The San Francisco call., 1904-02-19
- NERNoN D.ARNALLE.

BY VERNON D'ARNALLE.
Distiurulthel f3arytCne and Instructor iu
Music at the University OF Chicago.
lCouyri,ht 1909. by Joseph B. Bowles)
Between the vocalist and the singer
a great gulf is fixed. for the vocalist
may have perfected the mechanical ap-
paratus O R.voiee 10 the highest degree,
may have Sle perfection of breath con-
troll comDiAe command Of all his vocal
resources and an exquisite quality of
tone. and Yet this is only the means to
an end; just as magnifcenty built
piano which is capable Of responding to
every artistic demand awaits the Pa
derewsk who is able to use its re-
sources for artistic expression. There
fore the singer. in the highest sense,
is he who. possessed Of all vocal re-
quirements. has beyond that a wealth
u D3etic insight and recreative power
which is expressed through his voice.
After all. beautiful voice may be the
gift Of nature. and as such deserves no
more extra credit than any other beau
uful physical feature.
The art Of song is the union Of poetry
and music. Therefore. he who would
grasp il in all its fullness must be as
appreciative Of the literature which he
sings as of the music. Every singer
should make a study of his language,
and Of other languages as well. for each
language reacts upon the other and en-
ables him TO have a broader scope. He
shOulG study carefully the skeleton
work Of the language and know its pos
sibilities for artistic expression. The
proper use Of consonants, the quality
of vowel sounds and the power TO join
them together, and a distinct enuncia-
tion should be his constant care. Most
II ALL in the study Of a language for
singing purposes. one finds the great
neglect Of consonants. Especially in
English is this true, and it is seldom
that English-sDeak king singers enunci-
ate clearly or bring out the nobility Of
the language.
With the old-time singers the chief
idea was vocal perfection. During the
period in the development Of music
over a hundred years ago, composers
wrote largely TO please singers; the
words to their songs were a secondary
consideration and served the singer
merely as a peg upon which to hang
a melody. With the advent Of Schu-
bert and his immortal songs arose the
necessity for singers who could sing
them. Nogl fine singer for his time,
and close companion Of Schubert. once
made the statement that a new school
0f voice production was needed in order
TO train singers TO interpret well these
songs. This was largely because Schu-
bert expected the singer to interpret
T,r Of 2 he a. -p7
music. The idea of the Importance Of
the words in singing reached its cul-
mination in Richard Wagner. Here the
word is the aT-impOrtant factor, and
music q secondary consideration. Wag-
ner's influence has been felt in every
department Of musical life. and espe-
cially so in the art of singing. 1t is
certainly true that vocally speaking
Wagner does not give the singer the
opportunity to bring into play all his
vocal resources, but demands strength,
virility and declamatory powers. On
the other hand while the vocal side Of
singing may not reach its highest pin
nacle with Wagner, he opened up new
fields Of interpretative methods which
have been felt ever since. To-day the
singer must have lived himself into
the words which he sings, and then be
sides have at his command the perfec-
ton Of vocal equipment. 1t viii at once
be seen how much higher is the plane
Of the modern singer than that Of the
singers Of the olden time.
Of all languages perhaps English is
he most abused by singers. It is Oy
no means easy to vOcalize beautifully
and at the same time sing English in
telligibly. This difficulty, added to the
fact that majority of great songs are
in foreign Languages, may be some rea-
sen for the neglect Of English among
singers. But for one to sneer at our
language as one untitled for singing is
the variest snobbery. 1t is to be re-
gretted that the literature Of English
songs IS not chosen from among the
works Of our best poets. In fact. il is
decidedly inferior. Surely our grand
old language. which served the genius
Of a Shakespeare. needs no defense as
10 its capabilities Of expressing the
moods and the phases Of the human
heart And then. from purely tech
nical standpoint, it surely has the pos
sibiIities for producing pure vowel
sounds and a pure legato style Of sing
ing. AS q matter Of fact English has
q wealth Of vowel sounds, and. while
this presents new difficulties, it also
presents the possibility for larger de-
velOpment.
In the study of songs the singer
should first Of all study the words and
look into the possibilities Of expression
a study which presents a never-ceasinG
source OF Joy is TO take sentence by
sentence the words Of a song and con-
trast the vowel sounds with one an
other, as one might think Of a kaleido-
scopic succession Of colors. Then there
should be the careful effort on the part
of the Interpreter to bring into prom
fnenee those words which have especial
siguiCcancc or are characteristic in any
manner Of the poem. Let him devote
himself also 10 bringing out the accent
and craphasis In other words. a truly
GOOD interpreter Of songs should be a
good reader OF verses.