Belcanto

What is the Belcanto technique?

“Beautiful singing” also known as “Belcanto'' is an Italian word that originated in the early 16th century in Italian opera and later developed to the technical and stylistic approach that we are familiar with today. Composers that evolved this technique would compose long sustained vocal lines often with ornamentations and rapid coloratura, that demanded a certain diaphragmatic stamina in addition to  proper vocal projection. 

In order for singers to be able to maintain a beautiful tone while singing long sustained phrases they would need to support this with a sufficient reservoir of air and maintain a healthy and relaxed low laryngeal position ( this position is never forced) while projecting their sound through what we call the “mask” (we will talk more about this in another post).

These phrases when sung properly require uninterrupted breath flow or what we call legato lines (in Italian- this means connected or linked) which are even vocal lines with smooth connections between the different notes.

The main objective of the composer was to exhibit the vocal beauty and agility of each singer and they achieved that by reducing the orchestra to minimal accompaniment which allowed the music to serve the melodic lines.

The two most renowned belcanto composers are Vicenzo Bellini ( operas Norma, La Sonnambula, I Capuletti ed i Montecchi, I puritani and more)  and Gaetano Donizetti (operas Lucia di Lammermoor, L’elisir d’amore, Don Pasquale and more) and Gioacchino Rossini ( il barbiere di Siviglia, La Cenerentola, Otello etc).

This technique can be applied and modified to all genres of singing. It provides a solid foundation in vocal technique to conquer all obstacles. In my classes we work on building this foundation and then adapt it to other genres, while not compromising the fundamentals of vocal technique.