The Italian vocal music in the XVIIth century
The Italian vocal music in the XVIIth century

Summary/Abstract: The XVIIth century was a period of transition towards the virtuosity we shall witness during the XVIIIth century. For a hundred years that precede the great singing epoch, we notice how aria is truly formed, how the recitative shapes up more firmly, becoming more vocal and lyrical. The singer will separate little by little from the composer, virtuosity being his only reason of living. Finally, thing of the greatest importance in the history of singing, in the XVIIth century, the castrati appear, these kings of virtuosity, whose genius will create this special art of the bel canto, which for more than two hundred years raised the Italian school of singing on the first place in the world. At the end of the XVIth century and the beginning of the XVIIth we observe the elaboration of some works which, even if not in detail, analyse the art of singing.

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