author
Emil Behnke
1836–1892
A pioneering voice teacher and writer, he helped turn the study of singing and speech into something both practical and scientific. His books on the human voice reached singers, speakers, and teachers well beyond his own time.
1 Audiobook
The mechanism of the human voice
by Emil Behnke
About the author
Born in Stettin in 1836, Emil Behnke later settled in England and became a naturalized British subject. He had performed as a baritone before focusing deeply on the physiology of the voice, building a reputation as a leading trainer of singers and speakers in the later 19th century.
Behnke is especially remembered for bringing scientific observation into vocal training. Sources describe him as a lecturer on vocal physiology in London and note that he was among the first to photograph the larynx in action. His work aimed to explain how the voice really functions, not just how it sounds.
He wrote influential books including The Mechanism of the Human Voice and, with Lennox Browne, Voice, Song, and Speech. He died in Ostend in 1892, but his teaching methods and writing helped shape later work in voice culture and speech training.