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while the clearest and most brilliant timbre possible to be obtained is plainly indicated for the same composer’s “Sound an alarm!” from Judas Maccabæus.
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It was a rule formulated by the old Italian school of singing, when l’arte del bel canto in its true sense did really exist, that no phrase—musical or verbal—should be repeated with the same nuances. Very many instances might be given of the happy effect obtained by observing this rule. One will suffice. It is taken from the Lamento of Queen Catherine (of Aragon), who, slighted by Henry VIII. for Anne Boleyn, sighs for her native Spain.
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Sudden contrasts of colour are of great dramatic effect. A good illustration is found in the air “Divinités du Styx,” from Gluck’s Alceste. This contrast is still further heightened by a sudden change of both Intensity and Tempo.
