Herman Klein: An Essay on the Bel Canto

And just like that, I find a link to Herman Klein’s classic 1923 essay while looking for something else!

The internet is a strange place. You look and look for things. Can’t find what you want; and then it appears before you, dropping from heaven and landing in your lap.

I had written about this essay years ago, and even had a link to it, but it was buried in another book—Herman Klein and the Gramophone—and not easy to navigate.

So here you are, students, friends and fiends for all things bel canto!

Thanks goes to Stanford University for putting this document online for everyone to read, at least readers here in the land of Google. If international readers can access the platform, I’d be happy to know if it.

Wishing you all a splendid end of July and beginning of August. Here in the Big Apple, it’s been raining and cool like England. Very unusual. The world seems beset with climate change, which makes me wonder about the future in terms of art, song, and culture. All the more reason to learn the art of bel canto, which, to my mind, must survive whatever comes.

Read your Klein!

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Addendum: International readers of VOICETALK can access Klein’s essay here.