Lessons with Marcello and Mario del Monaco
by Emilio Moscoso
I studied with Marcello and Mario Del Monaco from January 1977 through March '79. I would travel from Wuppertal, where I lived and where my wife was engaged, to Treviso, where they lived, and stay for ten or twelve days and take four or five lessons a week, sometimes with a day of rest in between. Marcello taught technique through the use of arias and phrases of arias rather than exercises. You were expected to come in with your voice warmed up. My first lesson started with the first phrases from the L'Africana aria, with him telling me, "Yawn to lower the larynx"-which became the theme of the first lessons. He constantly would repeat "Yawn!" while you were singing. We spent the whole first lesson working on that process. (Luckily I already had some experience with yawning while singing. My teacher at the Boston Conservatory had taught it as a means to "open the throat" but had not said that the larynx was to stay down.)
At the end of the lesson Marcello had me vocalize on "u," starting on G above the staff, going up by whole steps for just three notes, holding the top note briefly and coming back down to G. We repeated the exercise a half step higher so that the high note was the C. Then he had me rest for five minutes while he explained that the "u" vowel helps lower the larynx but that it works like a file on the vocal cords and should be used only when one is warmed up completely. We repeated the exercise, and then we did the same thing using "io"-"iiio"-holding the "i" on the top note and then sliding into the "o" very slowly. This forces the tip of the tongue to stay forward, behind the lower teeth, and the forward feeling of the "i" gets integrated into the "o," keeping the tone forward-sounding but with the space that the lowered larynx gives.
At the end of my third or fourth lesson I had to return to Germany. Marcello gave me a regimen of practice to do on my own, and for the first time in the years of taking lessons someone told me how to utilize my practice time. Do a few vocalises to get warmed up, then work on an aria or two but not for more than forty-five or fifty minutes. Then do the "u" and "io" exercises for five or seven minutes. No more! Next day, rest! And again he emphasized the effect of a file on your vocal cords and that you should use the "u" with great care.
Some of his favorite exercises were from Turandot, "Gli enigmi sono tre, una è la vita"; from Tosca, "la vita mi costasse, ti salverò"; from L'Africana, "tu m'appartieni." He wanted the vowel on the top note to have the feeling of the "u," so that it felt like "suno tre," or "costusse." We did these exercises, starting in a lower key and then going up by half steps to the correct key and beyond. That solidified the feeling of security on the top notes and gave tremendous squillo. Mario's visits to Marcello's studio seemed spontaneous. One time he showed up in riding boots and jodhpurs, and Marcello asked, "Are you on horseback?" while Mario's Rolls was parked in the courtyard instead of his horse. His participation was more as a coach. He wanted to hear how you sang certain arias, interjected his comments and would sing to show the way he wanted a phrase sung. He thought I should sing the passaggio notes more open; he would interject "Open, more open!" especially in "Ma se m'è forza perderti" from Ballo. He wanted me to open the notes before the B-flat on "Come se fosse" and carry that open "o" up but then darken the vowel on the high note, making it almost "fousse".
In "O tu che in seno agli angeli" from Forza, in the passage "Leonora mia," he had me carry the "i" up to the B-flat and then slowly turn it into the "a," obtaining such ring on that note that it bounced off the walls of the studio. He also demonstrated how to achieve legato by placing consonants at the last instant possible before the next word, giving the full value of the note to the vowel without anticipating the consonant. He sang the whole "Amor ti vieta, with the text not compromised, so that you were able to understand every word. It was such a huge sound!
On the days I didn't sing they encouraged me to come to the studio to hear other students. I saw them work with Cecchele, Murgu and Kerns. The approach basically was the same. Of course by then these singers were coming for tune-ups, since they already had successful careers. Kerns had just finished the Butterfly film and album with Freni, and Murgu got his contract with the Vienna State Opera shortly thereafter.
Marcello forbade me to audition until he gave his permission, which he did after eight months. As a result of my first audition I received a contract to do ten performances of Chénier, in Landshut, Germany. When I told him and went back to coach with him he insisted that I should approach the role in the manner of a lyric tenor. He also told me that when Mario coached it with Giordano for La Scala he told Mario that the final duet should be a half-tone lower-otherwise it becomes a screamfest.
Shortly after, my wife and I returned to the States and did not go back to Treviso. I went into the restaurant business where I remained for twenty-five years until I had to retire because of illness. I did sing Canio in a couple of productions here in Boston and was involved in several other poroductions with a local opera group. I still sing in church. I feel it is important for young singers to understand what was going on in the fifties, sixties and seventies with regard to the development of the tenor voice.
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