Dr. Zechariah Buck’s (1798-1879) Methods of Teaching Choristers at Norwich Cathedral
The time table of daily duty was, 9 to 9.45, scale practice; 10 to 11, morning service; 11 to 12.30 or 1, music practice; 2 to 3.45,...
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Roger Freitas on Modern Representations of Historical Singing:
‘To many in the singing profession, in fact, an investigation of past approaches seems irrelevant. Even a casual survey of recent...
Manuel 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...
Johann 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,...
Manuel 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...
Lamperti 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...
Gilbert 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...
Francesco 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...
Domenico 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...
Manuel 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,...
Reminiscences 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]...
Summary of the Rules of Singing on the Book: Those of “strict counterpoint” in two voices
The summary below is from Jean-Paul Montagnier, “Le Chant Sur Le Livre Au XVIIIe Siècle: Les Traités de Louis-Joseph Marchand et Henry...
Improvising 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...
Friedrich Weber on Choral and Solo Singing and Training the Choral Voice (1800)
‘Singing exercises that last too long and involve too much effort make the voice screeching, cause the voice to go out of tune, and are...
Isaac Nathan’s Annotations on a Handel Aria and the Swelling and Dying of the Voice
‘The preceding examples receive their colouring from the discrimination of the singer; but a still nicer task remains for him to execute,...
Charles de Bériot on ‘the Vibrating Sound’ in Singing and Violin Playing (1858)
We understand by [the term] vibrating sounds a certain undulation or trembling of held notes which indicate the emotion of the spirit...
Domenico Corri (1810) on the First Lesson and how to Sing Major/Minor Semitones
‘Progressive rules for daily practice proportioned to the age and ability of Pupils: The intention of this Exercise is to acquire the art...
M. Garcia on the Decline of Singing Immediately Before the Golden Age of Commercial Recording (1894)
‘At the present day the acquirement of flexibility is not in great esteem, and were it not, perhaps, for the venerable Handel,...
John Curwen Describes a Rehearsal of the Boys at St. Pauls, London in 1891
‘The Cathedral bell is striking two, and in the passage boys scud to and fro shouting “Practice!" and racing to their places in the...
Leopold von Sonnleithner Remembering in 1857 Johann Vogl’s Singing and Influence on Franz Schubert
‘Without a doubt, [Johann] Michael Vogl stands foremost among those who recognised and promoted Schubert’s genius early on. As far as...