The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-09-02
Subject of First PaperThe Italian vs. German Vocal
Schools. The Instrumental Style Of Vocalism.

. No other compliment ever pleased
Jenny Lind so much as being called
national purity, emotional intensity
and senuous beauty of tone her voice
was often compared to bird-song. But
this was great injustice to jenny
Lind for bird-song is not true song
In as much as the nightingale uses
no words, its music might properly
abe classed as instrumental The ad
vantage the vocalist has over the bird
or over any mere musical instrument
consists in his ability to unite words
with music, and so express a definite
feeling and emotion. 1t is true that
many instruments have a character
istic emotional tone-colour. We often
speak of the amourous violoncello,
the serene flute, the boastful trumpet,
the majestic trombone, the grieving
violin. But while the violin may ex-
press an intense yearning or an over
towering grief, it cannot tell the ma
ture of that emotion-whether it be
the yearning of maiden for her ab-
sent lover, or that of a bluebird for
the return of spring,-whether * be
the grieving of a mother for her dead
son, or the grief of Judas who has
betrayed his Christ. 1t is this double
power of uniting a definite statement
with indefinite tones that makes vo-
cal music so impressive and so inter-
esting.
g.. ~
til quite recently singers have not
taken advantage of this double func-
ton of the voice but have rather at
tempted to cultivate or initiate in the
voice the purely instrumental effects
and styles of the orchestra. The era
of this method of vocal development
possibly reached its elimination in
Italy century ago. The instrument
tai function of the voice was given
the entire attention of the teachers,
and after a course of six or seven
years of study. the voice was so per-
fectly developed and under such abb
solute mechanical control as to actu
ally riva the orchestral instru
ments in buty of tone, power
of endurance and agility of execution
indeed even to surpass them, for we
have all heard of the male sopranist.
Farinelli who actually did beat no.
ted German trumpeter in holding and
swelling his notes and after being ap-
plauded wildly for several minutes
sang difficult aria with such mar
velous rapidity that the orchestra
were unable to keep up with him.
Caffarelli used to entertain his au-
Il h eli, in,
chromatic chain of trills up and down
two octaves. In the music written
at that time a single word or syllable |
was sung to as many as $50 notes, and |
if these notes were not written in /
by the composer they were supplied |
at will by the singer. 1t is on ac
count of this mal-treatment of the |
text by the singers that the composers I
of the Italian operas used such silly |
and worthless libretti.
The Bel Canto.
1t was inevitable that the public |
should tire of these vocal gymnastics
as soon as the wonder of it wore away,
so a new style of song was invented
the cantabile, the bel canto or beauti-
full song, which was very melodious
and charming and often of exquisite
beauty. Now the Italians were a
plump, well-developed race with heal
thy natural voices of wide range. This
combined with the natural treatment.
the voice received from their teachers,
their mild climate their language
Astounding in sonorous vowelS and the
amiability of the old Maestros in al
harsh sacrificing the mixed yowels and
harsh cOnsonantS to euphony, made
the Italian voice one of such purity
and richness of tone as to seem to be
with sweetness. And so it
was with no thought of emphasizing
what was sung that the bel canto was
invented, but simply to display this
natural sweetness and rich warmth of
tone. No attention was paid to the |
text and all striving for dramatic eff |
feet was sacrificed for beauty of tone.
the charm of the bel I
canto lay in purely instrumental eff I
fect-the same charm that one feels I
in hearing the sensuous beauty of tone
of an old cremona violin, mellow with
age, and it was a pleasure to hear ]
these charming melodies, irrespective {
of the subject of the song. I
The Old Italian Method.
The trade-cry of nine-tenthS of our I
vocal teachers is The Old Italian S