To: Vocalist <vocalist>
From: Naomi Gurt Lind
Subject: re: Jerome Hines/"modern"
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

><< Most frequently performed
> operatic works are (with some exceptions) from the 17
> or 1800's and are tonal with a linear storyline. This
> is also what seems most popular with audiences. I'm
> curious to know if a lot of people involved with vocal
> music (as I am) have the same attitude Hines seems to
> have toward more recent, non-linear and abstracted
> trends in the arts. >>
>
> While I consider atonal music an interesting experiment, I believe that
>melody is essential to the art of musical invention. Linear music is not
>only healthy for good singing but it preserves the beauty of the human voice.

This interests me! I sing some atonal music. I don't find it necessarily
harder to sing than tonal music -- although it is of course much harder to
learn! There is some tonal music which doesn't lie well for the voice
(some of Haydn's songs, for example) while some atonal music lies
surprisingly well (*some* Elliott Carter, though I hate to admit it!). The
first section of Pierrot is a joy to speak-sing, once the pitches and
rhythms are learned! (I haven't learned parts two and three yet.)

My point is that not all atonal music is vocally unhealthy and not all
tonal music is vocally healthy. Also not all atonal music is
12-tone/serialized. Serialization can be quite melodic, as in Babbitt's
"The Widow's Lament in Springtime" -- the melody isn't "pretty" but it's
quite cozy to sing.

There are a lot of adventures to be had in 20c music and I think it's an
unfortunate mistake to lump it all together as one sound, one artistic
idea, one aesthetic. I personally find much of Wagner's music every bit as
abstracted as, say, Lutoslawski.

I personally embrace the non-linearity & think it's an apt metaphor for
many aspects of our century's history & culture.

Naomi Gurt Lind