It would be interesting to me to hear this type of music with the vocals in a more modern style (with Sing Mode turned on). I assume you are going with a more flat delivery on the assumption that it is more representative of singing at the time. (Though is there historical evidence of that? Just wondering.)
as a former vocalist with several early music ensembles, I was always instructed to maintain straight pitch with minimal vibrato and trills. Here is what ChatGPT had to say about it.
We know that vocalists used less vibrato in the Middle Ages and Renaissance primarily through a combination of historical documentation, visual art, musical notation, treatises, and practical reconstruction. Here’s a breakdown of the evidence:
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- Historical Treatises and Writings
Several Renaissance music theorists explicitly commented on vocal technique, and while vibrato (as a natural phenomenon) was acknowledged, it was generally not encouraged as a continuous expressive device:
• Girolamo Dalla Casa (Venice, late 16th c.): In Il vero modo di diminuir, he praises singers who avoid excessive “tremolo” (a term then overlapping with vibrato).
• Lodovico Zacconi (1555): In Prattica di musica, he discusses good tone production and warns against wavering pitch.
• Silvestro Ganassi, in Fontegara (1535), acknowledges vibrato-like ornamentation (such as “trillo”), but these were occasional, deliberate effects—not a constant feature.
Treatises consistently highlight clarity, purity of tone, and precise intonation, which suggests a straight-tone style was preferred for ensemble blending and text clarity.
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- Musical Style and Texture
• Polyphonic clarity: Renaissance vocal polyphony (e.g. Josquin, Palestrina) relies on linear independence and harmonic clarity. Continuous vibrato would blur voice-leading and obscure intervals.
• Modal intonation: The fine nuances of tuning in modal music are compromised by vibrato. Pure intervals—like just thirds and sixths—are more perceptible with straight tone.
• Imitative counterpoint: Precise entrances and syllabic clarity are more audible without vibrato.
Thus, the musical requirements themselves imply a straighter, more controlled tone.
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- Iconographic Evidence
While art doesn’t record sound, depictions of singers in 14th–16th century manuscripts and paintings often show:
• Open, relaxed throats and mouths, not the “forward” tension often used in vibrato production.
• Ensemble singing, with identical posture and technique—reinforcing the goal of blending over soloistic color.
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- Lack of Vibrato Terminology in Notation
• There is no indication in early music notation that vibrato was expected, nor any consistent terminology to imply it was common. Unlike Baroque ornamentation (trills, mordents), vibrato wasn’t codified or instructed.
• Where vibrato-like effects do occur (e.g. tremolo, trillo), they are rare and marked—highlighting that such effects were exceptions, not default vocal technique.
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- Early Music Revivals and Vocal Reconstructions
• Research from the 20th-century early music revival (e.g. David Munrow, Paul Hillier, Emma Kirkby, Jordi Savall ensembles) explored historical pronunciation and vocal production.
• Practitioners found that singing with reduced vibrato produced cleaner modal harmonies, better ensemble blend, and a style more in line with Renaissance aesthetics.
While there’s debate (some argue a light natural vibrato may have been used occasionally), the consensus is that continuous vibrato—as heard in Romantic and modern operatic singing—was not the norm.
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Summary:
We infer the reduced vibrato of Medieval and Renaissance singing from:
• Period treatises advising against tremolo or wavering pitch
• Musical structures that rely on pitch purity and clarity
• Iconography of restrained, controlled technique
• Absence of vibrato notation
• Success of historically informed performance practices
Would you like a side-by-side audio comparison or an example passage of Renaissance polyphony analyzed for vibrato effects?
BTW Although I did suppress the vibrato in Solaria’s default settings, I did retain a minimum wavering in pitch to preserve what comes naturally to human voices
That all sounds like reasonable evidence (assuming ChatGPT wasn’t halllucinating).
Still I stick to what I’ve written as a reply to your Monteverdi post. Cause basically, I wrote the same things as you’re writing here. But our interpretation and the things that we accentuate is/are a bit different. You name the places where vibrato is criticized - I say that this criticism is proof that vibrato w a s used. You say that it wasn’t used throughout - I say that in certain kinds of music it was used as embellishment and in accordance to the sung text, especially in dramatic/opera music. And if a human being tries to avoid vibrato it still sounds more lively than a synthesizer v voice without vibrato. So I think, for my taste, you sometimes could dare to use a little more vibrato & modulation now and then in your synthesizer v recordings. Even when you compare them to “real” recordings.
I appreciate these thoughts and comments. That’s why I post these “recordings.” I love to hear your opinions and ideas so future uploads can be improved
Thank you very much! Indeed, I, too, appreciate such an exchange of thoughts very much and hope for similar suggestions when I’m posting my recordings. But our discussion is of some kind of special interest for me because I dealt with “ancient music” a little bit about 30 years ago as a student. Not like you with real practical expertise, only as student of musicology, and mainly I studied 19th century music. So collecting the things together that I once knew or believed to know is like a journey back in time for me, rediscovering long-forgotten interests. And it’s astonishing what a comprehensive overview you brought ChatGPT to give. So it was the right decision not to become a musicologist - when AI does better anyway…
Yes, I often feel like a third wheel when it comes to OpenAI