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91-630: Henry Février ( French pronunciation: [ɑ̃ʁi fevʁije] ; 2 October 1875 – 6 July 1957) was a French composer . Henry Février was born in Paris, France, on 2 October 1875, the son of architect Jules Février . He married and had a son, the pianist Jacques Février . He studied at the Paris Conservatoire , where his teachers included Jules Massenet and Gabriel Fauré . He also took private lessons with André Messager . His first compositions were chamber music , but he

182-532: A singer in a choir , as a player in a youth orchestra , or as a performer on a solo instrument (e.g., piano , pipe organ , or violin ). Teens aspiring to be composers can continue their postsecondary studies in a variety of formal training settings, including colleges, conservatories, and universities. Conservatories , which are the standard musical training system in countries such as France and Canada, provide lessons and amateur orchestral and choral singing experience for composition students. Universities offer

273-467: A breeze, to avant-garde music from the 20th century that uses graphic notation , to text compositions such as Aus den Sieben Tagen , to computer programs that select sounds for musical pieces. Music that makes heavy use of randomness and chance is called aleatoric music , and is associated with contemporary composers active in the 20th century, such as John Cage , Morton Feldman , and Witold Lutosławski . The nature and means of individual variation of

364-572: A classical, music-school background such as Benjamin Britten or Percy Grainger . Vibrato of varying widths and speeds may be used in folk music traditions from other regions, such as Eastern Europe , the Balkans , the Middle East , East Asia , or India . In pop (as opposed to opera), the vibrato usually starts somewhere in the latter part of the note. In the case of some pop balladists,

455-426: A composition professor , ensemble experience, and graduate courses in music history and music theory, along with one or two concerts featuring the composition student's pieces. A master's degree in music (referred to as an M.Mus. or M.M.) is often a required minimum credential for people who wish to teach composition at a university or conservatory. A composer with an M.Mus. could be an adjunct professor or instructor at

546-412: A culture eventually developed whereby faithfulness to the composer's written intention came to be highly valued (see, for example, Urtext edition ). This musical culture is almost certainly related to the high esteem (bordering on veneration) in which the leading classical composers are often held by performers. The historically informed performance movement has revived to some extent the possibility of

637-506: A few minutes as soon as they noticed themselves playing with vibrato in order for them to gain complete control over their technique. The use of vibrato in classical music is a matter of some dispute. For much of the 20th century it was used almost continuously in the performance of pieces from all eras from the Baroque onwards, especially by singers and string players. The rise of notionally historically informed ("period") performance from

728-422: A fixed-pitch keyboard instrument, is capable of producing a type of vibrato known as Bebung by varying the pressure on the key as the note sounds. Some digital keyboards can produce an electronic vibrato effect, either by pressure on the keys, or by using a joystick or other MIDI controller. The method of producing vibrato on other instruments varies. On string instruments , for example, the finger used to stop

819-432: A given place is referred to as performance practice , whereas interpretation is generally used to mean the individual choices of a performer. Although a musical composition often has a single author, this is not always the case. A work of music can have multiple composers, which often occurs in popular music when a band collaborates to write a song, or in musical theatre , where the songs may be written by one person,

910-520: A musical context given by the Oxford English Dictionary is from Thomas Morley 's 1597 A Plain and Easy Introduction to Practical Music , where he says "Some wil [ sic ] be good descanters [...] and yet wil be but bad composers". "Composer" is a loose term that generally refers to any person who writes music. More specifically, it is often used to denote people who are composers by occupation, or those who work in

1001-441: A performer of Western popular music creates a "cover" of an earlier song, there is little expectation of exact rendition of the original; nor is exact faithfulness necessarily highly valued (with the possible exception of "note-for-note" transcriptions of famous guitar solos ). In Western art music, the composer typically orchestrates their compositions, but in musical theatre and pop music, songwriters may hire an arranger to do

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1092-465: A popular artist in the Latin countries for several decades; in 1903, he made a few recordings which exhibit only too well his perpetual flutter.) Similarly, another one of Italy's leading baritones, Riccardo Stracciari , was unable to turn his pre- World War I London and New York operatic engagements into unambiguous triumphs due to an intrusive quiver in his tone. He subsequently moderated his vibrato, as

1183-473: A range of composition programs, including bachelor's degrees, Master of Music degrees, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees. As well, there are a variety of other training programs such as classical summer camps and festivals, which give students the opportunity to get coaching from composers. Bachelor's degrees in composition (referred to as B.Mus. or B.M) are four-year programs that include individual composition lessons, amateur orchestra/choral experience, and

1274-434: A semitone either side. Vibrato is sometimes thought of as an effect added onto the note itself, but in some cases it is so fully a part of the style of the music that it can be very difficult for some performers to play without it. The jazz tenor sax player Coleman Hawkins found he had this difficulty when requested to play a passage both with and without vibrato by Leonard Bernstein when producing his record album "What

1365-453: A sequence of courses in music history, music theory, and liberal arts courses (e.g., English literature), which give the student a more well-rounded education. Usually, composition students must complete significant pieces or songs before graduating. Not all composers hold a B.Mus. in composition; composers may also hold a B.Mus. in music performance or music theory. Master of Music degrees (M.mus.) in composition consists of private lessons with

1456-412: A singer or musical instrument player to achieve only pitch vibrato (where only the pitch or only the volume is varied), and variations in both pitch and volume will often be achieved at the same time. Electronic manipulation or generation of signals makes it easier to achieve or demonstrate pure tremolo or vibrato. In the world of electric guitar and record production vibrato retains the same meaning as in

1547-511: A slow way." Some studies have shown that vibrato is the result of a neuromuscular tremor in the vocal folds. In 1922, Max Schoen was the first to make the comparison of vibrato to a tremor due to the following similarities: Some types of organ can produce vibrato by altering the pressure of the air passing through the pipes, or by various mechanical devices (see the Hammond or Wurlitzer Organs for example). The clavichord , though technically

1638-467: A tendency to cluster in specific cities throughout history. Based on over 12,000 prominent composers listed in Grove Music Online and using word count measurement techniques, the most important cities for classical music can be quantitatively identified. Paris has been the main hub for western classical music in all periods. It was ranked fifth in the 15th and 16th centuries but first in

1729-399: A time when the use of vibrato was widespread, there is sometimes a specific instruction not to use it (in some of the string quartets of Béla Bartók for example). Furthermore, some modern classical composers, especially minimalist composers, are against the use of vibrato at all times. On the clavichord, tremolo ( bebung ) refers to a vibrato effect created by varying the depression of

1820-686: A university, but it would be difficult in the 2010s to obtain a tenure track professor position with this degree. To become a tenure track professor, many universities require a doctoral degree . In composition, the key doctoral degree is the Doctor of Musical Arts , rather than the PhD ; the PhD is awarded in music, but typically for subjects such as musicology and music theory . Doctor of Musical Arts (referred to as D.M.A., DMA, D.Mus.A. or A.Mus.D) degrees in composition provide an opportunity for advanced study at

1911-635: A variety of ways. In much popular music, the composer writes a composition , and it is then transmitted via oral tradition . Conversely, in some Western classical traditions music may be composed aurally—i.e. "in the mind of the musician"—and subsequently written and passed through written documents . In the development of European classical music , the function of composing music initially did not have much greater importance than that of performing it. The preservation of individual compositions did not receive enormous attention and musicians generally had no qualms about modifying compositions for performance. In

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2002-492: A very difficult time breaking through and getting the credit they deserve." During the Medieval eras, most of the art music was created for liturgical (religious) purposes and due to the views about the roles of women that were held by religious leaders, few women composed this type of music, with the nun Hildegard von Bingen being among the exceptions. Most university textbooks on the history of music discuss almost exclusively

2093-409: A wide range of intensities: slow, fast, wide, and narrow. Most sources in condemning the practice seem to be referring to a wide, slow, perceptible oscillation in pitch, usually associated with intense emotion , whereas the ideal for modern vibrato, and possibly in earlier times as well, was to imitate the natural timbre of the adult singing voice, from which a measure of vibrato (it has since been shown)

2184-621: Is Jazz" to demonstrate the difference between the two. Despite his technique, he was unable to play without vibrato. The featured saxophonist in Benny Goodman's Orchestra, George Auld, was brought in to play the part. Many classical musicians, especially singers and string players, have a similar problem. The violinist and teacher Leopold Auer , writing in his book Violin Playing as I Teach It (1920), advised violinists to practise playing completely without vibrato, and to stop playing for

2275-438: Is chiefly known for his operas and operettas , among which are Le Roi aveugle (1906), Monna Vanna (1909), Carmosine (1913), Gismonda (Chicago 1919), La Damnation de Blanchefleur (1920), L'Ile désenchantée (1925), Oletta (1927), La Femme nue (1929) and Sylvette (1932). His works include incidental music for plays, including Agnès, dame galante (1912) and Aphrodite (1914). Février ceased composing music in

2366-621: Is known to have described this technique for the viol da gamba as early as the 16th century. Players of woodwind instruments generally create vibrato by modulating their air flow into the instrument. This may be accomplished either through stomach vibrato, the pulsing of the diaphragm slightly up and down, or throat vibrato, a variation of vocal chord tension to manipulate air pressure as singers do. Players of other instruments may employ less common techniques. Saxophonists tend to create vibrato by repeatedly moving their jaw up and down slightly. Clarinet players rarely play with vibrato, but if they do,

2457-461: Is no aural proof, as audio recordings were not around for more than 150 years, that string players in Europe did not use vibrato, its overuse was almost universally condemned by the leading musical authorities of the day. Certain types of vibrato, then, were seen as an ornament, but this does not mean that it was used sparingly. In wind playing too, it seems that vibrato in music up to the 20th century

2548-474: Is not used elsewhere. Music by late- Romantic composers such as Richard Wagner and Johannes Brahms is now played with a fairly continuous vibrato. However, some musicians specialising in historically informed performances, such as the conductor Roger Norrington , argue that it is unlikely that Brahms, Wagner, and their contemporaries would have expected it to be played in this way. This view has caused considerable controversy. The view that continuous vibrato

2639-429: Is rarely absent. Leopold Mozart ’s Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule (1756), for example, provides an indication of the state of vibrato in string playing at the end of the baroque period. In it, he concedes that “there are performers who tremble consistently on each note as if they had the permanent fever”, condemning the practice, and suggesting instead that vibrato should be used only on sustained notes and at

2730-404: Is termed "interpretation". Different performers' interpretations of the same work of music can vary widely, in terms of the tempos that are chosen and the playing or singing style or phrasing of the melodies. Composers and songwriters who present their music are interpreting, just as much as those who perform the music of others. The standard body of choices and techniques present at a given time and

2821-455: Is without the typical Italian bleat". Caruso's gramophone recordings support Henderson's assessment. (Other prominent Mediterranean tenors of the late 19th century to early 20th century who, like Caruso, did not "bleat" were Angelo Masini, Francesco Tamagno , Francesco Marconi , Francisco Viñas , Emilio De Marchi , Giuseppe Borgatti and Giovanni Zenatello , while the phenomenon was rare among French, German, Russian and Anglo-Saxon tenors of

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2912-550: The Baroque music era, many composers were employed by aristocrats or as church employees. During the Classical period , composers began to organize more public concerts for profit, which helped composers to be less dependent on aristocratic or church jobs. This trend continued in the Romantic music era in the 19th century. In the 20th century, composers began to seek employment as professors in universities and conservatories. In

3003-531: The Renaissance music era, composers typically worked for aristocratic employers. While aristocrats typically required composers to produce a significant amount of religious music, such as Masses , composers also penned many non-religious songs on the topic of courtly love : the respectful, reverential love of a great woman from afar. Courtly love songs were very popular during the Renaissance era. During

3094-482: The guitar (for instance tremolo picking ). Currently, the leading understanding is that when vibrato is utilised, listeners are able to focus on the average pitch and hear it as a single fundamental as opposed to the alternation between two different fundamental frequencies. Carl Seashore (1967) conducted the first comprehensive studies on perceptions of vibrato in the context of classically trained singers, finding some individuals are 50-100 times more perceptive of

3185-400: The orchestration of the accompaniment parts and writing of the overture is done by an orchestrator, and the words may be written by a third person. A piece of music can also be composed with words, images, or, in the 20th and 21st centuries, computer programs that explain or notate how the singer or musician should create musical sounds. Examples of this range from wind chimes jingling in

3276-515: The xylophone . There are three different voice vibrato processes that occur in different parts of the vocal tract. Peter-Michael Fischer has vibrato types defined by place of production: "This combination is relatively stable in the most beautiful voices. An important feature is that the partial functions can appear during the song as "accents": In the context of the presentation expressive wave dominates respirativa, lyrical character, but in an accelerated, or glottis wave, hard feature heroic, but in

3367-450: The 16th century. However, no evidence exists of authors using the term vibrato before the 19th century. Instead, authors used various descriptive terms interchangeably, including tremolo , bebung , or tremblement , or descriptions such as wavering , shake or trillo . These “terminological uncertainties” continue to pervade modern definitions of vibrato. The terms vibrato and tremolo are sometimes used interchangeably, although (in

3458-427: The 17th to 20th centuries inclusive. London was the second most meaningful city: eighth in the 15th century, seventh in the 16th, fifth in the 17th, second in the 18th and 19th centuries, and fourth in the 20th century. Rome topped the rankings in the 15th century, dropped to second in the 16th and 17th centuries, eighth in the 18th century, ninth in the 19th century but back at sixth in the 20th century. Berlin appears in

3549-407: The 1940s. He died on 6 July 1957. Composer A composer is a person who writes music . The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music , or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. The term is descended from Latin , compōnō ; literally "one who puts together". The earliest use of the term in

3640-517: The 1970s onwards has dramatically changed its use, especially in music of the Baroque and Classical eras. However, there is no actual proof that singers performed without vibrato in the baroque era. Notably, composer Lodovico Zacconi advocated that vibrato "ought always to be used". Vocal music of the renaissance is almost never sung with vibrato as a rule, and it seems unlikely it ever was; however, it should be understood that "vibrato" occurs over

3731-539: The 2008 Proms season by conducting Edward Elgar 's Enigma Variations , and the Last Night of the Proms , in non-vibrato style, which he calls pure tone . Some take the view that even though it may not be what the composer envisioned, vibrato adds an emotional depth which improves the sound of the music. Others feel that the leaner sound of vibratoless playing is preferable. In 20th-century classical music , written at

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3822-422: The 20th century, composers also earned money from the sales of their works, such as sheet music publications of their songs or pieces or as sound recordings of their works. In 1993, American musicologist Marcia Citron asked, "Why is music composed by women so marginal to the standard 'classical' repertoire?" Citron "examines the practices and attitudes that have led to the exclusion of women composers from

3913-424: The 78-rpm discs that they made at the beginning of the 20th century. The popularity of an exaggerated vibrato among many (but by no means all) Mediterranean tenors and singing teachers of this era has been traced back by musicologists to the influential example set by the early-19th-century virtuoso vocalist Giovanni Battista Rubini (1794–1854). Rubini had employed it with great success as an affecting device in

4004-516: The Anglophones' ears because, unlike Patti and Tetrazzini, they possessed unsteady, vibrato-laden voices—see Scott for evaluations of their respective techniques. To give an additional female example from a later date, whenever the vivacious mezzo-soprano of the 1920s and '30s, Conchita Supervía , performed in London, she was admonished in print for her exceedingly vibrant and fluttery tone, which

4095-466: The Western world, before the Romantic period of the 19th century, composition almost always went side by side with a combination of either singing, instructing and theorizing . Even in a conventional Western piece of instrumental music, in which all of the melodies , chords , and basslines are written out in musical notation, the performer has a degree of latitude to add artistic interpretation to

4186-590: The actual samples. Norrington claims that vibrato in the earliest recordings is used only selectively, as an expressive device; the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra were not recorded using vibrato comparable to modern vibrato until 1935, and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra not until 1940. French orchestras seem to have played with continuous vibrato somewhat earlier, from the 1920s. Defenders of vibrato claim that

4277-507: The advent of the charismatic Rubini, every well-schooled opera singer had avoided using a conspicuous and continuous vibrato because, according to Scott, it varied the pitch of the note being sung to an unacceptable degree and it was considered to be an artificial contrivance arising from inadequate breath control. British and North American press commentators and singing teachers continued to subscribe to this view long after Rubini had come and gone. Accordingly, when Enrico Caruso (1873–1921) —

4368-577: The cellist Diran Alexanian , in his 1922 treatise Traité théorique et pratique du Violoncelle , shows how one should practice vibrato as starting from the note and then moving upwards in a rhythmic motion. In a 1996 acoustic study by the Acoustical Society of America , along with Wellesley College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , found that the perceived pitch of a note with vibrato "is that of its mean", or

4459-419: The classical world (a periodic variation in pitch) but tremolo describes a periodic variation in volume usually achieved using outboard effects units . The use of vibrato is intended to add warmth to a note. In the case of many string instruments the sound emitted is strongly directional, particularly at high frequencies, and the slight variations in pitch typical of vibrato playing can cause large changes in

4550-434: The classical world) they are properly defined as separate effects. Vibrato is defined as a periodic variation in the pitch (frequency) of a musical note that is perceived as one fundamental frequency. Tremolo, on the other hand, is defined as a fast repetition of the same note (usually a semiquaver) or alternation between two notes, especially on instruments which do not have the ability of producing long sustained notes, such as

4641-716: The concert platform, or on the operatic stage. During the 19th century, for instance, New York and London based critics, including Henry Chorley , Herman Klein , and George Bernard Shaw , castigated a succession of visiting Mediterranean tenors for resorting to an excessive, constantly pulsating vibrato during their performances. Shaw called the worst offenders "goat bleaters" in his book Music in London 1890-1894 (Constable, London, 1932). Among those censured for this failing were such celebrated figures as Enrico Tamberlik , Julián Gayarre , Roberto Stagno , Italo Campanini and Ernesto Nicolini —not to mention Fernando Valero and Fernando De Lucia , whose tremulous tones are preserved on

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4732-528: The definition of composition is broad enough for the creation of popular and traditional music songs and instrumental pieces and to include spontaneously improvised works like those of free jazz performers and African percussionists such as Ewe drummers . During the Middle Ages, most composers worked for the Catholic church and composed music for religious services such as plainchant melodies. During

4823-405: The directional patterns of the radiated sound. This can add a shimmer to the sound; with a well-made instrument it may also help a solo player to be heard more clearly when playing with a large orchestra. This directional effect is intended to interact with the room acoustics to add interest to the sound, in much the same way as an acoustic guitarist may swing the box around on a final sustain, or

4914-480: The discs that he made for Columbia Records in 1917-1925 show, and this enabled him to pursue a significant career not only in his homeland but also at the Chicago opera. There is another kind of vibrato-linked fault that can afflict the voices of operatic artists, especially aging ones—namely the slow, often irregular wobble produced when the singer's vibrato has loosened from the effects of forcing, over-parting, or

5005-556: The distinct shimmer inherent in their timbre . Italian or Spanish-trained operatic sopranos , mezzo-sopranos , and baritones exhibiting a pronounced vibrato did not escape censure, either, by British and North American arbiters of good singing. Indeed, Adelina Patti and Luisa Tetrazzini were the only Italian sopranos to enjoy star status in London and New York in the late-Victorian and Edwardian eras, while such well-known compatriots and coevals of theirs as Gemma Bellincioni and Eugenia Burzio (among several others) failed to please

5096-726: The ends of phrases when used as an ornament. This however, does not give anything more than an indication of Mozart's own personal taste, based on the fact that he was an educated late Rococo /Classical composer. Mozart acknowledges the difference between the heavy, ornamental vibrato that he finds objectionable, and a more continuous application of the technique less obtrusively for purposes of improving tone quality (in which case he does not refer to it as "vibrato" or "tremolo" at all; describing it as merely an aspect of correct fingering). In this respect he resembles his contemporary, Francesco Geminiani, who advocated using vibrato "as frequently as possible" on short notes for this purpose. Although there

5187-419: The era describe a variety of techniques for flattement as well as vibrato by shaking the flute with pitch fluctuations varying from nearly nothing to very large. All human voices can produce vibrato. This vibrato can be varied in width (and rapidity) through training. In opera, as opposed to pop, vibrato begins at the start of the note and continues to the end of the note with slight variations in width during

5278-427: The exact opposite definition as his father: in a letter to his father, Mozart criticizes singers for "pulsing" their voice beyond the natural fluctuation of the voice, the latter of which being pleasant should be imitated on the violin, winds, and clavichord (with bebung). To other authors such as Tartini , Zacconi , and Bremner (student of Geminiani ), there is no distinction between the two. Flute treatises of

5369-562: The first half of the 20th century used vibrato more or less continuously. Since around the 1950s and the rise of bebop , continuous use of vibrato has largely fallen out of style in favor of more selective use. Folk music singers and instrumentalists in the North American and Western European traditions rarely use vibrato, reserving it for occasional ornamentation. It also tends to be used by performers of transcriptions or reworkings of folk music that have been made by composers from

5460-539: The general use of vibrato within the orchestra as a matter of course; by the same token, indications by Mahler and Debussy that specifically demand the use of vibrato in certain passages may suggest the opposite practice. Despite this, the use of vibrato in late Romantic music is still common, though challenged by Roger Norrington and others of the historically informed performance movement. Performances of composers from Beethoven to Arnold Schoenberg with limited vibrato are now common. Norrington caused controversy during

5551-503: The guidance of faculty composition professors. Some schools require DMA composition students to present concerts of their works, which are typically performed by singers or musicians from the school. The completion of advanced coursework and a minimum B average are other typical requirements of a D.M.A program. During a D.M.A. program, a composition student may get experience teaching undergraduate music students. Some composers did not complete composition programs, but focused their studies on

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5642-552: The highest artistic and pedagogical level, requiring usually an additional 54+ credit hours beyond a master's degree (which is about 30+ credits beyond a bachelor's degree). For this reason, admission is highly selective. Students must submit examples of their compositions. If available, some schools will also accept video or audio recordings of performances of the student's pieces. Examinations in music history, music theory, ear training/dictation, and an entrance examination are required. Students must prepare significant compositions under

5733-405: The increased use by composers of more detailed scoring in the form of dynamics, articulation et cetera; composers became uniformly more explicit in how they wished their music to be interpreted, although how strictly and minutely these are dictated varies from one composer to another. Because of this trend of composers becoming increasingly specific and detailed in their instructions to the performer,

5824-445: The keys. Theorists and authors of treatises on instrumental technique of the era regularly used tremolo or bebung to refer to vibrato on other instruments and in the voice; however, there was not uniform agreement in what the term meant. Some influential authors such as Matteson and Hiller believed the natural trembling in the voice occurred "without making it higher or lower". This could be achieved on string instruments by varying

5915-585: The kind of vibrato used by a solo player, and the sectional vibrato of an entire string ensemble, which cannot be heard as a uniform quantity as such. Rather, it manifests itself in terms of the warmth and amplitude of the sound produced, as opposed to a perceptible wavering of pitch. The fact that as early as the 1880s composers such as Richard Strauss (in his tone poems "Don Juan" and "Death and Transfiguration") as well as Camille Saint-Saëns (Symphony No. 3 "Organ") asked string players to perform certain passages "without expression" or "without nuance" somewhat suggests

6006-400: The mid-20th century was Nadia Boulanger . Philips states that "[d]uring the 20th century the women who were composing/playing gained far less attention than their male counterparts." Women today are being taken more seriously in the realm of concert music, though the statistics of recognition, prizes, employment, and overall opportunities are still biased toward men. Famous composers have

6097-427: The middle of the fluctuating pitch. Wide vibrato, as wide as a whole-tone, is commonly used among electric guitar players and adds the signature vocal-like expressiveness to the sound. This effect can be achieved both by the movement of fingers on the fretboard and by the use of a vibrato tailpiece , a lever that adjusts the tension of the strings. Some violinists, like Leonidas Kavakos , use bow vibrato by moving

6188-516: The most emulated Mediterranean tenor of the 20th century — made his acclaimed New York Metropolitan Opera debut in November 1903, one of the specific vocal attributes for which he was praised by music reviewers was the absence of a disruptive vibrato from his singing. The scholarly critic William James Henderson wrote in The Sun newspaper, for example, that Caruso "has a pure tenor voice and [it]

6279-400: The music are varied, depending on the musical culture in the country and the time period it was written. For instance, music composed in the Baroque era , particularly in slow tempos, often was written in bare outline, with the expectation that the performer would add improvised ornaments to the melody line during a performance. Such freedom generally diminished in later eras, correlating with

6370-424: The new Romantic operas of Gaetano Donizetti and Vincenzo Bellini . A host of young Italian tenors—including the renowned Giovanni Matteo Mario (1810–1883) — copied Rubini's trend-setting innovation in order to heighten the emotional impact of the music that they were singing, and to facilitate the delivery of fioritura "by, as it were, running up and down the vibrato" (to quote Scott; see p. 126). Prior to

6461-442: The note. Traditionally, however, the deliberate cultivation of a particularly wide, pervasive vibrato by opera singers from the Latin countries has been denounced by English-speaking music critics and pedagogues as a technical fault and a stylistic blot (see Scott, cited below, Volume 1, pp. 123–127). They have expected vocalists to emit a pure, steady stream of clear sound — irrespective of whether they were singing in church, on

6552-435: The orchestration. In some cases, a pop songwriter may not use notation at all, and, instead, compose the song in their mind and then play or record it from memory. In jazz and popular music, notable recordings by influential performers are given the weight that written scores play in classical music. The study of composition has traditionally been dominated by the examination of methods and practice of Western classical music, but

6643-552: The performance of voice or an instrument or on music theory , and developed their compositional skills over the course of a career in another musical occupation. Vibrato In singing , it can occur spontaneously through variations in the larynx . The vibrato of a string instrument and wind instrument is an imitation of that vocal function. Vibrato can also be reproduced mechanically ( Leslie speaker ) or electronically as an audio effect close to chorus . Descriptions of what would now be characterised as vibrato go back to

6734-408: The performer elaborating seriously the music as given in the score, particularly for Baroque music and music from the early Classical period . The movement might be considered a way of creating greater faithfulness to the original in works composed at a time that expected performers to improvise . In genres other than classical music, the performer generally has more freedom; thus for instance when

6825-411: The presence of vibrato than individuals with the least ability and that “much of the most beautiful vibrato is below the threshold for vibrato hearing and is perceived merely as tone quality.” This conclusion was confirmed by William Vennard (1967) who notes that the listener hears only the average pitch, and the fluctuation is interpreted as enhanced tonal quality. In practice, it is difficult for

6916-479: The received ' canon ' of performed musical works." She argues that in the 1800s, women composers typically wrote art songs for performance in small recitals rather than symphonies intended for performance with an orchestra in a large hall, with the latter works being seen as the most important genre for composers; since women composers did not write many symphonies, they were deemed to be not notable as composers. According to Abbey Philips, "women musicians have had

7007-460: The right hand up and down slightly to change the angle and pressure of the bow and thus oscillate the pitch and intensity of a note. The first known description of this technique on violin was by Francesco Geminiani . This technique was not limited to violin but was known to players of all string instruments in Italy, France, Germany, and England during the Baroque era. Sylvestro Ganassi dal Fontego

7098-430: The role of male composers. As well, very few works by women composers are part of the standard repertoire of classical music. In Concise Oxford History of Music , " Clara Shumann [ sic ] is one of the only female composers mentioned", but other notable women composers of the common practice period include Fanny Mendelssohn and Cécile Chaminade , and arguably the most influential teacher of composers during

7189-490: The rotating baffle of a Leslie speaker will spin the sound around the room. The extent of the variation in pitch during vibrato is controlled by the performer. The extent of vibrato for solo singers is usually less than a semitone (100 cents ) either side of the note, while singers in a choir typically use narrower vibrato with an extent of less than a tenth of a semitone (10 cents ) either side. Wind and bowed instruments generally use vibratos with an extent of less than half

7280-561: The same period—see Scott.) The intentional use of a pronounced vibrato by Mediterranean tenors is a practice that has died out over the course of the past 100 years, owing in no small measure to Caruso's example. The last really important practitioners of this style and method of singing were Alessandro Bonci (in the 1900-1925 period) and Giacomo Lauri-Volpi (in the 1920-1950 period). Both of them featured bel canto works, dating from Rubini's day, in their operatic repertoires, and both of them can be heard on recordings which faithfully capture

7371-501: The sheer wear and tear on the body caused by the stresses of a long stage career. References: For more information about the historical employment of vibrato by classical vocalists, see Michael Scott 's two-volume survey The Record of Singing (published by Duckworth, London, in 1977 and 1979); John Potter's Tenor: History of a Voice (Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 2009); and Herman Klein's 30 Years of Music in London (Century, New York, 1903). Most jazz players for

7462-434: The sonic limitations of 78-rpm recordings, particularly with respect to overtones and high frequency information, make an uncontroversial assessment of earlier playing techniques difficult (although, it must be said, early recordings of operatic singers manage to show clearly the extent to which a vibrato is present [or not] in their voices). In addition, the defenders of vibrato point out a distinction needs to be made between

7553-517: The speed of the bow, waving the hand, or rolling the bow in the fingers. On the organ, a similar effect is created by the tremulant . (Contradictory to his description, Hiller recommended string players vary the pitch by rolling the fingers to create the effect). Other authors seem to differentiate by degrees. Leopold Mozart includes tremolo in chapter 11 of his violin treatise, but describes an unnamed vibrato technique in chapter 5 on tone production. His son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , appears to take

7644-400: The string can be wobbled on the fingerboard, or actually moved up and down the string for a wider vibrato. Many contemporary string players vary the pitch from below, only up to the nominal note and not above it, although great violin pedagogues of the past such as Carl Flesch and Joseph Joachim explicitly referred to vibrato as a movement towards the bridge, meaning upwards in pitch, —and

7735-440: The top ten rankings only in the 18th century and was ranked third most important city in both the 19th and 20th centuries. New York City entered the rankings in the 19th century (in fifth place) and stood at second rank in the 20th century. The patterns are very similar for a sample of 522 top composers. Professional classical composers often have a background in performing classical music during their childhood and teens, either as

7826-472: The tradition of Western classical music . Writers of exclusively or primarily songs may be called composers, but since the 20th century the terms ' songwriter ' or ' singer-songwriter ' are more often used, particularly in popular music genres. In other contexts, the term 'composer' can refer to a literary writer, or more rarely and generally, someone who combines pieces into a whole. Across cultures and traditions composers may write and transmit music in

7917-409: The vibrato can be so wide as to constitute a pronounced wobble, although not as pronounced as that present in operatic voices. Many singers use pitch correction software in which the effect can be reduced or eliminated. Not all instruments can produce vibrato, as some have fixed pitches that cannot be varied by sufficiently small degrees. Most percussion instruments are examples of this, for instance,

8008-422: The work, by such means as by varying their articulation and phrasing , choosing how long to make fermatas (held notes) or pauses, and — in the case of bowed string instruments, woodwinds or brass instruments — deciding whether to use expressive effects such as vibrato or portamento . For a singer or instrumental performer, the process of deciding how to perform music that has been previously composed and notated

8099-408: Was invented by Fritz Kreisler and some of his colleagues is held to be shown by early sound recordings, which allegedly demonstrate that this profuse use of vibrato appeared only in the 20th century. The alleged growth of vibrato in 20th-century orchestral playing has been traced by Norrington by studying early audio recordings but his opponents contend that his interpretations are not supported by

8190-477: Was seen as an ornament to be used selectively. Martin Agricola writing in his Musica instrumentalis deudsch (1529) writes of vibrato in this way. Occasionally, composers up to the baroque period indicated vibrato with a wavy line in the sheet music . Again, this does not suggest that it was not desired for the rest of the piece any more than the infrequent use of the term in 20th-century works suggests that it

8281-563: Was unkindly likened by her detractors to the chatter of a machine-gun or the rattle of dice in a cup. In 1883, Giuseppe Kaschmann (né Josip Kašman ) — a principal baritone at La Scala , Milan—was criticised for his strong vibrato when he sang at the Met, and the theatre's management did not re-engage him for the following season, even though other aspects of his singing were admired. (Kaschmann never performed in Great Britain but he remained

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