6pm Tuesday 31st October 2023

This evening’s concert is created by the research team on the project ‘Hearing the Music of Early NSW, 1788-1860’ funded by the Australian Research Council. In this project, we are working with historical records of music making and hearing the music anew – in historic venues and places like the one we gather in tonight. Our aim is to retell this history of music in the state now known as NSW by combining distinct approaches to revitalising Indigenous knowledges with rediscovery of historical non-Indigenous performance.

In Sydney in the 1830s and 1840s, music lovers and newspaper critics frequently engaged in a war of words over the relative merits of Italian and English songs. Some listeners took the aural beauties of Italian arias by Mozart or Rossini for granted, whether or not they could understand the words. Others questioned how anyone could properly appreciate the sentiments of a song in a language they could not understand. They granted that foreign music was “scientific” – by which they meant “learned”, expertly put together, and abstractly musical; but, compared with the “straightforwardness” of English songs, many tended to think that French, German, and Italian music lacked the genuine depth of feeling that a British song inspired. At one extreme sat the agile, ornamented Italian vocalism of operatic pieces like Rossini’s Una voce poco fa, regularly performed by lady singers at the theatre and in Sydney concerts in the later 1830s and 1840s.

Program notes by Graeme Skinner, Amanda Harris, Jacinta Tobin and Toby Martin.

Performed by Anna Fraser and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music Early Music Ensemble, conducted by Neal Peres Da Costa

Adelina Patti’s (1843–1919) recording of “Home, Sweet Home” from 1905 offers evidence of late nineteenth-century vocal aesthetics preserved through early sound recording technology. Renowned throughout Europe and America as one of the foremost exponents of the bel canto tradition, Patti’s singing embodies an approach to performance in which expressive communication takes precedence over strict adherence to notation, rhythmic regularity, or textual literalism.

This emulation study examines Patti’s recorded interpretation in relation to the expressive principles articulated by the Italian singing master, composer, and pedagogue Domenico Corri (1746–1825), particularly those contained in The Singer’s Preceptor (c. 1810) and his extensively annotated National Airs published within his later volumes. Corri’s writings emphasise the cultivation of expression through varied “affections” and “qualifications” of the voice, encouraging singers to reshape repeated phrases through changes of ornamentation, dynamics, articulation, accentuation, tempo, and vocal colouring.

Patti’s performance of “Home, Sweet Home” by Sir Henry Rowley Bishop (1786–1855), a song from the opera Clari; or, The maid of Milan (London, 1823) and first performed in Australia in Sydney, 1826, vividly demonstrates these principles in practice. Through the extensive use of ornamentation, portamento, rubato, nuanced vibrato, dynamic shading, and continually varied timbre, Patti transforms John Howard Payne’s (1791–1852) celebrated text and Bishop’s melody into an intensely personal expression of nostalgia and domestic longing.

This emulation seeks to recreate these expressive features and to explore how Patti’s recorded performance reflects broader nineteenth-century traditions of sentimental English song interpretation, while also illuminating continuities between her singing and the aesthetic ideals advocated by Corri nearly a century earlier.

Adelina Patti’s “Home, Sweet Home” (1905): Expressive characteristics

Patti’s interpretation demonstrates a nineteenth-century aesthetic in which expressive communication supersedes rhythmic regularity and notated precision. Ornamentation, portamento, flexible tempo, nuanced vibrato, dynamic shading, and constantly varied vocal colour work together to communicate the song’s central sentiment of nostalgic longing for home. Following principles articulated by Corri, repeated phrases are continually reshaped through altered affections, qualifications, accents, dynamics, and vocal colouring. The result is an intensely personal yet stylistically coherent performance in which technical devices function not as display but as vehicles of emotional expression.

Ornamentation

• Ornamentation functions primarily as expressive enhancement rather than virtuosic display. Patti repeatedly employs a characteristic grace-note figure, typically moving from scale degree three to five before resolving onto the fourth, which appears consistently in repeated melodic figures across the verses. The recurrence of this ornament creates expressive unity while allowing subtle variation in execution. Additional two-note grace figures are used selectively to colour evocative words such as “birds singing,” suggesting tenderness and affection through delicate melodic embellishment.
• The most substantial ornamentation occurs in the extended cadenzas concluding the second verse. Here Patti presents two distinct cadential elaborations: the first a lightly articulated descending semiquaver scale, the second a more heavily accented descending arpeggiated figure enriched with a turn before the final cadence. These ornaments intensify the emotional climax while preserving the song’s sentimental character.

Portamento and Glissando

• Perhaps the most striking feature of Patti’s expressive vocabulary is her pervasive use of portamento and glissando. Falling portamenti, particularly over thirds, often convey nostalgic yearning or emotional resignation; while ascending glissandi over seconds and thirds contribute warmth and affectionate emphasis.
• Many phrase beginnings contain small preparatory scoops preceding voiced consonants such as l, m and r. These scoops are carefully integrated into the text and function as expressive inflections rather than imprecise intonation. Particularly notable are compound slides associated with consonant clusters. In phrases such as “a charm” and “sweet home,” Patti separates or reshapes the glide in order to articulate the consonantal interruption while retaining the expressive continuity of the portamento.
• Several descending slides function almost as sob effects. The falling third on “hallow us” in verse one and “again” in verse two exemplify this gesture. At times the effect becomes chromatic, as in the second statement of “home” in the first chorus, where a chromatic descent combined with a tremulous quality produces a heightened sentimentality.
• Elsewhere, extended sustained notes melt gradually downward while maintaining phrase continuity across textual punctuation, particularly at the opening of the second verse.
• Importantly, Patti often avoids scooped onsets on plosive consonants such as b and p, and ornaments are generally approached with clean, clearly articulated intonation.

Vibrato, Tremolo, and Straight Tone

• Patti’s vibrato is highly controlled and intentionally varied. A clear distinction exists between moments of straight tone, vibrato, and intensified tremulous effects. Straight tone is employed strategically, most notably on the opening statements of “Home” in the chorus, creating a sense of purity and emotional simplicity.
• In the middle and upper registers, the vibrato possesses a bright, shimmering quality, while in the lower register it remains more naturalistic and less prominent. Occasional tremulous effects are superimposed onto portamenti and sustained notes to intensify moments of pathos and emotional vulnerability.

Language and Pronunciation

• Patti’s pronunciation reflects an instinctive inclination for Italianate vocal production. Diphthongs are frequently simplified or omitted, producing pure sustained vowel sounds on words such as “home,” “place,” “again,” and “gaily.” This contributes both to tonal beauty and legato continuity but essentially is not the desired approach to the annunciation of the English language set to music.
• Consonants are frequently accented or prolonged, including anticipatory consonant attacks and doubled consonants. Additional syllabification appears regularly, particularly around r sounds. Flipped and rolled r’s occur throughout and often become expressive rhythmic events in themselves. Words such as “birds,” “ever,” and “there” are effectively expanded to accommodate these articulations.
• Shadow vowels and expressive vowel extensions further enrich important words. The resulting diction prioritises expressive vocal colouring over strict spoken English declamation and reflects broader nineteenth-century international singing practices.

Tempo Rubato and Pauses

• Tempo flexibility is fundamental to Patti’s interpretation. Rubato is used continuously but organically, following both textual meaning and emotional intensity. Stretching is especially noticeable at cadential points and at the ends of important phrases. Patti closely observes expressive indications corresponding to markings such as espressivo, largo, and più animato, while extending them through personal interpretation.
• The second verse becomes increasingly animated, with accelerations and subsequent rallentandi highlighting moments of emotional recollection and longing. Numerous pauses and hiatuses interrupt the flow, creating moments of reflective tenderness and allowing emotional ideas to resonate before proceeding.
• These lingering cadential delays strongly evoke Corri’s emphasis on tasteful pauses and expressive timing as vehicles of sentiment.

Breath, Articulation, and Word Stress

• Breath marks occur frequently and often prioritise emotional expression over grammatical or poetic continuity. Patti regularly separates textual units in ways that heighten individual words or images rather than preserving syntactic flow.
• Repeated dotted-quaver semiquaver figures are articulated with a characteristic light separation of the semiquaver, producing a quasi-staccato effect. As the song progresses, accents become increasingly weighty, particularly during the more impassioned passages leading to the final cadenzas.
• Consistent with Corri’s recommendations, repeated words are rarely delivered identically. Varied stress, articulation, dynamic shape, and emotional intent ensure that each repetition contributes new expressive meaning.

Dynamics

• The overall dynamic range remains relatively restrained, generally between mp and mf, preserving a mood of intimacy and pathos. Within this framework, however, Patti demonstrates extraordinary dynamic flexibility.
• The choruses begin softly and continue to diminish during their opening phrases. Significant reductions in volume occur on images associated with home and domestic tranquillity, such as “cottage” and “birds singing.” By contrast, the cadenzas and climactic statements are approached with fuller tone and increased projection, though without sacrificing tonal brilliance or clarity.
• Messa di voce is employed frequently, both across phrases and within individual sustained notes, particularly on important statements of “home.” Dynamic shaping serves as one of the principal means by which emotional meaning is communicated.

Timbre and Vocal Colour

• Patti’s timbre is distinguished by a luminous voix claire quality, especially in the middle and upper registers. Despite her advanced age at the time of recording, the voice retains remarkable brightness and flexibility.
• Changes in vocal colour contribute significantly to the emotional narrative. Moments of tenderness are characterised by a delicate, shimmering tone, while climactic passages acquire greater density and weight.
• Certain phrase beginnings suggest a subtle coup de glotte, particularly when approaching vowel-initial words, while occasional laryngeal adjustments combined with upward slides produce a distinctive quasi-yodel effect.
• The final cadence is especially revealing. The penultimate note appears to draw upon a greater degree of chest register involvement, producing a tone that sounds momentarily fragile and emotionally exposed. Whether intentional or incidental, this fleeting instability contributes powerfully to the song’s atmosphere of nostalgic longing.