A collection of significant paragraphs by various authorities on the Art of Conducting.
“Rhythm. What is rhythm? We all know that music moves in beats or pulses, and at regular intervals—say, at every two, three, or four beats—some of these are stressed or accented. It is these accents which produce rhythm; therefore rhythm may be defined as a pattern of accents, or a phrase of pulses made characteristic by the effect of its contrasted strong and weak accents. Rhythms may be observed even in statuary and architecture. Rhythms may be regular, as when they follow the time-signatures; and irregular, as when many syncopations are introduced.”
“One of the distinguishing features of modern choral technique is what I term ‘characterization,’ or realism, of the sentiment expressed in the music.... Contrasts of tone-color, contrasts of differently placed choirs, contrasts of sentiment—love, hate, hope, despair, joy, sorrow, brightness, gloom, pity, scorn, prayer, praise, exaltation, depression, laughter, tears—in fact all the emotions and passions are now expected to be delineated by the voice alone. It may be said, in passing, that in fulfilling these expectations choral singing has entered on a new lease of life. Instead of the cry being raised that the choral societies are doomed, we shall find that by absorbing the elixir of characterization they have renewed their youth; and when the shallow pleasures of the picture theatre and the empty elements of the variety show have been discovered to be unsatisfying to the normal aspirations of intellectual, moral beings, the social, healthful, stimulating, intellectual, moral and spiritual uplift of the choral society will be appreciated more than ever.”
“The first thing a conductor requires is self-reliance, born of mastery of the subject he has to conduct and confidence in himself. If he is nervous and apologetic, if, when he makes a slip, he feels crushed and would like to sink through the floor, he had better leave conducting alone. It is the confident, not-to-be-daunted man who is fit to be a leader of men.”
“The conductor must take every precaution to make the rehearsals interesting. The test of a society’s success is the popularity of the rehearsals, and the test of the rehearsals is the feeling that if one be not attended something in the way of enlightenment or pleasure has been missed.”
“The man who lacks tact is not fit to be a conductor. Tact is the lubricant that keeps the administrative machinery smoothly working when heat and friction would otherwise arise.”
(From “Choral Technique and Interpretation” by Coward)
Novello
“Finally, one word more on the art of conducting itself. More and more I have come to think that what decides the worth of conducting is the degree of suggestive power that the conductor can exercise over the performers. At the rehearsals he is mostly nothing more than a workman, who schools the men under him so conscientiously and precisely that each of them knows his place and what he has to do there; he first becomes an artist when the moment comes for the production of the work. Not even the most assiduous rehearsing, so necessary a pre-requisite as this is, can so stimulate the capacities of the players as the force imagination of the conductor. It is not the transference of his personal will, but the mysterious act of creation that called the work itself into being takes place again in him, and, transcending the narrow limits of reproduction, he becomes a new-creator, a self-creator. The more however his personality disappears so as to get quite behind the personality that created the work,—to identify itself, indeed, with this—the greater will his performance be.”
(From “On Conducting” by Weingartner)
Breitkopf & Härtel
From Grove’s Dictionary
“Definition—The word ‘conducting’ as used in a musical sense now ordinarily refers to the activities of an orchestra or chorus leader who stands before a group of performers and gives his entire time and effort to directing their playing or singing, to the end that a musically effective ensemble performance may result.
“This is accomplished by means of certain conventional movements of a slender stick called a baton (usually held in the right hand), as well as through such changes of facial expression, bodily posture, et cetera, as will convey to the singers or players the conductor’s wishes concerning the rendition of the music.”
“Schumann was sadly wanting in the real talent for conducting. All who ever saw him conduct or played under his direction are agreed on this point. Irrespective of the fact that conducting for any length of time tired him out, he had neither the collectedness and prompt presence of mind, nor the sympathetic faculty, nor the enterprising dash, without each of which conducting in the true sense is impossible. He even found difficulty in starting at a given tempo; nay, he even sometimes shrank from giving any initial beat, so that some energetic pioneer would begin without waiting for the signal, and without incurring Schumann’s wrath! Besides this, any thorough practice, bit by bit, with his orchestra, with instructive remarks by the way as to the mode of execution, was impossible to this great artist, who in this respect was a striking contrast to Mendelssohn. He would have a piece played through, and it did not answer to his wishes, have it repeated. If it went no better the second or perhaps third time, he would be extremely angry at what he considered the clumsiness, or even the ill-will of the players, but detailed remarks he never made.”
It must not be imagined that if one is fortunate enough to acquire the style of handling the baton which we have been advocating, one will at once achieve success as a conductor. The factors of musical scholarship, personal magnetism, et cetera, mentioned in preceding pages, must still constitute the real foundation of conducting. But granting the presence of these other factors of endowment and preparation, one may often achieve a higher degree of success if one has developed also a well-defined and easily-followed beat. It is for this reason that the technique of time-beating is worthy of some degree of serious investigation and of a reasonable amount of time spent in practice upon it.
As quoted from Wagner—
“The whole duty of the conductor is comprised in his ability always to indicate the right tempo. His choice of tempi will show whether he understands the piece or not.... The true tempo induces correct force and expression....
“Obviously the proper pace of a piece of music is determined by the particular character of the rendering it requires. The question therefore comes to this: Does the sustained, the cantilena, predominate, or the rhythmical movement? The conductor should lead accordingly.”
As quoted from Weingartner.
“He should know it (the score) so thoroughly that during the performance the score is merely a support for his memory, not a fetter on his thought.”
“A good rule to follow is this: ‘Talk little at the rehearsal, but when you do talk, be sure that every one listens.’”
(From “Essentials in Conducting” by Gehrkens.)
Oliver Ditson Company.
Remarks by Dr. H. Kretzschmar
“Everything depends upon the question as to who stands at the head and how the rehearsals are conducted. Wherever one piece after the other is disposed of with the aid of piano thumping, singing must soon come to an end. The training, or at least the supervision of the individual member must form the foundation of choral activity, and the performance and study of accompanied compositions must constitute only half of the work. Constant practice in a capella singing is indispensable. It is this that trains the ear and teaches vocalisation just as well as, if not better than the study of solos in which half the faults are hidden and half the trouble saved for the less gifted by the piano.
“A choral society which now and then sings a few movements by Palestrina or a fine madrigal will give a more beautiful performance of a Handel oratorio than one whose sense for tone has not been independently awakened.”
(As quoted in “Choirs and Choral Music” by Arthur Mees)
“A Conductor who desires to organize a choral society must bear in mind: First—that he needs to make many friends; then to do all in his power to keep them; Second—that he must expect active opposition from other professionals, passive resistance from lazy singers, and discouragement from a considerable class of people who never can see how anything worth while in choral music can be done in their community. They are sometimes ‘dog-in-the-manger’ people; usually pessimists. This last mentioned class (the pessimists) are perhaps the most dangerous of all. They should be carefully kept out of the ranks of the society, for their conversation and manner are most demoralizing. One such member can do more to kill a society than half a dozen enthusiasts can do to keep it alive. The Conductor, as organizer, should bear in mind that the indolent may be stirred upon and possibly converted into willing and effective workers. If the Conductor is made of the right sort of material the pessimists will not discourage him, while the jealous opposition of other professionals will but stir him to greater efforts.”
(From “Choir and Chorus Conducting” by F. W. Wodell)
“Remember, in conducting, that your thought and gestures will almost certainly be too late rather than too early. Anticipate everything.
“When actually conducting never think of technique; it is loo late by that time. It is your job to impress what you want on the orchestra and choir somehow. How you do it is a matter for consideration afterwards, or better still, beforehand.”
“A great many qualities are needed to conduct rehearsals successfully. The two most important things are to see that everybody is happy and comfortable and to waste no time. Never stop the orchestra to say what you can show with a gesture. If a passage is going very badly, persevere with it to the end of the section, then point out all the mistakes and take it right through again if there is time. Continual stoppages irritate everybody and waste a great deal of time.”
“An enormous amount of time in rehearsing can be saved by preparation of the copies, and here the conductor must never spare his own time in seeing that the parts, if in manuscript, are clear and their expression marks uniform, that the lettering is consistent and that the letters are in places where they will be wanted for rehearsal. Everything possible should be marked in the parts beforehand. It is almost always the conductor’s fault if he has to ask the orchestra to mark anything at a rehearsal, unless he has unlimited time for this.”
(From “A Handbook on the Technique of Conducting”
by Adrian C. Boult.)