Garcia, Manuel. (1805–1906) [Klein, Herman. (1856–1934)] [Maurel, Victor. (1848–1923)]
Group of Autograph Letters about the "Coup de Glotte" Controversy
An interesting group of letters from the important Spanish singer and vocal pedagogue to his friend and colleague Herman Klein, regarding a controversy over baritone Victor Maurel and the coup de glotte technique. After Maurel attacked the technique, a hallmark of García's pedagogy, in a public lecture in July 1892, García and Klein were briefly involved in a battle of opinion in the pages of the London papers. The present letters represent the correspondence from García to Klein on the matter. Full details below. 5 letters in total, with one enclosed text. Toning, rough edges, one sheet with losses at the center fold; overall in very good to fine condition.As described in Klein's memoirs (see below), García initially issued a critique of the lecture, striking back at Maurel. In his letter of July 13, 1892, García writes (translated from the French): "Here are a few lines which you can do as you like with; even burn them if that's all they're worth [...] The man is nothing but a puffed-up and malicious gossip." The enclosed text in English cuts Maurel down to size with great vigor: "Mr. Morel [sic] endeavoured to explain that the art of singing is dead and that he is about to give it a second birth in a book. Though as a puff preliminary his device might turn Pear the colour of his own soap with envy, the promise of the future he afforded seemed rather prophetic of mouse than mountain. His verbiage is as copious as it is frothy, but when he comes to the pith of his matter, it resolves itself into an attack on the stroke of the glottis which he declares to be a monstrous method. This would be so if it resembled the violent and ridiculous illustrations he gave of it. There are men who turn gold into dross by their touch, inverting Midas..."
Following this letter, however, García thought better of his attack and writes (letter undated, beginning "Je crois qu'il est mieux..."): "I think it is better that I abstain from writing about Mr. M.'s session. I do not want to start a controversy, which would be the best advertisement I could give him. The opposite leaf is another form of the same sentiments, and you can throw it in the fire after reading it." The accompanying text is a slightly less cutting critique, in French, remarking that Maurel "...first went on at length about banal generalities, then, without warning, went off on a violent tirade against the coup de la glotte, proceeded in the fashion of attacking its proponents; in order to make this excursion amusing, he gave several rather ridiculous illustrations. This was the whole substance of the session..."
García having declined to comment in print, Klein himself published a defense in the paper. In his letter of July 20, García thanks him for "taking my side, only I would have preferred, as I asked you, not to appear. A quarrel with Mr. M. would be interminable and I have neither the time nor the energy for it." However, after Maurel responded to Klein's defense, García was persuaded to write a letter to the editor of the Sunday Times (dated July 20): "...I am bound to say that I did indeed fin the illustrations of the coup de la glotte given by him at his lecture extremely exaggerated. I must however decline that gentleman's invitation to put forward arguments or in any way to discuss the subject-matter of his lecture. It would be utterly impossible to argue upon theories which still remain to be revealed."
Also included is an intriguing later letter from García to Klein, dated July 15, 1903 (translated from the French): "I have received a very curious letter from Mr. Maurel, and if you can receive me, any day or time, I would be glad to discuss the content of the missive."
The Spanish baritone and vocal pedagogue Manuel García (1805–1906), son of Manuel Garcia I and brother of Maria Malibran and Pauline Garcia Viardot, spent the earlier part of his career teaching voice in Paris and the latter half of his life in London, where he taught at the Royal Academy of Music. An important pioneer in understanding the physiological processes of singing, he invented the laryngoscope in 1854 (without apparently anticipating its value to medicine). His 1840 treatise L'Art du Chant remains an important source for vocal pedagogy. His students and disciples included Jenny Lind, Christina Nilsson, Henry Wood, Mathilde Marchesi, and many other opera and stage stars of the late-nineteenth century. A particular friend and champion of García, Herman Klein (1856–1934) was a voice teacher at the Guildhall School of Music, where he taught using García's methods. He helped to edit García's concise vocal treatise Hints on Singing (1894), also issuing a revised version after García's death.
The "coup de glotte," or glottal attack, was one of the vocal principles taught by García, but caused great controversy among other pedagogues of the late nineteenth century. In 1892, the baritone Victor Maurel denounced the technique in a lecture at the London Lyceum titled "The Application of Science to the Arts of Speech and Song." Herman Klein recounts this event in his book Thirty Years of Musical Life in London, 1870–1900:
"[I]ts main feature proved to be an exceedingly virulent tirade against the coup de la glotte. This would not have mattered much had it not happened that Manuel Garcia himself was present, and had to 'possess his soul in patience' while M. Maurel exectued some ridiculous imitations of what he considered to be the indispensable vocal concomitants of the coup de la glotte [...] When the lecture was over, however, I offered him the columns of the 'Sunday Times' as a medium for replying to M. Maurel's assertions. On the spur of the moment, he accepted and sent a short account of the lecture, written in his own terse, trenchant manner. Then, thinking better of it, he decided not to take any personal part in the discussion, and requested me not to print his 'copy.' This threw the onus of reply upon me; and the answer proved so far effectual that M. Maurel was moved to make a protest, in other London papers, against any contradiction of his 'scientific argumentation,' save by M. Garcia himself, and not even then unless supported by something beyond 'simple denial.' Accordingly, the maestro then consented to write a letter to the 'Sunday Times,' confirming the statement that he had found M. Maurel's illustrations of the coup de la glotte 'extremely exaggerated,' but declining that gentleman's invitation to discuss the subject-matter of his lecture, and adding that 'it would be utterly impossible to argue upon theories which still remain to be revealed.' Here the incident closed[.]" (15561)
Autograph Letter Classical Music Opera