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

‘In the pinnace were three Virgins, which with their Cornets played Scottish Gigs, made three parts in one. There was also in the saide...

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

‘I would say to you, in an entirely insinuated way, that you must make yourself sweetened [adoucir] by a mild [legere] operation, which...

‘Now you shall have a general rule to grace it, as with passionate play, and relishing it: and note that the longer the time is of a...

Of the Several Graces Used in Music: The first and most principle grace, necessary to be learned, is the trill or shake; that is, to move...

Since we’ve already seen Zenobi’s comments on the requirements for a soprano (https://www.cacophonyhistoricalsinging.com/post/luigi-zenob...

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

‘In Rome...while singing [extempore] counterpoint, in the mind (alla mente) above the bass, nobody does that which his partner sings, but...

The extract below from William Babbel’s ‘Suits of the most Celebrated Lessons’ (1717) shows a transcription for keyboard of the famous...

‘The common singing-men in cathedral churches are a bad society, and yet a company of good fellows, that roar deep in the quire, deeper...

’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...

‘I have said that the tenor of the Italians was the haute-contre of the French; at least the tenors hardly differ if...

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

‘At five o’clock I went to the Concert Spirituel, the only public amusement allowed on these great festivals. It is a grand concert...

The repugnance which the Italians have for strong and loud voices, such as our own baritones [basse-tailles] and even haute-contres...

‘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’’’ ...

There remains the soprano, which is truly the ornament of all other parts, just as the bass is the foundation. The soprano...