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diff --git a/21400.txt b/21400.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ed64dbd --- /dev/null +++ b/21400.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3233 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Style in Singing, by W. E. Haslam + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Style in Singing + +Author: W. E. Haslam + +Release Date: May 9, 2007 [EBook #21400] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STYLE IN SINGING *** + + + + +Produced by David Newman, Chuck Greif, Linda Cantoni, and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +_TO MY PUPILS_ + + +STYLE IN SINGING + + +BY + +W.E. HASLAM + + +NEW YORK: G. SCHIRMER +1911 + +Copyright, 1911 +By G. SCHIRMER + +22670 + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE + + +"Of making many books there is no end." Surely, the weary observation +of the sage must have an especial application to the literature of +Song. + +One could not number the books--anatomical, physiological, +philosophical--on the Voice. A spacious library could easily be +furnished with "Methods" of Singing. + +Works treating of the laws governing the effective interpretation of +instrumental music exist. Some of them, by acknowledged and competent +authorities, have thrown valuable light on a most important element of +musical art. Had I not believed that a similar need existed in +connection with singing, this addition to vocal literature would not +have been written. + +In a succeeding volume on "Lyric Declamation: Recitative, Song and +Ballad Singing," will be discussed the practical application of these +basic principles of Style to the vocal music of the German, French, +Italian and other national schools. + +W.E. HASLAM. + +2, rue Maleville, + Parc Monceau, Paris, + July, 1911. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +In listening to a Patti, a Kubelik, a Paderewski, the reflective +hearer is struck by the absolute sureness with which such artists +arouse certain sensations in their auditors. Moreover, subsequent +hearings will reveal the fact that this sensation is aroused always in +the same place, and in the same manner. The beauty of the voice may be +temporarily affected in the case of a singer, or an instrument of less +aesthetic tone-quality be used by the instrumentalist, but the result +is always the same. + +What is the reason of this? Why do great artists always make the same +effect and produce the same impression on their public? Why, for +instance, did the late Mme. Tietjens, when singing the following +passage in Handel's _Messiah_, always begin with very little voice of +a dulled quality, and gradually brighten its character as well as +augment its volume until she reached the high _G_-[sharp] which is the +culmination, not only of the musical phrase, but also of the +tremendous announcement to which it is allied? + +[Music: For now is Christ risen, for now is Christ risen.] + +This last tone was delivered with the full force and brilliance of her +magnificent voice, and was prolonged until the thrill produced in the +listener became almost painful in its intensity. Again I ask, why did +this world-famous singer perform this passage _always_ in the same +way? Unreflecting people may reply vaguely that it was because the +artist "sang with expression." But what constitutes "expression" in +singing? No great artist--no matter what the vehicle or medium through +which his art finds manifestation--does anything at random. "The wind +bloweth where it listeth" only in appearance; in reality, it is +governed by immutable law. Similarly, the outward form of an art is +only apparently dictated by caprice and freedom from rule. The +effective presentation of every art is based on well-defined and +accepted principles. And it is with the earnest desire to throw light +on this most important phase of vocal art, that I present the +principles of "Style in Singing." + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + +PREFATORY NOTE v + +INTRODUCTION vii + +CHAPTER I: Elements of Vocal Training 1 + + Emission of Voice 2 + +CHAPTER II: The Value of Technique 7 + +CHAPTER III: Analysis of Style 12 + + Colour 14 + + Accent 21 + + Intensity 27 + + Phrasing 32 + + Portamento 37 + + Variations of Tempo 41 + +CHAPTER IV: Tradition 44 + + Pointage 61 + +CHAPTER V: Repertoire 91 + +CHAPTER VI: Conclusion 98 + + + + +STYLE IN SINGING + + + + +CHAPTER I + +ELEMENTS OF VOCAL TRAINING + + +If the practical education of the singer be analyzed, it will be found +to comprise four fundamental elements: + +(1) POSE: or Emission of voice; + +(2) TECHNIQUE: or the discipline of the voice considered as a musical +instrument; + +(3) STYLE: or the application of the laws of artistic taste to the +interpretation of vocal music; + +(4) REPERTOIRE: or the choice, in the literature of vocal music, of +works most suited to the voice, temperament and individuality of the +particular singer. + +I have classed these four elements in their relative order. They are, +however, of equal importance. Until the Pose and Technique of a voice +are satisfactory, attempts to acquire Style are premature. On the +other hand, without Style, a well-placed voice and an adequate amount +of Technique are incomplete; and until the singer's education has been +rounded off with a Repertoire adapted to his individual capabilities, +he is of little practical use for professional purposes. + + * * * * * + +EMISSION OF VOICE + +Great natural gifts of temperament and originality may, and sometimes +do, mask defects of emission, particularly in the case of artists +following the operatic career. But the artistic life and success of +such a singer is short. Violated Nature rebels, and avenges herself +for all infractions of law. A voice that is badly produced or emitted +speedily becomes worn, and is easily fatigued. By an additional +exertion of physical force, the singer usually attempts to conceal its +loss of sonority and carrying-power. The consequences are disastrous +for the entire instrument. The medium--to which is assigned the +greater portion of every singer's work--becomes "breathy" and hollow, +the lower tones guttural, the higher tones shrill, and the voice, +throughout its entire compass, harsh and unmanageable. + +In view of its supreme importance, it is scarcely necessary to dwell +upon the self-evident fact that this foundation--Emission, or Placing +of the voice--should be well laid under the guidance of a skilled and +experienced singing-teacher. Nothing but disappointment can ensue if a +task of such consequence be confided, as is too frequently the case, +to one of the numerous charlatans who, as Oscar Commettant said, "_are +not able to achieve possibilities, so they promise miracles_." The +proper Classification, and subsequent Placing, of a voice require the +greatest tact and discernment. True, there are voices so well-defined +in character as to occasion no possible error in their proper +Classification at the beginning of their studies. But this is not the +case with a number of others, particularly those known as voices of +_mezzo-carattere_ (_demi-caractere_). It requires a physician of great +skill and experience to diagnose an obscure malady; but when once a +correct diagnosis is made, many doctors of less eminence might +successfully treat the malady, seeing that the recognized +pharmacopoeia contains no secret remedies. + +Let the student of singing beware of the numerous impostors who claim +to have a "Method," a sort of bed of Procrustes, which the victim, +whether long or short, is made to fit. A "method" must be adapted to +the subject, not the subject made to fit the method. The object of all +teaching is the same, viz., to impart knowledge; but the means of +arriving at that end are multiple, and the manner of communicating +instruction is very often personal. To imagine that the same mode of +procedure, or "method," is applicable to all voices, is as +unreasonable as to expect that the same medicament will apply to all +maladies. In imparting a correct emission of voice, science has not +infrequently to efface the results of a previous defective use, +inherent or acquired, of the vocal organ. Hence, although the object +to be attained is in every case the same, the _modus operandi_ will +vary infinitely. Nor should these most important branches of +Classification and Production be entrusted--as is often the case--to +assistants, usually accompanists, lacking the necessary training for a +work requiring great experience and ripe judgment. To a competent +assistant may very properly be confided the preparation of Technique, +as applied to a mechanical instrument: All violins, for instance, are +practically the same. But voices differ as do faces. + +The present mania for dragging voices up, and out of their legitimate +_tessitura_, has become a very grave evil, the consequences of which, +in many instances, have been most disastrous. Tolerable baritones have +been transformed into very mediocre tenors, capable mezzo-soprani into +very indifferent dramatic soprani, and so on. That this process may +have answered in a few isolated cases, where the vocal organs were of +such exceptional strength and resistance as to bear the strain, is by +no means a guarantee that the same results may be obtained in every +instance, and with less favoured subjects. The average compass in male +voices is about two octaves minus one or two tones. I mean, of course, +tones that are really available when the singer is on the stage and +accompanied by an orchestra. Now, a baritone who strives to transform +his voice into a tenor, simply loses the two lowest tones of his +compass, possibly of good quality and resonance, and gains a minor or +major third above the high G (sol) of a very poor, strained character. +The compass of the voice remains exactly the same. He has merely +exchanged several excellent tones below for some very poor ones above. +I repeat, one who aspires to be a lyric artist requires the best +possible teacher to guide his first steps; he may consult an inferior +or incompetent professor, when so firmly established in the right path +that he cannot possibly be led astray. + +It is a common belief that singing-teachers of reputation do not care +to occupy themselves with voice-production, or are unable to teach it. +This is a serious error. A competent professor of singing is as +capable of imparting the principles of this most important branch, as +of directing the more aesthetic studies of Style and Repertoire. All +the really great and illustrious singing-masters of the past preferred +to "form" the voices of their pupils. To continue and finish a +predecessor's work, or to erect a handsome and solid structure on +defective foundations, is always a difficult task; sometimes an +impossible one. + +Then, as regards the pupil, particularly one studying with a view to a +professional career, a defective preparatory training may eventually +mean serious material loss. The money and time spent on his vocal +education is, in his case, an investment, not an outlay; the +investment will be a poor one, should it be necessary later to devote +further time and expend more money to correct natural defects that +ought to have been corrected at the beginning of his studies, or to +eradicate faults acquired during their progress. + +Furthermore, the purpose of some part of a singer's preliminary +education is to strengthen and fit the voice for the exacting demands +of a professional career. As the training of an athlete--rower, +runner, boxer, wrestler--not only perfects his technical skill, but +also, by a process of gradual development, enables him to endure the +exceptional strain he will eventually have to bear in a contest, so +some of a singer's early studies prepare his voice for the tax to +which hereafter it will be subjected. If those studies have been +insufficient, or ill-directed, failure awaits the debutant when he +presents himself before the public in a spacious theatre or +concert-hall and strives, ineffectually, to dominate the powerful +sonorities of the large orchestras which are a necessity for modern +scores. A sound and judiciously graduated preparatory training, in +fact, is essential if the singer would avoid disappointment or a +fiasco. + +The vocal education of many students, however, is nowadays hurried +through with a haste that is equalled only by the celerity with which +such aspirants for lyric honours return to obscurity. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE VALUE OF TECHNIQUE + + +Briefly defined, the singer's Technique may be said to consist +principally of the ability to govern the voice in its three phases of +Pitch, Colour, and Intensity. That is, he must be able to sing every +note throughout the compass of the voice (Pitch) in different +qualities or timbres (Colour), and with various degrees of power +(Intensity). And although the modern schools of composition for the +voice do not encourage the display of florid execution, a singer would +be ill-advised indeed to neglect this factor, on the plea that it has +no longer any practical application. No greater error is conceivable. +Should an instrumental virtuoso fail to acquire mastery of +transcendental difficulties, his performance of any piece would not be +perfect: the greater includes the less. A singer would be very +short-sighted who did not adopt an analogous line of reasoning. +Without an appreciable amount of _agilita_, the performance of modern +music is laboured and heavy; that of the classics, impossible. In +fact, virtuosity, if properly understood, is as indispensable to-day +as ever it was. As much vocal virtuosity is required to interpret +successfully the music of Falstaff, in Verdi's opera, as is necessary +for _Maometto Secondo_ or _Semiramide_ by Rossini. It is simply +another form of virtuosity; that is all. The lyric grace or dramatic +intensity of many pages of Wagner's music-dramas can be fully revealed +only through a voice that has been rendered supple by training, and +responsive to the slightest suggestion of an artistic temperament. + +In short, virtuosity may have changed in form, but it is still one of +the cornerstones of the singer's art. An executive artist will spare +no pains to acquire perfect technical skill; for the _metier_, or +mechanical elements of any art, can be acquired, spontaneous though +the results may sometimes appear. Its primary use is, and should be, +to serve as a medium of interpretation. True, virtuosity is frequently +a vehicle for personal display, as, notably, in the operas of +Cimarosa, Bellini, Donizetti, and the earlier works of Rossini and +Verdi. At its worst, however, it is a practical demonstration of the +fact that the executant, vocal or instrumental, has completely +mastered the mechanical elements of his profession; that, to use the +_argot_ of the studios, "_il connait son metier_" (he knows his +trade). + +Imperfect technique, indeed, is to be deprecated, if merely for the +reason that it may debar a singer from interpreting accurately the +composer's ideas. How seldom, if ever, even in the best lyric +theatres, is the following passage heard as the composer himself +indicated: + +[Music: "Plus blanche" + +Les Huguenots: Act I + +Meyerbeer + +Plus pure, plus pure qu'un jour de printemps] + +or the concluding phrase of "Celeste Aida" (in _Aida_, Act I), as +Verdi wrote it and wished it to be sung: + +[Music: un trono vicino al sol, un trono vicino al sol.] + +At present the majority of operatic tenors, to whom are assigned the +strong tenor (_fort tenor_) roles, can sing the higher tones of their +compass only in _forte_, and with full voice. Thus an additional and +very charming effect is lost to them. Yet Adolphe Nourrit, who created +the role of Raoul in _Les Huguenots_, sang, it is said, the phrase as +written. The late Italo Campanini, Sims Reeves, and the famous Spanish +tenor Gayarre, were all able to sing the + +[Music] + +_mezza voce_, by a skilled use of the covered tones. + +I do not ignore the fact that cases occur where artists, owing to some +physiological peculiarity or personal idiosyncrasy, are unable to +overcome certain special difficulties; where, indeed, the effort would +produce but meagre results. But such instances are the exception, not +the rule. The lyric artist who is gifted merely with a beautiful +voice, over which he has acquired but imperfect control, is at the +mercy of every slight indisposition that may temporarily affect the +quality and sonority of his instrument. But he who is a "singer" in +the real and artistic sense of the word, he who has acquired skill in +the use of the voice, is armed at all points against such accidents. +By his art, by clever devices of varied tone-colour and degrees of +intensity, he can so screen the momentary loss of brilliance, etc., as +to conceal that fact from his auditors, who imagine him to be in the +possession of his normal physical powers. The technical or mechanical +part of any art can be taught and learned, as I have said. It is only +a case of well-guided effort. Patience and unceasing perseverance will +in this, as in all other matters, achieve the desired result. Nature +gives only the ability and aptitude to acquire; it is persistent study +which enables their possessor to arrive at perfection. Serious and +lasting results are obtained only by constant practice. It is a +curious fact that many people more than usually gifted arrive only at +mediocrity. Certain things, such as the trill or scales, come +naturally easy to them. This being the case, they neglect to perfect +their _agilita_, which remains defective. Others, although but +moderately endowed, have arrived at eminence by sheer persistence and +rightly directed study. It is simply a musical version of the Hare and +the Tortoise. + + * * * * * + +But we must make a great distinction between the preliminary exercises +which put the singer in full possession of the purely mechanical +branch of his art (Technique), and the aesthetic studies in Taste and +the research for what dramatic authors call "the Science of Effect," +or Style. The former must be thoroughly accomplished, otherwise the +latter cannot be undertaken satisfactorily. A good and reliable +technique is undoubtedly of primary necessity. But it is by no means +all. One may have a voice which is well-posed and of good resonance, +and also have sufficient flexibility to perform neatly all the rapid +passages with which the pages of the classic composers abound. But +this is not singing; nor is the possessor of these an artist. He has +simply the necessary and preliminary knowledge which should enable him +to become one, by further study of the aesthetic side of the art of +singing. He has, as it were, collected the materials necessary for the +erection of a splendid edifice, and has now to learn the effective +means of combining them. So, when the voice is "formed," a frank and +easy emission obtained, a sufficiency of Technique acquired, the next +step in the singer's education is the practical study of the problem +of Style. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +ANALYSIS OF STYLE + + +What is Style? + +In reality the question is two-fold. One may have Style; and one may +have _a_ style. The former is general; the latter individual. The +former can be taught and learned, for it is based on certain +well-defined rules; the latter is personal--in other words, is not +universally applicable. Not infrequently it is a particular +application of those rules which gives the impress of originality. But +correct taste must first be formed by the study of the noblest +creations in the particular art that claims attention. In singing, as +in the sister arts, the laws which govern Style must be apprehended +and understood before Individuality can be given full scope. +Otherwise, what to the executant would appear as original might, to +correct taste and judgment, appear ridiculous and extravagant. A +genius is sometimes eccentric, but eccentricity is not genius. Vocal +students should hear as many good singers as possible, but actually +imitate none. A skilled teacher will always discern and strive to +develop the personality of the pupil, will be on the alert to discover +latent features of originality and character. He will respect and +encourage individuality, rather than insist upon the servile imitation +of some model--even though that model be himself. As the distinguished +artist Victor Maurel has justly observed: "Of all the bad forms of +teaching singing, that by imitation is the worst" (_Un Probleme +d'Art_). + +In singing, as in painting, a copy has never the value of the +original. Moreover, slavish imitation in any art has a deleterious +influence. But to respect irreproachable examples and fitly observe +sound rules, whose very survival often justifies their existence and +testifies to their value, is always of benefit to the artist. To +imitate is to renounce one's individual expression of an ideal and +present that of another. But to observe established and accepted laws, +laws founded on Truth and consecrated by Time, is not to imitate, when +those laws are applied in an original and individual manner that is in +harmony with the personality of the interpreter. "_L'art est un coin +de Nature vu a travers un temperament._" In literature, each writer +has his own special style which may easily be recognized; but all +follow the same grammatical rules. A correct style in singing consists +in the careful observance of the principles of Technique; a perfect +Diction; the appropriate Colouring of each sentiment expressed; +attention to the musical and poetic Accents; judicious and effective +Phrasing (whether musical or verbal), so that the meaning of both +composer and poet may be placed in the clearest light. + + * * * * * + +Let us analyze Style in its three principal aspects: Colour, Accent, +and Phrasing. + + +COLOUR + +Of all the elements of Style in singing, the most potent and +effective--the one, indeed, that is essential for the success of the +lyric artist--is the ability to vary the vocal timbre; that is, to +sing with Colour. This desideratum of varied tone-colour is sought +even by instrumentalists. Nay, the instrument itself is sometimes +constructed with this object in view. Witness the invention of the +"soft" pedal, which is intended not solely to reduce the intensity of +tone in the pianoforte--that may be accomplished by a modification of +force in striking the note--but to give the tones a darker, more +sombre quality, or colour. To vary the tone-colour, a violinist or +'cellist draws the bow across the strings close to, or distant from, +the bridge, in accordance with his desire for a reed-like or +flute-like quality of tone. Anyone who has listened to the performance +of the slow movement in Paganini's Concerto in _D_, by an Ysaye or a +Mischa Elman, will have remarked how the skilful use of varied tone +colour and other devices imparts a wonderful charm to music +intrinsically of but mediocre value. + +A singer may have a good quality of voice; but that is normal. If he +can vary it only in degrees of loudness (Intensity) and not in +differences of timbre (Colour) he cannot be ranked as an artist. No +matter how great the natural beauty and sonority of his voice, his +performance will always be monotonous, if he has only one tint on his +vocal palette. In speech--from which the effect is borrowed--utterances +of grave and serious meaning, and those of gayer import, are not made +with the same colour of voice. A brighter quality (_voix claire_) is +used instinctively for an ejaculation uttered by one to whom pleasant +or joyful news has been communicated. On the contrary, should it be +the cause of sorrow or grief for the listener, he will use--should he +have occasion to reply--a darker quality of voice (_voix sombre_). +Such phenomena are physiological. The vocal organs are the most +sensitive of any in the human economy: they betray at once the mental +condition of the individual. Joy is a great tonic, and acts on the +vocal cords and mucous membrane as does an astringent; a brilliant and +clear quality of voice is the result. Grief or Fear, on the other +hand, being depressing emotions, lower the vitality, and the +debilitating influence communicates to the voice a dull and sombre +character. + +On this question of colour in the voice, the masterly writer and +critic Legouve says: "Certain particular gifts are necessary if the +speech is to possess colour. The first of these is Metal in the voice. +He who has it not will never shine as a colourist. The metal may be +gold, silver or brass; each has its individual characteristic. A +golden voice is the most brilliant; a silvery voice has the most +charm; a brassy voice the most power. But one of the three +characteristics is essential. A voice without metallic ring is like +teeth without enamel; they may be sound and healthy, but they are not +brilliant.... In speech there are several colours--a bright, ringing +quality; one soft and veiled. The bright, strident hues of purple and +gold in a picture may produce a masterpiece of gorgeous colouring; so, +in a different manner, may the harmonious juxtaposition of greys, +lilacs and browns on a canvas by Veronese, Rubens, or Delacroix. + +"Last of all is the velvety voice. This is worthless if not allied +with one of the three others. In order that a velvety voice may +possess value it must be reinforced (_doublee_) with 'metal.' A +velvety voice is merely one of cotton."[1] + +[Footnote 1: These admirably expressed views illustrate and exemplify +the principles I laid down in a _conference_ (Paris, 1902) on +Voice-Production (_Pose de la Voix_), wherein I demonstrated the +possibility of acquiring, by the aid of the resonating cavities, a +greater sonority, more in conformity with the demands and necessities +of present-day music.] + +It may be of interest to notice that the quality which in France is +designated "timbre," is called by the Italians "_metallo di voce_," +or, "metal of the voice." Those who heard Madame Sarah Bernhardt +fifteen or twenty years ago will readily understand why her countless +friends and admirers always spoke of her matchless organ as "_la voix +d'or_." + +The late Sims Reeves, the famous tenor, was a perfect master of all +varieties and shades of vocal colour, and displayed his mastery with +certainty and unfailing effect in the different fields of Oratorio and +Opera. In the recitative "Deeper and deeper still," with its +subsequent aria "Waft her, angels, through the skies" [Handel], he +ranged through the entire gamut of tone-colour. As Edgardo in +Donizetti's _Lucia di Lammermoor_, he launched the "Maladetta" phrase +of the curse with a voice that was almost "white" with frenzied rage; +while the pathetic sombre quality he employed in the "_Fra poco a me +ricovero_" fitly accorded with the despairing mood and gloomy +surroundings of the hapless Edgardo. + +Some singers control but two colours or timbres--the very clear (open) +and the very sombre (closed), which they exaggerate. In reality, +however, the gradations between them can be made infinite by the +artist who is in possession of the secret--especially if he has the +ability to combine Colour with Intensity. + +An illustration of this is found in the example cited in the opening +paragraph of the present work:--"For now is Christ risen." Not only +did Mme. Tietjens make a gradual _crescendo_ from the first note to +the climax, but the tonal colours were also subtly graduated from a +comparatively sombre quality to one of the utmost clearness and +brilliance. + +[Music: As sung by Mme. Tietjens + +For now is Christ risen, for now is Christ risen from the dead.] + +As contrasting examples in which the two principal colours may be +employed effectively, I may cite the Bacchic air, "_O vin, dissipe la +tristesse_," and the pensive monologue, "_Etre, ou ne pas etre_," both +from the opera _Hamlet_, by Ambroise Thomas. The forced, unnatural +quality of the first calls for the use of a clear, open, brilliant +timbre. + +[Music: + +O vin, dissipe la tristesse +Qui pese sur mon coeur! +A moi les reves de l'ivresse, +Et le rire moqueur!] + +But for the second, "To be, or not to be": + +[Music: + +Etre, ou ne pas etre! o mystere! +Mourir! dormir, dormir!] + +a sombre, closed timbre is necessary. The opening recitative of +Vanderdecken in _Der fliegende Hollaender_ by Wagner would be absurd, +and utterly out of harmony with the character and his surroundings, if +sung in the open timbre. Perhaps I ought to explain that "open" (_voix +claire_, Fr.), and "closed" (_voix sombre_, Fr.), are technical terms, +of which the equivalents are accepted in all countries where the art +of singing is cultivated; terms that apply to _quality_ of tone, not +to the _physical_ process by which these effects are produced. Such a +mistake is not infrequently made by vocal physiologists who are not +practical musicians or singing-teachers. Nor must the term "clear +timbre" be understood to mean the "white voice" ("_voix blanche_," or +"_voce bianca_"); this, like the guttural timbre, being only +occasionally employed for the expression of some violent passion, such +as hate. + +Like the admirable paintings of Eugene Carriere, for instance his +masterly portrait of Paul Verlaine, a song, sometimes an entire role, +may be worked out in monochrome; though the gradations of tint are +numerous, they are consistently kept within their preconceived +colour-scheme. Some few exceptional singers, like Jean-Baptiste Faure +or Maurice Renaud, have this gift of many shades of the one colour in +their singing of certain roles. The colour is determined by the +psychological character of the personage portrayed; a gay, reckless +Don Giovanni calls for a brighter colouring throughout than that +necessitated by the music allotted to a gloomy Vanderdecken or an +embittered and vengeful Rigoletto. One may, therefore, formulate the +following rule: The general character of the composition will decide +the tonal colour appropriate for its general interpretation; the +colouring necessary for its component phrases will be determined by +the particular sentiment embodied in them. Emotions like sorrow, fear, +despair, will find fitting expression in the sombre quality of voice, +graduated in accordance with the intensity of the emotion. The +opposite sentiments of joy, love, courage, hope, are fittingly +interpreted by gradations of the clear and brilliant timbre. The dark +or sombre voice will be used in varying shades for the recitative from +_Samson_ (Handel), "Oh, loss of sight:" + +[Music: Oh, loss of sight, of thee I most complain!] + +while the clearest and most brilliant timbre possible to be obtained +is plainly indicated for the same composer's "Sound an alarm!" from +_Judas Maccabaeus_. + +[Music: Sound an alarm, your silver trumpets sound!] + +It was a rule formulated by the old Italian school of singing, when +_l'arte del bel canto_ in its true sense did really exist, that no +phrase--musical or verbal--should be repeated with the same nuances. +Very many instances might be given of the happy effect obtained by +observing this rule. One will suffice. It is taken from the Lamento of +Queen Catherine (of Aragon), who, slighted by Henry VIII. for Anne +Boleyn, sighs for her native Spain. + +[Music: Lamento + +Henri VIII: Act IV + +Saint-Saens + +Mon Espagne cherie! Mon Espagne cherie!] + +Sudden contrasts of colour are of great dramatic effect. A good +illustration is found in the air "_Divinites du Styx_," from Gluck's +_Alceste_. This contrast is still further heightened by a sudden +change of both Intensity and Tempo. + +[Music: + +Divinites du Styx! +Divinites du Styx! +Ministres de la mort!] + +This last phrase, "_Ministres de la mort!_" should be sung in a very +sombre voice of almost guttural character. + +It is, indeed, in the recitatives and declamatory passages of Gluck, +Handel, Sacchini, that lyric artists will find unsurpassable material +for study. Requiring, as such works do for their perfect +interpretation, all the resources of Colour, Accent, and Phrasing, +such study is the best possible preparation for the fitting musical +presentment of the lyric drama in some of its later phases. + +Colour, then, is the basic element of Style in singing. It is +reinforced by Accent, which, as the name implies, is the accentuation +of details that require to be brought into prominence. This subject, +therefore, next claims attention. + + * * * * * + +ACCENT + +In singing, two kinds of accent are recognized, the Musical accent, +and the Poetic, or Verbal, accent. The first appertains to the domain +of sound; the second, to the domain of significance. The first, for +aesthetic reasons, throws into relief certain tones of a musical +phrase; the second brings into prominence the sentiment underlying the +poem or text. Note, also, that in spoken declamation, accent applies +to a syllable only; in singing, the verbal accent affects an entire +word. + +In its relation to Style, the Musical accent must be carefully +distinguished from the Metrical accent which is determined by Time, or +Measure, as well as from the Verbal accent whereby the import of a +word is rendered clear to the listener. Here is an example of Musical +accent, from Act III of Verdi's _Ballo in Maschera_: + +[Music: Saper vorreste di che si veste quando l'e cosa ch'ei vuol +nascosa.] + +The accents (marked thus [accent symbol]) give to the musical phrase a +piquancy that is admirably in keeping with the gay and careless +character of the page, Oscar, who sings it. In fact, as regards Style, +Musical accent is particularly valuable in song for the purpose of +setting forth the true character of the music. Hence, it may be +regarded as a means of characterization. + +This use of accent for characterization is also quite distinct from +its use with "accidentals," or tones foreign to the prevailing +tonality. In the former case, sentiment dictates its employment; in +the second, the accent guarantees, as it were, the accuracy of the +singer's intonation. By the faint stress laid on the foreign tone, +the listener is assured that the executant is not deviating from the +true pitch. In the following examples, the tones marked [accent +symbol] are "accidentals," and for that reason should receive a faint +stress. The first example is from _La Forza del Destino_. + +[Music: Verdi + +Madre, Madre, pietosa Vergine, perdona al mio peccato, m'aita +quell'ingrato] + +[Music: "Je dis que rien" + +Carmen: Act III + +Bizet + +Vous me protegerez, Seigneur!] + +These different uses of accent are well illustrated in the following +example. + +[Music: "Come unto Him" + +Messiah + +Handel + +Take His yoke upon you, and learn of Him.] + +The tone allotted to the second syllable of the word "upon" is +accentuated to affirm the accuracy of the singer's intonation; the +slight emphasis of the word "Him" brings into relief the meaning of +the text. This latter, then, is an illustration of Verbal, or +"Poetic" accent which, I repeat, throws into relief, without +consideration of its musical value or position, some word of special +significance in the verbal phrase. To render the poetic meaning of the +text clear to the listener, a correct use of verbal accent is +imperative. Its importance and effect, particularly in recitative and +declamatory singing, are analogous to the importance and effect of +emphasis in spoken language. The example is from _Samson_ (Handel): + +[Music: O loss of _sight_, of _thee_ I _most_ complain.] + +Here I may point out that in _cantabile_ phrases the stream of sound, +notwithstanding its division into syllables by the organs of +articulation--lips, tongue, etc.--should pour forth smoothly and +uninterruptedly. The full value of each tone must be allotted to the +vowel; the consonants which precede or end the syllables are +pronounced quickly and distinctly. In declamatory singing, on the +contrary, the consonants should be articulated with greater +deliberation and intensity. + +[Music: Handel (Messiah) + +I _know_ that my Redeemer liveth.] + +Here an emphatic accent on the consonant "n" irresistibly suggests the +idea of knowledge; that is, of absolute certainty, not of mere +belief. + +Very frequently the metrical accent does not coincide with the +syllabic accent: the musical accent will fall on an unaccented +syllable, or vice versa. Particularly is this the case when the +composer is not perfectly familiar with the rules that govern the +prosody of the language to which he is setting music. In the operas of +Meyerbeer many passages occur in which it is necessary to readjust the +syllables to the notes on account of their misplaced accent. Here is +an illustration from Hoel's Grand Air in _Le Pardon de Ploermel_ +(Meyerbeer), Act II. (Note that the tonic accent in French falls +_always_ on the last pronounced syllable.) + +[Music: (as printed) + +Et ranimez, ra_ni_mez ma foi.] + +The error is easily remedied: + +[Music: (should be sung) + +Et ranimez, rani_mez_ ma foi.] + +In the contralto aria "He shall feed His flock," in Handel's +_Messiah_, the unaccented word "shall" falls on the most strongly +accented note of the bar. If performed thus, it would give a most +aggressive character to the passage, implying that some one had +previously denied the assertion. This would be entirely at variance +with the consolatory and peaceful message that is contained in the +text and shadowed forth in the music. + +[Music: (as printed) + +He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. + +(should be sung) + +He shall feed his flock like a shepherd.] + +Instances of faulty syllabic accent abound in Handel's works, both his +English oratorios and his Italian operas. Many examples could be +quoted. Here is a phrase from the beautiful air for mezzo-soprano sung +by Ruggiero in the opera of _Alcina_. + +[Music: (as printed) + +Verdi prati. + +(should be sung) + +Verdi prati.] + +In Mendelssohn's _Elijah_, the following phrase is nearly always sung +as written, unless the singer is familiar with the best traditions: + +[Music: Give me _thy_ son!] + +It may be that the artists who slavishly follow the published text +fear being accused of altering the composer's music, or are ignorant +of the fact that there exists a better version, which is this: + +[Music: Give _me_ thy son!] + +It will be seen that the music is not changed in the least; the +musical and verbal accents have been merely readjusted and made to +coincide. + +In order to avoid the disagreeable effect of singing one half-bar +_andante_ to the syllable "_si_" (pronounced like "zee" in English), +the following phrase of Marguerite de Valois in _Les Huguenots_ +(Meyerbeer), Act II, is changed thus: + +[Music: (as printed) + +en aucun temps n'eut choisi mieux. + +(should be sung) + +en aucun temps n'eut choisi mieux.] + + * * * * * + +INTENSITY + +In musical terminology every gradation of volume in sound, from the +faintest to the loudest, enters into the category of Intensity. One of +the accepted rules of the _arte del bel canto_ was, that every +sustained tone should be coloured by some graduation of intensity. +Thus the ability to augment and diminish the volume of tone was so +highly esteemed--indeed, so essential--that singers spent much time in +acquiring the _messa di voce_, that is, the steadily graduated +emission of tone from the softest degree to the loudest and again to +the softest: _p_ [crescendo symbol] _f_ [decrescendo symbol] _p_. This +exercise invariably formed a part of each day's study, and was +practised on several vowels throughout the scale, except the extreme +tones, save in rare instances. It was, in fact, indispensable that the +singer should be able to colour every tone in three forms of graduated +intensity: Soft to loud _p_ [crescendo symbol] _f_; loud to soft _f_ +[decrescendo symbol] _p_; and soft to loud and soft again _p_ +[crescendo symbol] _f_ [decrescendo symbol] _p_. + +This command of intensity, therefore, is invaluable. But it is even +more effective when the artist has the power to combine the various +gradations of Intensity with different shades of Colour; in other +words, when he can sing a tone _crescendo_ and _diminuendo_ in the +clear and sombre timbres. + +The passage, already cited, from Alceste's great air in Gluck's opera +_Alceste_, furnishes an admirable illustration of the dramatic emotion +created by a sudden contrast of Intensity as well as Colour. In the +invocation "Ye ministers that dwell in night!" the clear timbre is +used with gradually increasing volume until at the phrase (sung +_adagio_) "Ministers of death!" the timbre changes abruptly to a +sombre quality with sinister effect, which effect is augmented by +being sung _pp_. + +[Music: Gluck (Alceste: Act I) + +Divinites du Styx! +Divinites du Styx! +Ministres de la mort!] + +A still more striking example of the impressive effect produced by +sudden contrasts of intensity is offered in the magnificent air "Total +Eclipse," from _Samson_ (Handel). In it, a judicious use of +tone-colour, accent, and variations of tempo, all combine to elucidate +in the highest possible degree the idea of both composer and poet: + +[Music: Sun, moon and stars, sun, moon and stars are _dark_ to me.] + +The words "Sun, moon and stars" should be given strongly accentuated, +and the tempo gradually accelerated. The repetition of the phrase +should be sung with still greater intensity; then, at the passage "are +dark to me," the colour of the voice changes to one of very sombre +quality, and the original tempo is resumed. The first consonant in the +word "dark" should receive a slight stress. + +The _crescendo_ has always been a favourite device of composers, +particularly of those who write for the lyric theatre. It was an +effect held in high esteem by Rossini, who introduced it constantly in +his operas--witness his overtures and ensembles. All are familiar with +the wonderful _crescendo_ which precedes the appearance of the Knight +of the Swan, in _Lohengrin_, where the sonorities are augmented by +gradual additions of voices and instruments until the culminating +point is reached. An instance more poignant still is found in the +great "Liebestod" in _Tristan und Isolde_. + +Although Herold, the French composer, observed that in working up to a +climax one should begin a long way off, a singer must be careful not +to reach his maximum of vocal sonority before the musical climax is +attained. The tenor Duprez created a sensation that is historic, in +the long _crescendo_ passage in the fourth act of _Guillaume Tell_, by +gradually increasing the volume of sound, as the phrase developed in +power and grandeur, until the end, which he delivered with all the +wealth of his exceptionally resonant voice. + +Before closing this chapter on Intensity, I should advise singers +whose voices possess great natural volume or power not to abuse this +valuable quality by employing it too frequently. The ear of a listener +tires sooner of extreme sonority than of any other effect. Talma, the +great actor, wrought many reforms on the French dramatic stage, not +only in costume--prior to his time Greek or Roman dress only was worn +in tragedy--but also in the manner of delivering tragic verse. Against +the custom, then prevalent, of always hurling forth long tirades at +full voice, he inveighed in these terms: "Of all monotonous things, +_uproar_ is the most intolerable" (_de toutes les monotonies, celle de +la force est la plus insupportable_). An artistic singer will use his +most powerful tones, as a painter employs his most vivid colours, +sparingly. + + * * * * * + +PHRASING + +Phrasing is simply musical punctuation. In singing, it may be +separated, like accent, into two divisions: Musical and Poetic, or +Verbal, phrasing. If the following passage were performed by an +instrument, it would not require any particular grouping or phrasing: + +[Music] + +But when sung, it would fail in effect if not performed with a very +slight pause after the word "nobis," thus: + +[Music: Ave Maria + +Luzzi + +Ora pro nobis, Maria.] + +As another illustration of the excellent effect of correct phrasing +may be cited the song _Psyche_, by Paladilhe. Its effect is heightened +if the musical phrasing be judiciously combined with a change in +Colour and Intensity: + +[Music: Quand il les flatte, j'en murmure!] + +(Should be sung): + +[Music: Quand il les flatte, j'en murmure!] + +It is the clashing of the Musical and Verbal phrasings that often +makes translations of lyric works unsatisfactory. The two phrases are +independent, not welded together. So far from being "Music wedded to +immortal Verse," these instances resemble those _menages_ wherein each +unit leads a separate existence. When this is the case, the singer +must decide as to whether the musical phrase, or the poetic phrase, +demands the greater prominence. + +The following Phrasing and Colouring would be good and effective if +the passage were played on an instrument: + +[Music] + +But if sung thus, as it sometimes is by careless artists who pay +little attention to the verbal significance of what they are singing, +it would sound absurd, because the poetic phrasing is entirely +ignored. The correct way of performing the passage (from the aria "Voi +che sapete," in Act II of Mozart's _Nozze di Figaro_) is the +following: + +[Music: Donne, vedete, s'io l'ho nel cor.] + +In the next extract (from Act IV in _Un Ballo in Maschera_, by Verdi), +it will be noticed how oblivious the composer was of the claims of +verbal phrasing. The whole _scena_ is admirably written for the +voice, and contains many graceful passages of great melodic charm. But +although the music may claim to represent the character of the +situation as a whole, it is disfigured by the complete disregard of +the sense of certain groups of words: + +[Music: Come se fosse l'ultima ora del nostro amor, come se fosse +l'ultima, l'ultima ora, ora del nostro amor, del nostro amor? Oh, qual +presagio m'assale, come se fosse l'ultima ora del nostro amor, se +fosse l'ultima del nostro amor] + +The words "_come se fosse l'ultima ora del nostro amor_," constitute +one phrase. It would be extremely difficult, impossible even, for +many, to sing the passage in one breath. But the first musical phrase +ends after the word "_ultima_;" to separate it from the next word, +"_ora_" (second and third bars), thus: "last--hour," is impracticable. +It would be out of the question to destroy the musical phrase by +breathing after the word "_ora_," in the third bar. If the text is +phrased when spoken as it is when sung, the incongruity is at once +apparent. The published score gives a pause [fermata symbol] after the +word "_ora_:" "_ultima ora_ [fermata symbol] _del nostro amor_." This +phrasing is good and effective, especially if the artist changes at +once to the sombre quality after the pause, and finishes the phrase +_piano_ and _rallentando_. One very often hears it, however, given +with a pause for breathing after the high _a_; the unfortunate singer +having prolonged the tone until, in order to continue, he is compelled +to take in more air. The result is the absurd phrasing given below: + +[Music: l'ultima ora del nostro amor] + +In the final cadenza, the composer has cut out the word "ora" +altogether. The whole air is of interest to the musical student, as it +shows clearly the little value attached by Verdi, at that period of +his career, to the exigencies of the verbal or poetic phrase. This +neglect of the verbal punctuation is in marked contrast to the care he +bestowed on it in his later works, witness _Aida_, _Otello_, and +particularly _Falstaff_. + +Here I may say that it is sometimes necessary to alter the words on +account of the impossibility of performing certain passages as +written. In the earlier published scores of _Samson et Dalila_ +(Saint-Saens), the following passage in Act II, "Mon coeur s'ouvre a +ta voix," as the composer wrote it, occurs as one phrase: + +[Music: Ah! reponds a ma tendresse!] + +This being impracticable of execution in one phrase, and there being +no opportunity of retaking breath until the close of the passage, it +was altered in the later editions, and now stands thus: + +[Music: Ah! reponds, reponds a ma tendresse!] + +This device of repetition, applied either to a word or to part of a +phrase, is perfectly justifiable in cases where the artist, for +physical reasons, is unable to sing the phrase in one breath. I give +an excerpt from Weber's _Der Freischuetz_ (Grand Air, Act II): + +[Music: Oh lovely night!] + +This may be sung: + +[Music: Oh lovely, lovely night!] + +The concluding bars of the waltz-song in Act I of Gounod's _Romeo et +Juliette_, are often phrased as indicated in the brackets, in order to +give the singer a chance to take breath, which is done after the _c_ +natural: + +[Music: Ah! (comme un tresor.) comme un tresor.] + +As discrepancies between the musical and verbal phrases, such as those +I have instanced, abound in certain of the old operas which still keep +the stage and form a part of the permanent repertoire of every lyric +theatre, the artists singing them are compelled to choose between +sacrificing the words or the music. The former alternative is +generally preferable, the musical phrase in many such cases being of +the greater relative importance. Another way is, to meet the +difficulty boldly by supplying another text which mates itself more +happily with the musical phrase. Personally, I adopt the latter +alternative without hesitation, when preparing artists to sing these +works. + + * * * * * + +Some minor effects utilized in Style in singing may be briefly alluded +to: _Portamento_; variations of _Tempo_. + + +PORTAMENTO + +This is effected by the voice gliding from one tone to another, and is +equally available on stringed instruments, the violin or 'cello, the +mandoline or zither. It is a grace of style much abused by inartistic +singers. Being an ornament, good taste dictates that it be used +sparingly. A frequent sliding from one tone to another is a grave +fault, and most disagreeable to a cultivated ear. To sing _legato_ is +one thing; to sing _strisciato_ is another. Hence, its use on two +consecutive occasions is rarely admissible. But without a sober and +discreet use of the _portamento_, the style of the singer appears +stiff, angular--lacking, as it were, in graceful curves. + +It must always be performed by carrying the tone and syllable to the +next tone; never by anticipating the latter: + +[Music: Mozart (Nozze di Figaro) + +Do Fa Deh vieni, non tardar,] + +But it sometimes happens that, while desiring this grace, the composer +does not indicate his wish quite correctly. Here is an instance by F. +Thome: + +[Music: Et nous dansions un bolero.] + +Were it performed as printed, it would be very bad style, as it +violates the rule that the succeeding syllable shall not be +anticipated. Undoubtedly, what the author wished is the following: + +[Music: Et nous dansions] + +Sometimes the composer himself indicates clearly his intention that +this effect should be used, as in the following examples: + +[Music: Reyer (La Statue) + +Pour s'evanouir, au reveil.] + +[Music: Celeste Aida + +(Aida: Act I) + +Verdi + +Del mio pensiero tu sei regina, tu di mia vita sei lo splendor.] + +[Music: Song "Heure du Soir" for Tenor + +Leo Delibes + +Partout s'eleve un chant bien doux, un chant bien doux, +Sous la brise toute embaumee.] + +[Music: From "La Boheme," Act I + +Puccini + +Mi chiamano Mimi, ma il mio nome e Lucia.] + +(Notice the phrases marked _a_ and _b_.) + +The words and indications for the use of the _portamento_ in each of +these last four examples are by the respective composers, and as +printed in the published editions. + +A _portamento_ should never be sung so slowly as to convey the idea of +a badly executed chromatic scale; and, as a rule, it is best not to +use one between any lesser interval than a third, unless for some +particular effect, or at the close of a slow movement, as in the aria +"He was despised," in _The Messiah_: + +[Music: and acquainted with grief.] + +It is also effective in connecting syllables in phrases of a smooth, +lyric character: + +[Music: Nozze di Figaro: Act II + +Mozart + +(as printed) + +in braccio al idol mio. + +(should be sung) + +in braccio al idol mio.] + +The _portamento_ being an embellishment that pertains to the +_cantabile_, it is very little used in declamatory singing. + +But frequently in the Recitatives of classic works occur phrases of +declamatory recitative, interspersed with passages that are purely +lyric in structure. To each of these divisions must be given its +appropriate style. For instance, after the opening phrases of +Obadiah's exhortation, "Ye people, rend your hearts," in _Elijah_, up +to the end of the phrase "Return to God," all is purely lyric +declamation. But at the words, "For He is slow to anger, and +merciful," this should cease, and the succeeding phrases be given with +all the graces that are permissible in _cantabile_ singing; not in the +hard, dry manner affected by some of the modern tenors in oratorio. + +[Music: I therefore say to ye, Forsake your idols, return to God; for +He is slow to anger, and merciful.] + + * * * * * + +VARIATIONS OF TEMPO + +These are of value in bringing out the musical and poetic significance +of certain compositions; notably the operas of Bellini, Donizetti, and +the earlier works of Verdi. But I would caution singers to exercise +discretion in this much-abused effect. Variations of Tempo, the +_ritardando_, _accelerando_, and _tempo rubato_, are all legitimate +aids demanded by Expression. But unless their use is determined by +sound judgment and correct musicianly taste, the effect speedily +becomes vulgar and monotonous. Knowledge, and a taste formed in good +schools, must be the guide of the vocalist in the use of variations of +tempo. + +I have said that the operas of Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi abound in +instances requiring the hastening or slackening of the tempo. But the +device is also highly esteemed by the ultra-modern Italian school, as +may be seen in studying the scores of Puccini, Mascagni and +Leoncavallo. + +Here is an illustration of its effective use in the air "Connais-tu le +pays?" from _Mignon_ (Act II), by Ambroise Thomas. Madame Christine +Nilsson (Countess Casa Miranda), who "passed" the role with the +composer, always sang the phrase thus, although these indications do +not appear in the published version: + +[Music: Helas! que ne puis-je te suivre, vers ce rivage heureux, d'ou +le sort m'exila!] + +Again, in the fine song _Der Asra_, by Rubinstein, the musical, as +well as the dramatic, effect of the poem is heightened by the use of +the _accelerando_, which interprets with musical vividness the +impetuous avowal by the slave of his passion for the princess, after +his calm answer to her questions as to his name and birthplace. + +"_Ich heisse Mahomet, ich bin aus Yemen, und mein Stamm sind jene +Asra, welche sterben, wenn sie lieben._" (HEINE.) + +[Music: und mein Stamm sind jene Asra, welche sterben, wenn sie +lieben.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +TRADITION + + +Tradition plays a more important part, perhaps, in the interpretation +of the classic composers' writings for the voice than it does in their +purely instrumental works. The old masters left few--sometimes not +any--indications as to the manner in which their music should be +rendered. Thus its proper performance is largely determined by +received oral tradition. The printed scores of the classics, except +those that have been specially edited, throw little light on their +proper interpretation, or even at times on the actual notes to be +sung. To perform exactly as written the operas of Gluck, notably +_Armide_ and _Orphee_, the operas of Mozart, the Italian operas and +English oratorios of Handel, the oratorios of Bach, Haydn, and +Mendelssohn, would be to do the greatest injustice to these composers +and their works. + +It is a prevalent idea that all departures from the published text are +due either to caprice, or to vanity and a desire for personal display +on the part of the soloist. As though singers had a monopoly of these +defects! + +Let us consider some of the principal causes of such changes in the +text, and the reasons why these modifications do not always appear in +the published versions. + +In the original editions of many of the earlier operas, as those of +Mozart, etc., the unaccompanied recitative (_recitativo secco_) is +not barred. As with the plain-chant of the church, only the _pitch_ of +the tone is indicated. Its _length_ was left to the discretion of the +artist, who was supposed to be familiar with the accepted style of +delivery termed "_recitativo parlante_." The example is from the +recitative "Dove sono," in Act III of _Le Nozze di Figaro_, by Mozart: + +[Music: E Susanna non vien! Sono ansiosa di saper] + +This should be sung as below: + +[Music: E Susanna non vien! Sono ansiosa di saper] + +The substitution of another note for the one actually written, both in +Recitative and Aria, was also strictly regulated under the system or +convention then in vogue, one perfectly understood both by composer +and singer. + +In all the earlier Italian operas, and in the English oratorios of +Handel, this system was followed: + +[Music: Recit. "Behold, a Virgin shall conceive" + +Messiah + +Handel + +(sung) + +Emmanuel; + +(printed) + +and shall call his name Emmanuel;] + +[Music: Aria. "I know that my Redeemer liveth" + +Messiah + +Handel + +(sung) + +liveth + +(printed) + +I know that my Redeemer liveth] + +[Music: Recit. "Non piu di fiori" + +La Clemenza di Tito + +Mozart + +(sung) + +Vitellia! costanza + +(printed) + +Ecco il punto, o Vitellia! d'esaminar la tua costanza] + +[Music: "In questa tomba" + +Beethoven + +(sung) + +oscura + +(printed) + +In questa tomba oscura] + +This substitution, therefore, of another note--a tone or semitone +higher or lower, according to the phrase--is not only legitimate but +essential in all music written in the Italian manner. + +Another cause of changes being necessary in the vocal part of many of +the older classic writers, particularly of oratorio, is the frequently +faulty syllabic accentuation. I have already mentioned this defect in +the chapter on Accent. Handel, for instance, although living nearly +all his life in England, never became quite master of its language; +hence the numerous cases of the misplacing of syllables in his +oratorios. This defect is also noticeable, but not in the same degree, +in his Italian operas. The books of _Elijah_ and _St. Paul_ +(Mendelssohn), and _The Creation_ (Haydn), were originally written in +German, and therefore suffer somewhat in this respect when the +translated English version is given. This fault is also noticeable in +the English versions of Bach's _Passion_ (St. Matthew), and +Mendelssohn's _Psalm CXIV_. In the first quoted of these two works, in +the response for Double Chorus to the question, "Whether of the twain +will ye that I release unto you?" the accent falls on the first +syllable "_Ba_-rab-bas"; in the second of the two works (_114th +Psalm_), the accent is placed on the last syllable, thus: +"Hal-le-lu-_jah_." Neither of these accentuations is in accordance +with English custom. + +A singer, therefore, is perfectly justified in rearranging the +syllables in order that, as far as possible, the musical and verbal +accents shall coincide. But there are rigorists, unaware of the usages +and conventions previously spoken of, who are very severe in their +judgment when any deviation is made from the printed score with which +they follow the performance of classic works. Such severity is +unmerited, because unjust. Although such persons sometimes inveigh +against any and every change from the strict letter of the printed +music--ignorant of the possibility, that only in this way can its +spirit be respected--the changes in a multitude of cases are essential +because due (1) to reverential deciphering of an obsolete musical +notation, (2) to improvements in musical instruments, or (3) to the +sanction and authority of the composer himself. + +Sometimes it is an orchestral conductor who reproaches the solo +singers with their want of respect for the composer, because he hears +at times interpolations or changes which find no place in his own +score. The singers are accused of "altering the composer," of "taking +liberties with the text." And yet these very changes may be +traditionally correct; they may be in accordance with rules and +conditions prevalent at the time the music was written, and employed +on account of a desire to interpret the composer's own intentions, and +not from mere vanity or caprice. + +Nor are these necessary changes and departures from the printed scores +of the classics confined to the vocal parts of the music composed by +the old masters. As a matter of fact, the deviations which, in +performance, are sometimes made from the printed edition of a musical +composition, arise from a variety of causes. + +One of these is the discrepancy that exists between various editions +of the same work; and sometimes the confusion is complicated by +different versions having been prepared by the composer himself. This +is notably the case with Gluck's _Orphee_, first written to an Italian +libretto by Calzabigi and produced at Vienna. When Marie Antoinette +called her former Viennese singing-master, Gluck, to Paris, she gave +him an opportunity of displaying his genius by facilitating the +production of his _Iphigenie en Aulide_ at the Opera, in 1774. Its +enthusiastic reception recalled to the composer the like success which +had attended the production of his _Orfeo_ at Vienna. He immediately +set to work to revise it for the Paris Opera, and fit it to a new +French text, the latter supplied him by Moline.[2] + +[Footnote 2: Sir George Grove, in the "Dictionary of Music and +Musicians," P. 611, says that the French text is by _Moliere_! This is +a self-evident error.] + +But the title-role in the original Italian version was written for, +and sung by, Guadagni, an artificial contralto (_contralto musico_). +In its newer French dress the part was transposed and rearranged for +the tenor Legros; who, judging from the extreme altitude of the +_tessitura_ employed, must have possessed either a _haute-contre_, or +a very high light-tenor voice, and who may have employed the falsetto. +This high _tessitura_, combined with the fact that the pitch has risen +considerably since it was composed, renders the French version +impracticable for tenors of the present day. Here are the concluding +bars of the famous air as written in the original Italian version, and +the same phrase as altered by Gluck, when produced in Paris. + +[Music: "Che faro senz' Euridice?" + +Dove andro? Che faro? Dove andro senza il mio ben? + +(As originally written by Gluck for the Italian version, Vienna.)] + +[Music: "J'ai perdu mon Eurydice" + +Sort cruel, quelle rigueur! Je succombe a ma douleur, a ma douleur, a +ma douleur! + +(As altered by Gluck for Paris; sung by the tenor Legros. From a +manuscript copy, Bibliotheque de l'Opera.)] + +[Music: "J'ai perdu mon Eurydice" + +Sort cruel, quelle rigueur! Je succombe a ma douleur, a ma douleur, a +ma douleur! + +(As sung by Mme. Viardot-Garcia, Theatre-Lyrique, Paris; the part +being restored to the original voice and key, but the change at the +end, made for Legros, retained.)] + +The finale to the first act was also changed; a tumultuous "hurry" for +strings, evidently designed to accompany the change of scene to Hades, +being now replaced by a florid air, probably introduced at the desire +of the principal singer as a medium for the display of his vocal +virtuosity; a concession often exacted from composers of opera. This +interpolated air was for a long time attributed to a composer--Bertoni--who +had himself composed an opera on the subject of _Orphee_. Later +researches have, however, proved that this air is by Gluck himself, +taken from _Aristeo_, one of his earlier works. When the famous +revival of _Orphee_ took place at the old Theatre-Lyrique in Paris, +the role of Orphee was restored to the type of voice--contralto--for +which it was originally composed, and confided to Mme. Pauline +Viardot-Garcia. She retained the air introduced for the tenor Legros, +but of course transposed, and with a reorchestration by Camille +Saint-Saens; the now famous composer having at that time, by the +request of Berlioz, undertaken to continue and complete the revision +of Gluck's complete works, known as the Pelletan Edition.[3] + +[Footnote 3: See very interesting article signed C. Saint-Saens in the +_Echo de Paris_ for July 23, 1911.] + +Other changes from the first Italian score were also made by Gluck in +the later French version. Here is an example; being the recitative +immediately preceding the great air of Orpheus in the last act: + +[Music: (Original Italian version, as written for Vienna.) + +Misero me! la perdo, e di nuovo, e per sempre! O legge! O morte! O +ricordo crudel! Non ho soccorso, non m'avanza consiglio! Io veggo solo +(Oh fiera vista!) il luttuoso aspetto dell'orrido mio stato! Saziati, +sorte rea! son disperato!] + +[Music: + +C'est moi, c'est moi, qui lui ravis le jour. +Loi fatale! Cruel remords! +Ma peine est sans egale, +Dans ce moment funeste, +Le desespoir, la mort, +C'est tout ce qui me reste! + +(As written for the Paris version, the role of Orphee being then sung +by a tenor.)] + +[Music: + +C'est moi, c'est moi, qui lui ravis le jour. +Loi fatale! Cruel remords! +Ma peine est sans egale, +Dans ce moment funeste, +Le desespoir, la mort, +C'est tout ce qui me reste! + +(As sung by Mme. Viardot-Garcia, the role being then restored to the +contralto voice as in the Italian version, while the changes made by +Gluck for the Paris version were retained. This is now definitively +adopted at the Opera-Comique.)] + +Again, discrepancies exist between various published copies of the +same work, arising from the fact that sometimes the editors of these +revisions may have mistaken the intentions of the composer. Or, +influenced by pardonable human vanity, they may have felt impelled to +collaborate more directly with the composer, by adding something of +their own. + +There is valid reason for the additional accompaniments, with which +Mozart has enriched the original scores of Handel's _Messiah_ and +_Alexander's Feast_; and we have evidence of the skill, and can divine +the reverence, with which these additions were accomplished. But how +fatal would have been the results, had the delicate task been +attempted by one in whom these qualities were lacking! Also, there is +every excuse for the additions made to Gluck's _Armide_ by Meyerbeer +for the Opera of Berlin; and we have the direct testimony of +Saint-Saens, who has examined this rescoring, as to the rare ability +and artistic discretion with which the work has been done.[4] + +[Footnote 4: See _Echo de Paris_, _op. cit._] + +From this evidence it appears that in the score as left by Gluck, the +trombones do not appear at all in _Armide_. The drums, and stranger +still, the flutes, are heard only at rare intervals; while the whole +orchestration--sometimes a pale sketch of the composer's +intentions--shows a haste and lack of care in marked contrast with the +pains bestowed on the scoring of _Alceste_, _Iphigenie_, and _Orphee_. +The revisions and additions spoken of were undertaken by highly +competent authorities, actuated only by the wish to restore in its +purity the idea of the composer; and who to zeal, added the more +valuable quality of discretion. + +Ancient music, owing to the development of and changes in the +instruments for which it was composed, can rarely be given as written +by the author. Even if the instruments of modern invention be +eliminated, the orchestra of to-day is not the orchestra of Handel. +The oboe, for example, has so gained in penetrating power that one +instrument to each part now suffices; in Handel's time the feeble tone +of the oboe rendered a considerable number necessary. The perfection +of certain instruments, too, is the cause of modifications in the +music written for them. The limited compass of the pianoforte, for +example, was certainly the sole reason why Beethoven failed to +continue in octaves the entire ascending scale in one of his sonatas. +Had the piano in his day possessed its present compass, he would +undoubtedly have written the passage throughout in octaves, _i.e._, as +modern pianists play it. If a rigid adherence to the printed letter of +ancient music is to be strictly observed, without consideration of the +many causes that render this procedure undesirable, let consistency be +observed by pushing the argument to its logical conclusion, _viz._, +returning to the instruments used, and the composition of the +orchestra that obtained, when these works were written. Those who +accuse artists of introducing changes, of not performing the music as +the composer wrote it, should be quite sure as to what the composer +really did write, since many changes are made both before and after +the work is printed. They should also be certain that these changes +are not such as the composer may have, or would have, sanctioned, +seeing that by their use his meaning is more clearly expressed. + +At the _Concerts Spirituels_, given at the Church of the Sorbonne, +Paris, may be heard very excellent performances of Oratorio by ancient +and modern composers, from Handel and Bach to Claude Debussy; though I +do not know whether or no _l'Enfant prodigue_ (The Prodigal Son), by +Debussy, is properly styled an oratorio, seeing that it was recently +given in London on the stage as an opera. These performances at the +Sorbonne are marked by a reverential attention to detail; the +soloists, chorus and orchestra being very competent, and the +conductor--M. Paul de Saunieres--a musician of ability and experience. +In spite of these great advantages, however, the works of several of +the old classic composers suffer somewhat, by certain authentic +traditions and conventions being either unknown or ignored. To cite +only one instance out of many: At the Sorbonne, the opening bars of +the second movement of the Recit. in _The Messiah_, "Comfort ye my +people," etc., are performed as printed: + +[Music: The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness] + +This music is written in the Italian "manner," consequently its +performance should be in conformity with the usages and conventions +which obtained when the work was composed. One of these, as I have +pointed out, was the substitution of one note for another in certain +places; another, that in declamatory recitative, or _recitativo +parlante_, the chord in the orchestra should come _after_ the voice +("_dopo la parola_"). These words appear in many scores of the Italian +operas, even of the present day. But when they do not, the musical +director is supposed to be familiar with the custom. The following, +therefore, is the authentic mode of performing the passage in +question: + +[Music: The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness] + +Apart from these defects in the rendering of the ancient classics, it +would be unjust not to acknowledge the great artistic merit and value +of the performances, given--as Oratorio should be--in the church. To +hear _l'Enfance du Christ_ (Berlioz) as performed at the Sorbonne, +with its particular facilities for obtaining the _ppp_ effects of the +distant or receding angelic chorus, is to be impressed to a degree +impossible of attainment in the concert-room. + +Let those purists who resent any "tampering"--as they term it--with +the composers' music listen to the following phrase, sung as it is +printed in the ordinary editions: + +[Music: the first-fruits _of_ them that sleep.] + +Then let them hear it given according to the authentic and accepted +tradition, and say which of the two versions most faithfully +interprets the composer's meaning. + +[Music: the first-fruits of _them_ that sleep.] + + * * * * * + +Let us now consider alterations which do not appear in the printed +editions, and yet may have been made or sanctioned by the composer. + +In comparison with painting and sculpture, music and the literature of +the theatre are not self-sufficing arts. They require an interpreter. +Before a dramatic work can exist completely, scenery, and actors to +give it voice and gesture, are necessary; before music can be anything +more than hieroglyphics, the signs must be transmuted into sound by +singers or instrumentalists. Wagner embodied this truth in his +pathetic reference to _Lohengrin_: "When ill, miserable and +despairing, I sat brooding over my fate, my eye fell on the score of +my _Lohengrin_, which I had totally forgotten. Suddenly I felt +something like compassion lest the music might never sound from off +the death-pale paper." In other words, _Lohengrin_, though finished in +every detail, was merely potential music. To make it anything more, +the aid of singers and orchestra are essential. + +Composers and dramatic authors, in fact, _create_ their art-works; but +it is their interpreters--actors, singers, instrumentalists--who +_animate_ them, who breathe life into them. One of the inevitable +consequences is, that the composer's ideal can never be fully +attained. + +But changes in performance from the printed text of a composition are +frequently the work of the composer himself. If really an artist, he +is rarely perfectly satisfied with his completed work. The difference +between his ideal and his materialization of it, is a source of +anguish for him. The journey made by a vision of art from the brain +that conceives it to the hand that imprisons it in marble, or depicts +it in colour, or pens it in words or music, is a long one. And much +grace or power, beauty or grandeur, is inevitably lost on the way. +This is the explanation of the disappointment of all true artists with +their creations. This is the origin of their endless strivings to +perfect their works; the first embodiment is not a perfect +interpretation of the artist's inspiration, and further reflection +has revealed to him an improvement. The process is endless. + + _A man's reach should exceed his grasp, + Or what is Heaven for?_ + +If one wishes to surprise genius labouring to give birth to +perfection, one should consult the later editions of Victor Hugo's +works and note the countless emendations he made after their first +publication--here a more fitting word substituted, there a line +recast, elsewhere an entire verse added, or excised, or remodelled. + +This work of incessant revision is not restricted to poets. Composers +of genius are also inveterate strivers after perfection, are +continually occupied in polishing and revising their music. And not +all the modifications they make, or sanction, are recorded in the +printed versions. For many are the outcome of after-thoughts, of ideas +suggested during the process of what I have called transmuting musical +hieroglyphics into sound. Such modifications, usually decided upon in +the course of a rehearsal--I am now considering particularly operatic +works--are frequently jotted down, a mere scanty memorandum, on the +singer's part or the conductor's score. But they are the work of the +composer, or have received his approval, and, although not noted in +the printed editions of his compositions, are transmitted orally from +conductor to conductor, singer to singer, master to pupil. And thus a +tradition is perpetuated. + +But the question of changes goes even further. + +Prior to the advent of Wagner, the singer was allowed great license +in operatic works. This license was principally manifested in a +two-fold form. The first is called _pointage_ (French), _puntatura_ +(Italian), and means the changing of the notes or contour of a musical +phrase; the second is termed _changements_ or _variantes_ (Fr.), +_abbellimenti_ or _fioriture_ (It.), and refers to the interpolation +and addition of ornaments, _i.e._, embellishments and cadenzas. + + * * * * * + +POINTAGE + +This, as I have said, is the technical term given to the modification +or rearrangement of the notes of a phrase, so as to bring it within +the natural capabilities of the artist singing the role. A few +illustrations will make the nature of _pointage_ clear. + +In Rossini's _Guillaume Tell_, although it is written in a different +style from his former works, whence less necessity for interpolations +and modifications, occurs the following terrible passage for the +principal baritone: + +[Music: Mais je connais le poids des fers, mais je connais le poids +des fers.] + +Every vocalist knows the difficulty experienced in singing very high +tones to different syllables, each requiring a different conformation +of the buccal cavity. The passage quoted--expressing Tell's bitterness +at the recollection of his past sufferings in prison, "Well I know the +weight of galling chain"--has to be declaimed with great energy. So +far as the relative value of the notes is concerned, it is entirely +_ad libitum_, the rhythmical figure in the orchestra having ceased one +half-bar before. It is said that Dabadie, a _basso cantante_ rather +than baritone, to whom was entrusted the role of Tell on the first +production of the work at the Opera, Paris, on August 3, 1829, finding +it impossible to sing the phrase as written, had recourse to a +professor. He advised the _pointage_ given later. This change became +traditional, and has since been followed, except, it is said, in the +case of Massol, who succeeded Dabadie. He, being possessed of a very +sonorous voice of exceptional compass, was able to give the phrase as +written. This change, or _pointage_, must have been heard by Rossini, +and so must have been tacitly approved by him. This is the change made +by Dabadie: + +[Music: Mais je connais le poids des fers, mais je connais le poids +des fers.] + +In Italian lyric theatres, _pointage_ becomes necessary in many French +operas, owing to the prevalent custom of allotting to contraltos +certain roles written for soprano and known as "dugazon roles" (from +Madame Dugazon, who created the type). The parts of Siebel in _Faust_ +(Gounod), Urbain in _Les Huguenots_, Stephane in _Romeo et Juliette_ +(Gounod), are all written for soprano, and when sung in Italian +require not only transposition of the principal airs, but the use of +_pointage_ in passages where transposition is impossible owing, for +instance, to the participation of other characters in the scene. Thus +the air sung by the page Urbain (_Les Huguenots_) on his entrance is +sung in the French theatres as written by Meyerbeer, _i.e._, in _B_ +flat. In theatres where the Italian version is given, this air is +transposed a third lower into _G_, necessitating later numerous +_pointages_, for the reason already given. + +I said that many deviations from the printed text are the work of the +author, or are authorized by him. A moment's reflection will convince +one of the truth of this statement. The singer chosen--usually by the +composer himself--to "create" a role, _i.e._, to interpret for the +first time some part in a new opera, generally studies it with the +composer, or under his direct supervision, and thus learns, directly +or indirectly, his ideas as to the meaning, style of execution, tempi, +etc., of the music. Very often during rehearsals, when the composer +begins really to hear his own work, he makes modifications in certain +passages, alterations of the words or suppressions of the notes that +are either ineffective, or lie awkwardly for the voice. But the opera +has already been printed for the convenience of the singers and +choristers studying the roles and choruses; consequently, such +modifications, rearrangements, and "cuts" (as excisions are termed), +do not find their way into the published scores. + +Meyerbeer, as I have been informed by competent authorities, was +constantly modifying his compositions. With him, the work of revision +and emendation was never finished. It is said that this was more +especially the case with his last opera, _l'Africaine_, which he was +continually altering and revising, never being able to satisfy +himself. Two versions of the libretto were prepared for him by Scribe, +and two distinct settings of the music are published, although only +one is performed.[5] + +[Footnote 5: Cases are numerous of changes made by composers even +after their work has been produced. The Fountain Scene in _Lucia_ was +entirely remodelled by Donizetti, some time after its original +production at Milan, the first setting being replaced by the "Regnava +nel silenzio" now used, written for Persiani when the opera was first +given at the San Carlo, Naples.] + +In Nelusko's first air occurs the following passage, in which a great +_crescendo_ is marked, culminating _ff_ on the word _rien_: + +[Music: non, n'otent rien a ta majeste!] + +Although the opera was produced after the composer's death, +Jean-Baptiste Faure, the great baritone chosen to create the role of +Nelusko, studied it with Meyerbeer, who authorized several verbal and +musical changes in it. + +[Music: non, n'otent rien, non, non, non, n'otent rien a ta majeste!] + +Without the first alteration it is impossible to realize the +composer's wish for a climax on the word "_rien_"; the second change +is due to the fact that the _tessitura_ of the phrase is somewhat +high, and Faure, who was a low rather than high baritone, dreaded the +high _f_-[sharp]. + +Indeed, it was for this latter reason that this most accomplished +singer never sang in Verdi's operas. According to his own statement, +he had to deny himself this pleasure, because most of the baritone +parts in the Italian composer's operas are written in a high +_tessitura_. + +When Gounod wrote his _Faust_ for the Theatre-Lyrique, Paris, spoken +dialogue was used in place of the recitatives subsequently added by +the composer when the work passed, ten years later, into the +repertoire of the Opera. In its earlier form, therefore, it belonged +to the category of _opera-comique_, in which tenors were then +permitted to use the falsetto voice for their very highest tones. This +custom, though sanctioned in _opera-comique_, was not permitted or +accepted in _grand opera_, to which Gounod's work in the revised form +now belongs. At the beginning of the sixth bar from the end of the +tenor _cavatina_ in the Garden Scene: "_Salut! demeure chaste et +pure_," occurs the high sustained _c_. + +Not all tenors who sing the role are possessed of the much-coveted +"_do di petto_," so a discreet _pointage_ becomes a necessity, since +the tone was originally intended, as I have said, to be sung in +falsetto. Those robust tenors who, possessing this tone, launch it out +at full voice, unheeding the delicate accompaniment with violin +obbligato in the orchestra, and the calm, mystic serenity of the +surroundings, are surely more desirous of drawing the attention of the +public to themselves, than actuated by an artistic desire to interpret +faithfully the scene as intended by composer and librettist. + +It was owing to the use by light tenors of the so-called falsetto +voice, now no longer in favor with the public, that such of the +_operas-comiques_ by Boieldieu, Halevy, Auber, etc., which still keep +the stage, necessitate frequent _pointage_, in order to render their +execution compatible with existing requirements. Sometimes a composer +utilizes an exceptional voice, as was the case with the roles written +for Martin. This singer must have possessed either a strong tenor +voice with exceptional low tones, or a baritone voice with perhaps an +unusual command of the falsetto--history furnishes but vague +information on this point. In any case, the roles written for +him--called Martin-tenor or Martin-baritone parts--are now assigned to +the ordinary baritone. _Pointage_ then becomes inevitable, as in the +case of Herold's _Zampa_, the compass required as printed being from + +[Music] + +In the roles, such as _Mignon_ (Thomas) and _Carmen_ (Bizet), written +for Madame Galli-Marie, their respective composers themselves have so +arranged the parts that they may be sung by either mezzo-soprano or +soprano. The role of Mignon has alternatives, in order that it may be +sung by three types of female voices. The roulades and cadenzas were +subsequently added by the composer for Madame Christine Nilsson. + +If the role is sung by a high soprano, Mignon's first air, "Connais-tu +le pays," is transposed a tone higher into _E_ flat. + +In the famous duet between Raoul and Valentine in the fourth act of +_Les Huguenots_, the composer has given alternative notes for those +tenors who do not possess the exceptional altitude required for the +higher of the two: + +[Music: Ah! viens! ah! viens! ah! viens! + +or + +viens! ah! viens!] + +I heard recently, however, a performance of this opera, in which the +tenor sang the whole of the music as written, without either +transposition or _pointage_. So it was sung, I should imagine, by the +famous Adolphe Nourrit, who created the role; but the pitch at that +time (1836) was lower than it is at present. + +Thus composers have recognized the necessity at times of _pointage_ in +certain roles written for exceptionally gifted singers, in order to +render possible to the many that which was originally written for the +few. + +Changes from the published version have also been made--and proving +effective have passed into tradition--by singers who, exercising the +liberty then accorded them by composers, have slightly modified +certain passages for several reasons: for instance, to augment the +effect by making the phrase more characteristic of the vocal +instrument, or to express more forcibly the composer's idea. + +The following illustrations will render my meaning clearer. The +changes originated in the causes I have mentioned, and are attributed +to Madame Dorus-Gras: + +[Music: "Robert, toi que j'aime" + +tu vois mon effroi! tu vois mon effroi! + +change + +-froi! Ah! + +Grace, grace pour moi-meme, pour toi-meme.] + +The phrase "Grace, grace," in which Isabelle implores Robert of +Normandy's forgiveness, occurs three times. When it recurs for the +last time, a change from the printed text is not only justifiable; it +is demanded, in order to give additional intensity and power to the +phrase, and to avoid the monotony caused by mere repetition. This +modification is all the more defensible, as the composer has +substituted the orchestra, with the strings _tremolo_, for the +rhythmical harp-figure with which he accompanies the phrase on its +first and second presentations. Here is the accepted traditional +change: + +[Music: Grace, grace pour moi-meme, pour toi-meme.] + +Again, to sing the final cadenza of this air as Meyerbeer briefly +indicated it, would be impossible and absurd: + +[Music: (as printed) + +ah! grace pour moi. + +(as sung) + +ah! grace, ah! grace pour moi.] + +Other changes have their origin in the fact that sometimes a great +climax is rendered impossible of realization because the musical +phrase culminates on a vowel-sound difficult of emission on that note, +and devoid of sonority; another word has sometimes to be substituted. +For this reason, in the first air of Alice in the same opera +(_Robert_), "_Va, dit-elle_," a verbal rearrangement is always +resorted to: + +[Music: Sa mere va prier pour lui, sa mere va prier pour lui, sa mere +va prier pour lui, va prier] + +To avoid the disagreeable and ineffective result produced by the high +descending passage on the word "lui" (pronounced in English as +"lwee"), the last few bars are performed thus: + +[Music: sa mere va prier, sa mere va prier] + +When _La Tosca_ (Puccini) was produced in French at the Opera-Comique, +Paris, the unfortunate artist to whom was allotted the tenor role was +expected by the translator to sing at full voice, and after a crashing +chord from the entire orchestra, marked _ffff_ in the score, the +following words: + +[Music: au peril de ma vie] + +As it was found to be out of the question to produce the effect +desired with the words as they stood, the phrase was afterwards +changed to: + +[Music: pour combattre l'infame] + +Frequently modifications, most happy in their effect, are due to the +inspiration of a particularly gifted artist. + +Madame Viardot-Garcia, finding the phrase of the cabaletta in the aria +"_Se Romeo t'uccise_" (_Romeo e Giulietta_, Bellini) somewhat weak and +ineffective, made the skilful _pointage_ here given: + +[Music: (as printed) + +Ma su voi ricada il sangue + +(as sung by Mme. Viardot-Garcia) + +Ma su voi ricada il sangue] + +A great artist may feel at times the inadequacy of the phrase as it +stands to convey justly the composer's idea. Take, for instance, the +well-known change which every soprano who sings the role of Leonora +introduces in the _Miserere_ scene of _Il Trovatore_. The passage +occurs four times in succession, and as printed becomes commonplace +and monotonous. + +[Music: Di te, di te scordarmi! di te, di te scordarmi!] + +The accepted traditional change certainly conveys the impression of +Leonora's gradually increasing anguish and terror; not the idea that +it is introduced merely to exploit a high tone: + +[Music: Di te, di te scordarmi! di te, di te scordarmi!] + +That this departure from the text must have been sanctioned by Verdi, +is, I think, proved by the fact that it has always been sung thus, and +the composer himself must often have heard the substitution. He would +certainly have forbidden its use, had he not approved of it, for he +was particularly averse to having changes made in his music. The +following anecdote illustrates this trait in his character. It was +related by the late Mme. Marie Saxe, better known under her +Italianized name of Marie Sasse. This distinguished soprano singer, a +member of the Paris Opera for a number of years, was engaged to give a +certain number of performances at the Opera of Cairo. _Aida_ was one +of the operas stipulated for in her contract. She had never sung the +role, and in studying it found the _tessitura_ of the music, at one or +two points, a little too high for her natural means. As she was +compelled by her contract to sing the opera, she asked Verdi to make +some slight changes to bring the music within her reach. But he +refused absolutely to make the least alteration. + +Madame Saxe was specially selected by Meyerbeer to create the role of +Selika in _l'Africaine_. She studied the part for three months with +the composer, and sang it when the work was first given at the Paris +Opera. She was also chosen by Richard Wagner for the part of Elisabeth +when _Tannhaeuser_ was given its stormy performances, with Niemann in +the title-role, at the same theatre in 1861. + +Madame Saxe possessed a score of _Tannhaeuser_ with the inscription in +the composer's handwriting: + + "_A ma courageuse amie + Mademoiselle Marie Saxe._ + + _L'Auteur_ + RICHARD WAGNER." + +The slight modifications, or _pointages_, asked from Verdi, were not, +I was assured by Madame Saxe, of a character to alter either the role +or the opera, and she remarked (I quote her own words): "Why should +Verdi have shown himself more unreasonable or less yielding than +Meyerbeer or Wagner?" (_plus intransigeant, plus intraitable que_ +Meyerbeer _ou_ Wagner?). + + * * * * * + +In tradition, however, there is the true or accepted tradition--so +called because believed to have been sanctioned by the composer +himself, or approved of by competent authorities and its use warranted +by time--and the false. This latter is simply an accumulation of +excrescences superimposed on the original by individual whim or +personal fancy. These have been invented by singers desirous of +bringing into relief certain special and peculiar gifts, or who have +mistaken, perhaps forgotten, the original and authentic tradition. +Thus their artistic heritage has become so altered and disfigured by +successive additions, or "machicotage," as to bear no resemblance to +the original, this being buried under a heap of useless complications. + +But it may be asked, are there no authoritatively correct printed +editions of such classics with the accepted traditions and the proper +mode of their performance expressed in modern musical notation? Yes: +but they are incomplete, being for the most part confined to airs and +other excerpts, instead of the complete works themselves. In this +connection, I may cite the admirable edition of the "_Gloires +d'Italie_" by the late erudite musician and authority, Gevaert, for so +many years Director of the Conservatoire at Brussels. These editions +are characterized by a scrupulous fidelity to the composers' text as +it was understood when written, as well as by great taste and musical +sense of what is appropriate and fitting, in such ornaments as the +editor has introduced, when these have been left to the discretion of +the singer. The solo parts for the principal singers in Mozart's +operas of _Don Giovanni_ and _Le Nozze di Figaro_, edited and revised +for performance by the well-known singing-master and excellent +musician, Signor Randegger, are also admirable. But other editions +exist which do not bear the same imprint of authority, or +conscientious care in their revision, as do the versions just +mentioned. + +In the edition of the well-known air "_J'ai perdu mon Eurydice_" (_che +faro senza Euridice?_) from _Orphee_ (Gluck), revised by Madame +Pauline Viardot-Garcia, no mention is made of two traditions which +have been used and handed down by a number of the most famous singers +of the role of Orphee. I give them here: + +[Music: (as printed) + +dechire mon coeur. J'ai perdu mon Eurydice + +(Traditional changes) + +Ah! dechire mon coeur. J'ai perdu mon Eurydice] + +The change on the third repetition of the principal theme is quite in +accordance with the license then accorded in such airs. + +In a special version of the opera _Armide_ (Gluck), revised and edited +by the late Sir Charles Halle, the first bars of the great air of +Armide in the first scene of the fourth act, "_Ah! si la liberte_" +(Ah! if my liberty must from me then be taken), are printed thus: + +[Music: Ah! si la liberte] + +The situation is where Armide perceives the knight Renaud in the +gardens of her enchanted palace, whither he has come to destroy the +sorceress on account of her magic arts. Although the enchantress knows +that the mission of the knight is to deprive her of liberty, she +herself succumbs to the fatal passion of love. I have briefly +described the scene in order that my meaning may be clear. In the +second half of the first bar, the _acciaccatura_ was never intended by +the composer to be actually sung as printed. It was his only way of +indicating the sob or sigh whereby Armide finishes her exclamation, +"Ah!" The effect is called "the Dramatic sob," and is known to every +opera-singer. Here is the composer's meaning, as far as it is possible +to convey it in writing: + +[Music: Ah! si la liberte] + +(A _portamento_ must be made from the first note to the next, when the +breath must be taken quickly to give the idea of a sob or sigh.) + +Again, in a recent edition of the same air by the distinguished +composer Vincent d'Indy (_Nouvelle Edition Francaise de Musique +Classique_), occurs the following: + +[Music: tu regnes dans mon coeur!] + +The effect of the _F_ sharp in the last bar, if sung against the +harmony given, in which the preceding chord is resolved, would be +intolerable. Surely, the composer intended a pronounced _rallentando_ +on the latter half of the bar, and a carrying of the voice by a +_portamento_ to the last note. Thus: + +[Music: tu regnes dans mon coeur!] + +In the edition of the immortal air in the opera of _Xerxes_, +universally known as the "Largo of Handel," also revised and edited by +d'Indy, may be noticed the following: + +[Music: Non v'oltraggino mai la cara pace, ne giunga a profanarvi +austro rapace!] + +Of course, every operatic conductor knows that the chord in the +orchestra must be played "after the voice," as the technical phrase +has it. But not every pianist or organist is familiar with this usage, +and the effect would be very disagreeable if given as written. It +should be performed thus: + +[Music: Non v'oltraggino mai la cara pace, ne giunga a profanarvi +austro rapace!] + +Besides, why claim that a certain edition is "revised and edited," +when all the care and musical knowledge seem to have been expended on +the harmonies only? Surely, the voice-part in these classics is not +without its need of elucidation. + +An edition of _The Messiah_, revised for performance, can scarcely be +called accurate when such defects as the following occur: + + "And [fermata symbol over "they"] they ---- [breath symbol] were + sore afraid." + +The following is the authentic mode of performing the phrase: + + "And [fermata symbol over dash] ---- [breath symbol] [slur symbol + and "sombre" over the following words] they were sore afraid." + +In the same edition for the solo singers occurs: ("Behold and see"): + +[Music: If there be any sorrow like un_to_ His sorrow.] + +But by a slight syllabic rearrangement, the disagreeable accent on the +last syllable of "un-_to_" is avoided, and the accent placed on the +word "His," to which it belongs, while the composer's music remains +untouched. + +[Music: like unto _His_ sorrow.] + +Again, in the same air occurs: + +[Music: (as printed) + +like un_to_ His sorrow. + +(should be sung) + +like unto _His_ sorrow.] + +While recognizing the benefits conferred by some of these specially +prepared editions, there remains still more to be accomplished in this +direction before the work is complete. A flood of light has been +thrown on the dark and nebulous places of the instrumental classics by +various distinguished and highly competent musicians. It is sincerely +to be hoped, in the interests of this branch of the aesthetics of vocal +art, that those competent to speak with authority will do so, in order +that in this direction also "the crooked shall be made straight, and +the rough places plain." + +I admit that this question of revising the composer's written text is +an exceedingly delicate and difficult one. It should be attempted only +by those possessed of the requisite authority, those who combine tact +and taste with judgment and experience. To these qualities should be +added a sincere and reverential desire to place in the highest relief +the meaning of both poet and composer. + + * * * * * + +I have said that the license formerly accorded by composers to +singers--particularly operatic singers--manifested itself in a twofold +form. The second of these phases was the introduction in the body of a +theme or melody, and also at its close, of embellishments. Sometimes +the composer briefly sketched these ornaments; at other times their +places only were indicated. The ornaments in the body of an air are +known as _abbellimenti_ or _fioriture_; those at its close, as +_cadenze_. + +Here is an example of the former, taken from the duet in _Elisa e +Claudio_ by Mercadante: + +[Music: Se un istante all'offerta d'un soglio vacillasse il mio genio +primiero.] + +The following is the same passage ornamented: + +[Music: Se un istante all'offerta d'un soglio vacillasse il mio genio +primiero] + +(As sung by Mme. Malibran. Quoted from "_Mecanisme des Traits_," by de +La Madelaine, 1868.) + +The role of Rosina in Rossini's _Il Barbiere_ has long been a +favourite peg with prime donne on which to hang interpolated ornaments +for the display of their vocal agility. Some of these are not always +in good taste, being trivial or banal in character, thus concealing +the natural charm of the original melody under a species of Henri Herz +variations. Others, however, such as those used by the Patti and the +Sembrich, for instance, are of great originality and excellent effect. + +Here are some of the traditional ornaments and cadenzas sung by +certain famous singers of the past in Rosina's entrance cavatina: +"_Una voce poco fa_." This air was originally written by Rossini in +_E_ major, the part of Rosina being intended for a mezzo-soprano, and +was thus sung by the late Paulina Viardot-Garcia. This exceptionally +gifted artist, possessing a voice of very great compass, was enabled +to sing not only the roles assigned to mezzo-soprano contraltos, such +as Orphee, or Fides (_Le Prophete_), which she created, but also the +parts given to dramatic sopranos. Mme. Viardot was thus able, with +some slight modifications, to sing Norma, Desdemona (_Otello_: +Rossini), Rachel (_La Juive_), etc. + +The role of Rosina has now definitely passed into the possession of +florid or _coloratura_ sopranos; much, therefore, of the music is of +necessity transposed, the air in question being now sung one half-tone +higher, in the key of _F_. + +Here is a change used by Mme. Cinti-Damoreau, who sang the music in +the original key. The composer wrote: + +[Music: Si Lindoro mio sara.] + +Mme. Cinti-Damoreau sang thus: + +[Music: Si Lindoro mio sara.] + +In the same bar Mlle. Henrietta Sontag, who sang the air a semitone +higher, introduced the following: + +[Music: Si Lindoro mio sara.] + +Rossini wrote no cadenza to the air: + +[Music: lo vincero!] + +Cadenza of Mlle. Sontag: + +[Music: Ah! ah! ah! lo vincero!] + +I have already spoken of the bad taste exhibited by some mediocre +singers in covering a coloratura air with so many roulades, etc., as +to render it barely recognizable. It was after hearing one of his own +arias overloaded and disfigured in this manner that Rossini, who was +noted for his biting wit and stinging sarcasms, is said to have +remarked: "What charming music! Whom is it by?" + +Bellini, Donizetti, and composers of their school, sometimes did +little more than hand over to the singer engaged to create their works +a rough sketch, as it were, which the artists were supposed to fill in +and perfect. Singers were expected to add such _fioriture_, or +"flowers," as would best display their salient points of style and +individual characteristics. The Cavatina, or slow movement of the +aria, was the medium which called for the qualities of expressive +singing, while the Cabaletta was a vehicle for the display of +virtuosity and technical mastery. In this latter movement, the +equivalent of the Rondo in instrumental music, the performer was left +perfectly free to use such embellishments as set forth his own gifts +to the greatest advantage. Some singers excelled in bold and rapid +flights of scales, chromatic and diatonic; others, in the neat and +clean-cut execution of involved _traits_ or figures. It must be +remembered, that the great singers of the past were perfectly +competent to add these ornaments themselves, as they possessed a +complete and sound musical education. + +More: sometimes these singers even collaborated with the composers. +Crescentini, the last famous male sopranist, is reputed by history or +legend--the two are not infrequently synonymous--to have been himself +the composer of the well-known aria "_Ombra adorata_," introduced by +him in Zingarelli's opera _Romeo e Giulietta_, as also of the prayer +sung by Romeo in the same work. His singing of it is said to have +moved his audience to tears, and gained for him the decoration of the +Iron Crown, conferred upon him by Napoleon I. The Emperor also +induced him, by the offer of a large salary, to settle in Paris as +professor of singing. + +When these great artists--their career as public singers being +ended--began in turn to form pupils, they were admirably fitted for +the task of imparting instruction, being excellent musicians, and, as +I have said, composers of no insignificant merit. They had a sound +theoretical knowledge, compared with which that of many of our modern +singers seems but a pale and feeble reflection. + +The collaboration of composer and interpreter is not altogether +unknown in the domain of instrumental music. Is it not historical that +Mendelssohn profited largely from the wise counsels of the celebrated +violinist Ferdinand David in the composition of his concerto for +violin and orchestra? This does not mean that David contributed any +musical phrases or ideas to the work; but that his practical knowledge +of the special characteristics and capabilities of the solo instrument +enabled him to suggest how the composer's thoughts might be most +fittingly presented. + +Returning to the question of the introduction of ornaments, etc., into +a composer's work, the following extract may be of interest to the +musical student. It is from a volume of criticism, now out of print, a +copy of which is possessed by the present writer. The article appeared +in _La Patrie_ more than forty years ago, and was called forth by the +ornaments written by the then well-known singer and teacher of great +ability, Stephan de La Madelaine. These changes were for the great +air of Agathe in the second act of _Der Freischuetz_, and were the +cause of much discussion among the music-critics of the time. + +"Following the example of celebrated vocal virtuosi whom he had +formerly known, and availing himself of the license then permitted, +the master (de La Madelaine) has introduced several alterations +(_changements_). These, however, in no sense clash with the original +character of the air itself. + +"That the introduction of such ornaments has caused an outcry, is not +surprising. We should remember, however, that the _Freischuetz_ was +written at a period when, in certain places, the composer left the +field entirely open to the singer, permitted him to make such changes +as he might deem necessary. It must not be thought that in so doing +the interpreter corrects the composer: he simply seeks to express, to +the utmost of his abilities, the intention of the author. + +"The operas of Bellini, of Rossini, and, in general, of all the +Italian masters, are full of these intentional gaps (_lacunes_) which +were filled in by the singers. Nay, in the earliest days of the +Neapolitan school, still greater liberty was allowed; the recitatives +were all improvised by the executants, and were not even noted down. +Each singer made his own, which the _maestro al cembalo_ accompanied +with a few simple chords. + +"In the cavatina in _Norma_, each _cantatrice_ introduces her own +changes on the recurrence of the principal theme, and the public +applauds. Why then this outcry against the same procedure in _Der +Freischuetz_? + +"_That this custom or practice might lead to great abuse and that it +is necessary to uproot it gradually, is our opinion._ But this radical +reform can be realized only in forthcoming works; those of the ancient +school ought to be interpreted by following the conventions which the +composer himself has respected. + +"That the _changements_ written by M. de La Madelaine for the air of +the _Freischuetz_ are permissible, is proved by the fact that Weber +himself has sanctioned and approved them, as, if need be, a great +number of contemporaries can attest." (FRANCK-MARIE.) + +Whoever has had the good fortune to hear Mme. Marcella Sembrich in the +role of Amina, in Bellini's _La Sonnambula_, will have heard an +excellent example of remarkable technical skill or virtuosity, with +irreproachable taste regulating its display. The ornaments and changes +used by her in the _rondo finale_, "_Ah, non giunge_," are models of +their genre. What else could be expected of an artist so gifted as to +be able to perform the lesson-scene in Rossini's _Il Barbiere_ +(introducing therein the air with variations by Proch) in Italian; and +in the course of the same scene sing, in German, "_Ich liebe dich_," +by Grieg, and play the Andante and Rondo Russe, for violin, by de +Beriot, and a valse by Chopin on the piano? + +The opera, _La Sonnambula_, requires much rearrangement both of the +music and of the verbal text, to which it is badly fitted. The greater +part of the music written for Elvino has to be transposed, mostly a +third lower, in order to make it practicable under existing +conditions. + +No effect whatever could be made were a cantatrice to follow +implicitly the written notes of this opera, such being merely a rough +sketch, as it were, of the composer's ideas, which the singer is +supposed to complete. Several instances from the andante "_Ah! non +credea mirarti_," will suffice to prove this. The following is the +printed version. + +[Music: + +Ah non credea mirarti, +Si presto estinto, o fiore.] + +This is but a suggestion of the composer's idea. The artist will +therefore not follow too closely the printed version; but following +the evident indications for a pathetic and expressive _cantabile_ will +perform it thus: + +[Music: + +Ah! non credea mirarti, +Si presto estinto, o fiore.] + +Again a brief outline, as printed: + +[Music: Passasti al par d'amore, che un giorno, che un giorno sol +duro.] + +which, if sung as follows, fills in the details: + +[Music: Passasti al par d'amore, che un giorno, che un giorno sol +duro.] + +Also the passage in the same aria, where Amina sobs as she slowly lets +fall to the ground the blossoms given her in the first act by Elvino, +requires an entire rearrangement of the syllables to bring out the +composer's meaning. + +[Music: + +Che un giorno sol duro, +Passasti al par d'amor, d'amor.] + +Let any one go over this passage carefully, and he will be convinced +that it is, as I have said, merely a sketch of the composer's idea. As +it stands in the published version it is impossible of execution, and +if it were possible, would be devoid of all effect: the syllables +being wrongly placed, no opportunity for breathing is given the +singer, and the final cadenza is marred by being allotted to the word +"amore." Here is a revision of the latter, the cadenza being one I +wrote for a pupil, Mme. Easton-Maclennan, of the Royal Opera, Berlin: + +[Music: + +Che un giorno sol duro, +Passasti al par d'amor, ah! d'amor.] + +It will thus be seen, from the numerous foregoing examples, that these +ornaments and interpolations are not added from a vulgar idea of +correcting or improving the composer's music, but are strictly in +accordance with certain conventions thoroughly understood by both +composer and singer. To omit them, or follow too closely the printed +text, would be to ignore the epoch, school and character of the music; +a careful study of which forms one of the cornerstones of +Interpretation. A skilled artist will always strive to analyze and +interpret the intentions of the author. If one to whom is confided the +vocal part of a composer's work were to limit himself to a +mathematically correct reproduction of the written notes only, instead +of searching below the surface for the author's meaning, his +performance would merely resemble the accurate execution of a +_solfeggio_ by a conscientious scholar. It would have the same +relation to high artistic effort as the photographic reproduction of +a landscape bears to the same scene as viewed and transmitted to +canvas by a great painter. + +The sincere artist will carefully consider every detail. He will not +be content to study his own part only, but will study the orchestral +score which accompanies it. He will, in fact, follow the example set +by good string-quartet players, who listen attentively to the other +instruments during rehearsals, so that the perfect welding together of +the different parts may form a homogeneous whole. Such an artist, in +complete possession of the mechanical resources of his art, will +utilize them all to embody perfectly that which, with the composer, +existed only as a mental concept, inadequately transcribed, owing to +the limitations of his media--pen, ink and paper. + +And it is only when in possession of the authentic traditions of +Oratorio and Opera that the singer, such as I have supposed, will be +able to vivify these great creations, will be able to invest them with +warmth and colour, and thus make clear all their meaning, reveal all +their beauty. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +REPERTOIRE + + +Although repertoire forms no integral part of Style, being rather the +medium for its practical application, a few words on this important +subject may not be out of place. The repertoire necessary for a singer +may be divided into two sections, Opera and Concert. The latter +includes Oratorio and Cantata. + +In spoken Drama, a performer may begin his career by playing the +youthful lovers, and end it by impersonating the heavy fathers. He may +first sigh as Romeo, and later storm as Capulet. Not so in Opera, or +lyric Drama, where the line of work to be followed is determined at +the outset by the type of voice possessed by the aspirant, and which +line (or _emploi_, as it is termed) he follows of necessity to the end +of his professional career. + +I know there are some few instances of artists who, later, have +successfully adopted roles demanding another range than the one needed +for their earlier efforts. But it is an open question whether the +performer's instrument really changed. It must either have been +wrongly classified at one of the two periods, or the vocal +keyboard--so to speak--transposed a little higher or lower. The +character of the instrument remains the same; a viola strung as a +violin would still retain its viola quality of tone. + +The case is different where a soprano who may have begun by singing +the florid roles of opera, has so gained in volume of voice and +breadth of style as to warrant her devoting these acquisitions to +characters requiring more dramatic force than was needed, or could be +utilized, in coloratura roles. Mlle. Emma Calve, Mesdames Lilli +Lehmann and Nordica, are notable examples of this. Each of these +distinguished artists began her career by singing what are known as +"Princess" roles, before successfully portraying Carmen or the +Bruennhildes. As a rule, it is by singing many different roles that the +lyric artist gains the skill and sureness that may ultimately render +him famous in a few. Mlle. Grandjean, now principal first dramatic +soprano at the Paris Opera, began her career there--after a few +appearances at the Opera-Comique--by singing the very small part of +the nurse Magdalene in Wagner's _Die Meistersinger_. Perseverance, if +allied to ability, can accomplish much. + +When the type of voice and the natural temperament of the singer do +not accord--as sometimes happens--he would be unwise not to adhere to +the work for which his vocal means, not his preference, are best +adapted. To follow the contrary path, and essay roles requiring for +their fitting expression more dramatic fire and intensity than his +vocal instrument can supply, would be to shorten his career, owing to +the certain deterioration and possible extinction of the voice. There +are sufficient voiceless examples to prove, were proof needed, the +truth of this assertion; and their atonic condition is due to the +cause mentioned. + +The first requisite for the aspirant who wishes to follow the operatic +career is undoubtedly a voice possessed of the three essential factors +of Quality, Power and Compass; what is termed in Italy a "_voce di +teatro_," or voice for the theatre. + +But an opera-singer is actor as well as singer, and in this direction +more--much more--is now demanded of him than formerly. But to those +possessed of what is known as the Instinct of the Theatre, or Scenic +Instinct, the gestures and attitudes of the operatic stage, being +largely conventional, are soon acquired. Scenic accomplishments are +undoubtedly necessary to the stage-singer, but his mimetic studies +should not preclude him from making himself a thorough master of the +vocal side of his art. There is a difference between an actor who +sings, and a singer who acts. + +Besides the mimetic faculty, certain physical gifts are also needed by +the opera-singer, according to the requirements of the line of roles +to which he is inevitably assigned by the nature and type of his +particular voice. It is true that stage artifice has now reached great +perfection; but it has its limits, and cannot accomplish miracles. + +It requires much imagination and great generosity on the part of the +public to accept a tenor, whose waist-girth would not unfit him for +the part of Sir John Falstaff, as a youthful and romantic Romeo, or a +half-starved and emaciated Rodolphe. Illusion is rudely shaken, if not +absolutely dispelled, in witnessing a soprano, whose age and +_embonpoint_ are fully in evidence, impersonate a girlish Gilda or a +consumptive Traviata. Such discrepancies may be overlooked by the +public in the case of old established favourites, but it would be +unfortunate for the debutant to commence with these drawbacks. And yet +there have been a few famous artists whose extraordinary vocal talent +atoned for other very pronounced defects. Such an one was the +Pisaroni, a celebrated contralto, said to have been so ill-favoured +that she always forwarded her likeness to any opera director to whom +she was personally unknown, who offered her an engagement. But so +exceptional were her voice and talent, that certain of her +contemporary artists have declared that by the time Pisaroni had +reached the end of her first phrase, the public was already conquered. + +As personal preference is very often mistaken for aptitude or natural +fitness, a lyric artist is not always the best judge as to which of +the roles in his repertoire are really fitted to display his abilities +to the best advantage. The singer combines in himself both instrument +and performer; therefore he rarely, if ever, hears himself quite as +does another person. Until possessed of the ripened judgment gained by +experience, he would do well to be guided in this matter by one who, +to the knowledge required, adds taste and discernment. That a liking +or preference is sometimes mistaken for the aptitude and gifts +necessary for the successful carrying out of certain work, is too well +known to be even questioned. It is the constantly recurring case of +the low comedian who wishes to play Hamlet. A young tenor whose great +vocal and physical advantages made him an ideal Duke in _Rigoletto_, a +fascinating Almaviva in _Il Barbiere_, found but little enjoyment in +life because his director refused to allow him to try Otello and +Tannhaeuser, for which he was vocally unfitted. Never show the public +what you cannot do, is the best advice that can be given in such +cases. Even the finest and most experienced singers are occasionally +liable to make mistakes in the choice of roles. Madame Patti once sang +Carmen, and Madame Melba essayed Bruennhilde; but I am not aware that +either of these famous cantatrices repeated the experiment. + + * * * * * + +For those who intend to follow a concert-singer's career, there is a +vast literature of vocal music specially written for this purpose, +from which to select. There are few modern operatic excerpts which do +not suffer somewhat by being transplanted from the stage to the +concert-platform. In no case is this more clearly proved than in the +selections so frequently given from Wagner's music-dramas. Of course, +I am speaking more particularly of those extracts which require the +services of a vocalist. Such selections given in the concert-room are +in distinct violation of the composer's own wishes, frequently +expressed. Besides lacking the necessary adjuncts of gesture, costume +and scenery, the musical conditions of the concert-room are very +unfavourable to the unfortunate singer. He has to struggle to make +himself heard above the sonorities of a powerful orchestra generally +numbering over a hundred musicians, and placed directly around and +behind him, instead of on a lower level, as in the case of a lyric +theatre. Besides which, Wagner's works can now be heard in all large +cities under the conditions necessary for their proper presentment, +and as intended by their author-composer. Therefore, there is no +longer the same reason as may have existed years ago, for the +performance of extracts at purely symphonic concerts. + +In cases where the singer has to select numbers for a symphonic +concert and to be accompanied by an orchestra, there is a mine of +wealth, not yet exhausted, in the operas of the older classic +composers. These, being less heavily orchestrated than the ultra +modern works written for the theatre, do not suffer in the same degree +from the different disposition of the orchestral instruments. + +There are also a few vocal numbers with orchestral accompaniments +written in the form of a "scena," such as the "Ah, perfido" of +Beethoven, and the "Infelice" of Mendelssohn, which might possibly +form an agreeable change to the frequenters of symphonic concerts, +jaded a little, perhaps, with the oft-repeated "Dich theure Halle" and +"Prayer" from _Tannhaeuser_. + +In order to render them more in keeping with the conditions of +symphonic concerts, orchestral accompaniments, to many songs by the +classic composers, have been made by excellent musicians from the +original piano-part. The ethical question involved in the presentation +of such works in a form other than that written by the composer, need +not be considered here. Each artist must decide the matter for +himself. + +So far as songs with accompaniments for the piano are concerned, there +is a mine practically inexhaustible and from which new treasures are +constantly brought to light. For Recital purposes, the choice and +sequence of a programme is second in importance only to its execution. +And although suppleness and adaptability are valuable, even necessary, +qualities, in a concert-singer, he will sometimes find that certain +songs--admirable in themselves--are unsuited to him, for reasons which +it is not always possible to define. In such cases it is not a matter +of compass, or _tessitura_, of voice, or even temperament; there is +some hidden lack of sympathy between the composer and his interpreter. +A song should seem like a well-fitting garment; not only admirably +made, but specially designed for the person who wears it. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +CONCLUSION + + +The art of Singing is at present in a period of transition; and all +unsettled conditions are unsatisfactory. Former standards are being +thrown down; and the new ones are not yet elected, or, if chosen, not +yet firmly fixed in the places of the old. + +All Arts have a period in their history when they seem to reach their +culminating point of technical perfection. Perhaps this point is +reached when the art is practised for its own sake, without giving +much consideration or attributing special importance to what it +expresses. Sculpture reached its apogee under the Greeks, who, more +than any other race, prized Form--particularly as manifested in its +highest expression, the human figure. Painting also was at its climax +of technical development during the Renaissance, when life was full of +movement, and costume picturesque. But at this period in each of the +two arts, skill was regarded as of more importance than the subject. +In other words, the perfection of the sculptor's statue or the scene +depicted by the painter was of more interest and importance than the +object or scene itself. If the work were admirably executed, the story +it told had relatively little importance. + +Singing, which is speech conveyed through music, similarly reached its +highest point of technical excellence when the voice of the singer +was considered as little more than a mechanical instrument; when +beauty of tone-quality and perfect virtuosity were the only ends for +which to strive. This period was at its height with Farinelli, +Caffarelli, Gizziello, and ended perhaps with Crescentini. That these +singers possessed extraordinary technical skill, or execution, is +amply attested by the exercises and airs, still extant, written for +them by Porpora, Hasse, Veracini, and others. That they also had +musical sentiment or expression, is authoritatively proved from the +emotion caused in their auditors by their performance of a slow +movement or _cantabile_. But it was musical expression only, and as if +performed on a solo instrument, as a flute or violin, which does not +possess the faculty of uttering words. The operas in which these +singers appeared had some plot or story, it is true; but its +importance was of the slightest--analogous to, and of the same value +as, the subject in painting and sculpture at corresponding periods of +their history. + +But singing, like these two sister-arts, has passed the period when it +was, or could be, appreciated purely for the perfection of its +technique. It has developed and broadened in other directions, and +more now is demanded of the singer than mere mechanical perfection. +Composers--notably Gluck--began to perceive the great possibilities to +be attained by the development of the Greek lyric ideal; that is, the +presentation of the Poetic idea by, and through the medium of, music; +instead of being, as formerly, merely its excuse, a framework for the +musician upon which to hang melodies. + +Although Gluck, like all innovators, was considered by his +contemporaries as a revolutionary and iconoclast, he only strove to +develop and perfect an art that had already existed in a primitive +form. This was the art of animating a poetic idea by means of +melopoeia; which Wagner later developed still further. + + * * * * * + +Gradually, two essentials of good singing--tone-quality and truth of +intonation--began to be neglected. But why should either of these two +factors be less essential to a singer than to an instrumentalist? + +Of late it has been tacitly assumed, if not boldly claimed, that +sentiment, passion, temperament, atoned for--even if they did not +entirely replace--voice and lack of skill in the artist. But what +constitutes an artist? Art has been defined by an English +lexicographer as "Doing something, the power for which is acquired by +experience, study or observation;" and an artist, as "One skilled in +the practice of any art." The French writer d'Alembert says, "_L'art +s'acquiert par l'etude et l'exercice_" (Art is acquired by study and +practice). If these definitions of art be accepted, its external +expression or manifestation is essential through some vehicle or +medium, otherwise there is neither art nor artist. Concepts or ideals +have their genesis in mind, but were they to remain there, the poet, +painter, sculptor or musician (composer or interpreter) would have no +right to the title of artist, because his concepts remained in +thought-form only, and unexpressed. Therefore, as a composer can be +accepted as artist only when he has given that to the world which +entitles him to the distinction, how can his so-called interpreter be +considered an artist when, through insufficiency of technical ability, +he is unable to present satisfactorily the author's concept? No matter +in what abundant measure such a performer may possess the good +qualities of earnestness, conviction and sincerity, he is not an +artist. "_Poeta nascitur, non fit_," has long been accepted as a +truism; and similarly, it is supposed that the artist also is born, +not made. But seeing that the mechanical side of any art is learned by +experience, study, or observation--still to quote the definition--without +which an adequate manifestation of that art is impossible, then +certainly the artist is made. He is born with certain qualities +necessary for the artist, it is true; but failing his technical skill, +these other gifts can never be fully utilized. + +It is to be deplored that the studies of many vocal aspirants are not +conducted on the same plan that is followed by those who desire to +attain perfection on a musical instrument. These acquire a technique, +and learn or study many works which may broaden or perfect their +style, before commencing to prepare a repertoire. The opposite course +is followed by many students of singing, who study roles, instead of +learning first how to sing. The full meaning of the highest examples +of the modern lyric drama can be made apparent only by those who have +fully mastered the vocal, as well as the mimetic, side of lyric art. +Too much importance is, in my opinion, attached to the latter branch, +at the cost of the former. I repeat, an opera-singer should be a +singer who acts, not an actor who sings. + + * * * * * + +On the occasion of the bestowal of awards at the Paris Conservatoire +in August, 1905, M. Dujardin-Beaumetz, Under-Secretary for the Fine +Arts, in his address to the students made pointed allusion to the +difference of results between the instrumental classes and those for +singing. Said the orator: "It is claimed that singing is in a state of +decadence, and that the cause is largely due to the style of modern +music. It is rather owing to the fact that this art is not studied at +present with the same methodic diligence that formerly obtained. I +would remind the students of singing that they gain nothing by +neglecting the earlier studies, and that their professional future +would be better assured if it rested on a solid basis of vocal +technique. It is, therefore, in their interest that, with a view to +assure this important point, certain reforms will be instituted."[6] + +[Footnote 6: One of these reforms was that the first year's study is +to be devoted entirely to tone-formation; no attention being paid to +the employment of the tones in melody. Nor are the professors of +singing at the Conservatoire now selected--as was formerly the +case--exclusively from among ex-opera-singers.] + +The professors of the classes for singing were also advised to draw +more on the great classic writers for the voice, instead of confining +themselves principally to the operatic repertoire. + +Every art reaches its apex of perfection, and then seems to decline; +it may even temporarily disappear. But, being immortal, it is never +lost. It finds other modes of manifestation, and reappears in other +forms. The principles on which it is founded do not change; but +constantly changing conditions necessitate a new application of these +principles. This necessity was acknowledged for poetry itself by Andre +Chenier: + +"_Sur des pensees nouveaux, faisons des vers antiques._" (Let us +embody modern thoughts in classic verse.) + +Music follows the great laws of development to which all things are +subject. It would be foolish, nay, impossible, to try to resuscitate +an old form of art. Foolish, because the art itself would have lost +all except its archaic charm or interest; impossible, because +conditions have so completely changed that the attempt would be merely +the galvanizing of a corpse, not its reanimation. + +Similarly, the art of singing can be successful only in proportion as +it recognizes the existence of other conditions. These it meets by +observing the old principles, but changing their mode of application. + +The education of the singer of to-day requires to be conducted on +broader and more comprehensive lines than in the past, on account of +the different conditions which have presented themselves. +Singing--that is, the alliance and utterance of Music and Poetry--is +one of the highest manifestations of the Beautiful, and is man's +supreme and greatest creation. Therefore, singing will not seek in +future to rival a mechanical instrument. It will, it is evident, give +to the poetic idea a prominent, though not a predominant, place. But +this poetic idea can be revealed to the listener only by a singer who +is master of all the technical phases of his art. These component +parts of his vocal education must of necessity comprise--as was laid +down in the opening chapter of this work--Pose of Voice, Technique, +Style, and Repertoire. + +It has been demonstrated that the first of these elements is +essential, because the other stones of the complete structure cannot +be successfully laid on an insecure foundation. The singer must have +the second, or he will be unable to materialize his concept, like an +unskilled carver who possesses the necessary material and tools, but +lacks the technical ability to utilize either. He must possess Colour, +whereby his vocal palette is set with the varied tints necessary for +the different sentiments to be expressed; Accent, so that character +may be given to the music and appropriate emphasis to the text; and +Phrasing, in order that he may punctuate the music effectively and the +words intelligently. + +Perfect master of these, he is in possession of all that goes to make +up Style. And, if these premises be accepted, it must be evident that +he is in possession of the qualities that were necessary to make +singers great in the past, and are indispensable to make them great in +the future. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Style in Singing, by W. E. 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