The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1909-05-07

tecte0 by many singers ana indeed IN
not considered important by large
proportion Of the audiences In this
country, who do not understand for
eign language. ut any rate. And In an
opera sung in language unknown to
most of the audience II is apparently
unimportant whether the words are
understood or not as long as there is
q general knowledge Of the plot, and
the main consideration is, of course.
the music.
Yet for those who are conversant
with the language In which the opera
Is written how common an experience
1t is Tin concert also) to be able, In
spite Of their linguistic knowledge. to
understand but little Of what Is being
sung, and what drawback this really
isl How many singers there are who
seem to turn all their attention to the
production of beautiful sounds and
neglect In most cases the words that
often are equally beautiful, or should
be!
One hears great deal just now
about the advisability Of giving operas
in the native language. as 1t is done in
France and Germany, and the idea
would seem to have its advantages. as
has already been demonstrated In
some excellent performances Of Ger
man, French and italian operas in
English. But Of what avail would
such project be IL, after all, one
could not understand the words of his
own language as they were sung?
The language might as well be San
skirt or Chinese.
In France the matter Of diction is
probably given the greatest attention,
and singeN at the Opera Comique, for
instance, are noted for their pure and
distinct enunciation of every syllable.
Indeed, 1t is as much of a sine qua
non there as good singing. II not more
SO, and the numerous subtleties in the
French language are difficult enough
to justify this special stress laid upon
correct pronunciation.
1t requires very particular ability
IN foreigner to attain the atmos-
phere Of perfect French to any very
high degree. Italian is generally con-
sidered an easier language to pro.
nounce in song, as indeed 1t is, all the
vowel sounds being full and sonorous
and lacking that covered" or mixed
quality so often occurring in the
French. Nevertheless Italian has its
difficulties, particularly in the way Of
distinctly enunciating the double con-
sonants and the proper division Of the
liaisons, or combining of final vowels
with initial vowels, and the correct
amount of softness to be given to the
letter o.
All this, of course, is from the stand
point of those to whom these lam
guages are foreign.
Certainly no singer can be called
great artist unless his diction is good,
for q beautiful voice alone will not
make up for other deficiencies. A sing
er endowed with a small voice or even
one of not very pleasing quality can
give more pleasure than singer pos
sessing big impressive voice, but no
diction
Some people claim that pronuncia-
ton too distinct or too much insisted
upon spells the real voice quality, but
this should not be the case II the
words are correctly and naturally
brought out Doubtless this impress
sion has come from the fact that, par
ticularly in France, many singers pos
sessed of small voices must exaggerate
their diction to obtain their effects.
But If they did not have this perfect
diction they often would have little
else to recommend them. l would aver
that fine enunciation, far from inter-
fering with 1t, aids the voice produc-
ton, makes 1t softer and more concen-
trated, but diction should act rather as
a frame for the voice and never re-
place It.
Each OF the three languages, French,
German and Italian, has its peculiar
characteristics, which are of aid to the
student In the general study Of pro-
nunciation, and It Is well to have a
knowledge Of them all outside of the
fact that an artist nowadays needs to
have this knowledge in order not only
to rank with the greatest. but to cope
with the demands of an operate ca
reer.
The Italian language In its very es-
sence is rich In vowels and vowel com
binations. from which comes principal
ly the color In tones. and II has conse-
quently been called the Language OF
song" Italians thus have naturally
what II is so much trouble for singers
of other nations to acquire-the numer-
Gus variations of vowel sounds.
French has the nasal sounds as its
dominating characteristic and is very
valuable In the cultivation Of nasal
resonance"
As ! said before. II Is so easy to ex'
aggerate and the voice Is so apt to get
too much lin the nose" that one has to
be extremely careful in the use of the
French N" and ing"
German is so full of consonants that
one needs TO have exceptional control
Of the tongue and lips to give their
proper value.
English Possesses the features Of all
the other languages-of course In less
marked degree-resembling most per