‘people like to go to Sant’Angelo because it is cheap’, asserted ←24 | 25→Giovan Battista Casotti after visiting in 1713.47 Indeed, the tickets cost a third of the price of that of S. G. Grisostomo. Even the costumes and scenery were of modest financial conditions, but they were chosen in good taste and sometimes received appreciation from the audience.48 Michael Talbot states that Sant’Angelo actually presented a high artistic quality, which made it competitive with the most famous Venetian houses.49 Not only that: as he further observes, ‘Sant’Angelo specialised in discovering, nurturing and retaining (for as long as its resources permitted) new talent and inaugurating new trends’.50 In this regard, it was a perfect match for Vivaldi, who was very much interested in scouting for unknown voices and helping to start the careers of young singers, of which Strada is one of the best examples (apart from Merighi, Margherita Giacomazzi, and, of course, Anna Girò and others), and was himself looking for new and innovative ways of composing.51
Also, the variety of plot subjects sparked debate among the theatres: there was a rivalry between S. G. Grisostomo, with its classical themes, and Sant’Angelo and S. Moisè, which offered more ironical and fantastical ones. In a sense, the changing singing styles provoked another war, that between the taste of the ‘Ancients’ and ‘Moderns’.52
The new singing style
A major shift in singing style at the turn of the seventeenth century, i.e. the confrontation of the stile antico and stile moderno, takes an important place in such fundamental treatises as those of Tosi and Mancini. The elaboration of the technique for blending the chest and head registers opened up new perspectives towards a higher level of virtuosity, encompassing the whole range of the human voice. This expansion of vocal technical possibilities engrossed the attention of performers and composers alike, throwing off the balance of coloratura display ←25 | 26→and melodic cantabile expression. As a result, the latter was oppressed by the former to some extent, generating a sore spot for Tosi and others:
The taste of the Ancients was a mixture of the Lively and the Cantabile, the variety of which could not fail giving delight; but the Moderns are so pre-possessed with taste in Mode, that, rather than comply with the former, they are contented to lose the greatest part of its beauty. The study of the Pathetick was the darling of the former; and application to the most difficult divisions is the only drift of the latter. Those perform’d with more judgment; and These execute with greater boldness. But since I have presum’d to compare the most celebrated singers in both stiles, pardon me if I conclude with saying, that the Moderns are arrived at the highest degree of perfection in singing to the Ear; and that the Ancients are inimitable in singing to the Heart.53
Contemporary visitors to Venice also frequently reported on it.54 Riccoboni made complaints of decadence in expression for the sake of virtuosity:
Italian taste of music is now changed. In short, at present it is all a whim; Strength is sought instead of beautiful Simplicity; and Harshness and Singularity is substituted instead of the Expression and Truth which distinguished the former manner. The surprising capacity of their singers, it is true, begets Admiration, but moves no Passion; and judges say justly, that it is unreasonable to force a voice to execute what is too much even for a Violin or a Hautboy. This is the true reason why the Italian music falls so far short of perfection in Expression and Truth; […] The new manner however has got such footing in Italy, that even masters in the art are obliged in conformity to the general taste, contrary to their better judgement, to deviate from the simplicity and greatness of the ancient manner, both in vocal and instrumental performances.55
Seventeenth-century singers who relied on Giulio Caccini’s testimonial treatise and other descriptions of the castrato training system (in Naples and elsewhere in Italy) considered the natural, chest voice as beautifully ringing and sonorous. ←26 | 27→The focus of their study was thus to strengthen this register, namely, the notes that fall within the first octave.56 Until the late eighteenth century, authors of singing treatises used the terms ‘head voice’ and falsetto (voce finta) interchangeably, though they are produced by different techniques.57 Male singers, however, especially castrati, could use both, and this may be the reason for this obscure terminology.58
The weaker upper range was not generally acknowledged, though several singers, whether castrati or not, applied it as a further tool of virtuosity displayed in an extended vocal range. ‘The falsetto voice cannot give rise to the nobility of good singing’, Caccini claimed in his Le nuove musiche (1602). He said ‘Let him choose a pitch at which he is able to sing in a full and natural voice, avoiding the falsetto, and at which he does not have to “cheat” or at least use force.’59 Likewise, ←27 | 28→Ludovico Zacconi (1592), discussing another essential factor in the production of a beautiful tone, described the perfect balance of richness and shine, the chiaroscuro effect:
Among all voices, one must choose […] the chest voices, and particularly those which have the above-mentioned delightful biting quality which pierces a little, but does not offend; and one must leave aside the dull voices and those which are simply head voices, because the dull ones cannot be heard among the others, and the head ones are overbearing.60
Falsetto singing did not generate a particular pedagogical literature, indicating that there was no explicit support or encouragement for its use.61 By the end of the century, which simultaneously witnessed the revolutionary improvement of instruments, the need to gain a wider range through the union of the chest with the falsetto or head range became urgent on the part of singers. A technical solution to bring high notes close to equality in power with lower tones became the predominant issue. Tosi, who was in his heyday around 1690, already stated in his Opinioni (1723):62
A diligent master, knowing that a Soprano, without the Falsetto, is constrained to sing within the narrow compass of a few notes, ought not only to endeavour to help him to it, but also to leave no means untried, so to unite the feigned and the natural voice, that they may not be distinguished; for if they do not perfectly unite, the voice will be of divers registers, and must consequently lose its beauty.63
Mancini even gave some detailed personal insight into his singing studies at the end of his treatise, Pensieri e riflessioni pratiche (1774). He emphasised the importance of solfeggi befitting the young singers’ age and abilities, to strengthen the voice through them gradually in order to gain great stamina, and also drew attention to further vocal exercises concerning a clear intonation, precise rhythm, and declamation according to the dramatic situation of a certain scene on stage:
←28 | 29→
I was a pupil of Leonardo Leo for two years,
