I was recently flicking through an instruction book aimed at teaching modern singers how to ornament eighteenth-century repertoire, and I...

‘The loudness or softness, especially on long and serious notes, must be observed even by those who sing the supporting voices [not the...

‘Firstly, a singer must have a voice by nature, in which three requirements and three flaws are to be noted. The requirements are these:...

‘To Marcus Pabius Quintilianus You would think but slightly, my dear Fabius, of all these [the accomplishments of the citharists], if,...

§6 ‘Some persons believe that they will appear learned if they crowd an Adagio with many graces, and twist them around in such fashion...

’Also excepted is all quick passage-work which must be executed by the human voice, unless it is supposed to be slurred. Since every note...

Tosi describes two main types of articulation for the performance of fast notes, the ‘marked’ (‘battuto’) and ‘glided’ (‘scivolo.’)

‘What the German manner of singing was like in times past may still be perceived today from the singers in choirs...

'In such other florid ornaments which well-practiced singers use when singing solo, one has a lot of license and freedom, so that the...

‘A certain soprano who was very skilled and excellent at singing in falsetto (but was not a castrato) once sang arias rising to an e’’’ ...