Nicola Vaccai - Work As A Singing Teacher and Metodo Pratico de Canto

Work As A Singing Teacher and Metodo Pratico De Canto

Later eclipsed by his rival Bellini, Vaccai is now chiefly remembered as a voice teacher. One of his notable students was soprano Marianna Barbieri-Nini. Nicola Vaccai wrote many books one of which is called Metodo pratico de canto (Practical Vocal Method). This book has been transposed for different types of voice (i.e. high or low), to teach singing in the Italian legato style. The Metodo pratico was written in 1832 and is still in print, from Edition Peters and Ricordi, and used as a teaching tool. Vaccai notes in his introduction that only the voice of a master demonstrating accurately his exercises can really teach the student the correct techniques of true legato. The book is also an important source of information about the performance of early 19th-century opera.

Elio Battaglia, voice teacher, edited a new teacher’s edition of the "Metodo practico" or “Practical Method of Italian Singing” by Nicholas Vaccai (Ricordi 1990, with CD of examples).