![]() After this moment ─ the first half of the 17 th century ─, we can probably talk about the rise of an operatic tradition started in Italy – and the consequent vocal technique progression in order to face the new repertoire ─ that spread along Europe and settled the basis of what we understand as bel canto. ![]() Specially the second one, who “laid down some of the bases for true vocal virtuosity Italian singers began to be invited abroad as opera performers”. This inevitably provoked changes in how singing was understood and practiced. This fact leads us to Francesco Cavalli and Antonio Cesti. The effect of this change resulted in increased space for performances and larger audiences. However, some ideas can be assumed with a certain conviction: the fact that the opera as spectacle moved from the palaces to the theatres required the orchestras to be placed in pits. It is impossible for us to deduce any solid thought about the real state of singing at that time. Nonetheless, we have to think about the role that improvisation played during that time as it had a fundamental impact on performance. ![]() From that moment, the difference between the ‘speaking in song’ and the ‘ singing in speech’ started to be so indistinguishable that it is complicated to point out a clear definition of what was singing and what speaking. But in later works such us Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria and L’incoronazione di Poppea, he also gave this privilege to a larger type of roles, like humans with high social status. In his early operas, Monteverdi reserved the ornamented way of singing (in the style of Caccini) specifically for the roles representing divinities. However, we find in Monteverdi’s operatic repertoire a bigger interest in the strophic and recited singing, following the path of the Fiorentine School and taking some distances from the style of Caccini. This is a very interesting source of the singing practice during the 17 th century, and will help us to better understand the musical ideas of the composer Claudio Monteverdi. He showed a special interest towards ornaments, coloratura and dynamics, especially those with a highly virtuosistic vision of the voice. Some years later, in 1602, Giulio Caccini published Le nuove musiche, where it is possible to find a new understanding of the singing, obviously influenced by the virtuosity of Caccini as a singer himself. are all elements that will later inform the mainstay of what we understand as the bel canto way of singing. Despite these examples being far away from the modern ideas of bel canto, and ones that cannot be considered on their own as early singing treatises, we nevertheless have to observe a special interest into the art of vocal ornamentation namely the “primitive” coloratura, the use of diminutions, etc. Similarly, Combarieu mentions Adrian Petit Coclico and his Compendium Musices Descriptum from 1552, as well as Camille Maffei in 1562, both proposing new ornaments for specific moments in monodic singing. In this treatise Finck talked about the ‘ ars suaviter et eleganter cantandi’, presenting to the reader ornaments in the form of coloraturas that could be applied to some clausuli. The musicologist Christophe Combarieu relates some of those references in his book Le bel canto, mentioning for example Hermann Finck and his Practica Musica from 1556. From this, it is interesting to describe the common musical elements that evolved into the bel canto repertoire and how this ideas developed into the concept we are presently familiar with.Īfter the logical evolution of the monodic repertoires during the Medieval Period and the Renaissance, we find already some mention to new styles of singing during the 16 th century. Especially relevant are the musicologist Robert Haas with his book Die Musik der Barocks (1928) and Manfred Bukofzer with Music in the Baroque Era (1947), who generalised the use of the concept in the Musicology, and extended the definition of the term to Italian vocal repertoire of the 17 th and 18 th centuries. It might have been during the beginning of the 20 th century when the term started to be used as a reference to concrete Italian repertoire of the beginning of the 19 th century. There are some mentions to it during the 18 th and 19 th centuries, always using it as a synonym of beautiful singing, which is the direct and literal translation of bel canto. ![]() As I mentioned in the previous chapter, it is not completely clear when the concept bel canto fell into regular basis. It is instead important to contextualize the evolution of the term, in order to have a frame that could help us to achieve a clearer understanding of this categorization. It is not the goal of this research to present a synthesis of the bel canto in detail. THE EVOLUTION OF THE BEL CANTO THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY
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