical categories such as the play within the play, the framed play, or the play about the theatrical profession.2 It is the argument of this essay that what is melodramatic is also metatheatrical; that metatheatricality in melodrama is a result of the extremity of expression in character and structure which is established by nineteenth century melodrama. Metatheatrical plays of the popular stage challenge the usual distinctions made between high and popular culture, both in the nineteenth century and now. Metatheatrical theatre has generally been seen as a part of high culture, not popular culture. Discussions of metatheatricality in nineteenth century popular theatre either express surprise at its 'modernity,'3 or dismiss its existence at all.4 The self-consciousness and self-reflexivity of theatre which refers to itself, to its making or performing, or to its dramatic and theatrical illusions, is regarded as essentially literary: complex, and aesthetically informed. -
Why Do Singers Sing in the Way They
Why do singers sing in the way they do? Why, for example, is western classical singing so different from pop singing? How is it that Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballe could sing together? These are the kinds of questions which John Potter, a singer of international repute and himself the master of many styles, poses in this fascinating book, which is effectively a history of singing style. He finds the reasons to be primarily ideological rather than specifically musical. His book identifies particular historical 'moments of change' in singing technique and style, and relates these to a three-stage theory of style based on the relationship of singing to text. There is a substantial section on meaning in singing, and a discussion of how the transmission of meaning is enabled or inhibited by different varieties of style or technique. VOCAL AUTHORITY VOCAL AUTHORITY Singing style and ideology JOHN POTTER CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 IRP, United Kingdom CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, United Kingdom 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia © Cambridge University Press 1998 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1998 Typeset in Baskerville 11 /12^ pt [ c E] A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library library of Congress cataloguing in publication data Potter, John, tenor. -
The Castrato As a Rhetorical Figure
Martha Feldman The Castrato as a Rhetorical Figure What does it mean to think of opera as rhetorical, and specifically of its performers as rhetoricians? I am not thinking here in terms of rhetorical figures as in the tradition of Joachim Burmeister, who in the early seventeenth century tried to transfer Quintilian’s figures to music by categorically imposing oratorical tropes on musical analogs.1 There was a rigidity in the enterprise that says more about the taxonomical fantasies of Burmeister and his age than about the workings of rhetoric on the ground of music-making. Nor am I thinking in terms of affective categories.2 Rather, I refer to the fact that the operatic genre in which castrati most often sang, called ‘dramma per musica’ or later ‘opera seria’, was rhetorical through and through. Arranging its many solo arias in a chiaroscuro array of affects, tempi, meters, keys, and orchestrations—a kind of large-scale varietas—it suffused each aria with carefully wrought emotional pacing built on carefully modeled syntactic structures, and interlaced them with rhetorically charged recitative, all with an ear forever tuned to the audience.3 What interests me here is the Ciceronian nature of the castrato persona as fundamentally grounded in the dynamics of delivery to a listener. Hence my attention is focused on the body as that vehicle of delivery and the total social phenomenon of which it is a part. While I will not address drama here in a central way, I will think about how this rhetorical castrato ignites the dramatic and makes it persuasive. -
Francesca Caccini (1587-1641): Composer, Performer, and Professor Represented in Il Primo Libro Delle Musiche
Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Music Theses School of Music Spring 5-10-2014 Francesca Caccini (1587-1641): Composer, Performer, and Professor Represented in Il Primo Libro Delle Musiche Marina Lobato Miranda Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/music_theses Recommended Citation Lobato Miranda, Marina, "Francesca Caccini (1587-1641): Composer, Performer, and Professor Represented in Il Primo Libro Delle Musiche." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2014. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/music_theses/5 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Music at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Music Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FRANCESCA CACCINI (1587-1641): COMPOSER, PERFORMER, AND PROFESSOR REPRESENTED IN IL PRIMO LIBRO DELLE MUSICHE by MARINA MIRANDA Under the Direction of Marie Sumner Lott ABSTRACT This research analyses Francesca Caccini’s Il primo libro delle musiche as representative, not only of her musical style, but also of her characteristics as performer and voice teacher. The first chapters embrace her early musical life and the influences of her father in her musical style and career, followed by a brief explanation of Giulio Caccini’s compositional characteristics. The succeeding section clarifies the ornaments adopted by Francesca and her father in their songs, and the way they should be sang according to Giulio’s collection Le nuove musique. In order to analyze Il primo libro as an important pedagogic source to professors and students around 1600’s, the next chapters discuss the early concept of vocal technic and teaching during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries based on treatises by Píer Tosi and Giambattista Mancini, and how these ideas could be associated with Francesca as a voice professor and “maestrina” inside the Medici’s court. -
Vocal Music 1650-1750
Chapter 9 Vocal Music 1650-1750 Sunday, October 21, 12 Opera • beyond Italy, opera was slow to develop • France, Spain, and England enjoyed their own forms of dramatic entertainment with music Sunday, October 21, 12 Opera France: Comédie-ballet and Tragédie en musique • Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687), established sung drama that was part opera and part ballet • wrote a series of comédie-ballet for dancing talents of his master, Loius XIV • mixed spoken drama and dance Sunday, October 21, 12 Opera France: Comédie-ballet and Tragédie en musique • in 1672, Lully created new operatic genre: tragédie en musique (also know as tragédie lyrique) • drew on classical mythology and chivalric romances with plots being veiled favorable commentaries on recent court events Sunday, October 21, 12 Opera France: Comédie-ballet and Tragédie en musique • Tragédie en musique consisted of: • an overture • an allegorical prologue • five acts of entirely sung drama, each divided into several scenes • many divertissements (interludes) Sunday, October 21, 12 Opera France: Comédie-ballet and Tragédie en musique • Lully Armide - tragédie en musique (also called tragédie lyrique) - French Overture (section with slow dotted rhythms followed by faster imitative section) - the aria uses figured bass and moves freely between meters to accommodate the French language Sunday, October 21, 12 Opera Italy: Opera seria • Opera seria (serious opera) • usually tragic content • the most important type of opera cultivated from 1670-1770 • developed in Italy and sung almost exclusively -
The Baritone Voice in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: a Brief Examination of Its Development and Its Use in Handel’S Messiah
THE BARITONE VOICE IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES: A BRIEF EXAMINATION OF ITS DEVELOPMENT AND ITS USE IN HANDEL’S MESSIAH BY JOSHUA MARKLEY Submitted to the graduate degree program in The School of Music and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts. ________________________________ Chairperson Dr. John Stephens ________________________________ Dr. Michelle Hayes ________________________________ Dr. Paul Laird ________________________________ Dr. Julia Broxholm ________________________________ Mr. Mark Ferrell Date Defended: 06/08/2016 The Dissertation Committee for JOSHUA MARKLEY certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: THE BARITONE VOICE IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES: A BRIEF EXAMINATION OF ITS DEVELOPMENT AND ITS USE IN HANDEL’S MESSIAH ________________________________ Chairperson Dr. John Stephens Date approved: 06/08/2016 ii Abstract Musicians who want to perform Handel’s oratorios in the twenty-first century are faced with several choices. One such choice is whether or not to use the baritone voice, and in what way is best to use him. In order to best answer that question, this study first examines the history of the baritone voice type, the historical context of Handel’s life and compositional style, and performing practices from the baroque era. It then applies that information to a case study of a representative sample of Handel’s solo oratorio literature. Using selections from Messiah this study charts the advantages and disadvantages of having a baritone sing the solo parts of Messiah rather than the voice part listed, i.e. tenor or bass, in both a modern performance and an historically-informed performance in an attempt to determine whether a baritone should sing the tenor roles or bass roles and in what context. -
Bel Canto: an Analysis from Birth and Background to Musical Benefaction Kaitlin Kohler Cedarville University, [email protected]
Cedarville University DigitalCommons@Cedarville The Research and Scholarship Symposium The 2019 yS mposium Apr 3rd, 2:30 PM - 3:00 PM Bel Canto: An Analysis from Birth and Background to Musical Benefaction Kaitlin Kohler Cedarville University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/ research_scholarship_symposium Part of the Music Education Commons, Musicology Commons, and the Music Performance Commons Kohler, Kaitlin, "Bel Canto: An Analysis from Birth and Background to Musical Benefaction" (2019). The Research and Scholarship Symposium. 2. https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/research_scholarship_symposium/2019/podium_presentations/2 This Podium Presentation is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@Cedarville, a service of the Centennial Library. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Research and Scholarship Symposium by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Cedarville. For more information, please contact [email protected]. B E L C A N T O An Analysis from Background and Birth to Benefaction Kaitlin Kohler Cedarville University What is bel canto? • Beautiful singing • Emphasis on the solo voice • Highly expressive and emotional • Quote from Robert Toft • Many historians believe bel canto originated with Giulio Caccini, the alleged founder of the aria for solo voice with instrumental accompaniment. • Reality: there are more avenues of origin than one man. Bel canto comes from many different Italian musical traditions. from