ON THE ART OF ACCOMPANYING SONGS.^
'He whose deepest feelings are not touclied by the power of music can never hope to arouse the sympathies of others with his art.
' A performer can never get near to the hearts of his hearers if his own heart be not truly in his performance.' — C. Ph. E. Bach.
WHEN on one occasion Lablache, the celebrated singer, was asked what he considered absolutely essential to the formation of a great artist, he replied, 'Each of these three qualifications is indispensable, viz. firstly, voice ; secondly, voice ; thirdly, voice." Although this answer may be regarded as only a witticism, yet it is not without a considerable measure of truth. Like Lablache, who merely desired to express that without a genuine foundation of voice no one could become a great singer, no matter how musically gifted and educated, one might reply, if asked the question, what are the essentials of a good accompanist, firstly, he must be genuinely musical ; secondly, he must be genuinely musical ; thirdly, he must be genuinely musical. But as neither the reader of these pages nor the editor would be satisfied with this laconic answer, I will look at the question a little closer, and try to make a few suggestions on the points I consider to be most important, as it would be impossible to exhaust the whole subject in this paper. In the first place, it is scarcely necessary nowadays to refer to the necessity for a good technical education, as good piano executants are becoming so general that even Schubert's 'Erl Konig' or Lowe's more difficult ballads would present no insuperable diffi- culty to the average player. On the other hand, the art of transposing is not sufficiently studied. It is as indispensable for the accompanist to be able to transpose as it is for him to possess the requisite execution, as he may at any time be called upon to play a song a tone lower on account of sudden indis- position or temporary embarrassment on the part of the singer. When it is only required to trans- pose the song half a tone lower or higher the diffi- culty is not great. For example, transposing from E Flat to E Major may be accomplished by substi- tuting four sharps for three flats, and reading, dur- ing the course of the song, a sharp for a natural, a double sharp for a sharp, and a natural for a flat. Should there be little modulation this is compara- tively simple, but, in the case of transposing a whole tone or a tliird, certainty can only be attained by a clear knowledge of harmony, coupled with self- possession and natural aptitude. The public, as a rule, has very little idea of the difficulties which have been successfully overcome by the pianist, or ' Jiights of translation and repr some of its applause might be reasonably vouchsafed to him, instead of being reserved entirely for the singer. Those who are quite familiar with the alto and tenor clefs will find the following suggestions of some assistance : — In order to transpose a whole tone higher, suppose we substitute the alto clef for the G clef, and play an octave higher. Taking an example from Scluibert's ' Morgengruss.' i E^SaEEfeB gg In order to transpose from C Major to D Major, let us adopt the method, and read thus : — 8=" This gives the following result : — To transpose a third lower we can substitute the tenor clef, and in like manner read an octave liiglier, thus : — S=" r i ith the following result : —
With the bass it is only necessary to use the alto L-lef, and play an octave lower thus : —
' tower
For the sake of practice other examples may be thought out by the student anxious to gain pro-
oduction of this article are reseii'ed.
