Peter Walsworth

Advanced Diction
Enrico Caruso (1873-1921)
or !" #irst native $talian sin%er& $ listened to three versions o# Enrico Caruso's (Vesti la Giubba) #ro!
I Pagliacci recorded in 19*2& 19*+& and 19*7. Caruso was #ro! the cit" o# ,a-les& so in his earl" vocal
learnin% he had to wor. to re!ove an" dialects he !a" have -ic.ed u- #ro! the area/ 0he #irst thin% $
noticed while listenin% to his renditions and #ocusin% on his $talian was that his ','s are ver"
-ronounced1 !uch !ore than the" would 2e i# he were si!-l" s-ea.in% the te3t in an ever"da" settin%/
4e uses so!e o# the consonants to e!-hasi5e and e3a%%erate s-eci#ic !o!ents and #eelin%s in the
wor.& so!eti!es ta.in% this to a -oint at which the consonants are -racticall" s-at out and so!eti!es
so22in% while sin%in% certain vowels/ ,onetheless& his diction is 6uite clear and cris- and serves to
2rin% the !eanin% o# the te3t to the #ore#ront/ $t also 7u!-ed out to !e that so!e o# the lan%ua%e
see!s to 2e lost as he !oves a2out 6uic.l" on ascendin% or descendin% lines/ With the words and
!usic in #ront o# !e& $ can #ollow alon% !ore easil"1 2ut at #irst hearin%& $ could not have even %uessed
at what words he !i%ht have 2een -roducin%/ 4e too. a %reat deal !ore ti!e on his dou2led
consonants in the word t'avvelena in the last line than in an" other word in the aria/ 8therwise& the
dou2les were not es-eciall" nota2le/
0ito 9chi-a (1888-19:;)
0he second sin%er $ listened to was 0ito 9chi-a in his rendition o# 0osti's A Vucchella #ro! 1927. 0his
son% contains the word appassuliatella nu!erous ti!es& which is 7ust #antasticall" #ull o# dou2led
consonants/ 4e deals with it 6uite de#tl" when he sin%s it& %ivin% it %race and ease& while still
res-ectin% the necessar" sto-s in the word/ A%ain in so!e o# the !ore 6uic. !ovin% -assa%es& his
vowels don't 6uite see! to !atch u-/ 4e see!s to o-en !an" o# the vowels as in the -hrase poco
pocorillo& all the 8's see! to 2e o-ened/ 0his is li.el" 2ecause the -iece is sun% in so!ethin% o# a
,ea-olitan dialect/ 0he dialect calls #or a %reat deal !ore o-en vowels than we would see in a !ore
strai%ht-laced $talian lan%ua%e -iece/ $t is interestin% to note that in this recordin% 9chi-a see!s to
chan%e his vowel in the !iddle o# the word tiene creatin% so!ethin% o# a di-hthon% on the E vowel/
(0his see!s al!ost li.e it is !ore o# a !ista.e than a choice/) 9hi-a's use o# the lan%ua%e so!ehow
see!s a 2it less natural than Caruso's& -erha-s it is 7ust the recordin%& 2ut it see!s to !e as i# he has a
less clearl" de#ined understandin% o# the vowels he is sin%in%/ 9o while he has a lovel" voice& $'d %uess
that he !i%ht have #allen into the tra- o# assu!in% that 2ecause one is sin%in% in his own lan%ua%e& one
needn't s-end as !uch ti!e #ocusin% on the -ronunciation and vowel creation in that lan%ua%e/
4owever& this could 2e 2ecause he was tr"in% to #a.e a dialect& $ can't 2e sure/