Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

468 SINGING SINGSPIEL
perform a musical composition ; while the resonator
or instrument of speech has to perform a
composition in verse. All that can be said
about the performance of music by an insti-ument,
or about the recitation of verse, is applicable to
the vocal reed and the resonator, each by itself.
The vocal reed, however, has two offices to
perform. It is either behaving as a true instrument
of music, giving utterance to feelings in
the direct manner belonging to its nature, or it
is lending itself as an instrument of sound to
assist, by emphasis and inflexion, the sense of
words. In the former case its action is melodic,
in the latter, declamatory.
The line of music may be intended by the
composer to be interpreted in either of these
senses, or it may happen that the feeling
suggested by the words ia so perfectly treated
in the application to it of a form of melody,
that both are satisfied, and the song is both
melodic and declamatory. Examples of this
are rare, and it more often happens that either
one or the other element predominates. Not
infrequently, however, it occurs that they clash,
so that neither is satisfactory.
The rhythm of music, with its division into
time measures, and the rhythm of words, with
their arrangement into metrical verse, only
indicate motion, and when these are applied
to one another only the rhythm in which
they may move together is emphasised, and
nothing more. This cannot be regarded as
song composition.
It is the sense of words and not the sound
that stimulates the musical sense. The music
thus evolved may have no melodic form of its
own, in which case it is declamatory, or it may
add to the words the power of its own form of
expression and become melodic.
Periodicity in poetic expression is as necessary
to verse as it is to music, and the study of the
works of Heine gives a striking illustration of
its force. The period of two lines, in which
he usually expressed his thoughts, presented to
the musician the simplest foundation for melodic
form, and how that appealed to the melodic
genius of Schubert is seen distinctly in such a
masterpiece as 'Am Meer. ' If other poets
could speak with such measured simplicity and
directness, the art of song would be richer than
it is.
The suiting of music to words may appear
to be a subject belonging to the art of composition,
but it is necessary to consider it from the
point of view of singing, since it forms the
foundation of the singer's attitude of mind.
The singer must know how to direct his technical
ability, and must have some distinct mental
intention in singing, or the performance will be
nothing more than the mechanical recitation of
words and notes.
The sense of the words is always to be considered
first, since that is generally the most
obvious. With a little analysis the poet's scheme
of conveying a succession of ideas may next be
detected. It will not then be difficult to see
at once whether the composer has adapted these
ideas to a corresponding scheme of melodic form,
or whether he has been content to use his music
as a means of supporting the words only ; and
the value of the music as depicting the poetic
intention can be readily estimated.
It is not within the scope of this article to
carry such analysis into the extensive field of
existing examples of song -writing. Modem
music is full of examples of declamatory song
distorted and exaggerated by the musical exigencies
of the pianoforte and orchestral accompaniment.
The melodic form is regarded as a survival
of the past which does not really belong to
present methods of musical expression. In
fact, the sound as well as the sense of the voice
has been almost swamped by the wealth of
instrumentation which is considered necessary
for modem ears. How far this can be carried
it is impossible to say, but it is quite possible
that singing will soon be regarded as a separate
form of art, and composers will either write for
the voice, or for the orchestra, but not for both
together'.
In estimating the general character of modern
and ancient music the singer can thus realise
what part it is that his voice has to take.
Throughoutthe works ofthe old Italian, English,
and German masters, up to the end of the 18th
century, he will find abundant opportunity for
the full exercise" of the natural instrument of
song. A more highly cultured and intellectually
restrained form was the outcome of the literary
period which we owe to the German lyric poets,
and perfection of diction, with a refined use of
musical expression, characterises the ' Lied,' and
those songs of other nations which are conceived
upon that model.
Of the vocal necessities of modern music no
more need be said than that the singer must
be able to realise the situation. The voice is a
living thing, and can be ruined by the strain of
singing too loud and too high, as only too many
modern singers have discovered, but its powers
of endurance, if properly treated, are remarkable,
and every singer who understands his work
ought to know where to stop.
Besides an excellent technique and an intelligent
sense for music and poetry, the singer only
requires the sincerity which brings to his art
the charm of his own personality. If any
technique could possibly be learned in order to
obtain that inestimable quality, phonology
would certainly point to the exercise of tlie
most truly vital of all human functions, and
recommend the free and unhindered service of
the breath. vi^. A. A.
SINGSPIEL. This term has been in use in
Germany for the last 300 years to denote a