Singing and Performance

Members of the nobility, especially young women, learned to sing and play musical instruments. Mary, queen of Scots (1542-87), for example, was a talented lutenist. Several composers were famous as singers; Ockeghem was known for his deep bass tones. During the late 15th century, sacred music often featured the bass voice, especially in harmony with the contrapuntal line. Itinerant poet-singers maintained the troubadour or Minnesinger tradition of the Middle Ages. These very popular composers, usually men, sang their own music. By the mid-16th century, handbooks were focusing on musical ornamentation, notably for musicians playing the flute and other instruments in the higher tonal ranges. Because the human voice also functions in this range, the same principles of ornamentation could be applied to singing. Even though the handbooks originally pertained to sacred music such as motets, the art of ornamentation also appeared in madrigals and other genres of secular music.

Isabella d’Este, marchioness of Mantua (1474-1539), was an accomplished player of the lute and keyboard as well as a gifted singer. She also had an impressive collection of musical instruments. But in her time, music was largely written for male voices. Later in the 16th century, the soprano voice became a new standard for composers. Vocal parts for soprano were written up to high G. The popularity of ornamentation and the increased range of vocal parts eventually led to extreme virtuosity between about 1575 and 1600. This mannerist development, while dismaying composers who could hardly recognize their own works, contributed to the musical language of early opera. The first opera was presented in Florence in 1598; its music and libretto have not survived. Jacopo Peri’s drama Euridice was set to music and first performed in 1600. Another result of the desire of audiences and congregations to experience virtuosity in the higher octaves was the castration (removal of the testicles) of boys, to prevent their voices from changing. Because women were not permitted to sing in Catholic choirs, castrati sang the soprano parts. (In fact, they did so in Europe until the early 20th century.)