Lynda wrote:
My lyric diction professor in graduate school told us that the rule for o's is: "Look 'em up. There is no rule."
Mike wrote:
> i have always thought that, unless the accent the composer had in mind > is obvious (as in rosenkavalier), then it is the composer's accent that > should be used in the performance if being faithful to the composer's > intentions is the goal.
I long ago gave up worrying about closed/open ending unstressed/stressed because there is no agreement, even among native Italians. Some coach or conductor somewhere will always tell the singer he/she is wrong. I'm with Mike in making the music and the composer's setting the deciding factor. Or I consider the best vocal solution. Or I look it up. Or I acquiesce to the current conductor's choice. There are far more important diction considerations in Italian, IMHO, particularly non-aspirated consonants, double consonants, and correct open/closed stressed vowels.
Susan Schneider
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