Melba - A Biography - Taschenbuch

TO DAVID MITCHELL THIS RECORD OF HIS DAUGHTERS CAREER IS RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED INTRODUCTORY NOTE THERE is happily no longer quite the same feeling of hopelessness that there used to be in attempting to place on record the impression made by a singers voice, for the gramophone and phonograph, with all their inherent defects, can still reproduce so much of the main characteristics of a great performance that some idea can be conveyed of what was the effect produced by the original. There is no need, either, to anticipate, for many a long day yet, the time when Melbas voice shall be no longer heard in its full perfection but still, it is not without interest for those who may never be able to hear Melba to know in what consisted her wonderful power over her hearers. The parts she has favoured have been mostly the typical examples of conventionalized opera, and it is in respect of her voice, without any external help, that she has attained her great position. To describe the quality of that voice has been attempted in many passages quoted in this book and it is interesting to compare the various ideas it has called up in various musical minds. Massenets nickname, Madame Stradivarius, is perhaps the most apt of all, for it is the violin that most nearly resembles the impression produced by Melbas voice, and the very soul of music lives in VOl viii INTRODUCTORY NOTK her phrasing. The tone is of a kind that defies analysis in words, for if wo call it sweet, the epithet conveys an idea of lusoiousnesn that in far from true if the worrit clear, light or 66 brilliant are used, a hint of a sharp, shrill quality is given, which is equally false and it might probably be bestdescribed in a series of negatives. There in never a trace of a tremolo she is constitutionally quite unable to sing out of tune and tho faultless evenness of her notes never suggests anything in the least mechanical. The absence of any little vocal habit which might be called a trick is yet another of her qualities, and, lest it should be thought that all these propositions might convey an idea of some want of interest, it must bo recorded that in the voice itself, quite apart from the question of expressing dramatic feeling by facial expression or gesticulation, there exists an extraordinary power of what is called colour. Put Melba behind a screen, and the most rapturous exultation of youth, or the most poignant expression of sorrow, will be conveyed to all intelligent hearers, yet without transgressing for an instant the canons of pure vocal art. Of how many opera-singers could the name be Haiti When her manipulation of this voice IB considered, we approach the main secret of her magical charm. Not only is her shake a thing of matchleHB beauty, with the two notes as clearly audible and HB changeless in pitch as if they were played on the piano, but her singing of a scale is a thing quite unique in ita perfec tion. The chromatic scale of an octave up and down which comes into the valse in Borneo and Juliet is among the things that are truly unforgettable. From the middle, as it were, of the one note ahe alights INTRODUCTORY NOTE ix exactly in the middle of the next, and the pearls to which they are often compared are not only perfectly matched in quality, but are threaded on their silken string with marvellous skill. Some singers have attained such dexterity in disguising thetechnical difficulty of their feats so completely that their hearer imagines that when he goes home he will be able to perform similar marvels for himself. In spite of Melbas wonderful ease and spontaneity, her performance is felt throughout to be absolutely beyond the attainment of ordinary persons, and in her case astonishment and delight always go hand in hand. J. A, FULLRR-MAITLAND. LONDON, May 1909. CONTENTS INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY J. A. FULLm-MAITLAND - - vii MBLBA A BIOGRAPHY .......