Stile Vocale 1

Conversazioni attorno all'Opera Lirica: Lezioni di STILE VOCALE
Puntata di presentazione.
26 Febbraio 2025

Hello everyone, today I am here to present a new project that has honestly been requested from many places, especially since I’ve been an opera coach for many years. That is, a sheet music expert, a specialist in opera who works with students and singers.

I’ve been asked to offer courses, taking advantage of this period we’ve gone through when we couldn't be close in person and when the world experienced this turbulent time. We’ve also taken advantage of this new technology, and with these courses, sometimes we can reach places that, 30 or 20 years ago, we couldn't even imagine.

So, what have they asked me? They asked me to talk publicly about a topic that I’ve titled and that, in a sense, is related to my own training with the great maestro Antonio Tonini, who, in my personal opinion, was the greatest, the most extraordinary person in this field, particularly in vocal style and vocal technique in opera. It might seem easy to talk about vocal style in just a few words, but the more you talk about it, the deeper you go into this subject, and the more you see it branch out like the roots of a tree. You take one root, and it branches out so much that it ends up spilling into unexpected territories.

I remember talking about this with Maestro Tonini, especially when he was ill, shortly before he passed away, about a year or so after he had recovered from his stroke. He would often call me from Milan, and he would speak to me in such technical terms. He wasn’t just talking about the story of Mimì or Susanna, which everyone knows, but he was explaining with incredible technical insight the key points of these vocal performances. I used Susanna from Le nozze di Figaro and Mimì from La Bohème as examples because even my little nephew knows these works. I’ve taught at universities around the world, and even the ushers know these operas. So, I gave these examples for a reason.

But he would talk to me about these characters and how much he had to say about them, their melodic lines, harmonic lines, ways of singing, embellishments, colors... And I was left speechless, because at that time, I was young—well, younger than I am today—and I had performed Susanna so many times, I had even won a competition with Peter Mag and done stunning performances of Le nozze di Figaro. I had performed it countless times. I didn’t even need the sheet music! I could do it from memory! And yet, Antonio Tonini taught me—perhaps unintentionally, because he just wanted to talk to me—and I am still honored by that memory. He wanted to teach me a principle, something that might sound trivial, but I’ve learned it on my own skin, and after over 40 years, I now understand the depth of what he taught me, perhaps without even meaning to.

Tonini was not trying to teach me something in a traditional sense; rather, he was trying to share his vast knowledge. His knowledge was overflowing, indescribable, and there wasn’t a word in his vocabulary that didn’t make you open your eyes in awe. You’d wonder, “How did he discover these things?” You were amazed by this infinite knowledge. And today, these people, these personalities are gone. I’m a professor at a major American university, but I’ve also been a tenured professor at Italian conservatories for many years, so I speak from experience. But nowadays, we no longer have this kind of depth, this kind of personality, this profound erudition.

What we have today is a superficial culture. It’s a bit like what Konrad Lorenz said, perhaps jokingly: "Today, we know more and more about less and less. One day, we’ll know everything about nothing." That quote made me reflect. Today, in a way, we know a bit of everything but nothing in depth. What I want to recover with this series of lessons, talks, and discussions—just like Tonini did with me—is this. I will invite some of my colleagues, singers, and other personalities, perhaps those who have more experience and knowledge than I do, to help me recover this.

The goal is to emphasize something fundamental: vocal style. Today, we have centuries of opera in our heads, but we can still make huge mistakes, like singing a romantic aria in the wrong style—mixing elements from bel canto, verismo, and classicism. I’d like to focus on this important topic. See you soon.