Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 3.djvu/527

SINGING. , Brahms (many of whose songs are of great power), Rubinstein, Jensen, Franz, Grieg, Kjerulf, have given us a collection of precious jewels. The lighter writers, Kücken, Eckert, etc., have also produced a number of charming Lieder. French songs are many of them very graceful, original, and attractive. Those of Gounod are often charming; and in his songs Berlioz is for once natural, simple, and exquisitely beautiful. The chamber-songs of the Italians are, like our own, too uniform, but they are always thoroughly singable, and those of Gordigiani, Mariani, De Giosa, etc., are original to boot. It is to the old writers that we look for the best Italian chamber-songs. Amongst our modern English song- writers, Sterndale Bennett, Hullah, Salaman, Macfarren, Sullivan, Cowen, Seymour Egerton, Hubert Parry, F. Clay, Michael Lawson, Villiers Stanford, Maude White, etc., and of foreign composers Benedict, Agnes Zimmermann (both almost English), Gounod, Blumeuthal, Henschel, Pinsuti, have supplied us with works that ought to keep the public taste at a proper level. But there has been an insidious influence at work which has had more to do with vitiated taste and bad voice-production amongst amateurs than is perhaps generally supposed—the Music Hall. Young men lounge into music halls, and hear imbecile songs sung in a tone of voice that is simply sickening. They sing these songs at home in the same tone; the songs themselves, with illustrated title-pages, are found, perhaps, lying between two sonatas of Beethoven, or two songs of Mozart; and have infinitely more effect, in many cases, upon the tone of voice in singing or even speaking than any precepts of an instructor. It is with reference to such influences that the nature of abstract music was dwelt upon at the beginning of this article—that is to say, its power of expression, apart from mere tune; and if this and the influence of pure pronunciation were more felt than they are, our general style of singing would be very much above what it is.

It is greatly to be regretted that there is not a career of pure chamber-singing in this country. That is to say, that those (and there are many such) with sympathetic voices and refined style, but without sufficient power for large spaces, should have so few chances of making a position for themselves. They are forced to pass through the ordeal of trying their powers in vast public places where they are heard to disadvantage, and are often unjustly condemned; whereas if judged upon their merits in their legitimate sphere, they would be fully appreciated. Perhaps this will come with a general elevation of public taste.

It is much to be desired that students of singing should at the same time become good musicians. The publisher of the 'Solféges du Conservatoire, par Cherubim',' etc., in his preface, properly lays great stress on this point, and on the necessity, to this end, of the study of vocalizzi by the best composers, so that the taste may be formed with the formation of the voice. A strong proof of the low ebb at which the art of singing now lies in this country is the very small musical knowledge that the bulk of singers find sufficient for their purpose. It is customary to cite the names of one or two specially gifted individuals who made great names without musical knowledge. These are but the exceptions that prove the rule. The fact would be more obvious were it not the custom in this country to 'hammer away' at the same pieces until they are worn out. The great singers of former times who originated and perfected the good school were, the greater part of them, good musicians; indeed the older teachers—Caccini, Pistocchi, Scarlatti, Porpora, etc.—themselves great contrapuntists, would not have it otherwise. The music of Sebastian Bach and his school absolutely requires the singer to be a musician in order to do it justice. To sing a few ballads does not. Later masters—Crescentini, Garcia, Mazzucato, Randegger, etc.—have been good musicians, and it is a matter of the first and last importance that a proper study of the theory of music should be considered an indispensable branch of the singer's education that is to say, if the art is to rise to the level at which it should be. [ H. C. D. ]

SINGAKADEMIE,, one of the most important art-institutions in Germany. Its founder was Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch, born 1736 and appointed in 1756 cembalist to Frederic the Great of Prussia, after whose death he led a quiet and retired life in Berlin as music teacher and composer. The Singakademie originated with some attempts made by Fasch and a few of his pupils and musical friends to perform his own sacred compositions for mixed voices. The actual Akademie was founded on Thursday, May 24, 1791, and up to the present time the weekly practices are still held on a Thursday. The original members were 27, thus distributed:—7 soprani, 5 alti, 7 tenors, and 8 basses. The society was at first entirely private, the meetings taking place at the house of Frau Voitus (Unter den Linden, no. 59, afterwards Charlottenstrasse no. 61). This character it retained even after the practices were held in a room at the Royal Academy of Arts, the use of which was granted to the Singakademie Nov. 5, 1793. The first of the regular public performances took place at Easter 1801. The proceeds were at first devoted to charitable objects, but after the Akademie had, in 1827, erected its own buildings, where the meetings are still held, and which contains the best concert-room in Berlin, it became necessary to have performances for the benefit of the Institution, and these are still carried on. The object of the founder was to promote the practice of sacred music both accompanied and unaccompanied, but especially the latter. The society at first confined itself to Fasch's compositions, singing amongst others his 16-part Mass a cappella, but in a short time pieces by Durante, Graun, Leo, Lotti, etc., were added. The first oratorio of Handel's put in rehearsal was Judas Maccabeus (1795). The original purpose of the