THOUGHTS ABOUT MUSIC

Evening Star, Issue 20468, 26 April 1930, Page 21

THOUGHTS ABOUT MUSIC

[Written by L.D.A., for tho ‘Evening Star.’] “ Music gives tone to the universe, wings to the wind, flight - to the imagination, a charm to sadness,, gaiety and life to everything.”—Plato. That the science of mechanical music goes back further into history than most people imagine is proved by the following excerpt from a letter written by Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, as far back at 1730 (two hundred years ago):— “I am now in pursuit of getting the finest piece of music that ever was heard of; it is a thing that will play eight tunes. Handel and all the groat musicians say it is beyond anything they can do; and this may be performed by the most ignorant person, and when’ you aro weary of those eight tunes you may have tlieni changed for any others that you like. This I think much better than going to an Italian opera or an assembly. This contraption has lately been put into a lottery, and all the Royal Family chose to have a great many tickets rather than to buy it, tho price being, I think, one thousand guineas. And a gentleman- won it, who I am in great hopes will sell it, and if he does I will buy it, for I cannot wait to have another made. . .

This instrument herein described by the avaricious duchess was in all probability nothing else than our old friend the barrel organ, the invention of which is /supposed to date from the eighteenth century. It will bo news to many that barrel organs, inextricably associated in our minds with itinerant Italians and red-coated monkeys beloved of tho last generation s London youth, were actually constructed for use in churches and chapels, hut such is the fact. Many years ago an organ buildej* named Wright made a barrel organ for Fulham Church, London, whilst the firms of Flight and Robson and of Bryceson constructed perhaps the largest number of these instruments for employment in sacred edifices. These were set with psalm and hymn tunes, chants, and occasionally even with voluntaries. It will be seen, therefore, that there is nothing new in the idea of professional musicians being ousted from their jobs by the demon of mechanism—indeed, some makers of barrel organs tried very hard in those days to do away with the human element in musical reproduction. For instance, _ there was the Apollicon, an enormous instrument, invented by Flight and Robson somewhere about 1800. It took five years to build, and cost £IO,OOO, containing 1,900 pipes and_ forty-five stops. It comprised also various devices for imitating orchestral instruments, including drums, and the barrels were spiral-shaped l , thus permitting the performance of long compositions, such as the overtures and symphonies of Mozart and Haydn. Weber’s ‘ Oberon ’ overture was recorded as being especially well rendered, every note of the original score sounding as clearly and accurately as if played by a fine orchestra. ,

Exactly one hundred l years ago, in 1830, this instrument was dismantled after giving recitals for over a quarter of a century Its component parts were then employed in the construction of more legitimate organs. Wo may regard it possibly as fortunate that only the prohibitive cost precluded the more general vogue of the Apollicon, otherwise the contrivance might conceivably have done a disservice to contemporary professional musicians comparable with tho injury inflicted upon their present-day representatives by tlie so-called 1 “canned” music. Whatever the cause of its decline, let us hope that musical history may repeat itsen.

Since that time barrel-organs have existed only in the form of the street hurdy-gurdy, for long the monopoly of the- South European native already alluded to: plus the simian companion whose antics were the delight or juvenile pre-war London. Tho great; metropolis was, in those days, as mucli a target for miscellaneous and promiscuous cacaphony as it afterwards became for aerial ■md with infinitely better markmanship. 1 can well remember Sunday afternoons when the post-prandial somnolence or my elders was wont to be rudely disturbed by the combined efforts of barrel-organ, piano-organ,_ and German band, the respective unite of which were stationed at eoui-distance along the street If the war achieved no other result we have at least to thank it for ridding London—temporarily, at least —■ of its alien, music-murdering population. whose activities are now confined to the land of their birth. One wonders whether Mussolini, with his usual thoroughness, has by tliis time removed them to a world where the wicked cease from troubling; if so, for this accomplishment alone be is entitled to the gratitude of musical posterity. J » » * *

How beautiful it is to listen to a voice pure and sweet, without a suspicion of what is known as tremolo, and how rarely does one have that enjoyment. The reflection _ was borne in upon me last Saturday night when Mrs G, W. Woodward sang at tho Philharmonic concert in Wellington. This lady is a soprano singer of exquisite charm and accomplishment, whoso outstanding quality is an impeccable steadiness and adherence to perfect, pitch. Wo all know those alleged vocalists who continually wobble between two or more tones, so that tho listener is always in doubt as to what note is actually being sung: this hind of voice is never in tune, and the kindest thing we can say of it is that its owner should have been gently but firmly strangled at birth. Such is the tremolo—a disease from which many fingers of both sexes suffer more or less, as wo know to our sorrow, but it must not be with vibrato—that human element which distinguishes tho sound of a voice from that of a machine. It is neither possible, nor desirable, for humans to produce a tone as free from vibrato as a mechanical device. A well-made contrivance will always produce exactly the same effects every time it is used: the identical pitches and grades of tone _ quality issue from recording machines with,unvarying fidelity; they never take cold, and they are strangers to nerves and artistic temperamental vagaries. • • • * This is at once their chief recommendation and gravest defect. They are eminently reliable, but inhuman, soulless, emotionless, without personality or charm. On the contrary, one of the greatest attractions of an acknowledged artist, is that he, or she, seldom or never gives the same performance of any particular work, the countless little occurrences of daily life influence both the physical and mental condition. Anger, love, sorrow, happiness, or disappointment all , cause the singer to react sympathetically and involuntarily to change the quality of

his voice. The vibrato is the inherent vehicle of many gadgets and devices have been invented to produce a controlled vibrato^ —witness the various tremulant stops in an organ; then, again, the players on stringed instruments of the violin family all deliberately shake the hand to effect an artificial wavering of tone, so that it shall not be too steady and soulless. But it is only when this is done naturally and unconsciously—like the string glissando—that the act conveys any message of feeling or real emotion; whereas your tremolo singer arouses, instead of soothing, the savage beast within us. (To he continued.)