H E D W . J . N E R S O N EARLY HISTORY OF SING ING wn v Cro 8 o . MODERN MUSICAL DRIFT Crown 8vo . PRELUDES AND STUDIES I amo . THE STORY OF MUSIC Crown 8vo . LONGMANS , GREEN CO NEW YORK EARLY HIS T O RY O F S IN G IN G B Y W HEN DERSON . J. AUTHOR OF ” ‘ THE STORY or MU IC M ODERN MU ICAL D f ETC S , S w , . R E E A D L O N G M A N S , G N N C O . F URT H VENUE T H TREE T N E\V YO R K O A 30 S , 3 9 P A T E R N O S T E R R O W L O N O N , D B O MB Y T A ND MA D RA S A , C A LC UT , A “ 51 9 2 1 To J JBI . f rank EBamrozcb D IRECTOR OF THE INSTITUTE OF MUSICAL ART NEW YORK CITY PREFACE TH E aim of thi s book should be ea sily deduced to from its title . The author has endeavored trace the development of the modern a rt of S ing ing from the beginning of the Christian era to the time of Aless andro Scarlatti . He has treated o f vocal fo rms only to the extent requisite to make clear the character of the technic and the style of each period . His main object has been to Show what singers were expected to do and as far as possible how they prepared themselves for the delivery of the music placed before them . The interesting changes brought into vocal art by the advent of opera and la ter by the action of public taste on the new form of amusement are described and a general survey O f early ideals of lyric interpretation and their modifications by the alterations in the demands of audiences is made . Special attention has been given to vocal technic and teaching in the last yea rs of the six teenth and all of the seventeenth centuries . In treating of this subject in Cha pters VIII and IX the author has leaned heavily on the scholarly a nd G admirable work of Hugo oldschmidt, Die Italienische G esa ngsmethode des XVII Jahr h nd r u e ts . The numerous other authorities consulted in the preparation of this volume a re mentioned from time to time in the text . The materials for this work have been accumulated by a Slow process of accretion during fifteen years of study of this subject . The author is not acquainted with any other book In which they are thus as a sembled , and therefore cherishes the hope th t this history ~ will prove welcome to singers , S . teachers of inging, students and music lovers CONTENTS PREFACE CHAP TER THE DA F THE I . WN O ART TE I F T E II . VOCAL CHN C O H EARLY HANTE RS 1 C . 9 THE CHOLA ANTOR M III . S C U 3 1 V THE TROUB A OURS D E S T ME I . CAN A ND N D , SURAL MUSIC V VOCA L TEA CHERS AND E ULAR N G . S C SO V PPROA CH OF THE M ONO IC STYLE I . A D VII B IRTH OP DRAMATIC RECITATI E . V V HAT THE EARLY MA STERS TA U T III . W G H IX THE ORNAMENTS AND PA S SAG E S . MALE SO RANI A ND THER IRT O SI X . P O V U XI THE E E N T E E N T H C E N T U R Y ITA LIAN . S V OPERA I D ISTRIB UTION OF VOICE S IN OPE RA XI . X EARLY EA LS OF SING ING III . ID INDEX EA RLY H ISTO RY O F SING ING CHAPTER I TH E DA W N OF T H E ART TH E modern art of S inging began with the establishment of schools for the study of the correct manner O f delivering the liturgical chants of the Roman Ca tholic church . These chants were derived from still Older music used in the ceremonials of Jewish congregations or in the worship of the gods of Egypt and . of Greece . a Secular song also had a me surable , but compara tivel y small , influence in the formative period of a vocal art , for some of the e rly fathers found it necessary to warn their followers against the . St. seductions of this style Clement , the second “ . : successor of St Peter , wrote It must not be possible to confound us with the S ingers and buf foons who for a piece of bread or a cup of W ine come to divert people who are feasting . Before the foundation of Christianity the a n c i ents sang in the Temple , in the theatre, and 2 In the home ; but we do not know whether they possessed anything which we would call “ ” method . Nor does this greatly signify to us . Our own art is the child of the Catholic Church and its history must be tra ced from the moment S when that church became a ingle organization, its functions centralized under the dominion of mus1c a l s one monarch , and its tyle informed by fi a well de ned purpose . Until that time this music wa s uncertain in its progress , which was distracted by the operation of numerous agencies, not only musical , but also religious and political . It is not essential to our purpose that we Should rehearse in detail the various steps in the march O f church music from the hour when Christ and the apostles sang at the Last Supper the “ Great Hallel of the Jewish n service . To undertake such a study would i volve us in endless difficulties without bringing f su ficiently remunerative results . We should find ourselves confronted with a mass of fragmentary O f information , much it leading to no conclusions . Basic facts of vital import would be too often u missing . The most skilful scr tiny of scientific research has ser ved on ly to demonstrate that n e they are lost beyo d recovery . Our best cours , o f therefore, will be to note some the most sig THE DAWN OF THE ART 3 nific ant facts nea ring on the earliest history of S w modern vocal art, and to ho briefly how the various influences which gathered about its cradle made their presence felt . We must, then , recollect that Christianity was born in Judea , where the ceremonials of Moses reigned in the temples devoted to the worship o f Jehovah . The country , however, was under O f R the dominion ome , and its borders were incessantly crossed by the children of that in domitable empire . At the same time the wily and G restless reeks , both those of the motherland and those of the even more sophisticated , blend of in the Alexandria, were not unknown land o f Benj amin and Manasseh . Furthermore we must , not forget that the excursion of the religion into the world began early . It was at Antioch in Syria a little more than forty years after the birth O f the Saviour that his disciples were first Wa s called Christians , and it in this city that a brilliant and powerful branch of the Catholic u church speedily grew p . We need hardly be r to o eminded , that in the middle of the first cen t tury St . Paul was writing epis les to churches G in reece itself , and we have what many his to ria ns regard as satisfying evidence that St. d r n R e Peter visite the Ch istia s in om . 4 EARLY HIS TORY OF S INGING It will be understood readily that the ea rly influences brought to bear on Christian church b w a nd G music were chiefly He re reek , and that out of the materials of these two kinds O f song the first chants O fthe church were made . Of this formative period we can attempt hardly an o ut T O line . LLS inner history is too bscure and com e dific ation plicated for our , even could we be certain that we are in possession of all the fa c tst] We may with profit turn as ide for a moment to glance at the moment of solidification of the elements . To do this we must look for an instant R a h at the movement of the om n world . H e story of music has habitually been told as if it had developed without relation to general history o r in fluence by it . But no one can be blind to the tremendous significance of the events which cul A D 2 In R mina ted . 3 4 the unification of the oman “ e mpire under Constantine . That these events had a bearing on modern music cannot be ga m b e said , but in a work such as this they cannot deta il recounted in /j We have already intimated that no general system of liturgical chant could R exist while the oman empire , and consequently R n the oman church , were divided into so ma y r pa ts . Nor was the church itself an established institution until Constantine had crushed his great 6 EA RLY HIS TORY OF S INGING introduction of characteristics entirely dissociated from the Hebrew .