The specificity of opera-vocal performance by Antonio Tamburini

Chzhan Isyan Postgraduate student, Department of Vocal Art, Kazan State Conservatory named after N. G. Zhiganov 420000, Russia, Kazan, Pushkin str., 24, office of Kazan 572901203@qq.com Other publications by this author

Antonio Tamburini (1800-1876) was one of the outstanding performers of the basso cantante parts, at a time when the baritone had not yet formed into an independent voice type ^[16]. The basso cantante parts were designed for high and rolling basses. These include, for example, Mozart's parts: the Count from the opera "The Wedding of Figaro", Papageno from the opera "The Magic Flute", Don Juan from the opera of the same name and many others. Nowadays, these parts are performed by baritones ^{[8, pp. 267-272]}.

Since the 1820s, parts written specifically for operatic baritones began to appear, the first of which was Antonio Tamburini. Among the main roles created for him: Atlant in the opera "Violence and Constancy" and General Banner in the opera "Adele and Emerico" by Saverio Mercadante; the title role in the opera "Alajor of Granada" and Doctor Malatesta in the opera "Don Pasquale" by Gaetano Donizetti; Ernesto in "The Pirate" and Riccardo in "The Puritans" Vincenzo Bellini; Richard the Lionheart in Giovanni Paccini's "Talisman" and the title role in the opera "Edward Stuart in Scotia" by Carlo Kochi ^{[13; 17]}.

Tamburini began his singing career in Ravenna in 1816. Six years later, he was already performing on the stage of the famous La Scala theater. And since the 1820s, the artist's touring activity began. Over the next two decades, he shone on the opera stages of Italy, France, England and Russia, appearing in the roles of a military commander, rival, hero-lover and ruler ^{[3, pp. 64-98; 5; 13]}.

Antonio Tamburini is considered to be a representative of the Italian bel canto of the XIX century, as evidenced by his contemporaries. German composer of the XIX century, master of flute art, engaged in the study of instrumental and vocal music Theobald Boehm wrote: "Someone who, like me, was lucky enough to hear <...> the greatest singers of that time will never forget the names of Brizzi, Sessi, Catalani, Velluti, Lablache, Tamburini, Rubini, Malibran, Pasta, etc. I remember with joy their magnificent, highly artistic performances; they all come from the good old Italian vocal school, which today, as in past centuries, provides the basis for good voice formation and leads to a correct understanding of style, which is important for both an instrumentalist and a singer" ^{[12, p. 145]}.

Tamburini's voice was characterized by contemporaries as a beautiful baritone of rich velvet timbre, surprisingly flexible and mobile, whose range extended from the "la" of the big to the "fa" of the first octave ^{[13, P. 126; 5, p. 13]}. Antonio Tamburini received an excellent vocal school (he studied with tenor Domenico Mombelli and Madame Pesaroni), so he was not inferior to tenors and castrati in the ability to improvise and color the parts with coloratura.

In the critical reviews of the beginning of the XIX century, one can find evidence that the singer performed passages and complex vocal melodies in an instrumental style. For example, in the Harmonicon magazine for 1833, the famous French music critic Castille-Blas noted: "... it is impossible to suspect that any note will be missed or unnoticed by him. He has the neatness and precision of execution that Behr and Barisel acquired while playing the clarinet or bassoon. The tone is uniform throughout its entire length, it picks up and holds the fa with the same ease as a tenor voice would do, or picks up notes with a vivacity unheard of until now..." ^{[13, P. 126]}. Dexterity in the performance of passages was manifested in the roles of Dandini from the opera "Cinderella" by Gioacchino Rossini, Geronimo from the opera "The Secret Marriage" by Domenico Cimarosa, Malatesta from the opera "Don Pasquale" by Gaetano Donizetti and others ^[15].

Despite the fact that Tamburini was considered an outstanding performer of buffoon parts, he sang lyrical and dramatic parts no less successfully. Castil-Blas testified: "... his pathetic tones in the cavatina from Bellini's The Stranger, Mai tu vieni o misera, could move the listener to tears" ^{[13, p. 126]}. 

He skillfully combined virtuoso singing (canto fiorito) with cantilena, coped well with extended phrases on legato (canto spianato). In the melodies of the cantilevered parts, the singer often included cadences with extreme notes of a high register. Such an example is presented in Riccardo's aria from Bellini's opera The Puritans ^{[11, P. 31-45]}. It should be noted that this part is rightfully considered one of the most difficult in the baritone repertoire.

Witnesses of the performances noted that Antonio Tamburini vocalized not only the melodies of the performed parts, but also recitatives ^{[5, p. 208]}. Apparently, Tamburini preferred to avoid melodic declamation (canto declamato), singing conversational dialogues in the Italian manner.

It is quite difficult to get an idea of the melodies of the parts performed by Tamburini, even in those operas that were created specifically for him. The reason is that the composers of the XIX century fixed, as a rule, the invariant of the melody and the singers colored them at will. Therefore, in the melodies of those years, you can often find notes a piacere, ad libitum, etc. ^{[6, pp. 139-149; 4, P. 88]}.

According to opera fashion, Tamburini, like many of his contemporaries, used improvisation, transposition, pasticcio (opera composed of fragments of different operas), arie di baule (insert numbers or suitcase arias) in his performances ^{[1, pp. 33-37; 2, pp. 150-175; 18, P. 25]}. As a rule, soloists included the most winning numbers in their performances to demonstrate the splendor of vocal technique. Arias were rearranged by singers from one opera to another. But sometimes not only arias, but also duets and ensembles could be used as insert numbers. Antonio Tamburini and Pauline Viardot, for example, participating in the performance of the opera "Somnambula" in Russia in 1846, performed a duet from the opera "Rehearsal of Opera seria" by Niekko. This number was received with great enthusiasm by the Russian audience ^{[7; 9]}. It should be noted that in this scene, the audience admired the acting of Viardo and Tamburini more than the vocal skills of the artists.

Tamburini had a pleasant appearance and a manly figure, which probably helped him to embody the images of various heroes. He became one of the best interpreters of Bellini's roles, having managed to express the severity of Ernesto in the opera "The Pirate", the cordiality and tenderness of Valdeburgo in "The Stranger", the heroism and sacrifice of Riccardo in "The Puritans" ^[16].

He had a quick stage reaction and improvisational ease. The famous musicologist William Ashbrook, referring to Castile-Blas, described an incident that occurred in 1825 during the performance of the play "Eliza and Claudio" by Saverio Mercadante at the Teatro Carolino in Palermo. During the performance, Tamburini's partner prima donna Katerina Lipparini fainted right on stage, but despite what happened, he continued to sing a duet alone, imitating the sound of her voice in falsetto ^{[10, P. 82]}. This case testifies to the artist's ability to quickly respond to unforeseen situations occurring on stage. In addition, he speaks about the singer's ability to expand the range of his voice due to falsetto. However, if in his youth Tamburini possessed a wide vocal range, then over time it narrowed, the voice weakened significantly and tremolation appeared. This is evidenced by the reviews of English critics of the late 1840s ^[14]. Apparently, the problems of a vocal nature were associated with the age of the singer and exorbitant loads.

The evidence of his stage performances in the 1850s was quite contradictory. However, there is no doubt that the singer became one of the outstanding dramatic actors of the XIX century and one of the last masters of the old Italian bel canto "at the dawn" of the Romantic era. All the components of Antonio Tamburini's talent allowed him to succeed and stand on a par with such legends of world opera as Giuditta Pasta, Maria Malibran, Luigi Lablache, Giovanni Rubini. Among the admirers of his talent were Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, Saverio Mercadante, Giovanni Paccini, Carlo Coccia, who created opera roles for him. Antonio Tamburini made a significant contribution to the development of opera art of the XIX century as the first interpreter of the main parts in the operas of the above authors.