Wagner e l'arte del "bel canto" italiano

Wagner - "Pasticcio, by Canto Spianato" (1834) - Translated by William Ashton Ellis; "Pasticcio" originally appeared in Schumann's "Neue Zeitschrift für Musik" of November 6 and 10, 1834

WAGNER ON SINGING:

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«The old Italian mode of Song was based on so-called sostenuto singing, demanding a "formare", "fermare", and "finire" of the vocal tone. It certainly allowed much elasticity, but every passage must conform to the character of the human voice itself. The modern method, on the contrary, only secondarily consists of melodious phrases, whose cut has been so uniformly made upon one last, that we recognise it instantly, for all its trimmings.
(...) the higher vocal art, of solo-singing, is in manifest decline, and many a mile might we journey before we could assemble a couple of dozen good singers really worthy of the name, singers who should possess not only a "well-trained organ", but also a "good delivery, correct declamation, pure enunciation, sympathetic expression and thorough knowledge of music". (...) To-day one hardly ever hears a truly beautiful and finished 'trillo'; very rarely a perfect 'mordente'; very seldom a well-rounded 'coloratura', a genuine unaffected, soul-stirring 'portamento', a complete equalization of the vocal register and perfect maintenance of intonation throughout the varying nuance of increase and diminution in the volume of sound. Most of our singers, so soon as they attempt the noble art of 'portamento', fall out of tune; and the public, accustomed to imperfect execution, overlooks the defects of the singer if he only is an able actor and versed in stage-routine. (...)

The German singer gladly sinks himself in the character he has to represent. That deserves all praise, but has its own grave dangers. If the singer lets himself be carried away by his rôle; if he does not stand absolute master "over" the whole of his portrayal: then all, as a rule, is lost. He forgets himself, he no longer sings, but screams and moans. Then Nature none too seldom fleeces Art, and the hearer has the unpleasant surprise of suddenly finding himself in the gutter. (...)
Many German singers regard it, in a certain sense, as a point of honour to be willing to sing "anything", no matter if it suit their voice or not. The Italian does not hesitate to say right out that such and such a part he cannot sing, since it is ungrateful to his voice through height or depth, its trick of ornament, or other qualities. In this he often goes too far, and as good as demands that all his parts shall be written expressly for him: but the German, whether from free will or force of circumstances, too often and too readily accommodates himself to every rôle, thereby ruining both it and his voice as well. The singer should never attempt a part for which he is not qualified:
(a) "physically"—in respect of vocal compass, timbre, and power of lung;
(b) "technically"—in respect of throat-dexterity; and
(c) "psychically—in respect of expression.

(...) Breathtaking and articulation of the words enjoin on Song a certain undulation in the bar, not unlike the uniform swell of the waves. The Instrument, especially the stringed instrument, divides the time into sharp-cut sections, like the strokes of a pendulum. Truth of expression demands the blending of these opposite peculiarities. The beat, the Tempo, must never resemble a mill-clack in its tyrannical slowing or speeding, but to the piece of music it must be what the pulse-beat is to the life of man. Yet most of our modern vocal composers in Germany appear to regard the human voice as a mere portion of the instrumental mass, and misconceive the distinctive properties of Song. The instruments should form a guard of honour to the voice: with us they have become the singer's catch-polls, gagging him and casting him into chains at his first sign of free expression of feeling. (...)
Our worthy opera-composers must take a course of lessons in the good Italian cantabile style, guarding themselves against its modern outgrowths, and, with their superior artistic faculty, turn out good work in a style as good. Then will Vocal art bear fruit anew; then a man will some-day come, who in this good style shall re-establish on the stage the shattered unity of Poetry and Song.»

(Wagner - "Pasticcio, by Canto Spianato"*, 1834 - Translated by William Ashton Ellis, in "Richard Wagner's Prose Works" - Vol. VIII, "Posthumous, etc." - London, 1899; "Pasticcio" originally appeared in Schumann's "Neue Zeitschrift für Musik" of November 6 and 10, 1834, and was reprinted in the "Bayreuther Blätter" of November 1884)

*'Pasticcio' means a "pasty," an "olla podrida"; it is a term applied to a curious form of entertainment, somewhat common in earlier days, consisting of arias, duets etc., selected from different operas and served up almost at random.
'Canto spianato', the pseudonym adopted by the author, is the Italian for "smooth singing."—Tr. 

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cf. - Hermann Klein - "Great Woman-Singers of My Time" (New York, 1931); Chapter XII, "The Great Wagnerian Sopranos" [Amalia Materna, Marianne Brandt, Rosa Sucher, Therese Vogl, Hedwig Reicher-Kindermann, Thérèse Malten, Lilli Lehmann, Katharin Klafsky, Milka Ternina], pages 186-189:
 

Hermann Klein - "Great Woman-Singers of My Time" (New York, 1931); Chapter XII, "The Great Wagnerian Sopranos"

"Well-trained, experiences artists, they offered justification for Wagner's 'dictum' that only singers reared in the old Italian school were capable of interpreting his music in the manner he had intended—that was, of combining his system of declamation with the art of 'bel canto'. Heretofore most of his vocal writing had been looked upon as a kind of glorified rhythmical recitative, sometimes very dull to listen to and nearly always harmful to the singer. (...)
Music which we had regarded as unsingable flowed from the lips of these accredited interpreters with a freedom and easy wholly undreamt of 'in our philosophy'".

Per maggiori approfondimenti sul tema, si invita a leggere il seguente articolo --> Del Belcanto wagneriano (con testimonianze di Amelie Materna, Lilli Lehmann, Ernestine Schumann Heink, Frieda Hempel e Kirsten Flagstad)

Il tenore Jess Thomas parla dell'importanza di usare la tecnica del Bel Canto italiano cantando la musica di qualsiasi compositore, compreso Wagner. Spiega anche l'importanza di curare la parte centrale della voce e il passaggio di registro e invita a non trascurare di cantare "piano" : un buon esempio è l'incipit di "In fernem Land" dal Lohengrin di Wagner. L'intervista è del 1993, mentre la registrazione dell'aria wagneriana è del 1962.