Messa di voce
Messa di Voce (Italian for " the voice set", the Italian mettere ) is a "dynamic vocal ornamentation " on a particularly long sustained note.
It consists in a rise and fall ( crescendo, decrescendo ) the voice volume during the hold tone, ideally from pianissimo to fortissimo, and vice versa, without changing the pitch and other aspects such as intonation and vibrato. The castrati of the Baroque period, which were built very strong in general, were able to put their power and ruled her lung capacity test.
The term should not ( sing "half voice", with half bet) of mezza voce be confused.
Historic Ornament
The number and length of held notes in the score indicate the degree to which their composers singers were confident this feat, which in many cases was in the bel canto as the ultimate test of the vocal art of a singer. First, this ornament has been mentioned as a musical- rhetorical device by Giulio Caccini in Le Nuove Musiche 1601/2 ( « crescere et scemare della voce "), he calls them, however, still esclamazione ( " bid "). The term Messa di voce is found for the first time at Domenico Mazzocchi 1638th Giuseppe Tartini did not feel it with the vibrato, but with a long trill compatible. In the Baroque opera, it was often provided at the beginning of arias and you'll also find, for example, in Vincenzo Bellini's Norma ( 1831).
The ornament can be transferred analogously to other instruments. In the Messa di voce singers will be required as part of the historically informed performance practice, especially in the last twenty years.
Vocal pedagogy
Today, a similar procedure is applied as a preparatory exercise in vocal pedagogy. The ornament went out of fashion when the castrati were not more common. Domenico Corri (1746-1825) defines the messa di voce as already " preparing the voice for a crescendo ." To avoid confusion with the ornament in the old music, the Riemann recommends music lexicon, to speak in this case of " Schwellton ".