Applying the Study of Bel Canto Vocal Technique to Artistic Horn Playing: Perfect Legato, Beautiful Sound, Agility, and Musical Expression

Abstract

Horn players can improve their abilities to play artistically in a lyrical legato style, with a light mechanism, and employ a beautiful sound throughout the range of the horn through the study of bel canto vocal technique. No better singing model exists for horn players than that of the great bel canto singers of the early nineteenth century who were known for their refined technique, perfect legato, even tone, sparkling agility, and beautiful musical expression. Mastery of the expressive bel canto melodic style is a means for horn players to achieve artistry in performance. Pedagogical principles of nineteenth- and twentieth-century bel canto teachers, vocal exercises related to development of bel canto technique, and recorded performances of singers who have specialized in bel canto repertoire are examined. This study culminates in performer's guides to repertoire chosen from the few existing early nineteenth-century solo horn with piano pieces (by Balfe, Mercadante, and Rossini), with bel canto-informed horn technique explained.