The Voices of the Early Nineteenth Century
The history of singing from the sixteen century to the first quarter of the nineteenth was an increasing display of virtuosity. Audiences wanted to hear singers go higher, faster, louder. High voices dominated the opera stages on the eighteenth century – sopranos and contraltos. The love for coloratura in the Baroque period made possible for sopranos and castrati to reign as the super stars of that time.
By the nineteenth century, the tenor voice was starting to conquer those qualities, singing higher by the use of the falsetto register or head voice. By doing that, tenors of the Italian tradition would emphasize the lyrical quality of their top range, achieving easy and elegant higher notes. Their voices combined the power of the male voice with the sweetness and charm of a woman’s, and they began to gain more and more space on stage.
The rise of the tenor voice overlaps with the decline of the castrati, who were fast vanishing by the first decades of the nineteenth century as the castration practice started to be seen as barbaric and unacceptable. For a little while, the castrati were replaced by the female contraltos in breeches as the love interest or hero in opera seria. The tenor as a lover gained space first in comic opera, but their roles were still more mellifluous rather than ardent. Nonetheless, the audiences’ preference for the higher voices was gaining more and more ground, and sopranos and tenors would draw larger crowds than altos and baritones.
Between 1830 and 1850, the tenor took over from the female contralto the role of lover. Opportunities for tenors were widening. The baritones were now starting to get more importance as the other pillars of romantic opera playing the parts of villains or men of power.
By the nineteenth century, the tenor voice was starting to conquer those qualities, singing higher by the use of the falsetto register or head voice. By doing that, tenors of the Italian tradition would emphasize the lyrical quality of their top range, achieving easy and elegant higher notes. Their voices combined the power of the male voice with the sweetness and charm of a woman’s, and they began to gain more and more space on stage.
The rise of the tenor voice overlaps with the decline of the castrati, who were fast vanishing by the first decades of the nineteenth century as the castration practice started to be seen as barbaric and unacceptable. For a little while, the castrati were replaced by the female contraltos in breeches as the love interest or hero in opera seria. The tenor as a lover gained space first in comic opera, but their roles were still more mellifluous rather than ardent. Nonetheless, the audiences’ preference for the higher voices was gaining more and more ground, and sopranos and tenors would draw larger crowds than altos and baritones.
Between 1830 and 1850, the tenor took over from the female contralto the role of lover. Opportunities for tenors were widening. The baritones were now starting to get more importance as the other pillars of romantic opera playing the parts of villains or men of power.
Rossini's Vocal Reform
The unique style of Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) and his operas have a very important role in the art of singing. His vision helped bringing the florid style of baroque opera to a whole new level of virtuosity and make way to the Bel Canto era. Rossini’s vocal ideal was still the castrato. He felt that they were the singers who could best join vocal virtuosity with unsurpassable expressiveness. As those singers were in decline, we have a radical transformation of the vocal tradition, and Rossini was trying to translate to other voices the castrati’s qualities, although he kept a nostalgia for the expressiveness (more than the virtuosity) of that voice.
To Rossini, singing should be about the beauty of the sound and the impeccable execution of agility passages. Just like baroque music, Rossini’s operas had the text serving the music, not the other way around. One of his letters exemplifies this line of thought, when he said that music was not imitative, like paintings or sculptures. More than that, in music “the feelings of the heart are expressed and not imitated” (Letter to Filippo Filippi, 26 August 1868). Rossini was so worried about the expressive powers of music that he changed the ways cadenzas and other virtuosity lines were done, by taking control of the coloratura parts. By writing out in detail the whole of those passages, he robbed singers of the possibility of improvising or of inserting passages, ornaments and cadenzas. Of course the singers would still change parts at their convenience – they were the stars! But the wider control by the composer over those parts were another big contribution of the “Rossini Reform”. Other aspects reformed by Rossini were the new colors of his instrumentation and comic elements applied to vocalism. His comic operas were treated just like opera seria to showcase vocal virtuosi – another great change in the style of the time. |
Rossini's Tenors
In the beginning of the nineteenth century opera seria, the tenor was beginning to be accepted for the role of the young lover or hero in place of the castrato, but the more common option was to use women in pants roles, especially contraltos. These women sung the roles originally written for castrati, but new roles started to by written for them. There was still prejudice against the tenor as the lover – in serious opera they still sounded with a more baritonal quality, but the voice was gaining ground.
The “baritone-tenor” was being linked to roles as the noble-father or the rival, but now starts to play the lover or hero. Nonetheless, Rossini was still not inspired by that voice to write romantic passages. For him, the tenor voice sung in a more robust way – not as heartfelt or full of pathos. As the tenor conquered more roles as the hero or lover, someone had to replace him as the rival. Since that new voice was lacking, Rossini had to differentiate them by writing higher tessituras for the hero. We have them roles written for the “baritone-tenor” and the ones written for the tenorino, the higher tenor, with a lighter voice. In Rossini’s first operas, the tenor has a fairly central tessitura without much agility passages. For L’Italiana in Algeri the role is really high, as well as the tenor role in Il turco in Italia. But in Il Barbiere di Siviglia the tenor role is back at a middle tessitura. This means Rossini was writing for specific voices, and making the best use possible of all their individual abilities.
An important aspect to keep in mind when studying Rossini’s tenor roles is that, whether writing for the tenorinos or his baritenors, tessitura does not equal range. The baritenor also had to sing high Cs and even Ds, with their falsetto production, and both had to sing coloratura, but the tenorino had more runs and sat higher in his voice for most of the time.
When Rossini moved to Paris in 1824, he was able to work with some of the French greatest tenors of the time, and wrote several important roles in his operas for them. His last opera, Guillaume Tell (1829), was a new genre of Parisian grand opera. The music had less ornamentation and more dramatic singing. Rossini’s approach to singing provided France with singers who could compete with the Italians. In a way, the composer was able to bring together both worlds and traditions. A bigger exchange in their different singing schools was then possible, with French singers making a big success in Italy as well as the Italians in France.
The art of singing was quickly changing by then, as we will discuss in more detail in the next chapter. Rossini stopped composing operas after Guillaume Tell, as he felt that the old florid style was being replaced by a nervous style, where singing gave way to howling. For him, “the art of singing had fallen into decay”.
It was left to Bellini and Donizetti (and a bit later, a young Verdi) to work with the changing voices and singing techniques and create newer works. Opera was changing, and the happy ending of most Bel Canto works was giving way to the tragedies of Romantic opera. The tenor, now with a clearer, ringing voice, had gained once and for all the role of the lover or hero. His voice was now considered the vocal symbol of youth.
The tenor was then given less coloratura parts – except when the roles were written for performers of the Rossini tradition. Donizetti was the one who fixed the real tessitura of the Romantic tenor – high, but not excessively, passing it on to Verdi.
The “baritone-tenor” was being linked to roles as the noble-father or the rival, but now starts to play the lover or hero. Nonetheless, Rossini was still not inspired by that voice to write romantic passages. For him, the tenor voice sung in a more robust way – not as heartfelt or full of pathos. As the tenor conquered more roles as the hero or lover, someone had to replace him as the rival. Since that new voice was lacking, Rossini had to differentiate them by writing higher tessituras for the hero. We have them roles written for the “baritone-tenor” and the ones written for the tenorino, the higher tenor, with a lighter voice. In Rossini’s first operas, the tenor has a fairly central tessitura without much agility passages. For L’Italiana in Algeri the role is really high, as well as the tenor role in Il turco in Italia. But in Il Barbiere di Siviglia the tenor role is back at a middle tessitura. This means Rossini was writing for specific voices, and making the best use possible of all their individual abilities.
An important aspect to keep in mind when studying Rossini’s tenor roles is that, whether writing for the tenorinos or his baritenors, tessitura does not equal range. The baritenor also had to sing high Cs and even Ds, with their falsetto production, and both had to sing coloratura, but the tenorino had more runs and sat higher in his voice for most of the time.
When Rossini moved to Paris in 1824, he was able to work with some of the French greatest tenors of the time, and wrote several important roles in his operas for them. His last opera, Guillaume Tell (1829), was a new genre of Parisian grand opera. The music had less ornamentation and more dramatic singing. Rossini’s approach to singing provided France with singers who could compete with the Italians. In a way, the composer was able to bring together both worlds and traditions. A bigger exchange in their different singing schools was then possible, with French singers making a big success in Italy as well as the Italians in France.
The art of singing was quickly changing by then, as we will discuss in more detail in the next chapter. Rossini stopped composing operas after Guillaume Tell, as he felt that the old florid style was being replaced by a nervous style, where singing gave way to howling. For him, “the art of singing had fallen into decay”.
It was left to Bellini and Donizetti (and a bit later, a young Verdi) to work with the changing voices and singing techniques and create newer works. Opera was changing, and the happy ending of most Bel Canto works was giving way to the tragedies of Romantic opera. The tenor, now with a clearer, ringing voice, had gained once and for all the role of the lover or hero. His voice was now considered the vocal symbol of youth.
The tenor was then given less coloratura parts – except when the roles were written for performers of the Rossini tradition. Donizetti was the one who fixed the real tessitura of the Romantic tenor – high, but not excessively, passing it on to Verdi.