The Glorious Human Voice

During the time I attended Philharmonia Baroque concerts back in the 90s, Nic McGegan was fond of programming a Handel oratorio to open their season. I remember a moment during one such performance. Some of the singers had rather loud "instruments" and sang in what I would characterize as an operatic style. Suddenly a simple part emerged from the chorus, sung by one of the college students that populated Philharmonia's adjunct vocal ensemble. What a refreshing sound her beautiful but relatively unschooled voice made! With its natural quality and lack of heavy vibrato, it was a much better match to the gut strung violins played in period style.

Thus was sharpened my interest in the question of what is an appropriate early music voice. I have sought, without success, information on the training of singers in the Baroque era. Was filling a large room of the same importance it is for modern opera practitioners? Not likely until the 18th C. What of vibrato? While the ideal of many early music buffs who heard her is the voice of Emma Kirkby in her prime, she had the rarest of the rare, a light tone with no vibrato. Yet her counterparts may have been scarce, historically. Some early organs have a stop in which pipes are slightly mistuned to produce a mildly wavering sound. This stop was called the Vox Humana!

Happily, we have singers today who have a beautiful tone not excessively thick or loud, and who are not only schooled in Baroque ornamentation but know how to use vibrato itself as an ornament, much as period violinists do. So why do we sometimes hear a more operatic voice paired with some of our finest Baroque ensembles? An insider once mentioned to me that there may be some horse trading going on. The conductor responsible for the hiring of soprano Clotilda Clodstomple may find himself engaged to conduct Ms. C. at a summer festival, after she put in a good word with the festival's Executive Director. Or some such. You didn't hear it from me.

Unfortunately for conspiracy theorists, something less sinister may be involved. The old-boy-and-girl network will always be with us, in all domains, as long as there are people, and language, and culture. If you are not a purist and take modern instrument gigs, which you may need to do economically, you meet mainstream classical people, become friends with some, and you may find yourself playing period performances with the same people.

Rest assured, though, that BCOC is committed to presenting guest artists that we think will fit in well with BCOC's sound and mission. By "we" in this context, I mean primarily Frank. Yes, we have our own old-girl network too, and a variety of people have Frank's ear in this regard. But he makes the final decisions

All that said, I know that Frank is pleased to present, this month, soprano Amanda Baliestrieri for your approval. And if this post augments your listening pleasure, and your thinking about the question of what an early music singer is, it will have served its purpose.