http://earlymusicblog.net/2006/01/10/on-french-singers/ Bringing Early Music blogs on the net together Fri, 16 May 2008 04:45:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.3 http://earlymusicblog.net/2006/01/10/on-french-singers/#comment-10 Sat, 11 Feb 2006 00:40:46 +0000 http://earlymusicblog.net/2006/01/10/on-french-singers/#comment-10 [...] We already know that Mattheson disliked French singers, but he doesn’t spare the British either. Quoting chapter 9 in Der Vollkommene Capellmeister paragraph 13-14: ...Germans generally produce more basses and tenors but the Italians more altos and sopranos than all other regions: together with the more rugged climate and lifestyle also beer drinking contributes to this in the case of the Germans; but the Italians are the opposite in both respects, and in addition there is the frequent castration. [...] […] We already know that Mattheson disliked French singers, but he doesn’t spare the British either. Quoting chapter 9 in Der Vollkommene Capellmeister paragraph 13-14: …Germans generally produce more basses and tenors but the Italians more altos and sopranos than all other regions: together with the more rugged climate and lifestyle also beer drinking contributes to this in the case of the Germans; but the Italians are the opposite in both respects, and in addition there is the frequent castration. […]

]]> http://earlymusicblog.net/2006/01/10/on-french-singers/#comment-2 Thu, 12 Jan 2006 15:17:57 +0000 http://earlymusicblog.net/2006/01/10/on-french-singers/#comment-2 In Mattheson's <i>Der vollkommene Capellmeister</i>, chapter six (about gestures) paragraph 18, he's a bit nicer than what Quantz is, saying that they in fact do some things right: <cite> Look at the fervor with which the French men and women singers present their pieces, and how they almost always seem really to feel what they are singing. Hence the reason that they strongly stir the emotions of the listener, particularly their countrymen, and replace through gesticulation and mannerism what they lack in thorough instruction, in strength, or in vocal ability. </cite> In Mattheson’s Der vollkommene Capellmeister, chapter six (about gestures) paragraph 18, he’s a bit nicer than what Quantz is, saying that they in fact do some things right:

Look at the fervor with which the French men and women singers present their pieces, and how they almost always seem really to feel what they are singing. Hence the reason that they strongly stir the emotions of the listener, particularly their countrymen, and replace through gesticulation and mannerism what they lack in thorough instruction, in strength, or in vocal ability.

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