Many composers, particularly in modern times, have sought to use the voice as an instrument in new and unusual ways, whether by extending its range outside the normal compass or by incorporating vocal sounds other than singing into their music. The style called Sprechgesang that Schoenberg used in Pierrot Lunaire (1912) falls between singing and speaking. Humming is a device that is often used in choral works, and sometimes in solos: Villa-Lobos's Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 uses a solo soprano voice humming a soaring tune, accompanied by cellos. Speech and shouting add new colours to choral writing, and the use of the microphone has opened up many new possibilities for vocal effects, in rock and pop as well as serious music.
ABOVE: The castrato Carlo Broschi Farinelli (1 705—82) sang all over Europe, including a three-year stay in London.
Castrati The castrato, whose voice was prevented from breaking by castration in childhood, first appeared in church choirs to sing the high parts that women, who were banned from the church, supplied in secular music. In the late 16th and early 17th century castrati found a role in the new medium of opera, and opera composers began to write special parts for them. Some castrati achieved great wealth. One of the most famous of the 18th century was the Italian Carlo Broschi Farinelli, whose voice, it was claimed, was able to reach and sustain seven or eight notes above any other singer of the period. Farinelli's artistry was such that when King Philip V of Spain heard him he was so impressed that he commissioned the Italian to sing him four arias a night for the rest of his life. When Philip died, his successor Ferdinand VI awarded Farinelli the rank of prince and a generous pension.
The barbaric practice of castration for artistic purposes eventually died out, and castrati were banned from the papal chapel in 1903. The last castrato, Alessandro Moreschi, who had been musical director of the Sistine Chapel, died in 1922, aged 66.
Jazz singing An oratorical style of singing that exploits the contours and cadences of speech, jazz singing is concerned with emphasizing the text rather than the tone. Because jazz singers usually follow the dynamics of speech rather than of the melody, their voices tend to be low-pitched; soprano jazz singers are very rare.
In some jazz styles the interest lies in musical effect rather than emotional content, a prime example being scat singing. This is a wordless performance, usually improvised, that uses the voice like an instrument. Although many jazz singers include scat singing in their acts, not many are capable of keeping it up for more than 32 bars. Louis Armstrong's solos in the 1920s and '30s began a vogue for the style.