The Vocalise Project

For decades now, the bel canto vocalises of Marco Bordogni (and Concone, Panofka et al.) have been a staple of brass pedagogy. A singing approach is essential after all. Those etudes have made thousands of brass players more effective musicians. Why fix what isn’t broken and publish competing materials?

Well, my answer is three-fold:

1. The style of music performed today is rarely bel canto in style or period.
2. The training pieces of Bordogni/Concone, etc aren’t really high quality music.
3. Variety of materials can only help students.

In 2011, I discovered a veritable treasure-trove of new vocalises, the Répertoire Moderne de Vocalises-Études, published at the Paris Conservatory between 1907-1959. The voice teacher AL Hettich asked every composer he knew (and many he didn’t) to write short songs for wordless voice to help train his singers how to sing in the modern style. I transcribed the first 30 of that collection for low brass, and published them through Potenza Music. There are many well-known composers in those 30 vocalises–Faure, Dukas, Ravel–just to name three.

Bel canto is an elusive term to define. While it literally translates to beautiful voice, it was a style of singing that emphasized beauty of tone, flexibility, and ease of execution. The music written in this style was characterized by florid lines and an emphasis of musical line over text. The term bel canto was, interestingly enough, not used until the style had faded somewhat. Rossini, at a dinner party in 1858 said, “Alas for us, we have lost our bel canto.”

Beauty of tone… Flexibility… Ease of Execution…

No wonder the Bordogni vocalises have been staples of brass pedagogy for over a century now!

But Bordogni wasn’t a composer, he was a teacher. Rossini. He was a composer, AND teacher. He wrote this fantastic collection of Solfeggi and Vocalizzi to enable his students to sing in the bel canto style.

I have long searched for vocalises that are both pedagogical and performable, and these vocalises fit the bill!

There are two collections, one of 4 Solfeggi, and one of 12 Vocalizzi. The Solfeggi are a bit more basic and pedagogical. The Vocalizzi are quite a bit more ambitious, equal to any aria in Rossini’s output.

My next project will be transcriptions for low brass of a collection of vocalises from early 20th century Italian composers.

Much more to follow!