086 MUSIC 



The play of the face varies the expression of the voice. How could 

 the inanimate face produce sounds other than monotonous ? It is 

 impossible to smile with the face and express sorrow with the voice. 

 Every emotion has its appropriate facial expression. So if we insist 

 on expressing with the face the sentiment we sing, and at the same 

 time control the breath, we shall certainly succeed in our art. 



PHRASING. Let us study the words and music we have to sing 

 until both are mastered mentally, the picture of the words and the 

 phrasing of the music; the crescendo of the ascending notes of the 

 melody and the diminuendo of the falling cadence; the accents neces- 

 sary to the words, the sensitive loveliness of the accents which belong 

 to the melody. 



The effect of diminishing the power of the voice on nearing the 

 end of a phrase is sometimes magical. Let us avoid dragging and 

 hurrying. The greater the artist the less he tampers with the time 

 of the music, without due consideration. 



The old Masters prided themselves on their phrasing, on the calm- 

 ness of the tempo on the just accent, and on the crescendo and 

 diminuendo. The singers were so sensitive to lovely phrasing that 

 the clarinetist, Lazarus, whom I knew intimately, on being asked 

 " Where did you learn your exquisite phrasing ?" said, " I learned 

 it from the singers at the opera, some fifty years ago." On the other 

 hand, a great tenor, on being asked, " From whom did you learn 

 your phrasing ? " said, " I fancy I learned more from hearing Lazarus 

 play the clarinet than from any one else." Nowadays the instru- 

 mentalists are certainly ahead of the singers in loveliness of phrasing, 

 but formerly the contrary was the case. 



The development of the orchestra has, of course, been carried to its 

 highest pitch by Wagner. But, unfortunately, while he has increased 

 the volume, the richness and complexity of the orchestra to an unpre- 

 cedented degree, he has been unable to add anything whatever to the 

 volume of the human voice. There still live composers who have 

 written music full of deep feeling, true loveliness and dramatic charac- 

 ter, yet not well-fitted for the voice, and, indeed, sometimes almost 

 incapable of successful performance. 



As a public singer I have had to sing cantatas and other works 

 which, though written for a tenor, were quite unsuitable, and I have 

 heard many times artists singing music too low, or painfully laden 

 with words on the highest notes, parts almost impossible to render with 

 any true vocal effect. Vocalists have asked the composer, " For what 

 voice is this written ? " He answers, " Well, I do not mean exactly 

 any particular kind of voice; it is for a kind of baritone or mezzo- 

 eoprano." What a confused idea of the capabilities of the different 

 voices ! 



Some two years before his death, I begged the great Brahms to 



