Salti di terza nicola vaccai biography

Real Love Martin Garrix. Strange Fruit Interview Nina Simone. Behind the Wall Official Tracy Chapman. Peanut Butter Sandwich Shel Silverstein. In the meantime, though, one work proved immortal. Vaccai had a great reputation as a chamber singer and a teacher of singing, and in while he was resident in London he had an inspired idea: a book for beginning students that would take them straight into the popular new idioms of Bel Canto.

The Metodo Pratico di Canto Italiano per Camera, to give the title in full, was such a hit that it has never gone out of print.

Salti di terza nicola vaccai biography: Nicola Vaccai served a thorough musical

Nearly a hundred editions have been traced, in at least thirteen languages, and that is probably an undercount. At least five publishers have it in their catalogues intwo of them in well-researched critical editions. It is entirely possible that this little book of ariettas has been sung more often over the years than any single opera. What made the Metodo pratico so special?

Vaccai explained his purposes in his original introduction - here excerpted in a free combination of the translation that appeared in the first edition London, with my own into modern English where I thought I could represent the Italian text more clearly:. Affirming that their goal is limited to chamber singing, they are unwilling to go through the drudgery of the usual systems.

I therefore thought of devising one - that which I here present - of a completely new kind, short, pleasurable, and useful, through which the goal may be reached with equal certainty, and in less time. Since the greatest difficulty for foreigners is that of singing in a tongue not their own, even if they have solfeged and vocalized for a while, I thought that even from the first scale they would do better to accustom themselves to the language, rather than singing on meaningless syllables.

Thus, choosing from the beautiful verses of Metastasio those that seemed most apt, I hope to have made less irksome those first lessons that everybody wants to avoid practicing out of boredom. I am certain that this will be useful not just to amateurs, but also those who may aspire to become professionals, because it can be used as an exemplifier or explanation of any other method, inasmuch as it is composed of demonstrative examples.

But his point still holds: all of them are singing principally in the center of their respective ranges, and mastery of the center is the cornerstone of Bel Canto. The key novelty - integration of orderly exercises with composed and texted music - does actually seem to be original with Vaccai. Canzonettas suitable for students and amateurs had appeared by the hundreds for many years; collections of technical exercises, comparable to the Hanon and Czerny that piano students still know today, were also in circulation.

Rossini praised it highly.

Salti di terza nicola vaccai biography: The purpose of this dissertation was

Maria Callas used it for daily warmups all her life. It is Bel Canto in a nutshell. To become a leading opera singer in Italy was to scale the heights of popular culture and to join a financial elite. Thousands of promising youngsters competed for a chance, so the educational system could afford to be very demanding. Rossini described it to Edmond Michotte late in life as it had existed in his youth:.

Homogeneity of timbre and equalization of the registers, that was the fundament for all subsequent study. This practical instruction occupied at least three years of exercises. One took special care to ensure that the sound was propagated with the help of the palate. All this is sobering: Assuming that Alboni was on target in her interjection, the description prescribes eleven to thirteen years of dedicated technical study.

Now, Rossini or Michotte may have had some motivation to exaggerate. The point of the discourse was to contrast the greater attainments of the stars of his youth with the in his opinion unready and half-trained singers of London: Macmillan Publishers, Inc. Legger, Gianni n. Schirmer, Inc. Honoring the Masters. Sharing the Journey.

Salti di terza nicola vaccai biography: Work Title, Metodo pratico de

Vocal Pedagogues. Historical Figures. Living Figures. Nicola Vaccai. Italian Composer, Singing Teacher, Author. In the introduction to the text, Vaccai detailed his reason for developing his method: […] I have learned from long experience in Germany, France, England, and even Italy itself, that few if any who desire to sing for their own pleasure love the idea of undertaking long exercises and solfeggi.

Biaggi Bologna, New Grove lists some other works including salon pieces which as far as I can tell were never published. I will keep looking. So, if anyone has more information, I would love to include it.

Salti di terza nicola vaccai biography: Nicola Vaccai sheet music,Nicola

In the meantime, here are a few pieces that I was able to find easily along with clips from performances. Close Menu Home. About Us.