Style in Singing

in some browsers. Hover the mouse over the box for a pop-up text explanation of the symbol, e.g., G ♯ . Click on the [Listen] link below the music illustrations to hear the music. TO MY PUPILS STYLE IN SINGING BY W.E. HASLAM Contents NEW YORK: G. SCHIRMER 1911 Copyright, 1911 By G. SCHIRMER 22670 PREFATORY NOTE “O F making many books there is no end.” Surely, the weary observation of the sage must have an especial application to the literature of Song. One could not number the books—anatomical, physiological, philosophical—on the Voice. A spacious library could easily be furnished with “Methods” of Singing. Works treating of the laws governing the effective interpretation of instrumental music exist. Some of them, by acknowledged and competent authorities, have thrown valuable light on a most important element of musical art. Had I not believed that a similar need existed in connection with singing, this addition to vocal literature would not have been written. In a succeeding volume on “Lyric Declamation: Recitative, Song and Ballad Singing,” will be discussed the practical application of these basic principles of Style to the vocal music of the German, French, Italian and other national schools. W.E. HASLAM. 2, rue Maleville, Parc Monceau, Paris, July, 1911. INTRODUCTION I N listening to a Patti, a Kubelik, a Paderewski, the reflective hearer is struck by the absolute sureness with which such artists arouse certain sensations in their auditors. Moreover, subsequent hearings will reveal the fact that this sensation is aroused always in the same place, and in the same manner. The beauty of the voice may be temporarily affected in the case of a singer, or an instrument of less æsthetic tone-quality be used by the instrumentalist, but the result is always the same. What is the reason of this? Why do great artists always make the same effect and produce the same impression on their public? Why, for instance, did the late Mme. Tietjens, when singing the following passage in Handel’s Messiah , always begin with very little voice of a dulled quality, and gradually brighten its character as well as augment its volume until she reached the high G ♯ which is the culmination, not only of the musical phrase, but also of the tremendous announcement to which it is allied? [Listen ] This last tone was delivered with the full force and brilliance of her magnificent voice, and…