Category: News

M ° Antonio Juvarra

VOICE TECHNIQUE ACCORDING TO ITALIAN TRADITION

(Singing natural)

The essence of singing, however threatened (as always happens to real and precious things), from ignorance and tampering, it still resounds in our days in the places where its apparition is given to us… Grasping behind its magic the secret that makes it possible is the challenge that pushes many in its path. There is an Italian way, recognized worldwide as the most valid, to reach this goal. It was born from that incredible intuition from which all classical Mediterranean art was born, or: only what is profoundly simple and natural can express and accomplish what is authentically beautiful and human.

'Natural singing’ it is the principle elaborated for the first time by the greatest treatise writer of the bel canto period, the eighteenth-century Mancini, alluding to that particular vocality, which will later become known all over the world as' Italian song’ or 'belcanto'. We find this same expression surprisingly in the writings of vocal technique, left by three of the greatest tenors of the twentieth century, Enrico Caruso, Aureliano Pertile and Giacomo Lauri Volpi.

'Natural singing', so. It would seem a trivial and indefinite formula, as always happens with great truths. It is obviously not intended as a "sing as it comes to you", but as a gradually becoming aware of the two levels of naturalness that always act in us and combining them together: the superficial nature and the deep nature, that, as Heraclitus had already discovered, loves to hide….Arrived at this awareness, you get to understand what Bacon meant, when he stated: “Only by obeying nature, it is commanded. ”This principle governs all disciplines of the body at a high level: from Italian singing to judo, to Japanese karate and aikido. They all share the same intuition: there is hard energy, heavy, muscular, based on direct mechanical control of the muscles (typical of all forms of pushed and shouted singing) and there is a sweet energy, impalpable, widespread, the result of a soft and holistic approach to vocality and which characterizes that supreme form of singing that we call 'belcanto'. In fact, it is a matter of letting it work’ and not a 'make it work', and 'letting it work’ it is obviously a date of arrival and not of departure.

In order not to remain vague and generic, you could see more precisely what this naturalness is made up of, which we can define as second degree, since it is only minimally a starting point. The nature to draw from so that the true song makes its appearance, it is twofold, that is, the components of this recipe are two:

1)- TOTAL BREATH (deep nature) 2)- SPOKEN (superficial nature). This is based on the well-known aphorism of Farinelli from the second half of the eighteenth century, Pacchierotti, which says so: “Who knows how to spell and breathe well, will know how to sing.”

More precisely, the chemical formula of bel canto could be defined in the following way : TWO ATOMS OF BREATH, AN ATOM OF SPEECH.

Obviously for 'two atoms of breath’ it does not refer to the amount of breath, but to the quality and extended breadth of inspiration, different from that of the spoken voice, the latter just as natural, but more superficial and unconscious. Similarly for 'a speech atom’ it is understood that speech must remain pure and simple 'say’ and not turn into 'declaimed', as often happens. In this case the 'speech’ represents the superficial nature, already given, while the 'breath’ represents the deep dimension of the sigh of relief and the breath of air.

The reason why who speaks very well, then instead he sings terribly, is the following: SPEECH IS TRANSFIGURED INTO SINGING ONLY THANKS TO TRUE BREATH, OTHERWISE IT REMAINS SIMPLE TUNED SPOKEN. SAID IN ANOTHER WAY, THE SPEECH AND’ THE FIRST WING OF THE SONG, BUT ONLY WITH THE SECOND WING, THE BREATH, LANGUAGE’ TAKE FLIGHT AND BECOME A SINGING.

Second precaution to follow when applying this recipe: since it is spoken’ and breath’ they are two opposites, one representing the core of sound, the other the space that makes it resonate, one element tends to crush the other. The vocal technique is nothing more than the patient search for that right dosage, of that right balance that only allows the two components to merge and give rise to something, precisely belcanto or 'verocanto', that, as the holistic disciplines teach, is greater than their sum.

Saratoga – USA 19/ 31 December 2010

The premier concert of M º Gioacchino Longobardi, President and Artistic Director of NMS, and the Saratoga Springs Youth Orchestra, SSYO, was First Night Saratoga, December 31st at the Church of St. Peter, 241 Broadway in Saratoga Springs, New York.

The orchestra performed with Guest violinist Mº Alberto Vitolo, Assistant Artistic Director of NMS. It was a beautiful concert. The musicians performed like professionals.

Program:

Domenico Scarlatti (1685 – 1757) Sonata for Strings n. 5
Largo
Cheerful

GB. Pergolesi (1710 – 1736)
Largo from Violin Concerto in F Major

Tommaso Giordani (c. 1738 – 1806)
Concerto in C Major for Piano and Strings

Niccolò Porpora (1686 – 1768)
Chamber Symphony for Strings
Soloist: Gabrielle Beauregard

Giornale della Musica.it – Recensioni OnLine

Uno Stabat Mater al lume di candela

Il teatro trasformato in musica,

in the performance of Sergio Sivori and Alberto Vitolo.

of Gianluigi Mattietti – 22-07-2009

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Tra i due grandi eventi teatrali del Cantiere 2009, il Barbiere di Paisiello e l’abbinata Weill-Eisler (Der Jasager e Die Massnahme), si sono visti a Montepulciano due spettacoli assai originali. Il primo, intitolato Dedalus, era un esempio di teatro di strada, molto movimentato, un po’ sguaiato, nobilitato dalle musiche di Norberto Oldrini e Stefano Taglietti, grottesche al punto giusto. Altra cosa, per finezza della costruzione e profondità dell’espressione era Stabat Mater Action, spettacolo creato da Sergio Sivori e musicato da Alberto Vitolo. Messo in una vecchia cantina riconvertita a palcoscenico, era concepito come una grande partitura di suoni e gesti, un “oratorio” che si sondava sul pedale di un pianto ininterrotto, straziante, di una donna (Cristina Giordana) coperta da un velo. In una penombra che pareva illuminata solo dalle candele, e odorosa di incenso, gli altri due “attuanti” (Giovanni Avolio e Giancarlo Porcari) si muovevano con gesti ritmati, rituali, intorno a oggetti simbolici, un tumulo di sabbia, l’acqua in un bacile. Intanto il lamento della donna trascolorava nel suono tenuto di una viola. E poi in echi di polifonie arcaiche, come bolle di madrigali intonati da un coro seminascosto, e in un contrappunto dei due attori che intrecciavano le loro voci sui versi dello Stabat Mater e di antiche laude popolari. Anche il culmine drammatico dello spettacolo era costruito sul ritmo lento di un palo de lluvia (strumento sudamericano che imita il suono della pioggia), imbracciato come fosse una croce, e su quello violento, spietato delle frustate inferte con un drappo rosso. Mentre i musicisti (tutti bravissimi) lasciavano la scena, uno dei due, denudato, rimaneva alla fine tra le braccia della madre. Icona del dolore, dietro la luce fioca di una candela.

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www.fondazionecantiere.it

Tournèe a New York-Concerto inaugurale della Neapolitan Symphony Orchestra sul ‘700 Napoletano allo J.H.Skirball Center for the Performing Arts of NY-aprile 2008 041308_poster11×172.pdf locandina concerto NY 2008

La masterclasses sarà tenuta dal M°Alberto Vitolo e dal M°Gioacchino Longobardi,invitati ad Austin dalla McCallum Fine Arts Academy Chamber Orchestra,una delle migliori orchestre di studenti in Texas e Sud Ovest,e verterà sullo studio e approfondimento della particolarmente rara tecnica che produsse il”suono”di Napoli del ‘700 e sul repertorio dei maestri dell’epoca.Si concluderà con un concerto al Long Center di Austin diretto dal M°Gioacchino Longobardi.

poster-austin.doc

Foto Master Classes