The Massachusetts spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1821-1823, 1822-05-01

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tune, set 10 single verse of four lines
and the effect sometimes produced In
breaking the words for the fugue wa:
sufficiently ludicrous. No one who has
heard the parts of full choir success.
sively "Long for cooling" in per-
forming Montgomery. could doubt Of
their being warmed by the subject.--
| But this mere trash--mere bombast and
nonsense, has new given place to style
| of musick, for the most part chaste and
good; and it is sincerely hoped, that
these superseded authors may never be
awakened out of the oblivion they have
SO fairly purchased and paid for.
There are still, however, many inn
PROJECTIONS in the style of performance
which ought to be corrected. Some OF
these propose to notice, and also point
out some of the errours into which most
Of our choirs have fallen.
One of the most important and most
striking faults in the performance of sa-
cred nusick, is lfeless monotony.-
Let the air of the tune be grave or
spri@htty, the same unmeaning drawl is
noticeable, and may be said to charac-
terize the performance. If pubIick
speaker should entirely exclude en-
phasis from his enunciation, giving the
same force TO every word, he would
fail to make the impression upon his
hearers which his subject might re-
quire, and even to give them correct
knowledge of the sentiments delivered.
In like manner, the effect which any
piece of musick is capable of producing,
depends entirely upon the expression
given it by the performer. Without a
proper expression and a correct accent
uation, the piece, however good, loses
its character, and excites little feeling or
interest. But mechanical accent, ac-
cording to the strict rules of theory is
far different from what is required in
practice. The performer who should
accent exclusively the strong parts of
the measure, without regard to the inn
port or accent of the words attached to
the musick, and the speaker who in re-
citing poetry should separate each line
into its component feet, would be much
alike. Indeed it makes little difference
whether the monotony consists in uni
form accent or an entire want Of one
Either errour is alike incompatible with
good musical expression.
Regard should be paid to the general
rule for accent; and if the sentiment ex-
pressed in the poetry and its quantity
will admit of it, the strong parts of the
measure should receive the accent but
when the words require the accent upon
what would otherwise be the weak
parts of the measure, the general rule
should be disregarded. The strong
parts of different measures which re-
quires the accent, should not however
receive the same stress of voice. The
rules which are applicable to the words
when spoken, are applicable to the
same words when sung. And as in
speaking, no pause should be made be-
tween the syllables of the same word
so in singing, even if the musical foot
should terminate in the midst of a word,
no suspension of the voice should be al
lowed. Those singers are much in fault
who are in the habit of taking breath be-
tween the syllables of word.
No speaker can be eloquent unless he
feels his subject; and no singer can
succeed in giving tune its proper ex-
preston, unless he enters into the spirit
of the piece. He must sing not merely
with the understanding, but the spirit al
SO. ltlsmuch 10 be regretted, that our
choirs generally are SO destitute of spirit,
so completely languid and uninterested
in their own performance. They sing
as child repeats the alphabet, mechan-
ically; and gather as little meaning
from their musick as he does from his
letters.
Another very common fault in per-
formers of sacred musick, is indistinct-
ness Of articulation. 1t certainly can
be of no importance whether words
are attached to the musick or not, if
1 kl,< = a.