THE INTERPRETER
"I like joy, for it is life. I preach joy, for it alone gives the
power of creating useful and lasting work"
_Jaques Dalcroze_
There are, roughly speaking, three classes of interpreters in Music:
performers or executants, composers, and teachers. The function of each
of these is, by a special sensitiveness, to apprehend the message of
spirit, and then, by their own technique and in their own particular
way, to pass it on for the benefit of others. In the body the nervous
system, which is the link between spirit and matter, serves somewhat the
same purpose. Spirit is too tenuous to be able to act directly upon the
comparatively inert matter of the body, but through the medium of the
brain and nervous system it makes contact with spirit at the one end,
and at the other the nerves control the muscular system, which effects
the necessary and desired movements. Thus the spirit in music is sensed
by the artist in solitude and communion, and is given out by him to the
multitude in public.
The artist thus necessarily has two sides to his work, the inner and the
outer, the artistic and the technical. No amount of technique alone will
ever make an artist, nor will artistic or spiritual perception by itself
enable the message to secure adequate treatment. Both sides are
indispensable. But there has been far too much worship of mere technique
in Music, until at times even the fact that there has been any message
at all has been overlooked. In times, happily now gone by, a simple
melody which perhaps by itself might have conveyed a homely message, has
been smothered under showers of variations, decked out in wearisome
arpeggios, and entangled in meaningless scales, until it has reminded
one of nothing so much as a vulgar and greatly over-dressed woman: and
yet this has been looked upon as music. Technique is indeed necessary,
but only as a means to an end. Directly it begins to obscure the
meaning, or is developed for its own sake without reference to its task,
it is missing the mark. It puts itself on a par with the stupidity that
leads a man to undertake to play the piano for twenty-four hours without
stopping.
So many hours' scales per diem would be warranted to drive the spirit of
music to distraction: the utmost perfection in scales does not of
necessity lead to any illuminating message. It cannot be too strongly
urged that the feeling and the emotion are the real things, and that the
object of technique is simply that these may be expressed in the best
and most intelligible manner. Indeed the artist himself is secondary in
importance to the message, it is the spirit that works in and through
him that must ever come first. The true artist never seeks to obtrude,
or to make his own personality the first thing. He will, of course,
endeavour to make his technique fully equal to all demands that can be
made of him, but he will realise that he is doing his work in trust. "No
MAN ever did any great work yet: he became a free channel through which
the eternal powers moved."[11] In thus working the artist shines, as
does the electric bulb, by reason of the unlimited power which according
to his own measure may flow through him: and this limitless power may be
relied upon to secure its own effect, if only the steward be faithful.
[Note 11: Newlandsmith. "The Temple of Art."]
Contrast the work done in this spirit with that accomplished under the
stimulus of financial gain, or for the end of mere selfish display. The
latter is a species of artistic prostitution. Superficially the
performances may seem something alike, the difference may be intangible,
but it exists and is real. Time is ever the winnower. Things always
prove their survival value, that is to say the real things last, while
the shams are sooner or later extinguished. It is necessary, no doubt,
to make a living, no one will be so foolish as to overlook this
elementary fact: but the mere aim of making a living only too often
obscures the actual meaning of life. Balanced and informed views of life
work, through a law of consonance, to ensure a corresponding equilibrium
in the outer circumstances: in other words, if we seek first the inner
Kingdom, all these things, financial means and so forth, will be added.
But there are thousands who drive for the financial and other incidental
ends, and as a matter of fact miss the Kingdom entirely. To find the
personal centre of gravity in the world is to master life, to fail to
find it is to be mastered by life.
A performance that has self as its central motive can never ring true or
achieve any lasting success. Inferior music may be decked out by a
capable performer to sound impressive or pretentious, or be invested
with a glamour which is largely fictitious, but this surely amounts to
false pretences. It is simply a method of misleading the public. Such a
performer has misconceived his function, which should be to act as
interpreter, guide, philosopher, and friend to those who follow his
efforts. What is to be said to the singer of royalty ballads? Here is a
vocalist who receives, maybe, two or three guineas for each dozen times
he sings particular songs, the publisher of the song in question being
his paymaster. Of this type of song a contemporary Musical Journal
states:--"Every serious musician knows it, and, scenting the boredom,
tries to avoid it. It is highly sentimental, it moves within a limited
scope, emotionally and technically, and it deals with a few well-worn
subjects. Gardens, spring, sunshine, flowers--these are favourite
themes. If only, the singer tells us, he could have a cottage on the
hillside, with honeysuckle round the door (this appears to be of great
importance), heaven would indeed be there." These MAY be compositions of
artistic worth, in which case financial gain and true musical interest
consort together: but on the other hand they may NOT. Which, then, is to
receive the first consideration? Is the artist to refuse the guineas
because the ballad possesses no intrinsic worth, or is he to pocket the
cash and deck out with all the devices of his Art the twopenny-ha'penny
shop-tune, and make it sound something like the real thing? No doubt
under these circumstances the song may achieve a certain measure of
appreciation. Some of the audience will buy it, and only when they come
to try it at home will they realise what feeble stuff it truly is. The
artist has been paid to betray those who trusted in him and followed his
taste. In this he may have been eminently successful, but what is the
value of such success? And what of Art--and Music?
Wherein is the particular glory of a top note, or the specific value of
a compass that extends a note-and-a-half beyond that of anyone else? Why
should it be considered meritorious to be able to bang louder or to
scramble more quickly over the keys than one's competitors? Yet we have
certainly met singers and players who gloried in such accomplishments. A
performer may also know every device and trick of the trade, he may be
well aware of what will go down with his audience, he may play up to all
their little foibles and weaknesses and give them exactly what they
want: we can indeed scarcely quarrel with this. But so many are
apparently content to allow the matter to remain on this lowly level. A
singer who is thus able to play upon his audience and hold them in his
grip can surely also lead them up to the appreciation of better things.
An audience is normally receptive and impressionable, they come
expecting to receive satisfaction and enjoyment for the money they have
expended in the purchase of a ticket, or because they have some other
interest in the proceedings. Presumably if they were not interested they
would not be there. This element of expectation stimulates their
receptivity, and aids the performer in his work of giving out. Whatever
the audience receives, by the mere fact of its making some impression on
the delicate nerve-stuff of the brain, is retained and becomes actually
a part of them. Thus the artist is definitely building the minds of his
audience: he is forming their taste, and giving them that material in
mind which will enable them to enjoy and understand music the better for
the future. He is passing on the message according to his ability.
Therefore that individual who is merely seeking for compass, technique,
press notices, or his fee, shows that he has not appreciated the
elements of his task. Being thus in search of all the things that really
do not matter, he is putting himself into a position that will ensure
him a more or less comfortable mediocrity, provide he is lucky enough
to escape actual failure.
We call to mind a press criticism that appeared in a first-class London
daily newspaper, with reference to a singer quite unknown to fame. It
stated that "every note was pure joy." Could one say anything finer than
this, and would not anything added to it but serve to spoil it? It
epitomises what we have here been endeavouring to express. There could
be no "pure joy" apart from spirit, and in giving this forth in song the
singer achieved the aim of Art. This joy would become part of the life
of those who heard her, because it can never be too clearly understood
that we are built of our memories, and though we seem to forget, yet
these memories are absolute. So the joy that the singer gave out went to
gladden the world, and that which she gave, paradoxically enough,
remained with her. That which we express, by the record of that
expression we tend to become.
Herein the personality of the interpreter counts for much. The music, it
is true, carries its own meaning and message, but this is reinforced by
the mediumship and the imagination of the performer. "Imagination is the
life of art. Why so many performers give such little pleasure and leave
the audience coldly critical is simply because their imagination is of
the feeblest."[12] Necessarily there is always a certain coloration from
the mind which transmits the message, just as the tones of two violins
though played by the same hand might be different. Moreover, as a
resonant instrument would amplify the sound and an inferior one would
hamper it, so a greater artist would interpret a message to more effect
than one less capable. The gramophone will give us the actual notes of
the singer, but it depends upon ourselves as to whether we catch the
real thing or not. What is actually there is the shell: there is no
personality unless we ourselves build up that personality of the singer
in our imagination. We must supply that which the machine lacks, or else
perforce go without. When the artist is present in person we need no
effort of the imagination, and though the machine can give us a personal
rendering it can never offer us the personality. In much the same way
the mechanical piano-player may give So-and-so's exact rendering if only
we follow the requisite directions, but it is impossible for it to be
the same. Two things seem alike, but one is stuffed, and the other
hollow.
[Note 12: Lancelot, in the "Referee."]
Personality, then, must always be a vital factor since it colours and
vitalises, as well as reinforces the meaning of the music. Spirit is a
fact, but a beautiful personality will invest it with all the glamour of
romance. The emotion may be "pure joy" but it needs a warm heart to give
it out to full effect to a coldish world. Consequently, for the beauty
to shine through, the artist's personality must be finely wrought. A
selfish soul might sing a love-song, but a woman would not be taken in
by it--unless she thought twice: it would not ring true enough. Beauty
lies in the heart of all worthy music, so the artist who studies it and
lives in its atmosphere gradually builds that beauty into the life and
the character: the mere expression henceforth makes it part of him
through memory. So, beautiful thoughts are needful food to the mind of
the artist, and no amount of cleverness in the simulation of this or
that emotion will ever enable the same effect to be produced, as when
beauty is reinforced by beauty. Personality counts beyond all
calculation.
The music that is written shows whether its composer was an artist or a
mechanic in music. "The spirit of anything which a man makes, or does,
is his nature expressed in those things, and the fineness or poorness of
his work and actions depends upon the way in which he feels or
thinks."[13] The academic writer, steeped in his contrapuntal devices
and harmonic progressions, so intent upon the orthodox resolution of his
discords, is apt to produce excellent dry bones without the informing
spirit. We have even heard it stated that no music publisher would deign
to consider for publication a song manuscript with Mus. Doc. on the
title page. Yet Parry's books of "English Lyrics" stand as permanent
testimony that scholarly music may also contain the emotional and
spiritual elements to infuse it with abundant life: the pity is that the
combination is none too frequent. "A vast proportion of what is printed
and sold as music... is meaningless, and therefore worthless."[14] Such
music as is composed, or selected, for popular consumption is frankly
written for this purpose of pot-boiling, and as such it settles its own
fate. We need waste no tears upon it. Nor need we devote much
consideration to the sentimental ballads issued by the hundred, for "if
music has no further function than to appeal to the emotions, then it is
nothing better than melodious nonsense."[15] Of the dance and other
miscellaneous music issued broadcast some, no doubt, is genuine music,
but the greater part of it is avowedly commercial in tone and intention:
in any spiritual scale its weight is of the lightest.
[Note 13: Leigh Henry. "Music."]
[Note 14: Sir Henry Hadow.]
[Note 15: Sir Henry Hadow.]
The interpreter who works in collaboration with others, the choral
singer or the orchestral performer, should be bound by the same canons
of Art as the soloist. A chorus does not merely consist of a certain
number of voices, any more than eleven football players constitute a
team. Even the footballers must have their technique and must play with
their heads as well as their feet: but to ensure success they must
individually have subordinated their personal interests to that of the
team, they must play in the spirit of the game. Equally so a choral
singer must first have the vocal ability, then the intelligence, and
furthermore the spiritual vision. His individual aims must also be
subordinated in "team play," so that collectively, as individually in
the case of the soloist, the purport of the music may find its due
expression.
The one point to be emphasised is that, in whatever capacity the
exponent and interpreter of Art be concerned, the paramount
consideration must be the transmission of the artistic impulse. People
do not send telegrams flying about the country except for the purpose
of conveying a message: in the absence of a message there is, naturally,
no telegram. It would be a step in the right direction if it were
generally recognised that Art-work should be based upon somewhat the
same substantial and bed-rock foundation.