Part 15

Every theory heretofore advanced in respect to our mode of breathing, being based upon false premises, is wrong in the abstract, and impossible of practical execution.

If I have expressed myself strongly, it is because I feel strongly the injury which has been wrought by this so-called "science" of the laryngoscopists. It has in thousands of instances hindered the natural development of the voice, and has in many other directions done incalculable harm; while it has in _no_ direction ever done any good. It has oppressed the intellect, depressed the spirit, and suppressed the soul of singers. Let me add but this: What would be the use of the most scientifically constructed stove, filled with the most appropriate fuel, if the flame were wanting to set fire to this fuel? Supposing the laryngoscopists to comprehend the intricate construction of the stove (the body), the highly sensitive and complicated apparatus of the fuel (the instrument of the voice)--both of which, however, they are greatly in the dark about--the flame would still be wanting to set fire to this fuel and fill the stove with the holy glow of song. This flame (the life, the spirit) they do not even pretend to be able to furnish. They only give us the stove and the fuel, which remain forever dark, cold, lifeless, inert.

To set myself up in judgment regarding these important issues, or to place my judgment over that of so many eminent persons in the past as well as the present, may appear to be a presumptuous, rash, bold, and almost unwarranted undertaking. It is not my fault, however, that there should be such utter confusion existing in these matters; that no one should have ever succeeded in reducing this chaos to any kind of order; that I am the heir, so to say, to this condition of affairs; the trustee to this inheritance, who is to make use of it to the best advantage of all that are interested.

Nor is it my fault that, not by dint of superior endowments, or any other qualities of a superior order, but simply through the discovery of the dual nature of the voice, I should have obtained an insight into, a mastery over, these matters never before enjoyed by any man. Yet there seems to be a disposition on the part of some persons to throw blame on me for these facts; in place of furthering, to suppress, this knowledge; in place of probing and investigating, to assume that it is simply the outcome of a somewhat more than lively imagination. It appears to me that this is partly done in the interest of the vast literature on these subjects now in existence, which will become obsolete and valueless as soon as the _truth_ in matters of the voice has been established.

I dare say this simple fact, "We breathe and speak through the œsophagus in conjunction with breathing and speaking through the trachea," for _real_ knowledge, is worth all of the entire literature on the voice, as a science, now in existence.

The science of the voice, as I understand and am trying to explain and establish it, is one not so much of mechanical issues, though they have their share in it, as one in which the spirit, this heretofore unapproachable issue, performs the greatest and most vital part. It is a question of life, and every issue and every agency governing life are involved in it. How vast a science this science of the voice therefore is, can be better imagined than at once fully comprehended. I am far from being able to present it in all its aspects, but shall endeavor, as I have already partly done, to continue to give a general outline of it.

It will take time and patience for any one to acquire this knowledge, but the reward will be more than commensurate. To superficially obtain it from others is not sufficient; one must learn to know it of one's own knowledge. It is an academic study, embracing many sciences. A person must enter into it with his whole being if he wants to get hold of the spirit thereof and be truly benefited thereby. He must identify himself with this knowledge, must become part and parcel thereof, or it must become part and parcel of him. When this is done, true teachers of the voice will arise, for here is a chance for greatness to assert itself. It will be death to all hackneyed knowledge and charlatanism.

When the true knowledge of the production of speech and song for _every_ language has been established, when we have a real science of the voice, the teacher comprehending these issues in their entire latitude will be able to teach how to interpret Mozart, Schubert, and Wagner, Rossini and Verdi, Gounod, and every other master in the tongue and the spirit in which he has produced his works.

The genius for execution in the art of singing is with the Anglo-Saxon race, but not for composition, for original conception. It may come, but it is not with it now.

The desire of the singer naturally is to embrace the highest in her or his repertoire. At present it is Wagner. But how can Wagner be rendered without a comprehension of his genius as expressed through his language? The genius of the master and the genius of the language he wrote and composed in cannot be separated. They are soul and body of one and the same entity. Without the comprehension of the genius of the German language, of its idiomatic expression, it is not possible to reproduce what Wagner meant to express by his work. To sing German with an English tongue is an anomaly; it is still English in the real sense of the word, and not German. It is an unnatural proceeding, and therefore injurious to the vocal organs of the singer.

No one would expect a foreigner, for the delectation of a native-born audience, to recite before it poetry in the latter's language, or a native-born person to recite before it in a foreign tongue. In either case such a person would fail. Why, then, song, this sister art and accomplishment?

All these are questions which, though ever so reluctantly, artists will have to face. It complicates their art, but it will also, when understood, make it comparatively easy. Americans will then sing the works of foreign masters with the same perfect ease that they do those of their native composers, and so will persons of every other nationality.

Who will be able to teach a foreign language so well as the natives of each respective country? provided such persons have learned to comprehend the difference between the mode of production of their speech and that of their scholars. In that case only will a German be able to teach an Anglo-Saxon his (the German) language for either speech or song. It will be the same with every other nationality.

The teachers, as a class, are with me. They feel that the efforts of the physiologists to aid them in their vocation are wrong and misleading. They have no faith in the revelation of matter. They know matter is inert, powerless for any purpose without the indwelling of the spirit; that the spirit reigns over and controls _every_ manifestation of life; and that the voice in singing is one of the highest manifestations thereof. They know that song comes from the heart and the soul, while it uses the body for its instrument.

I have been told I must build up before tearing down; before destroying the old I must put something better in its place. I think it a praiseworthy undertaking, in itself, to destroy the false and the harmful. Besides, we cannot erect a new building before the old one has been removed.

As for this _new_ science, I am doing what I can to put it into shape, to give a visible and tangible form to it as it has developed in my mind. The world has been able to do without it so long, those interested in these matters must have a little patience.

I specially appeal to the _young_ to devote themselves to these studies and to thus become the precursors in the application of principles which are destined to revolutionize the vocal science of the world; the old being often too old to get out of lifelong practices, no matter how erroneous. I appeal in like manner to the students of medicine, and to those of every other branch of science, whose aim is the knowledge of man in any of, and all, his relations.

INDEX

Abdomen, 174, 198, 208

Abstract thought, 72

Accent, 178, 180

Æther, 91

Anapest, 167, 175

Anglo-Saxon race, 136

Animal magnetism, 14

Anode, 106

Antibacchius, 175

Atlas, 127

Autology, 56

Bacchius, 175

_Basic Law of Vocal Utterance_, 1, 6, 7

Bladder, 46

Blood, 65

Brain, 46

Breathing, 8, 93, 95, 159, 198, 214

Brinkerhoff, Mme. Clara, 6, 195

Bronchi, 8

Caryatides, 104

Cathode, 106

Centrifugal, 124, 130, 152

Centripetal, 124, 130, 152

Charlatanism, 12

Circulation of sound, 109

Climate, 135

Clothing, 78

Colonization, 140

Congenital deaf, 84

Consonants, 89

Dactylus, 164, 175

Dentistry, 132

Diaphragm, 80, 102, 203

Dissecting room, 211

Douglass, Frederick, 137

Drumhead, 74

Duality, 18

Emphasis, 161, 179

English-speaking peoples, 136

Evolution, 18

Expansion, 90

Expiration, 80, 200

Extirpation, 59

Foreigners, 134, 173, 194

Frænum linguæ, 42

Gadski, Johanna, 196

Generation, 107

German writers, 65

Gounod, 195

Gravitation, 107

Heidenhain, Mr., 14

Heine, 164, 204

Hemispheres, 88

Holmes, Dr. O. W., 12, 123

Huxley, 21

Hypnotism, 52

Iambic measure, 167

Idiomatic expression, 110, 113, 123, 143, 148

Idiom of the sea, 144; of the forest, 146

Immigration, 134

Inspiration, 177, 200

Intonation, 161

Introspection, 4, 56, 68

Kidneys, 46

Laryngoscope, 50

Laryngoscopists, 215

Larynx, 9

Lungs, 46

Lunn, Mr., 167

Matter, 211, 218

Medicine, 220

Metre, 161, 172, 178

Miller, Dr., 212

Mind, 184

Motion, 89, 142, 151

Müller, Prof. Max, 99

Octave, 93

Œsophagus, 198, 208

Palimpsest, 96

Phonograph, 71, 88, 90

Point of gravitation, 101

Posterior surfaces, 68

"R" sound, 104

Race distinctions, 137

Reinforcement, 47

Religion, 17

Replica, 19, 42, 129

Rhythm, 68, 93, 160, 172, 178

Rigidity, 57, 59, 176, 208

Roentgen, Professor, 105

Rush, Dr., 48

Saxon words, 168

School of singing, 187

Science of the voice, 210

Sight, 183

Simple sounds, 66, 68, 88, 106

Singers, 210

Singing, 57, 158

Soft palate, 129

Soul, 184

Speech and song, 158

Spirit, 54, 211, 220

Spirits, 44

Spiritual cell, 148

Stammering, 97

Stuttering, 97

Surd, 89

Teachers, 13, 218, 219

Teeth, 132

Teutonic race, 206

Thorax, 174, 198, 208

Thought, 192

Timbre, 195

Tongue, 61, 101

Trachea, 198, 208

Trochaic measure, 165

Tuning, 157

Ureters, 47

Ventriloquism, 73

Virchow, Professor, 21

Viscera, 46

Vivisection, 51

Vocal science, 220

Vocal sounds, 67, 89

Voice of the œsophagus, 1; falling, 175; rising, 175; whispering, 191

Von Buelow, 193

_Werner's Magazine_, 6, 7, 196, 212, 213

Will, 179, 184

Transcriber's Notes:

Simple spelling, grammar, and typographical errors were silently corrected.

Anachronistic and non-standard spellings retained as printed.

Italics markup is enclosed in _underscores_.

Bold and underlined markup is enclosed in =equals=.