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Contents
Acknowledgments page ix
Translators introduction and commentary 1
Note on the text and musical examples 32
+nr\+i sr ox \oc\r rrnronx\xcr \xn onx\xrx+\+i ox 33
Preface 35
Dedication 49
1 On the qualities of the human voice and its improvement 51
2 On good performance and how to use the voice 56
3 On good performance, with regard to text and music 66
4 On good performance, with regard to ornaments 72
5 On good performance, with regard to passaggi 101
6 On good performance, with regard to the various genres of vocal
forms and in consideration of performing in various places 110
7 On cadenzas 121
8 On arbitrary variation of the aria 135
Appendix: Biographical information on musicians mentioned
by Hiller 155
Bibliography 185
Index 190
vii
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the many people who encouraged and supported me in this
project: Leonard Ratner, who rst opened my eyes (and ears) to a new way of
understanding eighteenth-century music; Joan Smiles, for introducing me to
Hiller; Shelley G. Davis, for introducing me to Cambridge University Press and
for his careful and thorough reading of the manuscript; the late Bernd Baselt, for
his generosity; Mary Jean Simpson, for her editorial expertise; April Nash
Greenan, for her prociency in checking and editing the musical examples; John
Butt, for being such an astute series editor; Penny Souster at Cambridge
University Press, for her long-suering patience; Lucy Carolan, for her insight-
ful editing; my husband, Peter Beicken, for his years of scholarly and emotional
companionship; my father, Leo Bartel, who waited so long for the publication of
this work; my mother, Trudy Bartel (librarian at heart) who researched numer-
ous details; and Julie and Sascha for their patience.
ix
Translators introduction and commentary
i x+nontc+i ox
Hillers Anweisung zum musikalisch-zierlichen Gesange, oered here in English as
Treatise on Vocal Performance and Ornamentation, is an important manual
on performance practice worthy of being considered in the company of works
by such familiar gures as Quantz, Leopold Mozart, C. P. E. Bach, Mattheson,
and Marpurg, to name a few of the major eighteenth-century theorists. A mas-
terly educator, Hiller initiated much improvement in the state of singing in
Germany through his teaching and diverse activities as critic, composer, conduc-
tor, and music director in Leipzig. With this treatise and the earlier, more elemen-
tary tutor, the Anweisung zum musikalisch-richtigen Gesange of 1774 (Treatise on
Vocal Performance and Technique), Hillers goal was to educate German
singers in the elaborate traditions of vocal art emulating the superior achieve-
ments of the Italians. As a pragmatic and insightful pedagogue, Hiller aimed at
a presentation of performance practice material that would serve to raise the
standards of singing in Germany. His 1774 treatise on Richtigkeit represents,
according to John Butt, the most radical break with traditional methods of
mainstream school singing. Together with the originality of his pedagogic
approach, this shows Hillers deep insight into the learning process or, rather,
his method conforms to a more enlightened, psychological awareness of the
pupils natural learning abilities.
1
The subsequent 1780 treatise on
Zierlichkeit updates the traditional system of ornamentation, particularly the
1
John Butt, Music Education and the Art of Performance in the German Baroque (New York: Cambridge University
Press, 1994), pp. 173, 174, 176. Butt considers Hiller the most notable gure in German music education
during the latter half of the eighteenth century (p. 167). In commenting on the 1774 treatise, Butt observes
that it doubtless reects Hillers experience as a teacher in his own music conservatory (given that he was
yet to become Cantor of the Thomasschule), while also stating that it was more of a prescription than a
reection of actual practice in school music (p. 173). In his 1774 treatise Hiller gives perhaps the clearest
picture of German singing in the 1770s and its relation to the school environment. According to Butt
(p. 167) Hiller also uncovers what he sees as an unthinking attitude towards learning, one that evidently
seemed anomalous in the Age of Enlightenment. For an older view of Hillers achievements, see Friedrich
Rochlitz, Johann Adam Hiller, Fr Freunde der Tonkunst, vol. I, 3rd edn. (Leipzig: Carl Cnobloch, 1868), p.
27.
work of TosiAgricola, from the viewpoint of a new enlightened musical sen-
sibility addressing the more advanced, potentially professional singer, in an
attempt to raise the general standard of singing in Germany.
2
Johann Adam Hiller represents a musical culture that increasingly sought dis-
tinction from that of the court music sponsored by the aristocracy in the eight-
eenth century. Although he was occasionally employed by aristocratic sponsors,
Hiller was a musician who exemplied many of the virtues of his social back-
ground: honesty, diligence, versatility, adaptability, and innovation. The histori-
cal and sociological situation placed limitations on the middle class in its desire
for political and cultural emancipation. As in court life, there was room to assim-
ilate the accomplishments of foreign musical cultures. Hiller was an important
gure in the endeavor to shape a musical idiomwhich gave expression to the feel-
ings and aspirations of his peers. While enlightened despotism and absolutism
brought about signicant cultural changes, middle-class artists and intellectuals
sought to break down many barriers and privileges by popularizing learning and
art. This movement, observed as one of the key projects of the Enlightenment,
is aptly described in one of the more ubiquitous sources:
Philosophy, science, literature, and the ne arts all began to address a general public
beyond the select group of experts and connoisseurs. Popular treatises were written to
bring culture within the reach of all, while novelists and playwrights began depicting
everyday people with everyday emotions. Powerful support for this popularization came
from the back to nature movement, which prized sentiment in literature and the arts.
3
As a versatile composer of Singspiele, Hiller contributed signicantly to the
eorts to create a popular musical culture that reected the cultural life of
Leipzig and aimed beyond its environs. His pioneering work as an impresario
was groundbreaking in meeting the needs of a relatively new phenomenon, the
theatrical singer.
4
Above all, Hillers greatest accomplishment was that of
mediator and pedagogue for an audience that increasingly showed interest in
musical activity and entertainment. In this context he understood that his
purpose as a musician was to be a teacher to the future singers of his nation: so
many elements of his teaching are directly applicable to the needs of his age.
5
All aspects of his musical endeavors are to be seen in the light of this personal
and professional mission. Hiller the conductor, the performer, the teacher, the
theorist, and critic can only be grasped fully if one looks at his achievements as
2 Translators introduction and commentary
2
Butt, Music Education, p. 177. Hillers stature with regard to earlier theorists and his indebtedness to treatises,
particularly to the works of Tosi and Agricola, is emphasized by Julianne C. Baird in Introduction to the Art of
Singing by Johann Friedrich Agricola, trans. and ed. Julianne C. Baird (New York: Cambridge University Press,
1995), p. 34: Updating Agricola by providing specic directions and musical examples of how these orna-
ments should be performed pertinent to his own day, Hiller, the only other notable writer of a German
singing treatise in the era of Agricola, used and modernized the Anleitung [i.e. Tosi/Agricola, Anleitung zur
Singkunst (Berlin: George Ludewig Winter, 1757) and supplanted Agricola as the foremost German writer in
the eighteenth-century tradition of singing and as an authority on ornamentation.
3
This summarizing view in Donald Jay Grout and Claude V. Palisca, A History of Western Music, 5th edn. (New
York and London: W. W. Norton & Company, 1996), p. 443.
4
Butt, Music Education, p. 177.
5
Ibid., p. 179.
manifestations of an extraordinary service and unrelenting dedication to the
cause of cultural and national identity.
To meet the challenges of the day, Hiller employed his resourcefulness and
versatility in playing several instruments, conducting, and composing, although
his greatest love remained the human voice. Ever since he came to know Hasses
operas in Dresden, his preference was established and reinforced. As a labor of
love he painstakingly copied Hasses scores, familiarizing himself with his idols
art and operatic tradition. Hiller followed through with his unwavering dedica-
tion to vocal music from the Dresden years (174651) to his Cantorship at the
Thomasschule in Leipzig (17891801).
In Hiller the musician and theorist two traditions intersect: the theoretical line
of vocal pedagogy as represented by Tosi, Agricola, Marpurg, and Mancini, and
the musical practice of Handel, Hasse, C. H. Graun, C. P. E. Bach, and W. A.
Mozart. It is in his vocal treatises that Hiller demonstrates the results of his
endeavors in theory and practice to improve the quality of singing in Germany.
Having heard many Italian virtuosi perform and through his acquaintance with
the writings of Burney and Mancini, Hiller became aware of the superior train-
ing available to singers in Italy. He complained often and persistently about the
lack of training facilities for singers in Germany, as the German school system
no longer placed any special emphasis on this subject. The Italians, however, had
special music schools called Ospedali or conservatories: in Venice there were four
such conservatories, and Naples had three.
6
Italy also had many more opera
houses; the larger cities sometimes boasted several. In Germany there was no
longer much indigenous opera and the comedies often performed by traveling
acting companies were unsuited to German singers.
7
Hiller found that the state
of music in the church also left much to be desired. To improve these discourag-
ing conditions he undertook two major steps: rst to provide the opportunity to
learn how to sing properly, and second to motivate singers to acquire such
musical training. Since vocal music was of great importance in the eighteenth
century, Hiller devoted much time and energy to engendering signicant change
and improvement in the German tradition, in the hope of raising it to a level
comparable to Italian vocalism.
Hillers concern for an identiable German style in singing and vocal music
was part of the general movement in the arts through which the German middle
class sought to establish its own terrain within the Enlightenment. The drive to
create a national theater, led by many artists of the time, among them brilliant
writers such as Lessing, Goethe, and Schiller, was an integral part of the move-
ment toward a national identity and culture. In tune with these emancipatory
trends, Hillers wish to overcome the Italian domination in singing led to his
Translators introduction and commentary 3
6
See Preface, p. 39 below. As Butt, Music Education, p. 176, notes: In contrast to the German treatises on
ornamental singing from the previous century, Hiller lays great stress on the thoroughness of Italian music
education. He also observes that Hiller is fully conversant with the practices in Italian conservatories.
7
See Preface, p. 38 below.
pivotal role in the creation of Singspiel. In his attempt to nationalize opera, he
aimed at a lighter and more popular form. This endeavor to contribute to
national culture positions Hiller at the forefront of major cultural developments
in the eighteenth century.
Whatever opera took place after the Thirty Years War (161848) at German
courts, especially in Vienna, Dresden, and Berlin, almost exclusively employed
Italian singers. The lack of opportunity for German singers was so severe that
they had to travel to Italy to study singing and return not only with Italian train-
ing but with Italian names as well, essentially coming home as Italian artists.
8
The resulting Italianization, for both economic and opportunistic reasons,
caused resentment among many Germans and attempts ensued to establish
opera companies for home-grown talents as well. Occasionally, there were
attempts at creating German opera, notably the Weissenfels court theater and
the Hamburg civic opera. The wealthy port of Hamburg founded its own
company in 1678 which lasted until 1739. Its most successful director was
Reinhard Keiser (16741739), whose successor, Georg Philipp Telemann,
assumed the directorship in 1722 after Keiser had departed for Copenhagen.
Telemann, however, could not prevent the demise of the Hamburg opera, and
when German opera failed Italian opera once again gained the upper hand.
Like Hamburg, Leipzig was another major trade center with a wealthy, cultu-
rally aspiring middle class. Steeped in patrician tradition, Leipzig was at the
center of some of the most frequented trade routes to Hamburg, Nuremberg,
Vienna, Danzig, Strasbourg, Frankfurt am Main, and Breslau. The impact on
Leipzig at the hub of the crossroads was overwhelming: its trade fairs became
the meeting places for all German merchants.
9
Economically prosperous,
Leipzig developed a rich and diverse culture with a ourishing musical life.
Unlike other important musical centers of the eighteenth century Paris,
Vienna, Prague, Mannheim, and Berlin which revolved around court life,
Leipzig was determined by the tastes of the trade-oriented middle class. Boasting
approximately 30,000 inhabitants in the early eighteenth century, this ourishing
city had the nimbus of a little Paris and a little paradise as well.
10
A proud
city government not only administered to the needs of the people but also sought
to keep high cultural standards. The presence of its prestigious university con-
tributed to a lively intellectual atmosphere enhanced by Leipzigs status as a
center for publishing made famous by its annual book fairs. In the 1720s there
was hardly another city in Germany (perhaps with the exception of Hamburg)
that boasted such vigorous commerce and modern life.
In Leipzig, the churches were an important part of the vibrant cultural
4 Translators introduction and commentary
8
Karl Peiser, Johann Adam Hiller: Ein Beitrag zur Musikgeschichte des 18. Jahrhunderts (Leipzig: Gebrder Hug &
Co., 1894), p. 41.
9
Eberhard Rebling, Die soziologischen Grundlagen der Stilwandlung der Musik in Deutschland um die Mitte des 18.
Jahrhunderts (Saalfeld, Ostpreussen: Gnthers Buchdruckerei, 1935), pp. 1011.
10
Arnold Schering, Musikgeschichte Leipzigs in drei Bnden, Vol. II, Von 1650 bis 1723 (Leipzig: Fr. Kistner &
C. F. W. Siegel, 1926), p. 6.
heritage. There were ve of them apart from the University chapels, and all had
daily services in addition to the special services at festival times. The people of
Leipzig had ample opportunity to worship in churches where music was an
essential part of the service. While sacred music was available in abundance,
several attempts were made over the years to establish opera in Leipzig and to
foster the development of German opera in its indigenous form.
As part of the eort to foster German opera, an initiative in 1743 tried to
establish Singspiel in Germany by following an English model. However, this
initial attempt resulted in instant failure. Almost ten years passed before Gottlieb
Heinrich Koch, one of the leading comedians and Director of the Leipzig
theater, made another attempt in 1752 with the same work, Der Teufel ist los (from
the English Devil to Pay), but with new music by Standfuss, a violinist for his ballet
troupe.
11
This new eort met with a great deal of success. Standfuss gave his
music a certain folk-song quality that Hiller later made a distinctive feature of his
own Singspiele. Both Koch and Standfuss produced another Singspiel, Der stolze
Bauer Jochem Trbs, which also found high acclaim in Berlin. The subsequent per-
formance of the second part of Der stolze Bauer, however, met with a cool recep-
tion; the text seemed outdated, and the music had lost its appeal. As a formula
for a German equivalent to the English ballad opera, Italian opera bua, or the
new French opra comique (better known as comdie mle dariettes, a comedy [in
spoken dialogue] mingled with songs),
12
the Singspiel still had to overcome more
obstacles before it became successful. Among the diculties encountered by this
light, entertaining genre was the rapid change in taste typical of this period.
These volatile conditions made a lasting acceptance of the Singspiel dicult.
In the course of time, however, Singspiel was successful. In 1764 Koch
approached the well-established poet Christian Felix Weisse, who, in turn, asked
Hiller to write new music for Der Teufel ist los, the same opera that had been per-
formed in 1752. Since the performers were actors and not singers, Hiller had to
meet the standards of untrained voices by reducing vocal demands. The result
was an emphasis on the Lied. As it turned out, this accessible vocal form was both
pleasing and entertaining and became an instant hit with the audience. The ordi-
nary burghers enjoyed nothing more than simple tunes which they could hum,
whistle, and sing. The popular Lied, replacing the more elaborate Italian aria, was
something common people could relate to and freely imitate. Here, in the
strophic Lied form, Hiller found his best musical medium. From the beginning of
his collaboration with Weisse, he was able to use the melodic lines of the Lied
adroitly for characterization and comic eect. Consistently tailoring his vocal
Translators introduction and commentary 5
11
See Hans Michael Schletterer, Das deutsche Singspiel von seinen ersten Anfngen bis auf die neueste Zeit (Leipzig:
Breitkopf &Hrtel, 1863) and Georgy Calmus, Die ersten deutschen Singspiele von Standfuss und Hiller,
Publikationen der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft, Beihefte, vol. VI, 2nd sequence (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hrtel,
1908). Standfuss, on whom there is scant biographical information, never reaped the rewards worthy of his
talents, and he died in poverty in a Hamburg hospital in 1756, according to Schletterer (Calmus gives a
dierent date, 1757 or even later).
12
Donald Jay Grout with Hermine Weigel Williams, A Short History of Opera, 3rd edn. (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1988), p. 295.
parts to t the respective character on stage, Hiller used popular melodies for
peasants and other members of the lower classes whereas kings and other noble
gures were given more ornate, Italianate arias. This distinction also followed the
contemporary pattern of presenting characters on stage according to the con-
ventions of the social hierarchy. Hillers success in responding to the popular
need for enjoyable and entertaining songs is reected in Peisers assessment
which credits him with arousing in the Germans a Lust zum Singen.
13
Numerous other Singspiele followed, among them Die Jagd in 1770, which was
probably the most popular of Hillers works in Germany and abroad.
14
Hillers musical ingenuity is evidenced by the fact that he sensed the needs of
the day while being able to come up with the right formula to satisfy them. The
Singspiel was not just a pastime of popularizers and entertainment seekers. Some
of the greatest creative minds and artists of the eighteenth century were
attracted to this agreeable and versatile musical form. Goethe, himself drawn to
Leipzig in part because of its cultural riches and student life, was intrigued by
Singspiel. While studying at the university, he frequented performances of
Singspiele, among them Hillers Lisuart und Dariolette which premiered on
November 25, 1766. Because of its lightness and comic element, Singspiel held a
particular attraction for Goethe, who subsequently wrote numerous Singspiel
texts; one of the most signicant examples is his attempt at a sequel to Mozarts
Die Zauberte in 1798. Years later, in 1824, the aging Goethe remembered his
student days in Leipzig and his encounters with the composer whom he endear-
ingly recalled as der gute Hiller.
15
Before Hiller decided to devote his life entirely to music after years of diverse
studies and musical activities, he like Goethe had engaged in the study of law.
He entered the University of Leipzig in 1751. But his love for music had been
with him since his childhood and he did not fail to spend as much time on it as
he could. Giving music lessons partially helped his nancial situation as a
student.
16
Hiller also tried his luck at composition although he considered the
works of this early Leipzig period insignicant. His attention was turned more
6 Translators introduction and commentary
13
Peiser, Hiller, p. 59. Amore recent assessment of Hillers Singspiel production is to be found in Kyoto Kawada,
Studien zu den Singspielen von Johann Adam Hiller (17281804), Ph.D. dissertation, Philipps-
Universitt, Marburg an der Lahn, 1969.
14
A slightly earlier Singspiel is Hillers Die Liebe auf dem Lande. Singspiel in 3 Akten (Love in the Country. Singspiel
in three acts). The fair copy of the autograph, estimated to be from the year 1768, was on display at the
Dresdenexhibitioninthe Library of Congress, April 11July 13, 1996. See Margrit B. Krewson(ed.), Dresden.
Treasures from the Saxon State Library (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1996), catalog, item 151, p. 101.
15
Goethes Singspiele are numerous. Here is a list of some from the 1770s:
1775 Claudine von Villa Bella (Claudine of Villa Bella)
1775 Erwin und Elmire (Erwin and Elmire)
1777 Lila (Lila)
1777 Der Triumph der Empndsamkeit (The Triumph of Sensibility)
1779 Jery und Bately (Jery and Bately)
The references to Goethe are in Goethes Werke, Vollstndige Ausgabe letzter Hand, vols. X, XI (Stuttgart and
Tbingen: Cotta, 1828).
16
Johann Adam Hiller, in Lebenslufe deutscher Musiker von ihnen selbst erzhlt, ed. Alfred Einstein, vol. I (Leipzig:
C. F. W. Siegel, 1915), p. 35, fn. 10. See also Calmus, Die ersten deutschen Singspiele, p. 35.
toward theoretical endeavors and his rst attempt at writing about music, his
Abhandlung von der Nachahmung in der Musik, completed in 1753, impressed
Marpurg enough to publish it in volume 1 of his Historisch-kritische Beitrge.
Continuing his studies of lawat the university, Hiller was encouraged by this suc-
cessful enterprise to persevere in his pursuit of musical matters on his own.
Essentially Hiller was self-taught in many areas of interest, both in music train-
ing and in scholarship. While he lacked the nancial means to aord a proper
musical education himself, he managed to achieve a sucient level of perfor-
mance on the piano, ute, and violin that would allow him to make good use of
it in his future career as composer, teacher, and theorist. However, in his auto-
biography, Hiller claimed to have no illusions about the limitations of his playing
skills.
17
Likewise his compositional output was, by the standards of his time,
modest at best. Yet Hiller was condent of his voice and his accomplishments as
a singer. The favorable reputation he had achieved in Leipzig reinforced his pre-
occupation with the human voice. Like so many of his contemporaries, he con-
sidered it the greatest instrument.
At Leipzig University, the renowned Johann Christoph Gottsched
18
and
Christian Frchtegott Gellert
19
were among Hillers teachers. In 1754, through
the assistance of Gellert, the young student was appointed to a position as tutor
in the service of the Brhls, an aristocratic family whose residence in Dresden
was one of the centers for the arts in that city.
20
The possibility of studying music
more thoroughly and the opportunity to come into direct contact with the latest
artistic activities were particularly attractive to Hiller. Stimulated by this environ-
ment and secure in his modest position, he nally gave up his studies of law to
devote himself completely to music.
Characteristically, Hiller did not pursue music studies with a single goal in
mind. A variety of activities attracted him, ultimately leading him to a much
diversied career as an editor, musical director, conductor, composer, critic,
Translators introduction and commentary 7
17
Einstein (ed.), Lebenslufe, vol. I, p. 14. Despite this claim, Hiller seemed to have some condence in his abil-
ities as a violinist. He published an instruction manual, the Anweisung zum Violinspielen fr Schler und zum
Selbstunterrichte (Leipzig, 1793). This Tutor On Playing The Violin, For Students And Self-instruction indi-
cates Hillers general teaching interests and his experience as a self-trained player as well.
18
Johann Christoph Gottsched (170066): German writer and Professor of Philosophy and Poetry at Leipzig
University; a key gure of the early German literary Enlightenment and a major theorist and critic, he com-
piled a catalogue of German plays from 1450, including those with music.
19
Christian Frchtegott Gellert (171569): he studied philosophy and theology in Leipzig and served from
1745 as Professor of Poetry, Eloquence, and Ethics at Leipzig University. As author and teacher, he was
highly esteemed by the intellectuals of his time and even was considered the plus raisonnable de tous les
savants allemands by Frederick the Great.
20
Hiller was in service to Count Heinrich Adolph von Brhl (170063), a nephew of Count Heinrich von
Brhl, the powerful minister of Friedrich August II, the Polish King and Saxon Elector (169663). Being a
tutor to the younger Brhl, Hiller attended some of the lavishly produced musical performances at the min-
isters residence in Dresden, among them several of Hasses operas. The minister is notorious for the enor-
mous wealth he accumulated from state funds, with ruinous consequences for Saxonys nances. With a
weakened army, he entered into the calamitous Seven Years War with Prussia (175663), which resulted in
irreparable losses for Saxony, including the loss of the Polish crown. Brhls legendary book collection of
62,000 volumes was sold by his heirs in 1768 to the Kurfrstliche Bibliothek (Electoral Library) in Dresden,
adding to its status as one of the nest collections in Germany.
theorist, and teacher. While the Seven Years War, which had started in 1756,
dampened cultural activities both in Dresden and in Leipzig, Hiller, undeterred
by the impact of political events, continued his involvement in music, furthering
his career by establishing important social contacts. Thus, he befriended Karl
Wilhelm Mller, the future Mayor of Leipzig, who many years later was instru-
mental in providing a newfacility for Hillers Gewandhaus Conzerte in 1781, a mile-
stone in the history of public concert performances.
Hiller suered all his life from headaches and hypochondria, ailments that
time and again interfered with his plans and activities. When his headaches
became insuerable for a period in 1760, he left Count von Brhls service.
Despite his ill health he managed to realize his idea of publishing the rst weekly
music periodical, the Musikalischer Zeitvertreib, which was brought out by Breitkopf
& Hrtel in the same year. However, at the time that this anthology of small
musical compositions was received with acclaim, Hillers health problems again
became more acute and forced him to discontinue publication of his innovative
serial.
The real turning point in Hillers career came in 1762 when he was asked to
set up a series of subscription concerts which had been discontinued during the
Seven Years War. With it came the opportunity to play a major role in Leipzigs
musical life by way of concert activities. In his earlier years in Leipzig, Hiller had
ventured into musical composition, writing a Passionskantate, some chorale melo-
dies for his teacher Gellert, and a collection of songs dedicated to his canary, a
dedication made in jest that he withdrew in the second edition.
21
Not unaware
that he could not excel in composition save for the later Singspiele and cognizant
that he also could not compete with such successful peers as C. P. E. Bach, Georg
Benda, and Johann Joachim Quantz,
22
Hiller shifted his interest to editing and
musical directorship, compiling the anthology Loisir musical, which included some
piano sonatas. But when he began the newconcert series in 1763, opening it with
a cantata of his own, he marked the beginning of his most signicant career as
musical director and leading gure of music life in Leipzig.
Public concerts had a certain tradition in Leipzig, where one of the rst groups
to appear in public was the Collegium musicum of the University, a student society
which had been founded by Georg Philipp Telemann in 1704 when he was a
student of law and modern languages. After Telemanns departure for Sorau,
Melchior Homann took over this post in 1704 and devoted himself not only to
performance, but to practice, teaching, and educating the participants as well.
23
As it turned out, the foundation for the future conservatory was being laid. By
the time Johann Sebastian Bach became the Director of the Collegium musicum in
8 Translators introduction and commentary
21
Einstein (ed.), Lebenslufe, vol. I, p. 18.
22
Ibid., p. 14.
23
Melchior Homann (c. 16851715): German composer and conductor, who held the posts of director of
music at the Neue Kirche, the opera, and the Collegium musicum with the exception of a years stay in
England (171011) until his death.
1729, these concerts were being oered in the coee houses of Leipzig.
24
As of
1746 there were three such music groups or Collegia weekly in town, indicating
the proliferation of these musical activities and the growing interest among the
citys population. One group was directed by the organist of the Neue Kirche,
the second by the organist of the Thomaskirche, and the third was under the
direction of the Herren Kaueute und andere Personen in Drey Schwanen im
Brhle.
25
This third group became known as the Grosses Conzert and it was the
direct forerunner of the Gewandhaus Conzerte.
From the beginning the Grosses Conzert was a great success. Hiller himself had
previously been associated with the organization before he became its newdirec-
tor. From 1751 to 1754, while studying at the university, he had played ute and
sung bass in the Grosses Conzert. It is possible that he already at that time
inuenced the programming and selection of compositions performed, in par-
ticular the music of Hasse.
26
In addition to heading the Grosses Conzert and includ-
ing as much vocal music as possible, Hiller gave private voice lessons to both boys
and girls. When the number of students he was teaching grew considerably, he
established his own Musikbende Gesellschaft. Several women, respected in the com-
munity for their musical talents, joined as harpsichord players and other
members of the orchestra. Subsequently, this Musikchor achieved such a high level
of playing that Hiller was able to give concerts with them, and the works he
selected became increasingly dicult and demanding. Originally the perform-
ances were thought of as rehearsals, but in order to give the group the oppor-
tunity to perform in public, Hiller founded another concert series, the Concerts
Spirituels. During Advent and Lent, the Musikbende Gesellschaft performed works
in public which were appropriate to the season. In 1778, owing to a lack of funds,
the Grosses Conzert was forced to stop temporarily, while the Musikbende Gesellschaft
continued to ourish.
Encouraged by his success as music director and pedagogue, Hiller founded a
conservatory for students and amateurs in 1776. A public performance three
years later achieved much acclaim, and the Musikbende Gesellschaft soon became
one of the most esteemed groups in Leipzig, and their concerts am Markte in
the Thomashaus were in great demand among the public, as had been the
former concerts in the Drey Schwanen. Lacking, however, was an appropriate
concert hall. Hillers friend the Brgermeister Karl Wilhelm Mller was able to
fulll the wish for a new facility. In 1781 the new Gewandhaus was completed,
Translators introduction and commentary 9
24
For Bachs involvement in the Collegium musicum see Eberhard Creuzburg, Die Gewandhaus-Konzerte zu Leipzig
(Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hrtel, 1931), p. 11. For a more recent account see Christoph Wol, Bach: Essays on
his Life and Music (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1991), p. 30: Bachs directorship lasted into
the early 1740s. Unfortunately we know nothing of the programs of the ordinary weekly concerts, which
took place in winter on Friday evenings from eight until ten oclock in the Zimmermann coee house, and
in the summer on Wednesday afternoons from four to six in the coee garden in front of the Grimmische
Tor.
25
Creuzburg, Die Gewandhaus-Konzerte zu Leipzig, p. 12.
26
Arnold Schering, Musikgeschichte Leipzigs in drei Bnden, vol. III, Von 1723 bis 1800, Part II, Das Zeitalter
Johann Adam Hillers 17501800 (Leipzig: F. Kistner & C. F. W. Siegel, 1941), p. 401.
and Hiller became its rst musical director. He maintained this position until the
winter of 178485 when he was appointed Kapellmeister to the Duke of
Courland. Finally, having returned to Leipzig, Hiller, who rst assisted Cantor
Doles at the Thomasschule, took over this post in 1789 and held it until ill health
forced his resignation in 1801.
Hiller is best remembered for his pivotal contribution to Singspiel and in his role
as rst conductor of the Gewandhaus Conzerte, which started a formidable tradi-
tion in music making. Another of the lasting eects of Hillers musical activities
at the Gewandhaus is the concert format that he created after the design used
for the Grosses Conzert: a two-part program, with an intermission to allow for the
audience to refresh themselves and take in the second part of a concert with
renewed attention and expectations. Both parts of the concert, largely parallel
in design, were designed to provide a fairly symmetrical structure. Usually a sym-
phony would open part 1, to be followed by a concert aria, a concerto for soloist
(violin or piano), an aria from an opera, and some more ensemble playing in a
divertissement. After the intermission break, the audience was greeted with
another symphony, another aria and the nal piece, usually another symphony
for the entire orchestra. This format served as a model for the programming of
the Gewandhaus Conzerte for years to come.
27
In public concerts, Leipzig rivaled London and Paris. Most of the audience
comprised wealthy burghers, merchants, churchmen, civil servants, and artisans
who not only enjoyed listening to music but liked to perform it themselves. Thus,
a demand arose for music simple enough for the modestly equipped amateurs to
play in their homes. This type of music Hausmusik became increasingly
popular and widespread. Entire families joined together, practicing and perform-
ing, enjoying each others company in the process. Soon they were giving con-
certs among themselves and for friends. The Hauskonzert became an important
socio-cultural event: A moderately well-to-do comfortable, somewhat educated
German burgher family needed music through which to pour the overow of its
aections; it wanted to participate in music actively at home, even more than
listen to it in passive admiration in church or elsewhere.
28
Naturally, keyboard
instruments played a major role in Hausmusik together with singing. Hausmusik not
only fostered Geselligkeit (socializing), it also, as Preuner has remarked, did much
for the advancement of music: The enrichment of music (Musikpege) owes
everything to house music and house concerts: it was the basis for a valuable
group of listeners, for a musically enthusiastic youth, and the seed for musical
talent.
29
While singing was an integral part of most Hausmusik, the German bur-
10 Translators introduction and commentary
27
For a discussion of the concert format and examples of programs for the Grosses Concert and the rst
Gewandhauskonzert of November 25, 1781, see Creuzburg, Die Gewandhaus-Konzerte zu Leipzig, pp. 18f. and 23.
28
Arthur Loesser, Men, Women and Pianos (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1954), p. 53.
29
Eberhard Preuner, Die brgerliche Musikkultur: Ein Beitrag zur deutschen Musikgeschichte des 18. Jahrhunderts
(Hamburg: Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt A.-G., 1935; 2nd edn., Kassel and Basel: Brenreiter-Verlag, 1950),
p. 41: Der Hausmusik, den Hauskonzerten verdankt die Musikpege alles: den Stamm einer wertvollen
Hrergemeinde, die musikbegeisterte Jugend, die Keimlegung fr das musikalische Talent.
ghers had to satisfy themselves with such musical forms as the Lied rather than
more sophisticated vocal music owing to their lack of training.
30
One of Hillers important contributions to Hausmusik was his successful adap-
tation of foreign styles, above all the Italian. This required transcriptions, and
Hiller supplied quite a few by reducing available music (often his own) to its basic
components and structure so it would be accessible to the educated amateur.
Audiences at public concerts or opera desired to take the music home.
Consequently there arose a market for piano versions of currently successful
music. Since Hillers Singspiel tunes and melodies had become so popular that
they were hummed and sung in the city streets or played on the piano at home,
the composer hurried, encouraged by his publisher Breitkopf who gladly took
advantage of this trend, to produce pianovocal reductions of his Singspiel scores.
Lottchen am Hofe and Die Liebe auf dem Lande did exceptionally well and went
through four editions 2,750 copies altogether within fteen years. Die Jagd
was issued immediately in an edition of 2,000 and in two additional editions of
1,000 each.
31
An equally important contribution to church music occurred while Hiller was
at the Thomasschule. Just as he had used the appeal of the Lied to popularize
German opera, he revised and simplied the German chorale. In 1793, his
Allgemeines Choral-Melodienbuch fr Kirchen und Schulen was published, with two sup-
plements appearing in 1794 and 1797. This work, one of Hillers most signicant
achievements during his years at the Thomasschule, met with considerable
success. It was widely read and remained highly inuential long after its publica-
tion. Again, accessibility and simplication served as guiding principles in
Hillers attempt to foster improvement and change in the state of singing in
Germany. The purpose of the Allgemeines Choral-Melodienbuch was to train children
to sing chorales in the right manner and, at the same time, provide them with
enjoyment in their own music learning and making. The Allgemeines Choral-
Melodienbuch can be considered as a highpoint in Hillers life-long dedication to
the improvement of singing and his eorts to enhance the German peoples
experience of music. Here, his pedagogical goal is consistent with the educa-
tional objectives that he expounded both in his various singing instruction
manuals, tutors, and treatises for use in schools
32
and in his major works, the
vocal treatises Anweisung zum musikalisch-richtigen Gesange and Anweisung zum
musikalisch-zierlichen Gesange. These two works, published six years apart and often
referred to by Hiller as Part I and Part II, comprise his manual on the theory and
performance practice of vocal music, beginning with the elementary tutor in
the rst treatise, and his introduction to the art of ornamentation in the second
treatise.
Beyond using the Lied and its inherent melodic qualities in his Singspiele, Hiller
showed genuine concern for this popular form and its stylistic features, which, in
Translators introduction and commentary 11
30
Loesser, Men, Women and Pianos, pp. 5354.
31
Ibid., pp. 153154.
32
See the works listed in fn. 40.
Germany, were greatly indebted to Italian and French inuences. Early in the
century German anthologists had published, in response to popular demand, a
number of Lieder collections. By about 1730, however, the word Lied carried a
negative connotation, while the term ode was much preferred and respected.
The Lied had come to refer to that kind of song a sort of lower-class ditty
which was sung by those who frequented houses of ill repute. Its position
improved in 1736 with Sperontes collection of songs called Die singende Muse an
der Pleisse, in 2 mahl 50 Oden (The Singing Muse on the Pleisse in 2 Times 50
Odes). The author, Johann Sigismund Scholze, using a pseudonym, was appar-
ently too embarrassed to employ the word Lied in the title of his song book. The
success of this Leipzig collection, however, was so great that, as Rebling accounts,
three more supplements appeared by 1745, and the rst part of the anthology
alone appeared no less than ve times by 1751.
33
When the Singspiel became more established, Hiller improved upon it by his
innovative development and use of the Lied. As has been noted above, he not only
gave the characters on stage music appropriate to their social station but, for the
rst time, had ordinary people (peasants, etc.) singing folk songs to the audience.
Thus the Singspiel left a signicant mark on the development of the Lied. Many of
Hillers Singspiel songs, with their really tuneful melodies, were light entertain-
ments easily transferable to social gatherings. Perhaps under the inuence of his
stage expertise, Hiller created the through-composed Lied (durchkomponiertes Lied).
34
This innovation is an example of his attempt to make the Lied more artful and
demanding while keeping its popular appeal. At the same time, it demonstrates
howHiller foundpragmatic solutions inhis eort toenrichGermanvocal music.
35
Song collections grew in popularity, and after 1760 there was a marked
increase in editions.
36
These anthologies served all purposes, needs, situations,
and walks of life. Hiller even assembled a collection of songs for children to
poems by his Singspiel collaborator Weisse, 50 Geistliche Lieder fr Kinder. In the
introduction to this collection, he states categorically that he prefers the easy
and natural singable material to the pompous and articial.
37
As always, Hiller
was sensitive to the special needs of his given audience by using appropriate,
appealing, and pedagogically sound materials. Trying to make the songs more
attractive to children, he used secular texts instead of the customary chorales and
hymns. Altogether, as Rebling states, Hiller felt that This [music education]
must already begin in early childhood, and the little Lied served this purpose for
him.
38
Hiller replaced the Latin that was left in Lutheran church music with
motets and chorales in German. At the Thomasschule he was in charge of fty-
12 Translators introduction and commentary
33
Rebling, Die soziologischen Grundlagen, p. 58.
34
David C. Taylor and Hiram Kelly Moderwell, The Voice and Vocal Music. The Art of Music, vol. V (New York:
The National Society of Music, 1915), p. 176.
35
Ibid.
36
Loesser, Men, Women and Pianos, p. 55.
37
Rebling, Die soziologischen Grundlagen, pp. 7273: Hiller betont in seiner ersten Verentlichung von
Kompositionen Weiescher Gedichte fr Kinder, da er das leichte und natrliche Singbare dem
Schwlstigen und Geknstelten vorziehe.
38
Ibid., p. 73. Das mute aber bereits in frhester Jugend beginnen, und zu diesem Zweck diente ihm das
kleine Lied.
six pupils and initiated many changes to improve the educational environment
and ease the daily routines of the young students. He freed them from such
chores as fetching rewood and water, simplied the dress code, improved their
recreational reading material, and provided them with much-needed medical
care and an inrmary. He also trained them as instrumentalists so that after a
few years he had an entire youth orchestra in addition to the choir at the
Thomasschule.
39
Hiller used his innovative skills as a teacher to educate the general public about
music, placing great emphasis on the instruction of children at an early age for
the improvement of music education.
40
Hiller could speak from his own experi-
ence as a youngster. In the Preface to his 1774 treatise on correct singing, he
recalled his own singing lessons:
In singing I enjoyed instruction, communally along with others, from my twelfth year
onwards, as is usual in schools. To be sure, pitching and rhythm were certainly the goal
towards which we had to run; but the way was so uncertain and uneven that it took much
time before one learned to go without stumbling. The example of this or that interval,
written on the board according to the succession of scale degrees, was always soon
learned; but if one of these intervals should be given out of order, we were like the hon-
orable Corporal Trim in Tristram Shandy, who knew the fourth Commandment very well;
but only when he could begin with the rst. Of good use of the voice, of the comfort-
able drawing of breath, of a pure and clear pronunciation, however essential these ele-
ments of singing were, little or nothing was mentioned.
41
Clearly, Hiller critiques an outmoded formof singing instruction that apparently
taught him many more lessons than intended. His own approach to teaching
singing tried to avoid the pitfalls inherent in the backwardness of German
Translators introduction and commentary 13
39
See Peiser, Hiller, pp. 8385. It is interesting to note here that Hillers enlightened eorts to give the pupils
an excellent music education were met with suspicion and resentment by his conservative colleagues and
superiors. Apparently, his reform-minded activities conicted with the traditionalists at the Thomasschule,
who were concerned about its academic reputation. The Director, Rector Fischer, took the opportunity in
1795 to weaken Hillers position. But the Leipzig City Council, functioning as an arbitrator, found a modus
vivendi to appease the feuding parties that allowed Hiller to continue with many of his reforms. See Peiser,
Hiller, pp. 8689.
40
Aside from the above-mentioned Allgemeines Choral-Melodienbuch fr Kirchen und Schulen of 1793, Hiller, in
pursuit of his goals as music educator and editor, published widely. Noteworthy are his Letztes Opfer der komi-
schen Muse (Leipzig, 1790); Religise Lieder mit Melodien, zum Singen beym Clavier (Hamburg, 1790); and coedited
with J. A. Hasse, Beitrge zu wahrer Kirchenmusik (Leipzig, 1791). Additional manuals, tutors, and treatises
include: Anweisung zur Singekunst in der deutschen und italinischen Sprache, zum Gebrauch der Schulen, mit ausfhrlichen
Exempeln und bungsstcken versehen (Frankfurt am Main und Leipzig: J. F. Junius, 1773); Exempelbuch der
Anweisung zum Singen, zum Gebrauch der Schulen und anderer Liebhaber des Gesanges (Leipzig: J. F. Junius, 1774); Kurze
und erleichterte Anweisung zum Singen, fr Schulen in Stdten und Drfern (Leipzig: J. F. Junius, 1792). Compared to
his more advanced treatises, the Anweisung zum musikalisch-richtigen Gesange of 1774 and the Anweisung zum
musikalisch-zierlichen Gesange of 1780, which are more rigorous in their training from beginner to professional,
Hiller, once again, exhibits in the 1792 publication his renewed dedication and service to singing education
in schools. Butt observes in his discussion of this concise treatise for school singing: Such are the con-
strictions of the school schedule that Hiller seems to have returned to the more traditional format for
German school treatises (by abandoning the lesson format of the 1774 primer), although particularly inter-
esting recommendations on the singing of passages and other directives, above all his choice of examples,
indicate his careful blending of tradition with innovation and his sensitivity to the contingencies of his age
(Butt, Music Education, pp. 178f.).
41
This passage from Hillers 1774 Vorrede is quoted in Butts translation from his Music Education, pp. 167f.
singing that resulted from an unthinking, mechanical attitude to the art, as
Butt rightly observes.
42
Aside from his service as pedagogue, music director, and organizer of con-
certs, Hiller added to his editorial activities the role of music critic, providing
commentary and guidance for his middle-class audience in musical aairs. He
initiated what was to become his best-known publication, the critical periodical
Wchentliche Nachrichten und Anmerkungen die Musik betreend (Weekly Reports and
Remarks Concerning Music), which appeared between 1766 and 1770. This
was the rst music journal, which earned Hiller the attering title Father of
Music Criticism.
43
In this publication, rather than following the scholarly tradi-
tion of treatise writing, Hiller compiled information, review articles, and evalu-
ations which were intended as orientation for his readers interested in the local
music scene and musical aairs in general.
Hillers activities as reformer and innovator showa remarkable degree of con-
sistency. Able to maintain his long-term goals and apply them to the subject that
he dealt with, he set out to modernize conditions in a world that, inspired by the
Age of Enlightenment,
44
was in the throes of great dynamic changes politically
and socially. One major aspect of the changing culture was the increased impor-
tance of music as a vital means of self-expression for the German middle class.
Leo Balet and E. Gerhard, taking the sociological factor into account, state, with
specic reference to Hillers exemplary achievements: Everywhere music
schools for dilettantes were founded. It would take us too far aeld to list even
the most important ones here. We would like to mention the eorts of Johann
Adam Hiller, who strove, with great energy, to improve the level of singing in
Germany by means of personal instruction and theoretical works. All these facts
suggest that the middle class enriched its emotional culture through music.
45
Hillers pioneering aspirations were also devoted to helping women achieve
greater equality in music. Taking the Italian conservatories as models, he not
only set up singing schools for boys and girls but also favored training women in
singing, as he was strongly opposed to castration. In his Preface to the Anweisung
zum musikalisch-zierlichen Gesange, Hiller emphatically proposed his new ideals,
condemning, at the same time, the injustices suered by women in the past.
46
14 Translators introduction and commentary
42
Butt, Music Education, p. 168.
43
Peiser, Hiller, p. 14.
44
The eect of the Enlightenment on cultural evolution in the eighteenth century with regard to music has
been summarized aptly by an older source: Paul Henry Lang, Music in Western Civilization (New York: W. W.
Norton, 1941), pp. 570579.
45
Leo Balet and E. Gerhard, Die Verbrgerlichung der deutschen Kunst, Literatur und Musik im 18. Jahrhundert (Frankfurt
am Main, Berlin, and Vienna: Ullstein Verlag, 1973), p. 392: berall entstanden Musikschulen fr
Liebhaber. Hier auch nur die wichtigsten zu nennen, wrde zu weit fhren. Wir wollen nur die Bestrebungen
von Johann Adam Hiller erwhnen, der sich durch persnliche Unterweisung wie durch Bcher energisch
fr die Hebung des gesanglichen Niveaus in Deutschland einsetzte. Aus allen diesen Tatsachen kann man
erkennen, in welchem Mae das Brgertum die Gefhlsbereicherung durch die Musik durchfhrte.
46
Hiller, Anweisung zummusikalisch-zierlichen Gesange, Preface, pp. 40f. below. Hillers youngest daughter, Elisabeth
Wilhelmine, apparently encouraged and fostered by her fathers progressive stance, was reputedly an accom-
plished singer. Married to an ocial, the geheimer Kammersekretr (secret cabinet secretary) Brde in
Breslau (today Wrocl
-
aw, Poland), she died there on January 10, 1806, only two years after her fathers death.
It was the departure of one of his nest female pupils, Gertrud Schmehling
(married name Mara), whose position he found so dicult to ll upon her leaving
Leipzig, that gave Hiller the impetus to establish a music and singing school for
both male and female singers. His ght for womens rights is indicative of his per-
sistence in improving untenable situations and obsolete conditions which prohib-
ited middle-class women frommost activities outside the domestic realm. Hillers
attempt to further women in music shows him to be on the progressive side of
the German bourgeoisie. His ardent advocacy of the cause of women in music
suggests that Hiller proposed changes not only for pragmatic reasons (lack of cas-
trati in Germany, for example) but also out of the growing conviction that
women were endowed with at least equal if not greater vocal abilities than their
male counterparts.
47
Consequently, Hiller made signicant eorts to provide
training opportunities for women to sing and he deserves full recognition for his
steadfast support of womens musical emancipation.
The ability to show concern and compassion for his fellow citizens won Hiller
many friends during his lifetime. Friends, colleagues, students, and acquain-
tances were full of praise for a man who was at the center of musical life. Johann
Friedrich Rochlitz (17691842), a well-known German critic and founder of the
important musical review Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, who knew Hiller person-
ally (as well as Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, E. T. A. Homann, Goethe, and
Schiller among other major gures of the time), began his article In Memoriam
Johann Adam Hiller which appeared in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung one
week after Hillers death in 1804 with a quote by Lessing: Einige sind
berhmt, andere verdienen es zu seyn (Some are famous, others deserve to
be).
48
Obviously Rochlitz felt that Hiller had not received the fame and
acknowledgment which he deserved and, in writing this memorial to him, was
attempting to pay due respect to an accomplished man. He goes on to say that
some people have genius and create because they must, following an inner neces-
sity but rarely delivering truly impeccable work, whereas others without that
special gift are able, through talent, insight, and diligence, to create works which
are totally their own, and benet others at the same time. The former become
famous; the latter do not.
49
While not placing him in the category of genius,
Rochlitz nevertheless extols Hillers talent and diligence.
Rochlitz knew Hiller to be a very humble man, less taken by his own compo-
sitions than by the works of other composers. Although Hiller favored Hasse and
Translators introduction and commentary 15
Recognizing Hillers championing of women, Butt observes: His departure from the norms of the conser-
vative church/school tradition is shown even more clearly by his advocacy of the musical education of
women, who should have every right to sing church music; the fact that it was traditional to exclude women
from church music was, in itself, no good reason (Butt, Music Education, p. 167; cf. Preface, p. 41 below).
47
Comparing the God-given talent of men and women to sing, Hiller claims that it is the other sex which
has received this gift to a greater extent from its creator. See Preface, p. 41 below.
48
[ Johann Friedrich Rochlitz], Zum Andenken Johann Adam Hillers, Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung no. 51
(September 19, 1804), p. 845. This article is printed without an authors name; however, it diers only
slightly fromthe 1768 article in Rochlitzs Fr Freunde der Tonkunst and can therefore be attributed to Rochlitz.
49
[Rochlitz], Zum Andenken Johann Adam Hillers, p. 845.
Graun throughout his life, he was deeply moved when Mozarts widow came to
Leipzig in 1792 with a manuscript of her late husbands Requiem. According to
Peiser,
50
she brought the manuscript directly to Hiller, who was so impressed by
the magnicence of the music that he, taken with joy and admiration for
Mozart, immediately prepared a German translation and performed the work
in Leipzig.
51
Noteworthy here is the fact that Hiller found it necessary to trans-
late the Latin text of the Requiem Mass in order to make it accessible to his pre-
dominantly protestant audience. Asimilar event had occurred a fewyears earlier,
when Hiller directed a performance of Handels Messiah in Berlin on May 19,
1786. The oratorio, a great favorite of Hillers, was translated by him from
English into German, but because the most prominent singer was an Italian who
could hardly pronounce German, another translation, this time into Italian, was
necessary to ensure the proper pronunciation of the text.
52
In general, Hillers contemporaries spoke of himin glowing terms. Among his
many admirers was Beethovens teacher, Christian Gottlieb Neefe (174898). His
long account of his relationship with Hiller overows with praise and aection
for a man, teacher, and musician so capable of great warmth and friendship.
One of the things Hiller and Neefe had in common was that they both suered
from hypochondria and, in turn, they showed deep compassion for one another:
A closer friendship between Hiller and myself developed out of an aiction, and similar
fates usually bring people closer together.
Now that I have mentioned Hiller again, I feel duty bound to write about him in more
detail. Where can one nd a music lover who does not know and adore this intelligent,
tasteful and sensitive composer, this musical Gellert! and where can one meet an ingeni-
ous performing artist who does not value him! I have never seen such all-out patronage
of his art as practiced by him. He used his nancial means and exhibited the most
glowing fervor in subsidizing young talent, helping it develop and promoting it.
It is this man, then, more than any other, to whom I owe a debt of gratitude. He is the
wellspring of my better musical knowledge, though I have never been subjected to his
teaching in an organized manner. But his conversations about musical matters, the sug-
gestions regarding my work, his readiness to supply me with the nest examples and to
point out their most exquisite beauties as well as the stimulation of further interest by
such books as for instance, Humes Grundstze der Kritik [An Enquiry into Human
Understanding] and Sulzers Theorie [der schnen Knste], wherein art was dealt with along
psychological lines of thought, all this did me more good than any formal instruction
might have done.
53
Neefes aectionate appraisal of Hiller vividly portrays a major musical gure
who gained the status of model and friend in many peoples lives. It is an assess-
ment which points to the exceptional qualities of a man who played such
diverse roles in the musical life of Germany. As a teacher he was the most
16 Translators introduction and commentary
50
Peiser, Hiller, p. 94.
51
[Rochlitz], Zum Andenken Johann Adam Hillers, p. 857.
52
Peiser, Hiller, pp. 6364.
53
Paul Nettl, Forgotten Musicians (New York: Greenwood Press Publishers, 1951), Part II, Five Eighteenth Century
Musicians as They Saw Themselves: The Life of Christian Gottlieb Neefe, pp. 253254.
notable gure in German music education during the latter half of the eight-
eenth century.
54
Hiller was skilled as innovator and educator, initiator and
mediator, patron and participant, and as close friend and seless colleague.
Being personable and generous, he aected others decisively, bringing out the
best in them.
To sum up his importance for eighteenth-century German music, there can
be little doubt that among Hillers greatest assets was his ability to foster the
musical development of the middle class. Hiller, who spent much of his career
outside the traditional church and school establishment,
55
employed his many
talents to contribute signicantly to the process of change by which his own social
class assimilated and transformed the musical legacies of the past that had been
dominated by privilege and high station. He helped to give vocal music a more
popular appeal while, at the same time, appropriating principles and traditions
that engendered high standards of performance.
coxxrx+\nv
In writing his singing treatises, Hiller examined vocal music from both a practi-
cal and a pedagogical point of view. Having gained considerable insight into the
state of singing in Germany from his experience as singer and teacher, he strove
to improve both the conditions and the teaching of singing with his Anweisung zum
musikalisch-richtigen Gesange in 1774. This Treatise on Vocal Performance and
Technique is a tutor concerned with the basics: the acquisition of the elemen-
tary knowledge and skills of musicianship, harmony, theory, and performance
technique as a singer. Clearly, Hiller had general instructional purposes in mind.
His second treatise, the Anweisung zum musikalisch-zierlichen Gesange, considered by
Hiller as a sequel to the earlier tutor, was to elaborate on performance practice
and present a manual on the intricate art of ne singing and ornamentation. As
a master teacher, Hiller displays his knowledge of the nesse with which singers
embellish music. At the same time, he oers his pedagogical insights into the
means by which the student can go beyond basic musicianship and master the
intricacies of ornamentation. In publishing this treatise in 1780, six years having
elapsed since the appearance of Part I, Hiller fullled his innermost wish to use
and modify the established system of ornamentation with the goal of creating a
model by which German singers could emulate the accomplishments of the
Italians.
In the Preface to the 1774 Treatise on Vocal Performance and Technique,
Hiller allies himself with the tradition of the great masters of vocal and perfor-
mance practice such as Tosi, Agricola, Marpurg, and Mattheson. He laments the
substandard singing in Germany, points out the excellence of Italian standards
of singing and teaching, and begins to suggest how the Germans could raise the
Translators introduction and commentary 17
54
Butt, Music Education, p. 167.
55
Ibid.
level of singing in their country. Although Hiller speaks with unmistakable frus-
tration about the state of things in vocal music, his treatise displays a positive atti-
tude of encouragement and motivation. In a most logical and organized manner,
he teaches beginning singers to become knowledgeable musicians by oering
them detailed instructions on how to sing and to practice. In addition, he denes
and introduces concepts and exercises leading to the ne art of ornamentation.
Already in Lesson 1, Hiller introduces two of the most essential ornaments, the
appoggiatura and trill, so that the student is made aware of and begins to learn
these dicult but important elements of advanced singing early on. Clearly,
Hiller wants the student to start cultivating these necessary techniques in the rst
stages of training, thereby reaching for the highest levels of singing as soon as the
basics are in place. Lesson 13, then, is devoted in its entirety to the importance
of passaggi and the dicult patterns that comprise them.
While this tutor is revealing of Hillers pedagogy and sensible approach to
the development of good musicians and singers, its scope is naturally limited
to the fundamentals of both the basic and the advanced levels of singing. Part II,
the Anweisung zum musikalisch-zierlichen Gesange (1780), goes far beyond the elemen-
tary aspects and oers a sophisticated and comprehensive method of perfor-
mance practice in the late eighteenth century.
The format of the 1780 Anweisung or Treatise on Vocal Performance and
Ornamentation follows the tradition of musical treatises of the eighteenth
century and oers a sequence of chapters rather than lessons. More specically,
the body of this treatise or Part II is divided into two main sections: the rst three
chapters briey reviewthe elements of singing, dealing with The Quality of the
Human Voice and its Improvements; On Good Performance with Regard to
Text and Music. The second section, chapters 48, delves into the actual subject
matter of performance practice: ornamentation, passaggi, cadenzas, and arbi-
trary variations. Whereas his predecessors, such as Tosi and Agricola, were rich
in technical detail, Hiller simplied the presentation of this intricate material and
made the complexities of ornamentation more accessible. Numerous well-
chosen musical examples illustrate the theoretical points. For the most part,
Hillers treatment of the material is straightforward and clear, although every so
often both language and style become convoluted and laborious.
56
However,
unlike his predecessors who elaborate with scholarly rigor and abundant detail,
Hiller communicates his insights despite his wordiness with pedagogical sensibil-
ity and understanding for the psychology of the learning process.
One of the characteristic features in this treatise is Hillers inclination to
provide aesthetic speculation and critical judgment along with theory. In accor-
dance with his views on music, its essence and mission, he treats ornamentation
as an integral part of the musical process rather than an art in itself. Following
18 Translators introduction and commentary
56
Hillers style and manner of presentation did nd criticism. Butt (Music Education, pp. 177f.) lists G. F. Wolf,
who in his Unterricht in der Singekunst (Halle, 1784) nds Hillers treatise too expansive and rambling, while
J. F. Reichardt complains about not enough order or conciseness and also verbosity.
the direction of Tosi and Agricola and, to a great extent, preserving the Baroque
concept and tradition of performance practice and ornamentation, Hillers trea-
tises nevertheless represent a changed historical situation. His music aesthetic
and sensibility reect the aspirations, priorities, and tastes of the new cultural
class that increasingly takes control of musical life in the late eighteenth century.
Considering the virtues and accomplishments of his two vocal treatises, most
notably the Anweisung zum musikalisch-zierlichen Gesange, Hillers task seems to have
been to adapt the elaborate and sophisticated art of singing and ornamentation
of the ancien rgime to the tastes of the middle class for whom he wanted to pre-
serve and further a rich legacy by reconsidering and reappropriating its essential
elements. It seems to follow that Hiller had to work so diligently to improve the
state of singing in Germany: in order to deliver the excellence of a past era to
the present the conditions for a successful reception and assimilation had to be
fostered.
The following summary of the most signicant aspects of the Anweisung zum
musikalisch-zierlichen Gesange will reveal Hillers congenial concept of performance
practice and his intention to stimulate new levels of mastering the ne art of
singing. Hillers treatise is important to performers today because of the invalu-
able insights it provides into historic performance practices.
Declamation
In the Italian virtuoso tradition, declamation
57
was a practical skill which placed
great stress on ornamentation, and, at the same time, drew upon gesture for
support. The Germans, as indicated by Christian Gottfried Krause,
58
found it
more desirable to be able to understand words set to music rather than to be
merely entertained by sound. For Hiller, whose aim was to improve the level of
singing in Germany, declamation was of primary concern because of the intri-
cate relationship between music and text. Since the Italian style set the standard
for vocal music, Hiller, as a pedagogue and teacher, sensed that a comparable
national style could succeed only if both the singer and the composer observed
the characteristics of the German language in their musical endeavors.
Nevertheless, he recommended learning Italian and becoming familiar with the
Italian virtuoso style, while believing that the Germans could successfully
develop a style of their own which would utilize the elements indigenous to the
German language. The advance of the Singspiel, which Hiller helped to establish,
increased the importance of declamation by shifting the focus from the aria with
its orid style to a more folk-like and Lied-oriented type of singing in which the
Translators introduction and commentary 19
57
For additional information see the article Deklamation in Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, ed. Friedrich
Blume (Kassel and Basel: Brenreiter-Verlag, 1954), vol. III, pp. 101114.
58
Christian Gottfried Krause, Von der Musikalischen Poesie (Berlin: Johann Friedrich Voss, 1753); facsimile edn.
(Kassel: Brenreiter Verlag, 1973). Hiller also points out what little training there was in some basics con-
cerning good voice production, clean and clear pronunciation, smooth breathing, which is nowhere
thought of, though everything depends on it.
words were more prominent. It is in this context that Hiller devotes an entire
chapter to declamation and its impact upon both unembellished and orna-
mented music.
While Tosi and Agricola are aware of the importance of declamation, they
do not devote separate chapters to this subject. However, we can assume that
they would have recommended good placement, as they discuss various
aspects of diction and pronunciation in their chapters on the placement of
ornaments and passaggi, giving examples of the syllables upon which ornamen-
tation is inappropriate. Furthermore, they direct the singer away from mere
bravura practices and emphasize the projection of aect through well-placed
ornamentation, i.e. essential and arbitrary ornaments, which indicate respec-
tively those that are required and others left to the discretion of the performer.
To both Tosi and Agricola, skillful ornamentation was an important means of
achieving proper declamation. Like his contemporary Rellstab,
59
Hiller was an
admirer of the Italian art of singing. But he realized that the brilliant Italian
vocal style could not be duplicated in the German language because of its
dierent sound structures and indigenous characteristics. Moreover, the
Germans lacked the talent and training of the Italian virtuosi. Considering the
state of singing in Germany, and recognizing the taste of a predominantly
middle-class audience, Hiller saw the need for a style that would negotiate
between sophistication and simplicity. The shift from the brilliant Italian style to
the proposed German style was intended to stay within the declamation princi-
ples of the German language while, at the same time, reecting a modication
in aesthetic priorities, particularly by curtailing virtuosity for its own sake. For
both Rellstab and Hiller, Aektenlehre took on the meaning of proper and tting
diction.
In discussing basic elements of speech, such as punctuation, meter, and
accent, Hiller points out their importance for the articulation of meaning in lan-
guage, stressing the notion that musical phraseology should reect and enhance
these structuring principles.
60
Hiller, like Rellstab, emphasizes that it is the com-
posers task to be observant of the patterning principles of language in his com-
positions. But in the nal analysis both theorists point out that it is the good taste
and musical sense of the performer which supplant any formal rules.
61
Likewise
meter, which organizes long or stressed and short or unstressed syllables, requires
the singer to make the music follow the rhythmic qualities of the text. Hiller is in
agreement with other eighteenth-century theorists, such as Mattheson and
Marpurg, and refers the singer to their detailed discussions of meter.
20 Translators introduction and commentary
59
Johann Karl Friedrich Rellstab, Versuch ber die Bereinigung der musikalishcen und oratorischen Deklamation (Berlin:
Im Verlag der Musikhandlung und Musikdruckerey des Verfassers, 1786).
60
For a general discussion of punctuation in music and language see Leonard Ratner, Eighteenth Century
Theories of Musical Period Structure, Musical Quarterly 42 (1956), pp. 439454.
61
Rellstab, for example, writes: Hard and fast rules about this matter cannot be supplied even by the very
best masters. Experience, a trained ear, and a ne sense of rhythm will therefore take the place of all rules
(Frmlich festgesetzte Regeln lassen sich auch wohl von den besten Meistern hierber nicht geben.
Erfahrung, ein gebtes Ohr, und ein gutes rhythmisches Gefhl werden fglich die Stelle aller Regeln ver-
treten knnen) (Rellstab, Versuch, p. 15).
Accent is an essential means of modifying the voice. Using the terminology
presented in Jean-Jacques Rousseaus Dictionnaire de Musique and Johann Georg
Sulzers Allgemeine Theorie der schnen Knste, Hiller elaborates on the importance
of accent, distinguishing, like his predecessors, three types: grammatical, orator-
ical, and pathetic. The grammatical accent dierentiates between long and short
syllables and, according to Hiller, lingers somewhat on the long syllable, which
in musical terms means that it takes up the long part of the beat or falls on the
downbeat. The oratorical accent, which Rousseau also calls the logical accent,
emphasizes the meaning of speech through the structuring and patterning of
word and sentence intonation. In this it comes close to the pathetic accent,
through which speech expresses emotion by various uctuations of tone, the
raising or lowering of pitch, and the change in tempo of speech. While the gram-
matical and oratorical accents organize the syntactical and the logical parts of
speech, the pathetic accent has an emotive and expressive function. Following
Sulzers notion that music has greater power to modify the aects than does lan-
guage, Hiller feels that the singer must go further than the composer in express-
ing, through swellings and mutings of the voice, that which the composer cannot
indicate. In cases where a composer disregards rules of prosody, Hiller calls upon
the singer to make impromptu decisions to improve upon the perceived imper-
fections of the compositions, or even to correct obvious mistakes by the com-
poser.
62
Typical for the Age of Enlightenment, Hiller envisions an educated
singer, well versed in history, mythology, and languages, to convey meaningfully
the texts that he or she performs.
Essential ornaments
For Hiller, like his predecessors Tosi, Agricola, Quantz, C. P. E. Bach, and
Marpurg, ornamentation is a quintessential part of musical performance.
63
There were two major categories of ornaments, the essential and the arbitrary.
The essential consisted of the appoggiatura (and the double appoggiatura), the
trill, and the turn, which all had to be performed in particular places in the music
whether they were indicated or not. The arbitrary ornaments, namely the
mordent, Nachschlag, arpeggio, and vibrato, were left to the discretion of the per-
former. Coming at the end of a long tradition, Hiller reects upon the customs
and discusses the uses of ornaments while recording, in detail, their diverse func-
tions. Although he arms the need for ornamentation, Hiller realizes that orna-
ments are the result of musical development and thereby not an absolute given.
They have become a necessity through tradition: ornaments are not essential to
the melody but are rather arbitrary embellishments which, for our taste, have
Translators introduction and commentary 21
62
Hiller, Anweisung zum musikalisch-zierlichen Gesange, p. 27; p. 67 below.
63
Hiller, the pedagogue, incorporated ornamentation into his teaching instruction at a very early stage. His
1774 treatise on Richtigkeit introduces trills right away in Lesson 1 and again in Lesson 12, while Vorschlge
appear in Lesson 7. As Butt notes: it is remarkable how many ornamental devices are presented. Also,
certain elements of ornamentation are relevant even at a comparatively early stage, before Zierlichkeit is
ocially introduced. (Music Education, pp. 174f.)
become a necessity.
64
By linking ornamentation to historical development,
Hiller is aware that musical conventions play an important role in performance
although musical taste may shift. Because he favored a musical style that incor-
porated principles of Enlightenment aesthetics, Hiller espoused a concept of
ornamentation that reects the ideal of simplicity. Hence he seeks to provide a
framework within which to apply ornaments with skill and taste, eectively lim-
iting excessive or abusive use of ornaments by the performer.
Hillers attitude toward ornamentation and its application reects the shift of
control from singer to composer. In Tosis time, the performer in Italy was at
much greater liberty to place ornaments according to the established rules of
performance practice. Hiller, aware of the less favorable conditions for training
singers in Germany, is concerned that not all singers are skilled enough to orna-
ment according to tradition. Thus he suggests, like Agricola before him, that
composers not only indicate ornaments but also notate them in large notes so
that there can be no question about note values.
65
A noticeable change in per-
formance practice has taken place here. For Tosi it was unusual even to give signs
for appoggiaturas, whereas Agricola defends the composers right to write out
appoggiaturas (at least changeable or long appoggiaturas).
66
This shift in attitude
is a further illustration of the increased limitations placed on the performer in
ornamenting by the likes of Agricola, Quantz, and Hiller. While the change does
not reect any alteration in the actual performance of the ornaments themselves,
it serves as an indication of a growing trend among German theorists to abridge
the freedom of the performer. What Agricola nds so lamentable, namely the
tendency among singers to take too many liberties and have an inated sense of
self, is made fun of in Benedetto Marcellos Il teatro alla moda, a satirical treatment
of the state of aairs in early eighteenth-century opera. With regard to the
imbalances caused by the vanity of the singers vis--vis the composer, Marcello
writes: Whenever the composer walks in the company of virtuosos, and espe-
cially castrati, he should let them walk on the right side; he should carry his hat
in his hand and stay one pace behind, remembering that the lowest of them, in
the opera, represent at least a general or captain in the kings or queens guard.
67
22 Translators introduction and commentary
64
Hiller, Anweisung zum musikalisch-zierlichen Gesange, pp. 34f; p. 72 below.
65
Hiller, Anweisung zum musikalisch-zierlichen Gesange, p. 40; p. 76 below.
66
It is of interest here that Agricola, unlike Tosi who attacks those who indicate ornaments, defends this
common practice among German composers, acknowledging the need to indicate appoggiaturas in small
notes. In addition, Agricola remarks in jest that there should almost be warning signs where not to place
appoggiaturas in order to prevent excesses by the glamor-seeking virtuosi of his time. The dierence
between Tosi and Agricola also illustrates a distinction between the Italian habit of relying on conventions
of ornamentation and the need on the part of the German theorists to provide stricter guidelines due, in
large part, to the lack of familiarity with these conventions and performance practices. Cf. Tosi/Agricola,
Anleitung, II (h) and (k), pp. 58f. See also Baird, Introduction, pp. 92f. Baird also observes: Most German and
even many of the Italian composers were already indicating the appoggiatura by the mid eighteenth century.
Agricola concurs with C. P. E. Bach (and not with Quantz) in favoring the systematic indication of exact
note values for the appoggiatura (Baird, Introduction, p. 267, fn. 10).
67
See Reinhard Pauly, Il Teatro Alla Moda, Musical Quarterly 34 (1948), p. 384. In general, while many
Germantheorists admire Italianmusic andart of singing, they sometimes react withreservations as to certain
excessive (oft berladen, Trk) and unrestrained, arbitrary, bizarre, and extravagant (Quantz)
qualities. See D. G. Trk, Klavierschule, Faksimile-Nachdruck der ersten Ausgabe von 1789, ed. Erwin R.
For Hiller, the notation of ornaments is not a mere provision against a poten-
tial abuse or actual capriciousness. The growing unfamiliarity on the part of both
singer and composer with what had been common knowledge in the past is of
greater concern to himin his consideration of the notational changes in perform-
ance practice. In addition, Hiller stresses that ornamentation is a means of
emphasis and accentuation in the musictext relationship. In linking ornamen-
tation to declamation, Hiller makes the point that all musical ornaments are
essentially accents, and should be used to emphasize certain notes and syl-
lables.
68
Ornamentation as accent serves as a point of departure for Hiller,
giving him the opportunity to introduce the dot after a note as an arbitrary
embellishment which he considers to be of great signicance to the basic princi-
ples of ornamentation.
Hillers strategy in presenting his discussion of essential ornaments diers
from that of his predecessors. While both Tosi and Agricola devote separate dis-
cussions to appoggiaturas and trills, Hiller combines themin one lengthy chapter
which he curiously introduces by elaborating on the dot after a note as a minor
arbitrary embellishment. Although not identied as an ornament by either Tosi
or Agricola, according to Hiller the dot after a note functions as a means of
accentuation, namely, it emphasizes the accent of the declamation.
69
The
beauty and clarity of the vocal line is of primary concern to Hiller. To him, vocal
virtuosity is not a means in itself. After considering the various ways of using the
dot after the note, Hiller strongly suggests that the singer, when adding orna-
ments to beautify a melodic line, must take care not to rely on only one type of
ornament and must aim for variety.
70
Following these preliminaries, Hiller embarks upon his observation of the
essential ornaments in his chapter On Good Performance, with Regard to
Ornaments by dividing the appoggiaturas into long and short ornaments and
giving rules for their application based upon musical and declamatory princi-
ples in accordance with good taste at all times.
71
There follow extensive rules
for the other essential and arbitrary ornaments: the Nachschlag, Anschlag, Schleifer,
trill, mordent, turn, vibrato, and others. In establishing the rules for their proper
application, Hiller teaches the correct use and distribution of these ornaments,
always bearing in mind melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic situations.
72
When
Translators introduction and commentary 23
Jacobi (Kassel, Basel, London, New York: Brenreiter Verlag, 1962), p. 404; Johann Joachim Quantz, On
Playing the Flute [Berlin, 1752]. trans and ed. Edward R. Reilly (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.,
1975), pp. 334335. Quantz also complains: Some persons greatly abuse the use of the extempore embel-
lishments as well as the appoggiaturas and the other essential graces as described here (p. 99). Perhaps it is the
realization of these German theorists that the Italians had superior musical training and vocal skills which
causes them to put more restraints upon German singers in the practice of ornamentation.
68
Hiller, Anweisung zum musikalisch-zierlichen Gesange, p. 34; p. 72 below.
69
Hiller, Anweisung zum musikalisch-zierlichen Gesange, p. 35; p. 73 below. Butt, Music Education, p. 176, notes: The
introduction of unnotated dotted rhythms is another feature that can be traced back to the Italianate orna-
mental methods of the early Baroque.
70
Hiller, Anweisung zum musikalisch-zierlichen Gesange, p. 37; p. 74 below.
71
Hiller, Anweisung zum musikalisch-zierlichen Gesange, p. 35; p. 73 below.
72
Joan Smiles, Improvised Ornamentation in Late Eighteenth-Century Music: An Examination of
Contemporary Evidence, Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford University, 1975, p. 284.
Hiller comes across important material already presented by a predecessor or
colleague, he quotes freely, always acknowledging his indebtedness. Thus, in this
chapter, he incorporates several parts of Agricolas supplementary notes to Tosis
tutor which reinforce Hillers position that the essential ornaments are a neces-
sary part of good performance.
Another essential ornament, the trill, like the appoggiatura, had to be taught
from early on, according to Hiller, who is of the opinion that singers had to learn
where to place it, as it was not always indicated. That cadences were among the
most important places and required trills whether they were indicated or not is
generally agreed upon by all eighteenth-century theorists.
73
Hiller even suggests
using a trill when an appoggiatura is not indicated but warns that the trill may
not be used as frequently as the appoggiatura because its repetition becomes
boring.
74
Considering the function of the trill in cadenzas and at fermatas as very
signicant, Hiller devotes a major section of a chapter to it: Chapter 7, On
Cadenzas. As with the appoggiatura, he introduces the trill in Lesson 1 of the
Anweisung zum musikalisch-richtigen Gesange so that the student can begin studying
this dicult ornament as early as possible.
75
Altogether he lists ve kinds of trills:
(1) the whole trill, (2) the half trill or inverted mordent (Pralltriller), (3) the
mordent, (4) the turn (Doppelschlag), and (5) the tremolo (Bebung). Hiller goes so far
as to list a variety of alternatives for the singer who is not yet ready to trill or for
the singer who is unable to trill at all.
76
Throughout his discussion of the essential ornaments, Hillers interest in
advancing the study of singing in Germany and in improving the state of vocal
instruction is consistently maintained.
Passaggi and arbitrary variations
As with the essential ornaments, Hiller believes that singers must acquire the skill
of performing and placing arbitrary ornaments, such as passaggi and arbitrary
variations, correctly. He notes a general misuse and misplacement or even over-
abundance of passaggi in Italian and German opera as well as in the church. To
guide the performers against such mishandling of these gures, Hiller devotes an
entire chapter in this treatise to the appropriate placement and performance of
passaggi. He refers the reader to Lesson 13 of the Anweisung zum musikalisch-
richtigen Gesange, where he included a whole lesson on passaggi and the gures that
constitute them. In that rst tutor, Hiller quotes from Marpurgs Anleitung zur
Singkunst to categorize and give musical examples of gures, such as Rckung or
Tonwiederholung (syncopation), Schwrmer or Rauscher (quick repeated note gures),
Tonverziehung (tone displacement, which is like the Italian tempo rubato),
24 Translators introduction and commentary
73
Robert Donington, The Interpretation of Early Music (New York: St. Martins Press, 1974), p. 241.
74
weil er leicht berdru erregt, wenn er zu oft gehrt wird. Hiller, Anweisung zum musikalisch-zierlichen
Gesange, p. 66; p. 93 below.
75
Hiller, Anweisung zum musikalisch-richtigen Gesange, p. 38. See footnote 63 above.
76
Hiller, Anweisung zum musikalisch-zierlichen Gesange, p. 71; p. 96 below.
Tonverbeissung (truncation), Lufer (in which the singer lls in all the tones between
two separate notes), the Walze and Halbzirkel (both consisting of four notes, with
the rst and third being alike in the Walze and the second and fourth being alike
in the Halbzirkel), and the Brechung (arpeggio).
77
Hiller denes passaggi in Part I as nothing more than arbitrary ornaments or
variations of simple melody in particular places.
78
Distinguishing between those
gures that are either prescribed by the composer or invented by the singer,
Hiller elaborates on the composite nature of passaggi, and he indicates that they
can be based on the gures he has just listed or that they comprise various com-
binations of these given gures. Realizing that it is dicult to describe the
musical possibilities that such combinations can unfold, Hiller includes numer-
ous examples, selecting arias by Hasse, Graun, and Traetta. Although he is aware
of the diculty of the material for the beginner, Hiller, for pedagogical reasons,
makes a special point of including it in his rst tutor to give the singer a head
start in mastering the art of performing passaggi.
Hiller expands his discussion of passaggi in the Anweisung zum musikalisch-
zierlichen Gesange. As the function of passaggi is to enliven and enhance the melodic
line, he wants to see them used in a controlled manner and with discretion, but
he does not believe that they should be totally abandoned, because they have
become part of the musical style and the audience expects them. As music
demands variety and change, passaggi serve as a means of diversication. But, as
with the essential ornaments, the use and frequency of passaggi must be subser-
vient to the music. Hiller strongly opposes the manner in which singers have
indiscriminately employed passaggi to show o their vocal artistry and dexterity,
paying too little respect and attention to the given music.
Hiller asserts that the singer must take ability in performing passaggi into
account and be aware of his/her limitations of technique and skill. He also
stresses the need to examine the character of a given piece or aria so that the
ornamentation can be matched with the musical style and aect. It is probably
Hillers greatest fear, and in this concern he is consistent with his remarks on
essential ornaments, that the singer may be tempted to show o virtuosity at the
expense of passion.
While composers of the late eighteenth century normally indicated the essen-
tial ornaments, Hiller, like other theorists such as Marpurg and Sulzer, wanted
to provide the singer with the necessary knowledge and expertise to add orna-
ments where either the composer was inconsistent or the copyist omitted them.
In addition, problems arose because many performers were not familiar with all
the conventions of placing ornaments and lacked the knowledge of howto intro-
duce them properly.
Then, there was another reason to train singers in the art of passaggi and arbi-
trary variations: theorists saw the importance of teaching the singer to prepare
Translators introduction and commentary 25
77
Hiller, Anweisung zum musikalisch-richtigen Gesange, Lesson 13, pp. 175.
78
Ibid., Lesson 13, pp. 180183.
variations when melodies were repeated or cadenzas were improvised. For this
purpose, Hiller devotes an entire chapter, Chapter 8, to arbitrary variations. No
matter, however, whether Hiller is describing the simple gurations which con-
stitute passaggi or the extended divisions which make up longer variations, his cri-
teria for tastefully placed ornamentation as an addition to, but not in place of,
the essential beauty of singing remain constant.
The art of improvising arbitrary variations represents, for Hiller, the culmina-
tion of vocal study and performance practice. He calls upon the singer to devote
him/herself with patience and diligence to the development of this important
skill since the audience, and above all the connoisseur, are to enjoy and appre-
ciate the combination of technique, acquired knowledge, and musical taste.
For Tosi arbitrary variations amount to the most beautiful and pleasing
accomplishment a singer can achieve. Hiller, in support of this contention, elab-
orates on the instructions both Tosi and Agricola present, which he supplies with
two extensive musical examples, a German and an Italian aria with completely
written-out ornamentation for the repeat of the aria.
79
Tosi bemoans the fact
that he must forgo the opportunity of supplying musical examples here because
of the printers inability to print notes, an omission that Agricola acknowledges
with regret, as he had hoped to demonstrate with examples what was so dicult
to express in words. Agricola, not giving examples of his own, refers the reader
to a treasure chest of arbitrary variations in Quantzs Versuch.
80
Concurring with Tosis and Agricolas recommendations, Hiller instructs the
singer not to go to extremes in the process of adding arbitrary variations, and
cautions the performer that a simple rendition of the composers written-out
melody with essential ornaments is more desirable than excessive variations. This
warning against excesses reminds the singer that adding appropriate variations
in the correct places is as important as the proper execution of the variations
themselves.
As far as the technical details are concerned, Hiller elaborates on Agricolas
three-fold distinction: either more notes are added to a few, or more notes are
changed into fewer, or, nally, a certain number of notes are exchanged with an
equal number of dierent notes. This basic rule of producing arbitrary varia-
tions is supplemented by the use of all those gures that constitute passaggi, as
well as tempo rubato, and other means of varying the voice.
26 Translators introduction and commentary
79
In case additional examples are desired, Hiller refers to his publication, Sechs italinische Arien verschiedener
Componisten, mit der Art sie zu singen und zu verndern (Leipzig: Johann Friedrich Junius, 1778). This volume con-
tains arias by P. Anfossi, K. H. Graun, J. A. Hasse, F. di Majo, and A. M. G. Sacchini. Additional material
is to be found in Meisterstcke des italinischen Gesanges, in Arien, Duetten und Chren, mit deutschen geistlichen Texten,
nebst einer nthigen Vorrede und einem ntzlichen Anhang fr Snger (Leipzig, 1791). This collection, published by
Hiller at his own expense, contains six arias, two of them for soprano, one for alto, two for tenor, and one
for bass voice with an additional duet and choral piece.
80
See Tosi/Agricola, Anleitung, p. 235 (Baird, Introduction, p. 235) and Quantz, On Playing the Flute, Chapter 13,
Of Extempore Variations on Simple Intervals, pp. 136. Unlike Tosi and Agricola, Hiller supplies the
singer with ve options of gures at the end of his chapter on passaggi to aid in the process of learning how
to perform da capo ornamentation.
In the da capo aria the arbitrary variations should be left to the discretion of
the singer and not to the composer, according to Hiller, who joins Tosi, Agricola,
and Quantz in this view. Variations, altogether, should only be applied to arias
that are either partially or completely repeated but can be used for both Adagios
and Allegros, or any other place that requires particular vitality and brilliance.
The strictest observance of the tempo and a rm knowledge of harmony and
gured bass are mandatory.
To help the singer avoid the common pitfalls in performing arbitrary varia-
tions, Hiller selects ten salient rules from Tosis tutor, instructing the singer to:
1. make the dicult appear eortless;
2. avoid violating declamation;
3. place legato variations in slow arias and detached ones in allegro arias;
4. balance dynamics and aect;
5. favor conjunct variations, especially chromaticism in pathetic arias;
6. use passaggi in melismatic extensions;
7. avoid the repetitious use of ornaments;
8. emphasize inventiveness rather than technique;
9. avoid variations on unpleasant vowels;
10. enhance the composers original intent.
As is evident, the rules for applying arbitrary variations had remained, in prin-
ciple, the same since Tosis time. However, as Agricolas warnings and Hillers
cautions indicate, there is a greater reluctance to accept excessive passage work.
Ultimately, Hiller proves to be the executor of a long tradition. Respectful of
the legacy of the art of ornamentation, he uses his closing statement on passaggi
to set the singer of his time free to use acquired skills, techniques, and knowledge
to further the art of vocal music with both sound performance practice and indi-
vidual taste.
On cadenzas
According to Hiller, cadenzas oer, as do arbitrary variations, the singer the true
opportunity to improvise freely. Since he favors having all essential ornamenta-
tion written out by the composer, it is quite logical that he should perceive caden-
zas as a special place to preserve the art of improvisation.
Considering the potential for misuse of ornamentation in cadenzas, Hiller is
fully aware of Tosis verdict against the excesses of his contemporary Italian vir-
tuosi who took advantage of cadenzas for reasons other than artistic purposes,
such as fame, fortune, and vanity. While Tosi only allows for small elaborations
at the closings of the sections of a da capo aria on the condition that they do not
disturb the time of the bass, his remarks reect the widespread use of cadenzas
at the nal cadence of the da capo aria.
Hiller concurs with Agricola, who vigorously argues against Tosis restrictions
Translators introduction and commentary 27
and defends the singers right to show his/her inventiveness, skill, and the need
for aesthetic pleasure, owing to his belief that an artful and brilliantly performed
cadenza can highlight an aria and please the audience with musical surprises.
The most important rules which Hiller lists for cadenzas follow Agricolas and
Quantzs instructions:
1. Cadenzas must not appear too often and should not be too long. They
ought to be sung in one breath.
2. Cadenzas should be based upon the chief aect and main character of
the aria and may make use of passages from the aria itself.
3. The singer observes the main tempo marking of the aria but does not
follow the meter strictly.
4. The more unexpected the material introduced in a cadenza, the more
beautiful it is.
Hiller also discusses fermatas and demonstrates harmonic situations in which
they occur. He even gives examples of how to handle those cadences in slow
movements which have no fermata but may be ornamented. He includes some
occasions in which holds occur in the middle of arias, holds that he designates
as caesuras but which are also indicated by fermatas. To decorate them, Hiller
suggests improvising a small arbitrary passage or substituting a trill without a
Nachschlag. Other uses of the fermata include transitions which generally occur
in the rondo and those placed at the beginning of an aria. Hiller gives musical
examples to cover these instances.
To meet the demands of double and triple cadenzas, Hiller suggests that the
soloists write out their elaborations and take breaths as the length of these caden-
zas increases dramatically over the solo ones. Specically, he prescribes that imi-
tations be incorporated, melodic lines contain variety, and that they progress at
intervals other than simply thirds and sixths. For the singer less able to improvise
cadenzas, Hiller recommends, as a simple solution, that a few tones within the
harmony be sung, followed by a trill.
In advocating the freedom to add embellishments at cadences and fermatas,
Hiller shows his interest in keeping the art of improvisation alive. His aesthetic
sensibility is geared to the principle of musical balance. While improvisation
should not obscure composition, it also should not overpower a given piece:
hence Hillers belief that ornamentation can never make up for a poorly per-
formed aria.
Vocal forms and performing in dierent places
Like the theorists to whom he is indebted, Hiller devotes himself to the impor-
tant aspect of setting for a musical performance, namely proper vocal perfor-
mance in the church, chamber, and theater in relation to arias, recitatives, duets,
and choral music. As the church requires a sacred attitude, Hiller favors those
28 Translators introduction and commentary
ornaments that support sincerity and sensitivity. In the theater the singer has
greater freedom to ornament, but the role that is being portrayed restricts
his/her use of embellishments since the character of a given role imposes
psychological and aesthetic limitations upon the musical choices. It is in the
chamber then, according to Hiller, that the singer has the most liberty to show
o musical and inventive abilities.
Hiller agrees with Tosi and Agricola that the da capo aria gives the singer the
greatest opportunity to improvise embellishments and add ornaments because
its very structure of repetition invites musical variation. In Hillers time, however,
changes in the form of the da capo aria had begun and allowed for the replace-
ment of the simple repeat with a more elaborate written out section, eectively
curtailing the singers opportunity to improvise. Hiller, aware of this develop-
ment, observes that unless it is an adagio or cantabile movement, the singer has little
chance to ornament.
In his rules for the addition of ornaments to recitative, Hiller agrees with Tosi
and Agricola that the place of performance determines how many and what
kind of ornaments are to be added. Ample musical examples are given to dem-
onstrate how to place appoggiaturas, mordents, inverted mordents, and Schleifer
in recitative.
Finally, Hiller addresses ornamentation by more than one singer. When per-
forming duets, he suggests that soloists should discuss the ornaments prior to the
performance, and if they have no opportunity to do so, should omit the orna-
ments completely or select only those which other singers can easily imitate. The
more soloists perform together the more each singer must refrain from ad hoc
decisions to add notes and must stick to what is written.
In choral music, Hiller warns against all improvised variations but allows for
short appoggiaturas, an occasional inverted mordent, and trills only in the
correct voices at cadences. In agreement with his predecessors Tosi and Agricola,
who also voiced reservations concerning the over-use of ornaments in arias and
recitative, Hiller feels that expressive performance should outweigh virtuoso
display, no matter where the performance is held.
Conclusion
Virtually every page of the Anweisung zum musikalisch-zierlichen Gesange gives evi-
dence of the dominating inuence that Italian vocal art had upon Hillers
attempts to establish a German singing culture. Apart from the section on essen-
tial ornaments, French inuence in this treatise is not really manifest. In consid-
ering Hillers relationship to the important international styles of his time, one
needs to take into account that French music served as an inuential model for
himas well. The Singspiel, after all, was modeled upon the French opra comique and
Hillers favorite genre, the Lied, represents a counterpart to the popular French
chanson. With regard to the concerts that Hiller directed and programmed, he
Translators introduction and commentary 29
followed fashions that had been inuenced by the format and conventions of con-
certs in France. Both in his music making and teaching the art of singing, Hiller
coordinated important elements from Italian, French, and domestic German
inuences. In this, Hiller adopted the exible attitude described by both Quantz
and Trk as anappropriate Germanway to enhance musical style. But while both
Quantz and Trk thought it necessary to take freely from both the Italians and
the French to improve German style, Hiller assembled only the best features of
the Italian style and to a lesser extent the French model. In amalgamating all these
inuences, he attempted to make the key elements accessible to the public with
the intention of fostering a German national style that espoused the principle of
simplication. Conveying exemplary aspects of the Italian vocal style, Hiller felt
that the Germans could develop and elevate their indigenous taste and art of
singing. Quantz and Trk show, perhaps, a more eclectic assimilation of
inuences and a more theoretical approach, whereas Hiller pursued more prac-
tical interests and pedagogical goals. The use of the international style, envi-
sioned by Hiller, was to give the Germans a vocal idiom aspiring to be on a par
with the Italians and French.
Hiller, whose familiarity with the writings of the major theorists such as
Mancini, Burney, Quantz, Tosi, Agricola, Marpurg, and Mattheson is beyond
any doubt, did not merely copy the tradition at hand. As Bernd Baselt observes:
Referring to well-known experts on a chosen subject does not imply that he
[Hiller] slavishly follows the methods as exemplied by Mancini or Tosi
Agricola.
81
Hiller approached his predecessors not uncritically. For example, in
the Preface to his 1780 treatise, he distances himself from Mancini, whose unap-
pealing manner and dryness make much of his material unusable. Nevertheless,
Hiller shows the inuence of recent Italian theorists, as in general he lays great
stress on the thoroughness of Italian music education.
82
Aiming to match these
exemplary standards, Hiller sought to develop suitable teaching models. In his
pedagogy, Hiller follows TosiAgricola more closely. Whereas Tosi maintained
the line of vocal performance practice exemplied by the castrati and Agricola
was the preserver of that tradition, Hiller became the transformer who revised
the Italian model to accommodate the changing needs of his German audience
as the crucial shifts in late eighteenth-century aesthetic sensibility were taking
place. Modifying the elaborations of the past theorists, Hiller infused into the
treatise tradition a greater sense of the musical culture of the Enlightenment
with its secular leanings, its cultivation of music as an aesthetic, non-functional
art.
83
But to inspire his people with a vision of singing that built upon the glory
of the past, Hiller went beyond the role of a mere mediator who assimilated the
30 Translators introduction and commentary
81
Bernd Baselt, Afterword, in Johann Adam Hiller, Anweisung zum musikalisch-zierlichen Gesange, facsimile
edition, with an Afterword and Name Index by Bernd Baselt (Leipzig: Edition Peters, 1976): Sich auf aner-
kannte Autoritten der gewhlten Materie zu beziehen, heit fr ihn [Hiller] keineswegs, sich nahezu skla-
visch an die von Mancini oder TosiAgricola gelehrte Methode zu halten.
82
Butt, Music Education, p. 176.
83
Ibid., p. 177.
tradition of ornamentation. As his pioneering work as an impresario indicates,
Hiller had a keen sense of innovation in his pedagogy which John Butt has char-
acterized as revolutionary.
84
Such an appraisal recognizes Hillers achievement
as an outstanding teacher-theorist. This introduction and commentary together
with the translation of the Anweisung zum musikalisch-zierlichen Gesange are oered
in the attempt to further the appreciation of Hillers remarkable accomplish-
ments.
Translators introduction and commentary 31
84
Ibid.
Note on the text and musical examples
Hillers own footnotes, designated in the original publication by asterisks, are
here similarly indicated by symbols, in order to distinguish them from the num-
bered editorial footnotes below them.
The musical examples have been modied to conform to modern notational
practice with regard to clefs and initial bracelines and bracketlines.
Treatise on Vocal Performance and
Ornamentation
Preface
When the Anweisung zum musikalisch-richtigen Gesange was published ve years ago,
the reader was given the hope that a second work, the Anweisung zum musikalisch-
zierlichen Gesange, would soon appear. This hope has now been realized, later
perhaps than many would have hoped and wished, but still too soon for my own
satisfaction. There is an extensive eld to be explored here. In view of the abun-
dant material which, more often than not, is only derived from minute observa-
tions based upon experience and is rarely covered or even sometimes overlooked
in other books, it is easy to understand that the gathering and organization of
these facts require due consideration. Hence it occurs that the plan which was
designed and accepted one day is rejected the next. In all, it is the preparation of
such an undertaking that requires more eort than the work itself, and then when
other business interferes, the realization of such a project can easily be delayed
for years.
But why should there be excuses about delay if, perhaps, the publication itself
could have been dispensed with? It could have remained unwritten for two
reasons: rst, if the execution had not succeeded in treating such an important
subject adequately, and second, if the Germans had never wanted to be
advanced a step further in the ne art of good singing. I am more or less at ease
about the rst point, as Part I [the rst treatise Anweisung zum musikalisch-
richtigen Gesange]
1
has been accepted with success time and time again, in public
schools as well as in the course of private instruction, and has been used
protably. This is by no means an infallible indication of the high quality of the
present treatise; but since I have worked on it with no less honesty and care, one
may at least give me the benet of the doubt in assuming that it will be no worse
than its predecessor. The rst treatise has not only had the honor of being trans-
lated into Danish but also has been published in excerpts by Herr Hpfner, the
Stadt-Cantor of Sondershausen, although this is not acknowledged in the title or
1
Throughout the translation rst treatise refers to erster Theil (Part I) or Anweisung zum musikalisch-
richtigen Gesange (1774). Together with the present treatise or zweiter Theil (Part II), Anweisung zum
musikalisch-zierlichen Gesange (1780), Hiller envisions a unity of his theoretical endeavors which makes him
speak of the two treatises as Part I and II in the present work.
in the preface. The former is a rather pleasant occurrence; the latter I would have
preferred to prevent.
The second point deserves to be taken into consideration on its own account.
Perhaps I exaggerated in doubting that the Germans would ever be inclined to
advance themselves even a step further in the proper manner of singing. They
no more lack enthusiasm than they do talent, but it is opportunity and encour-
agement which they are missing to a regrettable extent. I leave it to the reader to
reect upon the absence of encouragement; I would, however, like to say more
about the lack of opportunity to study singing properly and of perfecting their
talent.
In the rst treatise, I pointed out that, in general, Germany has no other
singing schools than its town schools, where singing is one of the subjects taught
or, at least, one that ought to be taught. Apart from the ineptitude or laziness of
many a teacher who has the obligation to teach music in such schools, no one
school has the intention of producing highly qualied musicians or singers. I
would not hesitate to pass judgment on whether this is truly right or not; at least
out of gratitude, music should be treated with more respect in the public schools.
More care should be taken over the cultivation of this art, as music often invites
many endowments out of which teachers salaries and inheritances are paid and
fromwhich a considerable number of poor students are supported. Should these
contributions be collected from the schools along with the money that students
have earned through daily or weekly singing in the streets or in the homes, there
might be good reason to complain about want and need.
Still another reason should prompt those men who have inuence in the
school systemor those who are in immediate charge of it to sponsor, with greater
zeal, the study of a subject which cannot be looked upon with indierence or
even disdain without doing injustice to it. Is not singing an essential part of our
religious worship? Is not good church music, composed in the right spirit, a sure
means for the celebration of our holidays and for the awakening and strength-
ening of our devotion? Who would believe that God can be honored with coarse
and wild screaming and miserably ill-performed music as well as with gentle and
euphonious singing and music which is full of dignity and strength? Which of
these two methods is more likely to arouse devotion in the listener? The answer
is simple and Heaven help us if it were only as easy to demonstrate that
singing and music in our churches do not need any improvement! Let him who
wishes take the trouble to prove it; I must object to it.
The Italians still have the advantage over us in singing, if not in other aspects
of music too, and they may well maintain it for a long time. The reason is that
they have what the Germans lack: the encouragement and opportunity to study.
As far as these two aspects are concerned, it is worth the eort to pause for a
moment and draw a comparison between the two nations. Such a comparison,
in addition to providing an expansion of the readers insight into the history of
new music, also gives the opportunity to express some good wishes and not
36 Treatise on vocal performance and ornamentation
entirely objectionable suggestions for improving the study of singing in
Germany. Finally, I should like to give a catalogue of famous singing masters and
male and female singers who have become well known in and outside of Italy
since the beginning of this century. Let us hope that many an over-zealous
detester of music, when he sees that many musicians have been showered with
honor and wealth. will be rescued fromthe erroneous illusion that it is music that
creates despicable and immoral people. But you, my young friends, who strive
to achieve fortune and honor through practice of such an admirable art, take
example from your famous predecessors and let them arouse you to untiring dil-
igence! And when you have reached the summit from which you sweep every-
one away with delight and astonishment, protect yourself from a scandalous
life-style and untting behavior so as not to lose what you have achieved through
talent.
The historical facts which I would like to present will be taken primarily from
two writers on music. The rst is an Englishman and a Doctor of Music, Charles
Burney, who is probably well known to all music lovers because of his musical
journey, a description of which was published in German translation in
Hamburg in 1772.
2
The second, Giambattista Mancini, singing master of the
Imperial Court in Vienna, published a book in quarto in 1774 entitled Pensieri e
Riessioni pratiche sopra il Canto gurato.
3
I am sorry that there was little in this book
Preface 37
2
Hiller refers to the German translation of Charles Burneys musical tours in Europe (The Present State of Music
in France and Italy and The Present State of Music in Germany, the Netherlands, and United Provinces, rst published in
3 volumes in 1771). Charles Burney, Tagebuch seiner musikalischen Reisen, 3 vols. (Hamburg: Bode, 1772, 1773):
vol. I, Tagebuch einer musikalischen Reise durch Frankreich und Italien welche er unternommen hat um zu einer allgemeinen
Geschichte der Musik Materialien zu sammeln, trans. C. D. Ebeling, 1772; vol. II, Tagebuch einer musikalischen Reise
durch Flandern, die Niederlande und am Rhein bis Wien, trans. J. J. C. Bode, 1773; vol. III, Tagebuch einer musika-
lischen Reise durch Bhmen, Sachsen, Brandenburg, Hamburg und Holland. Mit Zustzen und Anmerkungen zum zweyten
und dritten Bande, trans. J. J. C. Bode, 1773. On the basis of the rst edition (1771), the second edition, cor-
rected (vol. I, 1773; vol. II, 1 and II, 2, 1775), additional manuscript material omitted in the rst and second
editions, and the editorial footnotes of the German translation, Percy A. Scholes has edited Dr. Burneys
Musical Tours in Europe, 2 vols. (London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1959): vol. I, An
Eighteenth-Century Musical Tour in France and Italy; vol. II, An Eighteenth-Century Musical Tour in Central Europe and
the Netherlands. Subsequently, all references are made to Scholes edition, except for Hillers own references to
the German translation which will be cross-referenced with the Scholes edition.
Hiller had actually met Burney in Leipzig in September, 1772, when he acted as Burneys host. Noting
Hillers hospitality in his Musical Tours, Burney had these kind words to say about his character and status as
a musician: This gentleman, who is not only an eminent writer on the subject of music, but the rst and
most popular composer of comic operas in the German language, was indefatigable in his endeavors to serve
me the whole time I remained in Leipsic (vol. II, p. 153). During his visit, Burney and Hiller attended a per-
formance of a comic opera in Leipzig which prompted Burney to make the following remarks about the
quality of singing in Germany: The performers did not charm me, either by their singing or acting; all were
out of tune, out of time, and vulgar. I hardly ever was more tired (p. 154). Burney repeated his criticism
after visiting the playhouse where one of Hillers comic operas was in rehearsal. I found this music very
natural and pleasing, and deserving of much better performers than the present Leipsic Company can boast;
for, to say the truth, the singing here is as vulgar and ordinary as our common singing in England, among
those who have neither had the advantage of being taught, nor of hearing good singing (p. 154). Hiller must
have felt quite pleased with Burneys praise for his musicianship when he came across it in the German trans-
lation of the Musical Tours. He also must have been quite encouraged about his own eorts to improve the
state of singing in Germany, having a reliable critic chastising the poor quality of singing and acting. It is no
surprise, then, that Hiller makes frequent references to Burney as a source in his Preface.
3
Giambattista Mancini. Practical Reections on Figured Singing (Vienna, 1774), trans. and ed. Edward Foreman,
Masterworks on Singing, vol. VII (Champaign, Ill.: Pro Musica Press, 1967).
of which I could make use. Practical examples are almost entirely absent. The
author dedicated his work to the Archduchess Maria Elisabeth, whom he
instructed in singing. He says of her in the dedication: She was able to execute
the greatest subtleties with such precision and condence that few other exam-
ples of such exceptional ability can be cited.
4
Burney learned from Mancini,
whom he met in Vienna, that he had taught eight of the Archduchesses to sing,
most of whom had good voices. They had achieved considerable prociency,
particularly the Princess of Parma and the Archduchess Elisabeth who had
. . . good shakes, a good portamento, and great facility in executing simple divi-
sions.
5
Mancini may well be a good singing master for princesses, but whether
or not he is a good writer I do not wish to discuss here because I would like to
use his work now and then as a reference.
And now to the point: it is very encouraging for an Italian singer to have so
many opportunities in and outside his homeland to show his talent and to be
handsomely rewarded for it. Every city of considerable importance in Italy has
an opera house where tragic or comic operas are performed. The larger cities
have several theaters, as for example Venice, which has seven* named after the
saints of the churches where the theaters are located. San Mois, San Samuele,
San Benedetto, and San Cass[i]ano are for tragedies, whereas San Luca, San
Grisostomo, and SantAngelo are for comedies. It is well known to what extent
Italian singing is appreciated outside of Italy, at the various German courts, in
England, in Russia, and in almost all the European realms.
Not only the theater but also the church strives to search for musical talent and
to reward it. Any church in an Italian city celebrating the feast of its patron saint
or some other important feast will not fail to call upon the most famous virtuosi
from other regions and contract them by paying considerable rewards for
helping to make the festival more beautiful through their singing talents.
Everyone knows what the state of music is like in the theaters and churches of
Germany. Although we still have no opera, something resembling it does exist,
but it is restrained by comedy. Under such conditions opera cannot easily
become the gathering place of German virtuosi. And the churches O dear
God! it is sad to say at what price music is to be performed there to honor God,
to promote the devotion of a Christian congregation, and still to assert its own
dignity. Can music performed under such circumstances be anything but bad, so
that many reasonable men consider it to be completely dispensable? Yet, should
music really be permitted to fall victim to such disdain something which was
always considered an essential part of the service, which was so beautiful and
splendid in the time of David and Solomon a science which the great Luther
ranked immediately next to theology?
The Italians actually surpass us not only by encouraging musical talent, but
38 Treatise on vocal performance and ornamentation
* D. Volkmann. Historisch-kritische Nachrichten von Italien, vol. III. Leipzig: Caspar Fritsch, 1778. p. 617.
4
Ibid., p. 1.
5
Burney, Musical Tours, vol. II, p. 115.
also by having institutions to train these talents and lead themto a certain degree
of perfection. At the present time, Italy is still the only country which has estab-
lished music and singing schools and has thereby found a means to further the
successful careers of poor children of both sexes, at the same time making the
Italian art of singing predominant throughout Europe. These music schools are
called Conservatories or Hospitals. Venice has four and Naples three. Those in
Venice are for girls while the Naples schools are set up for boys. The Ospedale
della Piet in Venice has the most pupils: it is attended by more than one thou-
sand girls of which seventy study music with the best teachers. Not only do they
sing, but they also play the organ, violin, ute, violoncello, and even the Waldhorn.
Every Saturday and Sunday evening there are performances in each of the four
conservatories, just as there are during the major church festivals. At each con-
servatory a maestro or Kapellmeister is in charge of the curriculum; he writes
music for the school and generally conducts the performance himself. The
present Maestro della Piet, Signore Furnaletti, is a friar. This hospital is a kind of
foundling home for illegitimate children and is under the protection of several
noblemen, citizens, and merchants who, no matter how high the institutions
income, contribute yearly to its maintenance. The girls are educated there until
they get married or nd further support through their music. The cost of music
lessons at such a conservatory is supposed to be minimal, as only ve or six teach-
ers are paid for instruction in singing and various instruments, while the older
girls teach the younger ones.
With respect to vocal and instrumental training, Burney prefers the Ospedale
aglIncurabili to the other three schools in Venice. This institution is said to oer
not more than forty musical subjects, fewer than are taught at the Ospedale della
Piet. However, the compositions of a certain Galuppi, the maestro of the
Ospedale aglIncurabili, and perhaps the better teachers of this conservatory,
give it an advantage over the others. Hasse was once its maestro. He wrote a
Miserere for two sopranos, two altos, with two violins, viola, and bass accompani-
ment, which is still performed during Passion Week and which Padre Martini has
called a wonderful composition.
Burney attended a concert at the Conservatorio de Mendicanti which the
Prioress, an elderly lady, conducted herself. Every instrument, including the bass,
was played by some young woman. It was here that the two famous musicians,
Archiopata, now Sgra. Guglielmi, and Sgra. Maddalena Lombardini Sirmen,
who is famous in both England and Germany, received their training. Sgr.
Bertoni is the Kapellmeister at the Conservatorio, and Sgr. Sacchini at the
Ospedaletto a Giovanni e Paolo. Most of the children in these three conservato-
ries are poor orphans, although other children who pay for room, board, and
tuition are accepted and taught.
The three conservatories in Naples, namely SantOnofrio, la Piet, and Santa
Maria di Loreto, are, as I said before, for boys only. There are ninety students in
the rst conservatory, one hundred and twenty in the second, and two hundred
Preface 39
in the third. They receive instruction in singing, various instruments, and com-
position. Each of these conservatories has two chief conductors, one who looks
at and corrects compositions and the other who is in charge of the vocal
program. For instrumental instruction there are other teachers available, who are
known as maestri secolari. Piccini, Paisiello, Boroni, and many other Italian com-
posers are indebted to these conservatories for their education.
What then do we have that can compare with the Italians? Do our itinerant
boys choirs and boarding schools compare to their conservatories? These
schools must provide us with singers for our church music. Since, however, none
are accepted for the sole purpose of becoming outstanding musicians and since
a young boy who shows an exceptional inclination for this highly esteemed
science [i.e. music] inevitably meets with reproach and vexation in many places,
it is no wonder that he never seeks to achieve anything more than mediocrity.
Rather, he looks at this education only as a means of having his needs taken care
of in a public school for nine or ten years.
Therefore, our church music cannot have much appeal as far as performance
is concerned. Burney, however, doesnt paint a very rosy picture of the average
church singer in Italy either, when he says:* All singers in the church are taken
from the rejects of the opera houses, and rarely in all Italy does one nd a singer
with a tolerable voice who works for the church. The virtuosi who only occasion-
ally sing on the high holidays are generally hired foreign singers who are paid for
their services. However, when Burney says that most of these singers do not
have good voices, he does not exclude the possibility that they could be well-
trained and intelligent singers, as they have previously been singing opera for a
long time. This is not at all true for our church singers. They seem to lack expe-
rience and insight above all, even if they occasionally have the advantage of a
good voice and a sound knowledge of music.
In another passage Burney says that opera in Italy deprives the church of
many good singers because it oers better pay.
6
Again, this is not the case in
Germany, since many a singer performs in our theaters who would not be
employed by the church, as there, in the church, he would be required to know
at least the principles of music.
Female voices, indeed, are not permitted in church music in Italy, as their parts
can always be replaced by castrati. Since we cannot exclude women and do not
want to have castrati, the only reason that women are not included in church
music is that this matter has not been considered seriously enough and without
40 Treatise on vocal performance and ornamentation
* Burneys Tagebuch, vol. I, p. 227. [Burney states: Indeed all musici in the churches at present are made up of
the refuse of the opera houses, and it is very rare to meet with a tolerable voice upon the establishment in
any church throughout Italy. The virtuosi who sing there occasionally, upon great festivals only, are usually
strangers, and paid by the time (Dr. Burneys Musical Tours in Europe, vol. I, p. 248). Burney explains the term
musici in a footnote: The word musico, in Italy, seems now wholly appropriated to a singer with a soprano or
contralto voice, which has been preserved by art.]
6
See Ibid., p. 231. Burney refers to suggestions not to expect to nd the music of the Popes chapel so super-
ior in the performance to that of the rest of Italy, as it has been in times past, before operas were invented
and such great salaries given to the principal singers.
prejudice. If God primarily endowed humans with the splendid talent of pro-
ducing a melodic tone with the throat in order to praise Him, then it is highly
unfair to exclude the one sex, which has received this gift to a greater extent from
its creator, from worshipping Him too. It was not customary in the past, it is
said. The reason that it did not occur in the past is based on conditions that do
not apply in our times. Should we evaluate as good only that which was valuable
in the past, then we are badly advised about the order of this earthly world as
well as about the goal of our stay on earth. I would think that if we do know how
to do something better, it would be our duty to improve it without rst asking
permission of the past.
Another disadvantage is brought about by the poor conditions of our church
and theater music. Here, young talents never have the opportunity to hear any-
thing excellent which could serve as a model for them to imitate. This is, at least,
the case in all those cities where the court has no chapel. These cities are more
numerous by a ratio of about thirty to one. Italy has a great advantage over
Germany in this respect. Considering all the churches, cloisters, theaters, and
private concerts which are found not only in the more important Italian cities but
also in the smaller ones, it is no wonder that the street virtuosi* in Venice put
certain German concert orchestras to shame. For this reason alone, a trip to Italy
is very advisable for a young talent.
From the given description of the state of music in Italy and the comparison
with the German conditions, there is little doubt which of the two countries is to
be preferred. We are obviously still behind; but shouldnt we attempt to catch up?
Perhaps we can never count on the encouragement and support which the study
of music has in Italy, but should we therefore neglect it completely?
According to Gods wise counsel, music is intended for our enjoyment. It is
surely the most noble and innocent pleasure that humans can have on earth. In
order to give this pleasure greater charm and subtlety, could and should we not
then feel obliged to make its improvement and renement our goal? We have a
means which could easily be put into practice in most places without much
diculty. Concert societies and weekly rehearsals could be established according
to the conditions within a community, with the main focus directed upon the
Preface 41
* Burneys Tagebuch. Vol. I, p. 100, [vol. II], p. 104. [Hiller makes two references here; the second one is actu-
ally from volume II of Burneys Tagebuch. The rst one refers to Burneys experience of street musicians in
Venice: The rst music which I heard here was in the street, immediately on my arrival, performed by an
itinerant band of two ddles, a violoncello, and a voice, who . . . performed so well, that in any other country
of Europe they would not only have excited attention, but have acquired applause, which they justly merited
(Dr. Burneys Musical Tours in Europe, vol. I, p. 110). A few pages later, Burney notices the great number of
vagrant musicians with the resulting eect that the performance of street-music is generally neglected, as
people are almost stunned with it at every corner; but he is quick to praise the Italians for the taste and dis-
cernment with which they express rapture in a manner peculiar to themselves when they do admire
(Ibid., p. 114). Hillers second reference relates Burneys experience of street musicians performing on wind
instruments (French horns, clarinets, hautboys, and bassoons) at the Golden Ox, an inn in Vienna, which
prompted his disparaging remark: all so miserably out of tune, that I wished them a hundred miles o.
Burney then proceeds with the statement Hiller paraphrases: In general I did not nd that delicacy of ear
among the German street-musicians, which I had met with in people of the same rank and profession in
Italy (Dr. Burneys Musical Tours in Europe, vol. II, p. 114).]
improvement of singing. One should not again, however, make the mistake of
excluding women. Of course this demands a hardworking and understanding
person who devotes himself more out of love for music than for a considerable
reward, one who is willing to commit himself to such a tedious business as the
instruction of singing truly is. Our concert societies and the singing schools con-
nected with them will never achieve the stature of Italian conservatories, nor will
they have as much inuence on music as a whole. But they would not be entirely
without use since the music which is performed in churches will certainly
improve, insofar as it would be performed by the members of such a society who
practice together. Furthermore, this society could regularly select such pieces for
performance which are taken from church music. I am speaking here from per-
sonal experience; and if I do not further elaborate upon it, it is to avoid being
accused of vanity.
And now I would like to present the promised list of famous singing teachers
and male and female singers from Mancinis above-quoted treatise. Even if this
should not contain anything for the betterment of the unfortunate detesters of
music, I do not doubt that a more intimate knowledge of these singers would
serve as an encouragement or glorious emulation for young people who wish to
follow such a career.
The most respected and famous schools, says Mancini,
which have had the highest reputation in the last fty years are those of Francesco
Antonio Pistocchi in Bologna, Brivio in Milan, Francesco Peli in Modena, Francesco
Redi in Florence, Amadori in Rome, and of Nicolo Porpora, Leonardo Leo, and
Francesco Feo in Naples. The merit of these schools, in respect to the teachers as well as
the pupils, cannot be praised enough.
So that I can proceed in an orderly manner, I will briey mention those worthy men
who gained fame at the end of the last century. At that time Cavaliere Baldassarre Ferri,
who was born in Perugia, had the most beautiful, extensive, exible, pleasant and melo-
dious of all voices. He was such an admirable* singer that throughout his lifetime the
sovereigns in Europe competed for his presence, showered him with honor and riches
and, after his death, Italian muses sang his praise. His contemporaries said that the
beauty of his voice and the charm of his singing could not be expressed with words. He
possessed, to the highest degree, all the characteristics of perfection in every respect: he
was lively, daring, ceremonious, tender at will, and he tugged at every heart-string when
he sang with expression. With a single breath he was able to sing two full octaves up and
down with connecting trills. He achieved, unaccompanied, all the chromatic intervals
with such exactness that, when during the improvisation the orchestra accidentally struck
the same tone which he was presently singing, be it indicated by a at or sharp, everyone
was astonished at how clean and in tune it was.
The famous singers Siface and Cavaliere Matteucci were both extraordinary due to
the unusual beauty of their voices and because they knew how to touch the heart.
42 Treatise on vocal performance and ornamentation
* In Walters Dictionary [Johann Gottfried Walther, Musikalisches Lexicon, oder musikalische Bibliothek (Leipzig: W.
Peer, 1732; facsimile reprint edn., ed. Richard Schall, Kassel: Brenreiter Verlag, 1953)] he is mentioned as
an outstanding instrumental musician, and for proof Bontempi Istoria Musica is listed.
Matteucci, after having served the Spanish Court for many successful years, retired in his
old age to his home town, Naples, where he still lived in 1730 and sang in the church
every Sunday night, purely out of devotion. Although he was well over eighty, he still had
such a fresh and light voice and still performed all the ornaments with such lightness and
uency that every listener who did not see him was forced to think that this was a young-
ster in his most lively years.
The outstanding Gaetano Orsini, who died in service at the Imperial Court in Vienna,
also had the good fortune of maintaining his beautiful, owing, and exible voice until
he was very old.
At the end of the last century Francesco Antonio Pistocchi, who was initially hired by
the Oratorians at Forl, settled in Bologna, his birthplace. Here he opened a singing
school where he taught each student with so much love and insight that one need only
consider the success which his eorts had in order to be convinced of his knowledge.
The most distinguished of his four famous pupils was my teacher Antonio Bernacchi,
who came from Bologna. As nature had not endowed him with a very good voice, some-
thing which he himself admitted, he decided upon his friends recommendation to study
with Pistocchi, who not only accepted him very willingly but also immediately gave him
exercises which he had to practice diligently in order to achieve the skill which would
bring himsuccess. The obedient student did not hesitate to undergo the trouble, although
it was irritating and dicult, and practiced for some time following his masters instruc-
tions, while visiting him every day in order to get his advice on all matters. During this
time Bernacchi did not sing in any church or on stage; he did not even want to perform
for his closest friends. He remained steadfast until his master advised him that the time
had come to be assured of general admiration for having achieved perfection. This great
success was due to the assistance of a good master and the untiring diligence of a willing
student. My pen would undertake too much if it were to write down all the praises which
this great man deserves. It is enough when I say that he was universally admired and that
he was one of the nest singers of his time, as anyone who has heard him(many of whom
are still alive) can, without doubt, testify. From this account the student may come to the
useful conclusion that with continuous diligence, a bad voice can be made into a good
one under the direction of a gifted master.
Bernacchi was not only one of the foremost singers of his time, but he also imitated
his master by opening a school for the benet of young people. Almost all his students
have died; only the renowned Tedeschi Amadori, good old Tommaso Guarducci, and
the famous and well-known Anton Ra are still alive. These three Professors* gained
general approval in each of their various, selective, and individual styles and showed such
a worthy way of life that art is obliged to honor their memory.
Antonio Pasi of Bologna, also a student of Pistocchis, became famous for his mas-
terly singing style which was of the rarest taste. As a result of his solid portamento and
Preface 43
* That is the way every musician who has accomplished something outstanding in his art is called in Italy.
[Burney actually addresses his source, Signor Mancini, as this able professor and uses the term scholar
to mean student when he states: Bernacchi was the scholar of Pistocco (See Burneys Musical Tours in
Europe, vol. II, p. 115).]
It is therefore an error when Burney, Tagebuch. vol. II, p. 249, states that the aforementioned [Antonio Pasi]
and the following two [Giambattista Minelli, Bartolino da Faenza] were students of Bernacchis. [In refer-
ring to Bernacchi and his principal students, Burney states, listing a rst name dierent from Hillers
Bartolino da Faenza: His principal scholars were Antonio Pasi, Gio. Battista Minelli, Bartolomeo di [recte
Bartolino da] Faenza, Mancini, and Guarducci (See Burneys Musical Tours in Europe, vol. II, p. 115).]
complete evenness of voice, he made certain ornaments his own, such as Schleifer, mor-
dents, and distortion of the beat [tempo rubato]. Executed to the highest perfection in
appropriate places, they produced an individual and admirable style.
Giambattista Minelli, also from Bologna and from the same school as well, sang the
range of contralto with a rm tone and a good portamento in his voice. As this was com-
bined with deep insight, he became very well known for his style.
Bartolino da Faenza, also a pupil of the aforementioned Pistocchi as well as a fellow
student of Bernacchi, was one of the most outstanding singers of his time.
Senesino* and Giovanni Carestini became famous as a result of a very original
manner of singing and excellent acting. The latter was born in Monto Filatrana in the
region of Ancona. As a boy of twelve he came to Milan, where he took the name
Cusanino in honor of the benets he received from the Family Cusani. Although his
voice was beautiful by nature, he did not neglect to improve it by diligent study, achiev-
ing skillfulness in all types of singing to such a degree that already in his youth he attained
great fame and condence. He had a resourceful mind and very ne powers of judgment
so that he was never satised, no matter how agreeable his inventions were. One day a
friend came to him as he was practicing and applauded his ne singing. Carestini,
however, gave him the following answer: When I myself cannot accomplish enough to
my satisfaction, I certainly will not be able to do it for others. He then practiced this aria
again and again until he discovered a manner that gave him satisfaction. Therefore, in
his singing, he was all discrimination, reection, and grandeur. He did not neglect acting,
but rather studied it very assiduously. Thanks to a good gure, he succeeded in perfect-
ing all the characters he performed and became famous for this reason alone.
And now I take the enchanting opportunity to name the memorable ladies who
ourished at the same time as the aforementioned famous singers.
The rst place, without doubt, belongs to Vittoria Tesi Tramontini, who was born in
Florence, where she received her rst training in singing from the famous maestro di cap-
pella Francesco Redi. Subsequently she went to Bologna, where she continued her studies
under the direction of Campeggi while, at the same time, she attended Bernacchis
school. Although she never neglected the study of singing, she followed her natural incli-
nation more toward practice in acting. In the year 1769, she had the honor of being
awarded the medal of faith and constancy by the King of Denmark.
(Tesi was endowed by nature with a strong, masculine contralto voice. Several
times in Dresden in the year 1719, she sang arias which are generally set for
basses. Now, however, in the year 1725 while she was singing in the opera house
in Naples, she acquired a pleasing and attering style in addition to her splendid
44 Treatise on vocal performance and ornamentation
* He acquired this name from his town of birth, Siena. His rst name was Francesco Bernardo. In 1719 he
sang with the opera in Dresden, then went with Handel to England, and nally returned to his home country
with glory and 15,000 pounds. J. Hawkins, General History of Music, vol. V [London, 1776; Novello, 1875], p.
306.
All that is mentioned about Carestini here is very true. I have seen this man, who is certainly great in his art,
perform in the operas Archidamia, Leucippo, and Demofoonte in Dresden. He sang contralto, ranging from high
g to as low as eb and d. His low tones were unusually secure, full, and strong. His modesty was still as great
as his dexterity at that time.
Mr. Mancini, in describing the achievements of these women, is a little verbose and obscure. I will therefore
borrow what Quantz has to say, which appears in volume I of Marpurgs Beitrge [Friedrich Wilhelm
Marpurg, Historisch-kritische Beytrge zur Aufnahme der Musik, 5 vols. (Berlin: 175462, 1778)] and put it into
parentheses each time I quote him.
and serious singing. The range of her voice was extraordinarily large. Singing
either high or low caused her no trouble. It was not her habit to make use of
many passaggi. She seemed to be born to captivate her audience by acting, espe-
cially in male roles, which she performed to her own advantage in a most natural
manner.)
Immediately following is Faustina Bordoni, the wife of Hasse, the Electorate of Saxonys
leading conductor. She was born in Venice where she studied singing under the direc-
tion of Michelangiolo Gasparini Lucca.
(Faustina had a not too light but penetrating mezzo-soprano voice whose
range, in the year 1727 when she sang in London, stretched from b to not much
higher than g, but which, after a time, did reach a few tones lower. Her style of
singing was expressive and brilliant (un cantar granito). With her agile tongue she
was able to enunciate words rapidly, one after the other, and still to pronounce
themquite clearly; she had a very dexterous throat and a beautiful and very prac-
ticed trill which she could make use of with the greatest of ease wherever and
whenever she wanted. She knew how to perform passaggi at the fastest possible
tempi, so skillfully that her execution equalled that of instruments, whether the
passaggi were set as runs or leaps or consisted of many rapidly repeated notes.
Undoubtedly, she is the rst singer who performed such passaggi, which consist
of many notes based on a single tone, with the greatest success. She sang
Adagio[s] with great aect and expression, except for when the movement was
dominated by an all-too tragic passion, which could only be expressed through
slurred notes or constant portamento of the voice. She had a good memory for
improvised ornaments and a keen sense which enabled her to give the words
their suitable emphasis by performing them with the greatest clarity. She was
especially talented in acting. Because she was, to a great extent, gifted in the art
of representation, or what Mr. Mattheson calls Hypocritik, she could mime at will
as she pleased. Therefore, serious roles as well as those of tender lovers tted her
equally well. In a word, she was born for singing and acting.)
7
Francesca Cuzzoni from Parma was a pupil of Francesco Lanzi, a meritorious singer. In
London she married the great keyboard and organ player, Sandoni.
(Cuzzoni had a very pleasant and light soprano voice, clear intonation and a
beautiful trill. The range of her voice stretched from c to c. Her manner of
singing was innocent and moving, and because of her sweet, pleasing, and
Preface 45
7
Mattheson, in Der Vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg: Christian Herold, 1739; facsimile reprint edn., ed.
Margarete Reimann, Kassel and Basel: Brenreiter Verlag, 1954); trans. Ernest C. Harris (Ann Arbor, Mich.:
UMI Research Press, 1981), Chapter 6, Von der Geberden-Kunst (The Art of Gesture), 1, facsimile,
pp. 33., Harriss translation, pp. 132, denes hypocritica as the art of gesture, referring to pantomime which
uses gesture to act out what is otherwise sung or spoken. Thus Mattheson adopts Cassiodorus idea that pan-
tomime is silent music because it presents, in gesture, what goes beyond words or sound. Later in this chapter
(22, p. 37; Harriss translation, p. 137) Mattheson views gestures, words, and sound as three elements which
must be in perfect harmony to achieve the greatest impact upon the audience. Tosi, on the other hand, doubts
that a great singer can also be a great actor because he believes that one cannot perfect two dierent means
of expression at the same time (Chapter 9, 31, p. 152).
smooth performance, her ornaments did not appear to be unnatural. Moreover,
because of this gentleness in performance, she captivated all her listeners. In
Allegro[s], however, she did not sing passaggi with the greatest dexterity, although
she performed them in very rounded, amiable, and pleasant manner. Her acting
was somewhat cold and her gure was not too favorable for the stage.)
Gaetano Majorano Caarelli was born in the province of Bari. In his youth he went to
Naples, where he set upon his singing studies with such diligence that he gained the admi-
ration of all the experts within a short amount of time. Thereafter, he sang in many the-
aters in Italy and thus made a big name for himself. As he is still alive, I would not like
to speak too extensively about his merits, as they are known throughout Europe.*
Carlo Scalzi, a Genoese, succeeded in his art to such an extent that he was considered
to be one of the leading singers. Since that time the following have become famous:
Giovacchino Conti Gizziello, Agostino Fontana, Regginella, Domenico Annibali,
Angelo Maria Monticelli, Giuseppe Appiani, Felice Salimbeni, all from Milan, and
nally the two good tenors Gregorio Babbi of Cesena and Angelo Amorevoli of Venice.
Among the female singers who have gained fame in the course of time are: Peruzzi,
Theresia Reuther, a chamber singer at the Imperial Court in Vienna, Catarina Visconti,
Giovanna Astrua, and Mingotti. My plan is not to undertake an extensive laudation here,
as I do not wish to dally too long in this article; also, I am convinced that the reader has
already gained some knowledge of their accomplishments from other sources.
Nowadays there are still some who know how to maintain the honor and dignity of
their art. For example Rosa Tartaglini, the wife of the worthy tenor Tibaldi, who left
the theater out of her own choice some years ago: Catarina Gabrielli, Lucrezia Agujari,
Anna de Amicis, Elisabeth Teuberinn, Antonia Girelli Aguillar, Antonia Bernasconi,
Catharina Schindlerinn, and her granddaughter, Marianne Schindlerinn. Among the
male singers: Santarelli, Giovanni Manzuoli, Filippo Elisi, Ferdinando Mazzanti,
Giuseppe Aprile, Gaetano Guadagni, Pasquale Potenza, Carlo Nicolini, Ferdinando
Tenducci, Carlo Conciolini, Giuseppe Millico, Antonio Goti, Venanzio Rauzzini,
Antonio Grassi, Giovanni Toschi, Giuseppe Cicognani, Consorti, Pacchiorotti, and
various others. Since these artists are still alive and acquiring so much honor and glory
for themselves through their skillfulness, it would be presumptuous for me to believe that
I could increase their fame through my praise.
So much for Mr. Mancini. He gave us a rather dry and incomplete register of
names which I could easily have made more comprehensive and instructive if I
did not fear to draw this introduction out too much. I shall have the opportunity
of lling in this authors loopholes on another occasion if God grants me life and
health.
Now I shall proceed with my intended work. If it is to present the doctrine of
musikalisch-zierlicher Gesang, I need only indicate that everything in singing which
46 Treatise on vocal performance and ornamentation
* This is saying a great deal, but of no less importance is what Burney says about him, calling him the sire of
song [Dr. Burneys Musical Tours in Europe, vol. I, p. 279] (Altvater). This famous singer bought a dukedom which
his nephew was to inherit after his death. His title is: Duca di Santo dorato. He is very rich, yet he often sings
for money in churches and cloisters. He had a very imposing manor built for himself above whose gates the
inscription reads: Amphion Thebas, ego Domum (Amphion built Thebes; I built a house).
is to be considered as embellishment and ornamentation has to be based upon
the rules of harmony and melody if the result is to be good. Consequently, every-
thing is to be considered bad and despicable which the singer undertakes at free
will without insight into, and the necessary knowledge of, the principles of music.
Here I have found it useful to integrate the material to a greater extent, since it
is, unlike the material of the rst treatise, not the subject matter of a learning
process which advances from one lesson to the other, but rather the subject of
continuous consideration and practice. The division into chapters seemed to me
to be more advantageous than the previous division into lessons.
8
A certain good
friend openly accused me of presenting the lessons in disorderly fashion and also
criticized various items in the former work. As he himself admitted to me, he
was, at the time of his critique, in a position only to reproach, when he would
have preferred to praise. Thus it frees me from the troublesome duty of seeking
justication against his criticism. In the eyes of the unbiased I was already
justied beforehand; now, I am also rehabilitated in his eyes, and we are friends
as before.
I do not atter myself in any way that I have presented everything about good
and ornamented performance in the present treatise as clearly and easily as
some would have wished and demanded. The material is often so intricate that
it can only be grasped through intuition and never fully expressed by words.
Likewise, even notation cannot represent it well, or if so, only with imperfec-
tions. Nevertheless, it is a good idea to give some notion of this subject matter.
Although this notion may be somewhat fanciful, it can nevertheless be easily
realized in an appropriate form if there is the opportunity to hear a good singer.
Actually, familiarity with the practice of performance serves as a means of
hearing such a singer more protably.
Some general remarks on singing instruction, for students as well as teachers,
may conclude this introduction. The study of singing should not be taken lightly.
Aside from learning the principles of music which every instrumentalist also has
to know, singers must exhibit great diligence in the training of their voice and
pay a great deal of attention to the clear pronunciation of syllables and words.
Often, there are many obstacles, and only with much assiduousness and patience
can they be overcome. Therefore, the teacher must show as much concern and
understanding as the student. It is a misconception to think that in one year, let
alone in a fewmonths, it would be possible to train a perfect singer even if he/she
knows something of the fundamentals of music. Even with the most dedicated
teacher and in the best-equipped singing school, three years will always be nec-
essary for the education of a singer. Learning the rudiments of music and their
application to pitch and rhythm easily takes up a year and may continue through
the following year with a dierent method. In the Italian schools, they do nothing
but solmization for more than a year; i.e. they sing with letters and the Guidonian
Preface 47
8
Hiller is referring to the structure of the Anweisung zum musikalisch-richtigen Gesange.
syllables. Teachers in German schools should not rush this instruction either, as
it is the foundation of all musical knowledge. Teaching scales and keys as well as
intervals must be included in the rst period. In the second period all this
material should be diligently repeated, in order to make certain that the student
has it at his command and, at the same time, to prepare for pure pronunciation
of words by means of certain syllables; in the rst treatise the seven syllables da,
me, ni, po, tu, la, and be were suggested.
9
If all this is appropriately pursued with
diligence and patience, one can proceed with certainty to standard vocal music
and apply all the artistic means which belong to good performance, a subject
matter which constitutes the content of the present work.
If the student asks how many and which hours of the day he should practice
singing, the answer is that three hours are not too much and that two hours are
not too little. One hour in the morning and one or two in the afternoon, although
not right after one another and at least a few hours after the meal, should be set
aside and only be omitted if one does not feel well. However, there is also another
method of studying: by practicing in ones head or merely by putting ones hand
on the keyboard; this can be just as benecial to the singer as when he practices
aloud for hours at a time.
It is a necessary aid for the singer to play the piano. If the study of another
language, for example Italian, is added, then everyone will realize that idleness
does not make a good singer.
48 Treatise on vocal performance and ornamentation
9
Ibid., Lesson 6, 16, pp. 100103.
nrni c\+i ox
To the most illustrious Princess and Lady,
Lady
Anna Amalia
1
Born Princess of Brunswick,
widowed Duchess of Saxe-Weimar
and Eisenach.
Most illustrious Duchess,
Most gracious Princess and Lady,
The attention and respect with which Your Serene Highness has, at all times,
honored music are among the great privileges of which this estimable art may
be proud, for the good reason that Your Serene Highness does not acquiesce in
a merely idle pleasure, but has achieved a high level of performance and has
deeply penetrated into its theoretical secrets.
I may consider myself fortunate to have received Your Serene Highnesss
acknowledgment in the most benevolent and gracious manner for the little which
I have contributed to music in various ways, as far as my circumstances permit-
ted. I hereby acknowledge it before the world with the deepest and most sincere
gratitude. Such crucial acclaim was and always will be of the greatest encour-
agement to me.
1 Anna Amalia [Amalie], Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, was born in Wolfenbttel in 1739, and died in
Weimar in 1807. The daughter of Duke Karl I of Brunswick and a niece of Frederick the Great, she received
a ne musical education in her youth. Anna Amalia married Duke Ernst August Konstantin of Saxe-Weimar
in 1755. After his early death only two years later, she conducted the regency until 1775 when her son
ascended to the throne. She continued her studies in composition and keyboard playing with Ernst Wilhelm
Wolf, the leading Weimar musician (and future court Kapellmeister). A key gure in bringing together
promiment poets and scholars of the time (Goethe, Herder, Wieland), she created what has been called the
court of the muses. Agreat supporter of music, particularly Singspiel, Anna Amalia had Hillers most suc-
cessful Singspiel, Die Jagd (the score of which is dedicated to her), performed in Weimar in 1770. She also
sponsored the rst performance of Wieland/Schweitzers Alceste, the rst German opera. Her own compo-
sitions include a Singspiel based on Goethes Erwin und Elmire (1776). Above all, her signicance as a musical
gure lies in the exceptional role she played in cultivating and inspiring the intellectual life and music of
Weimar Classicism. (New Grove, vol. I, pp. 439 f.)
I was also fortunate enough to be able to present Your Serene Highness with the
results of my eorts concerning the study of singing. For this work the most gra-
cious recognition of such an eminent and discerning connoisseur has also
strengthened my courage and inspired me not to abandon this useful project, be
it as limited as it still is at this time.
May this work, which I venture to present most directly to Your Serene Highness,
be so fortunate as to be considered by such enlightened eyes with leniency and
benevolence.
I devote myself with a most thankful and respectful heart.
Most illustrious Duchess
Most gracious Princess and Lady
Your Serene Highness
Leipzig Your most Humble
and faithfully Obedient Servant
October 12, 1779
Johann Adam Hiller
:
On the qualities of the human voice and its
improvement
1
In the Introduction to the Anweisung zum musikalisch-richtigen Gesange the good and
bad qualities, preservation, and improvement of the human voice were discussed
at great length. That is why there is little left for me to elaborate on, except to
add a few more random remarks.
2
A beautiful voice is a glorious gift of our gracious Creator, and it would show
little gratitude were we not to attempt to use it in the best possible way to praise
Him and, at the same time, to bring joy to others. Those who never had the
opportunity to receive proper instruction in music, particularly in the art of
singing, are to be pitied but not reproached. This does not hold true for those
who have wasted the opportunity out of carelessness, laziness, or disdain.
3
It is no less than a sin against God if the voice, this blessed gift (of our Lord), is
not preserved with the care it deserves. What is more, those who wish to base
their future career upon singing work in their own interest if they pay full atten-
tion to preserving the beauty of their voices and try to avoid everything that
could ruin it. It is a fact proven by experience that a singer, although in posses-
sion of artistry, dexterity, and musical interest, will please very little because of
his poor voice, whereas a singer with a brilliant voice but less artistry will be
admired. In the aforementioned Introduction, the necessary remarks about pre-
serving and ruining the voice were presented in paragraphs 1821.
4
Pure Intonation* is probably one of the most eminent characteristics of a good
voice, contrasted by the horrid defect of singing out of tune (Distonieren). There
is nothing worse, says Mancini, than a singer who sings out of tune; it would
51
* The reader should not immediately regard the repetition of certain items which I have presented in Part I
[Anweisung zum musikalisch-richtigen Gesange] as superuous. Even if I should not present new ideas, musical
terms will be made more familiar.
be better if he were to sing from his throat or from his nose. * Mancini seeks to
give a natural and accidental reason for this aw: the natural reason is that a young
person lacks a good ear. It is impossible, he says, for such a person to have any
success in singing. His ear cannot be re-built like an organ pipe which can be
expanded or narrowed until it produces a pure tone.
1
Aside from the fact that
the comparison between the human ear and the organ pipe is somewhat
far-fetched if not entirely invalid because the ear is only a receptive organ and
does not produce the tone, the aforementioned impossibility of correcting a bad
ear may not be valid after all. A person is certainly not gifted for singing if he
believes he is producing the correct tone when a note is sung or whistled to him
for hours and he always responds to it with another note which often does not
have the slightest harmonic relationship to the given tone. If, however, he is able
to produce something close to the given pitch, three or four notes of passable
purity, then chances are favorable that, with eort and diligence, singing in tune
can be attained in time.
Singers who generally sing in tune can, at times, have diculty with pitch due
to accidental causes. For the most part, it is a small physical disturbance or weak-
ness, distraction, fear, sluggishness, or an extreme strain which is at fault. As soon
as the cause is eliminated, the disturbance disappears by itself. The teacher is at
fault if he gets annoyed at the student in such a case, especially if physical weak-
ness is involved. The student, however, is also at fault if he does not prevent
himself frommaking such errors or does not seek to abolish their causes as much
as he can.
5
I have had the opportunity to make still another observation. Some voices go out
of tune only within a certain range and are otherwise completely in tune. A few
notes, for example g and a, are always sung sharp. Little can be accomplished
by practicing scales, as it is especially here that the defect becomes most appar-
ent. It would be better to put these two troublesome notes at the extreme end of
a descending line a self-resolving dissonance, such as the false fth [diminished
fth] or the minor seventh. The thirds which fall in between must not be consid-
ered independently, but rather have to be explained by the ratio they bear to one
another, and the fact that one is always smaller than the other:
2
cs, e, g; ds,
52 Treatise on vocal performance and ornamentation
* Pensieri e Riessioni sopra il canto gurato. Art V. p. 49. [In Edward Foremans translation of the Mancini treatise
Practical Reections on Figured Singing this passage reads: There is nothing more insuerable and more
inexcusable in a singer than bad intonation, and one will tolerate throaty or nasal singing more often than
bad intonation. Original published in Vienna, 1774; trans. in Masterworks on Singing, vol. VII (Champaign,
Ill.: Pro Musica Press, 1967), article V, p. 22.]
1
In Foremans translation of the Mancini treatise, Practical Reections on Figured Singing, article V, p. 22, this
passage reads: Such a youth cannot have success in singing; for no one can succeed in changing a poorly
formed organization of the body, in the manner that one can in an organ, where the pipes may be pushed
in or drawn out, until the proper voicing is found.
2
Hiller means the ratio of the major third to the minor third.
fs, a; or, as a seventh: a, cs, e, g; b, ds, fs, a. Acs, bds are major thirds
in a ratio of 4:5; cse and dsfs are minor thirds in the ratio of 5: 6; eg and fsa
are likewise minor thirds [that is, they sound harmonically the same, even though
they are mathematically dierent intervals]. In this combination, however, their
ratio is no greater than 27:32, and as a result they are larger than the thirds cse
and dsfs by the syntonic comma 80:81.
3
The student should practice these
thirds diligently and use the two obstinate tones sometimes as false fths to cs and
ds and sometimes as sevenths to a and b. If one sings themtogether with the notes
of the two scales, a and b, they will nally adjust to being in tune.
4
6
Because of the accidental signs, the sharp (s) and the at (b), a singer must
become aware that the sharp should always be sung slightly sharp and the at
somewhat at if they are to be noticed, which is what the signs are intended for.
They are frequently the indication of a modulation into another key and must,
therefore, clearly and unmistakably show this process. This applies to the natural
sign as well; however, as it has a double meaning, its function needs to be clear.
The natural sign raises, if it follows a at, but it lowers if it comes after a sharp.
In the rst case, the interval down is a whole step, and the interval up is a half
step. In the second case, it is reversed unless another accidental intervenes.
7
The mistake of singing out of tune can occur when shifting from the chest reg-
ister to the head or falsetto register. The singer must proceed in the way just
described if this defect is to be corrected. There is not very much that can be
determined with certainty above the register break. Mancini says that it is
between c and d for the soprano voice. If one has a soprano sing the four tones
of the scale g a b and c, one will nd that he produces them clearly and
strongly without any eort because they come from the chest. If, afterwards, he
wishes to sing d, it will give him trouble if his chest is not strong enough or if
there is something else wrong with his throat. It is here that the voice register
changes.
5
What has to be done to connect the two registers has already been
stated in 15 of the Introduction to Part I.
6
Since the highest tones of the chest
register will always be somewhat more shrill than the neighboring tones of the
falsetto register, the point is to make some of the former tones milder and the
latter ones stronger, which can be achieved through diligence and practice.
On the qualities of the human voice 53
3
Hiller makes an error here, claiming that 27:32 is smaller than 5:6; it is larger.
4
Hiller suggests his system of interval practice to help the student achieve good intonation and pureness of
tone according to mean-tone not equally tempered tuning. Likewise, Koch is of Kirnbergers opinion that
unequal temperament (ungleichschwebende Temperatur) is preferable to equally tempered tuning, because it pre-
serves the individual character of the scales. Heinrich Christoph Koch, Musikalisches Lexikon (Frankfurt, 1802;
facsimile edn., Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1964), col. 1501.
5
Mancini/Foreman, Practical Reections on Figured Singing, article IV, p. 20.
6
Anweisung zum musikalisch-richtigen Gesange, 15, p. 11.
8
By uniting both registers, the voice can be expanded to cover a considerable
range. Contrary to Mancinis belief, female voices have, most often, dierent
limits for both registers. For the most part, their voices are chest or head voices;
with the former it is possible to go lower, and with the latter to go higher. It is
therefore not unusual to nd female voices which reach up to f or g. I do not
thereby wish to imply that this is an enviable advantage worthy of the emulation
and imitation of all others, particularly because these female singers have, out of
ignorance or carelessness, failed to use their chest voice to strengthen and
augment their lower register. Young students of singing, both male and female,
especially those with a wide chest range, cannot be cautioned enough against the
dangerous practice of trying to force their highest tones, as they will not only lose
their voices but do harm to their bodies and health as well. One good tone in the
low register is worth more than two in the high register when they sound like a
piping bird. The admiration which is paid to those who do sing very high should
be ignored. Moving and pleasing is a more noble goal than arousing admiration.
I have witnessed the reverence for a virtuoso who gave concerts on the comb and
also on a violin without strings. It is even advisable for a singer who has to
perform very high passaggi in an aria to sing them a fourth or fth lower when he
is practicing, so as not to strain and tire his voice in the upper register.
9
Altogether, teachers and students cannot be advised strongly enough against
forcing nature while learning to sing. Rather, it is wise to accomplish everything
gradually by considerate and continuous diligence. It is possible to sing in tune
and to extend the range of the voice as was explained before; however, this
should not be done all at once, that is to say in one day, but rather little by little.
In the beginning, the singer should use only a small range of the voice, which
allows him to produce the tones with ease, lightness, and in tune, even if only
eight or ten notes are employed at a time. It is advisable to add one note in the
higher register and one in the lower register from week to week, or, preferably,
from month to month. Be assured that within half a year, one will have mastered
eighteen to twenty notes, which is almost more than needed. It is easy to recog-
nize that the bright vowels a, e, or o provide the best method for practicing the
singing of the scale. Begin, for example, with a scale from f to f ; the following
month add e to g;
7
then in the third month the range can be increased to d
and a etc. Thus, in the sixth month a and d will have been reached; and then
consider whether in the seventh month one wishes to attempt g and e. Nothing
will be lost if this nal step is omitted or unsuccessful.
Even a weak voice can eventually be made stronger through intelligent prac-
tice. This exercise must be undertaken with sustained notes rather than with fast
runs and passaggi. It can be combined well with the previous exercise if the singer,
54 Treatise on vocal performance and ornamentation
7
Hiller has g by mistake.
as I have said before, does not rush through the scales, but rather proceeds slowly
by using whole and half notes. In addition, chorale melodies can be used
protably for this purpose. Mancini even considers it possible to improve poor
voices through diligence and practice and gives, as proof, the example of the
great and famous singer Bernacchi, whom the reader will remember from the
Introduction to this work.
8
I can say nothing more about this case, however, since
a voice can be bad in several respects, and Mancini does not speciy the partic-
ular deciency of this singers voice nor does he indicate through what method
of studies he [Bernacchi] improved himself. The seventh article of his book con-
tains some pertinent information, but it does not dier from what I have said
before.
In short, diligence, practice, and patience can improve all natural aws which
hinder the development of a good voice, except for the complete absence of a
musical ear, as described in 4.
10
Aside from the deciencies in the voice, defects in pronunciation can also some-
times occur. Some of them result from irregularities of the speech instrument: at
times the tongue is too long or too thick, causing stuttering; the nose is either too
open or too stued and one talks through the nose; the consonants r, l, or s cannot
be suciently clearly or distinctly produced, in addition to other symptoms as
well. It is dicult to improve these defects, although I do not consider it impos-
sible. It is a shame if they appear in connection with a good voice; they are
unpleasant and, if they cannot be improved, they impair the voice so that one
cannot depend upon it. Often, however, these aws are due to negligence and
habit, which naturally did not originate in the nursery, but ought to have been
corrected in school. Since this is unfortunately not the case, the singing teacher
must be prepared to instruct the pupil not only in the art of singing, but in speak-
ing as well. In order to improve the aforementioned defects, the teacher must arm
himself with patience and not allow himself to be dismayed if his goal has not
been totally achieved at the end. Naturam expellas furca, tamen usque recurrit.
9
Other aws, such as bad habits or negligence of pronunciation, are of lesser
importance. It is not the most dicult task to produce pure vowels and diph-
thongs or to make a distinction between hard and soft consonants. In order to
accomplish this goal, the reader may consult Part I, where the necessary advice
is supplied.
10
Grauns syllables Da, me, ni, po, tu, la, and be may still be used with
great prot.
On the qualities of the human voice 55
8
Anweisung zum musikalisch-zierlichen Gesange, p. xviii. See preface, p. 43 above.
9
Hiller misspells the words expellas and recurrit. They should read expelles and recurret. Thus, the quote reads:
You may cast out nature with a pitchfork, but she will soon nd her way back. Apparently a very popular
statement to be found in the works of Cicero and Catullus, this exact quote stems from Horace, Epistles,
Book 1, Poem 10, Line 24.
10
Anweisung zum musikalisch-richtigen Gesange, Introduction, 22.
.
On good performance and how to use the voice
1
The singer who has a good voice, who has mastered any defects and has no
trouble with rhythm and intonation must also know how to make good use of
these skills; that is, he must know how to perform well. The Italians call good use
of the voice portamento di voce, or simply portamento. By this term they understand
nothing more than a connection of tones* which progresses either by stepwise
motion or by leaps. In German this has been literally translated as carrying of
the voice (Tragen der Stimme). This translation can be accepted as long as one is
aware of what actually is to be understood by this term.
2
The essential feature of the so-called portamento or carrying of the voice lies in the
fact that while progressing from one tone to the next without a gap or break, no
unpleasant slur or pull through smaller intervals should be detected. In the rst
case one says: the singer pushes; in the latter, he howls. In the rst case the fault
lies in the fact that the singer attacks the tones too strongly and also pushes them
forward as his chest is too weak to sustain the tones evenly; in the second case
semitones can be heard which do not have a harmonic relationship to either one
of the other tones.
In the beginning the singer should practice with only two slow notes, subse-
quently three, and then four, and pay particular attention not only that the pre-
ceding note gets its full value, but that it is correctly sustained, always with some
intensication. The Italians call it consumar la nota, that is, bringing a note to its
end. The next note must then follow so lightly and securely that neither a pause,
nor a break, nor a false semitone can be heard. This holds true not only for a
56
* For this portamento it is a question of nothing but a passing, connecting the voice from one note to the next
with perfect proportion and unity in ascending and descending motion alike. Per questo portamento non
sintende altro, che un passare, legando la voce, da una nota allaltra con perfetta proporzione ed unione,
tanto nel salire, che nel discendere. Mancini, 1. c. art. VIII. By this portamento of the voice is meant nothing
but a passing, tying the voice, fromone note to the next with perfect proportion and union, as much in ascend-
ing as descending. [Mancini/Foreman, Article VIII, p. 40.]
single syllable or vowel, but for several as well; not only for stepwise progression,
but also for upward and downward leaps. For example:
A good performance of the appoggiatura is based simply upon this smooth
connection of two notes. The preceding example, which is to be counted in 4/4
time, shows the given meter. The tempo should be rather slow.
3
This connection of notes is contrasted with another kind of performance called
piquer (Piquiren) or staccato (Abstossen). It does not require any great eort to learn
this, as every beginner possesses this ability fromnature and will, in general, soon
be able to sing them staccato before he learns how to connect them. The extent
to which the singer makes good use of staccato in performing passaggi deserves
full attention and demands, in addition to a good chest, a great deal of practice.
At a slow tempo, however, staccato sounds bad if it is not supported by a second
voice or accompanied by a well-set instrumental part. Therefore the singer is
advised not to make use of staccato in cases where this kind of support is lacking,
e.g., cadenzas. Who would be able to listen to a cadenza of this kind without
laughing? If, occasionally, such parts occur in an aria, they
might pass because the composer has chosen them either to give greater variety
or to contrast them with other passaggi. The composer, however, will not extend
them too far without sucient instrumental support. Virtuosi who sing high
On good performance and how to use the voice 57
notes reach themby means of the staccato, notes which they otherwise could not
attain by portamento or by a fast run. So they sing, for example:
but would do better if they sang:
or refrained from doing so altogether.
4
It also impairs good performance very much if the singer does not know or feel
where he can breathe comfortably. In Part I various remarks concerning this
problem were made here and there.
1
As this occurred whenever the occasion
arose* and consequently very sporadically, it will do no harm if the important
aspects are briey recalled here. A singer must learn a lesson from the following
error: either he sings without understanding if he takes breaths at the wrong time
and at the improper place, or he exaggerates if he wants to force too much into
one breath and, thereby, harms his lungs and his health.
5
There are two techniques which a singer has to master so that they become a
part of his nature: he must (1) be able, in an unnoticeable moment, to ll his lungs
full of air, and (2) very sparingly, and yet with complete control, be able to let the
air out again. Everyone can imagine howmiserable singing would be if the singer
always omitted three or four notes habitually in order to take a breath for the
sake of comfort. Whoever cannot sing a scale at a moderately fast tempo
like this:
so that he pauses briey on every fourth note and takes a breath at the same time
without disturbing the tempo, must learn it, or had better not devote himself to
58 Treatise on vocal performance and ornamentation
* See Lesson 4, Paragraphs 12., pp. 7476 [of the Anweisung zum musikalisch-richtigen Gesange].
1
Anweisung zum musikalisch-richtigen Gesange.
singing. In order to let the breath out sparingly, a special exercise is required
which can best be practiced with long sustained notes on one tone which are
simultaneously increased or also by an extended row of notes.
6
In performing a piece, then, which cannot be sung in one breath, it is permis-
sible to take a fresh breath:
(1) where, in the music, there is a rest, be it long or short.
(2) where the words permit a small pause, at a punctuation mark, for
example,
or in poetry where a line comes to an end. However, it may not be of the follow-
ing kind:
Und / naht sich / der ihr: / warlich, / so
Geht / stracks ihr / herz ver/lohren.
2
On the other hand, there are pauses here in the middle of the line according to
punctuation. The singer can even make a cut with every metric foot as long as it
does not split a word or a group of words which may not be separated, as, for
example: an article, a pronoun, or an adjective which are connected to a noun.
Taking the given lines into consideration fromthis point of view, the singer could,
in case of an emergency, make use of all the metric pauses of the rst line, but
only the rst foot of the last line.
(3) If the singer nds himself in a situation where the words do not give any
indication of places to pause or breathe as, for example, in elongated syllables or,
more often, in measures of continuous passaggi, he must look carefully for such
spots where he can take a breath without disturbing the continuity. There are
singers who have such good lungs and chests that they can sing more than six
measures of sixteenth notes in a fast allegro. He who wishes to imitate, but does
not have the strength in his lungs, must know how to help himself without
harming the music. I would like to explain further about this aid in the case of
emergency below; for now, however, let us study the opportunities for breathing,
further.
(4) Every note which precedes a syncopated note can be separated if does not
interfere with its length or the speed of the tempo.
For example:
On good performance and how to use the voice 59
2
And / if he / approaches her: / then, / indeed
She / immediately loses / her heart.
This is an example of enjambment.
(5) Even dotted or three-part notes can be handled in this manner, although
the entire third part thereof should not be lost; rather, only half of it may be used
in order to take a breath.
It can also be written like this:
With pauses it would look like this:
In order to make this clearer, an appoggiatura can be given to the dotted note in
the rst example or the rst tied note of the second example can be changed into
a suspension:
3
Obviously no singer will thereby lose his breath. Even more inexcusable,
however, would be the error of singing it like this:
This results in the rule that a singer should not take a breath between an appog-
giatura and the following note as well as between two notes which are bound
together by a tie.
(6) Finally, the rule given by some music teachers that every rst note in the
beginning or the middle of a measure permits a pause applies if considered
within its proper limits. By this rule, at least, beginners can be broken of the habit
of pausing before the barline on the last note of the preceding measure. We will
soon see in exactly what case this is permitted.
7
Now let me discuss those aids which a singer may employ in case of an emer-
gency in order to take a breath. These aids entail the following:
60 Treatise on vocal performance and ornamentation
3
The character of the melodic line is obviously changed when a singer alters its ornamentation. This version
elaborates the melody, making it more pathetic, while indicating the enormous amount of freedom left up
to the discretion of the singer.
(1) A long note is divided into two equal parts of which the rst is attacked
quickly and held only half its value in order to be able to take a breath in the
other half. The second half of the note is determined by its full value and in
accordance with the relationship that it has to the following note. For example:
should be dealt with in the following form:
In other meters it is possible, in the same manner, to divide a quarter note into
two eighths and use a sixteenth from the rst one for breathing. Another type of
special aid is:
(2) The alteration of one or another gure or the omission of certain dispens-
able small notes. An example will make the matter clear.
This passage as shown here will not be easy for a singer to perform in one
breath; he must make it easier for himself by alteration and omission in the fol-
lowing way:
On good performance and how to use the voice 61
or also like this:
This does not imply that it is essential to pause and breathe as often as it is
indicated in both examples here. The all-too-frequent pauses would, in the end,
be oensive, especially if they were all to come at the same spot, which is the case
with the rst example. The second has, thereby, an advantage and, if the singer
can omit the rest in the fourth measure, there can be no complaint and the
passage can be sung as indicated.
(3) If the pause occurs immediately before the barline, something which was
condemned as an error above, an emergency remedy can be permitted under
certain circumstances, when (a) a sustained note or (b) a passaggio occurs which
requires a longer breath. In this case the singer should not feel guilty if (c) the
pause occurs in the middle of a word or between two notes which may not be
separated for harmonic reasons. After a sustained note, even if it should only
extend for one or two measures, the singer can pause again where the composer
has added a (d) fermata which the singer should ornament at free will; also (e)
such a fermata alone requires a fresh breath even if no sustained note precedes
it. See the following examples:
62 Treatise on vocal performance and ornamentation
In the last example it is better and more appropriate for good declamation to
pause and take a breath, not on the last note, but before the last note before the
barline.
8
4
Considering the remarks about breathing thus far, one will come to understand
the meaning of the observation in paragraph ve which stated that the singer
has to breathe at an unnoticeable moment and which indicated how much time
is left for him in which to do it. No complete beat,
5
that is, no half measure in
alla breve, no full quarter in 4/4 or 3/4, and no full eighth in 2/4 or 3/8 may be
taken up with breathing.
6
Only half of such a note, a so-called Tactglied, is at the
singers disposal and more often, as we have seen, he has to be satised with half
of a Tactglied. The compound meter* divisions follow, in this respect, the two- or
three-part meters to which they belong. They would deserve their own investiga-
tion if I did not fear to digress. I also would like to leave the teacher and the
student something to examine on their own.
On good performance and how to use the voice 63
* If this terminology is unfamiliar, please refer to Part I [Anweisung zum musikalisch-richtigen Gesange] 13 and 14
in the 6th Lesson [pp. 9899].
4
The printer has erroneously designated this paragraph as 7. It should, however, read 8. All following par-
agraphs of this chapter will be in the corrected sequence.
5
See Chapter 4, footnote 5, p. 73 below.
6
In this context, 2/4 is to be understood as a four-pulse measure, as in an Allegretto.
9
From the previous remarks about the carrying of the voice (portamento di voce) it is
obvious that a note which is sustained for some time should always be heard a
little bit stronger at the end than at the beginning. This does not mean that the
dierence should be as great as piano and forte; there are, between the two of
them, so many shadings that we do not have enough names to identify them all.
A good singer has to be in control of all of them, through which he will achieve
not only a good portamento di voce, but also another beautiful quality a gradual
crescendo and diminuendo of the sound the so-called messa di voce. This can be
performed from pianissimo up to fortissimo and then be brought back down
again. A further description can be found in the fourth lesson of Part I, 14, and
an example for practice in the twelfth lesson, 9.
10
There is still another method of increasing and decreasing the tone which the
singer who wishes to perform well must not ignore. All of the beautiful arts
demand variety of taste and none more than music. This requirement covers the
various grades of crescendo and decrescendo of which the voice is capable.
Neither the messa di voce, as there is not always an opportunity for it, nor the single
note which can and must be increased, completely meet this demand. Both are
splendid in themselves and form the basis for other beautiful qualities. However,
insofar as they consist of the shadings of the voice, they have their own princi-
ples which no logic can easily put into rules. And why? Because everything that
is beautiful in music, especially in singing, must be related to passion. Everything
that can be said about it would be empty talk; the singer who is sensitive and who
can bring out a line with emphasis here and allow another, in contrast, to recede
or, so to say, place it in the background; who, here, dares a chromatic note, a
distant leap with boldness violently projected, as it were; who, on the other hand
touches upon another with ease and lightness such a singer, I say, is better
instructed through nature and feeling than he could ever be by great books that
might be written about this topic. Do not think, young artists, that everything you
have to learn in order to become great and admirable in your art can be learned
from books. In other sciences, books have been written in all formats to the point
of superuity; in music, however, we encounter depths we cannot fathom. We
have, as yet, not completed an alphabet to explain its impact, to describe the
means by which music touches and pleases, and to dene it by rules.
7
64 Treatise on vocal performance and ornamentation
7
Hiller appeals to the singer to develop his/her aesthetic sensibility. He pleads with him to believe in the pos-
sibility of his own growth and understanding; to go beyond what books can teach, and to touch upon the
essence of great art: the passion, sensitivity, and beauty of music which only attention to the subtleties of art
can express. This is precisely in tune with the aesthetic theory of the time. The concept of beauty and the
natural feeling for it are two of the most signicant attributes of aesthetics. In the eighteenth century, the
awareness of these aspects, along with critical ability, became an important part of musical consciousness in
Germany. H. C. Koch, in his Musikalisches Lexikon, mentions Sulzers explanation of aesthetics from his
Allgemeine Theorie der schnen Knste, 2 vols. (Leipzig: M. G. Weidemanns Erben und Reich, 177174):
11
Here is approximately all that can be said about the varying degrees of loudness
and softness for the benet of the beginning singer: fromthe start one should dil-
igently become acquainted with dynamics and master them through practice as
much as possible. To this end, the student should sing a given piece in dierent
ways. Because of the mixture of varying degrees of loudness and softness, and
lightness and darkness in the performance of a piece, the singer should rely upon
his feelings and be aware that the product does not come out too harshly and
that the shadings are not too harsh. The most extreme loudness and the most
extreme softness are seldom eective one after another; the singer should make
use of the in-between degrees whose limits lie closer together. Loud, less loud,
averagely loud, not very loud, and soft are gradations which every good instru-
mentalist is familiar with and knows how to distinguish. Is the singer not to know
how to use them? And yet, these are not all of the degrees; the fortissimo repre-
sents one limit as the pianissimo forms the other. The singer will also have to
employ this at times. A passionate outcry of pain or rage will require the rst;
extreme sadness or discouragement will require the latter. It is self-evident that
no piece, as a whole, can be performed in either of these degrees because both
of them demand a certain strain and tire the singer. They would also not be
advantageous for good performance insofar as no further increase or decrease
could take place. Therefore, in this piece, everything depends upon the singers
sensitivity. And everything I have remarked about this matter should only serve
as a means to attract the beginners attention and to furnish him with the ability
to make a number of useful observations when he has the opportunity to hear a
good singer. Much has been accomplished if one has drawn ones students atten-
tion to certain subtleties of the arts which cannot be expressed in rules, and if he
has been given the ability to recognize good models from the right point of view
as well as to evaluate them correctly.
On good performance and how to use the voice 65
Aesthetics is the philosophy of the ne arts, or the science which derives its general theory as well as its rules
from the nature of good taste. To this Koch adds: Aesthetic is the characteristic given to that which makes
it possible to touch and interest emotions and to eect good taste (Koch, Musikalisches Lexikon, cols. 9092:
Aesthetisch nennet man diejenige Eigenschaft einer Sache, wodurch sie geschickt wird, das Gefhl zu
rhren und zu interessiren, und auf den Geschmack zu wirken).
On cadenzas
1
So far, the singer has been viewed only as a performer of a given piece; that is,
nothing more was expected of him than to sing exactly, with security of intona-
tion and steady tempo, what the composer has written down. In that case, only
small ornaments are permitted for better connection of the melody or to give it
more liveliness and lustre. Now, we still wish to acquaint the singer with those
opportunities where he is called upon to make free use of his own inventiveness
and taste. In this chapter the so-called fermata, where the accompanying instru-
ments make a small pause in order to allow the singer time to introduce some-
thing of his own, will be discussed in detail. The arbitrary variations, which
extend throughout an entire aria with continuous accompaniment, give the
singer another opportunity to show inventiveness and judgment. This will be
dealt with in the following and nal chapter.
2
Cadenzas are also included in the category of the fermata. In the tenth lesson
of Part I of the instruction, the essential meaning of cadences has already been
discussed.
1
Each of the four voice parts has its own way of forming cadences
and introducing a trill on the penultimate note. Here the word cadenza
[Cadenz] has a somewhat dierent meaning and implies the improvised orna-
mentation which the singer introduces according to his own discretion when
the accompaniment pauses.
2
Many years ago it was the custom to introduce
improvised ornaments without a pause in the accompaniment, as can be seen
from the examples in Musica Moderna practica* by Johann Andreas Herbst, the
121
* This little work was printed in German in Quarto on eleven sheets [of paper] in Frankfurt in 1658. The
German title reads: A Short Introduction as to how Boys and Others Who Have a Special Desire and Love
to Sing in the Italian Manner Can be Taught Quite Thoroughly and with Little Eort. Everything is
Conveyed with Great Diligence, from the Outstanding Authorities, also Ornamented with many clausulae
[cadences] and Variations: especially for the Use of Instrumentalists who Play the Violin and the Cornetto,
Augmented with all Kinds of Cadences and Re-issued for the Third Time in Print. From this small work
one can gain a fair understanding of the art of singing in the previous century.
1
Hiller, Anweisung zum musikalisch-richtigen Gesange, Lesson 10, 8, pp.143144.
2
In German the word Cadenz, or Kadenz, can refer either to cadence or cadenza. In this chapter, Hiller is con-
cerned with cadenzas and the improvisations a singer can invent when he/she sees a fermata.
former Kapellmeister from Frankfurt-am-Main. To accommodate the singer
and also because the audience enjoyed his inventions, it became customary
after a while to have the instruments stop in order to give the singer time to
display his ideas.
3
This concession toward the singer had several disadvantageous consequences.
Singers who lacked neither presence of mind nor ideas and technique misused
the opportunity since they did not set any limits either in mixing various gures
or in the time which is allowed for the duration of such improvised additions.
Tosi, who is absolutely no friend of cadenzas, makes fun of this: The contem-
porary singer, he said, is inclined to make reworks of improvised passages at
the end of the rst part [of the da capo aria] and the orchestra has to wait. At
the end of the second part, he doubles the load in his throat causing the orches-
tra to become bored. When the halt nally comes at the third cadence, the whole
mine of divisions loaded with so much eort is blown up, and the orchestra feels
ready to curse out of impatience.
3
Now, if, to top it o, an ignorant audience
admired and applauded these little extravaganzas of the singer, as they are in the
habit of doing, then it would be easy to imagine how a singer could get the idea
into his head that the invention of a long and colorful cadenza should be empha-
sized more than a good performance. To a certain extent this error is excusable
since it is not infrequent that the best, most masterly performed arias are not
applauded, whereas the cadenzas of the most mediocre singers draw the loudest
applause. Thus, the singer has good reason, at least at the end of the aria, to
solicit applause from the audience, even if he has to force the occasion.
4
In Der
Vollkommene Capellmeister Mattheson calls this cadenza a farewell bow which the
singer oers his listeners.
5
Thus, it is quite appropriate that they thank him and
wish him luck on his journey.
Although this type of singer deserves to be recognized to some extent, there
are others, however, who would like to imitate them but cannot. Their heads are
either so dry that they do not know how to bring out anything like a new idea of
their own, and tire the listener with everyday tries and unvarying monotony, or
122 Treatise on vocal performance and ornamentation
3
In Tosi/Galliard, Observations, pp. 128f (see also Baird, Introduction, pp. 205f.), Tosi chides the virtuosi of his
time who have used cadenzas for primarily nonmusical reasons, i.e. fame, wealth, and vanity. While he shows
some understanding for the economic motivations of his colleagues, he rigorously defends the aesthetics of
music against such excesses. Tosi therefore restricts the use of extensive ornamentation and allows only small
elaborations. He is of the opinion that there should be absolutely no cadenzas that interrupt the time of the
bass at any of the section endings of the da capo aria. Thus, the singer should be permitted nothing more
than a small elaboration at the three main cadences of the aria.
4
Hiller shows understanding for the singers need to gain acknowledgment for his art, furthering the argu-
ment that Agricola presented in his refutation of Tosis restrictive instructions. Agricola defends the singers
need to show inventiveness, to highlight the aect of an aria, and to employ the element of surprise. He
favors a cadenza on the nal cadence of the da capo aria and gives detailed rules that are designed to
prevent abusive ornamentation. In this context he refers to Quantz and his instructions outlined in Chapter
15. See Tosi/Agricola, Anleitung, pp. 203206 (Baird, Introduction, pp. 210213) and Quantz, On Playing the
Flute, pp. 179181.
5
Mattheson, Der Vollkommene Capellmeister, Part II, Chapter 3, 39, p. 116; Harriss translation, p. 273.
their throats are so sti and their intonation so insecure that the listener suers
with them through the troubles they took to make their cadenzas. If one takes
everything into consideration it does not seem to be quite denite whether the
use of these improvised cadenzas is to be praised rather than criticized and
whether they are to be permitted or forbidden. No matter how much applause
they receive from most of the listeners, there have always been men of taste and
insight who declared themselves against cadenzas. Nevertheless, since music
requires variety throughout, since everything that pleasantly surprises the lis-
tener adds to the eect of the whole, since no opportunity should be taken away
from the singer to show his skill, the increased use of cadenzas might be justied
and therefore is worth a closer investigation.
4
No matter how many ideas the singer has, he should not leave anything to
chance. Therefore he should pay attention to the following rules:
6
1. Cadenzas must not appear too frequently and must also not be too long.
Actually, no breath should be taken in between; thus, as a result of this rule, it is
not permitted to last longer than the singers breath allows. This rule cannot be
kept without exception, simply because the very dierent strengths and weak-
nesses of the chest and other random circumstances allow sometimes more,
sometimes less, and at times all too little expansion. And yet an idea that is sup-
posed to be complete and of some importance needs such expansion. Thus, if
the singer has to breathe it can only be done with speed and on those notes which
do not disrupt the continuity.
2. At all times, the cadenza must be based upon the pervading character and
the chief aect of the aria. A cadenza consisting of numerous slurred notes
would be just as much out of place in a ery aria as one put together of wild runs
would be in a slow aria. In order to make a cadenza suit the aria, a few beauti-
ful places from the aria itself should be utilized, and, if possible, inserted with
skill into the cadenza.
3. Identical gures should not be repeated too often. Rather, dierent gures
must be combined and interchanged so that they appear more similar to a skill-
ful combination of single independent phrases than to a regular arioso melody.
For this reason, one is not permitted to follow the meter strictly although one
takes the tempo of the aria somewhat as a measure and must not sing a cadenza
allegro in an adagio and vice versa not sing an adagio cadenza in an allegro
movement.
4. The more unexpected material that can be introduced in a cadenza, the
more beautiful it is. All kinds of gures, runs, leaps, triplets, and so on may be
used there. We shall soon investigate more closely how they are introduced and
what they are based upon.
On cadenzas 123
6
For the following rules, Hiller relies mainly upon Agricolas instructions. See Tosi/Agricola, Anleitung, pp.
203f.; Baird, Introduction, pp. 210f.
5
The entrance of the cadenza is always on the rst of the three melodic notes with
which it is customary to form cadences in the upper voices. The harmonic
accompaniment is constructed so that the bass remains on the fth [V] of the
key for the rst [I
6
4
] and second note, and afterwards returns to the tonic [I] with
the nal note. The harmony that belongs to the rst note is nothing other than
the tonic triad, major or minor, as the nature of the aria indicates. In the case
described above, since the bass has moved to the fth of the key, this triad forms
a
6
4
chord, which is customarily followed by a
5
3
chord, because the trill which
appears at the end of the cadenza immediately before the nal note is always
introduced on this chord. Everything the singer wants to perform from his imag-
ination must belong to the scale or the harmony of the tonic note. This then
would be one type of cadenza. Another type arises when one chooses the
harmony of the fth instead of the harmony of the tonic, and only incidentally
touches upon the tonic. Finally, the third type occurs if one makes use of small
turns and modulations to distant keys. However, one must be aware of all too
foreign notes and must always make certain that all dissonances against the bass
receive a proper resolution.
6
If the singer is guided by the demands of a cadenza, he must become familiar
with the various types of gures which form passaggi, insofar as cadenzas are
made up of runs. In this way, all kinds of ornaments, appoggiaturas, and trills
can also be put to use. In fact, the triad and the scale are the most secure foun-
dations upon which good cadenzas can be built. If one knows how to vary by
means of all kinds of gures and to enliven and beautify with various well-chosen
and well-performed ornaments, one has sucient means at hand to invent
cadenzas. Since words are not specic enough to describe these things, examples
may say more about it:
\\ni \+i oxs or +nr sc\rr
(1) Upward
124 Treatise on vocal performance and ornamentation
(2) Downward
These are not nearly all the variations which can be undertaken with a scale.
An intelligent singer will have the ability to invent many more variations like
these, and even if he cannot make a complete cadenza out of them, he at least
has a good beginning there. Let us imagine that the cadenza is in F; thus, it is
possible to form a fairly complete cadenza with a small addition from the closely
related harmony of the fth. The relationship of certain gures also leads to that
point.
On cadenzas 125
Cadenzas which for the most part belong to the harmony of the dominant
would look approximately like this:
The triad also permits some variations that are useful in cadenzas.
For example:
7
Often singers introduce this manner of ornamenting cadenzas where instru-
ments cannot stop, but rather must continue. In an Adagio something may be
undertaken even if only a quarter of the measure is available; to be sure, half
a measure is better. In an Allegro at least half a measure is required; a
whole measure is better. I will write down the examples in only one way,
because one can easily arrange it according to the other way by augmenting the
meter.
126 Treatise on vocal performance and ornamentation
8
These examples do not imply that all cadenzas must always be put together from
colorful, running gures. No! A few well-sustained tones, some skillfully applied
and correctly resolved dissonances can often, without adding fast runs, bring
about a good eective cadenza. In Adagios one makes more use of the latter than
of the former. However, it is not necessary to do the same thing throughout and
either to drag a cadenza along in slownotes or to toss it away in fast runs. Because
one intends to surprise the listeners in this way, the best results will be by means
of a skillful mixture of fast and slow, the ery and the tender, and the strong and
the weak. Some mixed-in dissonances or chromatic tones added at random con-
tribute to this result in the same manner.
The introduction of dissonances is the means of modulating to foreign keys.
However, the singer should not dare to go too far or remain there too long,
because of the danger of losing the tonic key and not being able to nd the way
home again.
9
Unexpected entrances of strange or remote intervals add an element of surprise.
Some singers carry this to extremes. The entrance of the cadence note in the
On cadenzas 127
augmented fourth (a) is one of the most useful, because this fourth is the leading
tone of the fth of the tonic and therefore is not at all foreign even though it takes
this form. Something can also be done with the augmented fth (b) as the leading
tone to the sixth. Other dissonant entrances cause more havoc than good.
Therefore, it is better if they are not used too often. The resolution of the aug-
mented fourth can also be delayed for a while (c).
Intervals whose range is larger than that of an octave should not take place at
the beginning, but rather more in the middle. Some time ago, the descending
thirteenth and twelfth were very popular and can at times be used if the singer
is certain that they are in tune and secure.
All these unusual entrances and wide leaps must be undertaken with somewhat
long notes in order to arouse the attention of the listener and to make themcom-
prehensible to him. Therefore, they demand steadiness and strength in perfor-
mance.
The singer who favors such leaps can also attempt to make these and others
in an ascending pattern. It would be too extensive to represent everything in
examples. One may attempt it oneself and be satised with an example of the
intervals of the tenth and eleventh.
10
The text on which the cadenza occurs requires a light vowel or a diphthong
which the singer must sustain purely and distinctly. I and u are of no use in caden-
zas and if, in spite of that, one is demanded, the singer must look for a syllable
in the vicinity which will be comfortable and useful. He should, however, take
128 Treatise on vocal performance and ornamentation
care, that if it is the next to the last syllable, that he does not come out with it
again at the end, and instead of saying Ga-ben, for example, pronouncing it
Ga-Gaben or instead of Le-ben, Le-Leben; or, that if he found the
required syllable further on, not to leave out the following one. It would be ridic-
ulous if with lasciami dubitar after the cadenza on ta, the singer added tar
or bitar. In this case, a cadenza must be arranged so that a number of the syl-
lables are incorporated in it and the trill would fall on the third syllable from the
end, and the Nachschlag and the nal note bring in the last two syllables, approx-
imately in the following manner:
11
At times, holds occur in the middle of pieces which are not really cadenzas, but
rather caesuras; one calls them fermatas, and they are indicated with the usual
sign of the hold (