So said the voice teacher who taught in Francesco Lamperti’s Milanese studio after he died.

I agree with her.

Learning to sing is not as complicated as it is made out to be. On the other hand, it’s not something that can be done in a few lessons either. It takes time. More time than most people want to give it. About the same amount of time as it takes to speak a language.

We’re not talking grammar. We’re talking audition of the sounds that have to be made.

It takes about 6 months to hear the differences in vowels. Lilli Lehmann mentions this in her book How to Sing—which you can find on the Members download page.

The vowels in question?

The 5 vowel sounds of the Italian language.

EE, EH, AH, OH, OO.

I write the simple English spellings of these sounds rather than current IPA because IPA is like even-tempered tuning. It’s a great thing, but it’s not how the voice works. Why do I say this?

You can’t sing a German song with German vowels.

(Do I have your attention now?)

You have to sing German vowels with Italianate tonal values.

Why do you think everyone went to Italy to learn to sing?

Every sound that comes out of the bel canto-based mouth of the singer must be grounded in Italianate tonal values—the sounds of the Italian language.

THIS IS BASIC.

And it is ignored today. Languages are treated as equal, but they aren’t in terms of singing. Because of this, voice placement is also ignored, cast aside, or derided—voice placement being a natural product of Italianate tonal values.

It takes a long time for the singer to wrap their ear around this concept. First you have to learn to make these Italianate sounds—which is best apprehended from a living person—then you learn to transport them into other languages.

Slowly.

This takes skill. This takes time. This takes a really good ear.

You can know everything about everything—anatomy, physiology, and acoustics—but if you can’t wrap your ear around these sounds, it doesn’t matter how you move your mouth, breathe, or relax or push on this or that muscle. It’s not going to happen.

There is a famous long-dead tenor and teacher—Johannes Meeschaert (1857-1922)—who was taught Italianate tonal values. A Dutchman who studied with Julius Stockhausen (a student of Manuel Garcia), Meeschaert was known for having an “Italian throat.” And Dutch is a guttural language, more guttural than English or German.

Woe to the tenor who thinks he can simply sing a few scales, then attack Italian songs and arias without first inculcating and perfecting the sounds of the Italian language.

There is no kinda-sorta as far as this goes. There is no approximation.

They must possess you.

Why?

Because they shape the instrument—YOU.

Francesco Lamperti made everyone in his studio speak Italian even though he spoke a Milanese dialect.

The man may have had his quirks, but he wasn’t stupid.