Delsarte, assuredly, did not give as much space to vocalization as other teachers, especially those of the Italian school.

It is also undeniable, that dramatic singing—­the style which he preferred—­is dangerous to the vocal organism; particularly when one practices the shriek or scream, which produces a fine effect when skilfully employed, but is most pernicious in excess.

Delsarte was too conscientious an artist not to sacrifice his voice, at certain moments, to his pathetic effects; but he was very careful to warn his scholars against the abuse of this method; he directed them to use it but very rarely, and with the greatest precaution.

I should also say, in his favor, that light voices were very differently trained from heavy ones.  Madame Carvalho, who began her studies in his school, did not alter the flexible but feeble organ she brought there.  Mlle. Chaudesaigues and Mlle. Jacob, under Delsarte’s tuition, attained to marvels of flexibility, without losing any of their natural gifts.

Appoggiatura.

Delsarte brought about a revolution in French music in everything relating to appoggiatura, or rather, he restored its primitive meaning.  The way in which he interpreted it has created a school.

He taught that the root of the word—­appoggiatura—­being appuyer (to sustain), the chief importance should be given in the phrase, to appoggiatura, by extent and expression; the more so that this note is generally placed on a dissonance; and, according to this master’s system, it is on the dissonance—­and not at random and very frequently, as is the habit of many singers—­that the powerful effect of the vibration of sound should be produced.

Contrary to this opinion, the appoggiatura was for a long time used in France as a short and rapid passing note; it thus gave the music a vivacious character, wholly discordant with the style of serious compositions; the music of Gluck was particularly unsuited to it.

Roulade and Martellato.

In every school of singing the roulade is effected by means of the staccato and legato.  Delsarte had a marked prejudice in favor of the martellato, which partakes of both.  He compared it, in his picturesque way of expressing his ideas, to pearls united by an invisible thread.

Pronunciation.

The master’s pronunciation was irreproachable; not the slightest trace of a provincial accent; never the least error of intonation, the smallest mistake in regard to a long or short syllable.  What is perhaps rarer than may be thought, he possessed, in its absolute purity, the prosody of his native language, alike in lyric declamation and in the cantabile.  His penetrating tones added another charm to the many merits which he had acquired by study.

Pronunciation, therefore, was skilfully and carefully taught in Delsarte’s school.  The professor’s first care was to correct any tendency to lisp, which he did by temporarily substituting the syllables te, de, over and over again, for the faulty R. This substitution brought the organ back to the requisite position for the vibration of the R.