bel canto

noun

bel can·​to bel-ˈkän-(ˌ)tō  -ˈkan- 

: operatic singing originating in 17th century and 18th century Italy and stressing ease, purity, and evenness of tone production and an agile and precise vocal technique

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

The buoyant conducting of Enrique Mazzola, the company’s music director, demonstrated his profound understanding of the opera’s bel canto roots, and Louisa Muller, the director, embraced the absurdities of the plot and managed to make its conflicting debts of honor plausible. —Heidi Waleson, WSJ, 20 Sep. 2022

Abigail Rethwisch is alternately authoritative and ethereal as the Controller, her gorgeous soprano dispatching bel canto flourishes and soaring into vocal stratospheres. —Dallas News, 5 Mar. 2022

Galás’ meticulously disciplined singing draws from jazz, blues, country, gospel hymns, German cabaret, traditional Greek music, operatic bel canto singing and more. —George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Nov. 2022

For years, a core of bel canto performers has won a small, loyal following but not widespread support. —San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Apr. 2022

As a performer, Brownlee visibly delights in the bel canto repertoire (check out his Donizetti, in that recital), as well as in Sorey’s contemporary language. —Seth Colter Walls, New York Times, 22 Jan. 2021

Callas, whose passionate artistry helped resuscitate the early-19th-century bel canto repertoire that had largely vanished by the mid-20th century, had no shortage of drama in her own life. —Matthew Anderson, New York Times, 9 Apr. 2020

The work embraces bel canto singing, a technically challenging idiom that emphasizes florid vocal lines and ornate melodic embellishment, a Mazzola specialty. —Howard Reich, chicagotribune.com, 13 Oct. 2019

Javier Camarena The Mexican tenor, accompanied by pianist Angel Rodriguez, makes his LA Opera recital debut with bel canto favorites by Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini plus songs and arias from the Spanish-language repertoire. —Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 2019

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Word History

Etymology

Italian, literally, beautiful singing

First Known Use

1838, in the meaning defined above