Some observations on operatic singer’s intonation

• Authors: Johan Sundberg
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

PL

Fundamental frequency (Fo) patterns are analysed in six recordings of the Romance from the First Act of Guiseppe Verdi’s opera Aida. Two of the recordings were sung by the late Swedish tenor Jussi Björling and the remaining four by other international premiere tenors. Fo tracking was carried out semi-automatically using the autocorrelation program of the Soundswell Signal Workstation™ software. Intonation characteristics were measured in relation to equally tempered tuning (ETT) based on the tuning of the orchestra. Great individual differences are found. The mean deviation from ETT varied between - 15 cent and + 30 cent. Only Björling tended to increasingly sharpen intonation, the higher he sang in his passagio region. Moreover, in the long sustained high note at the end of the Recitative he added a Portamento at the end, while the other singers increased Fo by about 40 cent over the same tone. Vibrato rate and extent were similar among the singers, but spectrum analysis of the vibrato waveform revealed various differences. The final descending octave interval exceeded the 2:1 frequency ratio in all singers except one. The results are discussed from the points of view of interval perception, performance practise and musical expression.

Keywords

PL

singing; intonation; octave; Jussi Björling; vibrato

• Publisher: Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
• Journal: Interdisciplinary Studies in Musicology
• Year: 2011
• Issue: 10
• Pages: 47-60

Dates

published

2018-10-17

Contributors

author

Johan Sundberg

• Visiting Professor at the University of London and doctor honoris causae 1996 University of York. He was also the head of the music acoustics research group from 1970 to 2001. As President of the Music Acoustics Committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, Sundberg was editor or co-editor of twelve volumes in a series of proceedings of public seminars on music acoustic themes arranged in Stockholm. He is the author of many articles and the book The Science o f the Singing Voice, Northern Illinois University Press 1987. He is also co-editor of many publications. He is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, of the Swedish Acoustical Society and a fellow of the Acoustical Society of America.