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Reimagining Historical Voices
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Sabbatini on Developing the Falsetto (1789)
‘Ten notes are said to be natural to every voice, because ordinarily all singers come to produce them with a voice that is said to be of...
Tim Braithwaite


Robert Gjerdingen on the Role of Solfeggi in Baroque Vocal Pedagogy
‘Although manuscript collections of solfeggi were centerpieces in the training of musicians in the days of Bach and Mozart, today the...
Tim Braithwaite


Pietro Pontio on the Performance of Syncopations (1588)
‘Nonetheless there are others who are of the opinion that half of the note value of the syncopated semibreve is deemed to be dead—whereby...
Tim Braithwaite


Georg Falck on the use of Extemporised Florid Ornaments and Trills in an Ensemble Setting (1688)
‘Although they are set only in the system of the cantus, these examples of accentus and variation of intervals can be used in the other...
Tim Braithwaite

G. Batista Doni on the 'Plasma' of the Ancients in Modern Practice (1763)
'The Strascino [slide] (which is the continued plasma of the Ancients, and which is done by raising or lowering continuously the voice,...
Tim Braithwaite


Richard Wagner’s Description of his Musical Choices in his Edition of Palestrina’s ‘Stabat Mater’
‘I offer you namely my arrangement of the famous Stabat mater by Palestrina, in the original manuscript of which there were no expression...
Tim Braithwaite


Two Comments on Ensemble Singing by Joan Albert Ban (1642)
III. Diminution Diminution occurs when larger notes are broken into many parts by the smaller ones in motion. The which must not...
Tim Braithwaite


John Curwen Giving a Preliminary Lesson in Sound Production for Choristers (1852)
‘2. To produce a good note, the singer should be in an easy posture, with his head upright and his shoulders back, so as to allow the...
Tim Braithwaite


Thomas Morley on the Embarrassment of being Unable to Sing a Part at Sight (1597)
‘But supper having ended, and music books having been brought to the table, according to the custom: the mistress of the house presented...
Tim Braithwaite


Vincenzo Manfredini on the use of Ornaments in Recitative (1797)
‘A great defect into which some of the best modern singers have fallen is that of having introduced florid ornaments into recitative,...
Tim Braithwaite


The Affective use of Timbre According to Garcia and Demonstrated by Fernando de Lucia (1902)
‘A few trials will suffice to prove that every shade of passion, however slight, will effect in a peculiar way the physical condition,...
Tim Braithwaite


Leo Kofler on the Artistic use of Larynx Height in 'The Old Italian School of Singing’ (1883)
'In regard to the accommodation of the melody to the natural pitch of the vowel sounds, the composer is assisted by the spirit of the...
Tim Braithwaite


Fabio Orsini’s Manner of Recitation that was ‘not Completely that of one who is Reading’ (1488)
‘He then recited a heroic poem that he himself had previously written in honour of our Piero dei Medici. This [poem] was indeed his, and...
Tim Braithwaite


Andreas Ornithoparcus on the Singing of Different Nations and the Faults of German Cantors (1517)
Dowland’s Translation: ‘Every man lives after his owne humour; neither are all men governed by the same lawes, and divers Nations have...
Tim Braithwaite


A Fanciful Description of Palestrina Conducting his Missa Papae Marcelli from 1912
‘How often may the master [Palestrina] himself have conducted it [the Missa Papae Marcelli] with sublime enthusiasm, full of the fire...
Tim Braithwaite


Clive Brown on ‘The Yawning Chasm between Contemporary Practice and Historical Evidence’ (2010):
‘The reasons why professional musicians have failed to apply our very extensive and ever-increasing knowledge of Classical- and...
Tim Braithwaite


Lilli Lehmann on the Benefits of the Great Scale, ‘the Guardian Angel of the Voice’ (1902/1914)
‘The great scale, properly elaborated in practice, accomplishes wonders: it equalizes the voice, makes it flexible and noble, gives...
Tim Braithwaite


Leonardo da Vinci on the Throat and the Muscles of the Leg (1510-11)
A. Begin the anatomy at the head and finish it at the soles of the feet. Put in all the exits that the veins make in the flesh and their...
Tim Braithwaite


Pierre-Louis Pollio on the ‘Charivary’ of Improvising (‘Chant sur le Livre’) in Many Parts (1771)
‘As for singing on the book in many parts made impromptu, my sentiment is that it is almost impossible to do well… I maintain that it is...
Tim Braithwaite


Pietro Reggio on Teaching the Trillo (1677)
‘Now let us proceed to teach a man to Trillo, and what he must do, for to come to do it well. The first Trial is as follows. Let any...
Tim Braithwaite
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