Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1878-12-07
SINGING.
From the Now York IinIcsl


reason OF It, or explaining the manner
We speak for a deliberate purpose-thn
communication OF our thoughts: we
| laugh or weep inveluntarily but why
should we sing? Mothers sing to their
children, and mothers must have sung
| instinctively to children before they
asked or even crared it; the happy
| maiden sings ut her work men sing at
| theirs. Adam Bede sang 1t his bench
and Daniel Deronda sang as he rowed
| lhzily ON the Thames. This is one of
| the everyday mysteries of life. Whv
! should certain moods of mind prompt
men apd ,women-a large proportion of
| them, at lcsSt-to. utter sounds entirely
different from those with which they eX-
press their thoughts and feelings TO each
other? What connection is there be-
| tween these moods OF mind and the
passage OF air through the larynx to
| produce II pleasant sound, and the de-
velopment and modulalion OF that sound
| into airs or tunes? How did this come
| about? We are apt TO assume that
everything connected with what we call
| mans natural functions was aiways as
1t is I)w but among his slowly-devel-
oped powers it is more than probable
that we must place that of singing, which
| :ow seems so natural to those who do
sing.
from the earliest recorded times, In
decd, lnan has sung; but. setting aside
the consideration of the question through
what centuries and cycles oi progress
his vocal, with his other powers. NAV
| have passed before the historic period,
the inquiry still remains: What was
the singing OF the earliest recorded
times ? We do not know, nor shall we
ever know; but we may be sure that it
was something very unlike the singing
| Of modern days-sav OF the last 800
| years. Ii is with that only that we mod
erns concern ourselves (unless we are
historical inquirers). for the very germs
OF our modern style of fsinging are hard
ly to be discovered ii we 20 back five
centuries. Gradually, in Italy singing
| hccaiue an art. What we mean by sing
! ing when we speak OF it as source Of
| pleasure c! the higher kind, is really aa
| Italian art, which has been dlifused over
the civilized world ;and the Italian school
| ot singing Is still the only great school
we may almost say the only school
| tor all others, in 50 far as they differ
from that school, are inferior. The first
distinctive characteristic OF the Italian
school OF singing Is the delivery OF The
voice, the mode OF utteriEg single note.
ltailans generally lior singing in this
| way has become u second nature to the
| whole people) use their voices in quite
different way from the generality CT
ether people. They naturally utter
! their notes with purity and Il freedom
rarely heard from untaught persons Of
. other races. InlS delivery OF the voice
| is the foundation OF their excellence as
| singers. Indeed, it may almost be said
! TO constitute that excellence; for not
only is there no great singing without it,
! but the chlet end OF Italian vocal dis
! c!pHue Is to attain execution, united
! with this free vocal utterance. There
| are singers who have voices of remark
able power, range and t1exibihty who
! never can be great. because either by
nature or from bad and lneradicable
! hahlt. they cannot attain this pure and
/ tree deIiN Vt the voice. Their tone
! i cultural. or IL Is nasal, or it Is rough,
! or II IS unsteady. or something else; it
/ may DE merely constrained; in auv case
the iauit Is more or less destructive.
| There may be great singing without
! treat power, without remarkable fiexi.
! blity. without the ability to execute
rou!ade or trill. but there can be no
singing really great without this free,
( pnre delivery OF the voice. y singer
VIII" can 90 through The whole range OF
his voice. from low to high, swelling out
the tone and diminishing il with the
vowel souni OF broad (ah). preserving
that sound purely, and uniting With il
perfect intonation through crescendo
and diminuendo. has conquered much
more than halt the difficulties of the art
OF vocalization. All the rest, with one
exception. are mere limbs and outward
fourishes.'
Ihe other great point liz vocalization
is phrasing. which Is the art o, musical
elVcu,ion. 1t directs continually. inflec-
ton, and pause For music has clauses
and periods. continuity which can be
broken only with the certain destruc-
ton of beauty, and climaxes which must
be approached with due graduation, and
with the power OF sustaining the m. The
harmony, real or supposed, which un-
deriies all melody. determines, in a
! great measure. this pbrasing; and al
though 1t IS not necessary for a singer
10 be theoretical musician, snch an
appreciation OF harmonic periods as will
insure their inviolability is absolutely
necessary. To the uninstructed in sing
ING II might seem of very little conse-
! Guence when and how a singer breath
/ ed. so long as breath enough was taken;
but the taking breath in such way as
to break 4 musical phrase produces an
effect which would shock any person OF
good taste in music, however ignorant
of the method Of vocalization. Sup
pose Hamlet to speak his soliloquy
thus. breathing thus: "To be or not
Lbreath] to be, that is the [breathl ques-
ton; :" the effect in this case would be
similar to that which is produced BY
breaking musical phrase or peroid.
These are the essentials. without which
there is no good singing in any style.
| They refer to what IS called method.
which. however includes other matters
of Importance. although inferior. Then
| comes the question OF style. This de-
pendS greatly upon the character and
the temperament of the singing; for as
| in literature so in singing, "ic style,
c'eSt ihomme." There is grand style
in singing with corresponds to the grand
style in other arts. The style is simple,
free, large; and largeness in style I'M
plies nobility and Indifference to little
arts except as mere fringe and orna-
| ment. Singers in the grand style ara
generally capable of iiorituri and trill
and roulade IN their highest perfection;
thus were Jenny Lind, Albon. TietienS;
but they do not make them the objects
of their highest endeavor, or the chief
attraction of their performances. To
do so would be like bidding guests to 3
dinner of sauces. The highest attain
ment of the art of singing is the execu.
ton of pure. sustained cant b lie pas
sage with perfect intonation. correct
pnrasing, deicacy and feeling, and with
infections significant of emotion. Thera
is an air written, or said to have been
written. by Stradelia, known rs his
"Arl di Chiesa,' an air OF wonderful
beauty. immortal beauty. OF the exaltetl
kind, and iul of the proioundest ieel-
ing. This air is SO simple that any
person who can sing az all can, so to
speak. sing it. 1t not only has no orna-
ment .; any kind, but the addition to it
OF any ornament by singer would be
barbarous, destructive and yet the
ability to sing this air properly is lha
very highest attainment OF the vocal
art. We hardly know Il tenor in tha
world whom we could expect to Slight
perfectly: and yet we should ike to
hear Signor Campanini's version of it.
Our present aud we believe now slIc-