Improvisation Parameters

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About Farinelli Improviser

This song was part of the installation an·other voice exhibited at Casino Luxembourg and C-LAB in Taipei in 2023. It recreates "Quell'usignolo che innamorato" by Geminiano Giacomelli which the castrato Farinelli sang to the King of Spain every night for a decade to sooth his melancholy.

Developed at the Institut de recherche et coordination acoustique/musique (IRCAM) during an artistic research residency, this song is the result of a collaboration between the artist Judith Deschamps, the scientists Frederik Bous and Axel Roebel, the composer António Sá-Dantas, the singers Marco Angioloni, Vincent Candalot, Elsa, Judith Fa, Arthur Guivarch, Angéline Moizard, and Gabrielle Savelli.

Rather than reproducing the pure, ethereal voice described by Farinelli's contemporaries, this work embraces the multiplicity and instability of his vocal range throughout his life—from the high notes of his youth to the deeper register of his later years. The AI recreates this intimate nocturnal ritual through real-time improvisation.

How it Works

The project trained a deep neural network using recordings from seven singers spanning different vocal ranges: two children, a soprano, a countertenor, two altos, and a light tenor — each representing different periods of Farinelli's vocal evolution. Alto singer Angéline Moizard performed the complete ornamented score, and neural networks "stretched" her voice using the database of other voices to recreate Farinelli's extreme range. The AI then improvises in real-time using a Markov chain that fragments the phrases into hundreds of segments, creating unpredictable transitions and tonal shifts that privilege surprise, accidents, and moments of fragility.

Technical Details

The Markov chain algorithm uses three basic probability transitions (smooth, abrupt, and cadence endings) to connect the segments and allows for key changes of a semitone up or down, spanning 11 tonalities from E to D. In the installation, directional speakers create a privileged listening position accessed via an inclined structure, with a presence sensor activating the improvisation only when a visitor occupies this unstable spot—recreating the elevated, solitary and exposed stance of the king.

The computer running the improvisation program was displayed openly at the opposite end of the room, its internal components assembled on a metal structure and left exposed, echoing Farinelli's body and expressing the fragility and impermanence of bodies, voices, and machines.

More Info

https://casino-luxembourg.lu/en/agenda/another-voice