Composition of Classical musicaccording to the Italian Renais-

sance principle of bel canto (beautifulsinging) is one of the best examples ofmankind’s ability to discover an existingphysical principle, and to use that dis-covery to create new works of scienceand art, which then increase humanity’spower to build civilization. Today, belcanto signifies the physical principle,discovered in the Fifteenth century byLeonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) and hiscollaborators, that the human singingvoice is innately endowed with differen-tiated voice registers and other qualities,which allow a composer to create aunique density of new ideas in a musicalwork.

This density of new ideas is essentialto Mozart’s 1782-1785 “musical revolu-tion” of Motivführung, as LaRouche hasindicated in a number of writings.1

Book I of A Manual on the Rudimentsof Tuning and Registration, Lyndon H.LaRouche’s 1991 music textbook, docu-ments that for 400 years, from the 1430Florentine Golden Renaissance to thedeath of Beethoven in 1827, the basicprinciples of bel canto were taught as aform of mass literacy to all children wholearned to read and write.

Bel canto shows itself in many waysto be a physical principle naturallyembedded in the human voice, a physi-cal principle which the Renaissancemasters discovered, rather than manu-factured. The most familiar example isthat of the opera singer, who, with his orher voice alone, fills with sound a hall of4,000 seats, without amplification. Belcanto also exhibits the quality of “leastaction,” in which the smallest physicaleffort produces the most powerfulresult. Renaissance teachers would placea candle before the student’s mouth, andnote that when a bel canto tone is pro-duced, the flame does not move, even if

the tone is a very powerful one.The basic elements of bel canto train-

ing are elevation, roundness of sound,vibrato, and clear registration. All ofthese are produced using physical attrib-utes of the universe, including thehuman mind and body, which exist forus to discover.

Bel canto as a Physical Principle

Contrary to widespread opinion in themusic world, bel canto is not merely theItalian opera repertoire connected withVincenzo Bellini (1801-1835), GaetanoDonizetti (1797-1848), up to GiuseppeVerdi (1813-1901); rather, it is a scientif-ic technique of singing, which makessuch repertoire possible, and whichcomposers such as Bellini and Verdi, butalso J.S. Bach (1685-1750), WolfgangAmadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Ludwigvan Beethoven (1770-1827), up toJohannes Brahms (1833-1897), had inmind when they composed their vocalworks—not only choral works andoperas but also Lieder (art songs)—which latter are the “Rosetta Stone” ofmusic, since they unify the beauty ofsinging with the beauty of a poetic text,consciously using all characteristics ofthe human singing voice (its differencesin registers, color, dynamics, accents) inorder not only to reflect, but even toenrich the poetic text.

The precondition for true bel canto isimpostazione, or placement of the voice(from the Italian word posto, “to place”):which means that with bel canto, thesinger finds the best place to amplify thevoice, simultaneously mobilizing all res-onating chambers (chest, throat, and,particularly, head). The balance betweensuch resonating chambers will varyaccording to the natural registers of thevoice, the first register (also known asthe “chest” register) with more chest res-onance than head, the second, or center

register, with a mixture of both, and thethird register (also called registro di testa,or head register) with a predominanceof the head voice. This is the registerwhich requires most elevation of thevoice, or singing in maschera, in themask, which means exploiting to theutmost the bones and sinus cavitiesabove and around the eyes.

The Renaissance genius Leonardo daVinci was the first to study how thevoice resounds in the head, in differentlocations according to the vowels used,which each have a different naturalpitch and a different placement in thehead, and his drawings were incorporat-ed in a treatise on the voice, “De Vocie,”which was unfortunately separated intodifferent sections, some of which are stillincluded in the Codex Atlanticus. Afamous bas relief by another Renaissancegenius, Luca della Robbia, kept in theMuseo del Duomo in Florence, shows agroup of children singing bel canto, andone can tell from the expression of theirfaces which ones are singing in thethird, high register, concentrating thesound in the head, and which ones aresinging the medium and low parts.

The second element of bel canto,besides the scientific use of the naturalregisters of the voice, and the consciousbalance between elevation (singing inthe mask) and appoggio (support, whichmeans supporting the sound sul fiato,“on the breath”), is the ability to obtain around sound by “covering” it, usinground vowels such as “o” (as in “mode”)or even “u” (as in “mood”) in the thirdregister. Aperto ma coperto (“open butcovered”) used to be the iron rule of theold school of bel canto singing—an onlyapparent contradiction, since it meansthat the mouth has to be open, but thesound covered.

The third element, which confersparticular freedom and beauty to

30

The Tradition of Florentine bel canto1by Liliana Celani, Kathy Wolfe, and Stephan Marienfeld

singing, is vibrato, which should not beconfused with either tremolo or the trill.Vibrato, the fleeting oscillation of thevoice between two pitches on either sideof the conceived tone, is natural to thevoice, and is the effect of correctimpostazione (placement). The trill,which is a true half or whole step sungalternately in very rapid succession, hasthe same musical meaning in singing asit has in instrumental, or piano composi-tions; namely, to maintain a certain sus-pension before going back to the tonic,or as a leading tone just before a modu-lation. The presence of a tremolo, whichcomes from the Italian tremare, or trem-bling (of the voice), is a clear indicationthat the singer is suffering from a vocal-technical problem. Tremolo is diametri-cally opposed to a normal vibrato, and is

generally caused by a lack of appoggio,or support of the voice, and indicates aproblem of intonation. (In most cases,singers who “go flat” or whose voicestremble, lack either elevation, or sup-port, or both.)

As Leonardo da Vinci indicated inhis treatise on the human voice,2 belcanto singing can be compared to paint-ing, because of the conscious use of “col-ors” in the voice, either as natural colors(conferred by the different registers), oras a conscious change of color for pur-poses of interpretation. (For example,great singers are able to make their voicedarker while singing a part in a Liedcorresponding to a change in the poetictext, or a change from major to minor,or to make it lighter in a particularlyjoyful part.) Generally, the audience will

perceive a clear register shift from thesecond to the third, high register (partic-ularly in the tenor voice, which isstronger), as a change of color. Third-register notes, if sung with the rightimpostazione, have a particular brilliance,which they lose if they are shouted, orsung in the throat, where they becomeopaque. First-register notes, being sungmostly with a chest resonance, are per-ceived as darker notes. This implies thateach note of the scale does not have thesame value for singing.

For example, middle C (c ) is a highnote for a bass singer, who shifts to hishigh register on d . The same note is acenter-register note for the tenor, and isa low, chest-register note for a sopranoor a mezzosoprano, and, as such, it willbe perceived differently by the listener,depending on who sings it.

As the following musical examplesdemonstrate, great composers such asJ.S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Verdiwere aware of these differences in regis-tration when they wrote their vocalworks, and developed the well-tem-pered scale based on this palette of vocalcolors. Not only notes, but also intervalshave a different value according to theregister and scale in which they aresung.

For example, the same interval cre-ates more or less musical tension as thedistance between the tonic and the notecorresponding to the register shift issmaller or greater. In the mode of Cmajor/C minor, a diminished fifth, orLydian interval (c to fˇ ), correspondsto a register shift for a tenor and a sopra-no, in two different octaves; while theinterval corresponding to a register shiftfor a baritone voice is that of a third (cto e ). But in another key, the registershift of both voices corresponds to a dif-ferent interval (closer or more distantfrom the tonic).

Composers chose the key for theirarias or Lieder with the awareness thatcertain intervals would correspond tothe natural register shifts of the voice-species of the intended singer. Sinceinstruments are an imitation of the belcanto singing voice, they echo the natur-al registration of the six species of voices,the only difference being that they intro-

31

Concerning Musical TerminologyWhen specific notes are referred to in the text and in the musical examples, the followingnomenclature is used:

There are instances when not a specific note in a specific register, but, rather, a gener-al member of the scale is being referred to. In such instances, a capital letter is used.

Vocal registers are indicated in some musical examples. The chart below shows howthe first (“chest”) register, the third (“head”) register, and the fourth (“super-high”) regis-ter are marked. There is no special marking for the second (“center”) register. See Figure1.2 for the specific register-shifts in each of the six species of human singing voice.

Other passages of special interest in the musical examples, are highlighted by horizon-tal brackets:

Highlighted passage

&

#

c œ œ œœ ˙

˙

First(“chest”)register

Second(“center”)register

Third(“head”)register

Fourth(“super-high”)

register

&

œ

œ

œ

œ

&

?

œ

c′

œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ

B′ C D E F G A B c d e f g a b c′

œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ

d′ e′ f′ g′ a′ b′ c″ d″ e″ f″ g″ a″ b″ c′′′

duce a new degree of freedom, oftenallowing motivic development, by mov-ing from one voice to the next (a ’cellocan, for example, start out as a baritonevoice, and can then move to a tenorvoice, with its different array of regis-ters).

It was found that the average child’svoice develops best when taught to shiftto a new register on the second half ofthis scale (Figure 1.1). It was, in fact, inthis way that “middle C” became mid-dle C: Only the octave of eight diatonicnotes which starts there, will find itselfdivided in half, by the child’s register

shift, between f and g , at fˇ . The regis-ter shift is natural, and the scale con-forms to nature.

Voices which shift here are calledsoprano, and all children, if taught tosing from age five as they ought to be,experience this basic register shift forseveral years, until puberty.

As children mature, girls developinto adult sopranos or mezzosopranos,while boys develop a lower octave andbecome tenors, baritones, or basses. Butthe intervals of each voice remain divid-ed into three or four qualities of distinctvoice register (Figure 1.2). In additionto the first register, shown here as a solidblack bar, and the second register,shown here as a white bar, there are alsothe higher, third and fourth registers,each with its own different register-shiftpoint.

Thus, when a composer goes to con-struct a musical composition, he has sixspecies of the adult singing voice—

soprano, mezzosoprano, contralto,tenor, baritone, and bass—each contain-ing three or four different registral“voices,” a well-defined palette of colors,with which to “paint.”

Bach’s St. John Passion is a goodexample of both bel canto singing andMotivführung, since it uses voices andinstruments (as imitation of humanvoices) in a musically dense and pro-found dialogue, starting with the instru-mental and choral introduction, whichis one of the most beautiful works everwritten. The orchestra and the singingsolo instruments (oboe I and II, andtransverse flute) introduce the four voic-es of the choir on the initial invocation“Herr, unser Herrscher” (“Lord, ourRuler”), which already in the first fewmeasures (Figure 1.3a) traverses theentire palette of vocal registers and col-ors of the four choral voices (soprano,alto, tenor, and bass) in four differentcombinations of notes and of intervals,

32

F #

&

œœ œœ œ

œ œœ

I II

FIGURE 1.1

The child’s universal division of the c′-c″ octave

420121565282146

Middle C F #

do re mi fa sol la ti do re mi fa sol la ti do re mi fa sol la ti do

First registerSecond register

Fourth registerThird register

FA

Soprano

F F B C G

D GDD

Baritone

A Bf A

GD

Bass

A D G* Mezzosoprano “Verdiana” is not strictly a fourth register .

BA

Tenor

C F B C F

#

C#

C#

F#

F#

F#

C #

Contralto

F

Alto (mezzosoprano)

BBA*nbEb EbEn En

b

Eb En

C C C C CD E F G A B

FIGURE 1.2

The six species of human singing voice, and their registers

corresponding to vocal registers. In thefirst one and a half measures of thechoral entrance, four third-register notesare sung, in succession, first by thesopranos (on g ), next by the tenors (onanother high g ), and finally by thetenors and basses together (the tenor onfˇ and the bass on an e˛ ). The audiencewill therefore perceive not a simple rep-etition of the invocation “Lord,” butrather an increasingly dramatic invoca-tion, with the sopranos emerging firston the high note, the tenors most promi-nent on the second, and the basses on thethird. The second invocation, in mea-sure 23 (Figure 1.3b), is again trans-formed, because of a modulation, withthe soprano emerging first on the highg , and the tenor jumping at the endfrom a central-register e to a very higha˛ on measure 24, which will be heardeven more by the audience, since highnotes in the tenor voice (assuming thatthe tenors in the choir are singing belcanto) have a particular brilliance. Theinvocation “Lord, our Ruler” will there-fore sound different all four times; andif one were to mark the four vocal partswith colored pencil, the vocal palettewould shift four times, as if in a time-lapse weather map.

Mozart’s Lied “Das Veilchen” is anexample of how music can not onlyreflect, but even enrich a beautiful poetictext, as in this case with a poem byJohann Wolfgang Goethe. In two shortpages, Mozart develops almost a smallcomic opera, based on two main charac-ters: the little violet, described in the“Allegretto” opening, and the shep-herdess, passing by “with light step andmerry heart, and singing” (at whichpoint the piano accompaniment sings amerry tune for her). The irony of thepoem lies in the fact, that the violet fallshopelessly in love with the shepherdess,and wishes to be plucked up by her; but,in the second part of the Lied, whichsuddenly turns dramatic, the shep-herdess does not see the violet, and stepsright on top of it. The transformation ofthe poem, and the song, happens at thispoint (Figure 1.4), because the violet“sinks, dies, but is happy about it never-theless,” declaiming, in a final “stringen-do” (which means accelerating in speed),

33

Soprano

Alto

Tenor

Bass

&

&

V

?

b

b

b

b

b

b

b

b

19 œŒ

œ

Œ

Herr, Herr,

œ Œ œ Œ

Herr, Herr,

œŒ

œ

Œ

Herr, Herr,

œ

Œ

œ

Œ

Herr, Herr,

20œ

Herr

œ

Herr

œ#

Herrœ

Herr

&

&

V

?

b

b

b

b

b

b

b

b

23 œ

Herr,

œ

Herr,

œ

Herr,

œn

Herr,

24Œ

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Herr, Herr

ŒœŒ

œ

Herr, Herr

Œ

œ

Œ

œb

Herr, Herr

Œ

œ

Œ

œ

Herr, Herr

. . .

(a) (b)

FIGURE 1.3

Register shifts in opening of J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion

Voice

Piano

&

&

?

#

#

#

J

œn

Es

‰

‰

rallent.

rallent.

œn œb

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sank und

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b

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p

j

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freut sich noch:

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und

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.

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œ

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doch

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-

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rallent.

rallent.

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sie, zu ih- ren

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j

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doch.

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&

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a piacere

arpeggio

‰

p

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Das ar - me

˙˙˙˙

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Œ

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fœ

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p

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chen.

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Œ

FIGURE 1.4

Conclusion of Mozart’s ‘Das Veilchen’

that “even if I die, so I’ll be dyingbecause of her, at her feet!”

Musically, this transformation of thepoetic text is emphasized by the mainregister shift of the soprano, on the fˇ of“durch sie” (“because of her”), which isnot justified by a modulation (the key isG major), but simply as an ironic disso-nance, resolved immediately afterwardby a second “durch sie” on a high g . Tomake the ironic transformation of thepoetic text even more so, Mozart adds afinal stanza which is not in the Goetheoriginal: “The poor violet! It was a dearlittle violet.”

One of the most profound amongvocal works is Mozart’s Lied“Abendempfindung” (“Evening Senti-ment”). Composed after the death of hisfather, it is a reflection on the meaningof life and death, on what we shall beremembered for after our death. Thekey to the song is the final metaphor(Figure 1.5), which goes beyond a meresimile (between the tear of the friendcrying on one’s grave, and “the mostbeautiful pearl in my diadem”), by therepetition of the word “pearl” threetimes, first on a low f (not shown), thenon a g (a central-register tone for thesoprano voice), and finally on an evenlower and darker e , in the first, chestregister. This metaphor, the idea thatlife continues after death, pervades theentire Lied, not only in the endingmetaphor, but also in the beginning,when the line “Shall you then cry overmy grave” (“Werd’t ihr dann aufmeinem Grabe weinen”) is renderedmusically by Mozart not with sadness,but with joy.

Apart from this shift to the low regis-ter, there is no spectacular shift to thehigh register in this Lied, and for a goodreason: It is intended to move the listen-ers, conveying to them the calmmetaphor of the evening as the end oflife, and the only dramatic jumps are theinterval of a minor seventh between theg and f of “fliesset schon” (“[thefriend’s tear] is already flowing”), andthe major sixth between the a˛ and thef in the crucial, modulation section,“Werd’t ihr dann an meinem Grabeweinen, trauernd meine Asche sehn”(“Shall you then cry at my grave, mourn-

ing over my ashes”) (Figure 1.6a). Ifperformed with the modern, high tun-ing (a =440 Hz to a =448 Hz) (Figure1.6b), the song is completely disfigured,since all the center f s become fˇ s, andthe singer is forced to interrupt thosekey phrases with an unwanted shift intothe high register, thereby completelyspoiling the poetic interpretation.

Rather than high notes in the thirdregister, the technical difficulty of thissong, which requires a total mastery ofbel canto technique and breathing, is thefrequent rests interrupting the phrases,and in some cases even between syllablesof the same word. (For example, on“mir weht, wie West—wind leise, einestil—le Ah—nung zu,” meaning that asilent presentiment of death comes uponme like a gentle west wind, with thewords “silent presentiment” split by twodramatic rests, signifying the dramaticpresentiment, which must be sung soft-

ly, but still with a sustained voice rightafter the rest.)

An example of how the same intervalhas different values for different voices,is the famous quartet from Beethoven’sFidelio, “Mir ist so wunderbar.” Four ofthe six protagonists of the opera(Leonore, wife of Florestan, who hasbeen unjustly imprisoned; Rocco, Flo-restan’s jailer; Rocco’s daughterMarzelline; and Jaquino, Marzelline’sfiancé) sing in canon form, one after theother, the theme of the quartet (Figure1.7), while the others develop a counter-point to it, which culminates in the finalsection, when all four voices crescendo,and then come together on a sudden“piano” on “wie gross ist die Gefahr”(“how great the danger is”). The theme“Mir ist so wunderbar,” remains thesame throughout, although the wordschange for each character, but the audi-ence hears the beginning couplets (d -b

34

At c′=256:

At a′=440:

&b c œb

˙ œb

trau - ernd

.œbœ œœ œ

mei - - - ne

.œœ œœ œb

A - - - sche

œ

sehn,

&b c œb

˙ œb

trau - ernd

.œbœ œœ œ

mei - - - ne

.œœ œœ œb

A - - - sche

œ

sehn,

FIGURE 1.6

Mozart, ‘Abendempfindung,’ registration at c′=256 and a′=440(a)

(b)

Voice

Piano

&

&

?

b

b

b

œ

œ ˙

sie wird

Œ ‰

œ

œœ

Œ Œœ

œ

#

#

œ œœ œ

die schön-ste

œœ

œœ œ

œœ

œœ œ œ

˙

˙

œ

œ

n

n

œ

œ

.˙

.œ œ

Per - le

‰

œ

œœœœœœ

w

w

œ

œ œ œ

œ ˙

sein, die schön - - -

œ

Œ ‰

œ

œœ

œ

œ

Œ Œœ

œ

#

#

œ œœ œ

ste

œœ

œœ œ

œœ

œœ œ œ

˙

˙

œ

œ

n

n

œ

œ

&

&

?

b

b

b

.˙

.œœ

Per - le

‰

œœœœœœœ

w

w

œ

sein.

j

œ

œ

œ

FIGURE 1.5

Mozart, ‘Abendempfindung’

twice, and the inversion g -d ) different-ly, because they are sung first by the twosopranos (Marzelline being a lightsoprano, and Leonore a lyric-dramaticone, with a darker timbre), then by thebasso Rocco, for whom the d -b intervalis also a shift from the third to the cen-tral register (whereas for the other threesingers it implies no register shift), andfinally by the tenor (one octave lower

than the sopranos). If one places eachvoice’s opening two notes on the samestaff (Figure 1.8), it can be seen thatthey range through two differentoctaves, and two different register shifts.

A simple interval of a minor thirddownward, followed by a fifth upward,on which the whole quartet is built interms of motivic development, thanks tothe counterpoint supplied by the orches-

tra introduction, particularly the ’celloand clarinet parts, which sometimes playin counterpoint, or sometimes doublethe voices (Figure 1.9), already suppliesfour different colors and two registershifts.

The Songs of Franz Schubert

Every one of Franz Schubert’s greatestLieder, beginning with his Op. 1“Erlkönig” (“The Elf-king”) and Op. 2“Gretchen am Spinnrade” (“Gretchen atthe Spinning-wheel”), and ending withhis last songs in the posthumously pub-lished “Schwanengesang” collection, is,from the first to the last note, a perfectwhole. Schubert transforms themetaphor of a poem into a precise musi-cal idea that reveals the true essence ofthe poem. He composes a perfect musi-cal unity by using the method of motivicthorough-composition of Haydn,Mozart, and, especially, Beethoven.

In his compositions, Schubert notonly transforms the score of the poem(strophic form, harmony of vowels andconsonants, prosody, declamation, etc.)into music, but also consciously employsthe characteristic quality of sound of thehuman singing voice. Schubert was edu-cated as a singer. He knew the exactnature of the registers of the singingvoice, and how to use their different col-ors in his compositions, to throw a spe-cial light on the crucial poetical concepts.

In the second stanza of the song“Gretchen am Spinnrade,” Schuberttakes the soprano voice into the thirdregister only on the word “Kuss”(“kiss”) on the note g . This “Kuss,”compared to the words “Zauberfluss”(“magical flow”), “Händedruck” (“pres-sure of [his] hand”), and “ach” (“oh!”),has a totally different color and weight.In a musical tuning higher than a =432Hz, this difference disappears, becausethe soprano has to shift into the thirdregister already on f .

The use of the shift from the secondto the third register within the song as awhole, is very interesting. The ritornello“Meine Ruh ist hin” (“My calm isgone”), which is repeated twice, has noshift into the third register. The firststrophe (Figure 1.10a) only touches thethird register at “mein armer Sinn”

35

?

œœ

&

œœ

Tenor registersBass registers

IIIII

III II Soprano (no shift)II

FIGURE 1.8

‘Mir ist so wunderbar,’ register shifts in opening interval

Introduction, ’cellos and basses:

Clarinets echo Marzelline:

Clarinets (C)

Marzelline

&

&

#

#

8

6

8

6

j

œ

J

œn

J

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er

cresc.

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liebt mich, es ist

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klar, ich

15

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wer - de glück-lich,

16

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glück- lich sein!

Violoncello I & II

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psempre

pizz.

Andante sostenuto.˙.˙

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j

œ

.œœj

œ.œ œn

J

œ

4

œ ‰

œJ

œ

cresc.

cresc.

.œ.œ

.˙

5

œ‰ Œj

œ

F

F

.˙

.˙

6

œ

FIGURE 1.9

Instrumental voices in ‘Mir ist so wunderbar’ quartet

Marzelline &#

8

6

J

œ

MirJ

œ ‰

J

œ

J

œ ‰

j

œ

ist so wun - der -

œ

bar

Leonore & 8

6

J

œ

WieJ

œ ‰

J

œ

J

œ ‰

# j

œ

groß ist die Ge -

œ

fahr

Rocco? #

8

6 J

œ

Sie

J

œ

‰J

œ

J

œ

‰J

œ

liebt ihn, es ist

œ

klar

Jaquino V#

8

6

J

œ

Mir

J

œ ‰

J

œ

J

œ ‰

j

œ

sträubt sich schon das

œ

Haar

FIGURE 1.7

Quartet from Beethoven’s Fidelio, the four singers’ entrances

(“my poor mind”); in the second strophethere is only one shift into the third reg-ister on “Kuss” (Figure 1.10b), and inthe last strophe (Figure 1.10c), the thirdregister is used several times up to“vergehen” (“to swoon”) on the highestnote a . Schubert increases the density ofthe register shifts in each strophe, whichperfectly corresponds to the idea of thepoem.

In the song “Du bist die Ruh” (“ThouArt Calmness”), only in the final strophedoes Schubert take the soprano (or tenor)voice into the third register (Figure1.11). Only the stressed syllable of theword “erhellt” (“illuminated”) in the line“von deinem Glanz allein erhellt” (“illu-minated by thy brilliance alone”) on thenotes g -a˛ (or, for the tenor, g -a˛ ) issung in the third register. In this way,Schubert highlights the idea of the entirepoem. “Aug’ und Herz” (“eye andheart”) are filled with the brightness ofthe voice’s third register.

The first three stanzas of the song “Gute Nacht” (“Farewell”), which is thefirst in Schubert’s song cycle “Winter-reise” (“Winter Journey”), are musicallyset in essentially the same way (exceptfor some variations in the third stanza).The tenor voice begins each stanza withan f in the second register, and takesthe phrase down into the first register(Figure 1.12a). But in the fourth andfinal stanza, this is changed. Schubertsets the last stanza in D major, asopposed to the D minor of the first threestanzas. The tenor must now begin thephrase on fˇ in the third register (Fig-ure 1.12b). In the first three stanzas, thelonely wanderer looks in wistful resig-nation at the gloomy world. His “feinLiebchen” (“dear beloved”) loves anoth-er, and he was turned out and drivenaway. In the last stanza, there arises onceagain a faint glimmer of hope, “damitdu mögest sehen, an dich hab ichgedacht” (“so that you might see, thatI’ve thought of you”). But it is only aself-delusion, and the wanderer painful-ly knows it. In the last line of the song,Schubert sets “an dich hab ich gedacht”(“I’ve thought of you”) for the first timeon fˇ in the third register; and then asecond time, as a resigned echo of thefirst one, on the note f˝ , back in thetenor’s second register (Figure 1.12c).

As with Mozart,3 Giuseppe Verdialso confided to his contemporaries that,when he was writing a piece of music,the idea of the music first came to hismind as a single thought, as a “one” uni-fying the “many” aspects of it (voices,instruments, registers, etc.). To cite froma letter by an Italian member of parlia-

ment, Quintino Sella, who was a friendof Verdi’s (besides being a composer,Verdi was also a patriot and a memberof the Italian Senate): “One day I askedhim, ‘When you compose some of yourbeautiful pieces of music, how does thethought come into your mind? Do youfirst have the main theme, then you

36

(a) First stanza:

(b) Fourth stanza:

(c) Conclusion:

&b4

2

J

œ

Fremd

J

œ

J

œj

œ

j

œ

bin ich ein - ge -

.œœ

j

œJ

œ

zo - gen, fremd

.

j

œ

r

œœœœœ

zieh ich wie - derœ

aus

&

#

#

4

2

J

œ

Will

J

œ

J

œj

œ

j

œ

dich im Traum nicht

.œœ

j

œ J

œ

stö - ren, wär

.

J

œ r

œœœœœ

schad um dei - ne

œ

Ruh

&

#

#

4

2j

œ

an

j

œ J

œ

J

œ

J

œ

dich hab ich ge -

œ‰

j

œ

dacht, an

j

œ J

œn

J

œ

J

œ

dich hab ich ge -

œ

dacht

FIGURE 1.12

Schubert, ‘Gute Nacht’ from Die Winterreise

&b

b

b8

3

J

œ .

J

œ

R

œ

Dies Au - gen -

œb

J

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zelt, von

œb

J

œ

dei - nem

œ

J

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Glanz al -

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J

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lein er -

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hellt,

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FIGURE 1.11

Schubert, ‘Du bist die Ruh’

(a) First strophe:

(b) Second strophe:

(c) Final strophe:

&b8

6

J

œ

und

.œ

J

œ

J

œ

J

œb

sei - - - ner

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Re - de

.œ

J

œ

J

œ

J

œb

Zau - - - ber -

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fluß,

&b Œ ‰

.œ

sein

œ

J

œ .œ

Hän - de - druck,

Œ ‰

.œ

und

.˙

ach,

Œ ‰

.œ

sein

.˙U

Kuß

&b8

6

J

œ

an

.œ

J

œ

J

œ

J

œ

sei - - nen

.œ

J

œ‰

J

œ

Küs - sen ver -

.œ œ

J

œ#

ge - hen

.œ

sollt

&b8

6

J

œ

Mein

.œ œ œ

J

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ar - - mer

.œ

J

œ

‰J

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Kopf ist

.œ œ œ

J

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mir ver -

.œ

J

œ

‰

rückt,

&b

J

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mein

.œ œœ

J

œ

ar - - - mer

.œ

J

œ

‰ J

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Sinn ist

.œb œ œ

J

œ

mir zer -

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stückt.

FIGURE 1.10

Schubert, ‘Gretchen am Spinnrade’

combine it with the accompaniment,and then you study the nature of theaccompanying voices, flutes, violins,etc.?’ ‘No, no, no,’ the famous maestrointerrupted me with great animation,‘the thought comes to my mind in acomplete form, and I know immediatelywhether the note should be from a fluteor a violin. The difficulty lies in writingit down quickly enough to be able toexpress the musical thought in itsintegrity, as it came to the mind.’ ”

Verdi was perfectly aware of the belcanto characteristics of the singing voic-es, and this is why, in 1884, he promotedlegislation in Italy to return to the scien-tific tuning of c =256 Hz (correspond-ing to a =430-432 Hz), because alreadythen, as today, many opera theaters hadtuned up to a =450.

Many of Verdi’s famous opera roleswere written for a specific singer whomthe composer had in mind. In the case ofAida, the aria “O cieli azzurri” (“O azureskies”) (written for a darker, lyric sopra-no voice) changes completely if it is sungin the modern high tuning. This problemwas demonstrated in November 1997 bydramatic soprano Antonella Banaudi, ata presentation of the newly publishedCanto e Diapason, the Italian edition ofBook I of the Schiller Institute’s A Manu-al on the Rudiments of Tuning and Regis-tration, held at the Casa Barezzi inVerdi’s home town Busseto, with thefamous Verdi tenor Carlo Bergonzi, thefamous Verdi baritone Piero Cappuccilli,the organist Arturo Sacchetti, and Lyn-don H. LaRouche as main speakers.

Before going up to a super-high c in thefourth register (the so-called “chest C” ordo di petto), the soprano Aida repeats thephrase “oh patria mia” (“oh, my father-land”) three times on an accented f ,always with a crescendo on “patria mia”(Figure 1.13a). The choice of the f onfrequent enunciation of the vowel “a”—avowel which is generally difficult to singproperly in the third register—indicatesthat Verdi wanted this phrase kept in thecenter of the voice, and that the shift tothe high register should only follow onthe third repetition of “oh patria mia”with a jump to the high a , sung forte(Figure 1.13b). If sung in the modernhigh tuning, as Antonella Banaudidemonstrated at her presentation in theCasa Barezzi, first on a modern piano,and then back at Verdi’s tuning onVerdi’s own fortepiano, all those f sbecome fˇ s, and are either sung alreadyin the third register, or else are shouted,reducing the possibility of the singer tojump up to the high a , and then to thesuper-high c of “mai più” (Figure1.13c).__________

1. The notion of Motivführung (motivicthorough-composition) was introduced byProfessor Norbert Brainin in the early1990’s, in order to characterize the “totallynew, special kind” of composition, withwhich Joseph Haydn had announced his Op.33 “Russian” Quartets in 1781. Braininpointed to the fact, that with this method,Haydn had unleashed a true revolution inthe mode of composing string quartets, amethod which was immediately picked upby Mozart (especially in his six string quar-tets dedicated to Haydn), and was later per-

fected by Beethoven (especially in his latequartets). Lyndon LaRouche, with whomBrainin discussed the concept of motivicthorough-composition intensely in the fol-lowing years, pointed especially to the influ-ence of J.S. Bach on Mozart’s deepening ofthis method of composition of Haydn, and innumerous publications, demonstrated thesignificance of this concept not only for theentire domain of Classical music, but also forscience in general. See Lyndon H.LaRouche, Jr., “That Which UnderliesMotivic Thorough-Composition” (EIR, Sept.1, 1995) (Vol. 22, No. 35); “Behind theNotes” [introduction to the forthcomingBook II of A Manual on Tuning and Registra-tion; see reference note 3], Fidelio, Summer,1997 (Vol. VI, No. 2); and other locations.

2. Fragments of Leonardo’s treatise onthe human voice, contained in the CodexAtlanticus (which is kept in the recentlyrestored Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan), areobservations on acoustics (creation and prop-agation of sound, how intervals are heard bythe human ear), and prove the fundamentalprinciple of the connection between art andscience. For example, Leonardo comparessound waves to water waves, or the wayintervals are heard not as single notes, but asa harmony between notes, to the way the raysof the sun are held in the eye: “like the note inthe ear, which, unless it preserved theimpression of the notes, could never derivepleasure from hearing a voice alone; for,when it passes immediately from the first tothe fifth note, the effect is as though oneheard these two notes at the same time, andthus perceived the true harmony which thefirst makes with the fifth; but if the impres-sion of the first note did not remain in the earfor an appreciable interval of time, the fifth,which follows immediately after the first,would seem alone, and one note cannot createany harmony, and consequently any songwhatsoever occurring alone would seem to bedevoid of charm.” See Emanuel Winternitz,Leonardo da Vinci as a Musician (New Haven:Yale University Press, 1982), p. 123.

3. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in 1790,described how the idea of a Lied came to hismind: “This inflames my soul, whenever Iam not disturbed. It grows continuously, andI broaden it even wider and brighter, and thething becomes truly almost complete in myhead, even if it is long, so that from thatpoint on, I view it with a single glance, exact-ly like a beautiful picture of a pretty girl,from above, in my mind. And in my imagi-nation I don’t hear the parts successively, oneafter the other, but I hear them all at once.”(Quoted in a letter published by Rochlitz.)See A Manual on the Rudiments of Tuning andRegistration, Book I, ed. by John Sigersonand Kathy Wolfe (Washington, D.C.:Schiller Institute, 1992), p. 204.

37

(a) Second register only:

(b) Third register:

(c) Fourth register:

&b J

œ

˘

J

œ

˘

J

œ

˘

o pa - tria

œ

J

œ

J

œ

R

œ

.

R

œ

.

R

œ

.

R

œ

.

mi - a, mai più ti ri - ve -

.œ

drò!

&b cJ

œ.

J

œ.

J

œ.

oh pa - tria

cresc..œ

J

œ

.

J

œ

.

J

œ

.

mia, oh pa- tria

f.œ œœœ

œ

j

œœœ

mi - - -

r

œr

œ

π

œ

rall.

j

œ

^

j

œJ

œ

a, mai più ti ri - ve -

œ

drò!

&b c

π

œb œ

J

œb

no, mai

cresc.

œ

J

œn œb

J

œ

più

dolce.œ œ

senza affrett.

œn.

œ.

R

œ

.

R

œ

. r

œ

.

non ti ve -

r

œ

r

œJ

œ

j

œ

œ

j

œ

drò, non ti ve-drò mai

œ

più!

FIGURE 1.13

Phases in ‘O cieli azzurri’ from Verdi’s Aida