The Twilight of Belcanto: Including an Interview with Virginia Zeani [Paperback]

Leonardo Ciampa (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 541 pages
• Publisher: AuthorHouse; 2nd edition (October 25, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1418459569
• ISBN-13: 978-1418459567
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,439,720 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A very disappointing book, November 26, 2006

By 

William Kasimer (Eastern Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Twilight of Belcanto: Including an Interview with Virginia Zeani (Paperback)

This book appears to be self-published. I applaud such efforts, but I think that it's a shame when an author presents himself as poorly as does Mr. Ciampa. This book is nothing more than a disorganized collection of anecdotes (mostly other people's), received wisdom, lists of famous singers, paeans to favorite singers, catty remarks about disliked singers (as well as certain conductors, producers, and other critics), and a few not very helpful, informative, or specific remarks about "technique". Despite the title, I still have no real idea what the author means by "belcanto". There are bits and snatches of insight (for example, an interesting discussion of the various "e" vowels, and a bit about "bocca rotonda"), but these are poorly organized and Mr. Ciampa usually fails to provide singer-specific examples of such matters. If there is another edition, it would be helpful if, for example, Pertile (a favorite singer) and others were used to illustrate the more general points that Mr. Ciampa tries (and fails) to make.

Mr. Ciampa would appear to have a pretty good idea of what constitutes good singing - at least, his opinion and mine coincide well over 90% of the time. His choices for "essential listening", sprinkled throughout the book, are generally sound. The problem, among others, is that he does a very poor job of explaining those opinions. If he likes a singer, then that singer is good, AND is an exemplar of "belcanto". If he dislikes a singer, then that singers is bad, AND is not an exemplar of belcanto. For example, he is a great admirer of Heppner (as am I), but Mr. Ciampa does little to explain what there is about Heppner's singing that he likes. Instead, the opinion would appear to be based upon Heppner's repertoire choices, which include a lot of Tosti, one of Mr. Ciampa's favorites.

Other material simply doesn't belong here. There's a retelling of the Bjoerling/Solti/Culshaw/Ballo story with a very obvious bias. Eight or so pages are devoted to Roald Reitan's version of Warren's onstage death. Does anyone really care exactly which line was Warren's last before he collapsed, particularly when Mr. Ciampa repeats the old conclusion that Warren died of a cerebrovascular accident (this is absolute conjecture, since no one actually knows whether it was a CVA or a sudden cardiac death, and most opinions favor the latter)? I'm always happy to see such matters discussed on an Internet opera forum, but what are they doing in a book entitled "The Twilight of Belcanto".

Among the other egregious problems with this book is Mr. Ciampa's choice of "experts", and his method of research. It would appear that Mr. Ciampa waits around for people (but only people he considers trustworthy) to tell him which singers he should hear, rather than seek them out for himself and form his own opinions.

"The Twilight of Belcanto" is not entirely without its moments; there are occasional good lines, such as (about Mario del Monaco) "Everything he sang was like a hungry stray dog ripping apart a slab of raw meat." And some of the stories about little-known divos and divas are entertaining. But such moments are poor compensation for the endless pages of tedium.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique and marvelous, January 13, 2008

By 

L'Amico Fritz (USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Twilight of Belcanto: Including an Interview with Virginia Zeani (Paperback)

From the get-go, Mr. Ciampa removes the myth of "What IS the Belcanto technique?" He defines it, clearly and succinctly, in the Preface, before even embarking on Chapter 1. At the same time Mr. Ciampa shows that he is anything but a xenophobic Italian who likes only Italian singers. For whose is the first name he mentions among archetypes of Belcanto? Melchior! The choice took me aback at first, but then I thought about it and said, "Oh yeah, he's right."
It's very obvious, as one proceeds into Chapter 1, that this is a partly autobiographical, partly historical journey. Anyone who is expecting one or the other might be bitterly disappointed, I suppose. However if you can get past what you think the book SHOULD be, you will appreciate what it IS: personal, intelligent, insightful, informative, entertaining. A grand and impressive achievement, shedding a light on the true Belcanto that is unique in the literature.
And an unexpected and quite extraordinary bonus, Mr. Ciampa includes a whole chapter on technique. This I did not expect: for Mr. Ciampa is not only a historian/commentator/critic/whathaveyou of old time singers, but apparently he understands how they sang from a technical point of view. And through it all, through the sarcasm and disappointment towards the "canbelto" singers of today, Mr. Ciampa seems to imply that it is, indeed, still possible to sing in the Belcanto way. It is this that the author most passionately desires.
Really an unexpected and quite extraordinary book, quite worthy of anyone's permanent coffee table collection.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What is the best way to be burned and have a problematic career?, July 13, 2011

By 

V. FH "Victorio Emmanuel, Rè d'Italia" (RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Twilight of Belcanto: Including an Interview with Virginia Zeani (Paperback)

Writing (and publishing) a stupid and ill-conceived book intended as a libellum against voice teachers and singers, but that comes out as a pedantic claim of "I-know-it-all-and-if-you-have-never-heard-this-and-that-obscure-singer-that-I-just-discovered-two-months-ago-you-are-an-imbecile-and-must-learn-from-me".

Notwithstanding the premise of the book is true i.e. the great tradition and the great singing is absent even at the called top level of the profession, this book stands as a HUUUUGE misake and a bad attempt to support the author's claims.

First of all, it's based merely on personal impressions put in a very, very arrogant manner and even disrespectul one towards the reader. It seems this guy has some mental disturb as he is convinced that he holds the key to the "singing paradise" because he (thinks he) knows the secrets of the masters of the past. The truth is he bases his statements on HIS sound conceptions of who sounds as a bel canto singer and who does not. There was very little research on his part to base such claims. He could acknowledge that he is only passionate about singing and let great singers, such as Zeani, speak about the things he has not a deep understanding. Even Virginia Zeani, whom he interviewed, contradicted for example his cynical and between-the-lines claim that Pavarotti and Domingo were not great technicians.

Moreover, we learn from the "great guru" that Corelli knew nothing about Bel Canto and was not a great technician, that Pavarotti and Domingo were sucessful only because they had powerful media support, that Kraus had a perfect technique and sang above the passagio covering (even if Kraus himself declared the contrary and as if the deterioration of his timbre through the years were not evidence of it), that Bartoli is not a superb vocalist, that Callas did not had a solid and great technique, that Florez needs to learn (take notice of his "brilliant" insights) how one does the passagio properly because he sings his vowels open...well, I could go on with the rubbish this man wrote, based on the weeping common to certain melomans, eternal widows and mourners of deceased singers....but I'll spare you of the many pages of insults and unhappy comments.

On the section he dedicates to technique you only find extracts from others books and singing treatises and some useless commentary that reveals his ignorance on the subject and his wrath towards the singers and voice teachers with whom he has worked. He seems to be in a particular quest to prove that all Boston singers and voice teachers are incompetents and that only HE knows what he is talking about, when he clearly has only some hints of it. For example, he assumes that the simplistic adages (which are much more complex that he can imagine) of the old school can be translated in two simple recomendations: good breathing and proper formation of the vowels. He ignores that many voices of the past were built by the old masters and did not have some of its famous skills from the beggining. He ignores that at least 70% of tenor voices must have their tops built carefully and how difficult it is to sing literally on the edges of the vocal cords. He ignores that ignoring the larynx (as he suggested when agressively bashing one of Coffin's book) was anything but the procedure of the old masters that from the castrato days had in mind how important was to establich a low larynx position. The true appogio of the Italian school, of which he speaks fallaciously, is not based only on the breath, but rather on the relation of the breath and the proper adduction of the folds. That's why a singer like Corelli who displayed a magnificent range of dynamic and a great understanding of what bel canto technique means also could use the more modern approach of the "affondo", typical of post-Caruso singers and thus sing with more power.

To sum up, the author of this crap he calls a book - and is clearly conviced it deserved to be published - exudes poison,arrogance, perfunctory knowledge of the technic of singing (and I'm being generous) and a deep impression of being a frustrated musician as well as a rather un-ethical and unpleaseant colleague to work with. Not to mention the lack of imagination to write. Self-entitlement syndrome? I don't know. What I know for sure is that no serious singer or musician should work with someone who is so little supportive and empathic towards others. As a singer and musician I say I would never work with such jerk.