In music, portamento (plural: ''portamenti'', from old it, portamento, meaning "carriage" or "carrying") is a pitch sliding from one
note
Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to:
Music and entertainment
* Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music
* ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian
* ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) shortened version ...
to another. The term originated from the
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
expression "''portamento della voce''" ("carriage of the voice"), denoting from the beginning of the 17th century its use in vocal performances and emulation by members of the violin family and certain wind instruments, and is sometimes used interchangeably with
anticipation
Anticipation is an emotion involving pleasure or anxiety in considering or awaiting an expected event. Anticipatory emotions include fear, anxiety, hope and trust. When the anticipated event fails to occur, it results in disappointment (if posit ...
. It is also applied to one type of
glissando
In music, a glissando (; plural: ''glissandi'', abbreviated ''gliss.'') is a glide from one pitch to another (). It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French ''glisser'', "to glide". In some contexts, it is distinguished from the co ...
on, e.g., slide trombones, as well as to the "glide" function of
steel guitars and
synthesizers
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
; in the latter it is often used to add a melancholic effect to the overall melody.
Vocal portamento
In the first example, Rodolfo's first aria in ''
La Sonnambula
''La sonnambula'' (''The Sleepwalker'') is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the '' bel canto'' tradition by Vincenzo Bellini set to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ''ballet-pantomime'' written by Eug ...
'' (1831), the portamento is indicated by the
slur between the third and fourth notes. The second example, Judit's first line in ''
Duke Bluebeard's Castle'' (1912), employs an inclining, wavy line between the fourth and fifth notes to indicate a steady rise in pitch. Portamento may, of course, also be used for descending intervals.
Opinions of vocal portamento
In the performance of Italian ''
bel canto
Bel canto (Italian for "beautiful singing" or "beautiful song", )—with several similar constructions (''bellezze del canto'', ''bell'arte del canto'')—is a term with several meanings that relate to Italian singing.
The phrase was not associat ...
'' music, the concept of the musical slur and that of the true portamento have not always been held to mean the same thing. This is explained simply by
Nicola Vaccai
Nicola Vaccai (15 March 1790 – 5 or 6 August 1848) was an Italian composer, particularly of operas, and a singing teacher.
Life and career as a composer
Born at Tolentino, he grew up in Pesaro, and studied music there until his parents sent him ...
in his ''Practical Method of Italian Singing'', originally published 1832, whose opinion in the matter holds some authority. In the sense described by Vaccai, the portamento is not a slur but an ornamental accentuation of the
legato
In music performance and notation, legato (; Italian for "tied together"; French ''lié''; German ''gebunden'') indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly and connected. That is, the player makes a transition from note to note wit ...
linking two distinct notes, without any slide or glide through the intervening notes. In his own opening statements forming the preface to his Lesson XIII, "Modo per portare la voce" (method to carry the voice), Vaccai states: "By carrying the voice from one note to another, it is not meant that you should drag or drawl the voice through all the intermediate intervals, an abuse that is frequently committed—but it means, to 'unite' perfectly the one note with the other." He goes on to describe and illustrate that where a consonant falls between the two notes to be ligatured in this way, the portamento is achieved either by "almost insensibly" anticipating the second note of a pair in the final moments of the vowel sound preceding it, or else by minutely deferring the "salto" or leap between the notes until the first moment of the vowel sound in the second note. He adds, "In phrases requiring much grace and expression, it produces a very good effect: the abuse of it, however, is to be carefully avoided, as it leads to mannerism and monotony."
However,
Manuel García (1805–1906), a singing pedagogue of immense renown, in his ''New Compendious Treatise of the Art of Singing'', Part 1, Chapter VII, "On Vocalization or Agility (Agilità)", gave the opposite opinion. Writing of the means by which the voice is conducted from one note to another, he distinguished between "con portamento" (the gliding or slurring mode) and "legato" (simply the smooth mode of vocalization). "To slur is to conduct the voice from one note to another through all the intermediate sounds. ... This dragging of the notes will assist in equalizing the registers, timbres and power of the voice." He warned that learners should not acquire the bad habit of attacking a note with a slur, a prevailing fault in bad singers. As to "Smooth or Legato Vocalization (Agilità legata e granita)", it means "to pass from one sound to another in a neat, sudden, and smooth manner, without interrupting the flow of voice; yet not allowing it to drag or slur over any intermediate sound ... as with the slurred sounds, the air must be subjected to a regular and continuous pressure, so as intimately to unite all the notes with each other."
There was, therefore, a difference of opinion between these two very distinguished singing masters of the nineteenth century as to the meaning of portamento, and its relation to the legato and the musical slur. It reflected not merely a distinction of terminology but divergent understandings of a fundamental aspect of singing technique. It should also be borne in mind that a curving line or phrase-mark (similar to a slur mark) is the usual way, in vocal notation, of indicating to the singer that the vowel sound of a word should be carried over or ligatured upon two or more consecutive notes (as in a
roulade
A roulade () is a dish of filled rolled meat or pastry. Roulade can be savory or sweet. Swiss roll is an example of a sweet roulade. Traditionally found in various European cuisines, the term ''roulade'' originates from the French word ''ro ...
), and that in such usage legato and not slurring is always intended unless the slur is specifically indicated.
Although portamento (in the sense of slurring) continued to be widely used in popular music, it was disapproved of for operatic singing by many critics in the 1920s and 1930s as a sign of either poor technique, or of bad taste, a mark of cheap sentimentalism or showiness. This is not valid criticism of a performer when portamento is explicitly specified in the score or is otherwise appropriate. However, when there is no such specification, the singer is expected to be able to move crisply from note to note without any slurring or "scooping".
[Potter 2006, 539.]
See also
*
Glissando
In music, a glissando (; plural: ''glissandi'', abbreviated ''gliss.'') is a glide from one pitch to another (). It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French ''glisser'', "to glide". In some contexts, it is distinguished from the co ...
*
List of ornaments
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
*
Meend
In Hindustani music, meend (Hindi: मीण्ड, ur, ) refers to a glide from one note to another. It is an essential performance practice, and is used often in vocal and instrumental music. On the veena, sitar, sarangi and other plucked str ...
*
Nonchord tone#Portamento
*
Pitch wheel
In electronic music, a pitch wheel, pitch bend or bender is a control on a synthesizer to vary the pitch in a continuously variable manner (portamento).
The first synthesizer with a pitch wheel was the Minimoog, in 1970.
Alternatively, pitch be ...
*
Vibrato
Vibrato (Italian language, Italian, from past participle of "wikt:vibrare, vibrare", to vibrate) is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch (music), pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. ...
* ''
Portato
Portato (; Italian past participle of ''portare'', "to carry"), also mezzo-staccato, French notes portées, in music denotes a smooth, pulsing articulation and is often notated by adding dots under slur markings.
Portato is also known as arti ...
'', also rarely called portamento.
Notes
References
*Benjamin, Thomas. 2005. ''The Craft of Modal Counterpoint: A Practical Approach'', second edition. New York: Routledge. (cloth); (pbk).
*
García, Manuel. 1840 and 1847. ''Ecole de García: Traité Complet de l'Art du Chant par Manuel García fils''. Mainz and Paris: Schott 1840 (part 1), 1847 (part 2).
*García, Manuel. 1871. ''García's New Treatise on the Art of Singing : a Compendious Method of Instruction, with Examples and Exercises for the Cultivation of the Voice,'' revised edition. Boston: Oliver Ditson Company.
Read at Archive.org*
Gauldin, Robert. 1985. ''A Practical Approach to Sixteenth-Century Counterpoint''.
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Englewood Cliffs is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, whose population at the 2010 United States census was 5,281.[Prentice Hall
Prentice Hall was an American major educational publisher owned by Savvas Learning Company. Prentice Hall publishes print and digital content for the 6–12 and higher-education market, and distributes its technical titles through the Safari B ...]
.
* Harris, Ellen T. "Portamento (i)". 2001. ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by
Stanley Sadie
Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was an influential and prolific British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was publ ...
and
John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
*
Jeppesen, Knud. 1946. ''The Style of Palestrina and the Dissonance'', translated by Margaret Williams Hamerik, second revised and enlarged edition. Copenhagen: Ejnar Munksgaard Publisher; London: Geoffrey Cumberlege; Oxford University Press. Reprinted, with corrections, New York: Dover Publications, 1970. Reprinted again, Minneola, NY: Dover Publications, 2005. .
* Merritt, Arthur Tillman. 1939. ''Sixteenth Century Polyphony: A Basic for the Study of Counterpoint''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
*
*Schenker, Heinrich. 2001. ''Counterpoint: A Translation of Kontrapunkt, by Heinrich Schenker: Volume II of New Musical Theories and Fantasies. Book 1: Cantus Firmus and Two-Voice Counterpoint'', translated by John Rothgeb and Jürgen Thym, edited by John Rothgeb. Ann Arbor: Musicalia Press. 0-967-8099-1-6.
* Stewart, Robert. 1994. ''Introduction to 16th Century Counterpoint and Palestrina's Musical Style''. Ardsley House Pub. .
* Stowell, Robin. 2001. "Portamento (ii)". ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by
Stanley Sadie
Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was an influential and prolific British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was publ ...
and
John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
*
Vaccai, Nicola. 1832. ''Metodo pratico di canto italiano per camera, diviso in venti due lezioni''. London. Bilingual Italian and German edition, as ''Metodo pratico di canto italiano per camera, diviso in venti due lezioni'' / ''Praktische Schule des italienischen Gesanges in 22 Lectionen''. Berlin: Schlesinger'sche Buch- und Musikhandlung, 1875.
* Vaccai, Nicola. 1975. ''Practical Method of Italian Singing'', edited by John G. Paton. New York: G. Schirmer.
Further reading
*
External Links
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