Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

4. Without intending a slight to any of our distinguished public reciters, I must express my belief that Mr. Joseph Bennett's beautiful conception of The Dream of Jubal has never yet received full justice. Here, indeed, if anywhere, is to be found the successful combination of poetry, declamation and music, and in the hands of a really great reciter, who must be also a musician, it should stand revealed for a true masterpiece. The chief difficulty lies in the fact that Dr. Mackenzie's music requires to flow along for the most part in strict time, and yet neither music nor recitation should appear to wait for the other. To take a very simple example, let us look at one of the earlier speeches.

THE DREAM OF JUBAL.

Mod rato.76. Upon a bank down-sinking, Jubal marked The mighty

C

mf

concert and his heart was sad. "O Thou," he cried, "Who like unto Thyself Did-t

make Thy noblest

work, this creature, Man,

And give him thoughts

that soar above the heavens, Emotions keen and aspirations strong, With

[ocr errors]

lo e of Thee, which needs must move His soul to rapture and his voice to praise. $

The reciter here usually goes straight on without heeding the music, but this was not the real intention. To fit the recitation to the music is a task of very considerable difficulty. On examination it will be found that the chief points of the words are best emphasised by the music if" and his heart was sad" be so delivered that the last word comes exactly upon the first beat of the sixth bar. Again, the word "Man" should come exactly upon the first beat of the tenth bar. There are hundreds of similar points in the work all equally vital to the effect.

HOW TO STUDY THE ART.

Let the elocutionist who understands ever so little of music play the music and read the words of the passage I have quoted until he knows both thoroughly. Then let him strive to fit them as described. Finally, while some one else plays the accompaniment let him deliver the lines, and then compare his performance with a mere haphazard "speaking through music" of another reciter who has not studied thus, and he will be surprised at the difference. This reveals the fact that to recite to a musical accompaniment, however unobtrusive or independent the latter may be, it is imperative that the elocutionist be somewhat of a musician and that he be intimately familiar with the said accompaniment. Is it not the same in song? Every musician knows the difference between accompanying a singer who is a musician and one who is not. The former grasps the meaning of the combination and knows how and where the "points" are to be made, the latter does not comprehend that the accompaniment has any share in the success at all, and tries to "score off his own bat," a selfish stupidity which generally meets its due reward. Let the reciter who is ambitious of undertaking the formidable task of delivering Jubal note all the dramatic and elocutionary "points" in the verse, first of all; next let him learn the music till he

finds the proper corresponding points in this. Then he will require to practise every speech with his accompanist (if for a pianoforte performance), or his conductor (if there is to be an orchestra), until the correct rate of speed is found. The reciter may be presumed to know that this depends largely upon the size of the room in which the performance takes place. Until there is perfect unanimity and certainty in this matter success is impossible. One of the hardest passages, and one where the speaker needs most to follow the music without in the least appearing to do so will be found on p. 11 of the vocal score at the line, "Both stood within a temple vast and high." In many other places the music will be somewhat elastic in the time; here it is rigid, the character being that of a church voluntary. It may be noted in passing that much assistance might be obtained by the reciter writing out his copy with the words and music in their proper correspondence, after this has been ascertained by due practice.

RECITATIONS WITH ACCOMPANIMENT.

5-7. There is little to say about the poems to which Schumann has set music. The published English translations are poor and the music seems superfluous all through. In "The Fugitives" it is far too boisterous, and in "Schön Hedvig" uninteresting.

8-13. The poems to which Liszt has added music are, with one exception, unknown to English audiences. The first is a legend of a melancholy ghost, which haunted a ruined castle. Whoever beholds it turns melancholy also and dies. A knight encamps in the ruin, beholds the spectre, and straightway rides into the lake and gets drowned. This is uninteresting, but there is some very creepy music. "Lenore" is better known, having been adapted more or less freely by several of our poets. The music is terribly difficult to play, but immensely effective. I have arranged it for orchestra, to the great enhancement of its beauties, as I venture to think. The accompaniment waits on the voice throughout, so there is no difficulty on this head. "The Dead Poet's Love" is a Hungarian legend so grotesque in conception that no audience could take it seriously. It is very long and the music is not striking. Tolstoi's ballad, "The Blind Minstrel," is also long and dull, in spite of the beautiful initial idea of the poor harper singing his best, flattered by what he takes for the rapt

« ForrigeFortsæt »