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By John Koopman
Change, in the history of Western solo vocal performance, has arisen
from a variety of unlikely causes. Far from actively guiding the evolution
of their art, most composers and singers have been content to simply
respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by ever changing
circumstance. Thus a conventional approach to the subject, surveying
the music written for solo voice, would show the effect rather than
the cause of the changes. Hopefully the approach taken here, primarily
tracing the development of opera, will be more revealing. For as Paul
Bekker pointed out in his book, The Changing Opera, "...the singing
voice is the root from which the opera has sprouted and grown...the
form of the opera arises from the voice; it becomes physically perceptible
in such shape as is dictated by the development of the voice...the history
of opera becomes the history of the voice."
A comprehensive history of singing is yet to be written, and this brief
piece is but an introduction to the subject. In the interest of concision
it has been necessary to simplify or omit much of importance, and those
interested in more detail are encouraged to use this work as a point
of departure. A bibliography of readily available English-language materials
has been provided for this purpose. A glossary of the terms which first
appear in the text in upper case letters will be found at the end of
each section.
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