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CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI
AND THE ART OF SINGING
IN THE GOLDEN AGE
IN THE
SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH
CENTURIES
The Foundation for the creation of the vocal
instrument ( the voice) is based on the fusion of the two registers
( the chest-voice "PETTO" and the head-voice-"TESTA"
also referred to as FALSETTO ) which is achieved through special exercises of
voice production (phonation) and the search for the "superior resonance"
which has to be total in order to obtain the sonorous voice
"voce sonora" ( cf. Caccini etc.)
The consequences of the fusion of the two registers in
the attainment of the one sole register ( the "unico registro"
cfr. Mancini etc.) are as follows :
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a) maximum extension (Range)
of THREE OCTAVES with the possibility of singing a repertory/ range which
varies from the "most grave and serious CONTRALTO (up) to the most high
pitched SOPRANO;
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b) the possibility of virtuoso singing without
limits to be executed correctly ( " a soft and detached vocal
virtuosity"- "GORGIA SOAVE ET SPICCATA" as Monteverdi
wrote in his letter to Alessandro Striggio dated 24 July 1627 ) :
TRILLI,PASSAGGI, VOLATINE , RAPID PERCUSSIVE PASSAGES ( AS IN "AGILITA’
MARTELLATA" , "AGILITA’ DI SBALZO" ) etc. etc., according to
the rules of the great composers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries:
CACCINI, MONTEVERDI, ZACCONI, BRUNELLI, SEVERI, and, in the eighteenth century,
TOSI, MANCINI ETC., ETC.;
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c) the longevity and health and well
being of the vocal instrument ( the voice ) ;
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d) the absolute non
existence and total absence of the Falsetto Singer ( the FALSETTISTA
) that is to say of the male singer who uses the Head-Voice register ( countertenor
etc.) - in Italian singing from the beginning of the second half of
the sixteenth century when the artificial male soprano ( the "cantori
evirati") were created who, maintaining the acute octave of female
singers with the "operation" and the consequent hormonal
inhibition of TESTOSTERONE, realised the fusion of the two registers
exactly like other vocalists / singers.
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Therefore the use nowadays of the "Falsetto"
singer ( the "Falsettista" ) in Italian or Italianate vocal music (
Handel, Mozart etc.) is for technical and aesthetic reasons historically
incorrect ( cfr. CACCINI etc.)
Nella
Anfuso
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SN
8801 - La Cantata Romana ossia il vero Barocco |
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SN 8802 - Il Canto alla Corte di Isabella
D'Este (1474-1539) |
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SN 8803 - Canzoni Veneziane (anonimi
del XVIII Sec.) |
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SN 8804 - Jacopo Peri - Opera Omnia
I Madrigali (1609) |
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SN 8805 - Antonio Vivaldi - Mottetti
A Canto Solo con Istromenti |
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SN 8806 - Il Canto Figurato da Mozart
a Bellini (2 CD) |
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SN 8807 - Antonio Vivaldi - Cantate
Opera Omnia I (2 CD) |
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SN 8808 - Antonio Vivaldi - Cantate
Opera Omnia II (2 CD) |
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SN 8809 - Monodia Toscana (XVI-XVII
sec.) |
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SN 8810 - Nicolò Porpora - Cantate (1735)
I |
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SN 8811 - Francesco Cavalli - Didone
Pagine scelte (Ms. del XVII sec.) |
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SN 8812 - Firenze Medicea - Quant'è
bella giovinezza |
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SN 8813 - Claudio Monteverdi - Parlar
Cantando I |
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SN 8814 - Claudio Monteverdi - Parlar
Cantando II |
SN 8815 - "Anima mea liquaefacta est" -
Autori Vari - Mottetti del Primo Seicento  |
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SN 8816 - Francesca Caccini -
Florilegio Musiche, Libro I, Firenze 1618
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SN 8817 - Giulio Caccini - Madrigali Scelti (1601)
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SN 8818 - Jacopo Peri - Arie e Lamenti I |
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SN 8819 -
Jacopo Peri - Arie e Lamenti II |
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SN 8820 - Claudio e
Francesco Monteverdi - Scherzi e Arie
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SN 8823 - Claudio Monteverdi - Mottetti
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SN 8824 - Domenico Scarlatti - Cinque
cantate inedite |
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SN
8826 - O Primavera - Madrigali, Arie, Lamenti (XVI - XVII sec.)
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SN 8828 - Sigismondo D'India - Madrigali
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SN 8830 - Farinello’s Favourite Songs
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