Editing Vibrato (section)

===In classical music===
The use of vibrato in classical music is a matter of some dispute. For much of the 20th century it was used almost continuously in the performance of pieces from all eras from the [[baroque music|Baroque]] onwards, especially by singers and string players.

The rise of notionally historically informed ("period") performance from the 1970s onwards has dramatically changed its use, especially in music of the Baroque and Classical eras. However, there is no actual proof that singers performed without vibrato in the baroque era. Notably, composer [[Lodovico Zacconi]] advocated that vibrato "ought always to be used".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lodovico|first=Zacconi|title=Prattica di Musica|publisher=University of Central Oklahoma|translator-last=Honea|translator-first=Sion}}</ref>

Vocal music of the [[renaissance music|renaissance]] is almost never sung with vibrato as a rule, and it seems unlikely it ever was; however, it should be understood that "vibrato" occurs over a wide range of intensities: slow, fast, wide, and narrow. Most sources in condemning the practice seem to be referring to a wide, slow, perceptible oscillation in pitch, usually associated with intense emotion{{Citation needed|date=January 2012}}, whereas the ideal for modern vibrato, and possibly in earlier times as well, was to imitate the natural timbre of the adult singing voice, from which a measure of vibrato (it has since been shown) is rarely absent.

[[Leopold Mozart]]’s ''[[Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule]]'' (1756), for example, provides an indication of the state of vibrato in string playing at the end of the baroque period. In it, he concedes that “there are performers who tremble consistently on each note as if they had the permanent fever”, condemning the practice, and suggesting instead that vibrato should be used only on sustained notes and at the ends of phrases when used as an ornament.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.koelnklavier.de/quellen/moz-le/kap11-1.html |title=Mozart, L.: Violinschule - Kap. 11 (1) |access-date=November 29, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071208103812/http://www.koelnklavier.de/quellen/moz-le/kap11-1.html |archive-date=December 8, 2007 }}</ref> This however, does not give anything more than an indication of Mozart's own personal taste, based on the fact that he was an educated late [[Rococo]]/Classical composer. Mozart acknowledges the difference between the heavy, ornamental vibrato that he finds objectionable, and a more continuous application of the technique less obtrusively for purposes of improving tone quality (in which case he does not refer to it as "vibrato" or "tremolo" at all; describing it as merely an aspect of correct fingering). In this respect he resembles his contemporary, Francesco Geminiani, who advocated using vibrato "as frequently as possible" on short notes for this purpose. Although there is no aural proof, as audio recordings were not around for more than 150 years, that string players in Europe did not use vibrato, its overuse was almost universally condemned by the leading musical authorities of the day.

Certain types of vibrato, then, were seen as an ornament, but this does not mean that it was used sparingly. In wind playing too, it seems that vibrato in music up to the 20th century was seen as an [[ornament (music)|ornament]] to be used selectively. [[Martin Agricola]] writing in his ''Musica instrumentalis deudsch'' (1529) writes of vibrato in this way. Occasionally, composers up to the baroque period indicated vibrato with a wavy line in the [[sheet music]]. Again, this does not suggest that it was not desired for the rest of the piece any more than the infrequent use of the term in 20th-century works suggests that it is not used elsewhere.

====Vibrato wars====
Music by late-[[romantic music|Romantic]] composers such as [[Richard Wagner]] and [[Johannes Brahms]] is now played with a fairly continuous vibrato. However, some musicians specialising in historically informed performances, such as the conductor [[Roger Norrington]], argue that it is unlikely that Brahms, Wagner, and their contemporaries would have expected it to be played in this way. This view has caused considerable controversy. The view that ''continuous vibrato'' was invented by [[Fritz Kreisler]] and some of his colleagues is held to be shown by early sound recordings, which allegedly demonstrate that this profuse use of vibrato appeared only in the 20th century.

The alleged growth of vibrato in 20th-century [[orchestra]]l playing has been traced by Norrington by studying early audio recordings but his opponents contend that his interpretations are not supported by the actual samples. Norrington claims that vibrato in the earliest recordings is used only selectively, as an expressive device; the [[Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra]] were not recorded using vibrato comparable to modern vibrato until 1935, and the [[Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra]] not until 1940. French orchestras seem{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}} to have played with continuous vibrato somewhat earlier, from the 1920s.

Defenders of vibrato claim that the sonic limitations of 78-rpm recordings, particularly with respect to [[overtone]]s and high frequency information, make an uncontroversial assessment of earlier playing techniques difficult (although, it must be said, early recordings of operatic singers manage to show clearly the extent to which a vibrato is present [or not] in their voices). In addition, the defenders of vibrato point out a distinction needs to be made between the kind of vibrato used by a solo player, and the sectional vibrato of an entire string ensemble, which cannot be heard as a uniform quantity as such. Rather, it manifests itself in terms of the warmth and amplitude of the sound produced, as opposed to a perceptible wavering of pitch. The fact that as early as the 1880s composers such as Richard Strauss (in his tone poems "Don Juan" and "Death and Transfiguration") as well as [[Camille Saint-Saëns]] (Symphony No. 3 "Organ") asked string players to perform certain passages "without expression" or "without nuance" somewhat suggests the general use of vibrato within the orchestra as a matter of course; by the same token, indications by Mahler and Debussy that specifically demand the use of vibrato in certain passages may suggest the opposite practice.

====In Baroque music====

On the clavichord, tremolo ([[bebung]]) refers to a vibrato effect created by varying the depression of the keys.

Theorists and authors of treatises on instrumental technique of the era regularly used tremolo or bebung to refer to vibrato on other instruments and in the voice; however, there was not uniform agreement in what the term meant.

Some influential authors such as [[Johann Mattheson|Matteson]] and [[Johann Adam Hiller|Hiller]] believed the natural trembling in the voice occurred "without making it higher or lower". This could be achieved on string instruments by varying the speed of the bow, waving the hand, or rolling the bow in the fingers. On the organ, a similar effect is created by the [[tremulant]]. (Contradictory to his description, Hiller recommended string players vary the pitch by rolling the fingers to create the effect).

Other authors seem to differentiate by degrees.  [[Leopold Mozart]] includes tremolo in chapter 11 of his violin treatise, but describes an unnamed vibrato technique in chapter 5 on tone production.  His son, [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]], appears to take the exact opposite definition as his father: in a letter to his father, Mozart criticizes singers for "pulsing" their voice beyond the natural fluctuation of the voice, the latter of which being pleasant should be imitated on the violin, winds, and clavichord (with bebung).

To other authors such as [[Giuseppe Tartini|Tartini]], [[Lodovico Zacconi|Zacconi]], and [[Robert Bremner (violinist)|Bremner]] (student of [[Francesco Geminiani|Geminiani]]), there is no distinction between the two.<ref>Neumann, Frederick (1991) "The Vibrato Controversy," ''Performance Practice Review'': Vol. 4: No. 1, Article 3. {{doi|10.5642/perfpr.199104.01.3}}

Available at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/ppr/vol4/iss1/3</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Did early string players use continuous vibrato? |url=https://www.thestrad.com/did-early-string-players-use-continuous-vibrato/1863.article|newspaper=The Strad|language=en|access-date=2020-05-30}}</ref>

Flute treatises of the era describe a variety of techniques for [[flattement]] as well as vibrato by shaking the flute with pitch fluctuations varying from nearly nothing to very large.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bania|first=Maria|title=Flute vibrato in the 18th and 19th centuries|journal=Traverso}}</ref>

====In opera====
All human voices can produce vibrato. This vibrato can be varied in width (and rapidity) through training.
In opera, as opposed to pop, vibrato begins at the start of the note and continues to the end of the note with slight variations in width during the note.

Traditionally, however, the deliberate cultivation of a particularly wide, pervasive vibrato by opera singers from the Latin countries has been denounced by English-speaking music critics and pedagogues as a technical fault and a stylistic blot (see Scott, cited below, Volume 1, pp.&nbsp;123–127). They have expected vocalists to emit a pure, steady stream of clear sound — irrespective of whether they were singing in church, on the concert platform, or on the operatic stage.

During the 19th century, for instance, New York and London based critics, including [[Henry Chorley]], [[Herman Klein]], and [[George Bernard Shaw]], castigated a succession of visiting Mediterranean [[tenors]] for resorting to an excessive, constantly pulsating vibrato during their performances. Shaw called the worst offenders "goat bleaters" in his book ''Music in London 1890-1894'' (Constable, London, 1932). Among those censured for this failing were such celebrated figures as [[Enrico Tamberlik]], [[Julián Gayarre]], [[Roberto Stagno]], [[Italo Campanini]] and [[Ernesto Nicolini]]—not to mention Fernando Valero and [[Fernando De Lucia]], whose tremulous tones are preserved on the 78-rpm discs that they made at the beginning of the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Pharand|first=Michel|date=2019|title=A Selected Bibliography of Writings By and About Bernard Shaw Concerning Music|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/shaw.39.1.0111|journal=Shaw|volume=39|issue=1|pages=111–127|doi=10.5325/shaw.39.1.0111|jstor=10.5325/shaw.39.1.0111|s2cid=194355992|issn=0741-5842}}</ref>

The popularity of an exaggerated vibrato among many (but by no means all) Mediterranean tenors <ref>{{Cite book|last=Seghers|first=Ren|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Omb44pjpl4C&q=vibrato+and+Mediterranean+tenors&pg=PA94|title=Franco Corelli: Prince of Tenors|date=2008|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|isbn=978-1-57467-163-6|pages=95|language=en}}</ref>  and singing teachers of this era has been traced back by musicologists to the influential example set by the early-19th-century virtuoso vocalist [[Giovanni Battista Rubini]] (1794–1854). Rubini had employed it with great success as an affecting device in the new Romantic operas of [[Gaetano Donizetti]] and [[Vincenzo Bellini]]. A host of young Italian tenors—including the renowned [[Giovanni Matteo Mario]] (1810–1883) — copied Rubini's trend-setting innovation in order to heighten the emotional impact of the music that they were singing, and to facilitate the delivery of [[fioritura]] "by, as it were, running up and down the vibrato" (to quote Scott; see p.&nbsp;126).

Prior to the advent of the charismatic Rubini, every well-schooled opera singer had avoided using a conspicuous and continuous vibrato because, according to Scott, it varied the pitch of the note being sung to an unacceptable degree and it was considered to be an artificial contrivance arising from inadequate breath control. British and North American press commentators and singing teachers continued to subscribe to this view long after Rubini had come and gone.

Accordingly, when [[Enrico Caruso]] (1873–1921) — the most emulated Mediterranean tenor of the 20th century — made his acclaimed New York [[Metropolitan Opera]] debut in November 1903, one of the specific vocal attributes for which he was praised by music reviewers was the absence of a disruptive vibrato from his singing. The scholarly critic [[William James Henderson]] wrote in ''The Sun'' newspaper, for example, that Caruso "has a pure tenor voice and [it] is without the typical Italian bleat". Caruso's [[Gramophone record|gramophone]] recordings support Henderson's assessment. (Other prominent Mediterranean tenors of the late 19th century to early 20th century who, like Caruso, did not "bleat" were Angelo Masini, [[Francesco Tamagno]], [[Francesco Marconi]], [[Francesc Viñas|Francisco Viñas]], [[Emilio De Marchi (tenor)|Emilio De Marchi]], [[Giuseppe Borgatti]] and [[Giovanni Zenatello]], while the phenomenon was rare among French, German, Russian and Anglo-Saxon tenors of the same period—see Scott.)

The intentional use of a pronounced vibrato by Mediterranean tenors is a practice that has died out over the course of the past 100 years, owing in no small measure to Caruso's example. The last really important practitioners of this style and method of singing were [[Alessandro Bonci]] (in the 1900-1925 period) and [[Giacomo Lauri-Volpi]] (in the 1920-1950 period). Both of them featured [[bel canto]] works, dating from Rubini's day, in their operatic repertoires, and both of them can be heard on recordings which faithfully capture the distinct shimmer inherent in their [[timbre]].

Italian or Spanish-trained operatic [[soprano]]s, [[mezzo-sopranos]], and [[baritones]] exhibiting a pronounced vibrato did not escape censure, either, by British and North American arbiters of good singing. Indeed, [[Adelina Patti]] and [[Luisa Tetrazzini]] were the only Italian sopranos to enjoy star status in London and New York in the late-Victorian and Edwardian eras, while such well-known compatriots and coevals of theirs as [[Gemma Bellincioni]] and [[Eugenia Burzio]] (among several others) failed to please the Anglophones' ears because, unlike Patti and Tetrazzini, they possessed unsteady, vibrato-laden voices—see Scott for evaluations of their respective techniques.{{citation needed|date=September 2012}} To give an additional female example from a later date, whenever the vivacious mezzo-soprano of the 1920s and '30s, [[Conchita Supervía]], performed in London, she was admonished in print for her exceedingly vibrant and fluttery tone, which was unkindly likened by her detractors to the chatter of a machine-gun or the rattle of dice in a cup.

In 1883, Giuseppe Kaschmann (né [[Josip Kašman]]) — a principal baritone at [[La Scala]], Milan—was criticised for his strong vibrato when he sang at the Met, and the theatre's management did not re-engage him for the following season, even though other aspects of his singing were admired. (Kaschmann never performed in Great Britain but he remained a popular artist in the Latin countries for several decades;  in 1903, he made a few recordings which exhibit only too well his perpetual flutter.) Similarly, another one of Italy's leading baritones, [[Riccardo Stracciari]], was unable to turn his pre-[[World War I]] London and New York operatic engagements into unambiguous triumphs due to an intrusive quiver in his tone. He subsequently moderated his vibrato, as the discs that he made for [[Columbia Records]] in 1917-1925 show, and this enabled him to pursue a significant career not only in his homeland but also at the Chicago opera.

There is another kind of vibrato-linked fault that can afflict the voices of operatic artists, especially aging ones—namely the slow, often irregular wobble produced when the singer's vibrato has loosened from the effects of forcing, over-parting, or the sheer wear and tear on the body caused by the stresses of a long stage career.

References: For more information about the historical employment of vibrato by classical vocalists, see [[Michael Scott (artistic director)|Michael Scott]]'s two-volume survey ''[[The Record of Singing]]'' (published by Duckworth, London, in 1977 and 1979); John Potter's ''Tenor: History of a Voice'' (Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 2009); and Herman Klein's ''30 Years of Music in London'' (Century, New York, 1903).