Bel canto, Verdian and Verismo

[wagnernn]

Please show me the differences in these 3 ways of singing.   Thanks .

[marvinbrown]

Please show me the differences in these 3 ways of singing.   Thanks .

  Well I'm no expert but I'll take a stab at it in the hopes that Tsaraslondon, Lis, Sarge and other knowledgeable GMG members would correct and enlighten me.

  Bel Canto: by definition Beautiful voice.  You'll hear the singer going on and on with an aria sometimes not even uttering words.  The emphasis is on the beauty of the human voice.  Lucia di Lammermoor is an example of Bel Canto opera.

  Verdian: derived from the operas of Verdi.  Heavy, often emphasising the power of the human voice and hailing from the romantic period of music. AIDA is a good example. The singing is oftentimes lyrical, melodic but heavier than anything you'll hear from a Mozart opera.

  Verisimo:  Verisimo by definition is linked with the gritty, realistic oftentimes vulgar aspects of the human voice and human condition.  A lot of brute force can be heard in the voice.  sometimes I don't even hear them singing lyrically but uttering words to reflect a sense of realism if you will.  Tosca, Cav/Pag etc. are excellent examples of this.

  PS: Somebody please correct me as you see fit.  I am posting here because I would like to read what others have to say.

  marvin

[zamyrabyrd]

The vocal traditions of Bel Canto probably go back to the birth of opera in the 1600's when suddenly the declamatory solo singer appeared. From there ensued an increasing need for strength, range and also imitation of the virtuosity of other instruments.

The early Romantics had flowing lines, not only in vocal music, that demanded a certain limpidity of expression. Verdi, however, was in a way a throwback to opera seria of the Baroque, but with the difference of harmonic developments of the 19th century (but not experimental like Wagner) and his own great talent in writing vocal and orchestral music. The subjects he chose were in the grand style that demanded considerable endurance and dramatic power from the singers.

Realism was not just a trend on the operatic stage but in spoken drama as well. I still think when listening to old recordings that Bel Canto was still cultivated by the contemporaries of the composers  in operas such as Cav and Pag, Louise and all the operas of Puccini, for instance.

ZB

[marvinbrown]

The vocal traditions of Bel Canto probably go back to the birth of opera in the 1600's when suddenly the declamatory solo singer appeared. From there ensued an increasing need for strength, range and also imitation of the virtuosity of other instruments.

The early Romantics had flowing lines, not only in vocal music, that demanded a certain limpidity of expression. Verdi, however, was in a way a throwback to opera seria of the Baroque, but with the difference of harmonic developments of the 19th century (but not experimental like Wagner) and his own great talent in writing vocal and orchestral music. The subjects he chose were in the grand style that demanded considerable endurance and dramatic power from the singers.

Realism was not just a trend on the operatic stage but in spoken drama as well. I still think when listening to old recordings that Bel Canto was still cultivated by the contemporaries of the composers  in operas such as Cav and Pag, Louise and all the operas of Puccini, for instance.

ZB

  Thank you ZB for clarifying this further  .

  marv

[Tsaraslondon]

Without in any way disagreeing with what ZB has said, I would add a few points.

Bel canto opera, like its Baroque predecessor, requires that the singer's voice should be particularly flexible, with a full armoury of trills and the ability to sing scale passages quickly and accurately. Though orchestras got larger and the orchestration denser with Verdi, all of his operas up to La Traviata require the same technique, at least from his sopranos. Even those roles that seem to ask for a larger voice (Abigaille and Lady Macbeth, for instance) still require an extremely flexible voice. After La Traviata, most of the dramatic soprano roles also expect a certain amount of flexibility, right up to Aida's Vedi? di morte l'angelo, Verdi's writing being deeply rooted in the bel canto tradition. After all, he wrote his first operas while Donizetti was still active. Incidentally, even Wagner wrote trills for his Brunnhilde, though we rarely hear them in performance. Listen to Frida Leider's Ho-jo-to-ho to hear what I mean.

Verismo operas, have very different vocal requirements. As the orchestra got larger, trills and other vocal niceties became less important, and now, more necessary than ever was a firm, strongly produced tone, with an ability to ride the sound these larger orchestras made. Bel canto operas were now thought ridiculous and old fashioned, and became the province of light soubrette type voices, which was the only type of voice, for whom a florid technique was thought necessary. Though written for the same singer, Giuditta Pasta, Amina in La Sonnambula became the province of one of these small, light voices and Norma, the province of large dramatic voices, which couldn't even begin to cope with the florid writing. The coloratura demands of an opera like Il Trovatore were completely forgotten, the trills ignored and the florid passages simplified and smudged over. A singer like Tebaldi, supreme in Puccini, Cilea and the later Verdi (I'm thinking here of the soprano part in the Requiem, Aida and Desdemona), didn't really have the technique for Violetta's Sempre libera, which is clumsily sung by her. Opera houses never could decide quite how to cast the role of Violetta, which appeared to ask for three different sopranos - coloratura in Act I, lyric in Act II and dramatic in Act III. Verdi, of course, wouldn't have thought about any such distinction. He would have just expected his soprano to have the necessary technique to cope with the demands of the role. Callas was one of the first sopranos in a long time, who was fully able to cope with its conflicting demands, though nowadays, it seems less of a problem. Lyric sopranos, such as Renee Fleming and Angela Gheorghiu, have no problem with the vocal acrobatics of Act I.

TL

[zamyrabyrd]

I think the singers that composers had to work with also influenced (but not in all cases) the type of writing. Rossini had a mezzo-soprano for whom the roles of Rosina and Cenerentola fit like a glove. Verdi, I believe, had a soprano, at least at the time of writing Macbeth who could perform his music even before the ink was dry on the page.

And natural abilities vary among singers as well, not only women. The rule of thumb is lower/heavier and higher/lighter. Quick passages for baritone are not widespread in the repertoire. However, there are mezzos who cope very well with the above roulades of Rossini. I can't imagine a really dark voice like Cossotto doing such feats. Wagnerian sopranos and the more dramatic types like Tebaldi don't do fast and light very well.

There are exceptions to the rule and sometimes one can find as in the person of Callas someone who could be all things to all women.