Every
instrument, as I have just said, has a characteristic emotional
tone-color. But the emotions expressed by them are vague and
indefinite. A piece of instrumental music can express an eager,
passionate yearning for something, but it cannot tell what that
something is--whether it is the ardent longing of an absent lover, or
the heavenward aspiration of a religious enthusiast. The vocalist, on
the other hand, can clearly tell us the object of that longing by
using definite words. And by thus arousing reminiscences in the
hearer's mind, and adding the charm of poetry to that of music, he
doubles the power and impressiveness of his art.
Now, a very brief sketch of the history of solo singing will show that
this special advantage of the human voice over instruments was, if not
entirely overlooked, at least considered of secondary importance in
practice, until Gluck and Schubert laid the foundations for a new
style, in which the distinctively _vocal_ side of singing has
gradually become of greater importance than the instrumental side; as
we see in the music-dramas of Wagner, and the Lieder, or parlor-songs,
of Schumann, Franz, Liszt, and others.
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