All human voices possess the capacity to produce a vibrato. This vibrato can be from the delicate to the extravagant. From the written record there seems to have always been a difference of opinion about its validity, with some applauding certain folk and criticising others for their impure renditions.
However, it should be understood that "vibrato" occurs over a wide range of intensities: slow, fast, wide, and narrow. Most sources in condemning the practice seem to be referring to a wide, slow, perceptible oscillation in pitch, usually associated with intense emotion, whereas the ideal for modern vibrato, and possibly in earlier times as well, was to imitate the natural timbre of the adult singing voice, from which a measure of vibrato is rarely absent.
There is another kind of vibrato-linked fault that can afflict the voices of all of us, especially aging ones—namely the slow, often irregular wobble produced when the singer's vibrato has loosened from the sheer wear and tear on the throat and body caused by the stresses over the years! But that is another story. Hands up, if you identify!
The use of vibrato in classical music is a matter of some dispute. For much of the 20th century it was used almost continuously in the performance of pieces from all eras from the Baroque onwards, especially by singers and string players. However, there is no actual proof that singers performed without vibrato in the baroque era. Vocal music of the renaissance is almost never sung with vibrato as a rule, and it seems unlikely it ever was. There are only a few texts from the period on vocal production, but they all actually condemn excessive use of vibrato.
Prior to the advent of the charismatic Giovanni Battista Rubini (1794–1854), every well-schooled opera singer had avoided using a conspicuous and continuous vibrato because, according to one writer, "It varied the pitch of the note being sung to an unacceptable degree and it was considered to be an artificial contrivance arising from inadequate breath control". British and North American press commentators and singing teachers continued to subscribe to this view long after Rubini had come and gone.
Apparently, when the tenor, Enrico Caruso (1873–1921) made his acclaimed New York Metropolitan Opera debut in November 1903, one of the specific vocal attributes for which he was praised by music reviewers was the absence of a disruptive vibrato from his singing. The scholarly critic William James Henderson wrote in The Sun newspaper, for example, that Caruso "has a pure tenor voice and it is without the typical Italian bleat".
Vibrato is sometimes thought of as an effect added onto the note itself, but in some cases it is so fully a part of the style of the music that it can be very difficult for some performers to play without it. The jazz tenor sax player Coleman Hawkins found he had this difficulty when requested to play a passage both with and without vibrato by Leonard Bernstein, when producing his record album "What is Jazz?" to demonstrate the difference between the two. Despite his technique, he was unable to play without vibrato. The featured saxophonist in Benny Goodman's Orchestra, George Auld, was brought in to play the part.
During the 20th Century from audio recordings we know that orchestras slowly introduced vibrato and the growth of vibrato during this time has been traced by Roger Norrington. (He is the conductor, who caused controversy during the 2008 Proms season, by conducting Elgar's, Enigma Variations and the Last Night of the Proms, in non-vibrato style, which he called pure tone.) Roger revealed that the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra were not recorded using vibrato comparable to modern vibrato until 1935, and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra not until 1940, but French orchestras seem to have played with continuous vibrato somewhat earlier, from the 1920s.
What happened in the era before audio recordings can only be deduced from the written word. There appears to be no common line, with many expressing their preference.
For example, Francesco Geminiani advocated using vibrato "as frequently as possible" on short notes for this purpose. It is considered that string players in Europe did not use vibrato. Its overuse was almost universally condemned by the leading musical authorities of the day.
Certain types of vibrato, then, were seen as an ornament, but this does not mean that it was used sparingly and in wind playing, it seems that vibrato was an ornament to be used selectively.
As stated in the previous posting, composers up to the baroque period indicated vibrato with a wavy line in the sheet music. However, this does not suggest that it was not desired for the rest of the piece. In short, you pays your money and takes your choice!
The fact that as early as the 1880's composers such as Richard Strauss (in his tone poems "Don Juan" and "Death and Transfiguration") as well as Camille Saint-Saëns (Symphony No. 3 "Organ") asked string players to perform certain passages "without expression" or "without nuance", somewhat suggests that the general use of vibrato within the orchestra was a matter of course.
Sometimes composers will specify vibrato (or specifically not) so it depends on the player as to whether to use it or not, and how much. Some instruments, mainly percussion cannot produce Vibrato. Therefore, when selecting Vibrato, do so thoughtfully, realistically and appropriately. To be realistic, don't apply it to instruments that can't produce it and in any case don't be tempted to be extravagant with it.
Peter
