r, etc. A composer should be able to rely upon flexible and
equal voices without having to trouble himself as to the abilities or
defects of individual singers. In these days a part is seldom written
for a particular artist, and composers and librettists do not find it
necessary to entrust a certain role to _fioriture_ singers, another to
heavy dramatic voices. Poetic and artistic considerations demand
greater variety of resource in the study of opera or vocal music in
general.

Soloists.

Range and register.

I advise the composer to be guided by Table F. which gives the
approximate range of the six principal solo voices. A bracket under
the notes defines the normal octave, the register in which the voice
is generally used. Within these limits the composer may write freely
without fear of hardening or tiring the voice. The normal octave
applies also to declamatory singing and recitative; the notes above it
are exceptional and should be used for the culminating points of a
passage or for climaxes, the notes below, for the fall or decline of a
melody. Employing voices in unusual registers for long periods of time
will weary both singer and listener, but these registers may
occasionally be used for brief intervals so as not to confine the
voice too strictly to one octave. A few examples are added to
illustrate melody in different types of voices.

_Examples:_

_The Tsar's Bride_ [[102-109]] (for extracts cf. Ex. 256, 280,
284)--Marfa's Aria (Soprano).

" " " [[16-18]]--Griaznov's Aria (Baritone).

_Snegourotchka_--The 3 songs of Lell. (Contralto).

_Sadko_ [[46-49]] (cf. extract, Ex. 120)--Sadko's Aria (Tenor).

" [[129-131]]--Lioubava's Aria (Mezzo-sopr.).

" [[191-193]] (cf. extract, Ex. 131)--Bass Aria.

Vocalisation.

A good vocal melody should contain notes of at least three different
values, minims, crotchets and quavers (or crotchets, quavers and
semiquavers etc.). Monotony in rhythmic construction is unsuited to
vocal melody; it is applicable to instrumental music, but only in
certain cases. _Cantabile_ melody requires a fair number of long
notes, and a change of syllable in a word should occur at a moment
when the voice quits a long sustained note. Short, single notes,
changing with every syllable produce a harmonious effect. Owing to the
requirements of diction, extended melodic figures sung _legato_ on one
syllable must be used with care on the par