us flow, but
enables the composer to heighten the effect of any situation by
choosing consonants that harmonize with it. What, for instance, could
be more delightfully descriptive than the words sung by the three
Rhine daughters as they merrily swim and gambol under the water in
"Rheingold:"

"Weia! Waga!
Woge, du Welle,
Walle zur Wiege!
Wagalaweia!
Wallala, weiala, weia!"

One need only look at this, without understanding the language, to
feel the rhythmic motion of the water, and imagine the song of the
merry maidens. Again, in the famous love duo in the "Walkuere," note
the repetition of the liquid consonants, the l's and m's, which give
the sound such a soft and sentimental background. Does it not seem
incredible that the Italian operatic composers should have ignored
such poetic means of deepening the emotional color of their songs?

But this is by no means all. In the same scene in "Rheingold" to which
reference has just been made, the ugly Nibelung _Alberich_ appears
presently and tries to catch one of the lovely maidens. But they elude
his grasp and he angrily complains that he slips and slides on the
slimy soil. Note the slippery character of these sounds:

"Garstig glatter
Glitschriger Glimmer!
Wie Gleit ich aus!
Mit Haenden und Fuessen
Nicht fasse noch halt'ich
Das schlecke Geschluepfer."

_There_ is a real Volapuek for you--a world language which all can
understand, for it is onomatopoetic realism.

Of course it is not "beautiful;" but is that a reasonable objection?
What would you say to an artist who painted dramatic battle-scenes,
but made all the soldiers' faces as pretty as he could and adorned
with sweet smiles? _That_ is precisely what the Italian opera
composers have done in stage music; and it is because Wagner taught
the singer to express not only _sweet_ sentiments but _all_ dramatic
emotions, whether harsh or agreeable, that his new style marks an
epoch in the evolution of the art of singing. At the same time, even
these harsher passages in Wagner's vocal music are not really ugly,
that is, disagreeable to the ear, _when properly sung_. Just as a
homely face becomes attractive when it expresses a vivid emotion, so
the harshest vocal measures in the realistic music-drama become a
source of enjoyment if they are sung _with expression_.

Unfortunately, there are only a few artists as yet who have
sufficiently caught Wagner's intentions to be