David Bispham.
August, 1914.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME FIVE
| PAGE | ||
| Introduction by David Bispham | [vii] | |
| Part I. The Vocal Mechanism | ||
| CHAPTER | ||
| I. | The 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. | ||
| V. | Folk-songs | [100] |
| 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] | |
| Index | [380] |
ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME FIVE
| ‘Saint Cecilia’; painting by Rubens | Frontispiece |
| The Larynx (Line-cuts in text) | [6]-[13] |
| Facing Page | |
| Apotheosis to Farinelli | [44] |
| Manuel García | [58] |
| 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] |
| Robert Franz | [268] |
| Famous Singers (Lilli Lehmann, Marcella Sembrich, Melba, Schumann-Heink) | [286] |
| Minor Romanticists (Löwe, Jensen, Lassen) | [306] |
| Hugo Wolf | [332] |
| 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.
An acquaintance with the anatomical structure of the vocal organs, together with an understanding of the acoustic laws bearing on their operations, is usually held necessary to a competent knowledge of the principles of voice culture. A rather tedious course of study is indeed demanded for this purpose. But it will be our aim to present this portion of our subject briefly, touching only on those points which are essential to a practical grasp of vocal methods. For a more extended treatment of the anatomy of the organs of voice and breathing any standard text-book of anatomy may be consulted. It is, however, hoped that our outline of the subject will suffice for the purposes of the general reader.