“To be natural is such a very difficult pose to keep up.”
– Oscar Wilde, in Importance of Being Earnest
Oscar Wilde was never exactly natural – the work of writing a brilliant play like Importance that also includes dozens of witty one-liners must have been tremendous. No one speaks as witty as he wrote, naturally. And yet it’s the actor’s job to make the play feel natural. It’s difficult, and it’s required.
The same, of course, is true of vocal music. No group of people naturally start singing in six-part polyphony, Whitacresque polychords, or with group articulation to rival a jazz saxophonist. And yet the choir’s job, in each case, is to make it sound perfectly natural. Effortless.
It’s s difficult pose to keep up, certainly. But the reward for meeting Wilde’s challenge is a compelling performance that draws audiences into this contrived world. It allows us to hear and see beauty beyond what we can experience day-to-day.