He declares it probably hopeless to plead for the
abolition of the cheap and vulgar vibrato in the delivery of these old
arias, remarking further that there is no account of its use in the
writings of the contemporaries of Caffarelli and Farinelli and that
master singers of their day were praised for the steadiness of their
tones and the perfect smoothness of their style. He asserts also that
vibrato is a trick invented after that day and out of place in the
music of that period.
"Referring to Rubini, the originator of the fault, he leaves the
impression that this singer used the vibrato only occasionally (which
may at first have been the fact) and that as a means of heightening
the dramatic effect. Grove, however, puts the matter somewhat
differently. 'Rubini,' he says, 'was the earliest to use the thrill of
the voice known as vibrato (the subsequent abuse of which we are all
familiar) at first as a means of emotional effect, afterward it was to
conceal the deterioration of the organ.'
"Imitators brought great discredit upon Rubini and his name is
associated with an impure, corrupt vocalization. This with other
influences, brought about a sentiment in composers as well as singers
favoring vocal declamation, rather than singing in the sense in which
that word was understood by the great tenor. In 1852 there was a cloud
of imitators and it became so prevalent almost all singers of the day
indulged in it.
"Ferri, a baritone who sang at La Scala in 1853, made such effective
use of it upon any note as to secure a place in the records of that
day as one whose whole song was a bad 'wobble.
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