FAQ
Why does belcantoforum.com exist?
There is a growing concern among singers and opera fans about the recent decline in the quality of operatic singing. When listening to old recordings, it is easy to see that many famous voices today are not of the same caliber as those that sang during the "Golden Age" of the 20th Century and before. Those that are a match are few and far between. We believe that the main reason for this is an abandonment of basic vocal principles that produced the great voices of the century.
Belcantoforum.com is an effort to help revive the Golden Age of Song and restore opera to its rightful status as the most divine, beautiful and expressive of art forms. This site exists to make available all possible information on what produces "Italianate singing" and historic Bel Canto technique, and by promoting discussion to help people understand and integrate that technique into their own voice.
Why should I use belcantoforum.com?
While most people absolutely need a teacher to learn how to sing, you must be just as active as your teacher in that learning process. Lamperti said, "A teacher can only reveal ourself to ourself. We must keep to his fundamentals (if proved true) but trust our own initiative." That means listening to yourself critically, and monitoring your technical and artistic progress to make sure your voice is developing the way you want it to. It also means talking about technique with other people, getting input on great singing from as many sources as possible, and questioning your assumptions about how to sing. Belcantoforum.com is the best place to do that!
Why should I put recordings of myself up for complete strangers?
Part of the idea is that they aren't complete strangers. These are people who are going through the same struggle you are - to try and build a great Italianate technique. In the old Italian school of teaching, many studios would pair singers together for extra sessions outside regular voice lessons. For example, a baritone who was working on his high notes might be paired with a tenor who was working on his low notes. In this way, students could spend their informal time learning as well.
On the other hand, they are complete strangers in a very important way: they have no idea who you are. You can submit clips of your first, faltering steps, no matter how bad they sound. The clips will never come back to haunt you, because no one knows who you are. The anonymity of the Internet provides a great protection for developing singers.
I think you're missing something from the Library. Where do I submit it?
Because of copyright concerns, everything in the library has to be screened by an administrator before it is published. If you feel we're missing something, please let us know! Send us a message on the contact page, and an administrator will get back to you for more details, or will post the item directly, as appropriate. Your help is critical to creating the most complete vocal technical library on the Internet.
What about copyright?
All of the documents available on belcantoforum.com have expired copyrights, and are now in the public domain. This means you can (and should!) download copies for yourself. It's hard to read a long vocal treatise on your computer screen, so we've made it easy to download and print documents to read at your leisure. It's perfectly legal!
Those copyrighted documents which we consider important to include in the library have been included either with permission of the author, or as Google Books, with partial redactions and links to purchase the book.
If you have any questions or concerns about the copyright status of anything on belcantoforum.com, please contact us.
Who are those people in the banner at the top of the site?
They are, from left to right:
- Enrico Caruso, one of the greatest tenors of all time, and certainly one of the most famous.
- Luisa Tetrazzini, famous coloratura soprano of the early 20th century.
- Manuel Garcia II, one of the most important voice teachers of the Italian school. You should have a look at some of his writing in our library!
- David Bispham, the first American baritone to win international fame, after studying in Italy with great voice teacher Lamperti.