Books › Musical Courier 1913-11-12: Vol 67 Iss 20, 1913 › scan 23
Scan 23
Musical Courier 1913-11-12: Vol 67 Iss 20, 1913
78 lines. Read by computer on 26 September 2026. Printed page 24. See the scan on archive.org.
1THE APPLE OF DISCORD.
3Singers have been told how hard it is to acquire proper vocal and breath control, how difficult to master the art of phrasing, and how magnitudinous the task of perfecting one's self in the grand opera repertoire required nowadays. "When I have learned all that, however," argues the singer, "I shall be great."
5Not so fast, oh projector of tones, for here comes Umberto Sorrentino, who tells you in the Sunday Tribune Magazine that "only those whom Nature has endowed with long, strong jaws, high cheekbones, or generous Adam's apples, and a nose adequate for properly focusing the tone, can, or even dare, hope to become great." In explanation of this startling dictum, the Signor adds:
7The pitch and quality of a voice depend very largely upon the peculiar anatomical formation of the face, nose, and throat. The facial angles, the size and shape of the nose, and the prominence or lack of prominence of the "Adam's apple" (thyroid cartilage) determine the character, tone, and resonance of a voice. It works itself out with almost mathematical precision, this physical basis for voice classification.
9The man with a tenor voice invariably has high cheekbones. The upper part of his face is strongly developed. The arch beneath the orbit of the eye—that prominence which you feel when you pass your finger along the ridge of bone running from the outer corner of the eye to the bridge of the nose, formed by the union of the malar and the temporal bones, called by anatomists the "zygomatic arch"—is almost always full and prominent.
11The bassos and low baritones have a heavily developed lower face, thick lower jaw (inferior maxilla) and a protruding, sometimes almost an ungainly, Adam's apple. This is true to the extent of eighty-five per cent. of cases, in my experience; for of course the pitch of the voice is determined by the length of the vocal chords. The longer they are, the more slowly they vibrate, and the deeper the note they emit. And the longer they are, the bigger the larynx necessary to contain them; and the bigger the laryngeal cartilage, the more unblushingly it protrudes itself into the gaze of the world.
13An exception occurs with heavy dramatic tenors, or high, brilliant baritones, in whom the points of anatomical cleavage are obscured by "overlapping."
15All that is very interesting and perhaps true, but it does not prove anything in particular which is of use either to the budding or the fully flowered exponents of vocalism. As a rule, they sing with the pitch which Nature gave them, and when we read or hear of cases where baritones have been made into tenors, or contraltos into sopranos, the original mistake never was that of Nature, but always of man in the shape of an erring teacher or an obstinate pupil.
17One can change one's bodily contour to a certain extent by exercise, but it is not possible to change the shape of the cheekbones or to diminish or increase the size of the Adam's apple. Why, then, Signor Sorrentino, call the attention of an untold number of unhappy wretches to the results of your observations? Most of them will make a dash for a mirror when they read your remarks, and those who have large Adam's apples will bleed at the heart and rend their garments to think that the fame and fortune of a Caruso, a Bonci, a Melba, a Farrar, a Zenatello, never can be theirs.
19OPERATIC PHILANTHROPY.
21A new phase of genuine interest in local operatic doings is represented by the action of Frank Vanderlip, president of the National City Bank, who has been so much in the public eye for the past few weeks. Mr. Vanderlip is one of the directors of the Century Opera Company, and has opportunities to see the inner workings of that young but successful institution. Among the requests for tickets following the announcement of Otto H. Kahn, that he would distribute tickets to the musical pupils of the public schools, were many from students of singing. It is estimated that there are now about 10,000 vocal students in New York City, many of whom are here at a great financial sacrifice. Mr. Vanderlip feels that those students whose efforts are specifically in the direction of grand opera training should have an opportunity to study operatic problems at a closer range than is possible at the Metropolitan, and it is to this end that he has purchased a thousand tickets, to be distributed among students of singing. Herbert Wilber Greene, of Carnegie Hall, has charge of their distribution, and he is now getting in touch with vocal teachers to that end.
23MATTER FOR REFLECTION.
25An article by Dr. Frank Crane, called "Music," has been quoted widely in the American press, and offers much matter for reflection. Among other things he says:
27The average popular music of America today is without doubt the most base and evil ever in the world. It is without ingenuity, taste or musical value. It is as injurious as profanity. The wretched tunes are more deleterious than the smut words to which they are set.
29A generation of boys and girls brought up on Bach, Beethoven, Gounod and Wagner would have souls 100 per cent. higher in quality than the unfortunate children of today fed upon rag time and melodies of contemptible inanity.
31Our people are taught to have music made at them, not to make music themselves; a fatal, deadly mistake.
33The American cabaret is a ghastly and, to an intelligent person, a most boresome affair. Watch the hideous wriggling women and jumping males trying to entertain the eaters and drinkers, who sit with stolid, cheerless faces!
35There is no denying the force and truth of Dr. Crane's remarks. Our popular music, strictly considered, is all that he says, and his opinion of cabarets is shared by every person of decency and culture. Dr. Crane might have left Gounod out of his article, however, for with all the beauty of the melodies in the garden scene of "Faust," that episode is not one on which to allow the fancy of youth to dwell too lingeringly.
37SYMPHONIC WARSAW.
39The Warsaw (Poland) Philharmonic Society, which is conducted by Alexander Birnbaum, who was formerly a violinist and at one time a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, is to give a series of twelve concerts with interesting programs. The soloists engaged include Ysaye, Thibaud, Bumester, Enesco, Serato, Ganz, D'Albert, Pugno and Gerardy.
41WESTERN BREEZES.
43A waggish Chicago scribe, commenting on the Schönberg "Five Pieces" done there not long ago by the symphony orchestra, suggested: "Next time such music is played, subscribers of ten years' standing should be invited to bring musical instruments with them and participate in the performance."
45THE MUSICAL COURIER OF COURSE!
47For the information of "Inquirer," who wishes us to name the most important musical paper in Berlin, in Leipsic and in Vienna, we reply unhesitatingly that it is the MUSICAL COURIER. Next in importance come the Allgemeine Musik Zeitung (Berlin), the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (Leipsic) and the Wiener Konzertschau (Vienna).
49WHY AMERICAN GIRLS ARE POPULAR.
51Ned Wayburn, an American stage manager now in London, says that in the English capital chorus girls are selected for their voices and not for their shapeliness. That explains the popularity of American chorus girls when they go to London with musical pieces from this side.
53VARIATIONS
55Per bacco!
57Sacre bleu!
59Donnerwetter!
61All the opera singers are in town.
63Some pre-impressions of the Opera:
64"Manon": Geraldine Farrar's hat—Someone in the lobby saying, "Parbleu!"—Charles Henry Meltzer telling about Charpentier and Montmartre—Caruso's paunch—Geraldine Farrar's teeth—an intermezzo—the captain of a French liner walking in the lobby with the president of the Franco-American Soup Company—Geraldine Farrar's eyes.
66"Walküre": The immovable Hunding—Siegmund's legs—the soprano's husband—Alfred Seligsberg, the lawyer—many brewers—German bankers—Andreas Dippel—ill fitting dress suits—the leader's silhouetted muscular arm describing huge half circles and perpendicular plunges—Hertz bowing before the footlights—lights going wrong in the Hunding vs. Siegmund encounter—unknown boxholders—a restive horse—an usher humming "ho-jo-to-ho"—many old ladies—many taxicabs—someone saying "kolossal."
68"Aida": Destinn's braids—Amonasro's earrings—the sacred live stock in the procession scene—Buzz! Peccia and Gatti-Casazza in pianissimo converse near the water cooler—standees redolent of the pungent food flavorings of Italia—"Bis"—"Bravo"—"Sh!""—Pst!""—"Bis"—"Shut up"—"Bravo"—"Sssss"—"Bis"—long trumpets—long pauses—Italian journalists—Algernon St. John Brenon's eyeglass string and Max Smith's mustache crossing Broadway—Otto Weil and Herr Coppicus ducking in and out of a door marked "Private"—Messagiero and Il Re—incense—vestal virgins with fat pink tricot legs—William Chase wearing a muffler—Sylvester Rawling going back of stage—an Italian doctor—an excessively tall youth with an opera hat jammed over his ears, saying, "Bully, isn't it?" and going up to the box tier—greenish light on the Nile and a jerky boat—a number of priests dressed in white entering together, standing together, gesturing together, singing together, leaving together—Nahan Franko's fur coat—Reginald De Koven's vest—ushers saying, "Don't block the aisles"—Caruso taking off his helmet to bow—Victor Maurel smoking cigarettes upstairs—men carrying opera glasses—new white gloves—Oscar Saenger's lobby glide—Punam Griswold saying, "Ja, ja, natürlich"—William Guard's proud silk tie—an anxious parquet lady saying, "The program gives the Astor box as No. 7, but surely Vincent Astor doesn't wear white side-whiskers."
70The legend runs that Gustave Doré put this musical rebus over the portals of his house in the environs of Paris: Do, Mi, Si, La, Do, Ré. One of the painter's friends discovered that the device, pronounced quickly, meant "Domicile à Doré."
72By "Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph," this—upon our honor—was transmitted to the New York Sunday Times from Berlin, under date of November 8, 1913:
73"Prof. Goettel, Director of the Department of Surgery at the University of Kiel, announces the complete success of an extraordinary operation performed by removing the fourth finger of a patient's left hand and replacing it by the second toe of his left foot.
74"The patient, a violinist, injured his finger and a painful swelling resulted. He was treated for four months and then amputation became necessary. It was decided that the toe would form the best substitute, both in size and shape, and possibly enable the man to continue his vocation. Within a month the patient was able to move his new finger. Now he has resumed his violin playing."
75It goes without saying, of course, that the patient will be especially skillful in the playing of toccatas.
77What we wish to have determined is the exact value of program books which are pushed into the hands of patrons at symphony concerts and contain passages like this: "In the opening movement there is a short introduction in B flat, 3-4 time, and then the woodwinds announce a broad theme accompanied by violin figures. These develop into a climax which gradually diminishes, as a broken triplet rhythm is heard for French horn and bassoon. This subject is taken up by various instruments and treated contrapuntally. Then follow some passages for muted strings, and the flute is heard intoning a theme of a pastoral character. A syncopated solo episode for celli precedes an andante transition which signifies the return to the first theme. This now is sounded, crescendo, against rapid runs in the violins and double basses, lead-
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