Messa di voce: Horne, Pavarotti, Sutherland, Bonynge

Messa di voce (Italian, placing the voice) is a musical technique that involves a gradual crescendo and decrescendo while sustaining a single pitch. That is, a note is sung at a very quiet volume, gradually and smoothly made louder until it reaches a high volume, then similarly made quiet again. The technique can be used on many instruments, but is perhaps best known for its use among singers. Messa di voce should not be confused with mezza voce (Italian, half voice) which means to sing at half strength. The messa di voce is universally considered a very advanced vocal technique. To be properly executed, the only feature of the note being sung that should change is the volume - not the pitch, intonation, timbre, vibrato, and so on. This requires an extremely high level of vocal coordination, particularly in the decrescendo, so the technique is not often explicitly called for and is rarely heard outside of classical music. [edit] History In classical music, the messa di voce was associated wit