1891.] on the Culture of the Singing Voice. 329 



purposely develop one part of the range of the pupil's voice at the 

 expense of the others. He will build upon the material that he finds, 

 not impose hypothetical or self-made laws ujDon it, and he will sub- 

 ordinate his own likings to the natural exigencies of the whole 

 character and nature of the pupil's voice. No more pernicious thing 

 could be imagined than to look npou flexibility as the highest triumph 

 to be achieved in a pujDil whose voice is the prototype of a heroic 

 tenor, or, on the other hand, to force a J)^^P^1 to sing Brahms' or 

 Schubert's most dramatic songs whilst the nature of her voice would 

 show to any perfectly unbiassed ear that her true vocation was that of 

 a coloratura singer. 



This brings me to the final part of my discourse, to the vexed 

 question of the registers. I need not say that this question alone 

 could be made the subject, not of one, but of a whole course of lectures, 

 and that it will be impossible in the short space of time still lett me 

 to do anything like adequate justice to it, or merely to mention all 

 the points which here demand consideration. At the same time the 

 question is of such transcendental importance fur the rational cultiva- 

 tion of the singing voice that it cannot in a discourse on this subject 

 be altogether passed over in silence ; and I avail myself of the oppor- 

 tunity of alluding to it the more readily because, as stated in the 

 beginning of my discourse, through the kindness of Dr. French, I am 

 in a position to illustrate the question by the aid of the unassailable 

 testimony of the photographic camera. 



It is well known that if any singer, but especially an untutored 

 one, sings the ascending scale, the ear of the musical listener per- 

 ceives after a series of tones which are different from one another 

 only so far as the pitch is concerned, suddenly at one point or another 

 of the gamut a notable difference in timbre, strength, and character. 

 The point at which this change occurs is called the " break in the 

 voice," and this change is much more noticeable in some classes of 

 voices than in others. It is most developed in the tenor voice, in 

 which the transition from the chest to the so-called falsetto voice is 

 obvious even to less musical ears. A break of this character, accord- 

 ing to the opinion of many authorities, occurs only once in the range 

 of the voice, and these authorities Jbroadly divide the entire compass 

 into the "chest" and "head" registers. In the opinion of others, 

 however, there are not one but several breaks in the voice, and 

 accordingly not two but three or more registers, the term "register" 

 by common consent being applied to that series of consecutive tones 

 which is produced by one and the same relative position of the laryn- 

 geal apparatus, whilst only in the tension and approximation of the 

 vocal cords do minute variations occur. 



What each of these registers exactly is, how it is produced, how 

 one is changed into the other, what exactly is the manner in which 

 our will influences the change, &c., we are not yet, I make bold to 

 say, in a position to know precisely, though I am perfectly avvare 

 that some authorities think that they know all about it, and that it 



