Ornamentation in singing in the works of Russian pedagogues of the second half of the 19th century

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the study of ornamentation in the works of Russian singing teachers of the second half of the 19^th century. The singing ornaments, within the historical context of the era, have particular interest because they represent an important stage in the formation of theoretical and practical knowledge in Russia. The theme of ornamentation remained relevant in the heritage of European singing teachers throughout the nineteenth century, whereas in Russia, as a special analysis of the works of domestic teachers shows, it had its own features and its representation in the treatises did not always receive a level comparable to European. A gap of more than seventy years between treatises of Russian teachers: the first “Singing School” by Alexander Varlamov (“Full Singing School in Three Parts”, 1840) and the guide by Vasily Karelin (“New theory of voice performance”, 1912), was a period when along with the change of artistic practice and music material, the goals of decoration shifted towards its minimization in performance and pedagogy. In the Russian opera repertoire, the coloratura technique was not initially dominant. Accordingly, integration of the European knowledge about figurative singing into Russian practice in the second half of the 19^th ‒ early 20^th centuries, became a little topical task for domestic vocal teachers, as the European coloratura did not have a historically based solid foundation in Russia.