222 THE OEIGIN JlSD Fim-CTION OF MUSIC. 



Once more, it was pointed out that not only extreme but also 

 rapid variations of pitch, are characteristic of mental ex- 

 citement ; and once more we see in the quick changes of 

 every melody, that song carries the characteristic as far, if 

 not farther. Thus, in respect aHke of loudness, timbre, 

 pitch, intervals, and rate of variation, song emjDloys and 

 exaggerates the natural language of the emotions ; — it arises 

 from a systematic combination of those vocal peculiarities 

 which are the physiological effects of acute pleasure and 

 pain. 



Besides these chief characteristics of song as distinguish- 

 ed from common speech, there are sundry minor ones 

 similarly explicable as due to the relation between mental 

 and muscular excitement ; and before proceeding further 

 these should be briefly noticed. Thus, certain passions, 

 and perhaps all passions when pushed to an extreme, pro- 

 duce (probably through their influence over the action of 

 the heart) an effect the reverse of that which has been de- 

 scribed : they cause a physical prostration, one symptom of 

 which is a general relaxation of the muscles, and a conse- 

 quent trembling. We have the trembling of anger, of 

 fear, of hope, of joy ; and the vocal muscles being implicat- 

 ed with the rest, the voice too becomes tremulous. Now, 

 in singing, this tremulousness of voice is very effectively 

 used by some vocalists in highly pathetic passages ; some- 

 times, indeed, because of its effectiveness, too much used 

 by them — as by Tamberlik, for instance. 



Again, there is a mode of musical execution known as 

 the staccato, appropriate to energetic passages — to passages 

 expressive of exhilaration, of resolution, of confidence. 

 The action of the vocal muscles which produces this stac- 

 cato style, is analogous to the muscular action which pro- 

 duces the sharp, decisive, energetic movements of body in- 

 dicating these states of mind ; and therefore it is that the 

 Btaccato Btyle has the meaning we ascribe to it. Converse 



