Bel Canto: The Teaching of the Classical Italian Song-Schools, Its Decline and Restoration

by Lucie Manén, Brian Trowell (Primary Contributor)

Lucie Manén, one of the most influential and admired vocal teachers of our time, presents the history of Bel Canto singing and details the physiological aspects of voice production, including posture, breathing, messa di voce , and coloratura. Illustrated with exercises from original Bel Canto
manuals, this book is an invaluable guide for singers who wish to master this important style.

86 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Lucie Manén was a renowned opera singer of the 1930s, later a vocal pedagogue and author of several works on vocal training. One of her students described her as "one of the most influential singing teachers of the century." In 1949, she married Otto John, the first president of the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, whose unexplained stay in East Germany in the mid-1950s attracted international attention.
Born into a cultured and intellectually vibrant household in Berlin, she received early training in music, dance, and singing. She studied voice with prominent teachers and began her career as a lyric and coloratura soprano in the early 1930s, performing at the Leipzig Opera and the Glyndebourne Festival. However, due to Nazi persecution, she emigrated to England in the mid-1930s.
In England, she continued performing until World War II, after which she turned to medical studies and trained as a physiotherapist. Her combined knowledge of singing and anatomy led to her pioneering work on the physiological aspects of vocal training. She became a sought-after voice teacher, mentoring renowned singers such as James Bowman, Peter Pears, and Elizabeth Harwood.
After her marriage to Otto John, she lived in Germany for a time but returned to England following her husband's controversial disappearance in East Berlin. She remained dedicated to her teaching and research, publishing influential works on bel canto technique, advocating for the restoration of traditional Italian vocal methods.
Later in life, she and her husband resided in Igls, Austria, where she passed away in 1991. Her contributions to vocal pedagogy continue to be highly regarded.

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book...until the epilogue.

[Helena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the topics discussed in this book were concise and elaborately illustrated, laying out the subject clearly in one's mind and allowing the reader to mentally breathe/sing along with the explanations as if one were in a voice lesson. However, some chapters (mostly the really short ones of two pages) left me more confused than I every was prior to picking up this booklet. I was especially boggled by the chapter "Voice Types and Vocal Timbres" - apparently Manèn was able to switch between light, lyric, and dramatic soprano by switching the position of her tongue from the consonants B, D, and G. What. Okay. Is there any footage of that..?

[Hawley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, recommended to me by a friend, despite how unrealistic and unbelievable it was. However, I was disappointed in the quick and sudden ending. There was so much build up and I felt like the ending was a bit of a cop out.