Cornelius L. Reid
Encyclopedia
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, February 7, 1911 - New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, NY, February 3, 2008), was a well-known vocal pedagogue
Vocal pedagogy
Vocal pedagogy is the study of the art and science of voice instruction. It is used in the teaching of singing and assists in defining what singing is, how singing works, and how proper singing technique is accomplished....
in New York City, specialist in the bel canto
Bel canto
Bel canto , along with a number of similar constructions , is an Italian opera term...
technique, and author of books on bel canto
Bel canto
Bel canto , along with a number of similar constructions , is an Italian opera term...
.
Life
Childhood
Trinity Church, New York
Trinity Church at 79 Broadway, Lower Manhattan, is a historic, active parish church in the Episcopal Diocese of New York...
. This time of regular singing in a good choir at a young age had a profound influence on him: "Retrospectively, one of the great advantages of the training given the choirboys of Trinity Church at that time was that the technique of tone production was never a matter for discussion. To the contrary, we were simply encouraged to sing musically and to pronounce the words distinctly. Singing itself was the object of study, not the mechanics of singing. Looking back over the many decades I have been teaching singing, this has been a continuing emphasis, the purpose being to communicate through the act of singing itself."
Vocal fatigue
When his voice changed from soprano to baritone, he had voice lessons with various teachers in New York, including the vocal scientist Dr. Douglas Stanley for whom he was an assistant from 1934 to 1937. Through vocal strain brought on by confusing and contradictory voice training, he was forced to abandon a career in singing. He began to question the teaching methods being used and this induced him to develop his own ideas on functional vocal training, which, while completely based on earlier Italian methods, were combined with insights afforded by modern science. "...I spent hours at the New York Public Library
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
researching books on vocal pedagogy. I had been so outraged because of the incompetence of the teaching I had experienced and witnessed that I was determined to search for better answers. I had come to realize that my vocal situation was not unique in that many promising young singers had been victimized. Indeed it appeared to be the rule rather than the exception." Dr. Stephen F. Austin also supports the researching of earlier books on bel canto: "...there are wonderful sources that can help us get back on track. Tosi
Pier Francesco Tosi
Pier Francesco Tosi was a castrato singer, composer, and writer on music. His Opinoni de' cantori antichi e moderni... was the first full-length treatise on singing and provides a unique glimpse into the technical and social aspects of Baroque vocal music.-Life and career:Pier Francesco Tosi was...
's Observations on the Florid Song, Mancini
Giovanni Battista Mancini
Giovanni Battista Mancini was an Italian soprano castrato, voice teacher, and author of books on singing....
's Practical Reflections on the Art of Singing are two great places to start. At first you may find the lack of detail frustrating. Specific exercises are rare, but the principles are stated clearly, and therein lies their greatest worth. These early writings lay the foundation for the work of C. Reid. He didn't invent the two-register theory, but he certainly rediscovered it and has made it available and useful. There are many valuable resources that every voice teacher should know: the writings of the Lamperti
Lamperti
Lamperti is the surname of an Italian family of musicians.* Francesco Lamperti , Italian voice teacher* Giovanni Battista Lamperti , Italian voice teacher, son of Francesco...
s, García, Stockhausen
Julius Stockhausen
Julius Christian Stockhausen was a German singer and singing master.- Life :Stockhausens' parents, Franz Stockhausen Sr...
, and of course, Cornelius Reid."
Research and teaching
In the 1940s Cornelius Reid was a pioneer in the research into the writings of singers and teachers (17th to 19th century) on early vocal techniques. This led him to write seven books and many articles on singing and bel canto. He taught voice in New York City for almost seventy five years, teaching until shortly before his 97th birthday. Many of his students have become well-known singers and voice teachers. He was invited to give many master classes in North America, Europe, as well as in Japan and Australia. His teaching has had influence on the teaching of singing in North America, Europe and Asia. Several cities in Germany offered 1- and 2-week master classes with him for up to eight years. His influence in Germany can easily be seen in the German version of Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
: see the article: "Gesangsregister".
Criticism
Reid and others who have written about bel canto in the modern period, have inevitably been going against the mainstream and thus have always been open to criticism. Pedro de Alcantara, an Alexander
F. Matthias Alexander
Frederick Matthias Alexander was an Australian actor who developed the educational process that is today called the Alexander Technique – a form of education that is applied to recognize and overcome reactive, habitual limitations in movement and thinking.-Early life:Alexander was born on a...
teacher, supports both Reid as well as Husler/Rodd-Marling, who published Singing: The Physical Nature of the Vocal Organ in 1965: "The free-thinking Reid and the collaborating duo of Frederick Husler and Yvonne Rodd-Marling have put forth watertight arguments for the correct relationship of cause and effect as regards breathing and singing. Their books have proved highly controversial, yet their detractors, rather than disproving the points made by their writers, have resorted to ad hominem attacks such as 'He is crazy.' Alexander was fond of saying that 'it doesn't alter a fact because you can't feel it'. We can expand the dictum to say that it does not alter a fact because you cannot understand it, nor because you can not accept it." When Reid's first three books were published as a Trilogy in 1975, Richard Dyer-Bennet
Richard Dyer-Bennet
Richard Dyer-Bennet was an English-born American folk singer , recording artist, and voice teacher....
wrote: "Today's world, in all its aspects, seems to vacillate between mechanistic and mystical approaches to problems. As always, the true path lies somewhere between the extremes, and Reid indicates the path. Due partly to misinterpretation and partly simply to neglect, contemporary teachers have deserted the old, productive principles of bel canto. As author and teacher, Reid has now firmly re-established these principles and, with added insights of his own, leaves us with no excuse to again lose our way."
Writings on Bel canto
Reid's first book Bel Canto: Principles and Practices came out in 1950 and was followed by The Free Voice: A Guide to Natural Singing in 1965 and Voice: Psyche and Soma, 1975. These were later reprinted by the Joseph Patelson Music House in 1975 as a Trilogy. In 1977 he was awarded a grant by the Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
to compile A Dictionary of Vocal Terminology - An Analysis - the only one of its kind. Several more books came out in the 1990s including Essays on the Nature of Singing and a translation of Vocal Exercises: Their Purpose and Dynamics was published in Germany. For his 90th birthday a festschrift
Festschrift
In academia, a Festschrift , is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during his or her lifetime. The term, borrowed from German, could be translated as celebration publication or celebratory writing...
The Modern Singing Master: Essays in Honor of Cornelius L. Reid was published. Debra Greschner wrote in the Journal of Singing: "The annals of voice pedagogy are filled with references to singing masters of the bel canto era. Editors Ariel Bybee and James E. Ford, in their choice of title for this compendium, simultaneously acknowledge that pedagogical tradition and pay homage to the teacher they believe follows in that lineage: Cornelius L. Reid. Reid's publications are well known to any serious student of voice pedagogy." Several of his books have also been translated into German, Japanese and Korean.
Pedagogy
Giulio Caccini
Giulio Caccini , also known as Giulio Romano, was an Italian composer, teacher, singer, instrumentalist and writer of the very late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He was one of the founders of the genre of opera, and one of the single most influential creators of the new Baroque style...
, Pier Francesco Tosi
Pier Francesco Tosi
Pier Francesco Tosi was a castrato singer, composer, and writer on music. His Opinoni de' cantori antichi e moderni... was the first full-length treatise on singing and provides a unique glimpse into the technical and social aspects of Baroque vocal music.-Life and career:Pier Francesco Tosi was...
, Giovanni Battista Mancini
Giovanni Battista Mancini
Giovanni Battista Mancini was an Italian soprano castrato, voice teacher, and author of books on singing....
, Domenico Corri
Domenico Corri
Domenico Corri was an Italian composer, impressario, music publisher, and voice teacher.Corri was born in Italy and studied voice with Nicola Porpora in Naples. In 1781 he moved to Scotland with his family to become an opera conductor. He became an important singing master in Edinburgh...
, Francesco Lamperti
Francesco Lamperti
Francesco Lamperti was an Italian singing teacher.A native of Savona, Lamperti attended the Milan Conservatory where, beginning in 1850, he taught for a quarter of a century. He was director at the Teatro Filodrammatico in Lodi. In 1875 he left the school and began to teach as a private tutor...
, Giovanni Battista Lamperti
Giovanni Battista Lamperti
Giovanni Battista Lamperti was an Italian singing teacher and son of the singing teacher Francesco Lamperti. He is the author of The Technics of Bel Canto and source for Vocal Wisdom: Maxims of Giovanni Battista Lamperti .-Life and career:Giovanni Battista Lamperti was born in 1839 in Milan to...
, Manuel Patricio Rodríguez García
Manuel Patricio Rodríguez García
Manuel Patricio Rodríguez García , was a Spanish singer, music educator, and vocal pedagogue.-Biography:García was born on 17 March 1805 in the town of Zafra in Badajoz Province, Spain. His father was singer and teacher Manuel del Pópulo Vicente Rodriguez García...
, Isaac Nathan
Isaac Nathan
Isaac Nathan was an Anglo-Australian composer, musicologist, journalist and self-publicist, who ended an eventful career by becoming the "father of Australian music".-Early success:...
and Julius Stockhausen
Julius Stockhausen
Julius Christian Stockhausen was a German singer and singing master.- Life :Stockhausens' parents, Franz Stockhausen Sr...
.
In the festschrift Stephen F. Austin honors Cornelius Reid and those that have studied with him: "Only rarely does one find a voice teacher employing a method in which the registers of the voice are being used in the way that made singing in the bel canto era the greatest that mankind has known. If such a teacher is discovered, it is most likely that he or she has been influenced, directly or indirectly, by one man. Cornelius Reid has made a singular contribution to vocal pedagogy because he has kept the ancient traditions of teaching as established and tested in the fire of the eighteenth-century opera houses alive in the twentieth century—and now the twenty-first century."
A summary of Reid's pedagogy appeared in the Journal of Singing: "Reid's approach rests upon the two register theory and a belief that the only factors that can exert voluntary control upon the involuntary laryngeal muscles are pitch, intensity and vowel. Exercises employing various combinations of these three controls, in combination with the use of "functional listening"—a careful analysis of the registrational balances—will result in a free technique."
Musical Education
- Trinity Church Choir, Wall Street, New York, 1920–1925.
- Private vocal study with Dr. George Mead, New York, 1929.
- Private vocal study with Marie Wagner (pupil of Lilli LehmannLilli LehmannLilli Lehmann, born Elisabeth Maria Lehmann, later Elisabeth Maria Lehmann-Kalisch was a German operatic soprano of phenomenal versatility...
) New York, 1929–1930. - Private vocal coaching with Frieda HempelFrieda HempelFrieda Hempel was a German soprano singer in operatic and concert work who had an international career in Europe and the United States.-Biography:...
, New York, 1930. - Private vocal coaching with Povla FrijshPovla FrijshPovla Frijsh was a Danish classical soprano and voice teacher. She mainly sang in concerts and recitals; although she did make a few opera appearances at the Paris Opera and the Royal Danish Theatre...
, New York, 1932–1940. - Private vocal study: Dr. Douglas Stanley, New York, 1934–1937.
- Vocal coaching: Dr. Frederick Kurzweil.
- Voice: Ruth Kirsch-Arndt.
- Piano: Carl Werschinger, Professor Angela Weschler.
- New York College of Music, New York, 1945–1947.
Chronology
- Teacher of Voice, 1934–2008 in New York City
- Assistant to Dr. Douglas Stanley, 1934–1937
- Conducted WPA Music Project Chorus, 1939–1940, 1939 New York World's Fair1939 New York World's FairThe 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people...
, Flushing, NY - Teacher of Voice, 1940–1941, Marymount College, TarrytownMarymount College, TarrytownMarymount College of Fordham University was a women's college in the United States, eventually to become part of Fordham University. The Marymount campus was located in Tarrytown, New York. Enrollment peaked at 1,112 in 1978, but by 2004 it enrolled 844 students...
, NY - Conductor, Ars Musica Guild Chorus,1941–1943, Flushing, NY
- Conductor, Consolidated Edison Chorus, 1941–1943, Queens, NY
- Conductor, 107th US Navy Seabees Band, 1943–1945
- Teacher of Speech, 1946–1969, General Theological SeminaryGeneral Theological SeminaryThe General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church is a seminary of the Episcopal Church in the United States and is located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York....
, Chelsea, NY - Adjunct Professor, Teachers College, Columbia UniversityTeachers College, Columbia UniversityTeachers College, Columbia University is a graduate school of education located in New York City, New York...
, New York City, 1992–2008
Publications
Books- Bel Canto: Principles and Practices. Boston: Coleman & Ross, 1950. Reprinted, New York: Joseph Patelson Music House, 1975. ISBN 0-915282-01-1
- The Free Voice: A Guide to Natural Singing. Boston: Coleman & Ross, 1965. Reprinted, New York: Joseph Patelson Music House, 1975. ISBN 0-915282-02-X
- Voice: Psyche and Soma. New York: Joseph Patelson Music House, 1975. Reid's first three books were published as a trilogy in 1975. ISBN 0-915282-00-3
- A Dictionary of Vocal Terminology - An Analysis. New York: Joseph Patelson Music House, 1984. Reprinted, Huntsville, TX: Recital Publications, 1995. ISBN 0-915282-07-0, Reprint: ISBN 0-9663862-0-5
- Essays on the Nature of Singing. Huntsville, TX: Recital Publications 1992. ISBN 0-9663862-1-3
- Funktionale Stimmentwicklung: Zweck und Bewegungsablauf von Stimmübungen. Translated by Margaret Peckham and Leonore Blume, Mainz: Schott, 1994. Original Title: Vocal Exercises: Their Purpose and Dynamics. New York: 1988, unpublished. ISBN 3-7957-0268-2
- The Modern Singing Master: Essays in Honor of Cornelius L. Reid. Edited by Ariel Bybee and James E. Ford. Lanham, MD & London: Scarecrow Press, 2002. ISBN 0-8108-4241-6
Articles
- "Vocal Mechanics and the Cultivation of Listening Skills". Published on Cornelius Reid's web site.
- "Voice Science: An Evaluation", Australian Voice, Volume 11, (2005), 6-24.
- "Eighteenth Century Registrational Concepts", Journal of Singing, Volume 56, No. 4, (March/April 2000), p. 31-38.
- "Vocal Mechanics", Journal of Singing, Volume 54, No. 1, (Sept/Oct 1997), 11-18.
- "The Nature of Resonance", The Journal of Research in Singing, Volume XIV, (December 1990), No. 1, 1-26.
- "The Nature of the Vibrato", The Journal of Research in Singing, Volume XIII, No. 1, (June 1989, 39-61.
- "The Nature of Natural Singing", The Journal of Research in Singing, Volume XI, No. 2, (June 1988, 3-29.
- "The Intensity Factor in Vocal Registration", The Journal of Research in Singing, Volume IX, No. 1, (December 1985), 43-60.
- "Science and Vocal Pedagogy", The Journal of Research in Singing, Volume VII, No. 2, (June 1984), 21-33.
- "Functional Vocal Training" (Two part Essay), The Journal of Orgonomy, Volume 4, No. 2, (December, 1970), 231-249, and Volume 5, No. 1, (March,1971), 36-64.
- "Liturgical Speech", Bulletin of The General Theological Seminary, 1965.
Master classes
- Musicians Club, Chicago, IL, 1965
- Musicians Club, Richmond, VA, 1966
- English Bach Festival, Oxford, England, 1967
- New York City, under the aegis of The Immaculate Heart College, Los Angeles, CA, 1967
- National Association of Teachers of SingingNational Association of Teachers of SingingThe National Association of Teachers of Singing is a professional organization for singing teachers, and is the largest association of its kind in the world. There are more than 6,500 members mostly from the United States...
, 1975, 1976, 1986, 1997 - Westminster Choir CollegeWestminster Choir CollegeWestminster Choir College is a residential college of music, part of Rider University, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States.Westminster Choir College educates men and women at the undergraduate and graduate levels for musical careers in music education, voice performance, piano...
, Princeton, NJ, 1978 - Midwestern State UniversityMidwestern State UniversityMidwestern State University is a public liberal arts college in Wichita Falls, Texas, and a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges...
, Wichita Falls, TX, 1979 - Niederrheinische Musik und Kunstschule der Stadt Duisburg, Germany, 1984, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
- Hochschule für Musik und Theater MünchenHochschule für Musik und Theater MünchenThe Hochschule für Musik und Theater München is one of the most respected traditional vocational universities in Germany specialising in music and the performing arts. The seat of the Hochschule is the former Führerbau of the NSDAP, located at Arcisstraße 12, on the eastern side of the Königsplatz...
, Munich, Germany, 1985 - New York UniversityNew York UniversityNew York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, New York City, 1985 - Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City, 1989, 1993, 1997
- Ithaca CollegeIthaca CollegeIthaca College is a private college located on the South Hill of Ithaca, New York. The school was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music. The college has a strong liberal arts core, but also offers several pre-professional programs and some graduate programs. The college is...
, Ithaca, NY, 1991 - Syracuse UniversitySyracuse UniversitySyracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
, Syracuse NY, 1992 - Colgate UniversityColgate UniversityColgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York, USA. The school was founded in 1819 as a Baptist seminary and later became non-denominational. It is named for the Colgate family who greatly contributed to the university's endowment in the 19th century.Colgate has 52...
, Hamilton, NY, 1995 - Hoch ConservatoryHoch ConservatoryDr. Hoch’s Konservatorium - Musikakademie was founded in Frankfurt am Main on September 22, 1878. Through the generosity of Frankfurter Joseph Hoch, who bequeathed the Conservatory one million German gold marks in his testament, a school for music and the arts was established for all age groups. ...
, Frankfurt and The Frankfurt Tonkünstlerbund, Germany, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 - Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Heidelberg-Mannheim, Germany, 1996
- Congress of the Bundesverband Deutscher Gesangspädagogen, Munich, Germany, 1997
- School of Music, University of WashingtonUniversity of WashingtonUniversity of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
in Seattle, 1998 - New York Singing Teachers Association, 1998, 2003
- Guildhall School of Music, London, England, 1998
- Wiesbadener Musik & Kunst Schule, Wiesbaden, Germany, 1998, 2000, 2001
- Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am MainFrankfurt University of Music and Performing ArtsThe Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts is a state Hochschule for Music, Theater and Dance in Frankfurt and is the only one of its kind in the Federal State of Hesse. It was founded in 1938....
, Germany, 1999 - Howard Park Pentecostal Church, Toronto, Canada, 2000
- First Baptist Church, New York City, 2000
- Konservatorium der Stadt Wien, Vienna, Austria, 2001, 2002
- Folkwang Hochschule, Essen-Werden, Germany, 2001, 2002
- Théatre de Vevey, Vevey, Switzerland, 2002
- Mainz Hochschule, Mainz, Germany, 2002
- Hunter-Wade Studios, Chatham, New York, 2002
- School of Music, Syracuse UniversitySyracuse UniversitySyracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
, Syracuse, New York, 2002 - American Center for the Alexander Technique, New York City, 2005
- The Hartt School, University of Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut, 2005
Students of Cornelius Reid
- Margaretha Bessel
- Edmund Brownless
- Ariel BybeeAriel BybeeAriel Bybee is a mezzo-soprano who has had a distinguished career as a soloist, voice teacher and university opera director...
- Clamma DaleClamma DaleClamma Dale is an African-American operatic soprano. She is best known for portraying the role of Bess in the highly successful 1976 Houston Grand Opera production of Porgy and Bess...
- Lenora Eve
- Carol Farley
- Carol Baggott Forte
- Rouwen Huther
- Robert MannoRobert MannoRobert Manno is the composer of numerous chamber and orchestral works, song cycles and solo piano and choral works. The Atlanta Audio Society has called him "a composer of serious music of considerable depth and spiritual beauty." Ned Rorem has described his music as “maximally personal and...
- Julian PatrickJulian PatrickJulian Patrick was an American operatic baritone and voice teacher. Born in Mississippi, Patrick grew up in Birmingham, Alabama where he was a member of the Apollo Boys Choir...
- Diane Severson (Mori)
- Ellen ShadeEllen ShadeEllen Shade is an American operatic soprano from New York. Shade had an international career, but did not make many recordings...
- George ShirleyGeorge ShirleyGeorge Irving Shirley is a renowned tenor opera singer.He is a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity.-External links:*** by Bruce Duffie...
- John StewartJohn Stewart (tenor)John Harger Stewart is an American tenor, conductor, and voice teacher who had an active international singing career in concerts and operas from 1964 to 1990. He began his career singing regularly with the Santa Fe Opera from the mid 1960s through the early 1970s; after which he appeared only...
- Dirk WeilerDirk WeilerDirk Weiler is a German singer, actor and musical theatre actor.- Biography :Dirk Weiler was born in Neunkirchen , Germany. He showed an interest in the performing arts from a very early age on. He participated in school and community theatre productions...
- Wendy WhiteWendy White (mezzo-soprano)Wendy White is an American mezzo-soprano who has had an active international singing career in operas and concerts since the late 1970s...