New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-01-05
MUSICAL PUBLICATIONS.
BOOKS on THE VOICE AND SIN

SCIENTIFIC VOICE, ARTISTIC r. sINcING AND x EF
York: scribner d Wexford. ovo. PIP. 125.
THE VOICE IN SPEECH AND SONG Dy, Theodore
f. Schmauk. New-York: John Il. Alden. 3vo
PIP 40.
HOW To READ MODERN Music concise and
comprehensive method of solfeggio' and Practice
New-YOrk: g. Schrmer
A SYSTEM OF SIGHT SINGING From the E-tlb
lished Musical Notation Based on the Principle of
Tonic Relation. By scdley Taylor, VI. y. Ion
1t long ago became wearisomc to read and hear
complaints touching the decadencc Of the art Of
singing his circumstance coupled with the
other that the complaints of to-day are only the
echoes of those uttered percnnia!ly ever since
singing became an art, and that they were as
plentiful in the periods which this latter day Is
inclined to designate the Golden Age OF the
vocal art. is calculated 10 disSuadc the clrcun-
spcct and judicious critic from joining TIE
venerable army of croakers In his despair he
turns to the refuge which is TO be found i'll the
snange of meaning which has come over the
word singing Forty fifty years ago Mr.
Chorley the English critic, was Mortified at the
report that Wagner, who had just begun 10 ru!ilc
the placid operate waters of Europe, had SAID that
there had been enough of singing. Had MI
Chorley been discriminating and judicial enough
10 have cOated this reported remark with the
profesSed aim of the old Roman singing teacher,
Caccini, to cultivate a certain noble contempt Tor
song" in his lyric dramas for the sake OF dramatic
defamation, he might have arrived at the opinion
in advance of his time that there is difference
between singing and singing. Bless yon, as
Pitti-Sing philosophers, it all depends
But after all, that is a makeshift There are
some essential elements of singing which do not
change whether the purpose he merely to charm
the senses or to affect the emotions and these
essentials seem 20 he growing scarccr the world
grows older Vocal music is pursuing course
exactly opposite TO the course of instrumental
music. IN the latter there has for decades been
a steady growth toward technical perfection, I'M
til now high degree of technique, so-callcd, Is
expected and accepted a matter of course, and
Judgment is based the tastefulncss and in
tehcencc with which it is employed IN the IN
depreciation of the composers uttcranccs. The
opposite is true of the vocal art Here the same
demand for dramatic truthlUnesS is made, II is
true but the first question which arises is always
that touching the singers technical equipment rs
q conditio sire qua non No amount Of rcpueAnce
10 croallng ought to hinder expression OF that
conviction, in view Of the fact that there never
was time when singing TEACHERS were SO AFRO
giant and boastinl as they are ius' now. Is there
a relationship between The prctcnSOns of teachers
and the attachments of their pupils We fear
tAat if the question were investigated II would
OF modern teachers are ia inverse ratio 10 the
capacity which they proclaim. From the plane
Of advantage which they occupy tbs should not
be 50. What formerly only an art. an ON
pirical ART, they 2sSert now 10 be science. The
emission % pure tone. the improvement Of that
tone in dynamic iGi nnsity and quality. the dcve-
opnent Of Pc l0lYracal AcNiblity which IS es
sential 20 horid sinGing-all ibis enters into tho
mechanism of the All, fact. i become merely
Il matter of anatomical study. \ class of teachers
has arisen who "build" voices by acting the part
of anatomical demonstrators. and talking about
the muscles. cartilaccs and rcr,CS Of portions of
the human body. Vet vague seems 80 be- the
knowledge which they profess 70 rely that
scarcely two Of them ne in accord 10 the exact
functions of all of those muscles carriages and
nerves.
Worse than their studio" talk however. arc
their books. &c printed volumes devoted TO an
exposition Of the only correct method of finding and
training a voice are probably by modest cst-
mate somewhat more numerous than the singers
whose reputation extends beyond their local
habitation: vet not Of the eminent singers
of to-day. SO iar know. was trained in
accordance with the anatomical principles whose
discussion fills these boOks-at least. not con-
Sci0uslY. This discussion is all diStTcssingly
wcars0me and when under the mask of scientific
inquiry one finds chiefly bumptiouS ignorance and
charlatarry the temptation grows strong 10 deny
that there is even grain of merit in vocal
anatomy. and 10 advocate wholesale burning
of all Methods which begin with disquisitonS
the larynX. epiCottS, thyroid cartilage.
thyro-arytcnoid muscles, etc. etc But even this
would not remove the stone of offence. Tie
second of the new books whose titles are given
az the bead Of this column is such a volume.
but pesticrous is this whole subject Of FOCAL
training by treatise, sooner does ono max"
up his mind 10 fall upon and ro1d il than the
little first book obtrudcs itself and divcrts tie
attack. This has nothing 10 say about plysi-
oiOgy, but is So amazingly impudcnt
in its exhibition Of ignorance that in its
presence il would be waste Of effort
TO pronounce condemnation against anything
else. Here is a singing teacher who points an
argument by citing the case Of Madame Pasta
whose whole career was embraced in this century
and who died in 1868, and then describing her
as one OF the gre test artists of llandel's time.
BIT even this historical blundcr is yenial COM
pared with others that pepper hcr pages. To
her strangely perverted mind Mr.. Thomas who is
only conductor and violin player, is the Ameri-
can rctomcr of Orchcstraton." which means. Of
course. that he b, reformed the art Of writing for
orchestral Instruments. She thinks that the +
holes in the belly OF violin and the Instruments
shape are only for ornament, and LAYS down the
dictum that "a common covered cigar box, per-
fecty plain would be useful" the instru-
ment in the shape perfected by the great ones Of
Cremona, though of course, not so ornamental
She thinks that each violin string yields two
octavcs and that these OctaVcS consecutive and
thus figures out for the instrument the longest
scale in cxistrnce-the scale Of eight Octavcs.7
-Four times two eight-and there YOU are.
She explains the superior merit Of old volins not
ny the genius of the makers but the ground
that the large, cordy strings which produce the
low tones are powerful enough in their movements
TO jar and gradually sift out PARTICLES contained
originally in Che pores of the wood. thus leay-
ing only the hard substance for sounding
hlnrl which time SrnSOnS and hn RHEIMS