Essentials in Conducting Part 7

_con grazia_ (with grace)

_con tenerezza_ (with tenderness)

_dolce_ (gently) (literally, sweetly)

_giocoso_ (humorously) (_cf._ jocose)

_giojoso_ (joyfully) (_cf._ joyous)

_con maesta_ } _maestoso_ } (majestically)

_pastorale_ (in pastoral, _i.e._, in simple and unaffected style)

_pomposo_ (pompously)

_scherzando_ } _scherzo_ } (jokingly)

_sotto voce_ (with subdued voice)

We shall close our discussion of the subject of dynamics with a brief presentation of a few practical matters with which every amateur conductor should be familiar.

The _pianissimo_ of choruses and orchestras is seldom soft enough. The extreme limit of soft tone is very effective in both choral and orchestral music, and most conductors seem to have no adequate notion of _how soft_ the tone may be made in such pa.s.sages. This is especially true of chorus music in the church service; and even the gospel singer Sankey is said to have found that the softest rather than the loudest singing was spiritually the most impressive.[18]

[Footnote 18: On the other hand, the criticism has been made in recent years that certain orchestral conductors have not sufficiently taken into consideration the size and acoustics of the auditoriums in which they were conducting, and have made their _pianissimos_ so soft that nothing at all could be heard in the back of the room. In order to satisfy himself that the tone is as soft as possible, and yet that it is audible, it will be well for the conductor to station some one of good judgment in the back of the auditorium during the concert, this person later reporting to the conductor in some detail the effect of the performance.]

_Pianissimo_ singing or playing does not imply a slower tempo, and in working with very soft pa.s.sages the conductor must be constantly on guard lest the performers begin to "drag." If the same virile and spirited response is insisted upon in such places as is demanded in ordinary pa.s.sages, the effect will be greatly improved, and the singing moreover will not be nearly so likely to fall from the pitch.

The most important voice from the standpoint of melody must in some way be made to stand out above the other parts. This may be done in two ways:

1. By making the melody louder than the other parts.

2. By subduing the other parts sufficiently to make the melody prominent by contrast.

The second method is frequently the better of the two, and should more frequently be made use of in ensemble music than is now the case in amateur performance.

The conductor of the Russian Symphony Orchestra, Modeste Altschuler, remarks on this point:

A melody runs through every piece, like a road through a country hillside. The art of conducting is to clear the way for this melody, to see that no other instruments interfere with those which are at the moment enunciating the theme. It is something like steering an automobile. When the violins, for instance, have the tune, I see to it that n.o.body hurries it or drags it or covers it up.

In polyphonic music containing imitative pa.s.sages, the part having the subject must be louder than the rest, especially at its first entrance. This is of course merely a corollary of the general proposition explained under number three, above.

In vocal music the accent and crescendo marks provided by the composer are often intended merely to indicate the proper p.r.o.nunciation of some part of the text. Often, too, they a.s.sist in the declamation of the text by indicating the climax of the phrase, _i.e._, the point of greatest emphasis.

The dynamic directions provided by the composer are intended to indicate only the broader and more obvious effects, and it will be necessary for the performer to introduce many changes not indicated in the score. Professor Edward d.i.c.kinson, in referring to this matter in connection with piano playing, remarks:[19]

After all, it is only the broader, more general scheme of light and shade that is furnished by the composer; the finer gradations, those subtle and immeasurable modifications of dynamic value which make a composition a palpitating, coruscating thing of beauty, are wholly under the player's will.

[Footnote 19: d.i.c.kinson, _The Education of a Music Lover_, p. 123.]

In concluding our discussion of dynamics, let us emphasize again the fact that all expression signs are relative, never absolute, and that _piano_, _crescendo_, _sforzando_, _et cetera_, are not intended to convey to the performer any definite degree of power. It is because of misunderstanding with regard to this point that dynamic effects are so frequently overdone by amateurs, both conductors and performers seeming to imagine that every time the word _crescendo_ occurs the performers are to bow or blow or sing at the very top of their power; and that _sforzando_ means a violent accent approaching the effect of a blast of dynamite, whether occurring in the midst of a vigorous, spirited movement, or in a tender lullaby. Berlioz, in the treatise on conducting appended to his monumental work on Orchestration, says:[20]

A conductor often demands from his players an exaggeration of the dynamic nuances, either in this way to give proof of his ardor, or because he lacks fineness of musical perception. Simple shadings then become thick blurs, accents become pa.s.sionate shrieks. The effects intended by the poor composer are quite distorted and coa.r.s.ened, and the attempts of the conductor to be artistic, however honest they may be, remind us of the tenderness of the a.s.s in the fable, who knocked his master down in trying to caress him.

[Footnote 20: Berlioz, _A Treatise on Modern Instrumentation and Orchestration_, p. 255.]

CHAPTER VII

INTERPRETATION IN CONDUCTING

(_Concluded_)

TIMBRE, PHRASING, _ET CETERA_

[Sidenote: IMPORTANCE OF TIMBRE IN INTERPRETATION]

Having devoted considerable s.p.a.ce to discussing the two expressional elements for which the composer is mainly responsible, let us now present briefly certain matters connected with the other six elements in our list (see p. 46). The two described as being partly controlled by composer and partly by the interpreter are timbre and phrasing, and we shall accordingly treat these first. Timbre or tone-quality is less important than either tempo or dynamics, and is obviously less under the control of the conductor. The vocalist may be induced to sing more loudly or the violinist to play more rapidly, but it is often impossible to get either to so modify his actual tone quality as to make his rendition more expressive. And yet, in spite of this difficulty, there are many pa.s.sages in both choral and orchestral music in which the essential significance depends absolutely upon beauty or ugliness or plaintiveness or boldness of tone; and especially in choral music is it possible for the conductor to induce his chorus to bring out many more such effects than is usually done. A positively ugly and raspy vocal tone may convey a certain dramatic effect that no mere variation in dynamics is able to bring about, an example of this being found in the _Chorus of People_ who sing at various points in the cantata by Dubois called _The Seven Last Words of Christ_. Another very short pa.s.sage of the same sort is found in Stainer's _Crucifixion_ in the scene at the cross. Mr. Coward has written more in detail upon this point than anyone else, and we may well quote his discussion of the topic "characterization."[21]

[Footnote 21: Coward, _Choral Technique and Interpretation_, p. 73.]

One of the distinguishing features of modern choral technique is what I term "characterization," or realism of the sentiment expressed in the music. Formerly this kind of singing was tabooed to such an extent that when in rehearsals and at concerts I induced the Sheffield Musical Union to sing with graphic power musicians of the old school voted me a mad enthusiast, extravagant, theatrical, ultra, and many other things of the same sort. These people wondered why I wanted variety of tone color--who had ever heard of such a demand from a choir?--and many of my friends even thought I was demanding too much when, in rehearsing Berlioz's _Faust_, I asked for something harder in tone than the usual fluty, mellifluous sound in order to depict the hearty laugh of the peasants in the first chorus. They were almost scandalized when I asked for a somewhat raucous, devil-may-care carousal, tone in the "Auerbach's Wine-cellar" scene, and when a fiendish, snarling utterance was called for in the "Pandemonium" scene they thought I was mad. However, the performance settled all these objections.

It was seen by contrast how ridiculous it was for a choir to laugh like Lord Dundreary with a sort of throaty gurgle; how inane it was to depict wine-cellar revelry with voices suggesting the sentimental drawing-room tenor, and how insipid it was to portray fiendish glee within h.e.l.l's portals with the staid decorum of a body of local preachers of irreproachable character.

Of course the battle in the rehearsal room had to be fought sternly inch by inch, but frequent trials, approval of the progress shown, and brilliant success at the concert won the day. It was so convincing that many said they could taste wine and smell brimstone....

Contrasts of tone-color, contrasts of differently placed choirs, contrasts of sentiment--love, hate, hope, despair, joy, sorrow, brightness, gloom, pity, scorn, prayer, praise, exaltation, depression, laughter, and tears--in fact all the emotions and pa.s.sions are now expected to be delineated by the voice alone. It may be said, in pa.s.sing, that in fulfilling these expectations choral singing has entered on a new lease of life. Instead of the cry being raised that the choral societies are doomed, we shall find that by absorbing the elixir of _characterization_ they have renewed their youth; and when the shallow pleasures of the picture theater and the empty elements of the variety show have been discovered to be unsatisfying to the normal aspirations of intellectual, moral beings, the social, healthful, stimulating, intellectual, moral, and spiritual uplift of the choral society will be appreciated more than ever....

Tender-handed stroke a nettle, And it stings you for your pains, Grasp it like a man of mettle, And it soft as silk remains.

Before stating how to produce the laugh, the sob, the sigh, the snarl, the moan, bell effects, e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns and "trick-singing," all of which come under the head of _characterization_, I would say that if an ultra thing is undertaken it must be done boldly. The spirit of the old rhyme above quoted must be acted upon, or fear will paralyze the efforts put forth, and failure will be the result. In choral singing, as in other things, the masculinity of the doing, the boldness, the daring, the very audacity with which an extreme effect is produced, carries success with it. Therefore do not attempt a daring thing feebly or by halves.

[Sidenote: TIMBRE IN INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC]

In instrumental music, timbre is also a highly potent influence in arousing emotional states, and we are all familiar with the fact that an oboe pa.s.sage is often a.s.sociated with the simplicity of outdoor rural life; that a melody for English horn has somehow become connected with mournful thoughts; the sound of trumpets, with martial ideas; and the grunting of the lower register of the ba.s.soon, with comic effects. It is well known, also, that the skilful violinist can cause his instrument to sound an infinite variety of shades of color.

But these means of expression are almost wholly under the control of the individual players and of the composer (as orchestrator), and cannot therefore be profitably discussed in a work on conducting.

[Sidenote: PHRASING]

The phrase in music is very similar to the phrase in language. In both cases, it is a thought (usually incomplete and forming a part of some larger idea) which must be slightly separated from the preceding and following phrases, that it may be correctly understood; yet must be so rendered in relation to the neighboring material as to seem an integral part of the whole. In addition, it is of course necessary to emphasize the important words in a language phrase and the most significant tones in a musical one, as well as to subordinate the comparatively unimportant parts, in such a way that the real significance of the whole may be clear. Phrasing is thus readily seen to be an extremely important factor in the expressive reading of language, since one could scarcely interpret intelligibly if he did not first of all read as a group the words that belong together as a thought; and one could certainly not convey the correct idea of the group to a listener if the most important words in it were not stressed so as to stand out more vividly than the others. Although not so readily understood because of the absence of symbolism, phrasing is quite as important an element in the expressive rendition of music as it is in the case of language. In order to interpret properly the conductor must first of all determine what tones belong together in a group; must make the individuality of these groups evident by slightly separating them, but usually not to the degree of disturbing the basic rhythmic flow; and must so manage the _dynamics_ and _tempo_ of each phrase as to make its content clear to the listener. Many phrases are so constructed that their proper delivery involves a gradual _crescendo_ up to the climax (usually the highest tone) and a corresponding _diminuendo_ from this point to the end of the phrase.

[Sidenote: PHRASING IN VOCAL MUSIC]

In vocal music, the matter of phrasing is comparatively simple because here the composer has, in general, adapted the melody to the phrasing of the text; and since in language we have definite ideas and concrete imagery to a.s.sist us, all that we usually need to do in studying the phrasing of vocal music is to follow carefully the phrasing of the text. But even then a warning ought perhaps to be given the young conductor regarding carelessness or ignorance on the part of singers about some of the most fundamental principles of phrasing. The most common mistakes made are:

1. Taking breath unnecessarily in the middle of a phrase.