January Missa Mes'srs.
5, 1967
et Mesdames -
Bony Annie! -And a very special thanks to those who filled the sox at Severance with goodies of Bach and Schonberg. The Friede au£ Erden was a particular delight, and those of you who put shoulder to wheel, who rose to the occasion, singing the last full measures of devotion, will shortly receive via junkmail your credit card in the Hard-Core Club -- which will allow you to at' tend free of charge the remaining rehearsals of the Missa Solemnis promptly and exhaustively, grant you the privileges of home study and qualify you for consideration for membership in 1967's Monk of the Month Club -- a distinction not lightly earned, a yoke in earnest unlightened. I . repeat my urgent behest of last Tuesday night. In my thinking these performances of the Missa Solemnis are the most important, portentous and accomplishment-fraught of my eleven year~ association with the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus. I know that Mr. Szell is undertaking them with a seriousness and studiousness extreme even for him. r also know of no person in the world who is as likely to fathom and fashion a just and true Beethoven Missa Solemnis. I want all of us to be present and accounting for that Missa. Now, no one of us can read -- or remember -- that score faultlessly. After one has learned the notes, there still remains the problem of getting them into the voice. After one has gotten them into the voice, there still remains the incredible problem of apportioned dynamics. ¡ -And .of diction. After all the technical demands are satisfied, there still is the dilemma of understanding the work and/or remaining sane. I see my responsibilities as two: first, teaching the work to you in the most felicitous, facile and perdurable fashion -- which means to me "back t~ fundamentals". (Wasn't Tuesday's rehearsal a pride of rudiments? Is anything in music -- or aught else -- so satisfying as a little bit of all-right?) My second responsibility, obviously, is to deliver to Mr. Szell, certainly in Clevelandrut very specially in New York -- where the work has four major performances this season under four major conductors with four major orchestras -- a choral instrument without flaw or compromise. Your responsibility, beyond absolutely unqualified rehearsal attendance and attention, is to spend~ part of every day in intense private study. The more you know, the more you will learn. The very best of us the most accomplished will learn the most. This is the parable of the talents all over again. Obviously there are differences among us in musical and vocal talent; and frequently it is true that the less gifted and disciplined of us have the most to gain -- and to give -- by home study. -But so great is the Missa Solemnis that the most expert among us has the possibility of greatest gain. So, don't hold back. Study, learn, practice, memorize. (Mr. Szell has asked the soloists to sing their entire roles from memory!) From now on -- no tardiness,
no absence,
and day-by-day
brayly
to bed.
R
ANNOUNCEMENTS: January January
8
Sunday
9
Monday
2:00 p.m. 4:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m.
Chamber Chorus Tenors All
CONSONANTS : Basically a consonant is a sound produced by creating a simple barrier with some part of the tongue or lips so that the breath is dammedup until it explodes, or impeded and allowed to escape slowly. In singing,
consonants
Those capable
fall
into three
pitch: extent Those which have a fractional initial B, D, G, V, J, L, R, and Z Those which have no pitch: P, T, K, F, CH, SH, S, and H.
1.
of sustained
M, N, NG, (to a much lesser
2.
3. The practical 1.
2.
groups:
rules
Initial
L, R, and Z) pitch:
are these:
consonants
a.
Since the vowel so1md is the chief carrier of pitch and sonority, the initial consonants of each syllable must be produced ever so slightly ahead of the pulse so that the vowel can mark and propel rhythmic movement.
b.
It is necessary to be conscious always of the pitch initial consonants, even those of fractior:al pitch, vowel which follows will be 0ut of tune.
values of or the
Final consonants a.
Since vowel sonority is greater than that of the hummed consonants, final consonants which have pitch are to be given extra duration and emphasis. The amount of this duration must always be related directly to pulse values. It must always be a rhythmic proportion, natural to pulse and tempo. Now, there is one very important qualification here: it is that whatever proportional duration one has decided to allot to the hummed consonant, its beginning must always have an i nstant of the principal and preceding vowel sound. For example, if we sing the word 11soon 11 for four beats, we may decide that the "n'~ should substantially occupy the last quarte ::. ¡note; but that last quarter-note must have a very short pulseconscious 1100 11 followed as quickly as possible by the 11n 11 sound. It is in this manner that one preserves natural word and Ryllable emphasis. Anything else usually will sound arbitrary and ugly.
b.
Final consonants which do not have pitch. These consonants are secondary sounds. To put them on the beat or pulse is to give them an undue and awkwa-rdemphasis. Therefore, they sound more natural placed either slightly ahead or immediately after a pulse. They would normally be placed just
-2ahead of a pulse when they are in the middle of a phrase, just after a pulse when they ~onclude a phrase.
and
This is not as i~~recise as it may sound, for if a group even as large as ours were to say the word 11: 1 t" as quickly as possible, providing we began together at a rhythmic moment, our ' i t 1 sn would be pronounced simultaneously and naturally. 3im0 and concentrate iliarly, if we sing nit ought on half-notes, 1 on singing the "aw ~ vowel precisely on its proper pulse, the final "t" of "it" will fall unanimously and naturally into place just ahead of the "awn. -Nor will it sound like 11i t taught". 1
R. S .,