While the term “bel canto” is a rather vague term, Celletti's words seem to summarize what bel canto was in general. The Italian term translated to “bel canto,” developed in the late 17th century, where it became a technique used to create a beautiful sound as opposed to the voice's imitation of instruments. It was also intended to distinguish virtuoso singers from amateur and choral singers, which led to a new type of vocal expression. Giulio Caccini, member of the Florentine Camerata, was one of the theorists to advise against imitating instruments with the voice. Instrumental virtuosity was born in the same period in which the bel canto style developed. The human voice was a model for instrumentalists who developed an affinity for the melodic purity of the voice. As Celletti points out, the principle followed between the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century was that instrumental sound should emulate the human voice in both “color and expressiveness”. In short, the bel canto style originated from a strong effort of imagination and technical skill in which singers and instrumentalists joined forces. Many scholars use the term “bel canto” as a comprehensive label for all vocal performances between 1600 and 1850, and it did not begin to represent a singing style until the second half of the nineteenth century. One of the starting points of bel canto was Monteverdi. In a letter to Alessandro Striggio, Monteverdi states that "for both males and females, the appropriate musical language is simple canto spienato, (simple and unadorned song), but that divine beings should express themselves in the symbolic language of tirades, (scales- like runs), warbles (shakes) and trills. ...... middle of paper ...... the singing tradition did not begin to fade away until Wagner and his new Germanic singing school. Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) also had an impact on this style. During the mid-19th century, a heavier, more fervent style began to replace the lyrical quality of bel canto, needed to sing Verdi, Wagner, and Weber. This new German style took over, which required much more chest singing than the floating voice or falsetto used by bel canto tenors. Sopranos and baritones had to adapt similarly to tenors, using greater pressure across their entire range, while basses and altos were not affected as much by this singing style. Today we can be grateful to the singers who revived the bel canto style, such as Antonio Cotogni and many others already mentioned, such as Joan Sutherland Maria Callas and Marilyn Horne.