- The composer has much difficulty in finding syllables short enough for his diminutive notes, our language being very deficient in this particular. To remedy this defect, the singer should be careful to adopt a neat and pointed pronunciation of those particles of language that fall under the shortest notes. Open syllables should have long open sounds, and short syllables short sounds; the reverse of this frequently occurs in the best composi tions. These observations touch only the length of syllables, showing that, unless the quantity exactly coincides with the value of the notes, the musical expression will be greatly injured, if not entirely destroyed.* firm and decided tone can only be produced by a quick opening of the mouth; the want of this activity in attacking a sound produces a quacking tone, like that of a duck. How often do we notice a vulgarity in the performance of educated persons, No one ever knew better how to adapt language to the peculiarities of music than Metastasio; by rejecting words unfitted for singing, by frequently adopting elisions, and words which terminated with an accented vowel, as ardí, pregó, sará, and artfully intermixing different species of feet, to give variety to the periods corresponding with musical intervals, and giving room to the singer to breathe, by dividing lines into halves, in order to shorten periods and render them smoother, by using rhyme discreetly, though without any fixed law, making it subservient to the ear.-Arteaga. So indifferent performers upon the organ produce a similar quacking tone upon that instrument, by putting down the key too leisurely, whereby the valve is not promptly-opened. |