Marco Bordogni
Vocalise No. 104
A bel-canto vocalise adopted as a professional euphonium study, exposing breath, connection, and the consistency of the instrument's singing register.
| Composer | Marco Bordogni |
|---|---|
| Era | Romantic |
| Type | Study |
| Difficulty | advanced |
| Available scorings | Unaccompanied |
| Duration | ~4 minutes |
| Clef | bass |
| Originally for | Voice |
| Technical demands | continuous legato, breath planning, register connection, intonation |
| Good for | band audition, daily study, lyrical program |
| Publisher | Various |
Bordogni’s vocalises entered low-brass study through the trombone tradition and have become daily language for euphonium players. No. 104 is substantial enough to stand as an audition selection while retaining the method’s central purpose: make the instrument sustain a bel-canto line.
The study exposes joins between registers, breaths that interrupt syntax, and pitch that changes with dynamic or vowel. Its repetitions and sequences should intensify or release rather than merely restart. The player has to imagine text even though none is printed.
Treat it as music before treating it as evidence of legato. That is precisely why professional auditions use it: technique is audible only through the phrase it makes possible.