The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-01
ABOUT AGILITY OF VOICE.
IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY or
JOLORhTURE.

It Is quite true that this is not the day OF
the c~olorature singer. The modern lyric
drama makes little use Of the feats Of agility
with which the singers of a century ago
aStonished their auditors. The German
lied, the reigning element In the song recital,
narrows the sphere Of vocal agility still
more. Only in the o~ratorio does the singer
of the present seem to be in imperative
need Of ability to execute oleverly what the
earliest masters called "diminutions." Han
Ia apparently immortal, as he well deserves
to be.
Nevertheless, agility IL essential TO every
singer. The singer who has q command
Of horid style possesses a reserve store of
technio which will always be Of i~ncaloulable
value to him. The vocal music Of to-day
Ia not embroidered with runs, trills, groups
and other ornaments, as the operas Of the
late seventeenth century were, but 1t does
contain thousands Of progressions which
can be executed with perfect srhoothness
and huency by the agile voice, but by the
singer unframed in colorature only awk-
wardly and uncertainty.
Even in the Wagner drama, that last
extremity Of dramatic style, there are
many phrases calling for the ease and
fuency of the colorature singer. What
heavy voiced soprano can carol the music
Of the Forest Bird in "Siegfried'? How do
all the im~personators Of Brannhilde stumble
over the first clarion peal Of the "Hojotoho'
unless their voices have been trained to the
execution Of trills and leaps. Even the
mordent, which Wagner made q character
istic feature OF his melody, cannot be sung
clearly by a singer who has no agility.
1t Is true that the modern singer need not
he able to sing such passages as Faustina
and Cuzzoni sang with amazing brillianoy,
nor need she rival Jenny Lind or Patti.
There is a wide field for the artist who elects
to leave "Semiramide" and Lucia" I'M
their kind out Of her calculations. But
how much more elegant and gracious will
be her delivery Of a pure cantilena Ii she
can sing the f~1orituri Of the ford roles
What gave Lilli Lehman her vast hus-
bandry Of resource but the fact that she
was never In her greatest roles taxing her
technical resources2 When she was singing
Isolde, she had Violettd and Norma in re-
serve. They provided her with a fluent
technio which made her 20 sink hernieder'
touching In the sinuous curves OF its de-
licious cantilena.
Observe the perfect command OF every
interval and every progression displayed
IN Nine. Sembrich's song recitals. She
is standing always on the firm foundation
Of a facility Of execution far beyond any
thing demanded in the field of song ltera-
ture. She Is always within herself. She IL
never, as racing people say, extended.
1t Ia impossible to overestimate the value
of agility Of voice. Hence every singer
should strive to acquire q fluent colorature.
There is only one way to get it. and that is
by practice. The pianist acquires rapidity
Of finger by beginning with simple five
finger exercises and advancing as fast as
he conquers one form Of agility to the next
one. The singer has to do the same
thing. There is no royal road to agility.
Teachers who profess to know tricks by
which a perfect tril or a fawless scale can
be acquired in three lessons or four are
oharlatans, and they know they are.
There is IN old story about Porpora and
his famous pupil, Caffarelli, one of the won
derful male sopranists OF the early eigh-
teenth century. 1t is said hat Porpora
wrote on a single sheet Of music paper all
the feats that could be performed by the
voice and set Caffareli to work at them.
After two years the discouraged student
began to complain that he made no prog
ress. Porpora reminded the youth that
he had promised to do precisely as bis
teacher babe him. Caffarelli went back
to his sheet OF paper. To make the story
short, Porpora is said to have kept him
at it for six years, and then dismissed him
with the words, 60, my SON., you are the
greatest singer in the world"
In those days to be a great singer meant
TO have perfect breath control, absolute
accuracy OF in~tonation, full command OF q
sustained and beautiful oantilena, a perfect
MESA di voce and portamento, and ability
TO execute the most appalling difficulties
in ornament. 1t has been well said that in
technic the singers Of to-day are tyros
compared with those Of the Caffarelli period.
The passages which they sang with daz-
cling brilliancy would stagger almost any
of our colorature artists.
1t is not desirable, therefore; that the
singer of our time should set out to acquire
an agility which would enable him to rival
the vocalists of Handles operas. Yet he
certainly ought to learn how to sing the
music of those works, for that is the
most admirable Of all colorature music.
1t is the most musical, the most vocal and
the most artistic. 1t unites genius in
composition with a perfect knowledge Of
writing for the voice. One who can sing
Handel fiuently and expressively need
have no fear Of any technical difficulties
in the music heard on the operate stage
to-day.
1t is unnecessary, however, to confne
ones self to Handel. There were fairly
good masters before and after his time.
Mozart, for example. provides opportuni-
ties for the study of fiorid music, and what
ever he wrote commands the attention Of
the singer. Mozart was a greater inventor
Of melody than even Handel, and he knew
we'll how to write for the voice. The grand
airs of Don Giovanni" are living evidence
of his mastership. Turning to the German
school, one finds the writer's Of the big
dramatic bravura airs, such as "Abscheu-
licher" and Ocean, Thou Mighty Monster"
These airs demand splendor Of tone, great
power and volume, as we'll as agility. They
should never be undertaken by singers
who lave not first learned how to sing
Handel and Mozart.
Rossini, Donizetti and even Beliini pro-
vide good examples Of the colorature style
OF the early nineteenth century, a style