Mancini vs. Manfredini, or the Tril Controversy

Abstract

Giambattista Mancini and Vincenzo Manfredini, two great masters of the art of singing, engaged in a long-running controversy at the height of the 18th century over the training of the voice, but especially over how to perform the trill. Their dispute, which lasted more than twenty years, demonstrates the growing interest in the method of balancing the inventiveness generated by the use of ornamental formulas with the acquisition of vocal stability based on rigor and competence. The methods of applying these fundamental principles set a precedent for intense controversy, which ultimately proved to be both constructive and creative, with the happy consequence of a significant evolutionary leap in interpretive variety.