Back To Bel Canto The Singing Method Of The Masters

I was the fifth child of a wonderful family who were loving and helpful. Mother and father loved culture and when they saw that I was interested, they bought me a violin. I became very happy with the violin until my parents took me to hear an opera. I was so overwhelmed when I heard the singers, that I immediately looked for a voice teacher. My teacher, Mr. Pettine was a good teacher until I had to go in the army. My battalion was stationed in Okinawa, and after the peace pact between North and South Korea, we returned to the U.S.A. I went to New York to study with the Great Maestro Enrico Rosati. He was impressed with my improvement and he suggested that I go to school where he taught, Santa Cecilia, In Rome. I lived in an area where all the great singers lived and we made friends immediately. When I met the great Baritone Riccardo Stracciari I found that he was totally impoverished. I wrote an article for Metropolitan Opera Company, and many wonderful, kind people who read the article took up a collection and I was never aware until I spoke, years later, with Fredrick Jagel and he said, "You gave him the most wonderful gift for his remaining years!"

Excerpt from The Technics of Bel Canto It appears superfluous and aimless to add a new singing-method to those already before the public. However, during many years devoted to lesson-giving, I have observed far too often how little attention is paid nowadays to individualizing. No two persons are exactly alike, much less any two pupils. In vocal teaching, especially, it does great mischief to try to make one shoe fit every foot. I feel that those of my colleagues will agree with me, who, still possessing a thorough knowledge of the Bel Canto, have often undergone similar experiences. Yet the power of true vocal art, even in this decadent period, has lost but little of its effect on enthusiastic auditors. This is proved by the ever-renewed successes of Marcella Sembrich and others as contrasted with the great multitude of "natural" singers and dubious specialists with more or less voice. It is this fact, in particular, which encourages me to gather together the fruits of my experience in this little volume, for the benefit of my own pupils and other earnest vocal students. Let it be added, that this method has been tested by time, and that I can trace it back to the Italian singing-masters Gasparo Pacchierotti (d. 1821), Giovanni Battista Velluti (d. 1861), and others. Should the technical information contained in these pages be found useful in wider circles, and do its part toward attracting and preserving many a talent to the service of the divine art of song, it would give the author the liveliest satisfaction. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

In this little classic, the great Italian singing master Giovanni Battista Lamperti teaches the skills of the Bel Canto technique that dominated the Italian opera in its heyday.

As the last of the great master-teachers of the "old Italian school" of singing, Giovanni Battista Lamperti taught his students virtuosic vocal techniques handed down from the great castrati of the 17th century: exquisitely rich chiaroscuro tone, seamless flowing legato phrasing, undetectable passaggi register transitions and the delicately poised appoggio breath technique that allowed the astonishingly rapid coloratura typical of baroque music. In the only treatise he ever wrote, Lamperti the younger shares with all students, teachers and enthusiasts of singing, the techniques and skills that made his students that greatest singers of their time: the arcane secrets of bel canto. Original title: "Die Technik des Bel Canto" (1905)

J.F. Botume was perhaps the first published vocal pedagogue to bridge the substantial gap between the “old Italian” and “modern” schools of voice training. Examining the strengths and weaknesses of the various modern “methods” of singing, Botume shows how scientifically-backed understanding and techniques can be integrated with the traditional bel canto method to prepare professional singers for today's unique vocal challenges. In this groundbreaking work, Botume also reveals the core principles upon which the “old Italian school” method rested and how their reintroduction today could revitalize modern singing. “Probably the best summary of the old Italian method offered by any modern teacher is contained in a little booklet by J. Frank Botume, entitled Modern Singing Methods. […] This sums up beautifully the external aspects of the old Italian method, and of modern methods as well.” David Taylor, Psychology of Singing

A compilation of essays written by renowned singing teachers as their testament to their great singing instructor, whose research and interpretations have given birth to a new era of vocal pedagogy known as 'Functional Voice Training.' The essays explain the four basic principles with which he works: the two-register theory, the necessity for pure vowels, the use of rhythm to encourage the muscles to react spontaneously, and the choice of dynamic.

(Extended Edition) J.F. Botume was perhaps the first published vocal pedagogue to bridge the substantial gap between the old Italian and modern schools of voice training. Examining the strengths and weaknesses of the various modern methods of singing, Botume shows how scientifically-backed understanding and techniques can be integrated with the traditional bel canto method to prepare professional singers for today's unique vocal challenges. In this groundbreaking work, Botume also reveals the core principles upon which the old Italian school method rested and how their reintroduction today could revitalize modern singing. Probably the best summary of the old Italian method offered by any modern teacher is contained in a little booklet by J. Frank Botume, entitled Modern Singing Methods. ] This sums up beautifully the external aspects of the old Italian method, and of modern methods as well. (David Taylor, Psychology of Singing)

In Bel Canto, the first ever guide to the bel canto style, author Robert Toft provides singers with the tools they need to bring scores to life in an historically informed manner.