Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-11-10
WHERE ERE DIR TENORS /?
FEW COMPETENT MALE SINGERS FOR
LEADING OPERATIC ROLES.
Men Who Shout, but Do Not sing-The
Qualifications of Good Tenor
"A Lost Art.

Nothing is more difficult to find in this
country than a good tenor, and managers
of opera companies have offered premiums
for this rara avis. In the first place the
requirements are numerous, far more so,
In fact, than for almost any other class of
artists, lyric or histrionic. The words,
good tenor" fail to convey to the average
reader an adequate idea of just what is
needed Of such man. 1t is not enough
that he can sing song sweetly, or with
fair expression. He must be able to do
much more and to look unutterably sweet
and manly.
Let me briefly enumerate the requisite
qualities of "a good TENOR" writes Robert
Morris, in the New York Star. In the
first place, he must have physique
neither too massive nor too muscular. He
must be slightly, but not greatly above the
medium hight, 1.-THE and shapely, with a
waist, chest, shoulders, limbs and neck
which shall enable him to appear an
Adonis, man for whom all noble ladies
and village maidens sigh. His features
must be expressive; his nose straight or
aquiline; never retrousse in the slightest,
for no girl in her senses could ever regard
pug-nosed man as hero, and his eyes
should be large and of that color which
lights up dark and flashing under sable
wig or becomes azure and deeply soft under
blonde wig Too pronounced type is
not advantageous to the tenor singer. 1t
is liable to limit his repertory and to ex-
clude him from the Wagnerian roles
such as Siesfried and the Knight of Grail,
or from the brunette heroes Of Verdi and
Denizetti.
No; tenor should be of the neutral
complexion, with brown hair, gray eyes,
with large black spark in them. He
should have a good mouth, broad, but not
too broad, upper lip; fine teeth, we'll
formed throat, neatly turned ankle, and
well, l had almost said nicely developed
calves, but in this particular the costumer
is omnipotent.
Having secured man whose physique
will enable him to be a dashing Fra
Diavolo, handsome Eagardo, bold Man
rico, an ideal Siegfried, sentimental and
poetic Lionel, a rellicking Don Caesar de
Bazan, gay Postillion, and, in fact, any
body or anything that may be required of
him, the next thing to be discovered and
decided upon is his voice.
Now, there are persons who believe
themselves to be excellent judges of voice,
and who will weary you with disquisitions
on vocal culture, phrasing, quality of tone,
breadth of defamation, and all that but
not one-fftieth of these people know a
tIo.o1ObI,, c-ooJ to,or xoina xpba,, tbavy
hear it, If they do why will they bring
US so many bad ones from abroad, and why
do they spend so much money in advertis-
ing them? Many of the agents and i'm
presarii who import tenors as rule fetch
US bad ones.
This proves one of two things: the
scarcity of tenors or the bad judgment of
those who seek them. | will not say that
they deliberately fool the public by get
ting cheap material and attempting to foist
it on the public at high prices. The pub
lie cannot be humbugged in the matter of
tenors They know good one when they
hear him, and they know poor one, too,
the moment he opens his mouth. There
fore, I am forced to the conclusion that
good tenors are really very scarce.
Yet | have heard voices in choruses
which suggested great possibilities. They
were powerful, of true tenor quality, with
out suspicion of the baritone in them,
and of fine range; clear, smooth, without
change of character in crossing the bridge
from upper + to the leger lines. l have
been surprised that something could not be
done with these exceptional voices, but
have discovered that, although the voices
were full of promise, the men were full of
faults-physical, mental and personal
which rendered it impossible to make of
them good tenors."
The voice is not everything. Physique
is indispensable, and so is mind. A singer
cannot be good tenor without brains. He
must be able to comprehend his theme to
do it Justice; he must be of a susceptible
nature, and he must be equal to the subdi-
vision of expression to voice a passion and
grade and shade feeling.
OF course the greater the demands to be
made on tenor the greater his equip
ments, natural and artificial. should be. |
have known men who made great names
and large fortunes as tenors, with very lit
tie voice to back them. They had abund-
ance of brains, soul, knowledge of tech
nique and fine physiques. They i'm
pressed the beholder, when first they came
upon the stage, with sense of their vast
possibilities, and knew enough to use their
special gifts to such advantage as to hide
the most fragrant of their vocal defects.
Therefore YOU will see the immense ne
eessity and advantage of the possession of
the qualifications | have outlined other
than voice. The chorister's splendid vocal
endowment was not sufficiently potential
1. r. Il. al
with one-half his voice, none of his tonic
attributes, but all else that was requisite to
render him presentable, became famous.
There was Victor Capoul. He knew
how to sing from a technical standpoint
and he could look like heroic tenor; yet
he had no voice to boast of; indeed, he has
frequently told me thstif he had possessed
the voice of Frank Howard, the negro
minstrel, he would have had the musical
world at his feet. firmly believed him
for, as it was, he made more conquests
among savans and the lovers of opera than
any man of his day, except Campanini, in
this country.
/ have merely cited the talented French
mans case to prove the value of the attri
butes | have allied above, and to show
the difficulty o. obtaining what we are dis
cussing-"a good tenor" Capenl coulC
not have been called at any time "a gooc
tenor" He was a most effective one
Campanini was IA good tenor" His voic'
had that indescribable sweetness, sympa
fhetic tone and velvety easiness from th'
lower to the upper register which are 81
magical in their influence on an audience
His mezzo voce was matchless and hi
method perfection. Indeed, so complete
was it that Campauini's voice had practi
cally disappeared for two years before tn
American public were aware of Its depart
ure. Ali he and Capoul possessed in tn
highest degree that wonderful attribute
known as savoir faire Campanini has /
still, and sings better than those who hav'
more voice.
The man who aspires to be good teno
must learn how to look and sing what
ever he undertakes. 1t is not enough tina
he can howl high c, or be heard above al
orchestra of hundred pieces and choru
of two hundred He must be able to con
vey to the simplest auditor the full mean
ing of the words and music he is render
ing. He must voice the poem; he mus
Shrase its musical setting so as to expires