The Vocal Method of the Great Nicola Antonia Porpora

Kruglova Elena ORCID: 0000-0001-6565-2083 PhD in Art History Professor, The State Musical Pedagogical Institute named after M. M. Ippolitov-Ivanov 109147, Russia, Moscow, 36 Marxistskaya str. elenakruglowa@mail.ru Other publications by this author

A talented composer, the brightest representative of the Neapolitan opera school, Nicola Antonio Porpora (1686-1766) was particularly inventive. He was not only a contemporary of J.S. Bach, a rival of G. F. Handel and I. A. Hasse, who wrote more than 60 operas, oratorios, cantatas, but above all, one of the largest and greatest vocal teachers of his time.

Porpora's pedagogical career began with work at the Naples Conservatory of San Onofrio in 1715. Over the years, the maestro taught at the Venice Conservatory of Ospedaletto, another Neapolitan Conservatory of Santa Maria di Loreto. He gave singing lessons in Vienna, Dresden. In London, he headed the Noble Opera. At the end of his life, upon his return to Naples, he directed the Conservatory of Santa Maria di Loreto ^[10].

Porpora's international activity as a vocal teacher, along with his influence on the development of Italian opera and, accordingly, the Italian singing style, falls just at the time of the creation of the fundamental work of the Italian castrato singer, singing teacher and composer Pietro Francesco Tosi "Reflections on Ancient and Modern Singers, or Notes on Fine Singing" ("Opinioni dei cantori antichi e moderni, on sieno Osservazioni sopra il canto figurato", Bologna, 1723). Meanwhile, it is an amazing fact that he lived until 1727. Tozi in his writings does not mention the name of Porpora at all, by that time already a well-known vocal teacher. It can be assumed that this is due to Tozi's complaints about the increasing fascination and becoming fashionable decorative singing, which he mentions in his work: "The use of the most difficult passages is the sole goal of contemporaries (moderni), while the study of pathetic style was the favorite occupation of the ancients (antichi)" ^{[2, p. 181]}.

Coloratura, as an expression of various affects in music, gradually became an independent element in arias. The bright coloring in the arias largely corresponded to the style of Porpora. His skill and success influenced the development of a virtuoso direction in his compositions. The concept of the Bologna singing school was similar, in particular the didactic tradition of the virtuoso singer Antonio Maria Bernacchi. By nature, he had a small voice, average acting abilities, however, through persistent studies, Bernacchi developed great virtuosity in his voice. "He had a special style of interpretation, which, despite his fame, was not appreciated everywhere, and that even in Rome he was already criticized," writes a modern researcher of Bernacchi's work ^{[8, p. 53]}. The basis of the castrato singer's school was an overly colored singing style, similar to acrobatics, which many musicians of that time complained about. The Italian writer and critic Francesco Algarotti wrote about Maestro Pistocchi's reproaches to his pupil: "Nasty, I taught you to sing, but you want to sound" ^{[7, p. 46]}.

Porpora sought to "ennoble, through in–depth and truthful expressiveness, the school of his famous colleagues - the old Pistocchi and the young Bernacchi, who cared ... mainly about virtuosity" ^{[5, p. 31]}. In an effort to correct the extravagance that Bernacchi introduced into vocal practice, Porpora creates his own style, characterized by greater simplicity, designed rather to influence listeners ^[13].

It is no coincidence that the German musicologist, the famous opera historian Herman Kretschmar calls Nicolo Porpora a Meyerbeer of the Neapolitan school, who was able to "adapt the sound to the nature of the situation, a successful inventor of the main themes, especially anger and disgust, the main aspects of Neapolitan expressiveness" ^[14].

The solo singing of the Neapolitan school becomes distinctive. Porpora surprisingly revealed the vocal abilities of the students to perform figurative singing, which stood out for their art among other performers. Among the famous pupils of the maestro are outstanding singers and musicians of Europe: Carlo Broschi (nicknamed Farinelli), Gaetano Majorano (Caffarelli), Antonio Uberti (Porporino), Angelo Maria Monticelli (Monticelli), Felice Salimbeni (Salimboni), Benedetta Emilia Molteni (Emilia Molteni), Caterina Gabrielli, Regina Mingotti, etc., as well as librettist and poetAntonio Domenico Bonaventura Trapassi (known as Pietro Metastasio) and composers Johann Adolf Hasse and Franz Joseph Haydn.

Reviews of the singing achievements of the maestro's pupils are numerous. Thus, admiring Farinelli's performance, the German polymath Johann Georg Keissler noted that the castrato's voice impresses not only with its special beauty, but also with the extraordinary coloratura lightness with which he performed three octaves, which surpassed all the singers of that time ^{[3, p. 31]}.

The German actor and writer Louis Schneider emphasized the virtues of another pupil of the maestro – castrato Porporino, who stood out among others not only by the beauty and brightness of his voice, but also by the ability to perform the adagio soulfully and nobly ^{[15, p. 89]}.

The Belgian musicologist, conductor and composer Francois Joseph Fetis wrote about Caffarelli as the owner of an amazing voice, wide breathing and special softness, perfectly performing both trills and chromatic scales, which the singer first introduced into the singing art ^{[11, p. 237]}.

Such results were, first of all, a reflection of the maestro's special gift in the art of composition, which he approached in a universal way, masterfully and subtly emphasizing the peculiarities of the talents and skills of his students. Being a master of singing, Porpora naturally used comprehension in the field of the art of vocalization in his compositions ^[14]. This explains the features of the maestro's virtuoso refined vocal style, which perfectly emphasizes the best qualities of his students and performers. The English writer John Hawkins noted: "Nicolo Porpora is known among modern musicians no less as the mentor of some of the most applauded singers than as a musical composer of the dramatic class" ^{[13, p. 877]}. Revealing the talents of his pupils, the maestro diligently and painstakingly developed them, turning students into the best singers ^{[13, p. 877]}.

The rare gift of Porpora was emphasized by the German composer, organist and singer Johann Friedrich Agricola: "He [Porpora – E. K.] also possessed such a rare gift (and almost unknown to many singing teachers and even composers) as the ability to accurately assess the abilities of his student and to reckon with them, not allowing any of them to sing otherwise, than the possibilities and properties of his voice suggest. <...> Among the pets of many other singing teachers and songwriters, those whose voice had the greatest similarity to the voice of his teacher always turned out to be the most successful" ^{[1, p. 153]}. Even at the beginning of the XIX century, Fetis, describing the pedagogical method of Porpora, said that it was not similar to the one used today for teaching singers ^{[12, p. 386]}.

Such results and reviews strengthen the interest in considering the pedagogical principles of the great singing master N. A. Porpora. Unfortunately, the maestro did not leave any written works, treatises about his singing school. The meager information from biographical sources, the preserved famous "exercise sheet", vocalizations or solfeggio and the requirements for vocal technique that appear through the texture in his compositions are the small arsenal by which one can try to restore the basic pedagogical principles and the Porpora method, as a result of which the great singing teacher of the XVIII century achieved epochal results.

As you know, special achievements in vocal performance are primarily due to the presence of bright natural singing abilities of students along with their giftedness and talents. Crucial in the development of this complex is the educational material on which the formation of the singer takes place. In this regard, it is appropriate to recall the story, which has become a legend, about the training of the famous castrato singer Gaetano Majorano (Caffarelli), told by Fetis: "Porpora, one of the most famous masters of Italy, is friends with a young castrato, his student. Asks him if he has the courage to constantly follow the indicated path, no matter how boring it may seem to him. To his affirmative answer, he writes down on a piece of paper diatonic and chromatic scales, ascending and descending third, quart and fifth sequences, etc., in order to learn how to connect intervals and transfer sound; trills, groups, appoggiatures and strokes to the tone, which are vocalized in various ways. Only according to this leaflet, a teacher and a student work for one year; the next year is also dedicated to him. In the third year, no one talks about changing this; the student begins to grumble, but the teacher reminds him of the promise. The fourth year passes, followed by the fifth, and always an eternal leaf. In the sixth year, it is not yet abandoned, but lessons in articulation, pronunciation and, finally, recitation are added. At the end of the same year, a student who still considers himself a beginner was very surprised when the teacher told him: “Go, son, you have nothing else to learn: you are the first singer of Italy and the whole world" ^{[12, pp. 386-387]}.

This famous sheet represents the fundamental exercises that were written by Porpora during the years of work as a vocal teacher at the Neapolitan Conservatory of San Onofrio, in the period from 1715-1721. This system was actively used in the pedagogical practice of the XVIII-XIX centuries. As a consequence, taken from the archives of Naples, in 1858, a "Sheet of exercises" entitled "Elements of Singing" was published by the singing and piano teacher Marcia Harris in London. Today, the famous sheet is kept in the British National Library under the title "Elements of Porpora's Singing" ("Porpora's Elements of Singing").

Nowadays, as well as centuries earlier, singing teachers often question the possibility of achieving great results in learning only through a system of exercises. So, in the middle of the XIX century. "it was said that by doing so, the teacher sought to belittle the pride of his student ..." ^{[11, p. 235]}. In this regard, we recall the reviews of Caffarelli's contemporaries, who pointed out the obnoxious nature of the castrate. Then, today, with all due respect to the maestro,

Today, with all due respect to the maestro, it is noted that the Porpora exercises themselves "in fact, contain nothing but musical fragments that can be performed with a completely different sound. To master the tone, a standard is important, that is, information about what sound quality to strive for and how to sing specific music. Performing the exercises of Porpora or any other great maestro by themselves will not lead to mastery" ^{[4, p. 66]}.

Of course, at present, the formation of a singer implies, first of all, the upbringing of the personality of the performer. Stylistic nuances, technical and acoustic characteristics of the sound of the voice peculiar to a particular era, developed through the skillful guidance of a finely tuned teacher's "ear" – these are the main components in the education of a modern vocalist. At the time of Porpora, singers were brought up differently. It was a kind of dedication to the musical ministry. Singers became musical artists, mainly not to demonstrate their art, but for the art itself, which was the meaning of their whole life. Attention is drawn to the nature of training at the time under consideration. "The training was patriarchal," F. notes. Habek, not industrial; there was a complete unification of theory with practice, there were years of apprenticeship and camaraderie with real masters who themselves sang, created and taught" ^{[2, p. 165]}. The system of vocal education in the era of ancient masters was reduced to achieving and developing a voice as a singing instrument, sounding flexible, easy, smooth. In this regard, as an additional argument, it is appropriate to point out the schedule of the singers' classes: In Caffarelli's daily six–hour classes, "1 hour was allocated to general musical (in the language of modern curricula) disciplines: theory, counterpoint, composition; 2 hours - literature. The remaining 3 hours are spent on vocal exercises (!), consisting primarily of trills, passages in the most whimsical combinations, fioritura, appoggiatura – all brilliant ornaments" ^{[6, p. 193]}.

The famous Porpora exercises can be divided into several groups according to the technical tasks of the development of the singing voice.

From the very beginning, all the teacher's attention is directed to the training of breathing in singing. The performance of long sustained tones using the messa di voce technique – two-sided milling of sound, achieved through the interconnected work of the respiratory muscles and the "free" larynx. At the first exercises, written out in large durations, painstaking work on each sound at a slow pace became controlled in order to create a so-called platform for turning the human voice into an instrument obedient to the will of the performer. Such a technique in singing prepares the muscles, develops the concentration of the singer's attention on the performance of any elements of coloratura technique.

The next group of exercises combines work on the mobility of the voice. Starting with the second moves in ascending and descending motion, at a slow pace and gradually accelerating the movement, the mobility and flexibility of the larynx was developed for the trill performance. In the exercise of Porpora, there is a similarity with the method of Tozi, who wrote: "It is necessary to learn trills for all vowels in the entire volume of the voice, not only on whole notes, but also on eighths" ^{[2, p. 180]}. This is followed by melodic sequences in the intervals of thirds, quarts and fifths, sexts, septims. By working out the central section of the range, a technical platform for the execution of scales is created. The exercises are proposed to be performed from the sound of c1 without exceeding the upper g2, thus directing attention to the development of register evenness of the voice, to which the ancient masters of singing attached great importance. "The greatest difficulty," Tozi wrote, "is precisely to make all sounds sound the same" ^{[2, p. 173]}. 

In order to achieve the accuracy of intonation, flexibility, fluency and lightness of voice, Porpora turned to various rhythmic groupings in exercises: from movement in even hexadecimal, trioles, quintoles, sextoles to a mixed rhythm.

The final group of exercises directs the singer's attention to the development of not only technical, but also artistic tasks. And if the purpose of the central exercises is training in the performance of various kinds of melismatics, then the last group of exercises is not just melodic chants, but already thematically developed sequences that require dexterous execution of not only coloratura figures and rhythmic accuracy, but a certain expression of the whole structure. The performance of diatonic scales in the last exercises allows you to achieve the utmost concentration of purity of intonation and transmission of various colors of the sound of the voice, aimed at achieving artistic expressiveness.The "Exercise Sheet" is a remarkable testimony demonstrating the complex process of enriching the melody with both simple elements and complex figurations that abound in the composer's arias.

Being instructive methodological material, they are aimed at the development of technical skill, or rather at the development of absolute control of singing technology and the transfer of artistic expression.

Singer, singing teacher Domenico Corri, noting the pedagogical views of his mentor, Maestro Porpora, in the singing manual writes about achieving a free tone with the help of impeccable technique. The teachers of the time period under consideration devoted many years to studying this. In Italy, it took six years to train a singer using this technique. It was considered, Corrie points out, "impossible to become masters of vocal music without such a long practice" ^{[9, p. 8]}.

Porpora's method was built on the principle of sequence from simple to complex. Very systematically, at a calm pace, the maestro introduced new technical elements, paying utmost attention to the accuracy and correctness of execution in the process of consolidating acquired skills. The exercises were complicated imperceptibly for the student and brought to perfection.

In conclusion, we will quote the words of Fetis, who succinctly described the Porpora method: "the method is slow, but safe, and the results of which are never in doubt. ... To clear the sound; to protect it from any guttural or nasal sounds; to develop it in all possible completeness; to expand the boundaries of the voice range at both low and high levels; to align the registers" ^{[11, p. 235]}. Of course, these positions in the development of the vocal voice are fundamental today. However, the ways to achieve the above skills and abilities are different. It is interesting to note that already at the beginning of the XIX century. Fetis, regretfully reported that "currently there is not a single school in all of Europe that teaches the mechanism of singing for six years" ^{[12, p. 387]}. This situation is still relevant today. The abundance of tasks and requirements for mastering modern programs in vocal training do not allow calmly and in detail to engage in technology purely on exercises and vocalizations for a long time. The essence of the Porpora method, as Fetis emphasized, was precisely the development and knowledge of the mechanics of singing, "the only thing that a master can teach" ^{[11, p. 235]}. The argument for the success of this approach in the education of singers was the high art of the maestro's students – famous virtuosos of the Baroque era.

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