Recitative and declamation.
The accompaniment of recitative and melodic declamatory phrases
should be light enough to allow the voice to come through without
strain, and the words to be heard distinctly. The most convenient
method is to employ sustained chords and tremolo on the strings
or wood-wind, giving free latitude to the voice from a rhythmic
point of view (a piacere).
Another excellent plan is to write short chords in the strings
combined with wood-wind in different ways. Sustained chords
and those entailing change of position should occur preferably
when the voice is silent, thus permitting both conductor and orchestra
to keep a closer watch over the singer's irregularities of
rhythm in a piacere recitatives. If the accompaniment is more
complex in character, melodic, polyphonic or ornamental in design,
the recitative must be sung in tempo. Any phrase which it is
necessary to emphasise in accordance with the sense of the words
assumes a more cantabile character, and must be re-inforced by
the orchestra. Opera, today, besides demanding much greater care
in the treatment of the text than in the past, abounds in constant
transition from declamation to cantabile, or in the fusion of the
two. The orchestra offers more variety of texture and must be
handled with greater regard to its relationship to the words, and
the action on the stage. This class of orchestration can only be
studied from lengthy examples. I refer the reader to operatic full
scores and content myself with giving one or short instances:
Examples:
- No. 287. Snegourotchka 16.
- No. 288. The Tsar's Bride 124-125.
The following double examples, similar from a musical point
a view; show different methods of handling an orchestra from the
standpoint of accompaniment to the voice, and the tutti form.
Examples:
- No. 289-291. Sadko 99-101 and 305-307 (compare also Ex. 75).
- Vera Scheloga 3-7 and 28.
Care should be taken not to score too heavily when accompanying
singers in the wings.
Examples:
- * No. 292. Sadko 316, 318, 320.
- * Legend of Kitesh 286-289, 304-305.
