Bel Canto (Marchesi - Dover paperback)

Author: Mathilde Marchesi

ISBN: 9780486223155

Binding: paperback

Section: Music

Subtitle: A Theoretical & Practical Vocal Method

A student of Manuel Garcia the Second, Mathilde Marchesi (1821–1913), linked the traditional bel canto teaching methods to the early 20th century. Marchesi presents the "vocal alphabet," or basic instructions and exercises that formed the voices of her own students, who included Melba and Calvé. Her guide discusses breathing, attack, registers, voice management, and projection. As Philip Miller states in his introduction, "a solidity, a sure technical mastery, an even scale with no register break . . . strong, even and secure trills, their coloratura masterly."