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

Of phrases Of r~ecitative came into existence
with the practice Of the earliest masters,
and they have survived for the simple
reason that they cannot be escaped without
entering the domain Of free melodio COM
positions.
These phrases were built by men seeking
10 initiate the infections Of the voice in
speech, and they can no more be removed
from the language Of opera and o~ratorio
than the typical infections Of speech can
be removed from the spoken drama. These
phrases are to be found in the operas Of
Peri, Carissimi, Handel, Scarlatti, Mozart,
Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi, Puooini, Weber
and Wagner. They are also to be found in
the oratorlos Of Sebastian Bach and Sir
Edward Elgar,
Now these historical facts lead us to the
primary law governing the delivery Of re-
citatvo seoco. The first thought must be
given to the text. The music Is altogether
a secondary consideration. The singer who
examines the notes Of q passage OF recitativo
secco and endeavors to determine how best
they may be phrased and emitted Ia In error
from the very outset.
The notes must be examined wholly in the
light Of the text. The phrasing must be
that of the words. The accent must be
that OF the words. The emphasis must be
that OF the words. The singer who en-
deavors To make o cheap vocal effect on q
high note In q piece Of recitativo seooo will
In nine cases out Of ten ruin the sense and,
therefore, the eloqusnoe OF q fine passage.
On tho other hand, the singer must not
permit himself to regard the delivery OF
All. zaoolao 80 .a1tto ti,,a M m p,nolv ma.
chanioal achievement. The imagination
finds In the field OF recitadve ample scope
for It's play. The delivery Of recitativo
$1,000 calls for histronlo ability. Just as
that Of the dialogue Of the spoken drama
does.
To give this musical speech vivaoity,
convincing verisimilitude, poetic beauty,
calls for insight, as we'll as sincerity. As
Lamperti pe%rtinently says, 'the chief re-
quirement Of this vocal style is hat the
singers imagination should be fired by the
given situation"
Since this Is true OF reoitativo secco,
especially in its higher contemporaneous
calculations, 1t is still more desirable in the
treatment Of recitativo stromentato. This
is the more common form OF recitative in
the lyric works OF to-day. The harpsichord
has disappeared from the instrumental
force Of the opera house. When the voice
is supported by chords only we hear the
strings in passages where Mozart would
have used the clavier Of his day. Since
Rossini set the fashion our masters write
whole operas without strict secco recitativo.
The orchestra accompanies it all. 1t Is all
Instrumental.
Wagner is the perfect embodiment OF
r~ecitativo stromentato, because 80 much
OF his operas consists Of more or less melo-
die dialogue, with only occasional flashes
of sustained arioso form. The molodic
fragment is his principal apparatus, and with
it he rears the bulk Of his lyric ediioe.
s~Lohengrin' is especially rich in examples
OF the modern recitativo stromentato
coupled with phrases OF the old secco, sup
ported in this opera by orchestral chords.
Wagner utilizes cadences which were in
vented by Peri side by side with elaborate
musical speech couched in intervals which
would have made the early Italians gasp.
The delivery Of recitativo stromentato
REQUIRES careful preparation. The question
for the singer to decide in every instance
Is how much OF the passage before Mn
demands strict tempo and how much calls
for the free style of the $4,000. A minglng
of the free and the strict style will be found
In nearly all extended passages of recitativo
stromentato.
Much here depends Upon the composer.
The earliest writer's were less memorable
in their demands that singers should be
bound to the beat OF the measure than the
moderns are. Their recitativo stromen-
tato differed but little from their recitativo
secco. 1t was slower in tempo and it had
some orchestral phrases scattered through
it. Later, in what may from our point Of
view be called the middle period Of opera,
the stromentato recitative approached
nearer to the arioso and the orchestral
Accompaniment became more varied.
Even here the vocal phrases fire.
ouently stood by themselves, and the
orchestral passages we're placed In the
intervals between them, 30 that the voice
part could be sung ad lbitum and the or
chestral phrase played with similar Free
dom, This Is the most ommon form OF
recitativo stromentato. AL the modern
composers use it. for its application to all
possible situations in the lyric drama rem
ders 1t Of universal value.
But the musicians OF to-day more fire.
ouently compose recitatvo stromentato
in strict tempo. The orchestral support
flows forward in a ceaseless stream Of
melody, and the voice must enter and
fnkh on the beat. Otherwise confusion
ia slslrs to arise. Wagner in his early period
VS. ~Asistent in his demand that his reoita-
tive should be sung precisely as written
and In perfect tempo. In a letter Of Sep
temberS g., $780, to Liszt, he said
Nowhere in the score OF my Lohengrin'
have I written above a vocal phrase the
word ~'recitative'; the singers ought not
to know that there are any reoitadves in 1t;
on the other hand, / have been 80 inter-
upon weighing and indicating the verbal
emphasis Of the speech 80 surely and dis
tinctly that the singers need only sing the
notes exactly according to their value
In the given tempo, to get purely by that
means the declamatory expression"
To many long passages in the works
of Verdi, Puccini and the latter day italians
and to many also in the lyric productions
of the Frenohmen these words OF Wagner
apply with great pertinence What the
SINCE, II reoitati vo stromentato must In
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