Vocal Style

Abstract In late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century Italy, singing was the most highly prized musical art. Castrati and other virtuoso singers were avidly recruited by courts and churches, and the new Roman and Florentine monody was developed principally by singers. Singing style also figures prominently in the writings of theorists and musicians of this period, although their remarks are often of a general nature rather than furnishing details of vocal training and voice-production. Nevertheless, it is possible to obtain from contemporaneous authors a reasonable idea of Italian preferences in singing style.