t of mere
belief.

Very frequently the metrical accent does not coincide with the
syllabic accent: the musical accent will fall on an unaccented
syllable, or vice versa. Particularly is this the case when the
composer is not perfectly familiar with the rules that govern the
prosody of the language to which he is setting music. In the operas of
Meyerbeer many passages occur in which it is necessary to readjust the
syllables to the notes on account of their misplaced accent. Here is
an illustration from Hoel's Grand Air in _Le Pardon de Ploermel_
(Meyerbeer), Act II. (Note that the tonic accent in French falls
_always_ on the last pronounced syllable.)

[Music: (as printed)

Et ranimez, ra_ni_mez ma foi.]

The error is easily remedied:

[Music: (should be sung)

Et ranimez, rani_mez_ ma foi.]

In the contralto aria "He shall feed His flock," in Handel's
_Messiah_, the unaccented word "shall" falls on the most strongly
accented note of the bar. If performed thus, it would give a most
aggressive character to the passage, implying that some one had
previously denied the assertion. This would be entirely at variance
with the consolatory and peaceful message that is contained in the
text and shadowed forth in the music.

[Music: (as printed)

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd.

(should be sung)

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd.]

Instances of faulty syllabic accent abound in Handel's works, both his
English oratorios and his Italian operas. Many examples could be
quoted. Here is a phrase from the beautiful air for mezzo-soprano sung
by Ruggiero in the opera of _Alcina_.

[Music: (as printed)

Verdi prati.

(should be sung)

Verdi prati.]

In Mendelssohn's _Elijah_, the following phrase is nearly always sung
as written, unless the singer is familiar with the best traditions:

[Music: Give me _thy_ son!]

It may be that the artists who slavishly follow the published text
fear being accused of altering the composer's music, or are ignorant
of the fact that there exists a better version, which is this:

[Music: Give _me_ thy son!]

It will be seen that the music is not changed in the least; the
musical and verbal accents have been merely readjusted and made to
coincide.

In order to avoid the disagreeable effect of singing one half-bar
_andante_ to the syllable "_si_" (pronounced like "zee" in English),
the following phrase of Marguerite de Valois in _Les Huguenots_
(Meyerbeer), Act