Most of the greater Schumann songs are of a deliciously ultimate and
delicate character. By this no one should infer that they are weak or
spineless. Schumann was a deep student of psychology and of human life.
In the majority of cases he eschewed the melodramatic. It is true that
we have at least one song, _The Two Grenadiers_, which is melodramatic
in the extreme; but this, according to the greatest judges, is not
Schumann at his best. It was the particular delight of Schumann to take
some intense little poem and apply to it a musical setting crowded full
of deep poetical meaning. Again, he liked to paint musical pastels such
as _Im wunderschoenen Monat Mai_, _Fruehlingsnacht_ and _Der Nussbaum_.
These songs are redolent with the fragrance of out-of-doors. There is
not one jarring note. The indefinable beauty and inspiration of the
fields and forests have been caught by the master and imprisoned forever
in this wonderful music.
_Im wunderschoenen Monat Mai_, which comes from the _Dichterliebe_ cycle,
is indescribably delicate. It should be sung with great lightness and
simplicity. Any effort toward a striving for effect would ruin this
exquisite gem. _Fruehlingsnacht_ with its wonderful accompaniment, which
Franz Liszt thought so remarkable that he combined the melody and the
accompaniment, with but slight alterations, and made a piano piece of
the whole--is a difficult song to sing properly. If the singer does not
catch the effervescent character of the song as a whole, the effect is
lost. Any "dragging" of the tones destroys the wonderful exuberance
which Schumann strove to connote. The balance between the singer and the
accompanist must be perfect, and woe be to the singer who tries to sing
_Fruehlingsnacht_ with a lumbering accompanist.
_Der Nussbaum_ is one of the most effective and "thankful" of all the
Schumann songs. Experienced public singers almost invariably win popular
appreciation with this song. It is probably my favorite of all the
Schumann songs. Here again delicacy and simplicity reign supreme. In
fact simplicity in interpretation is the great requirement of all the
art songs. The amateur singer seems to be continually trying to secure
"effect" with these songs and the only result of this is affectation. If
amateurs could only realize how hard the really great masters tried to
avoid results that were to be secured by the cheap methods of
"affectation" and "show," they would make their singing more simple.
Success in singing art songs comes through the ability of the artist to
bring out the psychic, poetical and musical meaning of the song. There
is no room for cheap vocal virtuosity. The great songs bear the sacred
message of the best and finest in art. They represent the conscientious
devotion of their composers to their loftiest ideals.
I have mentioned three songs which are representative, but there are
numberless other songs which reveal the intimate and personal character
of Schumann's works. One popular mistake regarding these songs which is
quite prevalent is that of thinking that they can only be sung in tiny
rooms and never in large auditoriums. Time and again I have achieved
some of the best results I have ever secured on the concert stage with
delicate intimate works sung before audiences of thousands of people.
The size of the auditorium has practically nothing to do with the song.
The method of delivery is everything. If the song is properly and
thoughtfully delivered, the audience, though it be one of thousands,
will sit "quiet as mice" and listen reverently to the end. However, if
one of these songs were to be sung in a flamboyant, bombastic manner, by
some singer infected with the idea that in order to impress a multitude
of people an exaggerated style is necessary, the results would be
ruinous. If overdone, they are never appreciated. Art is art. Rembrandt
in one of his master paintings exhibits just the right artistic balance.
A copy of the same painting might become a mere daub, with a few twists
of some bungling amateur's brush. Let the young singer remember that
the results that are the most difficult to get in singing the art song
are not those by which she may hope to make a sensational impression by
means of show, but those which depend first and always upon sincerity,
simplicity and a deep study of the real meaning of the masterpiece.