The sun., 1903-03-08

OF the future an organic union OF poetry
! painting, mu 10 and action.
In sOpera and Drama part H., chapter
| o, he expatiates on the value OF the kindred
speech-roots' In staif rhyme. As they
sound alike to the physical ear. they also
| knit like objects into one collective image
In which the feeling may utter Its oonclu-
| sions about them" These resemblances
noted by the physical ear come from open
vowels Is In .Erb' und eigen' and -lmmer
| und ewig," from similar initial consonants
q In Ross und Reiter,' -Froh und frei,
| or from similar terminals. as In 'Recht und
| Pfiicht.. Again In part ILL.,. chapter .,
he ssys:
ITO impart feeling with the utmost plain
| ness the poet has already ranged his row
| OF words into q musical bar. according to
! their spoken accents. and has sought by
| the consonantal staf rhyme to bring them
| to the Feelings understanding In an easier
! and more sensuous form: he will still more
,, completely facilitate this understanding II
! he takes the vowes Of the accented root
words, a. earlier their consonants. and
knits them also into such a rhyme as will
mo definitely open up their understanding
\ to the Feeling. An understanding OF the
| vowel, however. Is not based upon its super
| hciAl analogy with the rhyming vowel OF
! another root, but, since all the vowels are
| primarily akin TO one another. II Is based
on the disclosing OF this Ur-kinship 1.-THE
| untranslatable .Ur' signifies primitiveness
or that which commencesl through giving
full value to the vowels emotional content
| by means of musical tone. The vowel
itself is nothing but a tone condensed It's
nh IL lot .od hro ~
! It's turning toward the outer surface Of the
Feelings body; which latter-as we have
said-dsplays to the eye Of Hearing the
mirrored image Of the outward object that
has acted on It, The objects effect on the
body Of Feeling itself il manifested by the
vowel through direct utteranoe Of feeling
| along the nearest path, thus expanding
the individuality It has acquired from with
out into the universalty Of pure emotion,
and this takes place in the musical tone
here in the kcI. g Of Nagners theory OF
the Al Of composing dramatic vocal music
or what he was pleased to call worC-top' =
, speech, and il would be difficult to I'm
! anywhere in the literature OF music NOR,
profound analysis Of the true nature oi
such composition OF more compact expo =
, sition OF the philosophy Of singing. 1t h
| extraordinary that Cosima and Siegfried
| Wagner and their henchman. Julius Kniese =
| can maintain such practice a. they do II
| he face OF these words
Wagner says he places special value or
| he primal relationship Of all vowel sounds
! especially when not preceded by conso-
! lants, or In other words when most favor-
! ably situated for the production by thu
,inger Of a pure and vital musical tone
Secondly. he proclains his belief In tn
potent influence Of this primal Relationship
of vowel sounds when treated In such
broad vocal style. The vowel sound a.
delivered to the listener In a pure musica
zone becomes. according to Wagner. al
,mot o lal power second TO none. II car
,xpand it's individuality into the "univei-
,ality Of pure emotion And this. he tell
H. takes place In the musical tone
But he also tells us tina, the poet ha'
previously arranged his words In a musica.
,ar according to their spoken accents.
dere we have q full demonstration OF tn,
endurance In his mind of the principl'
which he proclaimed when he wrote Liszl
about the manner OF singing the recitatives
-Lohengrin." The poet having arranged
he words according 10 their spoken accents.
1 becomes the business Of the singer Il
sing them exactly as they are written. tc
,nunciate the consonants distinctly. bu
still more TO preserve the Fundamental
emotional power Of the pure vowel sounc
which u to he conveyed to the hearer only
as musical tone.
That is the heart Of the philosophy oi
,inging. II is what the old Italians taught;
il is what the best living masters teach
II IL what the greatest Of living singer
practise, for they enunciate distinctly. but
never forget that the tone Is Identical with
'he % vel sound. and that in this fact les
the fret secret OF emotional influence H.
song.
When Wagner began to put forth hi
yric dramas. singers v q all engaged in tn
performance OF works in which music wa
not a means but the end. Hence, they
we're devoting all their skill to the produt-
ton Of pure and lovely singing tone with
out any consideration OF the intelligibilit,
of the text. They gave everything to the
vowels. nothing TO the consonants. Tone
that wac all color. hut had no outline. va,
what they produced.
II 10 not difficult TO reconstruct in tn,
Imagination the struggles Of mere tone
producers when they were suddenly called
upon to enunciate clearly the words ~ the
text and To treat the opera as "A form Of thu
poetic drama In which the public was to
find the musical sounds only means Of
expression. The hattie with the hitherto
neglected consonsnts led 10 discoloratiou
u the vowel sounds. or in other words
had tone formation and untuneful singing
The public, ignorant Of the real cause
aid II was all due ,o the unsingsble nature
- Wagner's muse When the present
writer In isss said tina, Wagner could ba
and ought to be sung with the same vocal
beauty ~ Donixet,i many amiable Istsoi.s
regarded him with kindly pity for his un.
fortunate condition sinoe they have heani
Jean De hesxks sing Trisiaa they have oLe
and all averr.d that they always knew
that the, ~as the ~sy u ought 10 ls don.
hut in SPIT. ~ il. demonstration made
by Jean de itsssks aud his brother. q demon.
-,ra,ion which simply o.rsd tn is logical
auioons ~hsi iAll lehman and kinil
F,.sh., and H.lnr,ch vosl u-sd 10 do 10
fofmef year,, ties einilnual putllcailon ~
IA. fsl- ,h.oFlss u ih. s-,.,ond day Mas
l.rfiiss of tho dfoaaeni ~ n suih d -rs c,,u.