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Show 88 MEANS 0~ EXPR~SSION CnAP. IV. please the females, and that they themselves take pleasure in their own vocal utterances ; but why particular sounds are uttered, and why these give pleasure cannot at present be explained. That the pitch of the voice bears some relation to certain states of feeling is tolerably clear. A person gently complaining of ill-treatment, or slightly suffering, almost always speaks in a high-pitched voiee. Dogs, when a little impatient, often make a high piping uote through their noses, which at once strikes us ns plaintive; 4 but how difficult it is to know whether the sound is essentially plaintive, or only appears so in this particular case, from our having learnt by experience what it means! Rengger, states 5 that the n1onkeys (Oebus azarm), which he kept in Paraguay, expressed astonishment by a half-piping, half-snarling noise; anger or impatience, by repeating the sound hu hu in a deeper, grunting voice ; and fright or pain, by shrill screams. On the other hand, with mankind, tleep groan::; and high piercing screams equally exprcsf:l nn agony of pain. Laughter may be either high or ]ow; so that, with adult men, as Haller long ago remarked, 6 the sound partakes of the character of the vowels (as pronounced in German) 0 and A; whilst with children and women, it has 1nore of the character of E and I; and these latter vowel-sounds naturally have, as Helmholtz has shown, a higher pitch than the former ; yet both tones of laughter equally express enjoyment or amusement. In considering the mode in which vocal utterances express emotion, we are naturally led to inquire into 4 Mr. Tylor ('Primitive Culture,' 1871, vol. i. p. 166), in his discus- 5ion on this subject, alludes to the whining of the dog. ~ 'Naturgeschichte dcr Saugcthiere von Paraguay,' 1830, s. 4G. 6 Quoted by Gratiolct, ' De la Physionomie,' 1865, p. 115. CnAP.1V. 1~ .A .. Il\IALP • the cause of what is callecl "expres ion'' in n1u i ·. Upon this point l\fr. Litchfield, who has lonoo utt n led to the subject of music, has been so kind as ~o give 1ne 1 he following remarks:-" The question, what is the " essence of musical 'expression' involves u nlnnber "of obscure points, which, so far as I a1n aware, are as " yet unsolved enigmas. Up to a certain point, how" ever, any law which is found to hold as to the exprcs" sion of the emotions by simple sounds must apply to " the more developed In ode of expression in song, which "may be taken as the primary type of all music. A " great part of the emotional effect of a ~mng depends " on the character of the action by which the sounds "are produced. In songs, for instance, which express " great Yehemence of passion, the effect often chiefly " depends on the forcible utterance of some one or two " characteristic passages which demand great exertion " of vocal force; and it will be frequently noticed that " a song of this character fails of its proper effer.t when "sung by a voice of sufficient power and range to give " the characteristic passages without much exertion. " This is, no doubt, the secret of the loss of effect so " often produced by the transposition of a song from " one key to another. The effect is thus seen to depend " not merely on the actual sounds, but a]so in part on "the nature of the action which produces the sounds. " Indeed it is obvious that whenever we feel the 'ex'; 'pression' of a song to be due to its quickness or slow" ness of movement-to smoothness of flow, loudness of " utterance, and so on-1ve are, in fact, interpreting the " 1nuscular actions which produce sound, in the satne " way in which we interpret muscular action generally. " But this leaves unexphdned the more subtle and more " specific effect which we call the musical expre ion of " the song-the delight given by its melody, or eve11 |