Opera on the Move in the Nordic Countries during the Long 19th ...

Formed to Perform
of study, evident in the number of such exercises in his collection (MTB
17). They can be divided into two categories: simple exercises based on the
scale to help form the voice, train legato, register, intonation, and so on, and
short, aria-like compositions sung on the solmisation syllables and used to
teach phrasing, ornamentation, expression and timbre. The exercises and
solfeggi mirror a complete teaching programme, starting with simple scalelike
movements to train agility, intonation and register, then progressing
to descending triadic forms, possibly to train the union of head voice and
falsetto, interspersed with pauses to train the attack. Berg wrote the solfeggio
syllables underneath. In the fourth solfeggio he introduced difficulties
such as chromatic passages, punctuation, syncopation, leaps and different
turns and figures. In the collection there are quite a few solfeggi written by
other different hands. 35 In some cases Berg also demonstrated how to ornament
a melody through diminutions. Other pieces in the collection, called
“Vocalises”, were clearly designed for advanced students.
The pattern that emerges is that a student’s initial study was based on
intervallic training from the single tone to the quarter above the octave,
in steps, leaps, turns and scales. The basic material consisted of twentyone
exercises, using the solfeggio syllables. After these came six, relatively
easy solfeggi in different vocal settings, followed by more advanced, arialike
solfeggi for artistic purposes. Berg considered solfeggi an important
part of his teaching programme, and he was not alone; solfeggi exercise
books were very popular throughout the nineteenth century.
To summarise, Berg’s manual shows that he was keenly interested in
the vocal methods of his time and that he reflected on vocal problems in
an almost scientific manner. His method was based on both older and contemporary
sources combined with his own experience from a long life as
a teacher. In his views on register and breathing technique he was at the
forefront of change, inspired mostly by the French school of García. 36 The
lack of a full messa di voce exercise in his method is unique for the period.
The focus on solfeggi as a teaching device can be traced to the Italian teaching
methods inherited from Siboni.
35 Berg used the opera’s copyists, and little in the collection is written in his hand.
The material was used for school purposes, something that is mirrored in the great
diversity of didactic problems and vocal ranges.
36 With perhaps one important exception: whereas timbre in García’s manual is linked
both to physiological requisites (see García 1982, p. 4) and expression (García 1982, p.
63), Berg seemed to consider timbre only a technical vehicle (Berg 1868, pp. 42–48).
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