Advice to Singers Part 6

[Music: _Second time._

dol - ce ri - mem - bran - - za, &c.]

[Music:_First time._

Puoi di nuo - vo, di nuo - vo av - ve - len ar ................... mi.]

[Music: _Second time._

Puoi - di nuo - vo di nuo - vo av - ve - len ar ................... mi.]

The above are taken from a fine song by Cesti (1660), "_Tu mancavi a tormentarmi_."

The following are the adornments taught in the Paris Conservatoire, as traditionally correct in the famous old song by Lotti, "_Pur dicesti_,"

where, it will be observed, one simple phrase, which occurs so frequently that it would be monotonous if unadorned, is made to yield a charming variety to the song by some elegant change at each recurrence.

[Music: _First time._

quel so - a - ve ... car - o ...... si]

[Music: _Second time._

quel ... so - a - ve car ... o - si]

[Music: _Third time._

quel ... so - a - ve car - o - si]

[Music: _Fourth time._

quel ... so - a - - ve car - - o si]

[Music:_First time._

pia - cer .................

................. il mio pia - cer]

[Music: _Second time._

pia - cer .................

................. il mio pia - cer]

The following are from Handel:

[Music: _First time._

While re - sign'd to Heav'n ... a - bove]

[Music: _Second time._

While re - sign'd to ...... Heav'n ........ a - bove

(_Guardian Angels._)]

[Music: _First time._

Trees where you sit, &c.]

[Music: _Second time._

Trees where you sit, &c.

(_Where'er you walk._)]

And of course the list might be almost indefinitely prolonged. Certain of these ornaments, once highly popular, have wisely been allowed to drop, and that is why I lay stress upon the importance of _accepted traditions_. You may get hold of copies of many songs of this kind which have the names of great singers attached to them, and yet give variations of the text which have never been accepted or generally approved. The great Braham himself was a terrible offender sometimes in this respect. For instance, in singing "_Comfort ye_," instead of the pa.s.sage

[Music:

that her in - i - qui - ty is par - don - ed]

he would sing thus:

[Music:

that her in - i - qui - ty is par - don - ed.]

And I have seen an old copy of "_Holy, holy_," in which the melody is so overlaid with little black notes, semi-quavers, demi-semi-quavers, and semi-demi-semi-quavers, that it is difficult to distinguish the notes of Handel's music at all! The admissible changes are all very slight, and any elaborate cadenza, or considerable addition, is pretty sure to be wrong. Final high notes are a frequent snare to aspiring singers; the traditions of the old school of oratorio singing are not in favour of them, and they generally vulgarize a song if introduced where the composer has not clearly opened a way for them. I have heard a tenor singer conclude the famous "_Thou shalt break them_," thus:

[Music:

pot - - - - ter's ves - sel]

and a soprano finish off "_He shall feed His flock_," thus:

[Music:

ye shall find rest ........ un - to your souls.]

--both of them pieces of vulgar display, bringing the personality of the singer before the audience instead of the beauty of the music, the sense of the words, or the merit of the composer. No such abominations are permissible in good oratorio singing, the rule of which is utter submission to the composer's intentions, and a conscientious endeavour to interpret his mind clearly to the audience; a pure and chaste delivery of words and music alike; a sustained excellence throughout, avoiding an attempt to astonish by bursts of power or brilliancy; and an entire absence of all claptrap or vulgarities to please "the gallery."

=Opera.=--A great deal of what has been said about oratorio singing applies also to operatic singing. But I strongly advise you against attempting opera music until you have studied the more severe and solid style of the oratorio. The declamatory pa.s.sages in opera are doubtless more brilliantly impa.s.sioned, just as the florid airs are more startlingly elaborate, than in oratorio, and the recitatives less stately and sustained; but the style of good opera singing is only to be founded upon good oratorio study (or its equivalent), inasmuch as it was out of the oratorio that the opera grew. Operatic singing allows more license to the singer than does oratorio; but the singer should have been taught first by the severer style not to misuse that license.

At the same time when (as is not infrequent in operas of a certain kind) the composer has introduced airs for the express purpose of showing off a singer's voice, a well-trained singer may be accepted as interpreting the composer's intention rightly, when he or she elaborates _fioriture_ far beyond the limits of which any hint appears in the score.

Even here, however, traditional usage must have its weight: cadenzas must be strictly in character, and only introduced in songs to which such pa.s.sages are appropriate. I once heard a florid cadenza interpolated at the close of "_Spirto Gentil_," by an aspiring young tenor, too full of conceit and "modern" ideas to take a hint from Mario's marvellous rendering of that song.

And it must be borne in mind that it is only in operas of the Bellini, Donizetti, and early Rossini and Verdi school that such extreme license is granted. No such tricks can be played with the operas of Mozart, Gluck, Weber, or Meyerbeer, or with the later works of Rossini and Verdi, while the notion of altering a note, or omitting even a demi-semi-quaver rest, in those of Wagner, would be, to his admirers, flat heresy. In reality, the style of singing opera music is easily acquired by any one who is sufficiently advanced to be fit to attempt opera music at all. There are certain niceties to be acquired, and endless beauties of variety in the rendering of even small pa.s.sages; but these things cannot be taught on paper.