Emil Sutro

“ There is always a rise of the voice before its fall in German, and a fall before its rise in English for each and every syllable. When a language is well spoken, this complete intonation is always heard. ”

“ While speaking our native tongue our muscles move, our sinews tend, our vessels lean, our blood throbs, and our nerves tingle with the essence of our language in its direction, and not in the direction of any other language. We not only speak and sing our language, but we gesticulate it, we walk it, dance it, write it, think it, smile it, and sorrow in it. Everything we do is done differently from the same thing done by a person speaking another language. ”

“ In my opinion there is nothing purer, more "spiritual," in the world than a beautiful voice. Did you ever see a spirit? Perhaps not. But you have often heard one. You hear them daily, hourly, constantly; other spirits as well as your own—the spirits represented by the voice; the soul incorporated in the sounds of speech. When you converse, it is soul to soul; when you hear an anthem sung, it is the soul of the singer to the soul of the universe. The soul reveals itself most prominently through the voice when there is anguish in it, or joy ”

“ The muscle of the diaphragm has been the air-tight door to the cell of the condemned, whose portal has been guarded by ignorance and every oppression, suppression, fear, superstition, anxiety, bigotry, narrowness, prejudice, etc., that the human mind is capable of. It has given us over to self-accusation as a natural and vital element. It has shut us up into the narrowest limits, and kept us from communing with the universe and the spirit of the universe. ”

“ The soul calls on the body to aid it in giving form to its desires and intentions; the body instantly obeys and assumes the form from which the expected sound or action is to arise.
No matter how great a soul may be, unless it can give form and consequent utterance to its greatness, it will be helpless, far more so than the simplest soul capable of giving expression to its simplicity. Confined to our own limits, like the congenital deaf, our faculties become dwarfed and useless. We do not know ourselves, do not know our own souls. ”

“ What constitutes a given number of people a nation, besides their history, their political organization, and the geographical position of their territory? What makes every member belonging to a nation, whether he lives within its territory or has emigrated therefrom, a different being from every member of any other nation? What makes each member of a nation resemble every other member thereof, not only in regard to vocal expression but also in regard to general cast of features, build of body, movements, gesticulations, etc., and in what may be summed up as national traits of character? ”

“ Would Italians, in fact, care to listen to her English interpretation, no matter how artistically rendered?
It is an entirely different thing, however, for German or Italian singers to come here and sing their own songs in their own native tongue. Though foreign, the production is genuine. They sing what belongs to them, that in which they live, breathe; they sing their own soul. Such a performance we can comprehend and appreciate, even as we view a foreigner with interest, and honor him for that which is great and good in him, and for which he is distinguished. ”

“ As harmony is the first law of nature, so is that harmony which pervades our native tongue the law upon which our individual and national characteristic expressions and actions are based. We exercise it intuitively. It is innate in, and unalterably connected with, our native tongue. It cannot be eliminated therefrom, or put into it by a foreigner, except when acquired in childhood, or by the study of such principles as I have attempted to lay down in this book. It is inborn in every language as its spirit, and is as enduring as that language itself. ”

“ The greatest mechanical wonder, however, is that the voice, and that which is apparently one and the same sound, should under different circumstances emanate from sources so entirely different in their construction as the vocal cords to the trachea and those to the œsophagus, the viscera of the kidneys, the bladder and the lungs, etc. This fact also accounts for the mystery which, like an impenetrable veil, has hung over the features of the voice. Who has ever thought of looking for the spirit of the voice to reveal itself from beneath the tongue? ”

“ The centripetal action with a German in old age, on the other hand, has a tendency to bend his form and draw it together, and to shrivel up his skin into innumerable wrinkles, so that his mouth often resembles the mouth of a purse drawn close together. This youthful appearance with aged English-speaking people reflects on their customs and their costume, which latter retains much of the tidiness of their younger days. ”

“ While the anode of a vocal sound may be uttered audibly, the cathode, by itself, cannot be uttered—the spiritual cannot be materialized except in conjunction with the material. The anode, the physical, is inert until the cathode, the spiritual, has formed a juncture with it, has been alloyed with it. Every phenomenon of which we become conscious is the result of a process of this nature. The more perfect the union, the more perfect the outcome or result, the phenomenon. ”

“ It is an anomaly to apply the works of German writers on the voice to the study of the English language, or to that of any other than the German language; or to apply books written from an English standpoint to the study of any language except the English—the movements of the tongue, and, in sympathy therewith, of countless other muscles, being different for every language. ”

“ We must expand, go out into the world and take it in, if we want to grow and give our faculties a chance to develop.
The greater our horizon, the more we can take in, the more we can give out. Our soul is scarcely ours when enchained; the greater its liberty, the more it belongs to us. Hence our just pity for the congenital deaf, and our desire to assist them in their efforts at expression. ”

“ I have succeeded in doing with things spiritual—vocal sounds—what the chemist is doing with things material. In things complete, as they are shaped by the hand of nature, the elements of which they are composed are mingled in such a dexterous manner, are so happily blended, that they adjust, counterpoise, and complement one another, and thus live with and in one another.
These new forms have been created by the elements of which they are composed, abandoning their separate original forms and now appearing in a new form, as integral parts of an harmonious entity. ”

“ Of course, these vary to some extent in conformity with the reader's intonation, but the spirit of the language is always from weakness to strength, in place of from strength to weakness, as with the German. It is always the waves approaching the shore and then breaking against it, as against the wind coming up suddenly and then dying away. This is the reason why a serenade or lullaby in English can never be rendered with the same effect as in German, the English voice rising at the end instead of falling. ”

“ Every theory heretofore advanced in respect to our mode of breathing, being based upon false premises, is wrong in the abstract, and impossible of practical execution.
If I have expressed myself strongly, it is because I feel strongly the injury which has been wrought by this so-called "science" of the laryngoscopists. It has in thousands of instances hindered the natural development of the voice, and has in many other directions done incalculable harm; while it has in no direction ever done any good. It has oppressed the intellect, depressed the spirit, and suppressed the soul of singers. ”

“ He must sing knowingly; he must ascertain the source of his song and the reason why certain causes produce certain results. Hence the necessity for a science of the voice.
The knowledge of the exercise of our faculties is dependent on the knowledge of life and on that of the spirit, without whose aid no transaction of life of any kind ever takes place. Despairing of his ability to penetrate into the realms of the spirit, aspiring man has ever resorted to that which was next at his command—matter. Hence the effort throughout all of man's history to reach the soul by way of the body. ”

“ I have learned to recognize spiritual phenomena in opaque bodies, created, as they are, by a combination of spiritual and material factors. While I have made use of this gift for a special study—that of vocal utterance—I incline to think that it may be made use of for the study of not only all the various material-spiritual phenomena to be observed in the nature of organic bodies in general and man's in particular, but also of our relations with the unseen and unknown world and its forces, in which our essence has its being, whence it comes, and to which it returns. ”

“ I was so impressed with the exalted position of science, and so apprehensive of my own powers, that in my former publication I as much as apologized for my temerity in telling the scientific world things of which it did not have any previous knowledge. These last four years, however, have so enlarged my views and given me such a firm grasp and insight, that I no longer fear any man's judgment. ”

“ If language is capable of exercising so powerful an influence it must be more than a superficial acquirement. It must be woven into and interwoven with our innermost nature. What is there in the English language to make a German's broad and massive forehead, high cheek-bones, full lips, short chin, and round face, in his offspring sink into narrow forms and long, oval lines? What makes the lower jaw, which in him was short and round, in these children sink down and extend outward, while the upper jaw recedes back? ”

“ The same conditions prevail with vocal utterance. Thought makes the impression; the æther, passing through its narrowed passages at a rate as swift as thought, creates the sound. The impression is made as thought progresses, the expression as sound progresses. While the impression is thoughtful, the expression is thoughtless. While we think for a sound during the impression, we do not think for it during its expression ”

“ Idiomatic expression, the soul of language, has its incipiency in the soul of a people, and may pervade it for centuries before the body of the language, the words in which its thoughts are clad, makes its appearance. ”

“ For a German, consequently, or an Italian to attempt to teach an English-speaking person the art of singing is an anomaly. A foreigner might, with the same show of reason, attempt to teach persons of another nationality the correct pronunciation of their own language. It would be equally false, of course, for an English-speaking person to attempt to teach a German, Italian, etc., the art of singing, unless he had first mastered his pupil's idiomatic expression, or the pupil had mastered that of his teacher. ”

“ With Germans, in consequence of their direct mode of expression, their vital force is continuously being engendered, and as continuously being exhausted. Hence, they are in the habit of constantly protesting, and as constantly submitting to the status quo.
The character of Anglo-Saxons, in viewing things from a practical standpoint, is as far removed from the ideal as it is from the pessimistic. It is neither exuberant, overstrained, exalted, nor despondent; but cool, well balanced, and matter-of-fact. It is not like the German:
"Himmelhoch jauchzen, zu Tode betruebt." ”

“ As a matter of personal gratification, I am indifferent to success; but I think the time has come when these matters should not continue to remain with me alone, but should become the property of all, not for my sake, nor simply for that of science, but for the sake of truth, and the benefit of mankind. ”

“ While we have excellent vocal material in this country, it lacks the proper food for its nourishment. There is no want of poetic compositions. No nation has their superior, or has them in greater abundance. We have the words and the singers; but there is a woful lack of a higher class of compositions for singing. The latter are not at all commensurate with the abundance and the superiority of the talent that is awaiting their appearance.
With compositions on a par with its vocal talent, this nation might rank first among nations in the art of singing. It must stand on its own footing. ”

“ The more perfect the rhythm the higher the development and consequent performance.
While we always breathe, or should breathe, in the same rhythmic order (the octave) for the sustenance of life in general, we unconsciously breathe in various other measures for an endless number of other purposes. Our dual nature, and the duality of the manner in which we breathe, as a rule enable us to go through these various performances without a disturbance as to the harmonious character of our existence. ”

“ We narrow or widen, or check or stop the flow of this sound by the lips, the tongue, the teeth, and thus articulate, or break into joints, the even current of sound. The sound varies with the degree and kind of interruption, as the 'babble' of the brook with the shape and size of its impediments—pebbles, or rocks, or dams. To whisper, is to articulate without bleating, or vocalizing; to coo, as babies do, is to bleat, or vocalize, without articulating. Machines are easily made that bleat not unlike human beings. ”

“ Yet I do not want to place myself in a position as deprecating science, having the highest appreciation for all its endeavors. I deprecate science only in so far as, dealing with matter, it attempts to draw inspiration therefrom as to spiritual issues; and the voice certainly is a spiritual issue. ”

“ Our professor, having discarded the assistance of life and the spirit, dabbles in matter pure and undefiled. This process our young students are invited to attend. They carry their youth and their talent, their high hopes and aspirations, into the dissecting-room, where the spirit of the voice is supposed to reveal itself among the ghastliest spectacles. ”

“ English government, being undemonstrative, is more effective than German, which is demonstrative, meddlesome, and therefore offensive; the former being material and practical, the latter immaterial and inclined to be visionary.
In a word, where are we to find explanations regarding national traits of character except through inner motive powers, productive of results individual as well as national? There is no factor which exercises an influence upon a nation as a unit so wide in extent and of so powerful a nature as that of language. ”

“ These fine lines on the interior side of the speaker's mouth, representing the rhythm, the soul of the voice, not being seen, fail to make that impression from which alone a soulful expression could arise.
That an impression may be made through the eye will scarcely require a defense, in view of the fact that in reading aloud or in singing from notes the entire impression is made through the eye. The reader or singer, knowing the value of every sound, is impressed by the sight of a letter or a note as he would be by the sound itself. ”

“ As every language has its own time, or tempo, and cannot be properly produced except in conformity therewith, it appears to me that it should be the first aim of vocal science to ascertain the exact nature of such tempo for every separate language. When the correct time is kept, all other component parts of speech fall into line correctly and involuntarily. Just what the proportionate tempo is for English as against German vocal utterance, I am unable to say, but it is much quicker for the latter than it is for the former. ”

“ I am endeavoring to show my fellowmen this "new light," whose lustre, also invisible on ordinary occasions, when once seen is so great that it will never again fade from the memory of the beholder. As time progresses, it will continue to penetrate ever more deeply into regions hitherto considered to be impervious to any kind of light; regions whose phenomena have been called supernatural, or, at least, beyond the sphere of the knowledge of man. ”

“ I venture to make the assertion that no other person besides myself has ever learned to pronounce a foreign language idiomatically correct, as I have, by means of applying to his mode of speaking rules based on actual knowledge or scientific principles. In this manner I have succeeded in learning to speak English with less of the tinge of a foreign accent adhering to my speech than usually is the case with foreigners who have commenced to speak it as late in life as I did. ”

“ I ascribe the superiority of the "American" mode of expression over the "English," when untrammelled as in song, in part to the greater personal liberty, the greater want of conventionality, the vast extent of our territory, and our almost constantly clear and unclouded sky; all these being conditions that assist the free exercise of one's natural endowments. ”

“ The muscle of the tongue, for vocal utterance, is the most important in our organization. It appears [Pg 62] to me, in fact, as if in its tip there were a concentration of all the threads which control our existence; and that it is, therefore, representative of an epitome of our entire being. As all sciences, in a general, though in some instances perhaps somewhat remote, sense, centre in the science of life, so do the controlling elements in our composition centre in the tip of the tongue. ”