Vocal vibrato 1500-1700

FOOTNOTES

1 [01:37] Selected studies that discuss the ornamental tremolo/vibrato: Bruce Dickey, “Untersuchungen zur historischen Auffasung des Vibratos auf Blasinstrumenten” in: Basler Jarhbuch für historische Musikpraxis, 1978, pp. 77-142; Constance Frei, L’Arco Sonoro, Lucca, 2010; Greta Moens-Haenen, Das Vibrato in der Musik des Barocks, Graz, 1988; Greta Moens-Haenen, Deutsche Violintechnik im 17. Jahrhundert : ein Handbuch zur Aufführungspraxis, Graz, 2006; Anne Smith, The Performance of 16th-Century Music: Learning from the Theorists, New York, 2011.

2 [02:33] Ludovico Zacconi, Prattica di Musica, Venice, 1592, Libro I, f. 55r: “Il tremolo nella musica non è necessario; ma facendolo oltra che dimostra sincerità, e ardire; abbellisce le cantilene...” p. 60r: “E per non lasciare in questa materia che dire, e per il zelo grande, & voglia che io ho di giovar al cantore dico ancora, che il tremolo, cioè la voce tremante è la vera porta d’intrar dentro a passaggi, e d’impatronirsi delle gorgie perche con più facilità se ne và la Nave quando che prima è mossa; che quando nel principio la si vuol movere: & il saltatore meglio salta, se prima che salta se promove al salto. Questo tremolo deve essere succinto, e vago; perché l’ingordo e forzato tedia, e fastidisce: Ed è di natura tale che usandolo, sempre usar si deve; accioché l’uso si converti in habito; perché quel continuo muover di voce aiuta, e volentieri spinge la mossa delle gorge, e facilita mirabilmente i principij de passaggi : Questa mossa che io dico non deve essere se non con giusta fretta, ma gagliarda, & vehemente.”

3 [03:40] Luigi Zenobi, Letter on the perfect musician, see: Bonnie J. Blackburn & Edward E. Lowinsky, “Luigi Zenobi and his letter on the perfect musician”, in: Studi musicali, 22, 1993, pp. 61-114 [link]. See also: Anne Smith, The performance of 16th-century music, New York, 2011, pp. 138-143.

4 [04:31] For example: 1. Virginia Vagnoli, whom Zenobi had intended to marry, was praised for “the sweetness of the voice and the tremolo which she gracefully employs in her singing” [“non si truova un'altra sua pari, e per sicurezza, nel canto, e per vaghezza & attillatura nel modo del cantare, & per dolcezza nella voce e nel tremolo ch'ella leggiadramente usa cantando”], Francesco Sansovino, Cento novelle scelte da più nobili scrittori della lingua volgare, Venezia, 1562. p. 397; 2. The composer and singer Maddalena Casulana is said to drive away all sadness with her trembling throat [“gorza tremulande”] Antonio Molino, I dilettevoli madrigali a quattro voci dedicati a Maddalena Casulana, libro primo, Venezia, 1568. Zenobi also mentions the undulation in the context of the tenor singer: “Ma io lodarei in queste parti di mezzo, che elleno passaggiassero di rado, e si contentassero di sapere ascendere e discendere con la voce gratiosamente ondeggiando et usando tall'hora qualche trillo, o tremolo gentile, che senza dubbio ne sarebbono assai piu lodati da chi sa che cosa importi cantar bene.” [“But I should recommend that these middle parts use embellishments rarely and content themselves with knowing how to ascend and descend with a delicate wavy motion (ondeggiando) and at times use a few gentle trilli or tremoli.”]

5 [04:38] For example, Alessandra Lardi was described mentioning the “minute and undulating accents of her sweetly trembling voice” [“Gli accenti minuti, e ondeggiati dalla voce dolcemente tremante, con quel tremor destavano un ghiaccio dilettoso per l’ossa di chi l’udiva”], Luigi Grotto, Le orationi volgari di Luigi Groto cieco di Hadria, Venezia, 1602, fol. 42v].

6 [05:00] Georg Quitschreiber, De Canendi elegantia, Jena, 1598, f. 2v.

7 [05:45] Michael Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum III, Wolfenbüttel, 1619, p. 229-230: “Sintemal die jenigen gar nicht zu loben / welche von Gott und der Natur / mit einer sonderbahren lieblichen zitterten und schwebenden oder bebenden Stimm...” p. 231: "Die Requisita sind diese: daß ein Sänger erstlich eine schöne liebliche zittern- und bebende Stimme (doch nicht also / wie etliche in Schulen gewohnet seyn / sondern mit besonderer moderation) und einen glatten runden Hals zu diminuiren habe.”

8 [06:14] Daniel Friderici, Musica Figuralis, Rostock, 1624, Caput VII, Regula 2; Johann Andreas Herbst, Musica Moderna Prattica, Frankfurt/Main, 1632, p. 3; Johann Crüger, Synopsis Musica, Berlin, 1654, p. 189-190; Johann Crüger, Musica practicae praecepta brevia: Der rechte Weg zur Singekunst, Berlin, 1660, p. 19; W. M. Mylius, Rudimenta Musices, Mühlhausen, 1686, f. D3.

9 [06:36] Christoph Bernhard, Von der Singe-Kunst oder Manier (ca.1650), transcribed in Die Kompositionslehre Heinrich Schützens in der Fassung seines Schülers Christoph Bernhard, ed. J. M. Müller-Blattau, Kassel, 1926, 2/1963, pp. 31-39, at pp. 31-32: “Das fermo oder Festhalten der Stimme, wird bey allen Noten erfordert, ausgenommen, wo das trillo oder ardire gebraucht wird, und insonderheit die Zierde des fermo ist daraus zu verstehen, weil das tremulo |: welches sonst auf der Orgel, in welcher alle Stimmen zugleich tremuliren können, wegen der Veränderung wohl lautet :| ein vitium ist, welches bey den alten Sängern nicht als eine Kunst angebracht wird, sondern sich selbst einschleichet, weil selbige nicht mehr die Stimme festzuhalten vermögen. Wer aber mehr Zeugniß begehret vom Übelstande des tremulo, der höre einen alten tremulirenden zu, wenn selbiger alleine singet; so wird er urteilen können, warum das Tremulum von den vornehmsten Sängern nicht gebraucht wird, es sey denn in ardire, davon drunten.” N.B. the term “ardire” is not found in any Italian source, but it is understood as a certain undulating or pulsating ornament.

10 [07:18] Franchinus Gaffurius, Theorica musicae, Milan, 1492, fol. k5. “they say that some Italians, such as the Genoese and those who reside on that coast, bleat like goats.” [“Italorum nonnullos ut genuenses et qui ad eorum littora resident caprizare ferunt.”] See also note 18 on Morsolino, and note 9 on Bernhard.

11 [07:45] W. M. Mylius, Rudimenta Musices, Mühlhausen, 1686, p. D3: “Das Fünffte Stück. Von der lieblichen / artigen und zierlichen Sing-Art. Was soll ein Knabe oder Sänger vor Eigenschafften an sich haben? Erstlich soll ein Knabe oder Sänger von Natur eine schöne / liebliche / bebende und zum trillo bequeme Stimme und glatten runden Hals haben.” While Mylius quotes Praetorious's statements advocating a preference for “wavering” voices, he also includes Bernhard's "fermo" sound as one of the graces the singer should master, suggesting that the two concepts are not contradictory: "Was ist Fermo? Fermo kömmet von dem Lateinischen Wort firmus, und heist / fest beständig / und steiff / anzeigend / dass nicht allein ein Sänger über iedem Clave einen beständigen umwanckenden Thon und Laut von sich geben solle / der weder in die Höhe noch in die Tieffe sich lencke / (dergleichen die Knaben bey Anfang ihres Singen-Lernens sehr an sich haben und meist unterzuziehen pflegen) sondern es ist auch ein solch fest halten der Stimme / dass erstlich eine Nota gleich angestossen darauf sich das trillo bequem schicket." [p. D4v]

12 [08:14] Roger North, "As to music..." (ca. 1695) in Roger North, “on Music”, Edited by John Wilson, London, 1959, p. 18. Also found in: Roger North, “As to Musick” in Notes of Me, Edited by Peter Millard, Toronto, 2000, pp. 149-151. “Therefore as to the pratique, I would have a voice or hand taught, first to prolate a long, true, steddy and strong sound, the louder and harsher the better; for that will obtein an habit, of filling and giving a body to the sound, which else will be faint and weak, as in those who come to sing at maturity of years, when the organs of the voice are stiff and intractable. And so for a bow hand, to spend the whole bow at every stroke, long or short. These lay a good foundation, the roughness and harshness of which will soften in time. The loud may abate, but soft voices cannot be made loud at pleasure. Those must be formed early, as the limbs are to arts, by much striving and continuall exercise, so as to grow, and setle into a forme, to fitt the use and practise of them. Then next I would have them learn to fill, and soften a sound, as shades in needlework, insensatìm, so as to be like also a gust of wind, which begins with a soft air, and fills by degrees to a strength as makes all bend, and then softens away againe into a temper, and so vanish. And after this to superinduce a gentle and slow wavering, not into a trill, upon the swelling the note; such as trumpetts use, as if the instrument were a little shaken with the wind of its own sound, but not so as to vary the tone, which must be religiously held to its place, like a pillar on its base, without the least loss of the accord. This waving of the note is not to be described but by example. But as wee often use odd similes to express our meaning and help the imagination, take these images of sound by lines, which represent the humour of sound judiciously managed. The latter is the trill, which, as you see, breaking the tone and mixing with another, is dangerous for a scollar to medle with, till he hath the mastery of the sound, else it will make him apt to loose the principall tone; and that spoiles all.”

13 [10:40] Constanzo Antegnati, L'Arte Organica, Brescia, 1608. In the chapter "Modo di registrar li organi": “Fiffaro il qual da molti vien nominato registro de voci humane, che per dir il vero, per la sua dolce armonia cosi si può dimandare, il qual registro bisogna suonarlo in compagnia del principale solo ne bisogna mettervi altro seco perche sarebbe ogni cosa scordato, & si deve suonar adaggio con movimenti tardi, & legato più che si può…“ [The fiffaro —called the register of human voices by many people, which to speak the truth can indeed be given that name because of its sweet harmony— this register must be played together with the principal, no other stop should be mixed with it because everything would then seem out of tune, and it must be played adagio with slow movements, and as legato as possible…]

14 [11:00] Girolamo Diruta, Discorso sopra il Concertar li Registri d'Organo, Venezia, 1609, p. 22: "Il Secondo Tuono rende l'Armonia malenconica, questo vuole il principal solo con il tremolo... Il Quarto Tuono rende l'Armonia lamentevole mesta e dogliosa. Il Registro principale con il tremolo farà quest'effetto..."

15 [11:30] Often, there are two types of tremulant stop - a strong and a soft one. The soft tremulant is usually associated with the vox humana.

16 [11:55] Marin Mersenne, Harmonie Universelle, Paris, 1636, Book 6, p. 380. (“l’on aura un parfait Tremblant s'il n'altère point trop les tuyaux... et s'il bat de telle sorte qu'il fasse imiter le tremblement des voix aux ieux de l'Orgue.”)

17 [12:35] Lisandro Abadie, "Vocal Undulations and Vox Humana Organ Stop" in: Vox Humana Journal, 2019 (link); Jörg-Andreas Bötticher, „Singend denken“- und denkend singen? : zur Wechselbeziehung barocker Vokal- und Instrumentalpraxis. In: Singen und Gesangspraxis in der Alten Musik, Winterthur : Amadeus, 2003, S. 149–171

18 [12:54] For example, a letter from Giambatista Morsolino concerning the organ in Cremona in 1582: “et accade che non essendo tremolo buono; in luogo di far l’armonia languida et dolce; riesce poi aspra et spiacevole, che par un tormentato dalla febbre fredda, che sbatta denti.” ["as it happens, when the tremolo is not good, instead of making a languishing and sweet harmony, it comes out so harsh and unpleasant that it sounds like someone who is tormented by cold fever and his teeth chatter."] Oscar Mischiati, L’organo della Catedrale di Cremona, Bologna, 2007, pp. 209-236 (211).

19 [13:03] Johann Friedrich Agricola, Sammlung einiger Nachrichten von berühmten Orgelwerken in Teutschland, Breßlau, 1757, pp. 498-499; Charles Burney, The Present State of Music in Germany, the Netherlands, and United Provinces, 1773, p. 302. Furthermore, Mersenne, Agricola, and Adlung (among others) combine the vox humana with another 8’ stop to sweeten the sound of the reed stop.

20 [13:11] For example: Sylvestro Ganassi, Fontegara, Venice, 1535, ch. 24; Marin Mersenne, Harmonie Universelle, Paris, 1636; Jean Rousseau, Traité de la Viole, Paris 1687, p. 75; Denis Dodart, "Supplément au Mémoire sur la voix et sur les tons" in: Histoire de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, Paris, 1706 (1707) pp. 136-148; Martin Heinrich Fuhrmann, Musikalischer Trichter, Frankfurt, 1706, p. 66; Johann Philipp Kirnberger, “Bebung” in: Johann Georg Sulzer, Allgemeine Theorie der Schönen Künste. Bd. 1. Leipzig, 1771, p. 136, Wolfgang A. Mozart, Letter to his father, Paris, 12 June 1778 [link]

21 [13:27] For such sources see the studies listed on note 1 above.

Credits:

Created by Elam Rotem & Lisandro Abadie.

Lisandro Abadie is a bass-baritone, born and raised in Buenos Aires. He graduated at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, and at the Musikhochschule Luzern. He sings opera and concerts, and collaborates with musicians, artists and authors like Facundo Agudin, William Christie, Laurence Cummings, Luis Felipe Fabre, Benjamin Lazar, Annie Le Brun, Fernanda Morello, Mónica Pustilnik, Paul Suits, and many others. As a researcher, his various interests extend from European singers and composers of the 17th and 18th centuries to the opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis, by Viktor Ullmann. At present he is preparing a book on vocal and instrumental vibrato in historical sources, with special interest in organ stops and early recordings. Since 2019 he teaches in the AVES Program at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. See his article "Vocal Undulations and the Vox Humana Organ Stop" in: Vox Humana Journal, 2019 (link).

Many thanks to Bruce Dickey, Jörg-Andreas Bötticher, Domen Marincic, and Catherine Motuz for their valuable comments.

Thanks to Jörg-Andreas Bötticher and the Predigerkirche Basel for allowing us to film the organs: 1. Italian organ, anonymous, late 18. century. 2. Johann Andreas Silbermann 1769, restored by Metzler 1978.

Special thanks to Anne Smith.