Cinderella and Don Pasquale are examples of operas in the bel canto tradition. Generally referring to the classical Italian type of singing, bel canto literally means beautiful song or beautiful singing. The singer is expected to produce a lovely sound, sing in tune, achieve a perfect legato (smooth uninterrupted connection of successive notes) and create long, flowing lines. This all requires extraordinary breathe control. Rossini defined the requirements for bel canto as follows:
1. A naturally beautiful voice,
2. Effortless delivery of highly florid music, and
3. Mastery of style which can only be learned from listening to the best.
Most bel canto operas require a great deal of coloratura singing. This involves considerable agility and virtuosity in ornamentation, including trills and rapid sequences of notes. In most bel canto operas the music is of utmost importance. The singing techniques used to produce the glorious sounds make it difficult to articulate consonants clearly, with the result that the words are often hard to understand the words. The bel canto specialist, conductor Bruno Campanella, says, "when it comes to text, the ideal word, from the bel canto viewpoint, would be a word made up exclusively of vowels".
In the early nineteenth century, both opera houses and orchestras were much smaller than they are now. The singers did not need the big voices we are used to hearing today. Voices must now compete with a large orchestra in an exposed pit and in a very large theatre. Thus, true bel canto fell out of style. However, since the mid-twentieth century, it has been undergoing a revival with the advent of an extraordinary group of singers with the ability and training to meet its demands.
Revised September
2006
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