Style in Singing | Page 8

Him"
Messiah
Handel
Take His yoke upon you, and learn of Him.]
The tone allotted to the second syllable of the word "upon" is
accentuated to affirm the accuracy of the singer's intonation; the slight
emphasis of the word "Him" brings into relief the meaning of the text.
This latter, then, is an illustration of Verbal, or "Poetic" accent which, I
repeat, throws into relief, without consideration of its musical value or
position, some word of special significance in the verbal phrase. To
render the poetic meaning of the text clear to the listener, a correct use
of verbal accent is imperative. Its importance and effect, particularly in
recitative and declamatory singing, are analogous to the importance and
effect of emphasis in spoken language. The example is from Samson
(Handel):
[Music: O loss of sight, of thee I most complain.]
Here I may point out that in cantabile phrases the stream of sound,
notwithstanding its division into syllables by the organs of
articulation--lips, tongue, etc.--should pour forth smoothly and
uninterruptedly. The full value of each tone must be allotted to the
vowel; the consonants which precede or end the syllables are
pronounced quickly and distinctly. In declamatory singing, on the
contrary, the consonants should be articulated with greater deliberation

and intensity.
[Music: Handel (Messiah)
I know that my Redeemer liveth.]
Here an emphatic accent on the consonant "n" irresistibly suggests the
idea of knowledge; that is, of absolute certainty, not of mere belief.
Very frequently the metrical accent does not coincide with the syllabic
accent: the musical accent will fall on an unaccented syllable, or vice
versa. Particularly is this the case when the composer is not perfectly
familiar with the rules that govern the prosody of the language to which
he is setting music. In the operas of Meyerbeer many passages occur in
which it is necessary to readjust the syllables to the notes on account of
their misplaced accent. Here is an illustration from Hoel's Grand Air in
Le Pardon de Ploermel (Meyerbeer), Act II. (Note that the tonic accent
in French falls always on the last pronounced syllable.)
[Music: (as printed)
Et ranimez, ranimez ma foi.]
The error is easily remedied:
[Music: (should be sung)
Et ranimez, ranimez ma foi.]
In the contralto aria "He shall feed His flock," in Handel's Messiah, the
unaccented word "shall" falls on the most strongly accented note of the
bar. If performed thus, it would give a most aggressive character to the
passage, implying that some one had previously denied the assertion.
This would be entirely at variance with the consolatory and peaceful
message that is contained in the text and shadowed forth in the music.
[Music: (as printed)
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd.

(should be sung)
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd.]
Instances of faulty syllabic accent abound in Handel's works, both his
English oratorios and his Italian operas. Many examples could be
quoted. Here is a phrase from the beautiful air for mezzo-soprano sung
by Ruggiero in the opera of Alcina.
[Music: (as printed)
Verdi prati.
(should be sung)
Verdi prati.]
In Mendelssohn's Elijah, the following phrase is nearly always sung as
written, unless the singer is familiar with the best traditions:
[Music: Give me thy son!]
It may be that the artists who slavishly follow the published text fear
being accused of altering the composer's music, or are ignorant of the
fact that there exists a better version, which is this:
[Music: Give me thy son!]
It will be seen that the music is not changed in the least; the musical
and verbal accents have been merely readjusted and made to coincide.
In order to avoid the disagreeable effect of singing one half-bar andante
to the syllable "si" (pronounced like "zee" in English), the following
phrase of Marguerite de Valois in Les Huguenots (Meyerbeer), Act II,
is changed thus:
[Music: (as printed)
en aucun temps n'eut choisi mieux.

(should be sung)
en aucun temps n'eut choisi mieux.]
* * * * *
INTENSITY
In musical terminology every gradation of volume in sound, from the
faintest to the loudest, enters into the category of Intensity. One of the
accepted rules of the arte del bel canto was, that every sustained tone
should be coloured by some graduation of intensity. Thus the ability to
augment and diminish the volume of tone was so highly
esteemed--indeed, so essential--that singers spent much time in
acquiring the messa di voce, that is, the steadily graduated emission of
tone from the softest degree to the loudest and again to the softest: p
[crescendo symbol] f [decrescendo symbol] p. This exercise invariably
formed a part of each day's study, and was practised on several vowels
throughout the scale, except the extreme tones, save in rare instances. It
was, in fact, indispensable that the