Bel Canto: A History of Vocal Pedagogy

352 Pages·1999·2.962 MB·English

by  James Stark

BEL CANTO
A History of Vocal Pedagogy
In this well documented and highly readable book, James Stark pro-
vides a history of vocal pedagogy from the beginning of the bel canto
tradition of solo singing in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth cen-
turies to the present. Using a nineteenth-century treatise by Manuel
Garcia as his point of reference, Stark analyses the many sources that
discuss singing techniques and selects a number of primary vocal ‘prob-
lems’ for detailed investigation. He also presents data from a series of
laboratory experiments carried out to demonstrate the techniques of bel
canto.
The discussion deals extensively with such topics as the emergence of
virtuoso singing, the castrato phenomenon, national differences in sing-
ing styles, controversies regarding the perennial decline in the art of
singing, and the so-called secrets of bel canto.
Stark offers a new definition of bel canto which reconciles historical
and scientific descriptions of good singing. His is a refreshing and pro-
found discussion of issues important to all singers and voice teachers.
james stark is a singer, voice teacher, and musicologist, with a lifelong
interest in vocal pedagogy. He has taught at the University of Colorado,
the University of Western Ontario, and, for the last twenty-five years, at
Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick.
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JAMES STARK
Bel Canto:
A History of Vocal Pedagogy
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Toronto Buffalo London
www.utppublishing.com
© University of Toronto Press Incorporated 1999
Toronto Buffalo London
Printed in Canada
Reprinted in paperback 2003, 2008
isbn 0-8020-4703-3 (cloth)
isbn 0-8020-8614-4 (paper)
Printed on acid-free paper
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Stark, James A. (James Arthur), 1938–
Bel canto : a history of vocal pedagogy / James Stark
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 0-8020-4703-3 (bound) isbn 0-8020-8614-4 (pbk.)
1. Singing – History. 2. Bel canto. I. Title.
mt823.s795 1999 783′.043′09 c99-931643-5
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its
publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario
Arts Council.
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Humanities
and Social Sciences Federation of Canada, using funds provided by the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support for its
publishing activities of the Government of Canada through the Book Publish-
ing Industry Development Program (BPIDP).
It is the definition of a beast,
that he does what he does not understand.
Guido d’Arezzo on singers (ca. 1030)
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Contents
preface xi
introduction: the search for BEL CANTO xvii
1 THE COUP DE LA GLOTTE: A STROKE OF GENIUS 3
Manuel Garcia II 3
The Larynx 7
Garcia’s Theory of Glottal Closure 11
Garcia’s Theory of the Coup de la glotte 12
The Great Controversy over the Coup de la glotte 14
Modern Views of Vocal Onset 20
Modern Views of Glottal Settings 24
Closed Quotients and Patterns of Vibration 28
Neuromuscular Control Systems 29
Conclusions 30
2 CHIAROSCURO: THE TRACTABLE TRACT 33
Chiaroscuro as an Ideal Voice Quality 33
The Early Treatises 34
Garcia’s Theory of Voice Source versus Vocal Tract 36
Voix sombrée ou couverte 41
Voce aperta and Voce chiusa 42
Helmholtz’s Acoustical Theory 45
Modern Formant Theory 47
Resonance Imagery 51
Conclusions 55
viii Contents
3 REGISTERS: SOME TOUGH BREAKS 57
The Problem of Registers 57
The Two-Register Theory of the Old Italian School 58
Countercurrents to the Two-Register Theory 64
Garcia’s Theory of the Main Registers 67
Voix mixte and Mezza voce 73
Garcia’s Auxiliary Registers 75
The Aftermath of Garcia’s Register Theory 76
Register Theory and Modern Voice Science 81
The Primary Registers 82
Covered Singing 84
Belting 85
Mixed Registers 86
Acoustic Registers 88
Auxiliary Registers 89
Conclusions 90
4 APPOGGIO: THE BREATH BE DAMMED! 91
The Concept of Appoggio 91
The Early Treatises 93
The Eighteenth-century Tutors 95
The Garcia School 96
The Mandl-Lamperti School 99
Stauprinzip and Minimalluft 106
Modern Views of Breath Mechanics 111
Subglottal Pressure, Intensity, and Airflow 114
The Messa di voce 116
Neuromuscular Control Systems 117
Conclusions 118
5 VOCAL TREMULOUSNESS: THE PULSE OF SINGING 121
The Problem of Vocal Tremulousness 121
The Early Treatises 123
Eighteenth-century Sources 130
Nineteenth-century Sources 134
Modern Views of the Trillo 137
Modern Views of Vibrato 138
Neuromuscular Origins of Vibrato 138
Rate, Extent, Intensity, and Timbre 140
Contents ix
Respiratory Control of Vibrato 142
Trills and Floridity 143
Vibrato and Expressiveness 144
The Presence and Perception of Vibrato 146
Conclusions 150
6 IDIOM AND EXPRESSION: THE SOUL OF SINGING 153
Problems of Idiom and Expression 153
The Art of Diminutions 154
Caccini’s Affective Vocal Devices 156
Meraviglia, Sprezzatura, and Grazia 160
The Development of Idiomatic Singing 162
Voice Quality 163
Vocal Articulation 163
Floridity 167
The Trill 169
Tempo rubato 173
Categories of Expressive Song 176
Modern Views of Vocal Idiom and Expression 180
Word-Note-Tone Relationships: A Case Study 183
Conclusions 188
7 BEL CANTO: CONTEXT AND CONTROVERSY 189
Réprise: Toward a Definition of Bel canto 189
The Establishment of the Old Italian School of Singing 190
The Castrato Phenomenon 197
National Differences in Singing Styles 204
The Perennial ‘Decline of the Art of Singing’ 216
Coda: The ‘Secrets’ of Bel canto 225
APPENDIX: THE GRONINGEN PROTOCOLS 227
Introduction 227
Glottal Settings 230
Closed Quotients 234
Airflow Rates 236
Subglottal Pressures 238
Voice Quality 240
Messa di voce 245
Mezza voce 246