IV

Up to the latter part of the sixteenth century there was nothing to give promise of a sudden development of solo singing. Popular music had as a matter of fact consisted from time immemorial largely of singing by a single voice. The musical instincts of the great mass of the people had found expression in the folk-song, while the semi-cultured classes had long cultivated the arts of the various orders of Troubadours and Minnesingers. But these popular forms of music were looked upon by the trained musicians with a certain contempt. Music had to be sung in parts by several voices in order to be worthy of recognition as serious art. Polyphonic music utterly ignores the capabilities of beauty and expressiveness inherent in the single voice. When several melodies are sung at once, each one of equal importance with all the others, it is impossible for one voice to receive more attention than another. Yet a time came when music was forced to break the bonds of polyphony and free itself from the restraints imposed upon it by multiple part-writing. Greater command of beauty and expressiveness was precisely the end sought by those composers, notably Palestrina, whose work marks the culmination of the polyphonic school. The spirit of the time was seeking for greater freedom in the expression of the musical instinct and singers and musicians alike were moved by this spirit. Solo singing was the inevitable result of a pressing demand.

Two entirely distinct sets of influences were instrumental in leading musicians to experiment with the solo voice. The first of these can be traced back to the practising of individual parts in choral works as a medium of vocal cultivation. A singer practising a part of this kind by himself could not fail to notice that he used his voice with greater freedom and satisfaction than when obliged to consider only the effect of his voice in conjunction with other singers. So also would the master who was instructing him in his part. Highly significant is the fact that this discovery was made in the singing of florid music. Rather elaborate passages of the florid type were selected for vocal practice and these would naturally be adapted for bringing out the purely sensuous beauty of the voice. Florid counterpoint thus contained within itself the germs of coloratura singing. As singers began to recognize the beauties of their own individual voices, the desire naturally arose to display these beauties to others. Opportunity for vocal display was, however, lacking, as no music had ever been written for the solo voice. This difficulty was finally overcome by a singer performing only one part of a contrapuntal work and having the other parts played as an accompaniment by instrumental performers. The first solos sung in the history of European musical art were of this type. As early as 1539 a four-part madrigal was produced in this manner, the highest soprano part being sung as a solo. The fashion spread rapidly and solo singing soon began to attract the serious attention of musicians.[5]

Singers were of course anxious to exhibit their voices. Polyphonic music offered them little scope in this regard, for florid writing was distributed among the various parts and it was impossible for the artists to find works which contained more than an occasional ornamental passage for any one voice. They hit naturally upon the device of adding ornaments according to their own taste and fancy to the part selected for solo performance. Kiesewetter reproduces a madrigal sung in this manner by a noted soprano singer, Vittoria Archilei, in 1589. Both the original soprano part and the same part as embellished by Archilei are reproduced here.

a. Simple melody of treble part

[PNG][[audio/mpeg]]

Dalle più alte sfere
dalle più alte sfere
di celesti Sirene
di celesti Sirene

b. Melody as sung by Vittoria Archilei

[PNG][[audio/mpeg]]

Dalle più alte sfere
dalle più alte sfere
di celesti Sirene
di celesti Sirene

Vocal ornamentation had by this time become a recognized fashion among the singers. Considerable mystery surrounds the origin of the various ornaments and fiorituri which were adopted by the singers at this early period in the history of solo singing. A possible source from which they may have been drawn was mentioned in our remarks on the music of the Temple at Jerusalem. Much of this music was preserved by tradition and was incorporated, with modifications of course, in the ritual of the Greek Catholic church at Constantinople. Highly ornamental in character, it was performed regularly in the Greek church for many centuries. At the dispersal of the cultured Greeks following the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1452, many musicians trained in the music of the Greek church found their way into Italy. This gradual exodus continued indeed for many years, and it is probable that the traditions of ornamental music thus came to the knowledge of the Italian singers. Certain it is that the early singers adopted the same type of ornamentation which had been perfected at Jerusalem nearly 2,000 years previously. Exactly the same variety of turns, trills, runs, gruppetti, etc., are contained in the following examples of Hebrew and Greek music as were employed by the solo singers at the close of the sixteenth century.

Hebrew

(transcribed by Fétis)

[PNG][[audio/mpeg]]

Horuch attoh adonoï elohemi melech hoolom
jozer or uvore choscheh sch scholom uvore es haccol or olom
h’jotzer chajim oros meofel omar vajehi.

Byzantine

(transcribed by Fétis)

[PNG][[audio/mpeg]]

Erra nan myra métadakry on Epitomné
masou ai gynaikes kai Eplétheé
charas tostoma autou.
Entolegein. Anéstéo kyrios.

It is not necessary, however, to speculate on the causes which led the first solo singers to adorn their songs with fiorituri. Ornamental singing has always been a natural and instinctive form of expression. The fondness of primitive peoples for vocal embellishments has been noted by many observers, prominent among whom is Frederick R. Burton (‘American Primitive Music,’ New York, 1909). In the Orient singing of the florid type has always had its home. Returning Crusaders brought back with them many songs and melodies from Palestine, all characterized by runs, turns, and other ornaments. The fashion was taken up by the Troubadours and Trouvères, who familiarized their hearers with the idea of melodic elaboration by means of florid passages. Even in the church the officiating priests for many centuries had a fondness for introducing ornaments in their singing of the masses. Ornamental singing seems to be prompted by some deep-seated instinct and its universal popular appeal must be attributed to the same instinct.

Coloratura singing was thus the foundation of the new art of vocal solo performance. Musical historians generally attach more importance in this connection to the invention of dramatic recitative. This is due in great measure to the fact that the records deal much more fully with the latter subject, and also to the adoption of declamatory recitative as the basis of the art form of opera.[6] Solo singing owed its sudden and unprecedented bound into popularity to the delight which people took in vocal ornamentation. Even the opera itself was indebted for its rapid advance to the public demand for coloratura singing. Indeed it seems hardly too much to say that coloratura singing was the first type of art music to find its way to the affections of the general public.

Up to about 1600, artistic music, despite its rapid development in the hundred years preceding, had been the possession only of the cultured and wealthy classes. But with the opening of the opera houses the new art form was brought within the reach of the great body of the people. That the public responded so enthusiastically to the new form of entertainment thus offered them was due in great measure to the delight people took in coloratura singing. Composers soon found that in order to please the public they must provide ornamental solos for the singers. This was of course opposed to the views of the little group of Florentine gentlemen who projected the first performances of opera; they considered musical declamation to be sufficient for all the purposes of a truly dramatic art. But the public thought otherwise and demanded to hear the singers in solos which displayed the full beauties of their voices. Monteverdi’s Orfeo, produced in 1607, contains a number of elaborate coloratura songs.

A striking fact regarding the system of vocal instruction in vogue during the later decades of the sixteenth century is that it sufficed for the training of the first solo singers. Artists whose education had not been designed to fit them for the performance of solo music were yet able to take up this music and to sing it satisfactorily after they had left their teachers. Even though it was intended only for the performance of choral works, the system of vocal training then in vogue enabled singers to master the new art of solo singing for themselves. The advance of solo singing did not lead to the abandonment of the traditional course of instruction. On the contrary, the same system continued to be applied, extended only to meet the new requirements imposed on it by the great elaboration of vocal technique. By 1650 coloratura singing was firmly established as the favorite branch of music, and for more than 200 years following it was one of the chief glories of the art.

An abundance of singers of a high degree of excellence were provided by the conservatories and by the many private teachers who practised their profession in the chief cities of Italy. The most famous musicians did not disdain to embrace the new profession of voice culture. A sincere devotion to the art of bel canto was displayed by the teachers of the early part of the seventeenth century; each one strove to advance the standards of singing, to discover new possibilities of beauty, range, and flexibility in the voice, to invent new and delightful ornaments. The composers vied with the vocal teachers in seeking always for greater beauty and expressiveness. How successful they were is proved by the rapid expansion of the opera.

A marked influence in the elevation of the standards of singing was exerted through the introduction of the male soprano voice. Whether the voices of the castrati possessed all the wonderful charm and beauty of quality attributed to them by musical writers of the time we cannot now determine. But there is no question that voices of this type are specially favored in their ability to master the most astounding technical difficulties. The castrati enjoyed an almost incredible popularity. More has been written about Farinelli and Caffarelli than about any other artists of the old bel canto period. Historically considered, the singers of this type are highly important because of the contribution they made to the elevation of the vocal art. Their achievements became the standard toward which all other artists were called upon to strive. While we need have no regret over the disappearance of the male soprano, his value in the development of bel canto cannot be ignored.

Apotheosis of Farinelli

From an engraving by Wagner after the contemporaneous painting by Amicorni.

A lineal succession of vocal teachers was well established by 1630. Several masters of the art had acquired excellent reputations even so early as 1600. Each famous teacher had many pupils who in their turn took up the profession of teaching and who almost invariably based their claims to recognition on the reputation of the master, as well as on their own excellence as singers. This maestral succession, or rather many of them, continued down to comparatively recent times. The changed conditions which came about in the twenty years following the invention of the laryngoscope (1855) finally broke down the influence of the teachers who had inherited the old masters’ system, and the authority of the old method was for a time almost destroyed. In recent years, however, there has been a great revival of interest in the methods of instruction followed by the old masters. There is a growing feeling that scientific methods have not fulfilled their promise, and vocalists look back upon the earlier centuries of voice culture as a golden age which has passed away.