Dan H. Marek - Singing: the First Art

The First Art

Dan H. Marek

SCARECROW PRESS, INC.

Published in the United States of America

by Scarecrow Press, Inc.

A wholly owned subsidiary of

The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706

www.scarecrowpress.com

Estover Road
Plymouth PL6 7PY
United Kingdom

Copyright 2007 by Dan H. Marek

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Marek, Dan.

Singing : the first art / Dan H. Marek.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-5711-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 0-8108-5711-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1. SingingHistory. 2. SingingInstruction and study. I. Title.

ML1460.M34 2007

782.009dc22

2006012817

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

Cover. From center, left to right: Rosa Ponselle as Leonore in Verdis La Forza del Destino, Enrico Caruso, Lillian Nordica as Brnnhilde in Wagners Die Walkre, Edouard de Reszke as Mphistophls in Gounods Faust, Geraldine Farrar as Manon in Manon by Massenet, and Feodor Chaliapin as Boris in Boris Godounov by Mussorgsky. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera Archives.

To my wife, Ann Marek, for unfailing loyalty, love, and encouragement for more than fifty years.

To my son, Lou Marek, whose artistic talents contributed immeasurably to this book.

To my son, Paul Marek, for practical help and advice.

To Shirley Lambert of Scarecrow Press, who encouraged me to write this book in the first place.

To Rene Camus, Niki Guinan, and Jany Keat, my editors, whose guidance and help were indispensable in the production of this book.

To Dr. Charles Kaufman, William Knight, and Edward Foreman for excellent advice on style and content.

To John Pennino and Robert Tuggle of the Metropolitan Opera Archives for help with historic photographs.

To Dr. David Slavit, eminent otolaryngologist, who reviewed anatomical and medical material.

To Basil Walsh of www.britishandirishworld.com for the Malibran and Pasta images.

To Erin Schleigh of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston for the Garcia I portrait.

To Frank Nemhauser, Lisa Johnson, and Joel Lester of the Mannes College of Music for academic support.

To Karen Oswald of Icon Learning Systems for help on anatomical images.

To the memory of Dr. Berton Coffin, who has shown the way, and to Mildred Coffin and Martha Coffin for friendship and advice.

To my students, past and present, who have helped me to learn.

We should be careful not to make intellect our god. It has, of course, plenty of muscle, but no personality.Albert Einstein

Keep on doing what youve always been doing and youll always get what youve always got.Sign on New York subway clerks blackboard

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.Theodore Roosevelt

Even the gods struggle in vain with stupidity.Franz Proschowsky

A great deal of talent is lost in this world for the want of a little courage.Sydney Smith

The duty of the artist is to conceal effort.Enrico Caruso

Everything should be as simple as possible, but not simpler.Albert Einstein

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult O earth; break forth O mountains into singing!Isaiah 49:13

A big chest, a big mouth, 90 percent memory, 10 percent intelligence, lots of hard work, and, above all, something in the heart.Enrico Caruso, when asked about the requisites of a great singer

So many people are like: Oh, son, what are the chances that youre going to be a big league pitcher? Lets do something more realistic. Lets go to work at the convenience store. Thats because people live their lives thinking everything is so darn hard. Everyone is so worried about it, they dont even let themselves try and experience it.Barry Zito, Cy Young award winning pitcher, Oakland As

The artist always has time.Isaac Van Grove, composer and conductor

Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed.Francis Bacon

An artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one.Charles Horton Cooley

Prepare with your brain; sing with your heart.Dan Marek

Placement is a sensation but not an action.From an Internet site

I am very open about the theater; I like innovation; I like interesting things, he said, But unfortunately what I see too much of these days is directors using operas as vehicles for their own vanity, appropriating the works for their own career or feeling the works are not strong enough on their own and must be made relevant to modern audiences. For me, the dramatist is the composer.Unknown

What makes any kind of career in the arts so difficult is the wiser you get, the more crippled you are by your own wisdom. The trick is to forget all you know so you can have the innocence of a child.Unknown

It was easy for us to be nice kids, we were not preyed upon by dope pushers, our pop music did not issue thunderous invitations to a semisensate flight from normality. Our music used to be played by skilled orchestras; intelligible singers rendered tunes about dancing in the dark while orchids bloomed in the moonlight and nightingales sang in Berkley Square and stars fell on Alabamasilly sentiments, but carried along by intelligent melodic phraseology, and if the words were doggerel, they were often wonderfully compelling. I know my comparison is cranky, but there it is.Carroll OConnor

The development of talent, I believe, almost invariably means endless effort.Feodor Chaliapin

Art is the only defense against death.Arthur Lederman, age 101, a Holocaust survivor

Change is a process, not an event.Unknown

There seems to be a widespread belief that there is less great singing today than in the past but a higher level of mediocre singing.Berton Coffin

Singing is a miracle. It has been called the most complex coordinative act that a human being is ever called upon to perform. Yet, most people can sing, with varying degrees of success, and there is a common understanding that there is something inherently joyful in the act of singing. Even sad songs often evoke pleasurable feelings in both audience and singer. No instrument has the power of the human voice to reach the deepest feelings of the human spirit. Indeed, composers often have resorted to vocal solutions when they have reached the limits of instrumental expression; for example, Beethovens setting of Schillers