40 Lessons for Bass, Op. 17

Giuseppe Concone (1801–1861) was a Turin singing teacher and composer, and his books of lessons are among the plainest songs a singer is taught from. The 40 Lessons for Bass, Op. 17 (40 Leçons de chant pour voix de basse ou baryton) are written for the low voice: each is a short piece without words, for voice and piano, and each has one thing to teach — a sustained line, a dotted rhythm, a long breath, an even scale.

The print. This is the Universal-Edition (no. 448) revised by Eduard Gärtner: the metronome marks and the marks of expression are his, the dotted slurs are passages he asks to be sung in one breath, and the syllables printed under many of the notes (do re mi…) are the ones the preface says the lessons are sung to — the first twenty-five on the Italian syllables, the last fifteen on the vowels A E I O U.

What is here. All forty lessons. Each lesson plays with its piano accompaniment, which is Concone’s own and is never drawn, only heard.