This was the description for early Bel Canto Castrati singers. As time went on voices needed to be able to cope with bigger orchestras and larger auditoriums so this technique has developed further so singers are able to cope with this.
Bel Canto means ‘beautiful singing’ and originates from Italy in the 1600’s to mid 1800’s, where the castrati singers such as Farinelli, Alessandro Moreschi, Giovanni Cesari, Fillipo Mattoni and Salvatore Fonerico, were the first professional singers to exhibit the technique. This barbaric action of castration was outlawed in the late 1800’s.
In 1854, Manual Garcia 2nd, invented the laryngoscope, which made it possible to look at the vocal chords with a small mirror. This was the beginning of change in Bel Canto technique. Some of these new ideas were very dubious and detrimental to the voice.
It was thought by many critics, that early Bel Canto singers sang with a small, lyric/falsetto type voice. This was not the case as we can see from this article; Mancini wrote that Farinelli’s voice “was thought a marvel because it was so perfect, so sonorous and so rich in it’s extent, both in the high and in the low parts of the register, that it’s equal has never been heard in our time. The qualities in which he excelled was in the evenness of his voice, the union of the registers, the art of swelling it’s sound, the portamento, a surprising agility, a graceful and pathetic style, and a shake as admiral as it is rare.” (Mancini, Practical Reflections on the Figurative Art of Singing, p. 33; Milan 1776)
Bel Canto Technique
Even with the bygone age of the castrati singers, the modern singers were still able to use the original Bel Canto techniques with the full voice. The 1900’s Bel Canto singers included Kirsten Flagstad, Claudia Muzio, Jussi Björling, Renata Tebaldi, Beniamino Gigli, Franco Corelli, Rosa Ponselle, Anita Cerquetti, to name only a few.
Bel Canto gives a unique timbre to the voice and brings out its natural beauty, fullness, richness, clarity, power, pitch, youthfulness and seemingly effortless breath flow. A true Bel Canto singer exhibits no sign of straining to reach top notes, they appear to be singing effortlessly. General Italian Technique develops the open Italian vowels giving good diction and a youthful sounding voice and this is used with the Bel Canto method.
Bel Canto is not confined to the operatic stage, but can be used and developed for all styles of singing, including musicals, pop, jazz, traditional, classical and opera. The well-known and ever popular crooners Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Dean Martin just to name a few, all studied Bel Canto and General Italian methods.
The development of the voice must never be hurried or forced. It is a delicate instrument, which must be carefully and slowly trained over several years to reach its fullest potential. Young voices especially, must be taught slowly while they are developing and maturity is reached.
However, this does not mean that there is no early vocal development as many new singers experience improvement within the first few months.
Lastly, there must be a good rapport between the teacher and pupil and all students need to have focus, patience and perseverance in learning the art of beautiful singing.
Giovanni Rubini, tenor and singing teacher in the 1800’s began to use the ‘operatic sob’ when singing, which has become a part of Bel Canto vocal interpretation. The great tenor, Gigli, used this in much of his singing, which in some cases became a bit excessive. Rubini also coined this very important phrase, “Sing on the interest of the voice, not on the capital”. The ‘interest’ being the use of the Imposto (air in the bones in the head) and ‘the capital’ being the throat muscles.
‘Bel Canto’ singing characteristically focuses on perfect evenness throughout the voice, skilful legato, a light upper register, tremendous agility and flexibility, and a certain lyric, ‘sweet’ timbre”.