t of the composer; to
perform these the singer must possess greater command over flexibility
and technique. The possibility of taking breath in the right place is
one of the conditions essential to all vocal writing. Breath cannot be
taken in the middle of a word, sometimes not even during the course of
a sentence or phrase in the text; hence the voice part must be
suitably interspersed with rests.

Table F. Voices.

Chorus:

[Music: Soprano.

Contralto.

Tenor.

Bass.]

Soloists:

[Music:

Soprano.
Mezzo-soprano.
Contralto.
Tenor.
Baritone.
Bass.]

_Note._ It must be remembered that there are some words upon
which the voice may not dwell, or sing more than one or two
notes. These words may be nouns, pronouns, numerals,
prepositions, conjunctions and other parts of speech. It
would be impossible and ridiculous, for instance, to write a
sustained note on such words as "who", "he" etc. The voice
may dwell on certain words which, so to speak, possess some
poetical colour.[18]

[Footnote 18: Here the author approaches a question so well known to
the Russians that it does not require any further elucidation for
their guidance. But a whole book would have to be written to form a
compendium of practical rules on this subject, and to point out the
errors which nearly all French composers openly commit--even those who
are famous for their sense of diction and literary style. We can only
conclude that the question has come to be considered of minor
importance in France, perhaps on account of the lack of definite
stress on the syllables of words, which is characteristic of the
French language. It is not within the translator's province to discuss
the question of French versification or to elaborate the excellent
maxims laid down by Rimsky-Korsakov, the first, among many, to touch
upon this delicate and important subject. (Translator's note.)]

_Examples:_

No. 303. _Sadko_ [[236]]--Sadko's Aria (Tenor).

" [[309-311]] (see extract, Ex. 81). Volkhova's Cradle
Song (Soprano).

_Snegourotchka_ [[9]]--Fairy Spring's Aria (Mezzo-sopr.).

" [[187-188]], [[212-213]] (see extracts, Ex. 102 and
225)--the two Cavatinas of Tsar Berendey (Tenor).

" [[247]]--Miskir's Aria (Baritone).

Vowels.

As regards vocalisation on one syllable, on long sustained notes and
in the high register, the ch