Herr Hey, too, admits that there is no branch of the Italian
method which the German teachers can afford to ignore. In the emission
of a mellow tone, the use of the portamento, in the treatment of
scales, of trills, and of other ornaments, and in facile vocalization
in general, all nations can learn from the Italians. But the Italian
method does not go far enough. It does not meet the demands of the
modern opera and the modern music-drama. It delights too much in
comfortable solfeggios, in linked sweetness long drawn out, which soon
palls on the senses. The modern romantic and dramatic spirit demands
more characteristic, more vigorous, more varied accents than Italian
song supplies. These dramatic accents are supplied by the German
method, and in this chiefly lies its superiority over the Italian
method.
Herr Hey uses a very happy comparison in trying to show the bad
consequences of relying too much on the Italian principles of vocal
instruction which have been current until lately in Germany as in all
other countries. Students, he says, are taught to fence with a little
walking-cane, and when it comes to the decisive battle they are
expected to wield a heavy sword.
Pages:
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241