What Manuel García Didn't Teach

The famous Manuel García, who is credited with being the first person to see the vocal folds in action during singing via the laryngoscope, and the father of voice science; who knew more than anyone else during his time about the inner workings of the larynx; and whose teachings on the matter have been borne out after 150 years did not teach falsetto.

The man who codified his father's teaching, which is understood to have originated in the Old Italian School precepts of Nicola Porpora through his student Giovanni Anzani, did not allow this students to sing in falsetto.

One statement which supports this assertion comes from a student (whose name I will reveal in all good time) with a long association with Anna  E. Schoen-René, the latter studying with Pauline Viardot-García and her brother Manuel.  

Schoen-René was opposed to the use of falsetto and quoted García as equally opposed to it. They believed, instead, in using throughout the entire male register a very carefully controlled mixed voice, supported by a highly developed breath control but never permitted to break into an out and out falsetto tone.

There are those who assert that García and his father changed the way people sang, that before their time, men were falsetto-ing all over the place. But I find this a weak argument (it's also a weak register), one that arises from a misunderstanding of the word itself, and its use in earlier writings.

My aim in research has always been to find out what the teachers of the Old Italian School actually did in the studio, and what their conception of tonal production was based upon.

This is what I have found.

Whatever García taught: it did not include singing in falsetto.