MENC: The National Association for Music Education

Singing in Style: Romantic Author(s): Edward F. Menerth, Jr. Source: Music Educators Journal, Vol. 53, No. 2 (Oct., 1966), pp. 79-83 Published by: MENC: The National Association for Music Education Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3390782 . Accessed: 11/04/2011 13:12
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Singing in
* Individualism, both national and personal, was the greatest single stylistic influence on nineteenthcentury music. Encouraged by the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815), Louis XVIII had brought the Bourbons back to the throne of France, the German Confederation was sanctioned, England gained the seeds of an eternally sun-lit empire, and Austria secured a stranglehold on Italy. In this process, Nationalism, as a consciously-articulated emotional ideal rather than as an uncertain groping for political identity, flourished. By mid-century, Napoleon III was reestab-

Style:
(PART I)

Romantic
fought to be recognized as unique. Intimidated by the uneasy dominions of science and industry and ambivalent about the relaxing of religious controls, man sought within himself for the eternal verities. Hence, all nineteenth-century composers (Romantic, Pre-romantic, Post-romantic, Neo-romantic, and even Anti-romantic) tend to hold one belief in common: the intrinsic value and unlimited potential of the individual human soul. Those who wished each such soul to yield itself to them and share in a basically mystical experience wrote music which might, to bor-

by Edward F. Menerth, Jr.

lished in France, Italian patriots had begun the activities that were to result in a unified kingdom by 1870, Bismarck was at work designing a German empire, and Victorian England was ready to act on Disraeli's imperial dreams. Everywhere smaller countries aped the example of their larger neighbors, and short-sighted pride in provincial distinctions pressed a heavyhanded stamp upon music that only twentieth-century "atonality" was to eradicate. Within the macrocosms of the rising individual States, the microcosms of each individual soul also

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row a term from the theatre, be called "Representational." Others bared their own souls and gave the lush musical wings in an attempt to touch the masses, and to their music the theatre's use of the "Presentational" concept is appropriate. The desire to move and stimulate a growing middle-class audience, in combination with the search to find a balance between traditional form and modern content, resulted in a change in the general function of music. Verbally-oriented, the new audiences brought about an alteration in the literary-music relationship as their need grew for described experience and superficial sensation. Music became nationalistic, naturalistic, and narcissistic, serving the State, the virtuoso, and, finally, emotion itself. All these forces by their very nature presupposed a separation from form, and thereby implied an increased emphasis on content. Instrumental music became programmatic, and opera, grand. There are three major clues to performance of nineteenth-century music which can be deduced from the nature of the music itself. First, composers often responded to new demands with music resulting in the visceral impact of sheer weight of sound. Orchestras and choruses grew, and, one is tempted to add, sopranos and tenors. Once the attention of an audience was secured in this way, composers relied on the axiom that music should communicate something extra-musical, and this notion of music as directly communicative language defines the singer's second clue. Third, nationalistically-inspired love of country instilled a reverence for nature that implies the last performance characteristic. Together, these three signify a new element of symbolism which considerably enlarges the expressive vocabulary of the performer. As in earlier periods, however, these changes from "Classic" to "Romantic" were gradual. The paradoxes and contrasts, summarized by the "representational" and "presentational" designation noted above, can be illuminated in terms of absolute versus program music, or as objective versus subjective. However, the underlying mood favors the subjective, as the focus
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sharpens on the individual performer's own mental and emotional qualities. That impulse toward a humanized performance style first noted in the seventeenth century is coming to complete fruition, eventually to reach a peak of almost completely personalized interpretation. Never has the singer had such a need to draw on his own resources, nor such a responsibility to train those resources to meet this challenge.
U The "transition" period is best personified by Beethoven, last of the great Classicists and first of the great Romanticists. He was born at the inception of the late eighteenth-century reaction against artificiality articulated in Rousseau's "return to nature" movement, and he died a champion of individual man and democratic ideas. Never at the service of the aristocracy (rather, vice versa), he was free to "think," and work slowly, carefully, and deliberately on sketch after sketch. His uncompromising idealism is seen in the full scope of an emotional range from tragedy to humor, and a deep concern for the world in which he lived is reflected in the sensitivity and sincerity of his music. The man who freed music" is not always, singers must remember, the titan pounding at the gates. Beethoven's expression of the individual opened a new era of composition. A superior knowledge and control of the craft, in combination with a driving need to explore and a dauntless insistence upon penetrating to the very core of experience, caused his creative act to spring from urgent inner necessity. As he developed, enriching the texture and expanding the forms of music, he grew in awareness of the fact that the best master is actually the one who serves, and his increasing service to this ideal became his identification with life. Service to the music and a sympathy with all that is life are the performer's strongest intellectual tools when preparing Beethoven's vocal music. Purely musical characteristics of which singers should be aware concern first, the manner in which a vocal line fuses with its textual inspiration. Beethoven would only use texts with which he himself could become personally involved,

and, working then from withini the libretto he attempted to literally transform words into tones. Though this frequently meant that "melodies" appear short-lined and fragmented, it does not follow that he was insensitive to the special problems of dealing with the human voice. (An example of his concern for it can be found in

Moscheles' diary, where, after doing a transcription for Beethoven, he reported that "Where I had written down the text 'Retterin ties Gat-ten' he crossed it out and wrote 'Rett-erin des Gatt-en' for it was not possible to sing on "t'.") These melodies will seem less irregular if the performer bears in mind that they are frequently shared with instruments, and cross rhythms and sforzandi are to be considered integral to them. The position of the activity is always of extreme importance in Beethoven as it often results in off-beat accents, phrase beginnings, and concealed cadences which require of the singer both intense concentration and a high degree of technical skill. One never finds occasion for vocal virtuosity simply employed for its own sake, but rather as a representational way of expressing feelings derived from personal experience. Secondly, to express these feelings, Beethoven, an accentual composer relied heavily on dynamics as a device similar to a writer's underscoring and exclamation marks. Occasionally, however, these markings seem to highlight the basic inadequacy of any kind of notational system, and singers should never assume that simply to follow these instructions is enough. If one asks himself, in the abstract, "How loud is mf?", he will realize immediately that this is a relative matter and that only a thorough understanding of its use within a specific context can suggest a practical answer. There will be a considerable decibel difference, for example, between its use in a vocal line that is declarative and one that is lyric in intent. Finally, the controversial matter of tempo must be squarely faced. A certain degree of flexibility is permissible which may be deduced from Beethoven's own reaction to Mlaelzel's newly-invented metroMUSIC EDUCATORS JOURNAL

nome when he wrote on the manuscript of his song Nord oder Sud: "100 according to Maelzel. But this must be applicable only to the first measures, for feeling also has its tempo and this cannot be entirely expressed in this figure." It should nevertheless be emphasized that a basic principle of time is requisite except for those places where the poetic concept demands freedom from "the tyranny of the barline" in order that it be most effectively expressed. While it is specifically prescribed, passages can be found where the total impact of Beethoven's markings results in today's concept of rubato. This is clearly revealed through a gradual modification of time signatures. Performers will discover that close adherence to them will produce the desired effect. Otherwise, let the text be the guide. In moments of spirited expression or especially intense emotion, a conscious use of rubato, under complete control, will serve the music nicely. Beethoven uses the expressivo designation as an indication of a ritardando or rallentando, and the same techniques are in order at the ends of cadences, time transitions, and where the tempo giusto does not allow for full clarity of either text or ornament. Still, nothing-not even rubatomust interfere with sustaining the underlying harmonic rhythm that is, possibly, Beethoven's most notable characteristic. SA brief look at some of the most popular of Beethoven's vocal works may help illustrate some of these principles. The "Choral"movement of the Ninth Symphony, for example, must be considered as much for its dramatic elements as from a simple attempt to produce a greater climax than the orchestra alone could accomplish. Wagner, after all, admitted that "the musicalpoetic synthesis in this final movement paved the way for the ideal drama," and, despite Czerny's report that Beethoven contemplated another revision, its implicit rhetorical structure from the contrabasses' introductory recitative to the final peroration must be considered in the design of its performance as an inflexible dramatic unity. The Missa Solemnis, clearest inOCTOBER, NINETEEN SIXTY-SIX

dication Beethoven has given of his deep devotion to and comprehension of the basic meaning of the church service, is an outstanding example of the early nineteenthcentury concept that music must assume an "uplifting" function. Behind the use of concise and plastic leading themes and wide variety of imitative devices is a concentrated thoughtfulness toward use of text that has rarely been equalled. So far as text-painting itself is concerned, the singer must realize that almost every single word becomes its own musical motif, often having grown organically from a natural

''Verbally-oriented, the new audiences brought about an alteration in the literary-music relationship as their need grew for described experience and superficial sensation.

with a technique capable of producing the top tones without strain and an absolute minimum of "white" showing through. To summarize the performance techniques required, it must always be remembered that Beethoven inherited certain systems of musical design, and that the singer needs a thorough knowledge of, and the discipline to adhere to, this omnipresent underlying form. In the search for a proper tempo, clarity and distinct execution are the basic requisites, demanding educated judgment and discriminating taste. Huge reserves of breath are needed to sustain long lines of vocal counterpoint without loss of the capability to deal with sudden contrasts of dynamics as well as crescendi and decrescendi. And, finally, one must bring to this vocal literature a wide tonal range and control. Beethoven casts an enormous shadow, setting a standard for comparison which intimidated and haunted many who came after. Still, there are those who maintain that his vocal music is basically unsingable. This is not true. It simply demands that the singer share the same ideal of human perfection that the composer mined from the profound depths of his own vision. * The chief representational development in vocal form of the nineteenth century was the Lied, an intimate musical-literary relationship of the finest subtlety. Its earliest manifestations were in the efforts of the Minnesingers and Meistersingers, but its concept was later enlarged under the influence of the ballad. The form of the music is determined by the text, whether strophic or non-strophic, but its lyrical content exerts a tremendous pressure on the singer's sensibility to poetic gesture. For even as the great Lieder achieve a perfect wedding of form to content, so must the Lieder singer achieve a like blend of mind and matter. Perhaps more than in any other form of vocal literature, the Lied offers to the singer a role as cocreator. In performance, each song must achieve a life of its own, a vitality whose essence lies specifically in the act of recreating, not reproducing. This calls for the acquired technique of producing a warm, smooth vocal tone, enlivened
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rhythmic inflection that involves the meaning of that word both connotatively and denotatively. Note, for instance, the otherworldly setting for Incarnatus, the repressed agony of Crucifixus, the virile affirmation of the Credo. Fidelio must be interpreted in a spiritual context, one that reaches an inevitable conclusion in the choral Finale. To this end is a relentless dramatic movement, although there might not be much conventional dramatic activity. Within each aria the psychological momentum directly advances an internal development toward an inevitable conclusion. As an example one could cite Florestan's composite aria (with integrated recitative) at the beginning of Act II, where there is a clear psychological progression from despair to hope. The singer must not only project this movement, but do so

with color and controlled in intensity, and an instinct for interpretation which can penetrate incisively to the dramatic heart of a lyric and translate its basic mood into sound. To this end, the partnership of voice and accompaniment is one of equals, and extensive rehearsals and discussions become mandatory. Each has his rights; each has his duties. Only the philosophic concept or dramatic expression of the song is superior in this musical manage &trois. Schubert, the master melodist whose some six hundred or so Lieder established the "art song" as a musical means of expressing dramatic vignettes, sets the style for the generations to come. His early training and associations had been more literary than musical, strongly influenced by the Sturm und Drang movement, and his concern for text never slackened. Admirers rightfully claim that he reached not only to the heart of the poem, instantaneously, but also to the heart of the poet, so that his use of textpainting becomes simultaneously a literal and emotive device. All of Schubert's musical arts, in fact, are subordinated to illumination of the poetry. His most distinctive contribution of interest to the performer is the creation of lovely melodies, requiring an artful simplicity of rendition that one associates with folk singing. The problem of subjective feeling versus objective representation is readily resolved in the light of the wide variety of emotions that can be covered in a single work. Heavily-annotated expression marks are clues to the introduction of the composer's desire for the fullest employment of vocal color in the service of creating a mood. A study of the way the motif found in the roots of the song is repeated and contrasted sheds even further light on the desired mood. This makes it necessary for the singer first to find the basic melodic motif and then its sequencing, often based on harmonic modulations, yet always intended, imaginatively and intellectually, to render the text freely and graphically. A wide dynamic range that suffers no loss of dramatic fervor or intensity in quiet passages is another requisite in singing these capsule music dramas. Transitions,
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particularly in those songs that are through-composed, from a lyric to a declamatory style, put an emphasis on the singer's strength of rhythmic sense. Extreme care for and attention to detail make further demands on immaculate diction and a broad spectrum of shading. Above all, however, Schubert was essentially the melodist whose mind functioned most characteristically in terms of song. This quality appears equally in Schubert's larger works. Although his operas are rarely performed, his superb Masses are deserving of comment. Here again are found rising sequences and repeated phrases used as techniques to underscore the "universally personal" emotion which derives from the overall setting. Soloists in the Mass in G, for example, will want to bring a complete accuracy in dealing with such subtle devices as the falling minor sixth and frequent intervals of the minor third. The choir is entirely dependent upon its conductor for the precise handling of quick crescendi and decrescendi, and for most effective delineation between the staccato and legato contrasts in the Credo. * Brahms' vocal literature, from the aphoristic to full-scale compositions, reveals the chaste master as less the intellectual composer than is generally conceded. His difficult rhythmic counterpoint, wide intervals, use of arpeggio figures, double fugues, characteristic triumphant triplets, and sonorous harmonies require a high degree of musicianship, true, but the singer is best advised to bear in mind that beneath the musicianship of the composer was a great sensitivity to
This article is the fourth in a series on the subject of vocal interpretation in which stylistic features of all periods are explored from the historical viewpoint with careful consideration for the musical characteristics which present particular problems for vocalists. The first article in the series, "Singing in Style: Renaissance," appeared in the April-May 1966 issue. Successive articles featuring the Baroque and Classical periods have appeared in the June-July 1966 and the September 1966 issues of the Journal. The author of this series is the Executive Director of the Fort Wayne Fine Arts Foundation, Fort Wayne, Indiana.

peasant tunes and gypsy melodies, and a guiding interest in spirited Another notebookexpression. keeper, Brahms lavished much of his slow and careful process of creation on such considerations as those of color in tonal positions. And, although he allowed text to control melody, musical considerations controlled form. In large choral passages, as a matter of fact, communicating the basic mood of the text is more important than the intelligibility of each individual word. The double fugues in the non-liturgical Ein deutsches Requiem, for example, are more a part of the general mood of overcoming the terror of death than they are the musical setting of specific Biblical passages. On the other hand, the Vier ernste Gesiinge, virtually a solo cantata, discloses a great deal of near-syllabic text-setting, and although also romantically concerned with transcendency over death, puts much stronger emphasis on articulation. His Lieder, for which he generally favored a strophic form, require, first and foremost, the communication of a mood: elegiac, subjective, resigned, or reflective. The love of extra-musical associations, self-expression, and fundamental long-line lyricism are Schumann's gifts to performers, and make him the most Romantic of all. He even managed to personalize Bachian counterpoint into a "conversational exchange." The deliberate ambiguities of Heine's poems especially beguiled him when selecting Lied texts. The singers must share this deep fascination with poetic fantasy and mystery. Schumann's warm and expressive Lieder further require the singer to accept the pianoforte as an equal, even to the extent of sharing melodies with the accompaniment. The technique here is to sustain, silently and with great concentration, the continuation of a musical idea and then to enter with no breaking of the line. Melody is all, and structure merely a clothesline on which themes are hung for display. Because of this, the performer must beware of rhythmic monotony and find within the meaning of the text his varieties of intonation. Schumann's models in German Romantic opera only serve to emphasize his intrinsic lack of genuine theatrical
MUSIC EDUCATORS JOURNAL

sensitivity and inability to sustain lengthy build-ups to climax. Too often the parts seem more important than the whole, and the burden on the singer in performance becomes one of imposing a smooth emotional shape to the square-cut, improvisational nature of the "development" sections. In his choral works, it is important to reflect in performance that older types of recitatives have now been replaced with a more melodic type of declamation. [ Mahler, rather than indulging in text-painting (aside from such general techniques as the use of a darker tone in Das Lied von der Erde when speaking of "night"), used texts as points of departureand was at his supreme best when writing for the voice. The most general clue to his style is the combination of sensuousness and apprehension seen in his careful alternation of variety and unity within a generally tight organization. This dualism has the capability of sustaining long works, but resists the extraction of individual components from larger wholes. Performers should note his intricate dynamic markings, tremendous interest in tonal color, seen especially in the precision of his choices of colnstituent parts, and even such seemingly minor instructions as when to sit and when to stand-instructions which have a perceivable effect on the "sound" of the voice. This composer's heart-searching "symphonic" song cycles mark a change in function of the Lied from Schubert's "chamber" to the larger concert halls, and therefore, a corresponding change in performance technique. To find the balance between that which is personal and that which is universal in the creation of a particular character, complete involvement in the textual setting is needed. But a conscious exercise of linguistic techniques must also be drawn upon in order to cope with Mahler's subtle manipulation of the German language in such works as the Kindertotenlieder. Primarily, however, a strong and beautiful vocal tone must be produced with particular care that is not sacrificed in dealing with the unusual leaps, extended ranges, and large orchestral forces this composer delights in using.
OCTOBER. NINETEEN SIXTY-SIX

"Beethoven . intimidated and haunted all who came after."

Wolf, a "psychologist in music," aimed at a faithful rendition of the text, but his overall impact is in the creation of a vague longing for the unattainable which often calls for a shaded, mystic quality on the part of the singer. Second only to this is the necessity for rapid changes of mood, with little or no preparation, calling for rapid modulation or the unexpected device of chromatic voice-leading. Special care must also be accorded appogiaturas, nearly always representative of Wolf's great respect for the poet and desire to create an overall atmosphere composed of a mosaic of moods. Although the singer's line is often in declamatory or arioso style, it never loses its essential vocal character. * In the field of Romantic vocal literature of a representational nature, the varieties of music for the Church merit brief attention. The first major statement that can be made is with regard to the enlargement of media due to expanding orchestras and choruses; and the second concerns the extent to which national traits and secularization were accepted into formerly restricted forms. A proliferation of new forms mingled with the old, with some returns to the "Golden Age" of Bach and Palestrina, to monody and a cappella styles, the freest use of the anthem since Renaissance times, a stretching of the liturgical Mass beyond the limits of reverence, a formalization of the Lutheran Deutsche Messe, and enough variety in re-awakening musical England to warrant its own paragraph. On the island country Mendelssohn replaced Handel as the ruling passion, and the Romantic oratorio met the tests of being both respectfully old and within the bounds of the influential evangelicals' insistence upon propriety. The selfimposed disciplines of later Victorian life found compensations in

the roulades and arias of Italian opera, but this was tolerated only because it was foreign. Locally, the unblemished strain of vocal purity was maintained through endless variations on those "Lo, the Gentle Lark" things which ask only of a singer the discipline of utter sincerity and subjection to the material. Choral singing, given impetus by the Massed Choirs at the Crystal Palace, the Worcester Three Choirs-Festival, the continuing tradition of the Choir Schools themselves, and the invention of the Tonic Sol-Fa system of notation, caused Anglican church services to be much adorned with choir and voice anthems that sustained traditional forms. In performing such works, choral style will depend on a knowledge of when the chorus was meant simply as a division of larger forces, and when it was meant to be, itself, in the spotlight. Knowing whether the work was intended for concert, stage, or Church production will also affect performance considerations. These are vital questions, for the main strength in many works of the Spohr-Liszt-Mendelssohn canons is, indeed, the use of the chorus. Whether oratorio or cantata, and no matter if found, actually, in Protestant England or Germany, sheer weight of vocal sound is frequently the chief aim in performance. In Catholic France, Berlioz' Grande Mlesse des Mlortes (and the Te Deum) relies on extreme contrasts in dynamics as a key to keeping the grandiose medium under control, while Gounod's non-liturgical "St. Cecelia" Mass deviates so far from the prescribed text as to have song interpolations in the Agnus Dei. Liszt's "Hungarian Coronation" Mass provides opportunity of singing chant themes, but raises severe problems in choral intonation. These and other "abuses" of the Church music idiom were directly responsible for the issuance by Pope Pius X in 1903 of the Moto proprio, which unilaterally struck all "dramatic" music from Roman Catholic church use. The above information covers only representational aspects of Romantic vocal literature. The presentational styles, along with those identified chiefly with the theatre, are the subject of Part II. 1
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