eatest injustice to these composers
and their works.

It is a prevalent idea that all departures from the published text are
due either to caprice, or to vanity and a desire for personal display
on the part of the soloist. As though singers had a monopoly of these
defects!

Let us consider some of the principal causes of such changes in the
text, and the reasons why these modifications do not always appear in
the published versions.

In the original editions of many of the earlier operas, as those of
Mozart, etc., the unaccompanied recitative (_recitativo secco_) is
not barred. As with the plain-chant of the church, only the _pitch_ of
the tone is indicated. Its _length_ was left to the discretion of the
artist, who was supposed to be familiar with the accepted style of
delivery termed "_recitativo parlante_." The example is from the
recitative "Dove sono," in Act III of _Le Nozze di Figaro_, by Mozart:

[Music: E Susanna non vien! Sono ansiosa di saper]

This should be sung as below:

[Music: E Susanna non vien! Sono ansiosa di saper]

The substitution of another note for the one actually written, both in
Recitative and Aria, was also strictly regulated under the system or
convention then in vogue, one perfectly understood both by composer
and singer.

In all the earlier Italian operas, and in the English oratorios of
Handel, this system was followed:

[Music: Recit. "Behold, a Virgin shall conceive"

Messiah

Handel

(sung)

Emmanuel;

(printed)

and shall call his name Emmanuel;]

[Music: Aria. "I know that my Redeemer liveth"

Messiah

Handel

(sung)

liveth

(printed)

I know that my Redeemer liveth]

[Music: Recit. "Non piu di fiori"

La Clemenza di Tito

Mozart

(sung)

Vitellia! costanza

(printed)

Ecco il punto, o Vitellia! d'esaminar la tua costanza]

[Music: "In questa tomba"

Beethoven

(sung)

oscura

(printed)

In questa tomba oscura]

This substitution, therefore, of another note--a tone or semitone
higher or lower, according to the phrase--is not only legitimate but
essential in all music written in the Italian manner.

Another cause of changes being necessary in the vocal part of many of
the older classic writers, particularly of oratorio, is the frequently
faulty syllabic accentuation. I have already mentioned this defect in
the chapter on Accent. Handel, for instance, although living nearly
all his life in England, never became quite master o