and in a flowing way (couler-to flow). In bars 20–21 he is even more detailed and writes: “Filez impercectiblement du b mol au be carre en enflent le de la voix.” According to Montéclair´s Principes de musique ([1736] 1972) the unified and glassy voice (le son filé) should ascend without vibrato from b flat 1 to b1 while imperceptibly increasing the dynamics of the voice. Le son filé was described in Montéclair´s treatise as singing without vibrato and increasing the voice’s dynamics little by little poignantly. “The voice should be, so to say, unified like glass, during all the note´s duration.”7 By looking at the score and Montéclair´s treatise Principes de Musique (1736) one can see that the technique the singer is supposed to apply to this glass-like voice is glissando. Glissando, le son glissé, is described in Montéclair´s treatise as follows: “It´s difficult to explain in writing, what it is, the note that I have named Glissé, and almost as difficult to form it well in singing aloud. I will have recourse to a comparison, in order to make me understood. To take a step forward or backwards, one raises one´s foot in order to carry it to the place where it is supposed to be positioned. To sing a joined interval, one carries the voice carefully to the interval´s other end. One can also make a step by sliding the foot against the ground without raising it, like it is done in dancing. Le Son Glissé does in a way the same effect in order to make the voice ascend or descend without an interruption, by sliding it from one degree to the next one, and by gently passing by all the almost indivisibles parts that the semitones and whole tones contain, so that the passage goes without any discontinuity. (Montéclair [1736] 1972, 89.)8 Montéclair is also encouraging the singer to use le son enflé during the glissando. Le son enflé could be described as a voice that is expanded and fortified in dynamics. It is simply a crescendo done in a full voice using the diaphragm. Montéclair particularly warns the singer not to start le son enflé only by using the “head voice” or falsetto, because it is difficult to carry on this kind of voice without register breaks. (Ibid., 88.) The gestures used in the vocal part include (among others) preparatory inhaling movements; sound-modifying and communicative gestures of glissando, crescendo (les sons enflés); and sound-modifying and sound-controlling gestures of les sons filés. And of course the sound-producing gestures of the whole act altogether.
7 ”La voix doit être, pour ainsy dire, unie comme une glace, pendant toutte la durée de la note” (Monteclair [1736], 1972, 88). 8 ”Il est difficile de faire concevoir par écrit, ce que c´est que le son, que j´ay surnommé Glissé, et presqu´aussi difficile de le bien former de vive voix. Je vais me servir d´une comparaison, pour tacher de me faire entendre. Pour faire un pas en avant ou en arrière, on lève un pied pour le porter à l´endroit ou il doit estré posé. Pour entonner un intervalle conjoint, on porte sensiblement la voix sur le second terme de l´intervalle. On peut aussy faire un pas jusqu’ á son terme en glissant le pied sans le lever de Terre, comme on le fait dans la danse. Le Son Glissé fait en quelque façon le même effet puis que la voix doit monter ou decendre sans interruption, en glissant d´un degré à un autre prochain, et en passant doucement par touttes les parties presqu´indivisibles que le demi-ton ou le ton contient, sans que ce passage fasse aucunes sections” (Montéclair [1736] 1972, 89).
87