Domenico Corri (1746–1825: Credulity, credibility and pedagogy in the music industry

In 1782, music publisher, singing master, and composer, Domenico Corri (1745–1825) published A Select Collection of the Most Admired Songs, Duetts, &c. an ambitious three volume treatise that claimed to improve the pace of progress in students by providing more detailed music notation such as writing out vocal ornamentations, articulation and expressive markings, and a fully realised accompaniment. Corri thought his new method for vocal tuition would help students understand vocal performance practice, though it also forced students to become more reliant on music notation. Corri was blinded by his own idea and his ambitions to be an innovative pedagogue and leading publisher. Almost thirty years later, in 1810, a disgraced Corri whose publishing house was made bankrupt, revisited his method, and published The Singer’s Preceptor. This new treatise instructed students to understand how ornamentation worked in practice. This paper argues that the initial method was ill-constructed because Corri was blinded by his own credulity. Once he revisited the method and provided a better framing for it in The Singer’s Preceptor it was much more useful and gave Corri the notoriety he was searching for in his earlier career.