Italian Opera Singing at the Time of Verismo

BARBARA GENTILI is Surrey Future Senior Fellow at the University of Surrey. She holds a PhD in Musicology from the Royal College of Music. She is also an accomplished soprano and opera singer.

• Introduction 1 Changing Italian Opera: Verismo, Singers and the ForeignersFraming VerismoThe Features of Verismo Singing: New Demands on Modern SingersThe French, Changes in Dramaturgy and LibrettosWinds of Change from the NorthThe Anti-Modern Crusade of Vocal Pedagogues 2 Vocal Registers: Defining Key TermsThe Concept of Vocal RegisterRegister Division TheoriesSurvey of Key Historical Vocal TreatisesAesthetics of Vocal Registration in the Latter Part of the Nineteenth Century 3 The Components of Modern SingingA Few Essentials of Modern SingingBel Canto Encounters Verismo: Nellie Melba versus Emma CarelliMore on the Passaggio: Mattia Battistini versus Titta Ruffo and the Veristizzazione of Bel CantoThe Granitic Diction of the Modern Singer 4 The Pathway to Modern Singing: The Tenor at the Time of CarusoIn Search of ModernityCaruso's 'Naturalness' and 'Spontaneity': Between Production and ReceptionThe Top C 'from the Chest': Between the Myth and the Recorded EvidenceSome Preliminary Conclusions on the Natural Singing of Caruso 5 Italian Sopranos and the Disruption of TraditionThe Verismo Sopranos Eugenia Burzio and Emma CarelliThe Chest Voice on RecordThe Medium Register: Vocal Modulations and the Spoken TheatreThe Upper Register Conclusions BibliographyDiscographyIndex

Finely researched, lucidly written... a complex and informed exploration of changes in vocal production, the balance between words and notes, the use of ornaments written and unwritten, and the wider relationship between music and drama over a crucial period in the history of Italian opera.