Tim BraithwaiteManuel Garcia on the use of Sobbing and an Annotated Recitative from Rossini’s Otello:'The fragment of recitative [below] has two effects. By the words, “Io credeva che alcuno,” Desdemona expresses the depression that...
Tim BraithwaiteJohann Samuel Petri’s Advice for Teaching a Congregation to Harmonise a Chorale Extempore (1767)Question. How can one remedy the fault that a choir, when it sings a well-known church chorale without sheet music, as must often happen,...
Tim BraithwaiteManuel Garcia on Changing or Replacing Words when Singing:In altering or re-arranging words, or syllables, care should be taken to retain and mark the measure or accent of a melody, and only...
Tim BraithwaiteGiovanni Battista Martini on Singing ‘all’improvviso’ on a Cantus Firmus (1774):'Among the compositions made above a cantus firmus by the masters of the art, those [made] above introits are unique, and are used...
Tim BraithwaiteBanchieri on Writing an Introit that Creates the Effect of Improvised Counterpoint in Many Voices‘I have no doubt at all that the counterpoints above a cantus firmus from the introits by Constanzo Porta and Giovanni Matteo Asola,...
Tim BraithwaiteAdriano Banchieri’s ‘Hundred Passaggi’:‘The hundred passaggi above, all having been printed in various works by modern authors, have been assembled with much study and...
Tim BraithwaitePietro Reggio on the Sliding ‘Accent’ (1677)‘Now let us take notice, of singing long Notes Gracefully. Note the following Example. The first Note must begin softly, and then...
Tim BraithwaiteLamperti on the Decadence of Singing Immediately Before the Advent of Commercial Recordings‘It is a sad, but nevertheless undeniable truth, that the art of singing is in a terrible state of decadence; and this fact is all the...
Tim BraithwaiteGiovanni Bononcini on reading in all keys and clefs using a six note solmisation system (1678)*Notes* - The system (c.1500-1800) is based on three overlapping ’hexachords’ of six syllables - do re mi fa sol la. - In order to change...
Tim BraithwaiteGilbert Austin on the Acting of Opera Singers (1806):‘...The union of all those talents, which we have mentioned, and their bearing thus upon a single point condensed into a focus, is a...
Tim BraithwaiteFrancesco Lamperti on the Open and Closed Timbres‘ARTICLE V. OF THE QUALITIES OF THE VOICE. Q. How many different qualities are there in the voice ? A. The principal are two, the open...
Tim BraithwaiteDomenico Corri on Larynx Height Rising and Falling with Pitch:‘You may observe, that the different tones of the voice are produced by the different positions which the larynx assumes in its rising...
Tim BraithwaiteManuel Garcia on how to Express the Different ‘Shades of Passion’‘A few trials will suffice to prove that every shade of passion, however slight, will effect in a peculiar way the physical condition,...
Tim BraithwaiteCharles Burney on the Students at the Conservatorio of S. Onofrio: Wednesday 31st October 1770This morning I went with young Oliver to his conservatorio of S. Onofrio, and visited all the rooms, where the boys practice, sleep and...
Tim BraithwaiteA Comparison Between Cathedral Singing and the Singing of David’s Psalms (1644)Davids Psalms sung in our English Meeter differ much from Cathedrall singing, which is so abominable, in which is sung almost every...
Tim BraithwaiteGiovanni Bardi on the Ancient and Modern Methods of Singing Different Modes (c.1578)‘It should be noted that the [ancient] tonoi were not sung as we do [ours], that is, the bass [singer] intones re or ut or some other...
Tim BraithwaiteThomas Morley Describing a Hypothetical Competition in Improvised Singing (1597)‘When I learned descant [1] from my master Bold he, seeing me so inclined and willing to learn, always had me in his company, and because...
Tim BraithwaiteReminiscences of a Cacophonous (!) way of ‘Singing on the Book’ in Early 19th-Century France‘I know of no musician today who has any idea what it means to sing on the book. It was an improvised and simultaneous melody [chant]...
Tim BraithwaiteSummary of the Rules of Singing on the Book: Those of “strict counterpoint” in two voicesThe summary below is from Jean-Paul Montagnier, “Le Chant Sur Le Livre Au XVIIIe Siècle: Les Traités de Louis-Joseph Marchand et Henry...
Tim BraithwaiteImprovising on a Plainchant (Chanter sur le Livre) as described in Early Nineteenth-Century France‘... France, where musical taste has always been somewhat backwards, has never abandoned the mania for improvising on plainchant. The...
