171.—VON WEBER TO A BAWLING CHOIR.
Appropriateness of expression is a thing foreign to many choir singers and choristers. Many cultivate the fortissimo habit until all hopes for a pianissimo or even a piano passage vanish. Outside of the excellent effect of an occasional change from a strong, lusty tone to a subdued and quieter passage, there is another matter to be considered, that of suiting the sound to the sense,—the volume of tone to the sentiment expressed by the words.
A chorus was once heartily rebuked by von Weber in a manner that no doubt left a permanent impression. He was conducting a rehearsal of his "Jubel Cantata" in London. In the course of this work occurs a beautiful prayer for chorus. The singers attacked it with a loud and lusty tone, in a "hammer and tongs" style, as a German would say, when suddenly Weber called a halt, saying:—
"Stop! do not sing like that. Would you bawl in that manner in the presence of God?"—words that might appropriately be framed in almost every choir loft.
Not only in chorus and choir, but especially in church and Sunday school do we find people singing prayerful words in a manner which cannot be better described than in Weber's language—"bawling in the presence of God."