Bel canto is a vocal style characterized by its refined technique and emotional expressiveness, primarily in opera and classical music. Singers use controlled breathing and ornamentation to convey deep feelings. In contrast, MIDI music generated by a computer lacks the quality and warmth of the human voice. While it can replicate melodies, it does not capture the nuances and emotions of a bel canto singer. Thus, while a MIDI can be technically correct, it does not reach the same beauty and expression as bel canto.
The voice has always been among us, being together with rhythm, according to the Spanish neuropsychologist Silvia Núñez wrote in her method "SINUDI", a fundamental part of the musical base of all cultures. For western classical music this innate power of vocal expression reached its maximum sophistication in bel canto, a style characterized by vocal beauty and agility. Originating in Italy, bel canto focuses on technical mastery and emotional expression, allowing singers to convey deep feelings through their art.
To speak of bel canto is to speak of a vocal style that predominated in singing and opera from the seventeenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century. However, bel canto and opera are not synonymous. Bel canto was an emblematic phenomenon that required an infinite variety of sounds, in particular lyrical ecstasy and impeccable technique. It received eloquent praise as the "song that is heard within the soul." This definition highlights not only the technical complexity that bel canto demanded, but also its ability to evoke deep emotions in the listener.
Bel Canto was a method of using the singing voice, where the glottal source, vocal tract, and respiratory system interact to create qualities such as chiaroscuro, appoggio, and register equalization. Bel canto refers not only to vocal technique, but also to any style of music that employs these techniques in a refined and expressive way. Stark traces the historical context of bel canto to the early Baroque period, highlighting how virtuoso singers achieved celebrity status with a new repertoire that showcased their extraordinary vocal skills.
Salvador Ginori Lozano points out that the term bel canto arose as a description of the highest level of vocal performance, transforming opera into a spectacle that also served as a means of cultural enrichment and economic production, especially for the lower social classes. The historical emotional impact of this vocal aesthetic requires a closer examination of the original writings of the castrati singers, allowing for an unfiltered understanding of what bel canto really represented.
The origin of the word bel canto is born from nostalgia for that period in which it was sung so beautifully. Back in 1860, there was talk of that nostalgia because people no longer sang as they used to. The main person responsible for this disappearance was Giuseppe Verdi, who adapted the voice to the character instead of adding the character to the voice, as in bel canto. Bel canto emerged after Claudio Monteverdi with the development of his stile rappresentativo, Giacomo Peri, and Giulio Caccini, contributing to vocal development and his techniques applied to singing. In addition, the importance that George Friedrich Handel had with his masses and oratorios providing a virtuosic and ornamental improvement to the voice.
In the 18th century, bel canto developed through the combination of opera and the use of castrati in papal choirs. These singers, castrated before puberty, maintained childlike voices with great power and range, making them central figures in opera, surpassing prima donnas with their vocal abilities.
The reforms of Alessandro Scarlatti and Pietro Metastasio defined Italian opera seria, prioritizing emotional expression through the voice. Vocal improvisation was promoted with forms such as the da capo aria, which allowed singers to show their virtuosity.
The training of the castrati in Naples was exhaustive, establishing a methodology that still influences modern vocal teaching. However, from 1750 onwards, his prominence diminished due to the rise of opera buffa and changes in social ideals, such as criticism of castration.
With the decline of the castrati, the tenor began to take on prominent roles, although he initially faced technical limitations. The influence of the castrati left an important legacy in singing, paving the way for a more structured academic approach and the evolution of the tenor's role in opera.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart combined melodic beauty with dramatic expression, influencing the development of bel canto was an innovative figure in the generic dimensions of his operas, erasing the line that divided opera seria from opera buffa. When he was 14 years old he was studying at the Liceo Musicale. Later, in 1805 Rossini studied privately with Father Angelo Tesei, before he was accepted at the Liceo Musicale, in April 1806; there he would study singing, cello, piano and counterpoint under the guidance of the director of the Lyceum, Father Stanislao Mattei. The coda as we will know it in Romanticism since Rossini, will be an extension of the
concluding practice of Mozart in his arias.
Gioacchino Rossini (February 29, 1792 – November 13, 1868) . Rossini was born in Pesaro (Italy), into a family with some musical knowledge, which he consolidated at the Bologna Conservatory. Almost accidentally (at the request of some friends), he began to compose operas (1810) and, given the success he achieved, he did not stop doing so.... until 1829, the year in which he completed his great opera Guillaume Tell. In the meantime, he composes some of the best-known works of the entire operatic repertoire. What we could call the first part of his life takes place in Italy, where he travels through the main cities presenting his operas. At this time many of his well-known "pasticcios" or self-plagiarism took place, which occurred because he had to compose numerous works every year and, since Italian cities were not particularly well connected, he dedicated himself to cutting and pasting complete pieces of previous operas to present them at the next place of premiere. Of particular note are the compositions he made (especially for the Teatro San Carlo in Naples) for a well-known singer of the time, Isabel Colbran, with whom he married and formed a musical couple for many years.
Little by little he exhausted the resources of his Italian composition and, after two operas that demanded the greatest virtuosity and the greatest vocal difficulty (Semiramide and Zelmira), but also contained the greatest beauty, he moved to other parts of Europe, finally settling in Paris (definitively in 1825).
This second part of his life would be much less prolific musically than the Italian one (in Italy, between 1810 and 1823 he composed 34 operas; when, for example, Verdi, it took him more than four years to compose Aida). He began his French period with some opera in Italian and above all with the reworking in French of operas already premiered in Italy (the Siege of Corinth is a reworking of Maometto Secondo, Moses and Pharaoh is a reworking of Moses in Egypt, Count Ory is a reworking of the Journey to Reims). This production culminates with a grandiose (for quality, emotion and duration of more than four hours) opera in French: William Tell.
Rossini died in France in 1868, having outlived many of his "successors" on the throne of Italian opera (Vicenzo Bellini, Donizetti) and coinciding with the emergence of Verdi and Wagner; he was initially buried in Paris, to be transferred the following year to Florence.
- Vocal Technique: Bel canto focuses on air control and voice projection, allowing singers to execute complex passages with precision.
- Musical Phrasing Care: The interpretation is based on careful phrasing, where each melodic line is articulated with attention to dynamics and emotional expressions.
- Lung Capacity: Singers must develop a remarkable lung capacity to sustain long musical phrases without losing sound quality.
- Contrast between Legato and Staccato: A contrast between legato (soft and connected) and staccato (short and separate) passages is employed, which adds texture to the performance.
- Use of the Portamento: This technique allows you to glide smoothly between notes, enriching the emotional expression of the music.
- Messa di Voce: The technique of increasing and decreasing the volume in the same note is used to give greater expressiveness and beauty to the song.
- Rubato: The use of rubato, which implies the flexibility of time, allows singers to play with rhythm to emphasize certain emotions.
- Fermata: Fermata is used to elongate beautiful notes, creating moments of great dramatic intensity.
- Coloratura: Ornamentation is essential, especially in the da capo aria of opera seria, where singers adorn the pieces at will with trills and scales.
- Vibrato: It was fully developed in bel canto, seeking the beauty of the sound and resembling it to that of a wind instrument.
- Chiaroscuro: Vocal technique that consists of balancing light and dark tones in the voice, creating depth and contrast in the interpretation. This allows for rich emotional expression and a more complex and resonant sound.