The composer first transmits his musical image to the conductor through the medium of the music score. The conductor in turn recreates this image as faithfully as possible in his own mind, and communicates it to his chorus through conductorial and verbal signs and symbols, supplemented by the score in the hands of the singers. Then, manifest in the magic of sound. the music finds fulfillment in the response of the listener.
What a complex of communication this is, and how fraught with the chance of error! During this entire process the music should not change its elemental nature any more than water does as it permutes from icy solid to liquid and then to gas. But the chemistry of music is less predictable than that of water. Without constant vigilance the chain of communication may break down at several points and the elements of the music be distorted in transit.
In the first place, efficient transmission of the music from the mind of the composer to the mind of the conductor relies on a very primitive and anachronistic medium, music notation. Secondly, communication of this recreated image to the chorus is efficient or not according to the effectiveness of the conductor’s conducting techniques, his verbal expressiveness and the receptivity of the singers. Most critical of all is the final phase of this chain of communication when the breath of life is breathed into the music through the miracle of concerted response.
It is the conductor who stands at the very center of this transmission complex, and who must accept major responsibility for its success or failure. Indeed. he is involved in communication as surely as AT&T. And he is well-named “conductor”, for like the conductor of electricity, the copper wire, he provides the chief channel for the current.
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