HISTORY OF THE SWEDISHITALIAN SCHOOL IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND

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History of the Swedish-Italian School

History of the Swedish-Italian School


In order to understand the Swedish-Italian School from the end of the 19th Century into the 20th Century, we have to start with Manuel Garcia II. Garcia’s ideas were quite familiar in Sweden, partly through Julius Günther, the teacher of John Forsell, who later became the director of the Stockholm Opera. In fact, it was John Forsell who arranged for Alan Lindquest (instructor of David Jones) to come to Stockholm in 1938 to study with Joseph Hislop, the last teacher of Jussi Björling. Forsell had himself studied with Garcia Jr. and other Swedish teachers had studied with an Italian-born student of his in France. This Garcia student was Enrico Delle Sedie, with whom Forsell also studied. Some singers who were trained in this tradition suffered corrupt vowel forms. It was also the earlier Garcia training that emphasized the importance of coloratura and trills. The strong pharyngeal vowel structure was to follow, along with the strength of the vowels at the glottis.

At the end of the 19th Century, Wagnerian music reigned. In fact, Kirsten Flagstad’s parents gave her a score of Lohengrin for her 10th birthday. During this era, and up until 1950, European opera houses produced operas sung in the native language of the country, NOT the original language. Nationalism was romanticized during this time and this was the main reason for singing Wagner in Swedish at the Swedish Opera Houses

The original founder of the Swedish-Italian School was Fritz Arlberg (1830-1896). He had studied with Günther, but later abandoned his ideas about singing training. He was a critic of the Garcia school in that many instructors had taken the ‘coup de glotte’ to the full hard attack or glottic shock. Arlberg was interested in establishing the Swedish School through using the many combinations of darker vowel forms, vowels that were deeper than the French school and more closed than the Italian ones. He was also interested in the long legato lines that needed to be employed in order to sing Wagner well.




Fritz Alberg was influenced by the writing of an American teacher named Mackenzie, who lived at the time of Garcia Jr. Mackenzie had also written a book on singing which was published. Alberg was also influenced by some of the concepts of some German teachers as well. He also may have been influenced by Lamperti, since he lived in Germany during the same time, but there is no solid evidence of that connection. The cultural connection between Sweden and Germany was very strong at this time and would remain so until after World War II. In fact, most educated Swedish citizens also learned to be fluent in German. Fritz Alberg had two important students who became great singing teachers. The first was Oscar Lejdström, who taught the singer who became known as the Queen of Beyreuth, Nany Larsen-Todsen. The second of his students was Agnar Standberg, the teacher of Dr. Gillis Bratt, who between 1895 (the year Flagstad was born) and 1897, taught the principals of Arlberg to Bratt. Also, Öhmann used many of Arlberg’s ideas when working with his own voice and when teaching Nicolai Gedda, Marti Talvela, Gösta Winberg, and Jussi Björling. Öhman was Bjoerling’s very first technical vocal consultant. An interesting fact is that both Lejdström and Bratt, after having studied the principals of Arlberg, went to French teachers. Lejdström to the Garcia student Bax in France, and Bratt to the Swede, Algot Lange, who had studied in France as well. Bratt studied with Lange the year of 1897 to 1898.

There are many similarities between Dr. Bratt and Lejström (1858-1926), who wrote a book on singing with his wife, who was a trained laryngologist. The medically trained Bratt wrote a book on the speaking voice. But he never ventured to write a book on singing itself. Lejdström was a little older than Bratt (1870-1925). It was from Lejdström that Bratt received the concepts of the ‘humming and ehngingin’. But these exercises are typical of the Lamperti School, even though there is no evidence that Lejdström nor Bratt ever studied with Lamperti Jr. They may have met Lamperti when he lived in Dresden, Germany, during the later part of his life.

Based on the research of Leif Lundberg / Director / University Opera School / Stockholm


© 2019 by David L. Jones

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