Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 36.djvu/268

256 insular independence, has not conformed to the general rule in the matter, and the pitch has in this country actually risen to four hundred and fifty-eight vibrations. This result is largely due to the extraordinary impulse given to orchestral music by the genius of Costa, who, so long as he could get brilliant effects from his instruments, cared little for the consequences which the rise of pitch entailed on the voice. But it will be said, since it is all a matter of convention, why can not the pitch be lowered? I believe the chief obstacle is the expense which this would involve through the necessity of altering instruments. It has been estimated that it would cost eighty thousand pounds to alter those of the military bands alone, and politicians probably think that these are hardly the times to ask for money for such an object.

But worse even than the undue height of the pitch is the difference between this country and the rest of the civilized world which has just been referred to. Herr Joachim complains that he is obliged to begin screwing up his violin eight weeks before he comes to England, in order that the instrument may not be injured by a sudden change. It is not so easy, however, for the singer to prepare his delicately strung instrument in the same way, and the result is necessarily great strain to the vocal cords and throat generally. The high pitch used in England leads to the production of very disagreeable shrieking; notes are delivered which are in no sense artistically beautiful, and which only "split the ears of the groundlings." Nearly all singers are in favor of lowering the pitch. The sole exceptions are, I believe, the contraltos, whom a high pitch does not affect so much as it does others. I know of one justly celebrated contralto who produces an extraordinary effect by her low E. If the pitch were altered this vocal feat would no longer be so wonderful, and it is natural, therefore, that this lady should wish the present state of things to continue.

Perhaps, after all, the supposed scarcity of good voices may be more apparent than real. It is possible that it is not only the pitch but the standard of vocal excellence that has risen. We know how the general level of literary style has risen, and, in particular, how the art of melodious versification has been popularized, if I may use the expression, so that every cheap magazine, and even the poets' corner of provincial newspapers, contains copies of verses which would have earned considerable reputation for the authors a hundred and fifty years ago. It is immensely more difficult now to make a name by writing. May not something of the same kind be the case as regards singing? I fear we must not lay that flattering unction to our souls. Great singers are rarer nowadays than in former times, because voice-training is