Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 5, No. 7 (1931-04)

202 The Phonograph Monthly Review We Phonophoiograph Melba's Trill By LANING HUMPHREY Vocal purity and pliancy eulogized by late diva's enthusiasts corroborated by cold visual analysis of a scientific mechanism A ND so Melba, from one of the living mem- entos of a bygone Age of Golden Voices, k passes into the state of a tradition. The Melba tradition. . . . It is a commonplace that each succeeding gen- eration is inclined to reckon each successive filling of a niche in the hall of tradition as only reflect- ing the power of the older generation to view the past through rosy mists of memory, and to view the present in unfavorable comparison. When Patti’s voice waned, the grey-heads doubted that her like would appear again. Patti’s voice had become the standard of comparison. Eventually, however, Melba became the measure of perfection —in sheer voice. Sembrich was deemed her rival, but in matters other than voice—in the great qualities resulting from her intellectual musician- ship. Yet one was struck with admiration by Sembrich’s singing, and affection by Melba’s. From the chronicles, with the more substantial, if imperfect, testimony of recordings made in her sixtieth year, it appears that the art of Patti was the ingenuous one of sheer natural loveliness of voice achieving self-perfection by the promptings of musical instinct and good ear, rather than the artful studies which were evidenced in the singing of Sembrich and Tetrazzini. Essentially, this is the sort of artless art for which the obituary no- tices praise Melba. The tradition of Melba ap- pears to be much closer related to that of Patti than of Sembrich; while that of Sembrich seems to be a criterion for judging Tetrazzini. But so much of such discussion may be chal- lenged as mere opinion. Fortunately, for reach- ing more dependably toward the truth, Melba left a great many recordings ranging from as early as 1904, down to 1926. They cover all the vicis- situdes of progress in the process of mechanical recording, and then include the electrical. In other words, Melba’s voice has been recorded from close to her prime down to her vocally not negligible old age. By playing the older records on instruments with electric pick-up, we catch many glimpses of truly unique qualities in Mel- ba’s singing. Yet, here again, we are confronted by the variability of human opinion. Ocillograms Upper left: sustained tone—Melba Upper right: sustained tone—flute Bottom: Melba’s trill The scanning of some leading Melba obituaries aroused in the present writer’s mind the question, “Has Melba left anything for the admiration or instruction of the rising generation of singers?” A lucky coincidence, directly afterwards, was the beginning of some most interesting revelations on the subject. In his music room, the writer got into a dis- cussion of the art of song with a very accom- plished young Boston soprano. Asking her im- pressions, he started playing, "without announc- ing the performer’s name, a Melba record with orchestra of “Ah, fors’ e lui,” continuing with “Sempre libera.” (With the best intention in the world, it is hard for a person not to be influenced in amateur musical criticism by the spell of a great musical name). At first the listening soprano was somewhat amused by what now seems the crudeness of an old-time recording. Then a look of enchantment passed over her face. Melba was trilling in the “Sempre libera.”