A CONJECTURE OF SINGING CHINESE REPERTOIRE WITH THE ITALIAN BEL CANTO TECHNIQUE Mian CHEN Tese de Doutoramento em Prática Vocal ese in in ese Italian n Mian CHEN Mian : August 2019 August Nota Chi Singing of A Conjecture August 2019 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Since the first day of studying for a doctorate, this chapter was given to countless versions in my mind, but at this moment of writing, I feel too emotional to start. First of all, I would like to thank my supervisors, Dr. Rosana Brescia and Prof. Sílvia Mateus. Sílvia was the first person I knew in Lisbon. She also was the first one whom approved me to access the PHD program. Throughout the three years of the doctoral period, the confidence Sílvia gave me encouraged me to surmount the physical, emotional and psychological discomforts to achieve the successes especially on my singing. The opportunities Sílvia offered me helped me to get stronger in singing, what I am more grateful for is that her motherly care. I frequently felt home when she asked me for the subtleties in life. I will always remember the Christmas dinner with her and her students. My academic supervisor, Dr. Rosana Brescia, the elegant, beautiful lady, a respectable, responsible and resourceful scholar, who has provided me with valuable guidance in every stage of the writing of the thesis. Without her enlightening instruction, impressive kindness and patience, I could not have completed my thesis. The idea of the QR Code is brilliant! Rosana’s keen and vigorous academic observation enlightens me not only in this thesis but also in my future study. Tiago Amado Gomes, my best friend ever, the vital person to my research! With all my heart deepest, thanks! Mariana Godinho, thanks for your excellent playing. A very special thanks to Phoebe Haines and Juliet Petrus. Your academic and 1 practical experiences are crucial to my research. I could not make it without your help. The very important people whom I have to give my best thanks are Marco Brescia, Yu Jiang, Shu Jun Lv and Qing Xie. Your beautiful recitation are the shining jewels of my thesis. I want to thank all my singing teachers who have helped me to develop the fundamental and essential academic competence and performing skills: Prof. Liren Zhang, Boiko Zvetanov, Prof. Svilen Raychev (National Academy of Music "Professor Pantcho Vladigerov", Sofia, Bulgaria), Prof. Haobin Lv (Sichuan Conservatory of Music, Chengdu China), Prof. Rowena Cowley (Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Australia). I am sincerely grateful to Dr. Jorge Matta, Dr. Paulo Ferreira de Castro, Dr. Isabel Pires, Dr. Manuela Toscano for your kindness professional guidance and help. I shall extend my thanks to Francisco Gama, Frederico Figueiredo and all the staff of Doctoral and Music Science Department of FCSH, NOVA University of Lisbon, for their kindness and help. My sincerely appreciation to Francisco Sassetti, Prof. Carlos Marecos, José Cedoura, Dr. Ana Arriaga and all the teachers staff and friends from the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa for your help and the support you offered. Also, I’d like to thank my classmates, the colleagues of the Doctoral program, Dr. Daniel Sanches, Dr. Leonardo Feichas and everyone who offered me excellent experiences and the best accompaniment for my performance. Thanks to the 录音专家（Recording Expert）and Yong Zhang, the technology 2 supplier. To all my friends in China and Portugal, thanks for your supporting all these study years, I love you all. To Mom and Dad, you are the most important people in my life always, I’m happy to make you proud of me. I love you. 3 A CONJECTURE OF SINGING CHINESE REPERTOIRE WITH THE ITALIAN BEL CANTO TECHNIQUE Chen, Mian [NOVA ID 54097] ABSTRACT KEYWORDS: Singing diction, Chinese repertoire, Italian language, Phonation, Articulation This research intends to show how Chinese contemporary vocal works can be sung with the western lyrical singing technique, focusing on the pronunciation of the Italian language: The way of dealing with Chinese vowels and consonants in the pronunciation of articulation refers to the rules/principles of that presented in Italian language. The subject was inspired by Dr. A. Hirt’s lecture about singing English like Italians in 2011. In terms of rationality, to convey a sense yet also to approach the maximization of the rules of phonation (vowels) and articulation (consonants), researchers hypothesize that Chinese language (Mandarin) can be pronounced like the Italian language but in the setting of singing. This study will take into consideration from pieces of literature about singing technique to teaching, from viewpoints about articulation (in singing) of performers, to recordings and videos. We Believe it’s necessary to import(impart) knowledge about the singing of Chinese phonetics and linguistics, compared to Italian, the most traditional language for singing and the original language of a considerable number of masterpieces on what regards vocal repertoire, since they have been evolving from two completely families of languages. 4 INDEX 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 7 1.1 LANGUAGES IN SINGING .................................................................................. 7 1.2 THE TWO LANGUAGES ................................................................................... 10 1.3 PRINCIPAL CONTRADICTION AND SUBPROBLEM ........................................... 13 1.4 CHINESE VOCAL ARTS ARE BEING SANG ..................................................... 21 1.5 HYPOTHESIS .................................................................................................. 32 1.6 THE DEFINITION, FOCUS, AND GUIDING IDEA................................................ 33 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................... 35 2.1 HIRT (2011) .................................................................................................... 35 2.2 PRESENT RESEARCH ...................................................................................... 38 2.3 LIU (2014) ...................................................................................................... 41 2.4 THE INTEGRATION OF BEL CANTO AND CHINESE NATIONAL SINGING ........ 44 2.5 MORE WORDS ABOUT ECO SINGING ............................................................. 46 3 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................. 58 3.1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 58 3.2 QUESTION AND HYPOTHESES ........................................................................ 59 3.3 RESEARCH SUBJECT AND SAMPLES ............................................................... 63 3.4 THE ANALYSES AND PRACTICABILITY TEST ................................................ 72 3.5 AN INTERESTING ATTEMPT............................................................................ 75 3.6 BOUNDEDNESS ............................................................................................... 77 4 ANALISIS AND RESULT ................................................................................. 78 4.1 THE INITIAL CONSONANTS OF CPA AND CONSONANTS IN ITALIAN ............ 81 4.2 THE FINALS AND VOWELS ............................................................................. 90 4.3 THE VOWELS UMLAUT IN SINGING ............................................................ 102 4.4 ANALYSIS ON SPECIFIC SONGS .................................................................... 109 4.5 AN INTERESTING ATTEMPT ........................................................................ 135 5 5 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................. 143 5.1 CHINESE SINGING CHINESE. ....................................................................... 143 5.2 WESTERN SINGING CHINESE ....................................................................... 148 5.3 FURTHER THINKING .................................................................................... 152 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................... 154 APPENDIX A: TRAINING DIARY OF THE INTEREST ATTEMPT (CHAPTER 4.5) .................................................................................................................................... 171 APPENDIX B: EMAIL WITH PHOEBE HAINES ................................................. 176 APPENDIX C: EMAIL WITH JULIET PETRUS ................................................... 177 APPENDIX D: TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS OF THE SONGS TO BE PERFORMED ON THE FINAL RECITAL .............................................................. 178 PORTUGUESE TEXT BY DR. ROSANA & DR. MARCO BRESCIA ............. 181 LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................. 182 LIST OF QR CODES .............................................................................................. 184 1 6 1 INTRODUCTION To preserve the nature of delivering the musical message via lyrics effectively and correctly, while following the rules of articulation, could the regulation of Italian pronunciation be applied to Chinese vocal performance? Several correlations have to be formulated, considered, and confirmed. 1.1 Languages in singing Vocal art is a combinate art formed by music and language. Chinese professionals have named the vocal art