ance to what it
expresses. Sculpture reached its apogee under the Greeks, who, more
than any other race, prized Form--particularly as manifested in its
highest expression, the human figure. Painting also was at its climax
of technical development during the Renaissance, when life was full of
movement, and costume picturesque. But at this period in each of the
two arts, skill was regarded as of more importance than the subject.
In other words, the perfection of the sculptor's statue or the scene
depicted by the painter was of more interest and importance than the
object or scene itself. If the work were admirably executed, the story
it told had relatively little importance.

Singing, which is speech conveyed through music, similarly reached its
highest point of technical excellence when the voice of the singer
was considered as little more than a mechanical instrument; when
beauty of tone-quality and perfect virtuosity were the only ends for
which to strive. This period was at its height with Farinelli,
Caffarelli, Gizziello, and ended perhaps with Crescentini. That these
singers possessed extraordinary technical skill, or execution, is
amply attested by the exercises and airs, still extant, written for
them by Porpora, Hasse, Veracini, and others. That they also had
musical sentiment or expression, is authoritatively proved from the
emotion caused in their auditors by their performance of a slow
movement or _cantabile_. But it was musical expression only, and as if
performed on a solo instrument, as a flute or violin, which does not
possess the faculty of uttering words. The operas in which these
singers appeared had some plot or story, it is true; but its
importance was of the slightest--analogous to, and of the same value
as, the subject in painting and sculpture at corresponding periods of
their history.

But singing, like these two sister-arts, has passed the period when it
was, or could be, appreciated purely for the perfection of its
technique. It has developed and broadened in other directions, and
more now is demanded of the singer than mere mechanical perfection.
Composers--notably Gluck--began to perceive the great possibilities to
be attained by the development of the Greek lyric ideal; that is, the
presentation of the Poetic idea by, and through the medium of, music;
instead of being, as formerly, merely its excuse, a framework for the
musician upon which to hang melodies.

Although Gluck, like all innov