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Reimagining Historical Voices
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John Baptist Cuvillie on Using a ‘Tramblan Stop’ to Make the Organ More Like the Human Voice (1699)
‘3dly I removed the Voxhumane which was on the Chairorgan before, Now to the Great Organ, and for to adorne that Stop and to make itt...
Tim Braithwaite

Adriano Banchieri on Singing the Words Under the Notes
How to sing the words under the notes Final lesson Before the beginning singer commences [singing] the words, several conditions must...
Tim Braithwaite


Thomas Elyot on Vociferation Exercises for Good Health (1595)
‘The chief exercise of the chest and vocal organs is “vociferation”, which is singing, reading, or crying [loud shouting], which has the...
Tim Braithwaite


L’Abbé de Condillac on the Melody of Declamation and Recitative (1788)
‘Although our declamation cannot be notated, it seems to me that one might be able to preserve it in some way. It would be sufficient if...
Tim Braithwaite


Pietro Reggio on the Fundamentals of Singing
‘Many great lovers of Singing are discouraged from Learning for want of a good Voice; which by experience I know they ought not to be,...
Tim Braithwaite


To Mr. Henry Lawes, who had then newly set a Song of mine in the Year, 1635.
Verse makes Heroick Vertue live, But you can life to Verses give: As when in open aire we blow The breath (though strain'd) sounds flat...
Tim Braithwaite

Jean-Baptiste Faure on the Voix Sombrée and Raising the Head for High Notes (1886)
[pp. 44-45] 'No historical method mentions this type of voice [the voix sombrée] ; it is only since Gilbert Duprez's debut that we have...
Tim Braithwaite


Florido Tomeoni on the Dangers of the French Way of Singing (1799)
‘… The unearthly efforts required by the French method wear out their [the singers’] voices even before they can appear on stage, and the...
Tim Braithwaite


Wolfgang Printz on the Behaviour of Choirs (1678)
‘The Praefectus (director of the choir) should also take special care that none of the singers shout excessively. Not only does it sound...
Tim Braithwaite


Metastasio's Views on Modern Singers Compared to the Singers of Antiquity (Vienna, April 25, 1770)
‘The theatres of the ancients were vast squares, ours are vessels of small dimensions. Hence, in order to be heard in them by the...
Tim Braithwaite


Charles Butler Complaining about the ‘Stentorian Vociferations’ of Choir Singers (1636)
‘First therefore let the whole choir endeavour to control their voices, so that the words may be clearly heard and understood by the...
Tim Braithwaite


A Satirical Conversation on the Obstruction of the ‘Free Course of the Voice’ (1774)
‘We discoursed upon the subject of Dr. Burney’s travels, of which he was a professed admirer; and mentioned with great approbation that...
Tim Braithwaite


An Anecdote Involving Handel and a 'Scoundrel' who Could not Sing at First Sight (1741/1784)
‘When Handel went through Chester, in his way to Ireland, this year 1741, I was at the Public-School in the city, and very well remember...
Tim Braithwaite


Descartes on the Performance of Metrically Important Beats (1618)
'Few have understood, how this Measure can be exhibited to the ears without a percussion, or stroke, in Musick, very diminute and of many...
Tim Braithwaite


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


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


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


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
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