Entry from Journal
February 1, 1940
In the Moussorgsky songs, if you do not have the emotion you do not have the song, not even the shadow of the song. Chekhov could hope to find and did find actors to play his plays; where can the talent of Moussorgsky find singers to sing his songs? For the point of each of M’s songs is not in the notes, not in the words, but between them, a sort of suggested emotional line without which the song simply does not exist. Here is where the conventional songsinger is shown up for what he is, a tracer on glass, a sharper or duller instrument at his use, but not more. The trouble with the damn singers, unless they are fat and fifty, is that they do not give themselves a chance. They don’t listen to the songs, they are not open to the music and what it emotionally suggests. Leaving aside the emotional significance, they can’t even play with humor, with charm, deftness, alertness. Their backsides should be kicked off till they ache!
