As a vocal teacher, Wagner has perhaps never had an
equal. A few words from him regarding tone emission, breathing, or
phrasing, have often sufficed to show to a singer that a passage which
he had considered unsingable, was really the easiest thing in the
world, if only the poetic sense were properly grasped and the breath
economized. It is difficult to realize how much of their art and
popularity the greatest dramatic singers of the period owe to Wagner's
personal instruction. Materna, Malten, Brandt, Tichatschek, Schnorr
von Carolsfeld, Niemann, Vogl, Winkelmann, Betz, Scaria, Reichmann,
and many others have had the benefit of his advice; and if Wagner
could have carried out his plans of establishing a college of dramatic
singing at Bayreuth--a plan which was frustrated by the lack of
funds--the cause of dramatic art would have gained immeasurably. We
speak with scornful contempt of the Viennese of a former generation,
who allowed a rare genius like Schubert to starve; but posterity will
look back with quite as great astonishment on the sluggishness of a
generation which did not eagerly accept the offer of the greatest
dramatic composer of all times, to instruct gratuitously a number of
pupils in his own style and those of Gluck, Mozart, and Weber.
Pages:
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236