Bel Canto: A History of Vocal Pedagogy (review)

Bel Canto: A History of Vocal Pedagogy. By James Stark. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999. [xxv, 325 p. ISBN 0-8020-4703-3. $75.]

James Stark's study of bel canto, the historic vocal method developed in Italy during the baroque period, follows in the tradition of pedagogical inquiry begun by Victor Alexander Fields more than half a century ago. Fields's Training the Singing Voice: An Analysis of the Working Concepts Contained in Recent Contributions to Vocal Pedagogy (New York: King's Crown Press, 1947; reprint, New York: Da Capo, 1979) was a first attempt to sift through the mass of confusion in the published account of the science and art of singing in the early twentieth century. His approach was systematic and quantitative, and as such did not extend to the bold historical judgments attempted by Stark. Nonetheless, Fields's work, in creating a bibliography of vocal treatises examined by category, began a trend of greater objectivity. This was continued by Philip A. Duey (Bel Canto in Its Golden Age: A Study of Its Teaching Concepts [New York: King's Crown Press, 1951; reprint, New York: Da Capo, 1980]), John Carroll Burgin (Teaching Singing [Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1973]), and Brent Jeffrey Monahan (The Art of Singing: A Compendium of Thoughts on Singing Published between 1777 and 1927 [Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1978]).

Stark identifies the pivotal figure of Manuel García (1805-1906) as the individual through whom the earlier bel canto teaching tradition was united with the modern scientific approach in the teaching of singing. The singing profession has credited García with inventing the laryngoscope, but Stark has done his homework and frames this traditional claim in a more accurate historical context. Though others in the nineteenth century experimented with laryngeal examinations, García was unique in desiring to study the singing voice. Stark also makes the point that García's examinations were performed only on himself and extended only so far as to produce evidence to support his evolving theories about the function of the glottis. Stark's project examines García's major claims about vocal technique in order to (1) substantiate them insofar as possible by means of modern scientific measurements, and (2) trace their roots from the earliest developments of the bel canto tradition. Stark's scientific explorations of García's claims are summarized in an appendix.

In chapter 7, Stark proposes a new definition of bel canto, one based on the representative vocal techniques involved and on the style of composition developed for their expression. His definition, more functional than historical, fills a need that voice teachers, confronting the array of alternative vocal techniques arising from popular idioms and the relatively recent advent of electronic amplification, will understand. While bel canto has its roots in the historic Italian tradition, it is still the predominant technique of the classically trained acoustic opera and concert singer. Stark's book spans the chasm separating the empirical approach to bel canto of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries from the more recent scientific attempts to quantify it.

Each chapter tackles a major area of controversy in the historical record, beginning with García's coup de la glotte. Stark argues that García was identifying firm adduction of the vocal folds as the necessary first step to a balanced, operatic onset and continuing phonation. Further, the coup de la glotte was greatly misunderstood, and much incorrect science in the early twentieth century was cited to argue against it. Stark traces the views of glottal closure from the time of García through more recent research, concluding that García's technique probably reflected the actual practice of many operatic singers then and now. Continuing in this process of reconciling the historical record with modern scientific inquiry, Stark examines the timbral question of chiaroscuro, concluding that singers engage the vocal tract in producing this quality of both "cover" (by lowering the larynx) and brightness (by...