Vocalist.org archive


From:  Isabelle Bracamonte <ibracamonte@y...>
Date:  Mon Apr 10, 2000  6:07 am
Subject:  Re: [vocalist-temporary] speaking of Italian diction


"The pronunciation of unstressed e and o is not
indicated in the dictionaries. It is assumed that
unstressed e and o are always closed in spoken
Italian. The modern vocal usage, however, makes
variation on this rule. [...] Like English, but
unlike French and German, Italian has no 'official'
stage diction. [...] Preceding the stress, unstressed
o and e are closed.
venire seguita delizia felice speranza
domani sospira comprare volare
Following the stress or final, unstressed e and o are
open.
venutE seguitE deliziE opEra angElO sE lE finchE vendE
ladrO sospirO popOlO purO sanO comOdO nO avrO sO"

From: Diction, by John Moriarty. Note that I have
rendered open e "E" and open o "O."


I was told by the San Francisco opera people (the
woman who teaches diction to the Merola participants
and is the resident diction coach for the house) that
Moriarty is the last word in operatic diction.

Is this disputed?

Isabelle

--- Valerio Vanni <valevanni@m...> wrote:
> I think the first statement
> >"e" and "o" preceding a stressed syllable is closed
> is right, the second
> >"e" and "o" following a stressed syllable is open
> is wrong.
> For the following ones it's the same than for the
> preceding ones (they are closed). I'm not sure at
> 100%, but I don't remember of any word that goes
> against this rule. If someone has any, please tell
> me.

=====
Isabelle Bracamonte
San Francisco, CA
ibracamonte@y...




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