Isabelle wrote, quoting John Moriarty's diction manual:
>"The pronunciation of unstressed e and o is not
>indicated in the dictionaries. It is assumed that
>unstressed e and o are always closed in spoken
>Italian. The modern vocal usage, however, makes
>variation on this rule. [...] Like English, but
>unlike French and German, Italian has no 'official'
>stage diction. [...] Preceding the stress, unstressed
>o and e are closed."
I have the utmost respect for Mr. Moriarty but I would like to say that
this is not what I was taught, vis-a-vis open & closed vowels. My source
for Italian diction is the Colorni book (and the late Glenn Parker, an
irreplaceable teacher and friend) which defines all unstressed e and o
vowels as open.
This is not meant as one-upsmanship; I hope it doesn't read that way. If
anything, this points out the rightness of Mr. Moriarty's sentence, "Like
English, but unlike French and German, Italian has no 'official' stage
diction."
Open-vowel Italian works for me; closed-vowel Italian works for you.
Ultimately the conductor and stage director will have the "right" answers!
Naomi Gurt Lind
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