The art of music, Vol. 05 (of 14) — Reading Notes

VOCAL ORGANS, THEIR OPERATION AND HYGIENE 1

The vocal instrument; anatomy of the vocal organs; the healthy mechanism--The larynx; the laryngoscope; operations of the laryngeal muscles--Tone production; the resonating cavities; vowel formation; articulation--Vocal hygiene; incorrect tone production; throat stiffness and its cure.

II. VOCAL CULTIVATION AND THE OLD ITALIAN METHOD 24

Historical aspect of vocal cultivation--The modern conception of voice culture; the mechanical and psychological methods--Ancient systems--Mediæval Europe--The revival of solo singing; the rise of coloratura--The old Italian method--The _bel canto_ teachers: Caccini; Tosi and Mancini; the _Conservatoire_ method; the Italian course of instruction; theoretical basis of the Italian method.

III. MODERN SCIENTIFIC METHODS OF VOICE CULTURE 55

The transition from the old to the modern system; historical review of scientific investigation; Manuel García; progress of the scientific idea; Helmholtz, Mandl, and Merkel--Diversity of practices in modern methods; the scientific system; breathing; laryngeal action; registers; resonance; emission of tone; the singer’s sensations; correction of faults; articulation--General view of modern voice culture.

PART II. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ART SONG

IV. THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF SONG 70

The origin of song--The practical value of primitive song--The cultural value of primitive song--Biography of primitive song--The lyric impulse--Folk-song and art-song--Characteristics of the art-song; style, the singer and the song.

The nature and value of folk-songs--Folk-songs of the British Isles--Folk-song in the Latin lands--German and Scandinavian folk-song--Hungarian folk-song--Folk-songs of the Slavic countries; folk-song in America.

VI. THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF SONG 130

Song in early Christian times--The age of chivalry--The troubadours and trouvères--The minnesingers--The mastersingers; the Lutheran revival--Polyphonic eclipse of song.

VII. THE CLASSIC SONG AND THE ARIA 151

Italy and the monodic style--Song in the seventeenth century; Germany; France--Song in England--The aria--German song in the eighteenth century; French song in the eighteenth century; forerunners of Schubert.

PART III. THE ROMANTIC SONG

VIII. FRANZ SCHUBERT 186

Art-song and the romantic spirit--Precursors of Schubert--Schubert’s contribution to song; Schubert’s poets--Classification of Schubert’s songs--Faults and virtues--The songs in detail; the cycles--Schubert’s contemporaries.

IX. ROBERT SCHUMANN 231

Romantic music and romantic poetry--Schumann as a song-writer--The earlier songs--The ‘Woman’s Life’ cycle; the ‘Poet’s Love’ cycle; the later songs--Schumann’s contemporaries.

X. THE CONTEMPORARIES OF SCHUBERT AND SCHUMANN 258

The spirit of the ‘thirties’ in France; the lyric poets of the French romantic period--Monpou and Berlioz--Song-writers of Italy; English song-writers--Robert Franz--Löwe and the art-ballad.

XI. BRAHMS, WAGNER AND LISZT 276

Brahms as a song-writer--Classification of Brahms’ songs; the ‘folk-songs’; analysis of Brahms’ songs--Wagner’s songs; Liszt as a song-writer.

XII. LATE ROMANTICS IN GERMANY AND ELSEWHERE 296

The dilution of the romantic spirit--Grieg and his songs--Minor romantic lyricists: Peter Cornelius, Adolph Jensen, Eduard Lassen, George Henschel, and Halfdan Kjerulf; Dvořák’s songs--French song-writers: Gounod and others; Saint-Saëns and Massenet; minor French lyricists--Edward MacDowell as song-writer; Nevin and others--Rubinstein and Tschaikowsky--English song.

PART IV. MODERN SONG LITERATURE

XIII. HUGO WOLF AND AFTER 330

Wolf and the poets of his time; Hugo Wolfs songs; Gustav Mahler; Richard Strauss as song-writer; Max Reger’s songs--Schönberg and the modern radicals.

XIV. MODERN FRENCH LYRICISM 346

Fauré and the beginning of the new--Chabrier, César Franck, and others--Bruneau, Vidal, and Charpentier--Debussy and Ravel.

XV. MODERN LYRICISTS OUTSIDE OF GERMANY AND FRANCE 364

The new Russian school: Balakireff, etc.; Moussorgsky and others--The Scandinavians and Finns--Recent English song-writers.

APPENDIX. THE FRENCH-CANADIAN FOLK-SONG 375

ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME FIVE

‘Saint Cecilia’; painting by Rubens _Frontispiece_

The Larynx (Line-cuts in text) 6-13

Apotheosis to Farinelli 44

Illustration for the ‘Roman de Fauvel’; fifteenth century print 74

Famous Singers of the Past (Malibran, Rubini, Lablache) 98

Famous Singers of the Past (Jenny Lind, Patti, Schroeder-Devrient, Viardot-García) 152

‘Das Veilchen’; Fac-simile of Mozart’s manuscript 178

Precursors of Schubert (Hiller, Reichardt, Zelter, Zumsteeg) 192

Poets of the Romantic Period (Hugo, Goethe, Schiller, Heine) 200

Robert and Clara Schumann 238

Famous Singers (Lilli Lehmann, Marcella Sembrich, Melba, Schumann-Heink) 286

Minor Romanticists (Löwe, Jensen, Lassen) 306

French and Scandinavian Song-Writers (Fauré, Pierné, Sjögren, Sinding) 346

Lieder Singers of Today (Julia Culp, Ludwig Wüllner, David Bispham, Elena Gerhardt) 364

THE VOICE AND VOCAL MUSIC

CHAPTER I THE VOCAL ORGANS, THEIR OPERATION AND HYGIENE

The vocal instrument; anatomy of the vocal organs; the healthy mechanism--The larynx; the laryngoscope; operations of the laryngeal muscles--Tone production; the resonating cavities; vowel formation; articulation--Vocal hygiene; incorrect tone production; throat stiffness and its cure.