It is a prevalent idea that all departures from the published text are due either to caprice, or to vanity and a desire for personal display on the part of the soloist. As though singers had a monopoly of these defects!
Let us consider some of the principal causes of such changes in the text, and the reasons why these modifications do not always appear in the published versions.
In the original editions of many of the earlier operas, as those of Mozart, etc., the unaccompanied recitative (recitativo secco) is not barred. As with the plain-chant of the church, only the pitch of the tone is indicated. Its length was left to the discretion of the artist, who was supposed to be familiar with the accepted style of delivery termed “recitativo parlante.” The example is from the recitative “Dove sono,” in Act III of Le Nozze di Figaro, by Mozart:
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This should be sung as below:
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The substitution of another note for the one actually written, both in Recitative and Aria, was also strictly regulated under the system or convention then in vogue, one perfectly understood both by composer and singer.
In all the earlier Italian operas, and in the English oratorios of Handel, this system was followed: