Polls show that Franco Corelli is still one of the most popular tenors today.  Many young tenors seek to understand how Corelli, Del Monaco and the great spinto tenors of decades ago approached vocal technique.  Consequently, Melocchi, because of his role in their vocal development, has become a figure of great interest. 

Interviews of Franco Corelli by Stefan Zucker, Jerome Hines, and others have become not only highly accessible, but almost a sort of authoritative and definitive word on the subject of Arturo Melocchi’s method, unfortunately.  These interviews were never meant to give anything more than a superficial introduction into Melocchi’s ideas.

A quick search on the web will yield a connection between Arturo Melocchi and low-larynx technique. In fact, the two in the circle of technique talkers have become nigh inseparable, almost as if Melocchi invented the technique.  Like many fallacies, if something is said long enough people start to believe it.  This seems to be the case with Melocchi inventing the low larynx technical approach in singing.  Nothing could be further from the truth than to say that Melocchi “pioneered” the low larynx technique. 

I personally was taught by a tenor who had been exposed to many teachers, Melocchi being perhaps one of the most influential in his experience.  My father, tenor Salvatore Lauro Li Vigni, was the source of much of my knowledge on this topic.  I have, however, thoroughly compared the tradition of Italian singing and teaching to what I was taught about Melocchi in order to uncover the actual degree of departure from the norm and tradition that Melocchi’s method represents, and have found that, in fact, Melocchi’s ideas weren’t at all as abrupt and exotic a change as many claim them to have been.

I hope to convey a clear view into my research on the topic.  I will try to give a concise and informative picture of what Melocchi thought and taught; what he did in the studio, and what his ideas on vocal development were about. 

I will also try to distinguish between what Melocchi actually taught and what Del Monaco did, especially Del Monaco post ’50s. I think this distinction is very important because what my research has shown me is that the two not always were in harmony.

 

- “I will give you a voice” - Melocchi -

Many Melocchi students were also fanatical Del Monaco imitators. Thus, in creating a clear picture of Melocchi’s ideas it becomes very important to identify the divergence between Melocchi’s instructions and Del Monaco’s vocalism.  Clearly, Melocchi provided a technical framework that allowed tenors to make the leap into the realm of Del Monaco-type vocalism; but if pondered properly one will inevitably conclude that there is a difference between developing a powerful vocal instrument and the actual artistry in singing - in this case Del Monaco being the model.  The aesthetic and artistic choices, and responsibility for these, lie mostly with the singer and not as much with the teacher.  Teachers become famous because of their famous students, and it is natural for new students to interpret what the teacher says based on a vocal model - usually the famous protégé singer arising from that studio.  It is safe to say that most tenors arriving at Melocchi’s door were compelled by their desire to follow in Del Monaco’s footsteps.

Melocchi often told my dad, and like a ripple in water the idea was passed on to my father’s students: “Io ti do’ una voce.  Poi se sai cantare sono cavoli tuoi.” -  “I will give you a voice.  Knowing how to sing is your business.”  It seems to me that Melocchi did, in fact, follow this very philosophy, giving a technical framework to his tenors, but leaving these free to execute their singing as they saw fit. 

Many of Melocchi’s students used the technical work to try to do what Del Monaco did, imitating him to the extent of causing successive generations of singers and pedagogues to assume that this Del Monaco imitation was in fact the Melocchi method itself.  I will challenge that assumption.  But I must concede that the simple fact that Melocchi allowed his tenors to make dubious artistic choices in the spirit of imitating their hero, Del Monaco, could be considered a flaw of his very approach.  A teacher should help a student develop their technique with artistry in mind, and singing should not be a simple aim at decibels, the cult of a personality, or at least should not focus on these things to the extent of the entire technical approach being conditioned by it.  However, what Melocchi did should be viewed in the frame of the time.  The aesthetics of the Verismo repertoire were often imbued in raw, primal, and unhindered emotion rather than in the elegant and controlled delivery of the Belcanto era.

Then again, it is very much possible that Melocchi was very vocal about his opposition to Del Monaco imitation.  He was known for showing the door to students who were artistically sloppy, as my father recounted to me many times.  This issue remains truly an unknown.

Having said all this I would direct attention at this point to the fact that early Del Monaco recordings from the 1940s display an extraordinary ease and flow in the singing, especially in the top voice, compared to later recordings.  It is fascinating to observe a Del Monaco closer to the original imprinting by his teacher if we are to truly discover the teacher’s influence.  Later Del Monaco must be viewed as a singer that has taken the technical framework of his teacher and made it his own.  So I would submit that if we are to truly analyze the immediate impact of Melocchi’s method on Del Monaco in the attempt of drawing conclusions regarding the method, then we should listen to his earliest recordings.

There is no doubt that Del Monaco’s career, spanning over three decades is in and of itself testament of technical proficiency at the highest level, and facts silence the petty animosity often used in describing his abilities.

Del Monaco imitators were mostly imitators of The Famous Del Monaco, from the 50s and 60s, at the height of his recording career.  This too is important in assessing the divergence between Melocchi’s technical framework and the way individual singers’ applied this technique in their Del Monaco imitation. 

Perhaps hearing is more immediate than words.  Here is an early recording of Del Monaco singing “O Paradiso” from 1948.  I leave it up to your talent as listeners to discover the differences between this recording and those post Otello of 1951 onward.

Audio clip #1: Mario del Monaco: O Paradiso

Of course, history is never a clear picture.  I do not intend this article to be a definitive assessment on Melocchi’s method, but I do base my assumptions on the accounts my father passed on to me, on recordings of lessons from the Melocchi studio, and on the accounts of singers who studied with Melocchi given to me first hand, and those gathered in various written accounts. 

 

- Melocchi and the Traditional Italian School -

The idea of singing with a low range larynx is certainly not something that originated with Arturo Melocchi. It is a very old tenet in the Italian tradition, and science has shown it to be an important aspect of learning to sing in a relaxed and resonant way. Certainly we should distinguish between a larynx that is forcibly held down and one that is not, as well as distinguishing between a low range larynx and one conditioned to stay in its lowest possible position. The results in vocalism are profoundly different.

Traditionally, in the Italian school, singers were invited to sing "sulla posizione dello sbadiglio" - in the yawn position, which allows for the “gola aperta,” or “open throat,” which clearly involves a spontaneous lowering of the larynx and a widening of the pharynx.  

…for a beginner it is as well to practice opening the mouth wide, being sure to lower the jaw at the back. Do this many times a day without emitting any sound merely to get the feeling of what an open throat is really like. You will presently begin to yawn after you have done the exercise a couple of times. In yawning, or in starting to drink a sip of water, the throat is widely open, and the sensation is a correct one which the singer must study to reproduce.

(Luisa Tetrazzini - The Art of Singing page 11)

Enrico Caruso said things that are very relevant for the discussion of Melocchi’s methodology.

To have the attack true and pure one must consciously try to open the throat not only in front, but from behind, for the throat is the door through which the voice must pass, and if it is not sufficiently open it is useless to attempt to get out a full, round one; also the throat is the outlet and inlet for the breath, and if it is closed the voice will seek other channels or return quenched within.

It must not be imagined that to open the mouth wide will do the same for the throat. If one is well versed in the art, one can open the throat perfectly without a perceptible opening of the mouth, merely by the power of respiration... 

(Enrico Caruso - The Art of Singing, page 26)

It has been shown that the action of the laryngeal depressors activates in the beginning of a yawn (sbadiglio), and that deep inhalation can also trigger this action. When reading the accounts of past singers, and I might add also present ones, the low larynx is often reported as the result of proper breath support. Thanks to the power of the breath the throat remains relaxed, open, and passive, and the larynx lowers spontaneously. 

Well trained singers learn to overcome the almost inevitable antagonism between depressor and elevator muscles of the larynx, resulting in a feeling of relaxation of the larynx in a low range rather than a feeling of active “pushing down.”  Thus, the singer does not perceive an active and energetic lowering but rather a low suspension of the larynx because of the lack of antagonism, a suspension that does not imply any fixed or lowest position, but rather a flexible and dynamic one. 

The lower larynx actually aides the laryngeal tilting action of the Cricothyroid musculature essential in stretching the cords and allowing the tenor to ascend to the higher range with relative ease. Also as documented by Sundberg, the lower larynx is an important condition for the tuning of Singer's Formant energy - the traditional Italian "squillo," “risonanza alta,” or “ring” in the voice.

I find this information to be essential in this context because it will allow the reader to truly examine objectively this aspect of the Melocchi method, and distinguish between fact and erroneous anecdote and speculation.

The results of singing with a forced low larynx, one riddled with antagonisms, are usually a decrease in resonance, overall vocal stiffness, and the lack of flow phonation, all consequent to the excessive muscular rigidity in the throat.  Also the lack of flow phonation in this scenario leads to compensating through excessive medial compression, or pressed phonation, which decreases actual volume.  The voice becomes muted and the top notes do not bloom.  These vocal faults were never acceptable to Melocchi according to any account from his students.  Corelli speaks of these very results in an interview with Zucker where he characterizes singers affected by this technical flaw as sounding like they had bronchitis, or overall lacking resonance.

With the laryngeal method you must know your vocal organ very well, what you can do and how far you can go. For example, I heard some who pushed their larynxes down to the point that they sounded as if they had bronchitis.  With this technique, you can make your vocal cords suffer. Many who teach it cause their pupils to force their voices to the point of ruination.

(Stefan Zucker interview of Franco Corelli - www.belcantosociety.org/pages/corellipage3.html)

I would note that Corelli is not speaking of Melocchi in this context when he refers to “teachers” applying this method, but rather about those who apply it not knowing what they are doing.

Del Monaco in the ‘40s and early ‘50s is a voice in its prime, with extremely powerful resonance and flow. The vibrato is quick and the tone is typically unforced and un-manufactured, especially in early Del Monaco.  Does this sound like a voice riddled with antagonisms and constriction typical of a larynx that is forced down?

It is true that many who claim to teach well cause their students to force the larynx down, as Corelli states.  My point is that this is not what Melocchi did.  Corelli concurs.

Understanding Melocchi’s technical approach and its divergence from the tradition requires us to identify correctly the causes for the vocal faults so often attributed to Melocchi’s tenors, like lack of subtlety and inability to vary dynamics.  Attributing these shortcomings simply to a forced low larynx is clearly a fallacious conclusion. 

There are anecdotes of people who spoke to Del Monaco about his technique where he is understood as saying that his larynx was very low, and thus the conclusions are offered whereby Del Monaco forced his larynx down.  This assumption is no doubt aided by the fact that Del Monaco was a forceful singer, especially later in his career.  But not only is this syllogism illogical given the resonant sound we hear, but it also says very little about Melocchi's method.  Certainly, Del Monaco’s larynx was low and the tenor would report it as such, but force is a whole different issue!

I offer as anecdotal evidence the fact that my father did not recall Melocchi ever talking to him about actively lowering the larynx.  Why the larynx was low had all to do with the type of vocalism – breath support and sound – typical of Melocchi’s method.

 

- The Melocchi Credo -

Inquiries with former Melocchi students reveal recollections of a few almost dogmatic ideas about technique that seem to stand as hallmarks of Melocchian thought, and benchmarks in vocal achievement.

La Posizione dello sbadiglio: the throat should be open and relaxed as in a yawn position (sbadiglio), or better as some would say “the beginning of a yawn.”  The deep OO vowel conditions the pharynx to remain in a position whereby the voice will find maximum space so it can open correctly in the higher range.  The opening of the throat must remain “morbido,” which means “supple” or unforced.  I wish to specify that the opening of the pharynx should not be confused with an opening of the epi-larynx, as I will explain later.

No placing of the voice in the mask: the voice does not originate in the mask, but rather in the laryngeal area and appoggio is found there.  The voice is perceived as “staying down” as one ascends in range, “appoggiandosi” or leaning on a pressurized column of air beneath the vocal folds.  Maintaining a feeling of connection between voice and breath deep in the laryngeal area, with the pharynx at its maximum relaxed opening - opens the voice up to greater volumes.  The maintaining of this phonatory mode passively keeps the larynx down. 

The low larynx was the result of  breath support, as well as the direct result of the sound sought for.  One didn’t lower the larynx to automatically find the sound.  The positioning of the larynx through energetic inhalation was not sufficient to produce an “open throat sound.”

Melocchi insisted on the yawn as one of the conditions that lead to an open throat sound (emphasis on the word “sound”).  Open throat sound is nothing more than the feeling of a specific type of sound production - a proprioceptive experience of the singer whereby the full voice feels free and flowing in the expanded and relaxed pharyngeal cavity, and unimpeded in its flow. 

Singing in the yawn position was a factor in achieving an open throat sound, but just as important was the concept of the voice originating low in the laryngeal area, the one was worthless without the other in this view, perfectly in line with Italian tradition. 

According to Melocchi the breath should not be felt as stopped by the muscles in the larynx but rather opposed by the sound in the laryngeal area.  The sensation of the breath being stopped by muscles is the feeling of pressed phonation, while the latter is the feeling of correctly focused flow phonation.

According to Melocchi, the sound is felt as originating in the laryngeal area and there it leans on the column of breath beneath the larynx causing the vocal folds to close and produce intense resonance effortlessly.  Melocchi did not believe in stopping the breath with the muscles, in fact he never advocated stopping the breath at all, but rather the feeling of compressing the sound energetically against the upward moving breath - the gathered sound in a throat of maximum opening.  The divergence from tradition was in the exaggeration of this process.  Melocchi’s way was a stepped-up, overdrive version of this process.  Nonetheless, the muscles were viewed as having to be morbidi, or un-pushed. 

Up to now Melocchi sounds very much like a traditional Italian school pedagogue, save the exaggerations mentioned.  We can read the words of Beniamino Gigli as gathered by Herbert Caesari in an interview used as an introduction to the book The Voice of the Mind.   Gigli is quoted verbatim according to Caesari:

As soon as I commence to sing I forget all about the diaphragm and ribs, all about the breathing machinery and its action, and sing on the air accumulated right underneath the larynx.

(H. Caesari, The Voice of the Mind - Introductory Lesson - page 27)

Lauri Volpi in his book Voci Parallele, in the section dealing with Antonio Cotogni speaks of the latter’s teaching method as focusing on the development of the “eco sonora”, or the “sound echo” resonance.  This was achieved by inserting the “tubo risonatore” (resonance tube) into the “tubo pneumatic” (pneumatic tube, or trachea) and connecting the two to produce the correct sound.  The sound leaned against a constant column of pressurized air. 

Those who while singing stiffen the veins of their neck and become red in the face, continuously forcing the emission of every note, demonstrate that they don’t know how to breathe, measure the emission of breath, nor harmonize the various parts of the organism cooperating in the phenomenon of sung phonation.  That is, they do not know how to insert in the moment of emission, the pneumatic tube onto the resonance tube.  These, remaining separate impede the propagation of the air flow and the sound rays produced by the vibrator, and do not allow an enrichment of the harmonics.

(Giacomo Lauri Volpi – Voci Parallele page 200-201)

In analyzing the technical ideas of these two vocal giants from the glorious history of Italian vocalism, we find that Melocchi’s ideas on “sound opposing breath” are not new.

Jerome Hines mused and wrote much about Melocchi.  He interviewed Corelli many times and sought to understand and even apply Melocchi’s method.  It seems to me that he often misunderstood things in this regard.  In fact, when he encounters ideas on appoggio (or the voice leaning against the breath beneath the cords) in other singers like Pavarotti or Tucker, or in Caruso’s writings, he makes a leap and calls these ideas Melocchian, concluding that Pavarotti and Tucker were Melocchi-type singers, seemingly unaware of the fact that the idea of appoggio was a traditional Italian school concept around before Melocchi was even born.   He also describes how his attempts at using the Melocchi method actually helped him get his voice back in a period in which he was significantly lacking firm glottal closure.

 

- The Typically Observed Flaws -

As I said previously, many attribute the flaws in Melocchi’s teachings to the lowered larynx.  They associate the lack of skill in dynamic variance, the difficulties in legato, the often driven sounds, to a forced positioning of the larynx.  I hope I have convinced the reader that this line of reasoning is profoundly flawed.  But then what did cause these evident problems?  What should students be aware of when applying this method?

To answer these questions, we must delve more deeply into the technical aspects of Melocchi’s approach.

Melocchi directed his students to open the body of the voice low in the throat constantly throughout the range, meaning the singer would feel the body of the voice resounding from the soft palate down to the laryngeal area throughout the range of the voice.  This is truly the key to Melocchi’s approach.  This is the mental intention behind the open throat and low larynx idea.  These feelings are linked to the increased chest element in registration.

The voice is often felt by singers as having a sort of sound pressure or strong vibratory presence and body.  Traditionally the tenor voice was seen as having a path that, as one ascended and shifted registration to a more head dominant sound would produce sensations of increased height, or the voice spinning over the soft palate into the head and into resonant head cavities - il giro della voce, or the turn of the voice. This differentiated the tenor voice from all other voice types.

Melocchi’s approach generated the feeling of the voice staying down below the soft palate in the open throat.  The traditional intention of finding the giro was not part of Melocchi’s method. 

Lauri Volpi admonishes against the sound “falling into the pharynx and arresting itself between neck and soft palate.”  This heavier mode of registration was instead fundamental in Melocchi’s method. 

The powerful results in vocalism with the Melocchi method transformed spinto tenor aesthetics. While this process was under way since Caruso’s day, Melocchi represented a quantum leap in vocalism in this direction.

 

- Mask Singing -

Melocchi taught that the mask was irrelevant.  Placing the voice in the mask was seen as a sure way to lessen the potential of the voice.  Melocchi taught that one should never push the voice into the face to get resonance.  He used to ask his new students where they felt the voice born.  If they pointed to the face he would proceed to lecture them on the fact that the voice should feel like it is born in the laryngeal area. 

To be clear, Italian tradition did not advocate active pushing of the voice into sinus cavities, but rather viewed this as a natural and passive process triggered by correct vocalism.  The voice was viewed as following a path into specific resonant sinus cavities when it was: 1 - properly produced in the larynx, 2 - when correct adjustments were made with the soft palate, and 3- when the process of alleggerimento (switching to greater CT contribution in registration) was appropriately executed.  Cotogni was so specific about this that he identified areas of vibration, specific sinus areas, that were and others that weren’t resonant, and that the tenor should accept one feeling and not the other.

In fact, Lauri Volpi himself explains how the absence of apppoggio, or the sound leaning on the breath, will “not allow for the air flow and the sound rays produced from the vibrating source to propagate and enrich themselves with harmonics” (Voci Parallele  pg. 200) – a concise testimony on the proprioceptive results of Cotogni’s method.

Similarly, Melocchi did not believe in pushing the voice into the mask, but rather letting it vibrate freely.  Specifically, Melocchi’s method differed from the traditional idea of “imposto”, or vocal set up, because rather than the voice feeling like it found its way over the soft palate, Melocchi’s method created the sensation of the voice’s body being kept low by the soft palate – as if the body of the voice were contained in a sort of chamber between soft palate and laryngeal area. 

Melocchi singers had a narrow and ringing production, exactly as the tradition suggested, but they didn’t lighten up the Chest contribution (TA activation)  as much as they ascended.  Thus, their sensations of the vibratory body of the voice were much deeper. 

 

- Melocchi: the arrival, not the starting point -

Melocchi insisted on keeping the heavier Chest Register mechanism to its maximum of functionality (often testing functionality) throughout the range in order to confer greater power to the voice, and desirable Verismo-type qualities.  This produced a strong, wide, while extremely focused sound in the upper middle voice that was then carried over into the higher range.

This beefy sound was not new in Melocchi’s day.  This technical evolution of the tenor voice started in the early 1900s with the greatest and most influential tenor of all times: Enrico Caruso. 

Lauri Volpi describes the widening of the middle voice and the increase in Chest Register dominance that occurred thanks to Caruso, and that became characteristic of Verismo tenors, and how this was contrary to the instruction of former days. 

With the advent of the “tragic voice” - not dramatic, nor heroic; neither lyric, nor leggero - of Enrico Caruso, unclassifiable voice, defying imitation, unforgettable,  the series of authentic tenors was interrupted, trained in the extended range of the scale in which the arduous operas of the 19^th Century were crafted, requiring virtuosity (coloratura), filature (dimininuendo to pp), mixed voice, high notes and extreme extension, which had as a norm the “alleggerimento” (lightening up) of the upper middle voice so as to not invade the range of the baritone, and expansion [of the voice] starting in the upper range.  “One sings in the middle voice and expands and resolves in the high note” - the old maestri would say, whom also admonished singers to not over open the notes in the passaggio, and to abstain from falsetto - the leprosy of the voice - to maintain constant the pressure of the column of air, and to carefully tend to the homogeneity of the entire vocal emission.  In essence, a perfect tenor instrument was required, different in nature from the soprano, baritone, and bass.

Blinded by the popularity of Caruso… tenors forgot the glories of the past.  Tenors became… dramatics a la Caruso, beautiful and expressive voices, limited in range and alien to the refined technique of the past…

(Lauri Volpi - Voci Parallele page 205)

The baritonal type width and darkness of the tenor upper Chest Register (B3-F4) may have started with Caruso, but Melocchi advanced this idea to unheard of levels extending the contribution of this mode of phonation to the higher register methodically.  This is why the larynx was lower.  With Caruso this beefy width was occasionally present, and mostly in the B3-F4 range of the voice - the upper middle voice, and only occasionally extending this mode to the upper register later in his career.  His Rachel quand du Seigneur high notes were very much something Melocchi would have approved of.

Audio clip #2: Enrico Caruso: Rachel, quand du Seigneur

This deepening and widening of the voice “sotto il palato,” or voce in basso, the voice felt below the soft palate in the oro and laryngo pharynx, behind the mouth, even when above the passaggio, is the true hallmark, and by some opinions also the pitfall of the Melocchi method.

Zucker claims Melocchi learned his method in China or Russia, an anecdote I have found no verification for.  It seems to me that Melocchi learned right where he was from - Italy; and like many others was highly influenced by the revolution in tenor voice aesthetics initiated by Caruso.  Perhaps these claims of the technique being exotic were an attempt to increase the sense of ownership and uniqueness of the method. 

Following are two excerpts from the great tenor Francesco Merli.  In the first we hear a traditional Italian tenor, who studied in Milano with Negrini and Borghi.  Milano was a fertile place for voice instruction with celebrated studios like those of Mandolini, Moretti, Bavagnoli, and Zannoni to mention some of the most fruitful of the early 20th century.

Merli sings Guardate, Pazzo Son! with the most spectacular of traditional vocal techniques, recorded in 1927. 

Audio clip #3: Francesco Merli: Guardate, pazzo son!

Analysis of the later recording of Esultate from 1939, a little over a decade later, but already deep into the period of vocal revolution in Italian tenor singing that came about with Caruso-type Verismo, reveals a vocally beefier and darker Merli sound in the higher register and in the upper middle voice.

Audio clip #4: Francesco Merli: Esultate

A careful listen will reveal similarities between Merli and a later great Otello - Giuseppe Giacomini, a modern Melocchi-line protégé.  Giacomini may have had a good listen to the later Merli. 

A comparison to Lauri Volpi is revealing.  Lauri Volpi maintains the impostazione, or vocal set up, typical of the glorious 1800s; a focused, more leggero middle voice that opened in the higher register into powerful tones, rather than a dark and wide middle voice with little or no extension upwards into the “sovracuto” (range above C5), a limitation typical of Verismo tenors.  Notice in this clip how the only real note Lauri Volpi widens in the “new mode” is the very last note of the word “l’uragano.”

Audio clip #5: Giacomo Lauri-Volpi: Esultate

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Aureliano Pertile.  The impact of Pertile on Northern Italian schools in this period was enormous.  Pertile was a new breed of dramatic tenor, very different from Caruso, or from the preceding Belcanto era tenors.  In fact, one could argue, and I would, that Pertile was truly the first modern tenor.  There is certainly more affinity between Melocchi singers and Pertile than there is between them and Caruso.  In general, the top voice - or high register sound we hear in Pertile is truly more Chest oriented than any of his predecessors. 

One must remember that from the mid 20s up to Del Monaco’s emergence, Pertile was The Dramatic Tenor at La Scala and in Italy.  His fame and influence were enormous.  Pertile is definitely the middle link between Caruso and Melocchi singers.

Audio clip #6: Aureliano Pertile: Guardate, pazzo son

I present these clips to highlight the revolution in tenor singing and aesthetics in Italy in the 1930s and 40s.  Consider that it was in this period that Melocchi began his tenure in Pesaro’s Conservatorio Rossini.  Certainly the clips of Pertile, as well as the later Merli, sound like “Melocchi singers” at work, and yet these clips predate Melocchi’s emergence as a famous teacher by at least a decade.  Melocchi has emerged today as the initiator of this tenor revolution when in reality this was a process in the making before Melocchi was on the map of famous teachers. 

 

- Example of Melocchi Lesson -

Listen to an excerpt from a Melocchi lesson.

Audio clip #7: Melocchi lesson

What we hear in this exercise is Melocchi’s development of the wider upper middle voice and the way it impacts the passaggio and high notes.  You can hear that the voice sounds like it is still middle voice as this tenor ascends.  It also sounds like it remains very deep in sound, baritonal in nature. 

It's interesting to note that Limarilli in this clip falls prey to a common error: darkening the voice without finding the correct depth.  Some would think that Limarilli is singing with a correct low larynx here, or even too low.  This is not the case.  He is overdarkening by using the tongue to deepen the larynx, but not finding the correct depth without tongue contribution.  One can hear that below B3 the sound is more shallow as the larynx is higher, and then as he ascends above B3 he deepens the sound by using the tongue.  The sound when correct would have the correct depth both below and above the B3 passaggio because of the correct breath support.  The consequence is the lack of release in the sound which remains muscular and somewhat shrill.  Melocchi, interestingly enough, advises him at the end of this audio clip to not "puntare la vocale" or to not "point the vowel", meaning to not place it forward.  He tells Limarilli that the "raucedine" - the need to clear his throat because of inflammation, is due to the fact that he has not found the correct depth for the vowel.  In essence, he is singing with antagonism in the larynx, the latter tending to rise making the voice a bit shrill and the vowel pointed forward with the tongue then holding it down, creating a muscular and overdarkenned sound.  He advises him to seek a deeper spot for the vowel.  There is no invitation to lower the larynx, but rather the instruction is about finding the depth of the vowel which will release the larynx from tensions.  This will bring dark round velvet to the voice rather than overdarkenning.  Limarilli sought the position too much in the mask on this occasion causing him to mix registers and push the voice.  Melocchi wanted not a darker sound, but rather a deeper origination for the vowel which would release the larynx and allow the voice to remain even and unmanufactured.

Lauri Volpi is on record as saying that Del Monaco’s technique was such that the voice seemed completely equal as he ascended.  The Chest dominance in the sound made Melocchi singers sound like they were always singing in a form of middle voice.   However, let no one be confused.  Melocchi singers methodically switched registration at the passaggio, going toward an OO and increasing compression of the vowel at the passaggio proper, which equated to more forward resonance.  They did not ascend “aperto” or in Chest Register.  There is a significant difference between increasing the chestiness of a sound and singing in Chest Register.

These voices were and are exciting because people would not expect them to be able to handle the tessitura and reach the high notes with the kind of power used, and when these tenors fearlessly, and often with seeming effortlessness achieve their goal it is quite exciting.  This technique well expresses the aggressive nature of much of the Verismo repertoire, which is also very emotional and immediate to audiences.  It is no surprise that Melocchi type singers that are good are often a sort of “rock star” in the opera world, arousing great excitement in audiences, though not always in critics.

 

- Affondo -

Melocchi’s ideas have lead to the concept of “affondo”, very much discussed in Italian singer circles today.  Affondare means “to sink” or “to deepen.”  It is the idea that as one goes higher in range the voice is envisioned as sinking deep into the throat.  Where normally it would feel like the resonance is getting stronger in the head as one gets lighter in registration, or more head dominant, with Melocchi’s chest-strong phonatory mode the body of the voice continues to feel like it stays between the soft palate and the larynx. 

It seems that some of Marcello Del Monaco’s approach advocates the feeling of sinking even more deeply into the throat with the sound as one ascends.  Melocchi insisted on a very precise vowel, in order to keep the approximation and the voice up on the soft palate.  If the vowel compression is lost, and the voice over-darkens, as often it does in Marcello Del Monaco tenors,  the voice will feel like it is sinking further into the wide pharynx.  This will cause a weighing down of the voice, a mixing of the registers at the passaggio, and vocal deterioration over time.

Note how Del Monaco never developed a wobble.  The reason is that his vowel compression in the Chest Register was in tact.  He kept the voice “up,”  the feeling of the voice having a strong presence in the back of the mouth on the soft palate, especially from B3 upward.

While Melocchi certainly believed that the sound should feel like it originates in the laryngeal area, he clearly advocated an upward movement of this sound to the soft palate and not a sinking of the feeling of the body of the voice deeper into the pharynx.  In fact, his tenors were bright singers, with strong glottal firmness throughout the range.  One should not confuse the idea of appoggio – the leaning of the sound on the breath – with the feeling of the sound sinking into the pharynx rather than finding a path upwards.

 

- The Method -

Melocchi worked the lower voice by accentuating appoggio.  The voice was conceived as very focused or gathered in the laryngeal area from a B3 downward.  In this model the pressure of the air needed to be strong and constant, and the sound very focused, feeling as though it were leaning down on the pressurized breath beneath the larynx.  This resulted in a lower voice rich in squillo, in ring.  Vowels were modified toward closed positions in order to keep the larynx low, the pressure constant, the ring strong, and the air moving.  This range of the voice was aggressive in nature.  It’s important to note that the sound was narrow and very focused.

As Melocchi students ascended to the B3-F4 range - the upper middle voice, the focus was on finding the sbadiglio - the yawn position, in order to achieve maximum opening of the throat and maximum opening of the voice within the wide throat.  Wide throat and wide sound were inextricably linked and often used synonymously.  However, contrary to Marcello Del Monaco’s dark sounds - a la Giacomini, Melocchi wanted a very clear vowel, compressed and ringing.  Thus, while the throat was in this yawn position and the sound was wider in this range, the core of the sound was still very focused.

Melocchi achieved this impostazione by working one note at a time.  My father recounted how Melocchi would invite his students to sing a deep OO in the upper middle voice on one held note, with the mouth fairly closed and lips relaxed and slightly rounded, and then would invite the singer to open the vowel toward an OH without opening the mouth, and without mixing the registers.  The opening of the vowel was to be found by opening the sound “in the throat” rather than in the mouth - from the soft palate down to the laryngeal area. 

This process lead to a deepening of the upper middle voice as the OO acted as a sort of primer for the low larynx and the wide pharynx, and the migration of the vowel from OO to OH lead to the discovery of ways to close the cords without lifting the larynx.  The vowel would tend to get narrower doing this, so that the OH vowel was very closed, and the AH vowel became more of an OH, but in both cases very resonant, ringing.  This was in fact the goal, to not lose the resonance.

Melocchi did not want his singers to deepen the vocal production in a way that jeopardized the squillo, nor did he want to achieve appoggio by lifting the larynx.  His invitations were to not lose the energy of the vowel and the feeling of lift in the palate.  He wanted a balance between dark aspects of the voice and the focused squillo traditionally very important in Italian tenor vocalism. 

Melocchi was very demanding when it came to keeping focused vowels in the middle voice.  Corelli in this sense was viewed as an anomaly in that his middle voice vowels were very relaxed and “lazy,” the vowel too released and lax, his palate not tensed enough, far less than what Melocchi would accept.  I believe Giacomini would have received even greater criticism in this had he studied directly with Melocchi. 

This laxness in vowel production in the middle voice, B3-F4, often leads to mixing of the registers in the passaggio and excessive weighing down of the voice, something that didn’t happen with Corelli but often did with Giacomini.  In this sense, in my opinion, Melocchi was more in line with tradition than Marcello Del Monaco was in teaching this method.  Many of Marcello Del Monaco’s tenors lacked vowel definition in the middle voice and sounded dark and muddled, and consequently had at times weighed down voices.  Melocchi tenors did not.  It is easy for the voice to become unfocused and heavy when seeking a deep production of this kind.  The feeling of narrowness consequent to compact vowels and the feeling of relaxed open throat seem contradictory, and often the tenor abandons the narrowness because he expands the opening of the larynx along with the pharynx.  Instead, the column of sound should be narrow within the wide pharynx.

Observing Del Monaco on his high notes one will notice that he is showing more front teeth and with the typical look of one opening the frontal sinuses.  Del Monaco did not place the voice forward by doing this.  He was tuning the voice to get more ring.  His intention was of keeping the body of the voice against the breath beneath the larynx, while these resonator adjustments (subjectively viewed as such) allowed him to find a slightly more narrow sound that allowed for more squillo, without losing the open throat position. These adjustments were encouraged. The divergence from tradition was in that these resonator adjustments were not viewed as ways to direct the feeling of the body of the voice upwards over the palate (CT dominance), but rather as ways to focus the sound so as to produce squillo without feeling a lifting of the body of the voice above the soft palate (not as CT dominant).  The voice remained in basso, low, but more focused, dark, and compressed.

Now, it is worth noting that my dad reported that he would feel at times a strong sensation of the voice moving into a wide space above the soft palate, and that Melocchi accepted this sound, which was in my dad’s words “piu’ morbido” – or more supple.  So it is clear to me that Melocchi accepted a greater CT dominance as long as the sound was in his view correct.  In this sense, I view his approach as directed principally by the sound.

As they ascended in range, Melocchi tenors offset increasing weight in the voice by increasing squillo, or tuning Singer's Formant, which causes the voice to get slightly lighter in feeling, though not in sound.  The open throat was ensured by the OO position, and the squillo came by finding a slightly lighter and concentrated edge in the sound like in an EE vowel.  The focused sound was envisioned as leaning against the breath below the larynx in order to keep the sound highly resonant.  Melocchi worked EE and EH vowels with his tenors to find this focused and compact appoggio.  The focus did not, however, jeopardize the depth of the OO sound, the second formant dominance.

It’s interesting to hear the recordings of Del Monaco from the 40s.  The voice was more lyrical and bright compared to what it became after his debut in Otello in 1950.

The switch to the upper register came as one switched to a more compact OO sound, with plenty of ring.  F# and G were normally in this very compact sound.  The AH and OH became a bright OO, and the EH sound became more of an EE, also very bright.  From Ab upward the voice opened up more taking on more back space, the vowel not as compressed against the breath as the F# and G, but more open.  The EE vowel went more toward an EH.   The guiding factor in all this was the ring in the voice.  No position of the throat was correct absent the ring in the voice.  The adjustments needed to take into consideration a constant and abundant ring in the voice.

Failure to achieve the squillo brought on excessive weight to the top, and could “wreck” the voice.  Many tenors did not find this balance and were harmed by Melocchi’s approach as they never learned to negotiate pharyngeal and laryngeal positioning vs. medial compression.

There is no talk of covering the voice in Melocchi’s method because the voice covers itself thanks to the OO position.  Even when other vowels were used in the top voice, the invitation was to not lose the position of the OO vowel in the throat, in essence while the tongue changed forms to produce wider vowels, the focus was on keeping a wide lower pharynx and a vertical stretch between larynx and soft palate typical of the OO primer. 

This balance lead to just enough alleggerimento, or lightening up of the registration, as to allow for a free flowing top, but preserved and even increased the power and the depth of the voice. 

Melocchi focused on building the top not by decreasing the weight of the Chest Register, but rather by increasing the weight of the lower part of the Head Register, so as to match the middle voice,  keeping the depth, while increasing squillo or ring.  Melocchi did not advocate opening the passaggio, or mixing registers.  The OO vowel work on F# and G had the aim of increasing the power of this range, not by carrying the Chest Register upwards, but by increasing the tenor’s ability to resist strong air pressure, while phonating with a slightly thinner mechanism (slight increase in CT dominance).  Rather than lighten up the middle voice, as Bel Canto tenors did, Melocchi tenors followed Caruso’s lead, expanding greatly this range, and developing the power in the lower part of the Head Register (F#-Ab).  This is why Melocchi tenors had secure high notes, even if limited in range usually to a B4, or Si Naturale Acuto.  The widening of the upper middle voice and the strengthening of the lower Head or Medium Register unavoidably leads to a shortening of the range of the voice.

Melocchi would have his students do scales like 1-2-3-2-1 or 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 on OH vowel in order to find the open upper middle voice (upper Chest Register), and then with the open throat go over the passaggio (Medium or Head Register) increasing squillo by insisting on the more narrow and deep OO vowel above the passaggio. 

Science tells us today that the OO vowel significantly widens the lower pharynx and also allows for a lower larynx, while the narrow ary-epiglottic opening sets the resonator tract for the production of Singer’s Formant, or squillo.  Melocchi understood and maximized this relation, even though he didn’t have the science of it, he surely had the method to achieve it.

Attempting to sing in the Melocchi way with a low larynx and open throat sound often leads inexperienced singers to over-darkening and excessive weight in the voice, often the consequence of excessive laxness in the ary-epiglottic opening and of excessively stretched vocal folds (CT dominant).  The stretch between soft palate and larynx is insufficient in Melocchi’s view. A singer that focuses on a relaxed sensation of openness often rejects the sensation of compression of sound triggered by the narrowing of the ary-epigottlic opening, and interprets it subjectively as a constriction.  Melocchi overcame this pitfall by insisting on very focused, and ringing vowels. 

It’s interesting to note that Corelli, in his interview with Hines, is asked about the soft palate’s lifting.  Corelli states that the yawn does the job of lifting the palate on its own.  Melocchi would have disagreed and accused Corelli of singing with too lazy of a vowel in his middle voice, as can be gathered in his criticism of Corelli’s Celeste Aida in the Limarilli lesson recording.  Giacomini would have received even greater criticism for his middle voice, I believe, though his upper register certainly would have thrilled Melocchi.

Melocchi wanted a very bright sound imbedded within the intense darkness of the open throat, low larynx sound.  Chiaro-scuro at its maximum.  The sensation is not one of wide open space for the breath to move through, but of narrow opening at the larynx in a wide throat, an intensely focused voice leaning against the breath. 

 

- Del Monaco -

Del Monaco is by far the most important singer to emerge from Melocchi’s studio.  Del Monaco was viewed as tenor royalty in Italy during the 50s and 60s - The Tenor.  We can see how through the ‘80s and ‘90s Pavarotti has had an impact on tenors with an ever increasing number of tenors that sound like him technically, or that use him as a model.  It was the same in Caruso’s day, and it was the same in Del Monaco’s day.

Mario Del Monaco certainly exemplifies the goals set forth in Melocchi’s vocal model, but is also a very unique singer. 

Del Monaco was a very aggressive character in his singing.  Declamato singing, a sort of aggressive speaking, was a trademark of his way of expressing the anguish and almost primal masculinity of his stage persona, especially from the mid ‘50s onward.  Many consider this an artistic fault, but such criticisms resound simply as a critique of the unwelcome invasion of the chaotic and basic traits of human nature into an otherwise traditionally elite and elegant art form.  Del Monaco’s stage persona is a sort of iconic expression of the rage and lack of control of a reactive human psyche.  Del Monaco expressed and aroused in his listeners these primal feelings, and in this sense achieved the ultimate creative process in which he transcends, in my opinion, conventions and tradition to express vocal art in radical and completely individual ways.  Perhaps this is the main reason why Del Monaco imitation is truly a risky artistic choice.  This sort of magic is a gift that cannot be imitated but rather must be created anew, and few have the gift.

Did Melocchi teach him to sing this way?  Absolutely and categorically not!  First of all as can be seen in Del Monaco’s 1940 recordings, he didn’t always sing this way.  The often choppy legato, the held breath in word pauses with the pressurization and explosiveness consequent in his fraseggio, typical of his singing from the mid 50s onward; the exaggeration in reaching extremes in vocalism, etc., were all Del Monaco’s doing, not Melocchi’s instruction.  No doubt, Melocchi could give a tenor the tools necessary to achieve Del Monaco’s type of vocalism, but he didn’t push his singers to take these artistic exaggerations on in their singing, though many did in order to imitate Del Monaco, their idol.

On a personal note, one of the first operas my father performed after coming out of Melocchi’s studio was Handel’s Giulio Caesare, as well as Lucia di Lammermoor, and Pagliacci.

The fact that many Melocchi tenors, including my father, sounded often like Del Monaco in their actual way of expressing and of producing phrases, has more to do with a cultish adoration of Del Monaco’s aesthetics rather than with Melocchi’s instructions.

It’s interesting to note that many Marcello Del Monaco tenors, coming from the 70s, were not as conditioned to imitate Del Monaco, and consequently express differently. Giacomini comes to mind. Anyone that has heard Giacomini can attest to the power, but also to the surprising dynamic flexibility in his singing, and his wonderful legato. He strives for artistry.  The dramatic accent is far less.

 

- Franco Corelli -

Franco Corelli did not study much with Melocchi.  He may have visited a few times, but their mutual direct contact was limited.  Corelli learned the Melocchi method initially from his friend Carlo Scaravelli, and was no doubt strongly influenced by Melocchi’s ideas.  But Corelli is in many ways, like Del Monaco, a very unique singer.  His technical ideas are often regarded as “Melocchi technique”, but this is not entirely correct.

We read that in the beginning of his career Corelli felt the voice very much in the mouth, and that the result was a darker, more baritonal voice, which extended up to a B4.  He felt this voice was “wild” and limiting. 

Thanks to his exposure and lessons with Lauri Volpi, and no doubt also his experience on stage with other singers, he learned the “giro”, or the switch to a lighter phonatory mode, which he called “sweeter voice”.  He discovered how the voice strikes the mask and how these sensations can help direct phonation toward greater balance.  He also discovered that he could extend the voice a whole tone higher, something he prized greatly and sought out given his aspirations toward the higher spinto roles like Manrico, Poliuto, Calaf, etc.  Clearly, he discovered the virtues of traditional vocal registration.

This initial feeling of his voice very much in the mouth, or below the palate, is strong testament to the impact of Melocchi’s method on him, just as much as the discoveries of the “giro” can be linked to his exposure and lessons with Lauri Volpi.  In a very real way, the evolution of spinto tenor singing found a new standard in Corelli as he found a way to increase power like a Melocchi singer while retaining many qualities of the old Belcantista style.  Corelli is the powered up Belcantista tenor of the second half of the 1900s.

Corelli, is a step backward and forward:  a step forward in correct vocalism compared to Melocchi without losing the advances in terms of power.  But Corelli is a new breed of tenor compared to Lauri Volpi or Martinelli.  His personal evolution came by his looking backwards in time to perfect the technical limitations of Melocchi’s approach, while retaining many of its achievements in terms of power.  Del Monaco represented a loss of balance toward exaggeration, a sort of pushing the envelope toward power and heft at the expense of traditional vocal aesthetics.  Corelli brought some balance back to Italian spinto tenor vocalism while retaining many of the new developments. 

 

 

- Conclusion -

Arturo Melocchi was the natural result and perhaps now an iconic representation of the process of mutation of Italian ideas on tenor vocalism as these were impacted by Caruso and the emergence of Verismo operatic aesthetics.  He pushed tenors into territories that were truly unheard of, with results that were at times great and at times not so great.

His method can result in vocal impairment if the singer is not talented enough to understand how to apply it, and certainly is not for everyone.  It would be truly absurd for a voice that is suited for leggero or lyric repertoire to adopt an approach that favors the kinds of vocal exaggerations typical of Melocchi’s model.

There is no doubt that many of the traditional ideas of Italian singing are embodied in Melocchi’s method, but there are significant variations - vocal exaggerations aimed at enhancing the power of the tenor voice, and which are potentially dangerous, if not disastrous if carelessly applied, or if contrary to one’s nature.

A tenor desiring to follow this vocal model would have to seriously weigh the pros and the cons of this way of singing, and most of all know themselves vocally very well to monitor the impact of this technique on their natural abilities.

My father would tell us how Melocchi was a good man but also a very proud one.  One time during a lesson of my father’s, Gastone Limarilli rang the doorbell.  Melocchi looked out on the balcony, saw him and didn’t let him in but rather told him to leave.  My father of course knew Limarilli was an up-and-coming star, and was a bit shocked by all this.  Melocchi explained that in his recent performance of Norma at La Scala, if I recall, Limarilli had opted to omit the appoggiaturas toward the end of the cabaletta Me Protegge, which infuriated Melocchi, so he wasn’t teaching him at the moment, and perhaps never did again as Melocchi soon after died. 

He helped my father overcome his fear of high notes by accompanying him at the piano, well I might add, with the arias transposed upwards a whole tone without telling him.  Upon successful completion of the piece, Melocchi would proceed to give him lectures into the psychology of singing and how a singer needed to find courage and balance.  He attributes finding the top voice to Melocchi’s approach, as did Corelli and many others.  Melocchi’s insistence on the sound leaning downward on the breath could fix voices that lacked medial compression and appoggio, absolutely necessary for the correct tenor high voice.  However, a long term relationship with Melocchi was not successful for all, and not all voices could successfully sing his way.

My father claimed Melocchi truly knew how to build a voice, but that he wasn’t for everyone.

If I were to remember one phrase that characterizes Melocchi it would be “I can give you a voice, and then if you can sing that is your business.”