ma I TO SING HOW TO SING A SONG THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO DALLAS ATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED LONDON BOMBAY CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TORONTO HOW TO SING A SONG THE ART OF DRAMATIC AND LYRIC INTERPRETATION BY YVETTE GUILBERT WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND MANS ILLUSTRATIONS THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1918 All rights resvrvtd COPTBI&HT, 1918, BT TVETTE GUILBERT. Set up and electrotyfti. .Published October, 1918. Xnrtaiooti \3rrss J. S. Gushing Co. Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO MY DEAR FRIENDS ALICE AND IEENE LEWISOHN IN AFFECTIONATE ADMIRATION OF THEIR CREATION THE NEIGHBORHOOD PLAYHOUSE YVETTE GUILBERT YOBK, AUGUST, 1918 2082945 PREFACE Verily I say unto you : One must never be discouraged ! Never be discouraged at learning ! Never be discouraged by difficulties ! Never be discouraged, when progress is slow, Never be discouraged, where success lags ! Never be discouraged by the indifference of the crowd, Never be discouraged by the ignorance of the crowd ! Never be discouraged at the lack of comprehension of whosoever it may be ! Never be discouraged through the faults of others, Never be discouraged through your own fault ! All comes to those who will, that all shall come God does not admit that good and fine efforts should be in vain An artist is a priest a divine servant ! The Bible says unto the children of Israel : "There is a time for every thing, A time for peace And a time for war A time for sorrow And a time for rejoicing vii viii PREFACE A time for health And a time for sickness A time for poverty And a time for wealth A time to work And a time to rest A time to weep And a time to laugh ! And I say unto the artist : Courage ! There is a time for our defeats, A time for our victories ! On condition that there be : A time to look A time to listen A time to love A time to suffer A time to endure A time to forgive A time to learn A time to understand A time to absorb A time to digest A time to reflect A time to mature A time to bloom A time to expand A time to create A time to reproduce A time to sow And then will come the time to reap ! K PREFACE What is an artist's life? A time when you are dependent on others ~"A time when others are dependent on you ! A time when the populace despises you A time when you despise the populace ! A time when the artist knocks in vain at the gates of Art - A time when Art shelters the artist ! A time when money insults the artist A time when the artist insults money ! A time when the wbrlrof an artist is obtainable for a few cents, o A tune when untold millions could not purchase that same work ! A tune when, through the fault of the nation, artists perish A time when, through the lack of artists, the nation ty perishes ! A time when your native town makes your reputa- tion A tune when you make the reputation of your town! A tune when, being envied by too many, you suffer A time when, being envied by too few, you suffer ! A time when you are a unit A time when you are multiple ! A time when you will specialize A time when you will universalize ! A time when you will be the prisoner of your formula A time when you will escape from your formula ! x PREFACE There is : A time when your reputation makes your talent A time when your talent makes your reputation ! A time when your renown is greater than your genius A time when your genius is greater than your re- nown! A time when your efforts are so low that the crowd can reach them A time when your efforts are so high that they sur- pass the crowd ! There is : A time when nothing counts except what you do A time when what you do counts for nothing ! There is : A time when you fancy you are weary of effort A time which calls out to you : Still greater efforts in your effort ! There is : A time when it seems you have nothing more to say A time which cries out to you : Fool, does life ever stop? There is : A time which disgusts you with the present A time which cries out to you : And what of the past! There is : A time which says to you : Ah, we know of what has gone by A time which cries out to you : What of the future? PREFACE ri There is : A time for meditation . . . the fear of Time . . . in face of the formidable task to be accom- plished A time which cries out to you : Lose not your time in looking at the clock ! WORK ! ! CONTENTS PAGH INTRODUCTION xv 1. THE SPECIAL VOCAL TECHNIQUE NECESSARY TO A SINGER OF SONGS, AS COMPARED TO THAT OF AN OPERATIC SINGER 1 2. How TO PENETRATE AND AMPLIFY THE TEXT 22 3. How TO CREATE ATMOSPHERE ... 36 4. THE EXPRESSION OF THE DIFFERENT FORMS OF TRAGEDY 50 5. THE COMIC SPIRIT. THE EXPRESSION OF JOY AS CHARACTERIZED IN COLORS GRAY, PURPLE, AND RED 59 6. THE PLASTIC ART 73 7. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FACULTY OF OB- SERVATION 98 8. MUSICAL RHYTHM 104 9. THE EURHYTHMIC EXPRESSION OF THE BODY 110 10. THE SCIENCE OF TEMPO IN DECLAMATION . 118 11. How TO ACQUIRE FACIAL MIMICRY . . 127 12. ABOUT MAGNETISM AND CHARM. THE SOUL THAT MUST ANIMATE THE TRUE ARTIST . 130 xm INTRODUCTION Two elements must be conjoined in any veritable work of art, first, something to say, and second, an ability to say it by means of some articulate method of expression. The first element is original and incommunicable ; it exists or it does not exist; and nothing can be done to stimulate or stay it. It is, indeed, an aspect of that "wisdom" of which Walt Whitman has so eloquently said, "Wisdom cannot be pass'd from one having it, to another not having it; Wisdom is of the Soul, is not susceptible of proof, is its own proof ; . . . Something there is in the float of the sight of things that provokes it out of the Soul." Wisdom is the fruit of character ; and character can- not be taught. It must grow endogenously like a tree, with roots long nourished in the soil of observa- tion and experience. The character of any man at any moment is nothing more nor less than a remem- bered record of all that he has ever been. To have something to say, it is necessary to have lived, and to be able to remember. But the second essential element of art an ability to say things can and must be learned, XV xvi INTRODUCTION and can be taught. It will not grow up of itself, as a component part of character, however longingly it may be watched and waited for. It can be ac- quired only by hard labor and incessant practice; but this labor may be lightened by following the precepts and examples of great artists who have gone before. In each of the arts, there is a codified technique which is known to every sound practitioner and is passed down from generation to generation. Raphael was a pupil of Perugino, and Rubens was the teacher of Van Dyck. The average aspirant, in the eager period of early youth, is inclined to worry overmuch about the things he has to say, whereas these things are very likely to be negligible. Except in rare instances, like that of Keats, it may be assumed that nobody has anything to say till after he is thirty ; and while the tree of character is growing, it is best to leave it alone and not to pluck it up continually for the pur- pose of inspecting its roots. The years of youth may be more profitably spent in learning the technique of some articulate medium of expression. Granted the initial gift of talent, an apprentice, in the decade of his twenties, can learn by constant practice how to draw or paint or write or sing or act. He can acquire an ability to say things, before yet he is endowed with anything to say. Then, later, when the time comes to express himself, because his character at last is worthy of expression, his mes- sage to the world will flow forth fluently and grace- fully. This, of course, was what was in the mind of Robert Louis Stevenson when he wrote to a INTRODUCTION xvii young art-student, Trevor Haddon, " In your own art, bow your head over technique. Think of technique when you rise and when you go to bed. Forget purposes in the meanwhile; get to love technical processes, to glory in technical successes ; get to see the world entirely through technical spectacles, to see it entirely in terms of what you can do. Then when you have anything to say, the language will be apt and copious." In the present book, Madame Yvette Guilbert expounds the basic principles of the art of dramatic and lyric interpretation, an art of which she is an absolute and perfect master. This treatise is intended primarily as a manual of craftsmanship, for the benefit of beginners who aspire to follow in her footsteps. But, to me at least, the volume has a deeper meaning and teaches a more important lesson ; for it demonstrates conclusively that tech- nical accomplishment is made, not born, that it can and must be learned, and can be taught. This is a lesson that is sorely needed at the present time, when an anarchic group of so-called "critics" is springing up to celebrate an anarchic group of so-called "artists" who noisily pretend that tech- nique is of no account, because they are too lazy to acquire it. The heresy that anybody can express himself spontaneously without having mastered, by previous practice, an articulate medium of expression cannot be too utterly condemned. It is scarcely necessary, in this place, to state that Madame Yvette Guilbert is the finest artist, living in the world to-day, who does anything of xviii INTRODUCTION any kind upon the stage. This superlative opinion has been expressed, at one time or another in the last ten years, by nearly all the leading critics of the leading nations. But the very perfectness of her art might allure the public to fall into the heresy of thinking that effects produced with such apparent ease have been arrived at without antecedent effort. This little book will demonstrate, however, that nothing is easy in art, and that the appearance of spontaneity can be acquired only by long years of earnest study and indefatigable practice. Madame Yvette Guilbert was always a great woman. She told me once that, owing to the ad- vantages of her birth and bringing-up in the bour- geoisie, or working-class, of Paris, she knew nearly as much of human life and understood nearly as much of human character at the early age of fourteen as she knows and understands to-day. She was gifted by nature with the penetrating faculty of observation and the world-embracing faculty of sympathy. But these gifts alone could never have made her the perfect artist that she has become. Dante said of his century of cantos that the labor of them had kept him lean for twenty years ; and Madame Yvette Guilbert has devoted even a longer time than that to the tireless task of perfecting the technique of her art. The author of How to Sing a Song is not accus- tomed to write books, nor does she aspire to any literary laurels. Furthermore, in the present in- stance, she is writing in an unfamiliar language, less fitted than her own to express the many move- INTRODUCTION xix ments of a mind that is peculiarly and typically French. Yet, to me at least, this little volume reveals many of the most essential traits of litera- ture. It is not so much a text-book as a personal expression of the ecstasy of a great artist in the propagation of her craft. Much of it, unconsciously, is autobiographical ; and even when the author en- deavors to be most strictly didactic, the perfume of her personality irradiates her writing. For the general reader, therefore, who entertains no aspiration on his own account to learn "how to sing a song," the book is valuable because it offers an opportunity to become more nearly acquainted with one of the great women of the world. In a recent letter to myself she said, "Puisse mon livre ouvrir les idees, les oreilles, les yeux, et les coeurs de ceux qui le liront, pour y chercher la clef de la celebrity, ou de la fortune / . . . Ils n'y trouveront que la clef de la conscience dans le travail, et la clef de I'Eglise de I'humaine Beaute." CLAYTON HAMILTON. NEW YORK Crnr, 1918. NOTE. The drawings in this book are made by Claire Avery; the photographs by Alice Boughton. THE ART OF DRAMATIC AND LYRIC INTERPRETATION THE SPECIAL VOCAL TECHNIQUE NECES- SARY TO A SINGER OF SONGS, AS COMPARED TO THAT OF AN OPERATIC SINGER THIS little book is written with the purpose to help those who mistaken about what is Art will vainly struggle against their proper ignorance. Men sometimes make war on behalf of a humanitarian ideal, artists always struggle for the same ideal, but the former believe they will save the world by spreading wholesale Death, the latter by universal Love. For Art is Love ! Love of the Creation of God ! Love of Nature ! Love of Life ! Love of Creation by sculpture, by painting, by music, by poetry ! B 1 2 DRAMATIC AND LYRIC INTERPRETATION Know your fellow-creature as you know your- self and you will be an artist ; love your fellow- creature as yourself and you will be a genius ; worship God and his creation, sing its praise and you will be immortal ! Let the mercenary disdain its beauties, let the crowd remain faithful to its slavish task, let it remain the prisoner of a narrow, curbed mentality but you ! Free yourself ! But beware ! If you want to become an artist, you must understand "Art" art in all forms that every art embraces. Music without color lacks plasticity . . . it is unharmonious ! Painting without plasticity lacks harmony . . . it is colorless. Sculpture without harmony lacks color . . . it is shapeless. Poetry without form, color, and rhythm lacks sculpture, painting, and music, and is therefore without art. A singer with the most splendid voice may be often a deplorable artist, but as the crowd makes him a " success," every one who is blessed with the same singing mechanism wants to become the same "success." VOCAL TECHNIQUE 3 But if you do not possess the splendid voice ? Then you decide to become a "Singer of Songs," as it is "so easy." Because you ignore the art of the interpre- tation of a song ! Because you ignore the fact that there is in art no scale of "easiness," of "facility" ! Because you ignore the fact that art to be great, to be perfect, to be superior, must include all the arts in the one you choose ! Because you ignore the fact that the art which appears to you the most simple, the "easiest," requires the longest time for its perfection ! So, if you want to make a real career as a singer of songs, the career of a Chansonneur, you must have a long special voice training. You must not be either a soprano or con- tralto, either a barytone, bass, or tenor, you must be a soprano and contralto, you must be barytone, bass, and tenor, all in one. This will prevent you from singing a song as a "uniform" work, like an operatic part. The singers who have what is called "one register" normally placed, like operatic stars, are out of question for the art of singing a song. Their voices can be as fine as possible, if they 4 DRAMATIC AND LYRIC INTERPRETATION are not multiple, they will not be able to render the song "justly," they will deform it by too rich or too stiff a voice always limited to their register. I repeat the Chansonneur must have no limit in expressing herself or himself. The minute the Chansonneur is limited, he is not any more a singer of songs. Because to sing songs means possessing all possibilities to sing all songs. La Chanson is not one song. La Chanson is multiple, and you must have multiple powers, multiple colors, multiple voices. We singers of songs, we are painters. Our voices are there to color the story, the picture we exhibit. We must illustrate our songs as an actress her part with many colors, that is to say, many vocal colors, and so help the public to see with their eyes what they hear with their ears. Only a series of voices can produce this. Of course I know how dangerous this is for the voice, and for this reason I never advise a student to indulge in such vocal gymnastics, as the beginner does not know how to direct the vocal mechanism of his voice. For instance, it gives some songs more color if you sing them en poitrine (on the chest regis- VOCAL TECHNIQUE 5 ter), instead of using the passage in which the voice ought to be placed. It would be incorrect in operatic technique. But if I have a pupil who possesses all other qualities which are required for a singer of songs; that is, fantasy, originality, the power of comic expression, the power of tragic ex- pression, literary culture, instinct of the plastic, sense of observation, a face with expressive eyes and mouth, an immense sensitiveness I direct him or her to acquire all registers, all vocal colors necessary to express songs of all characters. I met in the early beginning of my career two very famous musicians with whom I dis- cussed this very subject. The one was my celbbre compatriote Gounod. Gounod told me very often : " Mademoiselle Yvette, for God's sake, do not take singing lessons. Your professor will kill your power of expression by giving you a 'pretty voice,' which means a 'flat' voice. And then you will be one of the thousands. You will be like Judic, whose voice is pretty, charming, and nothing else. We have had Judics before Judic, and we shall have Judics after Judic. You your- self have created your style, preserve it." 6 DRAMATIC AND LYRIC INTERPRETATION On one of his last visits to Paris, Verdi came to my house. We were speaking of interpre- tation. I asked him to explain to me why he had composed in "La Traviata," for the supper scene, the spirit of which was so sentimental, such a vivacious music almost in a tempo of waltz. "You see," replied Verdi, "if we had on the operatic stage singers of songs such as you are, we would write music appropriate to the words ; but we have only more or less beau- tiful voices for arias, and we write music for arias, arias to make shine the soprano, arias for the contralto, arias for the tenor, etc." You hear these authoritative lips confirm the idea that there is a difference between the operatic singer and the singer of songs. And there is a difference between the vocal technique of a singer of songs and the vocal technique of an opera singer. The singer of songs has to break the uniform- ity of his register. He will acquire it by learn- ing first to speak, by speaking with "color," by reciting. He will become accustomed to place his voice "on the lips," in the masque, as we say in French, and not in the nose or in the throat. His speaking voice will be in turn sweet or deep, full of nuances (shades) and he will be VOCAL TECHNIQUE 7 able to give to his singing voice the same shades. He will become accustomed to sing as a bass with the chest (his medium, however, must be splendidly posed ; this is absolutely important in singing songs) and his voix de t$te (head notes) will replace the ample high octave of the oper- atic singer. The singer of a song should be able to sing with the voice of a child, the voice of a boy, of a girl, of a young man, of an old man, of a brutal man, of a sweet woman, of a priest, of a soldier; his voice should have all the colors necessary to express all human feelings, all the thousand shades of human emotions, of human joys, of human sorrows, of human perplexity, all the colors necessary to illuminate the words of a text. Speaking of the supreme art of coloring the words, which in dramatic and in lyric art is of the first importance, Jules Lemaitre, the great French dramatic critic, says of the great artist Eleanora Duse, that she is a genius of interpre- tation, plastiquement et mimiquement parlant from a plastic and mimic point of view. He adds: "Those, however, who, as I, do not know the Italian language, cannot judge absolutely and com- pletely the total value of her art. The shading, the 8 DRAMATIC AND LYRIC INTERPRETATION coloring of her diction, escape my notion. This is a condition which is a prejudice to the artist. The best comedians obtain great effects of expression by their science of coloring and by their art of pro- nunciation. "The knowledge of the contents of the scene, the comprehension one might have of the subject of the play if one does not speak the Italian lan- guage is not sufficient for artistically appreciating the talent or the dramatic ' science ' of the artist. Therefore, an entire part of her art and a very important one escapes us. We are captivated by a voice which is pure, clear, and sensible, and by the emotional quality of its intonations." It is evident that the public submits to the charm of that music which is the Italian lan- guage, as it often submits to the music of the beautiful language of France, ignoring how it is sometimes disfigured, horribly pronounced, badly colored and still worse shaded by dramatic artists without the necessary vocal science. These make out of the art of declamation an art of deformation. The great art of "coloring" the word is just as important as the art of designing for the painter, and again the great art of "drawing" the word is just as indispensable as the art of coloring for the painter. Every word has its form and its color, its VOCAL TECHNIQUE 9 light and its shade. One does not for example pronounce the word del (heaven) as one pro- nounces the word herbe (grass). The words chaud and froid (hot and cold) have equal value of accent ; also beau and laid (pretty and ugly), but the word nuage (cloud) is more ample, more majestic than the word pluie (rain). The word merveilleux (marvelous) is more accentuated than the word splendide (splendid). If a skilled dramatic artist has to say : La neige couvrait la terre (Snow covered the earth) he will pronounce the word neige with a long accent : la nei-ge, as if, musically speaking, the value was a half note (une blanche) for the first syllable and a quarter note (une noire) for the second. La nei ge couvrait la terre! The word couvrait will be pronounced amply, largely ; to the word terre will be given the same value of accent. The artist who will pronounce the phrase "la neige couvrait la terre" dryly, without visual and intellectual coloring, in a word, without science, will be an inferior artist. Therefore, as I said before, if you possess the 10 DRAMATIC AND LYRIC INTERPRETATION art of coloring the words, you have the first stones of the house you wish to build up. Now, the second indispensable point is how to breathe, respiration ! Respiration is only a question of cleverness. Everybody can learn how to breathe in a short time ; it is very simple. First you must practice the purely physical movements of respiration. First absorb slowly the air and keep it, with mouth closed, in the upper part of your chest, so to say, on the level of your shoulders, as long as you can and until you have the sensation of an inflated chest. When you feel you cannot any longer retain the absorbed air, lower your chest ; that means let it empty itself of the large dose of air you have absorbed, but very slowly, extremely slowly, almost imperceptibly. If you practice this every day for a quarter of an hour, you will at the end be able to sing in one single respiration, which you take before starting, the twenty-four measures of the fol- lowing song : Un Mouvement de Curiosite. UN MOUVEMENT DE CURIOSITE Refrain : H61as maman, pardonnez je vous prie Un mouvement de curiosite. VOCAL TECHNIQUE 11 1 Je me croyais seulette en la prairie Quant mes yeux Colinet s'est present^ ; He*las maman, pardonnez je vous prie Un mouvement de curiosite". 2 Vous le savez dans le village on public Que ce berger n'a pas d'e"gal en beaute" ; He*las maman, pardonnez je vous prie Un mouvement de curiosite". 3 En m'abordant sur 1'herbette fleurie A mes genoux a 1'instant il s'est jete* ; Helas maman, pardonnez je vous prie Un mouvement de curiosite*. 4 Au meme instant sa bouche a la mienne unie Fit naitre en moi le gout de la volupte" ; Helas maman, pardonnez je vous prie Un mouvement de curiosite". 5 II me vantait les noeuds dont Tamom nous lie, J'ai voulu voir s'il disait la v^rit6 ; He"las maman, pardonnez je vous prie Un mouvement de curiosite". 6 Si ce plaisir est le charme de la vie, Est-ce un grand mal, maman, d'y avoir gout6 ? H^las maman, pardonnez je vous prie Un mouvement de curiosite*. 12 DRAMATIC AND LYRIC INTERPRETATION -^f^f-H-faU^ LI U kJ 1 ' -P f- v t^ He - las ! Ma - man . par - don - nez je vous 4 5 .6 7 pri - e un mou - ve - ment de cu - ri - o - si - 8 9 10 11 Je me croy - ois seul - et - te dans la Prai - 12 13 14 Mbi *= E g r-f^fr^ rie quand i mes yeux Co - li - net s'est 15 16 17 18 pre - sent - te. He - las! Ma - man 19 20 par - don - nez je vous prie - e 21 22 23 24 i mCTT un mou - ve ment de cu - ri o - si te\ VOCAL TECHNIQUE 13 When I taught myself how to breathe, I used the foregoing song as an example for controlling my respiration. In the beginning I sang four measures and I was obliged to take breath. I then began my physical exercises. Three weeks later I could sing eight measures before again taking breath and was able to complete the whole refrain with the sole respiration taken at the start. Then I continued to practice the prolonging of my respiration patiently, methodically, and slowly, and could add after five weeks another eight measures of the first stanza. It was, however, martyrdom when I tried to stop at the point d'orgue (organ point) of the seventeenth measure. The stop, indeed, was necessary for the sake of preserving the special and characteristic grace of this eighteenth century music in which the song is written. I succeeded by practicing and was able to sing the first sixteen measures with the single respiration d'attaque. At last to make the virtuosity triumph it was necessary to add to the verse the refrain of the song. That means another five measures which was easy, owing to the gymnastic ex- ercises practiced with the same refrain at the beginning of the song. 14 DRAMATIC AND LYRIC INTERPRETATION At the end of another ten days I was able to sing the twenty-four measures of the song with one single respiration taken at the start. It took therefore almost ten weeks to learn res- piration, and to control it in such a way as to be absolute master of it. Another example : Let somebody beat the measure at 2-4 and speak out the following notes : do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si, do, si, la, sol, fa, mi, re. With a moderate tempo one ought to be able ten times to make the ascent and descent of the gamut, six times when the chest is filled with air and four times when the air escapes. Now instead of pronouncing the notes by speaking them, sing them, vocalize them, and one will be surprised to see how, by this simple exercise, one can obtain the absolute control of respiration which, after all, is only a question of will and patience. To conclude, here are the first points to acquire. A special vocal technique for recitation or for singing songs, and also respiration. Now I will give an illustration of what I have said about coloring the words. I will sing, for example, St. Nicolas, in which song you will see the different colors I mean. VOCAL TECHNIQUE 15 A Chansonneur must be, not only a painter, with his voice, but a sculptor with a plastic art, a poet of the soul, and see beauty everywhere ! In St. Nicolas there are many kinds of voices to express by colors. 1. The voice of the artist interpreting the song, which is neutral. 2. The voice of the butcher, brown. 3. The speaking voice of St. Nicholas, red, large, and posed in the grave register. 4. The child's voice, a white voice. LA LEGENDS DE SAINT NICOLAS II