CHAPTER V.

VOCAL AND INSTRUMENTAL EXECUTION UNITED.

EVERY species of vocal music admits of instrumental accompaniment; the object of which is, in general, to guide, strengthen, support or relieve the voice parts, or to clothe them with appropriate harmony. In works of a dramatic character, it often happens that all these objects are united in the same piece. At times, also, the composition is so decidedly instrumental in its character, that the voice parts are rather to be regarded as accompaniments. This is frequently the case in passages that are highly descriptive or imitative. That species of imitation, which in serious song would appear like mimicry, is often assigned to instruments, which give it all the interest of dramatic painting, and thus add an effect to the description which is beyond the power of vocal enunciation.*

To write an appropriate accompaniment, is not more difficult, than to execute with strict propriety one that has been written. He that would do either

* See the sections on Imitation, and chapters on Design.

with success, must understand the nature of his undertaking.*

An accompaniment for an air should be managed with great delicacy. In proportion as the latter is refined and effective, the former should be light and subordinate. To overpower instead of supporting the voice, is unpardonable. To divert the attention from the singer, by elaborate combinations or wild flights of execution, is here the height of absurdity. For where the air is rich and expressive, we incline to fix our attention upon it; and an accompaniment which is powerful or elaborate, must be felt as an intrusion. Accompanists are ever failing in this particular. Impatient of restraint, and anxious for display, they disconcert the singer, and vitiate the whole performance.

On the other hand, the singer is scarcely less reprehensible, when he undertakes to embellish a subordinate part, or an air of a less refined and distinctive character, at the expense of the instrumental department. When the instruments become imitative, almost to a language that speaks and describes, the singer should render the plain notes of his song with energy and distinctness, but without embellishment. He should in this case, conduct himself as an interpreter rather than as an orator. The display of execution would be here contrary to the most obvious principles of taste. We might as well listen to two *See "Rees' Cyclopedia," article Accompaniment.

disputants speaking at the same moment, as to such performance. It is of course presumed that the composer, in all such cases, will have rendered his design sufficiently obvious; and it is equally the duty and the interest of the performer, whether vocal or iustrumental, to form a true estimate of this design, and to execute accordingly.*

The truth of the preceding observations, in reference to two apposite descriptions of composition, is so obvious as to be readily acknowledged; but the intermediate varieties frequently require greater powers of conception in a performer, as well as more skill in execution. Sometimes the expression of the subject is almost equally divided between the singer and the orchestra; and here, indeed, if the passages are of a light and popular kind, or if they are of a plain and not very distinctive character, there is comparatively little skill required. But if, on the other hand, they are highly refined, descriptive or impassioned, their effect may be destroyed, by a mere inappropriate style of vocal or instrumental execution.

At other times the voices and instruments are in dialogue, or they seem for a moment to emulate each other, in descriptive imitation. All these varieties of

"As musical expression in the composer," says Averon, "is succeeding in the attempt to express some particular passion; so in a performer, it is to do a composition justice, by playing it in a taste and style so exactly according with the intention of the composer, as to preserve and illustrate all the beauties of his work."-ESSAY ON MUSICAL EXPRESSION.

style, as well as the two extremes above mentioned, are allowed occasionally to succeed each other in the same movement. This is readily seen by a reference to almost any of the operas, masses, oratorios, or cantatas of the modern school. As such compositions are among the highest specimens of the art, they are often liable, like the finest historic paintings, to be misunderstood; and the performer who is unable to frame an adequate conception of their design, must fail in his attempt at execution.

What has here been said in relation to compositions for a single voice, will also apply with some limitation to every species of refined composition, from the duet to the double chorus. To arrange the score for voices and instruments, without some regular and intelligible design, is inevitably to fail in composition; and, to sing or play without a true conception of a composer's design, is as certainly to fail in execution. The remark is more especially applicable to the higher departments of cultivation. The faculty of conception, of which we are speaking, is what principally distinguishes the accomplished professor from the mere amateur. It is, at the same time, one of the most necessary and difficult faculties which the musician acquires. Without it, his compositions and performances are sure to be uninteresting to persons of cultivated taste.

It is a fortunate circumstance, however, that all musical compositions are not thus elaborate and re

fined; for in that case, none but a professed master might be able to execute them with entire success. It would be well, also, if performers had sufficient self-knowledge to enable them always to select with due reference to their own abilities. Still, the art of accompanying, or of singing with an accompaniment, even in pieces distinguished for chaste simplicity, is more difficult than that of separate execution. Wherever voices and instruments are united, they are in reality more or less dependent upon each other for success; and the parties, therefore, like the lyric poet and the composer, should consider themselves as reciprocally interested. Neither of them can aim at a separate independence, without endangering the interests of both.

But what shall be said in relation to the employment of instruments in church-music? The scriptures of the Old Testament sanction their use in the most decided manner; and they are neither forbidden nor discountenanced in the New Testament. If they were not actually used in the primitive assemblies, a sufficient reason for their omission might have been found in the circumstance, that "the apostles and brethren" were then driven out of their usual places of worship by bitter persecutions. They were in constant peril of their lives; and were driven from place to place, without the necessary means of cultivation. Still, no mention is made of their exclusion: no hint is given as to their inappropriateness; but on