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Soloists.

Range and register.

I advise the composer to be guided by Table F. which gives
the approximate range of the six principal solo voices. A bracket
under the notes defines the normal octave, the register in which
the voice is generally used. Within these limits the composer
may write freely without fear of hardening or tiring the voice.

The normal octave applies also to declamatory singing and recitative;
the notes above it are exceptional and should be used for
the culminating points of a passage or for climaxes, the notes
below, for the fall or decline of a melody. Employing voices in
unusual registers for long periods of time will weary both singer
and listener, but these registers may occasionally be used for
brief intervals so as not to confine the voice too strictly to one
octave. A few examples are added to illustrate melody in different
types of voices.

Examples:

• The Tsar's Bride 102-109 (for extracts cf. Ex. 256, 280, 284) —
  Marfa's Aria (Soprano).
• " " 16-18 — Griaznov's Aria (Baritone).
• Snegourotchka — The 3 songs of Lell. (Contralto).
• Sadko 46-49 (cf. extract, Ex. 120) — Sadko's Aria (Tenor).
• " 129-131 — Lioubava's Aria (Mezzo-sopr.).
• " 191-193 (cf. extact, Ex. 131) — Bass Aria.

Vocalisation.

A good vocal melody should contain notes of at least three
different values, minims, crotchets and quavers (or crotchets,
quavers and semiquavers etc.). Monotony in rhythmic construction
is unsuited to vocal melody; it is applicable to instrumental music,
but only in certain cases. Cantabile melody requires a fair
number of long notes, and a change of syllable in a word should
occur at a moment when the voice quits a long sustained note.
Short, single notes, changing with every syllable produce a harmonious
effect. Owing to the requirements of diction, extended
melodic figures sung legato on one syllable must be used with
care on the part of the composer; to perform these the singer
must possess greater command over flexibility and technique.
The possibility of taking breath in the right place is one of the
conditions essential to all vocal writing. Breath cannot be taken
in the middle of a word, sometimes not even during the course
of a sentence or phrase in the text; hence the voice part must
be suitably interspersed with rests.

[ILLUSTRATION]

Table F. Voices.

Chorus:

Soloists:

Note. It must be remembered that there are some words upon which the
voice may not dwell, or sing more than one or two notes. These words may
be nouns, pronouns, numerals, prepositions, conjunctions and other parts of
speech. It would be impossible and ridiculous, for instance, to write a
sustained note on such words as "who", "he" etc. The voice may dwell on
certain words which, so to speak, possess some poetical colour [1].

Examples:

• No. 303. Sadko 236 — Sadko's Aria (Tenor).
• " 309-311(see extract, Ex. 81). Volkhova's Cradle
  Song (Soprano).
• Snegourotchka 9 — Fairy Spring's Aria (Mezzo-sopr.).
• " 187-188, 212-213 (see extracts, Ex. 102 and 225) — the two Cavatinas of Tsar Berendey (Tenor).
• " 247 — Miskir's Aria (Baritone).

Vowels.

As regards vocalisation on one syllable, on long sustained notes
and in the high register, the choice of vowels is a matter of some
importance. The difference in the position of the mouth and lips
in forming the open vowel a and the closed vowel ou is apparent
to everyone. The series of vowels from the point of view of open
sounds is: a, i, o, e, u. In women's voices the easiest vowel on
high notes is a, for men it is o. The vowel i softens the penetrating
quality of the top notes of a bass voice, and the vowel a
adds to the extension of range in the very lowest compass. Lengthy
florid passages are often written on the interjection ah, or simply

on the vowel a. Owing to the restrictions imposed by literary
and dramatic laws, the composer can only follow the above rules
to a limited extent.

Examples:

• Snegourotchka 293, 318-319 (cf. Ex. 119).
• No. 304. Sadko 83.

Flexibility.

Voices possess the greatest amount of flexibility in their normal
octave. Women's voices are more supple than men's, but in all
types, the higher voice is the more agile, sopranos in women, the
tenor voice in men. Although capable of performing florid and
complicated figures, different varieties of phrasing and the rapid
change from staccato to legato, the human voice is infinitely less
flexible than a musical instrument. In passages of any rapidity,
diatonic scales and arpeggios in thirds come easiest to the voice.
Intervals bigger than fourths in quick succession and chromatic
scales are extremely difficult. Skips of an octave or more starting
from a short note should always be avoided. Preparation should
precede any extremely high note either by leading up to it gradually,
or by the clear leap of a fourth, fifth or octave; but sometimes
the voice may attack a high note without any due preparation.

Examples:

• Snegourotchka 46-48 (cf. extract, Ex. 279) — Snegourotchka's
  Aria (Soprano).
• " 96-97 — Lell's first song (Contralto).
• Sadko 196-193 (cf. extract, Ex. 122) — Hindoo song (Tenor).
• " 203-206 — Venetian song (Baritone).
• Pan Voyevoda 20-26 — Maria's cradle song (Sopr).

Colour and character of voices.

The colouring of the voice, whether it be brilliant or dull, sombre
or sonorous depends upon the individual singer, and the composer
has no need to consider it. The chief question is interpretation
and may be solved by the judicious choice of artists. From the

point of view of flexibility and expression voices may be divided
into two classes, lyric and dramatic. The latter is more powerful
and of greater range, the former possesses more suppleness and
elasticity and is more readily disposed to different shades of expression.
Granted that the rare combination of the two classes is
the composer's ideal, he should nevertheless be content to follow
the main artistic purpose which he has set out the achieve. In
complicated and important works the composer should bear in
mind the characteristics of the various voices he employs; moreover,
if he use two voices of the same calibre, e. g. 2 Sopranos
or 2 Tenors, he should discriminate between the range and register
of their respective parts, writing for one slightly higher than the
other. It is no rare occurrence to meet with voices of an intermediate
character (mezzo-carattere) combining the qualities of
each type to a modified extent. To such voices the composer
may assign rôles demanding the characteristics of each class,
especially secondary rôles. At the present day, besides the rôles
suitable to the dramatic and lyric type of voice, it is customary
to give prominence to those demanding some special qualifications,
voices of a certain tenderness or power, a specified range or degree
of flexibility — attributes decided by the artistic object in view. In
casting secondary and minor rôles the composer is advised to
employ a medium range and less exacting demands on technique.

Note. After Meyerbeer, who was the first to write for a special type of
heavy mezzo-soprano and baritone, Richard Wagner created a type of powerful
dramatic soprano, of extensive range, combining the quality and scope of the
soprano and mezzo-soprano voices; likewise a similar type of tenor, possessing
the attributes and compass of the tenor and baritone together. To demand
that voices shall be equally brilliant and resonant in the high and low register,
that singers shall be endowed with a super-powerful breathing apparatus and
an extraordinary faculty for resistance to fatigue (Siegfried, Parsifal, Tristan, Brünhilda, Kundry, Isolda), is to exact something little short of the miraculous.
Such voices are to be found, but there are some singers with excellent though
not phenomenal vocal powers, who, by the constant pursuit of Wagnerian parts
endeavour to increase their range and volume, and only succeed in depriving
the voice of correct intonation, beauty of tone, and all subtlety of nuances.
I believe that less exacting demands and greater perception of what is required,
skillful and judicious use of the high and low registers of the voice, a
proper understanding of cantabile writing combined with orchestration which
never overpowers the vocal part will be of greater service to the composer,
from an artistic point of view, than the more elaborate methods of Richard
Wagner.