MUSIC AND MUSICIANS.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 14275, 10 February 1912, Page 5

MUSIC AND MUSICIANS.

(By "Strad.")

After a phenomenally brilliant career on the operatic as well as on the concert boards, covering a space of no lo*a than forty years, Madame Albani, the Canadian "Queen of Song," as die is styled, has, or at least imagines she has. made her last public appearance- at Homo. Her reminiscences, just published, should ba highly interesting reading, for, apart from the light thrown upon her own life and doings, she must have come in contact with almost evwy musical celebrity of the whole long period.

Her views on singing, founded upon the teaching of the great Milanese maestro, Lamperti, who may claim to have inherited the traditions of the much-quoted and practically extinct Italian ''bel canto" school, have been extracted by .Mr iCruest Bergholt in si recent interview published in "Musical Opinion." Lamperti's maxim was that "tho art of singing -was the art of breathing." He did not say, "You have sung well," but "You have breathed well." Madame Albani acknowledges ncno of the various theories, each m turn described as tho only correct method of breathing, either abdominal, lateral or central, which, is the latest one advanced by Dr. -Aikin, the physicist. "My way is just the quiet, lony; ami deep inspiration as in sleep, ending in a long, gradual, perfectly controlled expiration, without waste, whilst , singing even broad, sustained phrases. All my pupils have to perform this siniplo exercise eoveral times a day Oh, as regards the registers I —(with an air of complete indifference) —them are, of course, three. The maestro never spoke or allowed us to think of them. 1 hear them in others, yet in tho correctly-produced voice they soon disappear." But you feel that at a certain point in the higher octave tho notes seem to pass backwards ami up into the head? "Certainly, but there is no adjustment required, no alteration in position of palate, tongue or mouth, provided tho breath is perfectly controlled. 1 sing U flat, C and D (meaning, of course, tho middle C) from tho chest, occasionally E flat for special effect, but never 10. Contralto voices may sometimes go as high as G as the extreme limit." I disapprove, for ■women at least, of the "coup do glotte" prescribed by Signor Garcia. As fco men's voices, I cannot tell. (The "coup do glotte" means an explosive way oi* attack by sharply liberating air). She permits three practices a day of twenty minutes each, extended with growing proficiency to thirty minutes, always allowing adequate intervals of rest. Finally questioned regarding the merits of English singers of the present day. she thinks that there are- many good and very, very few great singers among them. 'They are in too groat a hurry to accept engagements before acquiring tho requisite artistic equipment." Necessarily this is only a short but comprehensive extract of what', she said, the interviewer omitting points J of importance, such as the use of vowels, etc.

The great singer lias proved the soundness and connnon-sense of her contentions by training up some very fino voiqws, since of late she has devoted her tims exclusively to tuition. A critic describes one of them as the voice of an angel. Altogether, by degrees, teachers of singing talk less glibly in. these days o! their scientific methods, involving; deep study of the physiology of tho voice, and the use of , the" laryngoscope, Manuel Garcia's valuable invention for locating disease of tho throat, ..already' , reverts bacK to tho skilleH"hands"of'■■"the- medical expert, which it never should have left. Hard as it is, singing masters of the future may havo to bo content with the "invisible-" "halo of recent discovery, as far as science is concerned at any .rate, but they will become better musicians than many of,them may pretend to be at the present time.

It seems as if Wagner's music acted upon Ruskin much like tho proverbial α-ed rag. In Mr E. T. Cook's "Life of Ruskin" appears the following letter to Mrs Burne-Jones: —"Of all tho clumsy, blundering, boggling, baboonblooded stuff I ever saw on a human stage, that thing last night, 'Tho Meistersingers,' beat, as far as tho story and the acting went, and of all the affected, sapless, soulless, beginningloss, endless, topless, bottomless, topsyturviest, tuneless, serannelpipiest, tongs and boniest doggerel of sounds I ever endured tho deadliness of, that eternity of nothing was the deadliest, as far as thts music went. As regards tho 'Preislied,' I never made out where it began or whore it ended, except by the fellow's coming off the horse-block." It i.s to be hoped that Ruskin did not overvalue himself as a musical critic, but his amazing skill in tho coinage Hud artistically overpowering molto crescendo use of adjective. , ; might be helpful to some readers of "The Press."'

We lived hitherto under the delusion that the music of tho Red Indian consisted of blood-curdling yells and discordant noises, striking terror m tho hearts of their enemies. The American Congress, however,. has recently taken active steps to preserve, largoly by the use of the phonograph, -what is called "A priceless heritage.of musical lore." In ecstatic: terms tho beauty nud majesty of: many Indian compositions, joined to a fanciful and poetic mythology, is extolled. Music was provided' for every public ceremony, and also for important individual acts. Plural singing, generally in unison, with paid leaders, seemed to flourish, and resulted even, in hotly-contested "competitions." Tho Smithsonian Institute is charged with the responsibility of collecting and sifting all the available material, and, in addition to its historical and musical value, it in expected that its treasures may become a source of inspiration for composers and librettists, of futuro generations.

In America men contrive even to die in original ways. Not long ago, a musical enthusiast and millionaire expired virtually in tho big drum, tumbling into it during a rehearsal. But he is now - eclipsed by a black pastor at :i olaco called Jackson, who, having excited his coloured brethren to deeds of violence, was sentenced to death by hanging. A variety of circumstances induced the sheriff to select the operatic stage of tho place as a convenient spot for tho erection of tho gallows. A scene representing a glittering bailroom was already &et, and in its centre th© reverend, gentleman executed his last dance before a large and appreciative audience, tickets having been previously issued by the sheriff. It js easily tho ghastliest operatio performance on record, without the usual chance of recall and speedy resurrection.