Helmholtz goes so far as to state that the
expression of sexual longing in music is identical with that of religious
longing. It is quite true, again, that a soft and gentle voice seems to
every normal man as to Lear "an excellent thing in woman," and that a
harsh or shrill voice may seem to deaden or even destroy altogether the
attraction of a beautiful face. But the voice is not usually in itself an
adequate or powerful method of evoking sexual emotion in a man. Even in
its supreme vocal manifestations the sexual fascination exerted by a great
singer, though certainly considerable, cannot be compared with that
commonly exerted by the actress. Cases have, indeed, been
recorded--chiefly occurring, it is probable, in men of somewhat morbid
nervous disposition--in which sexual attraction was exerted chiefly
through the ear, or in which there was a special sexual sensibility to
particular inflections or accents.[120] Fere mentions the case of a young
man in hospital with acute arthritis who complained of painful erections
whenever he heard through the door the very agreeable voice of the young
woman (invisible to him) who superintended the linen.[121] But these
phenomena do not appear to be common, or, at all events, very pronounced.
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