Bel Canto Composers

While its origins may be traced as far back in history as the Middle Ages, the Bel Canto style of opera developed during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Bel Canto means literally "beautiful singing" but it also denotes all Italian singing, in "particular the light, bright quality that Italian opera singers use" (Thiers 1). There are a number of factors that paved the way for the bel canto style. The rise of theaters, opera, and the Romantic era occurred simultaneously while the Catholic Church's restrictions against theatrical singing were eroded by the rise of secularism and the off-limits dramatic stage. As singing for entertainment became more popular, so did the dramatic expressiveness in singing that is a hallmark of the bel canto style. Romanticism, increasing dramatics in the theater, increasing audience interest, the rise in popularity of singing, and the removal of religious barriers led to the development of the bel canto style that would be influential on its most famous composers: Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, Marcello and Puccini.

Singers were drawn to the bel canto style of opera also, because it offered them more flexibility and latitude than traditional dramatic theater or religious singing. It is the "beautiful singing" of the bel canto that represented its raison d'etre. As David Gordon explains: "The period of musical history between the late 1600s and 1740 or so has become known as

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mplified, and now consist generally of three or four movements instead of the usual six (Kaufman 1-2) Bellini formed a quite successful collaboration with the librettist Romani. Bellini's operas did not just reflect the bel canto style, but they were also imbued with dramatic aspects popular with audiences such as the sleepwalking in La sonnambula. Some of Bellini's works were coolly received at first showing, but would become hallmarks of the bel canto style anyway. Such is the case with his Norma, a work based on a French play whose heroine has Medea-like qualities. Bellini's innovation was held in disdain by his teachers but many of his innovations would become part of the bel canto style. As noted in The Glory of Bel Canto, "Zingarelli vehemently opposed Rossini's practice of employing richer orchestration and superfluous ornamentation and encouraged his prot�g� to focus on melody. The result became the composer's trademark style � long, serpentine, stepwise vocal lines meandering over simple accompaniment. Such an approach worked perfectly in tandem with the singer's careful elocution" (1). Bellini was not as proficient of a composer as was Rossini, but nevertheless he modeled many of his operas on the work of his p

Category: Arts - B