Pier Francesco Tosi (c. 1653 â€" 1732) was a castrato singer,
composer, and writer on music. His Opinoni de' cantori antichi e
moderni... was the first full-length treatise on singing and provides
a unique glimpse into the technical and social aspects of Baroque
vocal music.Tosi was born in Cesena, Italy in 1653 or 1654. There is a
disagreement among sources whether he was the son of composer Giuseppe
Felice Tosi. He was castrated before puberty to preserve his high
voice. While it is not known where he received his rudimentary music
training, he sang at a church in Rome from 1676 to 1677 and at the
Milan cathedral from 1681 until 1685, when he was dismissed for
“misconduct.†Thereafter, he made his one recorded appearance in
opera at Reggio nell’Emilia in 1687 (in Varischino’s Odoacre) and
was based for a time in Genoa. In 1693 Tosi relocated to London where
he took on singing students and sang in weekly public concerts. In
1701 he entered into the service of Austrian Emperor Joseph I and
Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine, whom he served as a musical and
diplomatic agent, traveling extensively until 1723. In 1724 he
returned to a London ablaze with the works of Handel, where he again
taught and was a founding member of the Academy of Ancient Music. He
took holy orders sometime before his death in Faenza, Italy in 1732.
In addition to being a well-known soprano (of the cantabile style,
singing mostly chamber music) and voice teacher, Tosi was a composer
of several arias and cantatas.Opinioni is primarily directed to the
singing teacher, laying out what and how they must teach their pupils.
It also includes a chapter and several passages addressed to the
future professional singer with advice on good taste, ornaments,
performance skills and the life and business of singing
professionally. Tosi stresses the need for a long period of student
training in reading and composing music, singing and constructing
ornamentation, as well as in grammar, diction, social decorum and
acting. All the standard ornaments of the time are thoroughly
presented: appoggiatura, messa di voce, eight kinds of trills,
passaggi (divisions), and portamento. Tosi also dedicates a chapter
each to recitative and aria singing, preaching throughout the
necessity of improvising one's own graces and divisions on the spot in
performances.There are a few teachings of Tosi's in his Opinioni that
have been particularly interesting to singers and scholars over the
years. Tosi clearly advocates uniting and blending the chest and head
registers, the first recorded vocal pedagogue to do so. While earlier
writers such as Zacconi and Caccini stated that singers ought to only
sing in their “natural voice,†Tosi went so far as to say “[I]f
[the chest and head register] do not perfectly unite, the Voice will
be of divers Registers, and must consequently lose its Beauty.â€
Tosi's is also the first recorded encouragement of the use of rubato
as an embellishment. While he again and again rails on singers who
accidentally sing out of tempo or self-aggrandizingly hold out notes
as in the modern fermata, he encourages “[t]he stealing of Time
[…], provided he makes a Restitution with Ingenuity†; meaning,
provided the singer catches back up the accompaniment, allowing them
to keep tempo.
composer, and writer on music. His Opinoni de' cantori antichi e
moderni... was the first full-length treatise on singing and provides
a unique glimpse into the technical and social aspects of Baroque
vocal music.Tosi was born in Cesena, Italy in 1653 or 1654. There is a
disagreement among sources whether he was the son of composer Giuseppe
Felice Tosi. He was castrated before puberty to preserve his high
voice. While it is not known where he received his rudimentary music
training, he sang at a church in Rome from 1676 to 1677 and at the
Milan cathedral from 1681 until 1685, when he was dismissed for
“misconduct.†Thereafter, he made his one recorded appearance in
opera at Reggio nell’Emilia in 1687 (in Varischino’s Odoacre) and
was based for a time in Genoa. In 1693 Tosi relocated to London where
he took on singing students and sang in weekly public concerts. In
1701 he entered into the service of Austrian Emperor Joseph I and
Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine, whom he served as a musical and
diplomatic agent, traveling extensively until 1723. In 1724 he
returned to a London ablaze with the works of Handel, where he again
taught and was a founding member of the Academy of Ancient Music. He
took holy orders sometime before his death in Faenza, Italy in 1732.
In addition to being a well-known soprano (of the cantabile style,
singing mostly chamber music) and voice teacher, Tosi was a composer
of several arias and cantatas.Opinioni is primarily directed to the
singing teacher, laying out what and how they must teach their pupils.
It also includes a chapter and several passages addressed to the
future professional singer with advice on good taste, ornaments,
performance skills and the life and business of singing
professionally. Tosi stresses the need for a long period of student
training in reading and composing music, singing and constructing
ornamentation, as well as in grammar, diction, social decorum and
acting. All the standard ornaments of the time are thoroughly
presented: appoggiatura, messa di voce, eight kinds of trills,
passaggi (divisions), and portamento. Tosi also dedicates a chapter
each to recitative and aria singing, preaching throughout the
necessity of improvising one's own graces and divisions on the spot in
performances.There are a few teachings of Tosi's in his Opinioni that
have been particularly interesting to singers and scholars over the
years. Tosi clearly advocates uniting and blending the chest and head
registers, the first recorded vocal pedagogue to do so. While earlier
writers such as Zacconi and Caccini stated that singers ought to only
sing in their “natural voice,†Tosi went so far as to say “[I]f
[the chest and head register] do not perfectly unite, the Voice will
be of divers Registers, and must consequently lose its Beauty.â€
Tosi's is also the first recorded encouragement of the use of rubato
as an embellishment. While he again and again rails on singers who
accidentally sing out of tempo or self-aggrandizingly hold out notes
as in the modern fermata, he encourages “[t]he stealing of Time
[…], provided he makes a Restitution with Ingenuity†; meaning,
provided the singer catches back up the accompaniment, allowing them
to keep tempo.
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