The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-29

have no application in church music, and
even In the latter nc immediate justifca-
ton, for 1t 10 impossible to say that the self
assertive display Of personal passion is
appropriate to the church.
Hence the dramatic factor was set aside
In the words, while the composers absorbed
the musical elemsnt unchanged into church
music. They treated recitative exactly
as in opera, as speaking In q singing voice,
q kind OF chant, with here and there q. q
stronger musical accent, as the poetry
admitted
This is an adequate and safely guiding
account Of the character and purpose Of
the earlier Rotations; but 1t is not ap-
plicable to those OF a later period. Some
Of the highly dramatic Tecitstions Of such
works a. Mendelssohn's Elijah" demand
vocal style quite as animated and declaina-
tory az the %recitations Of Saint-SaBns'e
Samson ct Dalila."
In short, an ~oratorio singer Ia bound to
have command OF all styles Of recitative
for this method Of speech in song is literally
employed by ~oratoro composers. who have
utilized all its resources and all its varieties,
from the most primitive reoitative secco to
the opulent modern recitatiyo stromentato,
or endless vocal melody.
The oratorio singer, however, must never
forget the distinction between 1dramatio'
and stheatrio.' The ~oratorio demands
unbending dignity Of style. 1t 10 a pity
that students OF signing who aspire to
eminence in this department Of their art
cannot have q course Of training In the
music Of Lully and Rameau. Though
these were French opera composers, their
--z.Ak-z. n--l n hH1oI nnhlA Avnn
pompous style, coupled with a perfect
enunciation Of the text, and the study OF
this style would provide an excellent prep
aration for oratorio.
The dignity and breadth Of these old
recitatives we're essentially dramatic, but
not theatric, az the recitatives OF Italian
operas Of the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries so often were. Admirable as
many Of the improvements OF Rossini
were, his reoitatives too often degenerate
into mere points Of vocal display, designed
wholly for the opera house.
Later Italian writers have followed In
the howery path Of vocal dalliance till the
purity Of a distinguished and invaluable
branch Of the lyric art has apparently
been permanently defled. For many
writer's Of oratorios in these nervous
modern times have adopted the phrase
! ology OF the Italian opera, and all the way
from Gounod's Redemption to Tinels
"St. Franoiscus" and thence even to Perosi's
Lazarus" We hear the theatrio spoutings
OF aSemiramide" and Nose in Egitto.'
The singer is to a certain extent help
less when confronted with these passages
He must sing what Is written. But he.
can preserve his self-respect by sacrificing
the opportunities for personal display
to a sincere consideration Of the text. Let
| him not forget, even though the COM
poser does, that the point is what is said
In singing and no what is sung in the
saying" This is the essential law OF all
recitative up to the point at which arioso
begins. By keeping 1t ever in mind a singer
is not likely often to go wrong.
The study OF r~ecitative style is sadly
neglected in these days Of eagerness to
rush before the public. Teachers of style
and repertoire ought to compel their pupils
to take thorough instruction in it, for 1t
ia one of the fundamentals OF vocal in
terpretation. 1t is the root from which
all our operatio and oratorio singing sprang,
For that reason alone It ought to be studied;
but that is not the only reason.
It might perhaps be going too far to
say that the correct delivery OF recitative
is the key to all proper Interpretation, but
it is not too much to declare that without
it perfect style is not ~attainable. In the
modern song, for instance, such as the
lieder Of Strauss and Wolf, the intimacy
Of text and music is such that only the
philosophy Of the old recitative can supply
| the means Of a correct analysis OF 1t.
The key to the dialogue Of Wagner's
Tristan und Isolde" is the recitative OF
| Mozart, and the dramatic scene Of Bee
thoyen and Weber, that wonderful COM
pound OF recitativo, arioso, cantlena and
| dramatic bravura. The open sesame to
the treasures OF Cigars "Dream of Geron-
thus" and Apostles" must be sought in
the recitatives Of Bach and Handel.
This suggests the advisability of a Anal
caution, The conception Of recitative as
speech in song must never 80 befog the
singers mind as to obscure the fact that 1t
ia still song. Recitative Is to be sung, not
shouted, caokled or barked. Identification
OF musical accent and emphasis with those
OF the text does not mean placement.
The rank heresies OF Bayreuth, emanating
from the extraordinary mind OF Cosima
Wagner, and fostered in a score Of German
theatres from which the art of beautiful
singing has for many years been an out
cast, have made the Wagnerian drama the
hotbed Of bad recitative delivery.
Instead of the broad and elastic form
Of defamation designed by Wagner, q
defamation embracing all the elements Of
musical speech from the cut and dried
phras es Of the old secco to the splendid
~eloouence OF modern dramatic arioso. we
have a nondescript thing, compounded Of
brittle, formless staccato and vociferous
houting.
Wagner did not desire that. He would
hay, wept with Joy II he could have heard
the New York performances Of his dramas
by the De Reszkes, Lehman, Nordica,
Ternina, Schumann-Heink and their associ-
ates. W. j. HENDERSON.
DOUBLE DECKED BIRD NEST.
u@Nh Mr. .alI