Experiencing Bel Canto Getting deep into the style By Júlia Pérez Arquillo Name of the institution: Stockholm University of the arts Course: Opera Maister Hp: 10 credits Program: Personal Project Year: Course 2020-21 Supervisor: Wilhelm Carlsson Examiner: Wilhelm Carlsson 1 Abstract One of the styles that has influenced opera the most through history has been Bel canto. This work is a recompilation of personal research about its history, characteristics and one of its major exponents, G. Rossini. At the same time, it includes a personal approach on the topic of how to create and perform a character and some exercises aimed to improve the singing in the mentioned style. Key words: Bel Canto, Rossini, opera and singing technique. 2 INDEX Introduction 5 1. The theoretical ................................................................................................................................6 1.1. Bel canto and its characteristics..............................................................................................6 1.2. G. Rossini: The father of Bel Canto......................................................................................10 2. The practical...................................................................................................................................15 2.1. The Roles ..............................................................................................................................15 La Cenerentola ....................................................................................................................19 L’Elisir d’Amore.................................................................................................................20 Development of the characters on stage: ............................................................................24 2.2. Creating a warm-up routine notebook ..................................................................................25 Conclusions…………………………………………………………………………………………26 Bibliography.......................................................................................................................................28 3 Introduction Description This project focuses on Bel canto and it is articulated into two parts: the theoretical and the practical one. Regarding the theoretic part, it is in based in the style and its characteristics, taking into account that I am a singer and not a musicologist or an historian. The part concerning Rossini deals not only with his personal style, but also with his personal life since it helps to understand some of his artistic decisions. A short biography of Domenico Barbaja is also added, since there would have been no career for Rossini without him. Both were people with eclectic and fascinating lives. For practical part, I have studied, reflected and developed two characters of different operas (as well as some of their gestures on stage). I have also watched after some experts on the field to get familiar with the style and phrasing. Finally, in an effort to improve my daily training I have created a recompilation of exercises that come in handy when facing soprano roles of Bel canto. Justification of the object of study Often singing students have to prepare loads of repertoire of many different styles in a short period of time. As consequence, they rarely get deep into music period or the composer style. In an attempt to avoid this issue I have decided to focus in one of my favorite classical singing styles, which is Bel canto. Before I started this personal process of research and trying new music, Bel canto was a term I had heard of but knew very little about. Some of my teachers and repertorists had recommended it to me; they agreed it was suitable for my voice. However, when I tried to sing it, I was faced with many technical difficulties. I lacked air to make the phrases last until the end, my register was not uniform, I could not play with dynamics in my high register, etc. Even though the challenge was enormous, and sometimes frustrating in the 4 rehearsing rooms and lessons, the slow but constant improvements I achieved made this choice absolutely worth it. Apart from technique, I was also lacking good Italian diction, connection between the vowels, lots of legato in the phrases, etc. To fill a full Opera House the sound must be well projected but so has to be the text. Sometimes I thought I was exaggerating it too much, especially the consonants and doppie (double consonants. Ex. Legittima, sorella, effetto). But as some teachers have said to me, if there is a doppia you have to think it triple. To make the practical part of the project efficient and realistic, I decided to focus on a principal role of two different composers, which are more adequate to my singing moment: Rossini and Donizetti. General Goals • To acquire deeper knowledge of the Bel canto style and create my own notebook warming up exercise. • To learn how to perform the pieces accordingly to their period and composer style. • To study two whole roles. Develop characters personality and acquire the tools for studying an opera in a fast and efficient way. • To face the challenge of singing and exploring the Bel canto technique, which is very demanding: long fiatos, well-conducted phrases, expressiveness, witty portamentos, etc. • To discover new operas and possible roles while founding new and inspirational singers 5 1. The theoretical This part comprises a research of Bel canto different meanings, its innovations and famous aria structures and examples of singers that I consider are plenty in style. It also contains brushes of Rossini’s professional and personal life for a better understanding of his personality and work. 1.1. Bel canto and its characteristics The “Bel canto”, which means literally “Beautiful singing” in Italian, is a musical term that was first used in the mid XIX century to talk about two concepts: ! The singing technique and its school that emerged in Italy by the end of the XVI century ! The Italian romantic compositional style and art. Its three major exponents where: G. Rossini, G. Donizetti y V. Bellini Currently the term is often used for referring to the singing style between 1600 and 1850. However, the truth is that it wasn’t until the mid XIX century when, faced with the vocal decadence of its own time, these two words started to symbolize the loss of the ancient Italian vocal technique1. Some of its characteristics are: the prevalence of technique over volume, perfect tuning, brilliant and flowery passages, purity of sound in the melody, long cadences, fast scales, the search for uniformity in the whole register of the sung voice, elegance in the phrasing, agility and flexibility, ... in short, absolute control of the technique in order to achieve virtuosity. However, what undoubtedly characterizes this style is legato, the ability to go from one musical phrase to another with no interruption2. The capacity to produce a pure, clean, stable and even legato is one of the greatest treasures of Bel canto style. In my opinion, the technique to master it is complex and demanding and requires a technical control rarely found in any other vocal musical style, which usually focus on making the voice sound more powerful (to overcome a 1 Toft, Robert. Bel Canto: A Performer’s Guide. New York. Oxford University Press. 2013. p. 4. 2 Ibid 6 big orchestra), to express feelings in the most realistic way and there so letting the search of beauty aside, singing with no vibrato to focus more on the text, etc. The Italian language plays an important role in the development of this technique, because unlike German, Italian vowels create long and fluid lines when singing, very much in accordance with the style needs. Furthermore, with its characteristic phonetic, correctly spoken Italian activates the resonators of the facial structures, allowing an easy projection. Innovations Some of the innovative elements in operas of this style were: the mixture of spoken and sung voice, the demand for perfect harmony between vocal and theatrical interpretation, the limits’ exploration of the high register, the voice’s homogeneous colour throughout the whole register and the consolidation of “the Bel canto aria structure” par excellence: Recitative-Cantabile- Cabaletta-Coda. In order to elevate the feelings to their maximum expression, Italian opera composers used different resources such as: legato, portamento, messa di voce, flowery passages, embellishments, sudden changes of dynamics, accents, sudden changes of tempo, etc. Since Bel canto sought homogeneity of sound as well as a perfect articulation, vibrato was not in fashion, because it broke this harmony. To achieve a greater naturalness and expressiveness in arias, ensembles and recitatives’ lyrics, the singers had to mix their sung and spoken voice (“Sing as you speak”3). It was hugely important that the singer merged with the character and felt the same as him/her in order to express those very same feelings on stage. Most of the times, in spite of an excellent interpretation of a singer, if the audience hadn’t been emotionally touched, the critics were very hard on the performers. Two deeply admired feminine singers for their character’s internalization were Gertrud Marta and Angelica Catalani4. Today this demand might seem 3 Ibid 4 https://www.academia.edu/3769518/Bel_Canto_The_Old_Italian_Vocal_Technique_and_Its_Golden_Age 7 obvious, but we should consider that previously the “theatrical” performance was not so valued in operas,