The sun., 1915-12-19


placing his anxiously formed tones?
How can he sing II II he cannot
deliver the tones without 40 modify
ing the vowels that the words become
unrecognizable?
How can he sing 1t If he cannot
vitalize every vowel with noble life
giving musical tone?
Dear reader for you are dear IL
you have come thus far. these So
called interpreters who do not sing
violate every principle Of their art.
They sing or the key. break the
phrases. produce tones of half dozen
different types in their struggles with
the consonants. actually speak some
syllables which they do not know
how to sing, and finally never emit a
tone of genuine beauty at all. Never
theless they were vociferously ap-
plauded for their "interpretations".
The whole thing Is ridiculous. The
presence of text is what misleads
hearers. Heine writes n poem: Schu-
mann or some one else sets it to
music. The believer In the possibility
of Interpretation without singing
thinks the thing IL accomplished IL
he hears all Heine's text read with
dramatic. elocutionary style. In fact
the further away the so-called singer
gets from really singing Schumann's
music the better this kind OF listener
likes him. II he is DR.. Wuellner. the
world Of interpreter adorers is at his
feet. And yet the man is pretending
to he in the act of singing you a song
t.N SO fgrNa. mn nf nf Nllit tsty N.nI
IA poem by Hene.
These are two vastly different
things. When Edward Sothern was
acting Romeo and Jean de Reszke was
singing him they We're not doing the
same thing, were they?
When one reads the stories of the
singing of the famous stars of the
lyric world in the Handelian era he
must he struck by the general agree
ment as to their success in the in
depreciation of pathos. Now eXamina-
ton of the music which they sang
demonstrates that there was no pos
siblity OF treating IL In the ejacula-
tory style common To the contempo-
raneous operate stage. The truth is
that this manner of singing was en-
of Handel's time. Their lyric founda-
tion was built Of the pure leGato.
With this and finely developed
breath support they set on To conquer
the world. Eeverything else in sing
ing grew out OF breath management
and sustained tone. With these they
made their readers Of pathetic airs
! so beautiful as to thrill their auditors.
| Now they did this by singing. not
| by barking. shouting. cackling or
Wheeling. They accomplished their
| purpose 10y musical means. Singing
! Is "a musical art. II does not belong
To the domain of elocution. What is
called "diction" N singing requires
special training in order that the
words may be made intellicible while
| the singer continues TO sing.
Let every music lover set his face
sternly against all the subterfuges Of
the indolent and prattling of the igno-
rant. There is no reason why the
shrine of lyric art should he defiled
II loud voiced persons. who sing OF
| the key with vulgar quality OF tone
and without regard for the melodc
phrase, are 10 be accepted as singers
merely because they declaim the text
in a way which shows that they know
the meaning of the poem. then 1t is
time for all the teachers of singing to
put up their shutters and go into some
other business, for any vaudeville per-
former can he song interpreter.
Singing is an art. II is not an acci-
dent and II is not a gift. The voice is
a glft-too often the only one. The
world Is full OF what Gounod called
beautiful organ pipes" The greatest
and rarest gift Of all Is musical lntelli-
gence. When a singer has this he
does not 60 about the world inter
preting" without singing. He sings
and interprets at the same time, and
the world is glad because OF II.
Think of the great lyric Interpreters
this town has heard one hardly dares
10 begin the list. for it goes back so
far. But II even Franz Remmertz or
Theodore Toedt or Myron Whitney OF
Anna Drasdil or Amy Sherwin or Ella
Earle should return to us, he or she
would not be obscured in the society
Of the Culps and the Gerhardts. And
above all this community ought To re-
member that in recent years II has had
| lnt lDcSlIUliblf pllNIlfG' VI SlllliS AZ
the feet of Lilli Lehman and Marcella
Sembrich, the greatest song interpre-
ters Of the last thirty years. And botl
, of them achieved their ends by pure
singing.
Nothing has been said here thus fal
about the opera. The reason Is thai
there Is such small amount of rea
singing on the stage of the Metropolis
tan Opera House that the less said tn,
better. Opera is the happy huntint
ground of the bad singer with biz
voice and an immense amount OF phys
lCa energy, commonly called TEN
perament.'
To sing with repose, finish and eN
iority Of operagoers that you have n
temperament Run all over the stage
hrandish your arms, shout and de
claim and storm like a vocal fury, ant
these same listeners will rise at you.
Nevertheless there are some arts
u tic singers in the Metropolitan Operi
House company. Just at the momen
l of this writing the one who gives tn
$ connoisseur Of singing the most pleas
; ure Is Nine Hcmpel, because she trie
" all the time to sing lyrically and to at
Y tain her effects by absolutely legiti
mate means. She sings out of tun
much too often and sometimes doe
l curious things to her phrases, bu
= since most OF those associated wilt