Bel Canto: the unbroken tradition

Robert Toft
In transforming songs into effective musical discourse, singers draw upon the sorts of vocal
techniques and interpretive strategies that have been available for centuries and strive to
tell their stories convincingly by utilizing the tools of expression at their disposal. 1 The ways
in which devices, such as, emphasis, accent, tone of voice,
pauses, legato, staccato, portamento, messa di voce, rhythmic rubato, vibrato, and
ornamentation, are realized and the degree to which singers favour or disfavour a single
component or cluster of components determines performance style, and artists of popular
music tend to prize many of the elements of expression that formed the basis of singing in
the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, so much so that the differences setting
apart the performance of pop songs from the lineages of European art music are much
fewer than commonly thought.2 Over the past hundred years, the bel canto style, as
practiced by many in the world of art music, has evolved to centre almost exclusively on
the production of beautiful tone and the exhibition of that tone through the uninterrupted
delivery of long, heavily vibrated lines. But historically, the manner of singing embodied in
the words bel canto embraced much more than bel suono (beautiful sound), for the old
Italian singers, just like modern pop performers, valued the entire range of techniques
listed above.3An examination of recordings made between the 1960s and the present
reveals the extent to which pop artists embrace bel canto techniques, and in this paper I
will limit my discussion to a small number of practices.
Singers normally insert stops or pauses in sentences to articulate the sense of the text for
listeners, and in doing so, they create short melodic fragments that might sound disjointed
if they were not entered and exited gracefully.4 In the bel canto era, performers allowed the
voice to rise and fall with the idea expressed, and in 1833, John Turner remarked: the
greatest force and expression should be given to the middle of the phrase; the notes at the
beginning and end being sung in a softer strain, and those at the end, in particular, never
quitted abruptly, but gradually sunk, as it were, into silence (p. 95). Domenico Corri,
writing in 1810, recommended that singers die the Voice on the last notes of passages
within larger musical periods, and in the final phrase, they should accent the ultimate note
with a gentle swell and immediately die it away (pp. 52, 65). The technique of dying the
voice was the equivalent of cadence in speaking (that is, the equivalent of speakers letting
their voices fall at the stops indicated by punctuation), and singers avoided abrupt phrase
endings not only by gradually sinking notes into silence but also by lightly quitting the final
note of the passage. Manuel Garca suggested in the middle of the nineteenth century,
however, that the ultimate notes of final periods should be held long, because they mark
the completion of a thought or discourse.

These principles form the basis of phrasing in popular singing, as well, and many
performers let their dynamic shading rise and fall with the idea expressed, particularly
when a melodic line traces an arc, such as occurs in the first line of the late 1960s song
Time of the Season by The Zombies (0:08 to 0:11). 6 In other types of melodic structures,

singers taper the phrase towards the end, thus creating the equivalent of the speakers
cadence, and they regularly conclude passages either with short notes or a dying voice.
Tom Jones, for example, often phrases in a cadential manner (see Its Not Unusual, 0:45
to 0:50), and other singers routinely taper the final notes of sub-phrases (see, for instance,
the first two lines of The Backstreet Boys, I Want It That Way, 0:09 to 0:28, particularly
the words are, fire, one, believe, and say). Some performers even adhere to the
principle of holding the last note of a larger section longer than all the other final notes. In
his recording of Positively 4th Street, Bob Dylan ends internal phrases with short notes and
uses extended values to mark the completion of thoughts (as an example of this practice,
see the verse located between 1:54 and 2:10, where the final syllables of the first three
lines are abbreviated while the last word is lengthened). Similarly, Karen Carpenter
reserves the longest note in (They Long to Be) Close to You for the ultimate word, and in
addition to extending the note, she incorporates a swell vibrated at its peak, one of the
common applications of both messa di voce and vibrato (see the final line of the text, 2:49
to 2:59).7
A number of early nineteenth-century authors considered the swell to be the principal
source of expression, and the technique of commencing a note softly, gradually augmenting
its loudness to the middle, and then diminishing it insensibly to the end originated,
according to Thomas Philipps in 1826, in the spoken word, for if sustained syllables,
whether vowels or liquid consonants, were given with equal strength, a speakers delivery
would prove dissonant to the ear (p. 5). Although commonly applied to individual
notes, messa di voce could also be spread over several notes, particularly when they fall by
step (see Ex. 1), and popular singers exemplify this procedure. Ani DiFranco, for instance,
applies messa di voce flexibly across the phrases of Both Hands to produce an undulating
effect, the swells being as sudden or as protracted as she desires (see, for example, the
passage running from 0:49 to 1:20), and Jimi Hendrix accents the ends of sub-phrases in
The Wind Cries Mary with short swells when the final musical gesture involves two falling
notes, especially on the words clowns, all, and bed in the line located between 0:19 and
0:24.
Ex. 1. Messa di voce in Handels, Holy Lord God Almighty (Nathan 1836, 187).

Musical accents of this sort save performers from singing monotonously, and normally
singers align these stresses with the prosodic implications of the text. Accent refers to the
stress laid on syllables and emphasis to the force placed on important words so they are

distinguished above the rest. Pop singers generally deliver their texts prosodically,
organizing their accents and emphases in the proper places to achieve a union of sense and
sound, and in his recording of Magic Moments, Perry Como derives his accentuation for
each of the first two words of the song from speech (strong, weak) and provides contrast to
this prosodic opening by equally stressing the words/syllables that follow. He then draws
the thought to a close with a cadence that parallels the normal accentuation speakers
would give the word caring (strong, weak; see 0:09 to 0:18). Como repeats this prosodic
delivery in the next segment of the text (0:19 to 0:28), a phrase that parallels the
structure of the first line, but he lengthens the final syllable to signal the close of the entire
period.
In this last example, the application of the principles of prosody required Como to deliver
certain syllables through staccato, a technique regularly employed beyond prosody to
articulate the text in a natural manner.Staccato refers to a detached style of delivery which
encompasses various degrees of brevity ranging from notes struck short in a pointed way
to those made distinct through minimal detachment. In the early nineteenth century,
singers executed the latter with gentle impulses of the lungs so that a certain amount of
stress is placed on each note in order to differentiate it more by emphasis than by
detachment, a technique Manuel Garca called martellato.8 Herb Alpert incorporates various
gradations of staccato in This Guys in Love with You, particularly in the passage which
begins at 0:58 and ends at 1:54, both pulsing on notes without abbreviating them, in a
manner akin to Garcas martellato, and detaching notes with differing amounts of
separation (especially between 0:58 and 1:25). Some of these short notes are displaced
rhythmically from their positions in Burt Bacharachs carefully notated score, 9 and this
aligns Alpert with the old bel cantopractice of altering notated rhythm through the
application of tempo rubato, a performance technique which enables singers to correct false
accentuation and improperly set syllabic quantity (Bacon 1824, 8485). Tempo
rubato literally means stolen time, and writers from the early nineteenth century refer to
borrowing time from or adding it to a note.10 The rhythms Bacharach had prescribed for
This Guys in Love with You would have given the text, to borrow Manuel Garcas words,
too regular and too stiff a character (1857, 50), and Alperts prosodic style of delivery
gracefully liberated the music from its inexpressive notation. Specifically, he remedied an
inappropriately emphasized article by shortening the note concerned from a dotted crotchet
to a crotchet (the word the in the phrase occupying 1:25 to 1:43) and approximated
spoken discourse by both abbreviating and displacing the notes Bacharach had written for
several words in the passage (to, are, dont, and my).
Other performance techniques heightened the gracefulness of the bel canto style, as well,
and early nineteenth-century singers regularly delivered individual words with
appoggiaturas that progress to the main notes so quickly that they are scarcely discernible.
Harriet Wainewright, writing in 1836, described this type of ornamental note as an
imperceptible one that may proceed by step or leap (pp. 3032). These quick
appoggiaturas abound in the modern world of pop singing and can easily be regarded as a
foundational component of the style. Singers often intermingle them with other forms of
appoggiaturas, Michael Bubl, for instance, not only mixing rising and falling imperceptible

graces with lengthier single and double appoggiaturas in his recording of Home (see, in
particular, 0:44 to 1:44)11 but also slightly extending a lower leaning note to help mark the
completion of the thought in the sixth line of the passage (see the word that at the end of
1:10 to 1:15).
The techniques described here have formed the basis of expressive singing since the late
eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and yet without an appropriate tonal quality of
voice to carry these devices to the ears of listeners, performers were thought to have been
incapable of delivering texts convincingly. In fact, singers in the first half of the nineteenth
century were advised to match the colour of their voices to the sentiments of the text, Mary
Novello recommending in 1856 that young singers avoid monotony by gaining complete
mastery over different and opposite qualities of tone (p. 15). The range of colours singers
employed extended from those that were sweet and clear to those that were harsh and
rough, and pop singers regularly exploit strongly opposing tonal qualities to contrast soft,
almost breathy, sounds with harder more metallic colours. In the first chorus of Georgia
Rain, for example (0:49 to 1:09), Trisha Yearwood employs both delicate high notes,
reminiscent of the silken sort of under-voice singers in the nineteenth century used in the
higher part of the scale,12 and harder full-bodied lower tones. This type of contrast is,
perhaps, the most pronounced in male singers, such as, Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys,
who gracefully slip in and out of falsetto without feeling the need to present a uniform tone
colour (see, for instance, The Beach Boys Dont Worry Baby, 1:00 to 1:41).
Uniformity of expression is, of course, antithetical to bel canto, for it robs singers of the
opportunity to adapt their voices to the stories they tell. The principles of this expressive,
re-creative style of singing have remained relatively constant for the past 200 years, and
this unbroken tradition offers a means of bridging the gap between two seemingly disparate
musical cultures. In fact, at least in certain regards, popular artists provide a fascinating
model for performing late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century art music in a way that
seems to correspond more closely with historical documents than the approach taken by
many of todays classically trained singers.

References

Bacon, Richard M. 1824. Elements of Vocal Science (London: Baldwin, Cradock, and
Joy), ed. Edward Foreman. Champaign, Ill.: Pro Musica Press, 1966.

Corri, Domenico. 1810. The Singers Preceptor. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and
Orme.

Egestorf, G.H. ?1815. A Practical Dissertation on the Science of Singing. London: By

the Author.

Garca, Manuel. 1857. New Treatise on the Art of Singing. London: Cramer, Beale,
and Chappell.

Garca, Manuel. 1847. Trait complet de lart du chant, Paris: Chez lauteur, Rue
Chabanais, No. 6. Reprint, Geneva: Minkoff, 1985. Trans. Donald V. Paschke, A Complete
Treatise on the Art of Singing. New York: Da Capo, 1975 [part 2] and 1984 [part 1].

Lanza, Gesualdo. ?1820. Elements of Singing. London: Chappell.

Middleton, Richard. 1993. Popular Music Analysis and Musicology: Bridging the
Gap. Popular Music 12: 17790.

Nathan, Isaac. 1836. Musurgia Vocalis. London: Fentum.

New Monthly Magazine 24 (May 1828).

Novello, Mary. 1856. Voice and Vocal Art, 2nd ed. London: J. Alfred Novello.

Philipps, Thomas. 1826. Elementary Principles and Practices for Singing. Dublin: J.
Willis.

Toft, Robert. 2000. Heart to Heart: Expressive Singing in England 17801830.

Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Toft, Robert. 2004. Rendering the Sense More Conspicuous: Grammatical and
Rhetorical Principles of Vocal Phrasing in Art and Popular/Jazz Music. Music & Letters 85:
36887.

Toft, Robert. 2010. Hits and Misses: Crafting Top 40 Singles, 19631971. New York:
Continuum.

Turner, John. 1833. A Manual of Instruction in Vocal Music. London: John W. Parker.
Reprint Kilkenny: Boethius Press, 1983.

Wainewright, Harriett. 1836. Critical Remarks on the Art of Singing. London: T. and
J. Hoitt.

Discography

Alpert, Herb and the Tijuana Brass. 1968. This Guys in Love with You, The Look of
Love, The Burt Bacharach Collection. Warner Music Canada, WTVD 88384, 2001.

The Backstreet Boys. 1999. I Want It That Way, Millennium. Jive Records, 0124141672-2R.

The Beach Boys. 1964. Dont Worry Baby, The Very Best of the Beach Boys,
Sounds of Summer. Capitol/EMI, 72435-82710-2-7, 2003.

Bubl, Michael. 2005. Home, Its Time. 143 Records/Reprise, CDW 48946.

The Carpenters. 1970. Close to You, Carpenters: The Singles. A&M, CD-3601, n.d.

Como, Perry. 1958. Magic Moments, The Look of Love, The Burt Bacharach
Collection. Warner Music Canada, WTVD 88384, 2001.

DiFranco, Ani. 1990. Both Hands, Ani DiFranco. Righteous Babe Records, RBR001D.

Dylan, Bob. 1965. Positively 4th Street, Bob Dylans Greatest Hits. Columbia, CK
65975, 1999.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience. 1967. The Wind Cries Mary, Are You Experienced.
MCA Records, MCASD-11602, 1997.

Jones, Tom. 1965. Its Not Unusual, Tom Jones, Englebert Humperdinck, Their
Greatest Hits. Universal Music, 314 520 243-2, 2001.

Yearwood, Trisha. 2006. Georgia Rain, Jasper County. MCA Nashville, B000620202.

The Zombies. 1968. Time of the Season, Odessey & Oracle. Repertoire Records,
REP 5089, 2008.
_______________________________________________

Robert Toft
Robert Toft holds a PhD from Kings College, University of London and has taught at
universities in Canada, England, Ireland, and Australia. He first came to Western in 1989
and over the years has pursued interests in both popular and classical music. He took the
lead role in developing the Facultys undergraduate programs in Popular Music Studies and
Music Administrative Studies, and since 2000 he has devoted much of his time to popular
music. His research always takes a positivistic approach, and he has been keen to break
down the barriers that exist between the worlds of classical and popular music. He has
published several articles that demonstrate specific ways in which these two rich traditions
are closely related, and his book on top-40 singles from the 1960s (Hits and Misses:
Crafting Top-40 Singles, 19631971) was published in 2010.
Robert also studies the performance practices of singing in vogue between the 16th and
19th centuries, and he has written extensively on various aspects of the topic in a number
of articles and in three books,Aural Images of Lost Traditions: Sharps and Flats in the
Sixteenth Century (1992), Tune thy Musicke to thy Hart: The Art of Eloquent Singing in
England 15971622 (1993), and Heart to Heart: Expressive Singing in England 1780
1830 (2000). In addition, he has given lectures and workshops on historical principles of
interpretation in Canada and Europe, and through his undergraduate course in bel canto, he

coaches singers who wish to become immersed in the style of singing practiced in the late
eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Other interests include pop singing and recording practices, and beyond the bel canto
course, he teaches songwriting and analytical approaches to studying recordings, as well as
graduate seminars in popular music.

Notes
1. I have reconstructed many of the older practices in Toft 2000, and this book
provides the basis for the discussion of the vocal techniques treated in this paper.
However, without recordings to document the precise ways in which singers from
the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries applied the principles of bel canto
to specific works, all reconstructions of performance practices pre-dating the advent
of sound recording must remain speculative.
2. Richard Middleton (1993, 187) first pointed this out.
3. Toft 2000 explodes many of the myths surrounding bel canto, and I have explored
one aspect of the similarities between bel canto and modern popular/jazz singing,
that is, grammatical and rhetorical phrasing, in Toft 2004.
4. On the use of pauses in singing, see Toft 2000, 3758.
5. The comments cited here conflate Garca 1857, 56 and Garca 1847, 2: 356 (trans.
2:103).
6. When referring to a specific passage in a recording, I will indicate the location of the
excerpt in minutes and seconds, and if readers are to benefit fully from the
discussions, they may wish to listen to the recordings listed in the discography at
the appropriate time.
7. For a discussion of the historical roots of this practice, see Toft 2000, 35, n.20.
8. See, in particular, Egestorf ?1815, 8; Lanza ?1820, iii, 151; and Garca 1857, 11.
9. On Bacharachs penchant for notational precision and his insistence that the singers
he produced perform exactly what he had written, see Toft (2010), 1278.
10. See Toft 2000, 80.
11. Bubls double appoggiaturas consist of two notes sliding down to the main note;
see the words know (1:22), far (1:39), and are (1:41).

12. On this female falsetto stop, see the comments on Giuditta Pasta and Henriette
Sontag in New Monthly Magazine 1828, 203.