In giving to the public these fruits of years of earnest labor,
and in attempting to bring into harmony things which have always
been treated separately, the Science and the Art of Singing, it
seems necessary that I should state the reasons that prompted me
to this study.
As I had for many years the advantage of the best tuition, both
German and Italian, in the Art of Singing, and had often sung
with favor in concerts, I was led to believe myself qualified to
become a teacher of this art. But hardly had I undertaken the
office before I felt that, while I was able to teach my pupils to
execute pieces of music with tolerable accuracy and with the
appropriate expression, I was wanting in the knowledge of any
sure starting-point, any sound principle, from which to proceed
in the special culture of any individual voice. In order to
obtain the knowledge which thus appeared to be requisite in
a teacher of vocal music, I examined the best schools of singing;
and when I learned nothing from them that I did not already know,
I sought the most celebrated teachers of singing to learn what
was wanting. But what one teacher announced to me as a rule was
usually rejected by another. Every teacher had his own peculiar
system of instruction. No one could give me any definite reasons
therefor, and the best assured me that so exact a method as
I sought did not exist, and that every teacher must find his own
way through his own experience. In such a state of darkness and
uncertainty, to undertake to instruct others appeared to me
a manifest wrong, for in no branch of instruction can the
ignorance of the teacher do greater injury than in the teaching
of vocal music. This I unhappily learned from my own personal
experience, when, under the tuition of a most eminent teacher,
I entirely lost my voice, whereby the embarrassment I was under,
so far from being diminished, was only increased. After this
misfortune I studied under _Frederick Wiek_, in Dresden (the
father and instructor of Clara Schumann), in order to become
a teacher on the piano. But while I thus devoted myself to this
branch of teaching exclusively, it became from that time the aim
and effort of my life to obtain such a knowledge of the human
voice as is indispensable to a natural and healthy development
of its beautiful powers.
I availed myself of every opportunity to hear Jenny Lind, who
was then dwelling in Dresden, and to learn all that I could from
her. I likewise hoped, by a protracted abode in Italy, the land
of song, to attain the fulfilment of my wishes; but, beyond
certain practical advantages, I gathered there no sure and
radical knowledge. In the French method of instruction, now so
popular, I found the same superficiality and uncertainty that
existed everywhere else. But the more deeply I was impressed
with this state of things, and the more fully I became aware of
the injurious and trying consequences of the method of teaching
followed at the present day, the more earnestly was I impelled
to press onward in search of light and clearness in this dim
domain.
Convinced that only by the way of scientific investigation the
desired end could be reached, I sought the counsel of Prof.
_Helmholtz_, in Heidelberg. This distinguished man was then
engaged in a scientific inquiry into the natural laws lying at
the basis of musical sounds. Prof. Helmholtz permitted me to
take part in his investigations, and at his kind suggestion
I attempted by myself, by means of the laryngoscope, to
observe the physiological processes that go on in the larynx
during the production of different tones. My special thanks
are due to him that now, with a more thorough knowledge of the
human voice, I can give instruction in singing without the
fear of doing any injury. My thanks are due in a like manner
to Prof. _du Bois-Reymond_, in Berlin, who, at a later period,
also gave me his friendly help in my studies.
In 1861 I published a part of my investigations in Germany,
where they found acknowledgment and favor. That little work is
contained in the following pages, together with some account of
the discoveries of Professor _Helmholtz_ relating to the human
voice, and of their practical application to the education of
the voice in singing.
The practical sense of the American people enables them, above
all others, to appreciate the worth of every discovery and of
every advance. And therefore it is my earnest hope that the
publication of these investigations in this country may help
to elevate and improve the Art of Singing.