CURIOSITIES OF THE VOICE. 



479 



the needle-woman accompanies her work with 

 some love-ditty ; and in divine worship the heart 

 is raised above earthly things by the solemn 

 chant. 



A strong physical constitution, and a perfect 

 regularity in the functions of the organs used 

 in singing, are inappreciable advantages. They 

 should be capable of rendering an inspiration 

 short and easy, the expiration slow and pro- 

 longed ; there is a struggle between retaining 

 and releasing the air, and with the well-endowed 

 artiste the larynx preserves its position, notwith- 

 standing the great variety of sounds which it 

 emits. But the evolutions of the parts are mul- 

 tiplied, the vocal lips vibrate, and the configura- 

 tion of the cavity modifies the sounds which are 

 formed in the glottis, and determine the tone of 

 the voice. The most energetic efforts of the will 

 cannot change this tone in any sensible manner. 

 Professors injure their pupils by prescribing the 

 position of the mouth, from which perhaps they 

 themselves derive an advantage. 



It is interesting to watch the play of the or- 

 gans by the help of the laryngoscope, and see the 

 changes which succeed one another in the low 

 and high notes. At the moment when the sound 

 issues, the glottis is exactly closed ; then the 

 orifice becomes a very long figure, pointed at the 

 two extremities. As the sound rises, the vocal 

 lips approach each other, and seem to divide the 

 orifice into two parts ; then as the highest notes 

 are sounded, there is but a slit the width of a 

 line. The vocal lips change like the glottis ; they 

 stretch out, harden, thicken, and vibrate more 

 and more as the voice rises. Women, who have 

 a smaller larynx, and shorter vocal lips, can sing 

 higher notes than men, with a tone less power- 

 ful, but sweeter, more uniform, and melodious. 



The ordinary limits of the voice comprehend 

 about two octaves of the musical scale : it can 

 easily be increased to two and a half; but some 

 reach the very exceptional range of three, and 

 three and a half. Thus, at the commencement 

 of this century, Catalani astonished every one 

 who heard her, as a sort of prodigy. Suppleness 

 and intensity may be acquired by practice, as has 

 been proved in the case of many singers : the 

 voice of Marie Garcia was harsh, but it became 

 at last the delicious one of Madame Malibran. 

 In general, the natural gift is manifested without 

 culture; the child endowed with this great charm 

 warbles like a bird for amusement; a lover of art 

 passes by, listens with surprise, and promises 

 glory and fortune to the rival of the lark. Thus 

 the famous Rubini won his triumphs. Occasion- 



ally the singer lias in a moment lost all power, 

 and an enchanting voice will disappear never to 

 return ; such a misfortune befell Cornelia Fal- 

 con. 



Those who have watched the formation of 

 vowels and consonants, can describe very precise- 

 ly the positions which the lips, tongue, and palate, 

 take in articulation. Yet almost identical sounds 

 can be produced with different positions. As we 

 all know, the teeth are a great help to pronuncia- 

 tion, but a person who has lost all his teeth can 

 modify the play of the lips and tongue and ex- 

 press himself intelligibly. Actors imitate the 

 voice of public characters so as to make the illu- 

 sion complete. The ventriloquist can make his 

 voice issue as if from a cavern. "When misfor- 

 tune has deprived a man of the whole or part 

 of his tongue, he cau still hold a conversation, 

 though the pounds are never particularly agree- 

 able. All this shows that there is nothing ab- 

 solute in the actions which form words, though 

 in general the same organs play similar parts. 

 Those who were born deaf have ceased to be 

 dumb by interpreting the movements of the 

 mouth with wonderful certainty ; they guess the 

 words of the speaker instead of hearing them, 

 and so learn to speak by imitation, their speak- 

 ing, however, being seldom well modulated. There 

 are now several institutions where the poor creat- 

 ures who have been deprived of one of their senses 

 can acquire a means of communicating with their 

 companions without the tedious intervention of 

 writing. The master indicates to the child how 

 he must open his mouth, place his tongue and 

 lips; he then draws the pupil's hand over his own 

 larynx, so that he may feel the movement. Those 

 who, like the writer, have seen this reading from 

 the lips, will be struck with the surprising deli- 

 cacy of the impressions made on the eye which 

 has been thus cultivated. 



In comparison with the human voice, that of 

 animals seems poor indeed. The barking of the 

 dog, the mewing of the cat, the bleating of 

 sheep, cannot be called language, in the proper 

 sense. Yet the larynx of these creatures is on 

 the same plan as that of man. Among monkeys 

 the resemblance is perfect. To all appearance 

 the impossibility of speaking is due to the forma- 

 tion of the lips and tongue. In 1715 Leibnitz 

 announced to the French Academy that he had 

 met with a common peasant's dog that could re- 

 peat thirty words after its master. In spite of 

 such an authority, we must always say when we 

 most admire the intelligence of this faithful com- 

 panion, " He only wants words." So well en- 



