著者

斉田 正子

出版者

東京芸術大学

雑誌

東京藝術大学音楽学部紀要 (ISSN:09148787)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.18, pp.73-98, 1992

被引用文献数

1

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Nowadays many Italian operas, including the so-called bel canto operas, are performed in our country. It is said that bel canto operas are not only very important but also very difficult for opera singers. That is because there are many factors involved which make it difficult for singers to perform them in the best possible way, singing the notes simply faithful to the score, and because it is thought that Italian operas should be performed by bel canto singing method, the basis of the singing method of the Italian opera. The purpose of this thesis is to consider what is the best performance of bel canto operas expected in modern times. The theme of the research is "The Singing Method of the Italian Bel Canto Opera in the 19th Century." The thesis consists of three chapters. Chapter 1 is "A Consideration of the History and the Social Background." The author makes it clear that the castorats, who originally played the role of sopranos in church music, developed the bel canto method in opera mainly because they possessed a wide range of voice. The author also makes it clear that the singing method of the castratos was succeeded by prima donnas because of social reasons and the rise of female singers, and that the method became inportant for "the mad scene", the highlight of operas by Bellini, Donizetti, et al. Capter 2 is a study of performance. Taking into consideration the actual singing of the mad scene, I examine the history of the performance of "I Puritani" by V. Gellini and "Lucia di Lammermoor" by G. Donizetti, and what may be the best possible performance in modern times of "the mad scene" in each opera. Both operas were originally composed for prima donnas who could sing them more dramatically than castorats of that era, and they were sung by soprano leggero, who laid emphasis on a display of technique by taking full advantage of coloratura. However, recently the dramatic factor is considered to be as important as the coloratura, and the singer is expected to sing with both the coloratura for the sake of technique and with dramatic expression. Chapter 3 is a study using experimental devices. It is very difficult to study artistic singing because many elements are involved in the singing and many conditions influence the singing. In the study of artistic singing, many analyses and combinations are necessary. The present study consists of three analyses: aerodynamic, breathing, and acoustic studies. In the aerodynamic study, the relationship between "the vocal register" and the air flow rate was examined. The air flow rate, the sound intensity level and the fundamental frequency were observed using SH-01 (RION) for the speaking and singing voices produced by the author. As a result, it was shown that the air flow rate increased markedly at the change between "the Chest register" and "the Mid register". The breathing stuny was performed using a computed spirometer to compare the abdominal breathing and the chest breathing. In the quantity of air ventilation the abdominal breathing was found to be advantageous; and in the voicing of the long in the bel canto opera, the abdominal breathing seemd more advantageous. In the acoustic study, using the soundspectrography, the analysed sounds were obtaind from the song in the mad scene, in "Lucia di Lammermoor" et al sung by 10 famous sopranos and the author. There were many variations in the acoustic characteristics. The vibrato was always observed in different degrees. The correlation between pitch and amplitude can be classified into three types. The first is a positive correlation found in Edita Gruberova et al. The second is a negative correlation found in Anna Moffo. The third is a non-correlation found in Maria Callas and Masako Saida et al. It was often found that the singing materials had high frequency "Singing Formant" as in Maria Callas et al. This acoustic characteristic fits very well with the singing voice accompanied by an orchestra. Because the frequency of an orchestra is low, the voice can be heard very well. In another experiment, similation tests were performed; that is, the author sang in different styles: with vibrato, with strong vibrato, without vibrato in covered voicing and in non-covered voicing. In the acoustic study, the vibrato and the strong-high frequency spectrum are considered to be important in artistic singing.