Review
Reviewed Work(s): Bel Canto: A History of Vocal Pedagogy by James Stark
Review by: Margaret Kennedy-Dygas
Source: Notes, Second Series, Vol. 58, No. 1 (Sep., 2001), pp. 113-114
Published by: Music Library Association
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Book Reviews 113
ent
ent modes
modesofofhearing
hearing seems
seems
to me
to me
more
more
ern scientific
scientific approach
approachininthe
theteaching
teachingofof
than
than problematic.
problematic. singing.
singing. The
The singing
singing profession
professionhas
hascred-
cred-
A book as full of ideas, contentions, and ited Garcia
Garcia with
with inventing
inventingthethelaryngo-
laryngo-
theories as this one will inevitably find en- scope,
scope, but
but Stark
Stark has
has done
donehis
hishomework
homework
thusiastic defenders and disappointed de- and frames this traditional claim in a more
tractors. But even those unable to subscribe accurate historical context. Though others
to the author's central or ancillary argu- in the nineteenth century experimented
ments will be enormously stimulatedwith in laryngeal examinations, Garcia was
their thinking and will surely find here unique
a in desiring to study the singing
valuable guide, a cicerone, through the voice. Stark also makes the point that
thicket of a literature that few specialists Garcia's examinations were performed only
have hitherto had the patience and acu- on himself and extended only so far as to
men to master.
produce evidence to support his evolving
IMANUEL WILLHEIM theories about the function of the glottis.
Nezu York City Stark's project examines Garcia's major
claims about vocal technique in order to
(1) substantiate them insofar as possible by
Bel Canto: A History of Vocal Peda-
means of modern scientific measurements,
and (2) trace their roots from the earliest
gogy. ByJames Stark. Toronto: Uni-
developments of the bel canto tradition.
versity of Toronto Press, 1999. [xxv,
325 p. ISBN 0-8020-4703-3. $75.] Stark's scientific explorations of Garcia's
claims are summarized in an appendix.
James Stark's study of bel canto, the his-In chapter 7, Stark proposes a new defin-
toric vocal method developed in Italy dur- ition of bel canto, one based on the repre-
ing the baroque period, follows in the tra-sentative vocal techniques involved and
dition of pedagogical inquiry begun by on the style of composition developed for
Victor Alexander Fields more than half a their expression. His definition, more func-
century ago. Fields's Training the Singing tional than historical, fills a need that voice
Voice: An Analysis of the Working Concepts teachers, confronting the array of alterna-
Contained in Recent Contributions to Vocal tive vocal techniques arising from popular
Pedagogy (New York: King's Crown Press, idioms and the relatively recent advent of
1947; reprint, New York: Da Capo, 1979)
electronic amplification, will understand.
While bel canto has its roots in the historic
was a first attempt to sift through the mass
of confusion in the published account Italian
of tradition, it is still the predominant
the science and art of singing in the early
technique of the classically trained acoustic
twentieth century. His approach was sys- opera and concert singer. Stark's book
tematic and quantitative, and as such did
spans the chasm separating the empirical
approach to bel canto of the seventeenth
not extend to the bold historical judgments
attempted by Stark. Nonetheless, Fields's
and eighteenth centuries from the more re-
work, in creating a bibliography of vocal
cent scientific attempts to quantify it.
treatises examined by category, began Each
a chapter tackles a major area of con-
trend of greater objectivity. This was con-
troversy in the historical record, beginning
tinued by Philip A. Duey (Bel Canto in with
Its Garcia's coup de la glotte. Stark argues
that Garcia was identifying firm adduction
Golden Age: A Study of Its Teaching Concepts
[New York: King's Crown Press, 1951;
of the vocal folds as the necessary first step
reprint, New York: Da Capo, 1980]), John
to a balanced, operatic onset and continu-
Carroll Burgin (Teaching Singing [Metuchen,
ing phonation. Further, the coup de la glotte
N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1973]), and Brent was greatly misunderstood, and much in-
Jeffrey Monahan (The Art of Singing:correct
A science in the early twentieth cen-
tury was cited to argue against it. Stark
Compendium of Thoughts on Singing Published
between 1777 and 1927 [Metuchen, N.J.: traces the views of glottal closure from
Scarecrow Press, 1978]). the time of Garcia through more recent re-
Stark identifies the pivotal figure search,
of concluding that Garcia's technique
Manuel Garcia (1805-1906) as the individ- probably reflected the actual practice of
ual through whom the earlier bel canto many operatic singers then and now. Con-
teaching tradition was united with the mod- tinuing in this process of reconciling the
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114 NOTES, September 2001
historical record with modern scientific in- He adds
adds to
to this
this discussion
discussionthe
theinsights
insightsofof
quiry, Stark examines the timbral question contemporary
contemporary aesthetics
aestheticsandandscience.
science.
of chiaroscuro, concluding that singers en-The culminating
culminating chapter
chapterproposes
proposesa anew
new
gage the vocal tract in producing this qual- approach
approach toto understanding
understandingbel belcanto.
canto.
ity of both "cover" (by lowering the larynx) Stark's
Stark's thesis
thesis is
is that
that the
thetechnique
techniquewaswasin-
in-
and brightness (by intensifying the singer's vented and advanced in the late sixteenth
formant). century by court singers in northern Italy,
The chapter on vocal registers is neces- many of whom were women; he gives much
sarily somewhat tentative, as more scientific credit to Giulio Caccini for its early devel-
research is needed to understand the inter- opment and dissemination. The phenome-
play of factors in the control mechanisms non of the castrato followed the develop-
of trained singers. Clearly, in the bel canto ment of the bel canto style quite naturally,
tradition, the goal is to produce a seamless as the castrato voice was capable of produc-
texture of sound throughout the vocal ing the bel canto sound in. a highly success-
range. The number of distinct registersful of way. Had the castrati not emerged, ar-
the voice, or the question of whether sepa- gues Stark, the bel canto tradition would
rate registers exist at all, was a matterstill of have held sway in Europe, as its roots
bitter controversy at the time of Garcia. predate the popularity of the castrato voice
Science today has established certainon dis-
the secular stage.
This book joins the best of the recent
tinct functional positions of the vocal folds,
but much more research must be done to studies in voice pedagogy. It is impeccably
reconcile the historic treatises with actual
researched and compellingly written.
vocal function. In regard to breath control MARGARET KENNEDY-DYGAS
(termed appoggio in the bel canto tradi- Hope College
tion), similar difficulties emerge. Voice sci-
ence affirms that the resistance work of
Heart to Heart: Expressive Singing in
breath for bel canto singing is significantly
England, 1780-1830. By Robert Toft.
different than in other techniques of singing
(Oxford Early Music Series.) Oxford
or speaking. Nevertheless, the strategies
employed by individual singers involveand New
such York: Oxford University
a wide range of variables that further re- 2000.
Press, [xv, 198 p. ISBN 0-19-
search is necessary to understand this
816662-1. $60.]
process more fully.
The chapter on vocal tremulousness be-
Robert Toft's book on performance prac-
gins to examine the phenomenon oftices vibrato
in eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-
and its causes. This quality of thecentury singingsinging may be the first to treat a
voice is related to the interaction of muscu- wide variety of performance topics in a sin-
lar efforts in phonation and is therefore gle monograph. Although the author limits
affected by breath pressure, glottal closure, himself to English sources pertinent to the
and a number of other factors. Historic period 1780-1830, his informative and fas-
treatises commonly consider vibrato acinating con- look at vocal practice could very
trolled element of the singing voice. likelyIts
be extended to the Continent, since
presence is often more pronounced some in the
of his sources are English editions of
delivery of heavier roles in nineteenth- and
works by Italian and French singing mas-
twentieth-century opera. Stark proposes
ters. Toft relies heavily on singing treatises
but also includes information from contem-
that vibrato results from complex functions
of the singing voice and that it is control-
poraneous letters and newspaper articles,
lable, if indirectly, since it is measurably
especially performance reviews. Perhaps
variable. Again, his conclusions are tenta-
the most revealing information comes from
tive, as more research is needed in this area singers' annotations in scores (both pub-
as well. lished and in manuscript) and from trea-
Stark's discussion of idiom and expres- tises on rhetoric.
sion begins with an examination of the Chapter 1 offers abundant detail about
heavy emphasis on producing word and the different manners of expression suited
meaning encountered constantly in trea- to four styles of singing (church, chamber,
tises from the earliest period of bel canto. concert, theater), according to which
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