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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Great Singers on the Art of Singing, by
+James Francis Cooke
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Great Singers on the Art of Singing
+       Educational Conferences with Foremost Artists
+
+Author: James Francis Cooke
+
+Release Date: August 6, 2010 [EBook #33358]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT SINGERS ON THE ART OF SINGING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+GREAT
+SINGERS ON THE
+ART _of_ SINGING
+
+EDUCATIONAL CONFERENCES
+WITH FOREMOST ARTISTS
+
+BY
+JAMES FRANCIS COOKE
+
+A SERIES
+OF PERSONAL STUDY TALKS WITH
+THE MOST RENOWNED OPERA
+CONCERT AND ORATORIO
+SINGERS OF THE TIME
+
+_ESPECIALLY PLANNED FOR
+VOICE STUDENTS_
+
+[Illustration]
+
+THEO. PRESSER CO.
+PHILADELPHIA, PA.
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY THEO. PRESSER CO.
+
+INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT SECURED
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+PAGE
+
+INTRODUCTION                                                       5
+
+THE TECHNIC OF OPERATIC PRODUCTION                                21
+
+WHAT THE AMERICAN GIRL SHOULD
+KNOW ABOUT AN OPERATIC CAREER         _Frances Alda_              31
+
+MODERN VOCAL METHODS IN ITALY         _Pasquale Amato_            38
+
+THE MAIN ELEMENTS OF INTERPRETATION
+                                      _David Bispham_             45
+
+SUCCESS IN CONCERT SINGING            _Dame Clara Butt_           58
+
+THE VALUE OF SELF-STUDY IN VOICE
+TRAINING                              _Giuseppe Campanari_        68
+
+ITALY, THE HOME OF SONG               _Enrico Caruso_             79
+
+MODERN ROADS TO VOCAL SUCCESS         _Julia Claussen_            90
+
+SELF-HELP IN VOICE STUDY              _Charles Dalmores_         100
+
+IF MY DAUGHTER SHOULD STUDY FOR
+GRAND OPERA                           _Andreas Dippel_           110
+
+HOW A GREAT MASTER COACHED
+OPERA SINGERS                         _Emma Eames_               121
+
+THE OPEN DOOR TO OPERA                _Florence Easton_          133
+
+WHAT MUST I GO THROUGH TO BECOME
+A PRIMA DONNA?                        _Geraldine Farrar_         144
+
+THE MASTER SONGS OF ROBERT
+SCHUMANN                              _Johanna Gadski_           154
+
+TEACHING YOURSELF TO SING             _Amelita Galli-Curci_      166
+
+THE KNOW HOW IN THE ART OF SINGING
+                                      _Mary Garden_              176
+
+BUILDING A VOCAL REPERTOIRE           _Alma Gluck_               185
+
+OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUNG CONCERT
+SINGERS                               _Emilio de Gogorza_        191
+
+THOROUGHNESS IN VOCAL PREPARATION
+                                      _Frieda Hempel_            200
+
+COMMON SENSE IN TRAINING AND
+PRESERVING THE VOICE                  _Dame Nellie Melba_        207
+
+SECRETS OF BEL CANTO                  _Bernice de Pasquali_      217
+
+HOW FORTUNES ARE WASTED IN VOCAL
+EDUCATION                             _Marcella Sembrich_        227
+
+KEEPING THE VOICE IN PRIME CONDITION  _Ernestine Schumann-Heink_ 235
+
+ITALIAN OPERA IN AMERICA              _Antonio Scotti_           251
+
+THE SINGER'S LARGER MUSICAL PUBLIC    _Henri Scott_              260
+
+SINGING IN CONCERT AND WHAT IT MEANS  _Emma Thursby_             269
+
+NEW ASPECTS OF THE ART OF SINGING
+IN AMERICA                            _Reinald Werrenrath_       283
+
+HOW I REGAINED A LOST VOICE           _Evan Williams_            292
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+VOCAL GOLD MINES AND HOW THEY ARE DEVELOPED
+
+
+Plutarch tells how a Laconian youth picked all the feathers from the
+scrawny body of a nightingale and when he saw what a tiny thing was left
+exclaimed,
+
+    "_Surely thou art all voice
+    and nothing else!_"
+
+Among the tens of thousands of young men and women who, having heard a
+few famous singers, suddenly determine to follow the trail of the
+footlights, there must be a very great number who think that the success
+of the singer is "voice and nothing else." If this collection of
+conferences serves to indicate how much more goes into the development
+of the modern singer than mere voice, the effort will be fruitful.
+
+Nothing is more fascinating in human relations than the medium of
+communication we call speech. When this is combined with beautiful music
+in song, its charm is supreme. The conferences collected in this book
+were secured during a period of from ten to fifteen years; and in every
+case the notes have been carefully, often microscopically, reviewed and
+approved by the artist. They are the record of actual accomplishment and
+not mere metempirical opinions. The general design was directed by the
+hundreds of questions that had been presented to the writer in his own
+experience in teaching the art of singing. Only the practical teacher of
+singing has the opportunity to discover the real needs of the student;
+and only the artist of wide experience can answer many of the serious
+questions asked.
+
+The writer's first interest in the subject of voice commenced with the
+recollection of the wonderfully human and fascinating vocal organ of
+Henry Ward Beecher, whom he had the joy to know in his early boyhood.
+The memory of such a voice as that of Beecher is ineradicable. Once, at
+the same age, he was taken to hear Beecher's rival pulpit orator, the
+Rev. T. de Witt Talmage, in the Brooklyn Tabernacle. The harsh, raucous,
+nasal, penetrating, rasping, irritating voice of that clergyman only
+served to emphasize the delight in listening to Beecher. Then he heard
+the wonderful orotund organ of Col. Robert J. Ingersoll and the
+sonorous, mellow voice of Edwin Booth.
+
+Shortly he found himself enlisted as a soprano in the boy choir of a
+large Episcopal church. While there he became the soloist, singing many
+of the leading arias from famous oratorios before he was able to
+identify the musical importance of such works. Then came a long training
+in piano and in organ playing, followed by public appearances as a
+pianist and engagements as an organist and choirmaster in different
+churches. This, coupled with song composition, musical criticism and
+editing, experience in conducting, managing concerts, accompanying noted
+singers and, later, in teaching voice for many years, formed a
+background that is recounted here only to let the reader know that the
+conferences were not put down by one unacquainted with the actual daily
+needs of the student, from his earliest efforts to his platform
+triumphs.
+
+
+WHAT MUST THE SINGER HAVE?
+
+What must the singer have? A voice? Of course. But how good must that
+voice be? "Ah, there's the rub!" It is this very point which adds so
+much fascination to the chances of becoming a great singer; and it is
+this very point upon which so many, many careers have been wrecked. The
+young singer learns that Jenny Lind was first refused by Garcia because
+he considered her case hopeless; he learns that Sir George Henschel told
+Bispham that he had insufficient voice to encourage him to take up the
+career of the singer; he learns dozens of similar instances; and then he
+goes to hear some famous singer with slender vocal gifts who, by force
+of tremendous dramatic power, eclipses dozens with finer voices. He
+thereupon resolves that "voice" must be a secondary matter in the
+singer's success.
+
+There could not be a greater mistake. There must be a good vocal basis.
+There must be a voice capable of development through a sufficient gamut
+to encompass the great works written for such a voice. It must be
+capable of development into sufficient "size" and power that it may fill
+large auditoriums. It must be sweet, true to pitch, clear; and, above
+all, it must have that kind of an individual quality which seems to
+draw the musical interest of the average person to it.
+
+
+THE PERFECT VOICE
+
+Paradoxically enough, the public does not seem to want the "perfect"
+voice, but rather, the "human" voice. A noted expert, who for many years
+directed the recording laboratories of a famous sound reproducing
+machine company, a man whose acquaintance with great singers of the time
+is very wide, once told the writer of a singer who made records so
+perfect from the standpoint of tone that no musical critic could
+possibly find fault with them. Yet these records did not meet with a
+market from the general public. The reason is that the public demands
+something far more than a flawless voice and technically correct
+singing. It demands the human quality, that wonderful something that
+shines through the voice of every normal, living being as the soul
+shines through the eyes. It is this thing which gives individuality and
+identity to the voice and makes the widest appeal to the greatest number
+of people.
+
+Patti was not great because her dulcet tones were like honey to the ear.
+Mere sweetness does not attract vast audiences time and again. Once, in
+a medi�val German city, the writer was informed that a nightingale had
+been heard in the _glacis_ on the previous night. The following evening
+a party of friends was formed and wandered through the park whispering
+with delight at every outburst from the silver throat. Never had bird
+music been so beautiful. The next night someone suggested that we go
+again; but no one could be found who was enthusiastic enough to repeat
+the experience. The very perfection of the nightingale's song, once
+heard, had been sufficient.
+
+
+THE LURE OF INDIVIDUALITY
+
+Certain performers in vaudeville owe their continued popularity to the
+fascinating individuality of their voices. Albert Chevalier, once heard,
+could never be forgotten. His pathetic lilt to "My Old Dutuch" has made
+thousands weep. When he sings such a number he has a far higher artistic
+control over his audience than many an elaborately trained singer
+trilling away at some very complicated aria.
+
+A second-rate opera singer once bemoaned his fate to the writer. He
+complained that he was obliged to sing for $100.00 a week,
+notwithstanding his years of study and preparation, while Harry Lauder,
+the Scotch comedian, could get $1000 a night on his tours. As a matter
+of fact Mr. Lauder, entirely apart from his ability as an actor, had a
+far better voice and had that appealing quality that simply commandeers
+his auditors the moment he opens his mouth.
+
+Any method or scheme of teaching the art of singing that does not seek
+to develop the inherent intellectual and emotional vocal complexion of
+the singer can never approach a good method. Vocal perfection that does
+not admit of the manifestation of the real individual has been the death
+knell of many an aspiring student. Nordica, Jean de Reszke, Victor
+Maurel, Plan�on, Sims Reeves, Schumann-Heink, Garden, Dr. W�llner, Evan
+Williams, Galli-Curci, and especially our greatest of American singers,
+David Bispham, all have manifested a vocal individuality as unforgetable
+to the ear as their countenances are to the eye.
+
+If the reader happens to be a young singer and can grasp the
+significance of the previous paragraph, he may have something more
+valuable to him than many lessons. The world is not seeking merely the
+perfect voice but a great musical individuality manifested through a
+voice developed to express that individuality in the most natural and at
+the same time the most comprehensive manner possible. Therefore, young
+man and young woman, does it not seem of the greatest importance to you
+to develop, first of all, the _mind and the soul_, so that when the
+great hour comes, your audience will hear through the notes that pour
+from your throat something of your intellectual and emotional character?
+They will not know how, nor will they ask why they hear it,--but its
+manifestation will either be there or it will not be there. Upon this
+will depend much of your future success. It can not be concealed from
+the discerning critics in whose hands your progress rests. The high
+intellectual training received in college by Ffrang�on Davies, David
+Bispham, Plunkett Greene, Herbert Witherspoon, Reinald Werrenrath and
+others, is just as apparent to the intelligent listener, in their
+singing at recitals, as it would be in their conversation. Others have
+received an equivalent intellectual training in other ways. The young
+singer, who thinks that in the future he can "get by" without such a
+training, is booked for disappointment. Get a college education if you
+can; and, if you can not, fight to get its equivalent. No useful
+experience in the singer's career is a wasted one. The early
+instrumental training of Melba, Sembrich, Campanari, Hempel, Dalmores,
+Garden, and Galli-Curci, shows out in their finished singing, in
+wonderful manner. Every singer should be able to play the piano well. It
+has a splendid effect in the musical discipline of the mind. In European
+conservatories, in many instances, the study of the piano is compulsory.
+
+
+YOUR PHILOSOPHY OF SINGING
+
+The student of singing should be an inveterate reader of "worthwhile"
+comments upon his art. In this way, if he has a discriminating mind, he
+will be able to form a "philosophy of singing" of his own. Richard
+Wagner prefaced his music dramas with lengthy essays giving his reasons
+for pursuing a certain course. Whatever their value may be to the
+musical public at this time, it could not have been less than that to
+the great master when he was fighting to straighten out for his own
+satisfaction in his own mind just what he should do and how he should do
+it. Therefore, read interminably; but believe nothing that you read
+until you have weighed it carefully in your own mind and determined its
+usefulness in its application to your own particular case.
+
+The student will find the following books of real value in his quest for
+vocal truth: _The Philosophy of Singing_, Clara Kathleen Rogers; _The
+Vocal Instructor_, E. J. Myer; _The Psychology of Singing_, David C.
+Taylor; _How to Sing_, Lilli Lehmann; _Reminiscences of a Quaker
+Singer_, David Bispham; _The Art of the Singer_, W. J. Henderson.
+
+The student should also read the biographies of famous singers and keep
+in touch with the progress of the art, through reading the best
+magazines.
+
+
+THE HISTORY OF SINGING
+
+The history of singing parallels the history of civilization. Egypt,
+Israel, Greece and Rome made their contributions; but how they sang and
+what they sang we can not definitely know because of the destruction of
+the bridge between ancient and modern notation, and because not until
+Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877, was there any tangible
+means of recording the voices of the singers. The wisdom of Socrates,
+Plato and C�sar is therefore of trifling significance in helping us to
+find out more than how highly the art was regarded. The absurd antics of
+Nero, in his ambition to distinguish himself as a singer, indicated in
+some more or less indefinite way the importance given to singing in the
+heyday of Rome. The incessant references to singing, in Greek
+literature, tell us that singing was looked upon not merely as an
+accomplishment but as one of the necessary arts.
+
+Coincident with the coming of Italian opera, about 1600, we find a
+great revival of the art of singing; and many of the old Italian masters
+have bequeathed us some fairly instructive comments upon the art of _bel
+canto_. That these old Italian teachers were largely individualists and
+taught empirically, with no set methods other than that which their own
+ears determined, seems to be accepted quite generally by investigators
+at this date. The _Osservazione sopra il Canto figurato_ of Pietro
+Francesco Tosi (procurable in English), published in 1723, and the
+_Reflessioni pratichi sul Canto figurato_, published in 1776, are
+valuable documents for the serious student, particularly because these
+men seemed to recognize that the so-called registers should be
+equalized. With them developed an ever-expanding jargon of voice
+directions which persist to this day among vocal teachers. Such
+directions as "sing through the mask" (meaning the face); "sing with the
+throat open"; "sing as though you were just about to smile"; "sing as
+though you were just about to experience the sensation of swallowing"
+(_come bere_); "support the tone"; etc., etc., are often more confusing
+than helpful. Manual Garcia (1805-1906), who invented the laryngoscope
+in 1855, made an earnest effort to bring scientific observation to the
+aid of the vocal teacher, by providing a tiny mirror on the end of a
+rod, enabling the teacher to see the vocal cords during the process of
+phonation. How much this actually helped the singing teacher is still a
+moot point; but it must be remembered that Garcia had many extremely
+successful pupils, including the immortal Jenny Lind.
+
+The writer again advises the serious student of singing to spend a great
+deal of time in forming his own conception of the principles by which he
+can get the most from his voice. Any progressive artist teacher will
+encourage him in this course. In other words, it is not enough in these
+days that he shall sing; but he must know how he produces his results
+and be able to produce them time and time again with constantly
+increasing success. Note in the succeeding conferences how many of the
+great singers have given very careful and minute consideration to this.
+The late Evan Williams spent years of thought and study upon it; and the
+writer considers that his observations in this volume are among the most
+important contributions to the literature of voice teaching. This was
+the only form in which they appeared in print. Only one student in a
+hundred thousand can dispense with a good vocal teacher, as did the
+brilliant Galli-Curci or the unforgetable Campanari. A really fine
+teacher of voice is practically indispensable to most students. This
+does not mean that the best teacher is the one with the greatest
+reputation. The reputation of a teacher only too often has depended upon
+his good fortune early in life in securing pupils who have made
+spectacular successes in a short time. There are hundreds of splendid
+vocal teachers in America now, and it is very gratifying to see many of
+their pupils make great successes in Europe without any previous
+instruction "on the other side."
+
+Surely nothing can be more helpful to the ambitious vocal student than
+the direct advice, personal suggestions and hints of the greatest
+singers of the time. It is with this thought that the writer takes
+especial pride in being the medium of the presentation of the following
+conferences. It is suggested that a careful study of the best
+sound-reproducing-machine records of the great singers included will add
+much to the interest of the study of this work.
+
+The enormous incomes received from some vocal gold mines, such as
+Caruso, John McCormack, Patti, Galli-Curci, and others, have made the
+lure of the singer's career so great that many young vocalists are
+inclined to forget that all of the great singers of the day have
+attained their triumphs only after years of hard work. Galli-Curci's
+overwhelmingly successful American d�but followed years of real labor,
+when she was glad to accept small engagements in order to advance in her
+art. John McCormack's first American appearances were at a side show at
+the St. Louis World's Fair. Sacrifice is often the seed kernel of large
+success. Too few young singers are willing to plant that kernel. They
+expect success to come at the end of a few courses of study and a few
+hundred dollars spent in advertising. The public, particularly the
+American public, is a wary one. It may be possible to advertise
+worthless gold mining stock in such a way that thousands may be swindled
+before the crook behind the scheme is jailed. But it is impossible to
+sell our public a so-called golden-voiced singer whose voice is really
+nothing more than tin-foil and very thin tin-foil at that.
+
+Every year certain kinds of slippery managers accept huge fees from
+would-be singers, which are supposed to be invested in a mysterious
+formula which, like the philosopher's stone, will turn a baser metal
+into pure gold. No campaign of advertising spent upon a mediocrity or an
+inadequately prepared artist can ever result in anything but a
+disastrous waste. Don't spend a penny in advertising until you have
+really something to sell which the public will want. It takes years to
+make a fine singer known; but it takes only one concert to expose an
+inadequate singer. Every one of the artists represented in this book has
+been "through the mill" and every one has triumphed gloriously in the
+end. There is one road. They have defined it in remarkable fashion in
+these conferences. The sign-posts read, "Work, Sacrifice, Joy, Triumph."
+
+With the multiplicity of methods and schemes for practice it is not
+surprising that the main essentials of the subject are sometimes
+obscured. That such discussions as those included in this book will
+enable the thinking student to crystallize in his own mind something
+which to him will become a method long after he has left his student
+days, can not be questioned. One of the significant things which he will
+have to learn is perfect intonation, keeping on the right pitch all the
+time; and another thing is freedom from restriction, best expressed by
+the word poise. William Shakespeare, greatest of English singing
+teachers of his day, once expressed these important points in the
+following words:
+
+"The Foundations of the Art of Singing are two in number:
+
+"First: (A) How to take breath and (B) how to press it out slowly. (The
+act of slow exhalation is seen in our endeavor to warm some object with
+the breath.)
+
+"Second: How to sing to this controlled breath pressure.
+
+"It may be interesting at this point to observe how the old singers
+practiced when seeking a full tone while using little breath. They
+watched the effect of their breath by singing against a mirror or
+against the flame of a taper. If a note required too much pressure the
+command over the breath was lost--the mirror was unduly tarnished or the
+flame unduly puffed. 'Ah' was their pattern vowel, being the most
+difficult on account of the openness of the throat--the vowel which, by
+letting more breath out, demanded the greatest control. The perfect
+poise of the instrument on the controlled breath was found to bring
+about _three_ important results to the singer:
+
+"_First result_--Unerring tuning. As we do not experience any sensation
+of consciously using the muscles in the throat, we can only judge of the
+result by listening. When the note sounds to the right breath control it
+springs unconsciously and instantaneously to the tune we intended. The
+freedom of the instrument not being interfered with, it follows through
+our wishing it--like any other act naturally performed. This unerring
+tuning is the first result of a right foundation.
+
+"_Second result_--The throat spaces are felt to be unconscious and
+arrange themselves independently in the different positions prompted by
+the will and necessary to pronounciation, the factors being freedom of
+tongue and soft palate, and freedom of lips.
+
+"_Third result_--The complete freedom of the face and eyes which adapt
+themselves to those changes necessary to the expression of the emotions.
+
+"The artist can increase the intensity of his tone without necessarily
+increasing its volume, and can thus produce the softest effect. By his
+skill he can emit the soft note and cause it to travel as far as a loud
+note, thus arousing emotions as of distance, as of memories of the past.
+He produces equally well the more powerful gradations without
+overstepping the boundary of noble and expressive singing. On the other
+hand, an indifferent performer would scarcely venture on a soft effect,
+the absence of breath support would cause him to become inaudible and
+should he attempt to crescendo such a note the result would be throaty
+and unsatisfactory."
+
+Another most important subject is diction, and the writer can think of
+nothing better than to quote from Mme. Lilli Lehmann, the greatest
+Wagnerian soprano of the last century.
+
+"Let us now consider some of the reasons why some American singers have
+failed to succeed. How do American women begin their studies? Many
+commence their lessons in December or January. They take two or three
+half-hour lessons a week, even attending these irregularly, and ending
+their year's instruction in March or, at the latest, in April. Surely
+music study under such circumstances is little less than farcical. The
+voice, above all things, needs careful and constant attention. Moreover,
+many are lacking lamentably in the right preparations. Some are
+evidently so benighted as to believe that preparation is unnecessary. Or
+do they believe that the singing teacher must also provide a musical and
+general education?
+
+"Is there one among them, for instance, who can enunciate her own
+language faultlessly; that is, as the stage demands? Many fail to
+realize that they should, first of all, be taught elocution (diction) by
+teachers who can show them how to pronounce vowels purely and
+beautifully, and consonants correctly and distinctly, so as to give
+words their proper sounds. How can anyone expect to sing in a foreign
+language when he has no idea of his own language--no idea how this
+wonderful member, the tongue, should be used--to say nothing of the
+terrible faults in speaking? I endorse the study of elocution as a
+preparatory study for all singing. No one can realize how much simpler
+and how much more efficient it would make the work of the singing
+teacher."
+
+Finally, the writer feels that there is much to be inferred from the
+popular criticism of the man in the street--"There is no music in that
+voice." Mr. Hoipolloi knows just what he means when he says that. As a
+matter of fact, the average voice has very little music in it. By music
+the man means that the pitch of the tones that he hears shall be so
+unmistakable and so accurate, that the quality shall be so pure and the
+thought of the singer so sincere and so worth-while, that the auditor
+feels the wonderful human emotion that comes only from listening to a
+beautiful human voice. Put real music in every tone and your success
+will not be far distant.
+
+JAMES FRANCIS COOKE.
+
+Bala, Pa.
+
+
+
+
+THE TECHNIC OF OPERATIC PRODUCTION
+
+WHAT THE STUDENT WHO ASPIRES TO GO INTO OPERA SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE
+MECHANICAL SIDE OF GIVING AN OPERATIC PERFORMANCE
+
+
+Even after one has mastered the art of singing there is still much that
+the artist must learn about the actual working of the opera house
+itself. This of course is best done by actual experience; but the writer
+has found that much can be gained by insight into some of the conditions
+that exist in the modern opera house.
+
+In the childhood of hundreds of people now living opera was given with
+scenery and costumes that would be ridiculed in vaudeville if seen
+to-day. Pianos, lamps, chairs and even bird cages were often painted
+right on the scenery. One set of costumes and properties was made to do
+for the better part of the repertoire in such a way that even the most
+flexible imagination was stretched to the breaking point several times
+during the performance. Now, most of this has changed and the modern
+opera house stage is often a mechanical and electrical marvel.
+
+It is most human to want to peep behind the scenes and see something of
+the machinery which causes the wonderful spectacle of the stage. We
+remember how, as children, we longed to open the clock and see the
+wheels go round. Behind the asbestos curtain there is a world of ropes,
+lights, electrical and mechanical machinery, paints and canvas, which
+is always a territory filled with interest to those who sit in the seats
+in front.
+
+Much of the success of the opera in New York, during the early part of
+the present century, was due to the great efficiency of the Director,
+Giulio Gatti-Casazza. Gatti-Casazza was a graduate of the Royal Italian
+Naval Academy at Leghorn, and had been intended for a career as a naval
+engineer before he undertook the management of the opera at Ferrara.
+This he did because his father was on the board of directors of the
+Ferrara opera house, and the institution had not been a great success.
+His directorship was so well executed that he was appointed head
+director of the opera at La Scala in Milan and astonished the musical
+world with his wonderful Italian productions of Wagner's operas under
+the conductorship of Toscanini. In New York many reforms were
+instituted, and later took the New York company to Paris, giving
+performances which made Europe realize that opera in New York is as fine
+as that in any music center in the world, and in some particulars finer.
+The New York opera is more cosmopolitan than that of any other country.
+Its company included artists from practically every European country,
+but fortunately includes more American singers and musicians to-day than
+at any time in our operatic history. We are indebted to the staff of the
+Metropolitan Opera House, experts who, with the kind permission of the
+director, furnished the writer with the following interesting
+information:
+
+[Illustration: PROFILE OF THE PARIS GRAND OPERA. (NOTE THAT THE STAGE
+SECTION IS LARGER THAN THE AUDITORIUM. ALSO NOTE THE IMMENSE SPACE GIVEN
+TO THE GRAND ENTRANCE STAIRWAY.)]
+
+
+A WORLD OF DETAIL
+
+Few people have any idea of how many persons and how many departments
+are connected with the opera and its presentation. Considering them in
+order, they might be classed as follows:
+
+    The General Manager and his assistants.
+    The Musical Director and his assistants.
+    The Stage Director and his assistants.
+    The Technical Director and his assistants.
+    The Business Director and his assistants.
+    The Wardrobe Director and his assistants.
+    The Master of Properties and his assistants.
+    The Head Engineer and his assistants.
+    The Accountant and his assistants.
+    The Advertising Manager and his assistants.
+    The Press Representatives and his assistants.
+    The Superintendent and his assistants.
+    The Head Usher and his assistants.
+    The Electrician and his assistants.
+
+Few of these important and necessary factors in the production ever
+appear before the public. Like the miners who supply us with the wealth
+of the earth, they work, as it were, underground. No one is more
+directly concerned with making the production than the Technical
+Director. In that we are fortunate in having the views of Mr. Edward
+Siedle, Technical Director of the Metropolitan Opera Company, of New
+York. The complete picture that the public sees is made under the
+supervision of Mr. Siedle, and during the actual production he is
+responsible for all of the technical details. His experience has
+extended over a great many years in different countries. He writes:
+
+
+THE TECHNIC OF THE PRODUCTION
+
+I understand you wish me to give you some idea of the technicalities
+involved in producing the stage pictures which go to form an opera. Let
+us suppose it is an opera by an American composer. My first procedure
+would be to place myself in touch with the author and composer. After
+having one or two talks with them I secure a libretto. When a mutual
+understanding is agreed upon between us as to the character of the
+scenes required and the positions of particular things in relation to
+the business which has to take place during the performance, I make my
+plans accordingly, and look up all the data available bearing upon the
+subject.
+
+It is now time to call in the scenic artist, giving him my views and
+ideas, so that he can start upon the designing and painting of the
+scenery. His first design would be in the form of a rough sketch and a
+more clearly worked-out ground plan. After further discussion and
+alterations we should definitely agree upon a scheme, and he would
+proceed to make a scale model. When this model is finished it is a
+perfect miniature scene of the opera as it will appear on the night the
+opera is produced.
+
+The author and composer are then called in to meet the impresario and
+myself for a final consultation. We now finally criticize our plans,
+making any alterations which may seem necessary to us. When these
+alterations are completed the plans are handed over to the carpenter,
+who immediately starts making his frames and covering them with canvas,
+working from the scale model. The scenic artist is now able to commence
+his work in earnest.
+
+The "properties" are our next consideration. Sketches and patterns are
+made, authorities are consulted, and everything possible is done to aid
+the Property Master in doing his part of the work.
+
+Unless the opera in question calls for special mechanical effects, or
+special stage machinery, the scene is adapted to the stage as it is. If
+anything exceptional has to be achieved, however, special machinery is
+constructed.
+
+The designing of the costumes is gone over in much the same way as the
+construction of the scenery. The period in which the opera is laid, the
+various characters and their station in life, are all well talked over
+by the composer, author and myself. The costume designer is then called
+in, and after listening to what every one has to say and reading the
+libretto, he submits his designs. These, when finished, are criticized
+by the impresario, the composer, the author and myself, and any
+suggestion which will improve them is accepted by the designer, and
+alterations are made until everything is satisfactory. The designs are
+then sent to the costume maker.
+
+The important matter of lighting and electrical effects is not dealt
+with until after the scenery has been completed, painted and set up on
+the stage, except in the case when exceptional effects are demanded. The
+matter is then carefully discussed and arranged so that the apparatus
+will be ready by the time the earlier rehearsals are taking place.
+
+The staff required by a Technical Director in such an institution as the
+Metropolitan Opera House is necessarily a large one. He needs an able
+scenic artist with his assistants and an efficient carpenter with his
+assistants to complete the scenic arrangements as indicated in the
+models. The completed scenery is delivered over to the stage carpenter
+who has a large body of assistants, and is held responsible for the
+running of the opera during rehearsals and performances. The stage
+carpenter has also under his control a body of carpenters who work all
+night, commencing their duties after the opera is over, removing all the
+scenery used in the opera just finished from the opera house and
+bringing from the various storehouses the scenery required for the next
+performance or rehearsal. The electrician is an important member of my
+staff, and he, of course, has a number of assistants. The Property
+Master and his assistants and the Wardrobe Mistress and her assistants
+also are extremely important. Then the active engineer who is
+responsible for the heating and ventilating, and also for many of the
+stage effects, is another necessary and important member. In all, the
+Opera House, when in full swing, requires for the technical or stage
+detail work alone about 185 people.
+
+[Illustration: HOW AN OPERATIC STAGE LOOKS FROM BEHIND.]
+
+Thus far we have not considered the musical side of the production. This
+is, of course, under the management of the General Director and the
+leading Musical Director. Very little time at best is at the disposal of
+the musical director. A director like Toscanini would, in a first-class
+opera house, with a full and competent company, require about fifteen
+days to complete the rehearsals, and other preparations for such a
+production as _A�da_, should such a work be brought out as a novelty. A
+good conductor needs at least four orchestra rehearsals. _Pelleas et
+Melisande_ would require more extensive rehearsing, as the music is of a
+new order and is, in a sense, a new form of art.
+
+
+IMPORTANT REHEARSALS
+
+While the head musical director is engaged with the principals and the
+orchestra, the Chorus-master spends his time training the chorus. If his
+work is not efficiently done, the entire production is greatly impeded.
+The assistant conductors undertake the work of rehearsing the soloists
+prior to their appearance in connection with the orchestra. They must
+know the Head Director's ideas perfectly, and see that the soloists do
+not introduce interpretations which are too much at variance with his
+ideas and the accepted traditions. In all about ten rehearsals are given
+to a work in a room set aside for that purpose, then there are five
+stage rehearsals, and finally four full ensemble rehearsals with
+orchestra. In putting on an old work, such as those in the standard
+repertoire, no rehearsals are demanded.
+
+The musical forces of the Metropolitan Opera House, for instance, make a
+company of at least two leading conductors, twelve assistant conductors,
+about ninety soloists, a chorus numbering at least one hundred and
+twenty-five singers, thirty musicians for stage music, about twenty
+stage attendants and an orchestra of from eighty to one hundred
+performers, to say nothing of the costume, scenic and business staff,
+making a little industry all in itself.
+
+The General Director, the Stage Manager, and often the Musical Director
+make innumerable suggestions to the singers regarding the proper
+histrionic presentation of their r�les. As a rule singers give too
+little attention to the dramatic side of their work and demand too much
+of the stage manager. In recent years there has been a great improvement
+in this. Prior to the time of Gluck, Weber and Wagner, acting in opera
+was a matter of ridicule.
+
+
+THE BALLET
+
+About seventy or one hundred persons make up the ballet of a modern
+grand opera. At least ten years of continuous study are required to make
+a finished ballet dancer in the histrionic sense. Many receive very
+large fees for their services. The art of stage dancing also has
+undergone many great reforms in recent years; and the ballets of to-day
+are therefore much more popular than they were in the latter part of the
+last century. The most popular ballets of to-day are the _Coppelia_ and
+_Sylvia_ of Delibes. The ballets from the operas of _La Gioconda_,
+_Samson et Delila_, _Armide_, _Mephistophele_, _A�da_, _Orfeo_,
+_L'Africaine_, and _The Damnation of Faust_ also are very popular.
+
+At a modern opera house like the Metropolitan in New York City the
+number of employees will be between six hundred and seven hundred, and
+the cost of a season will be about one million dollars.
+
+
+
+
+FRANCES ALDA
+
+(MME. GIULIO GATTI-CASAZZA)
+
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+Mme. Frances Alda was born at Christ Church, New Zealand, May 31st,
+1883. She was educated at Melbourne and studied singing with Mathilde
+Marchesi in Paris. Her d�but was made in Massenet's _Manon_, at the
+Opera Comique in Paris in 1904. After highly successful engagements in
+Paris, Brussels, Parma and Milan (where she created the title r�le in
+the Italian version of _Louise_), she made her American d�but at the
+Metropolitan Opera House in New York as Gilda in Verdi's _Rigoletto_.
+Since her initial success in New York she has been connected with the
+Metropolitan stage every season. In 1910 she married Giulio
+Gatti-Casazza, manager of the Metropolitan Opera House, and is probably
+better able to speak upon the subject herewith discussed than any one in
+America. She has also appeared with great success in London, Warsaw,
+Buenos Aires and other cities, in opera and in concert. Many of the most
+important leading r�les in modern opera have been created by her in
+America.
+
+[Illustration: MME. FRANCES ALDA.
+
+� Underwood & Underwood.]
+
+
+
+
+WHAT THE AMERICAN GIRL SHOULD KNOW ABOUT AN OPERATIC CAREER
+
+MME. FRANCES ALDA (MME. GATTI-CASAZZA)
+
+
+REGULARITY AND SUCCESS
+
+To the girl who aspires to have an operatic career, who has the
+requisite vocal gifts, physical health, stage presence and--most
+important of all--a high degree of intelligence, the great essential is
+regular daily work. This implies regular lessons, regular practice,
+regular exercise, regular sleep, regular meals--in fact, a life of
+regularity. The daily lesson in most cases seems an imperative
+necessity. Lessons strung over a series of years merely because it seems
+more economical to take one lesson a week instead of seven rarely
+produce the expected results. Marchesi, with her famous wisdom on vocal
+matters, advised twenty minutes a day and then not more than ten minutes
+at a time.
+
+For nine months I studied with the great Parisian maestra and in my
+tenth month I made my d�but. Of course, I had sung a great deal before
+that time and also could play both the piano and the violin. A thorough
+musical knowledge is always valuable. The early years of the girl who is
+destined for an operatic career may be much more safely spent with
+Czerny exercises for the piano or Kreutzer studies for the violin than
+with Concone Solfeggios for the voice. Most girls over-exercise their
+voices during the years when they are too delicate. It always pays to
+wait and spend the time in developing the purely musical side of study.
+
+
+MODERATION AND GOOD SENSE
+
+More voices collapse from over-practice and more careers collapse from
+under-work than from anything else. The girl who hopes to become a prima
+donna will dream of her work morning, noon and night. Nothing can take
+it out of her mind. She will seek to study every imaginable thing that
+could in any way contribute to her equipment. There is so much to learn
+that she must work hard to learn all. Even now I study pretty regularly
+two hours a day, but I rarely sing more than a few minutes. I hum over
+my new r�les with my accompanist, Frank La Forge, and study them in that
+way. It was to such methods as this that Marchesi attributed the
+wonderful longevity of the voices of her best-known pupils. When they
+followed the advice of the dear old maestra their voices lasted a long,
+long time. Her vocal exercises were little more than scales sung very
+slowly, single, sustained tones repeated time and again until her
+critical ear was entirely satisfied, and then arpeggios. After that came
+more complicated technical drills to prepare the pupil for the fioriture
+work demanded in the more florid operas. At the base of all, however,
+were the simplest kind of exercises. Through her discriminating sense of
+tone quality, her great persistence and her boundless enthusiasm, she
+used these simple vocal materials with a wizardry that produced great
+_prime donne_.
+
+
+THE PRECIOUS HEAD VOICE
+
+Marchesi laid great stress upon the use of the head voice. This she
+illustrated to all her pupils herself, at the same time not hesitating
+to insist that it was impossible for a male teacher to teach the head
+voice properly. (Marchesi herself carried out her theories by refusing
+to teach any male applicants.) She never let any pupil sing above F on
+the top line of the treble staff in anything but the head voice. They
+rarely ever touched their highest notes with full voice. The upper part
+of the voice was conserved with infinite care to avoid early breakdowns.
+Even when the pupils sang the top notes they did it with the feeling
+that there was still something in reserve. In my operatic work at
+present I feel this to be of greatest importance. The singer who
+exhausts herself upon the top notes is neither artistic nor effective.
+
+
+THE AMERICAN GIRL'S CHANCES IN OPERA
+
+The American girl who fancies that she has less chances in opera than
+her sisters of the European countries is silly. Look at the lists of
+artists at the Metropolitan, for instance. The list includes twice as
+many artists of American nationality as of any other nation. This is in
+no sense the result of pandering to the patriotism of the American
+public. It is simply a matter of supply and demand. New Yorkers demand
+the best opera in the world and expect the best voices in the world.
+The management would accept fine artists with fine voices from China or
+Africa or the North Pole if they were forthcoming. A diamond is a
+diamond no matter where it comes from. The management virtually ransacks
+the musical marts of Europe every year for fine voices. Inevitably the
+list of American artists remains higher. On the whole, the American
+girls have better natural voices, more ambition and are willing to study
+seriously, patiently and energetically. This is due in a measure to
+better physical conditions in America and in Australia, another free
+country that has produced unusual singers. What is the result? America
+is now producing the best and enjoying the best. There is more fine
+music of all kinds now in New York during one week than one can get in
+Paris in a month and more than one can get in Milan in six months. This
+has made New York a great operatic and musical center. It is a wonderful
+opportunity for Americans who desire to enter opera.
+
+
+THE NEED FOR SUPERIOR INTELLIGENCE
+
+There was a time in the halcyon days of the old coloratura singers when
+the opera singer was not expected to have very much more intelligence
+than a parrot. Any singer who could warble away at runs and trills was a
+great artist. The situation has changed entirely to-day. The modern
+opera-goer demands great acting as well as great singing. The opera
+house calls for brains as well as voices. There should properly be great
+and sincere rivalry among fine singers. The singer must listen to other
+singers with minute care and patience, and then try to learn how to
+improve herself by self-study and intelligent comparison. Just as the
+great actor studies everything that pertains to his r�le, so the great
+singer knows the history of the epoch of the opera in which he is to
+appear, he knows the customs, he may know something of the literature of
+the time. In other words, he must live and think in another atmosphere
+before he can walk upon the stage and make the audience feel that he is
+really a part of the picture. Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree gave a
+presentation that was convincing and beautiful, while the mediocre
+actor, not willing to give as much brain work to his performance, falls
+far short of an artistic performance.
+
+A modern performance of any of the great works as they are presented at
+the Metropolitan is rehearsed with great care and attention to
+historical detail. Instances of this are the performances of _L'Amore di
+Tre Re_, _Carmen_, _Boh�me_, and _Lohengrin_, as well as such great
+works as _Die Meistersinger_, and _Tristan und Isolde_.
+
+
+PHYSICAL STRENGTH AND SINGING
+
+Few singers seem to realize that an operatic career will be determined
+in its success very largely through physical strength, all other factors
+being present in the desired degree. That is, the singer must be strong
+physically in order to succeed in opera. This applies to women as well
+as to men. No one knows what the physical strain is, how hard the work
+and study are. In front of you is a sea of highly intelligent, cultured
+people, who for years have been trained in the best traditions of the
+opera. They pay the highest prices paid anywhere for entertainment. They
+are entitled to the best. To face such an audience and maintain the high
+traditions of the house through three hours of a complicated modern
+score is a musical, dramatic and intellectual feat that demands, first
+of all, a superb physical condition. Every day of my life in New York I
+go for a walk, mostly around the reservoir in Central Park, because it
+is high and the air is pure and free. As a result I seldom have a cold,
+even in mid-winter. I have not missed a performance in eight years, and
+this, of course, is due to the fact that my health is my first daily
+consideration.
+
+[Illustration: PASQUALE AMATO.
+
+� Mishkin.]
+
+
+
+
+PASQUALE AMATO
+
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+Pasquale Amato, for so many years the leading baritone at the
+Metropolitan Opera House in New York, was born at Naples March 21st,
+1878. He was intended for the career of an engineer and was educated at
+the Instituto Tecnico Domenico. He then studied at the Conservatory of
+Naples from 1896 to 1899. His teachers there were Cucialla and Carelli.
+He made his d�but as Germont in _La Traviata_ in the Teatro Bellini at
+Naples in 1900. Thereafter his successes have been exceptionally great
+in the music centers of South America, Italy, Russia, England, Egypt,
+and Germany. He has created numerous r�les at the Metropolitan Opera
+House, among them Jack Rance in the _Girl of the Golden West_; Golaud in
+_Pelleas and Melisande_ (Milan); _L'Amore di Tre Re_; _Cyrano_
+(Damrosch); _Lodoletta_ (Mascagni); _Madame Sans Gene_. He has visited
+South America as an artist no less than ten times. His voice is
+susceptible of fine dramatic feeling.
+
+
+
+
+MODERN VOCAL METHODS IN ITALY
+
+PASQUALE AMATO
+
+
+When I was about sixteen years of age my voice was sufficiently settled
+to encourage my friends and family to believe that I might become a
+singer. This is a proud discovery for an Italian boy, as
+singing--especially operatic singing--is held in such high regard in
+Italy that one naturally looks forward with joy to a career in the great
+opera houses of one's native country and possibly to those over the sea.
+At eighteen I was accordingly entered in the conservatory, but not
+without many conditions, which should be of especial interest to young
+American vocal students. The teachers did not immediately accept me as
+good vocal material. I was recognized to have musical inclinations and
+musical gifts and I was placed under observation so that it might be
+determined whether the state-supported conservatory should direct my
+musical education along vocal lines or along other lines.
+
+This is one of the cardinal differences between musical education in
+America and musical education in Italy. In America a pupil suddenly
+determines that he is destined to become a great opera singer and
+forthwith he hires a teacher to make him one. He might have been
+destined to become a plumber, or a lawyer, or a comedian, but that has
+little to do with the matter if he has money and can employ a teacher.
+In Italy such a direction of talents would be considered a waste to the
+individual and to the state. Of course the system has its very decided
+faults, for a corps of teachers with poor or biased judgment could do a
+great deal of damage by discouraging real talent, as was, indeed, the
+case with the great Verdi, who at the age of eighteen was refused
+admission to the Milan Conservatory by the director, Basili, on the
+score of lack of talent.
+
+However, for the most part the judges are experienced and skilful men,
+and when a pupil has been under surveillance for some time the liability
+of an error in judgment is very slight. Accordingly, after I had spent
+some time in getting acquainted with music through the study of
+Notation, Sight-singing, Theory, Harmony, Piano, etc., I was informed at
+the end of two years that I had been selected for an operatic career. I
+can remember the time with great joy. It meant a new life to me, for I
+was certain that with the help of such conservative masters I should
+succeed.
+
+On the whole, at this time, I consider the Italian system a very wise
+one for it does not fool away any time with incompetence. I have met so
+many young musicians who have shown indications of great study but who
+seem destitute of talent. It seems like coaxing insignificant shrubs to
+become great oak trees. No amount of coaxing or study will give them
+real talent if they do not have it, so why waste the money of the state
+and the money of the individual upon it. On the other hand, wherever in
+the world there is real talent, the state should provide money to
+develop it, just as it provides money to educate the young.
+
+
+ITALIAN VOCAL TEACHING
+
+So much has been said about the Old Italian Vocal Method that the very
+name brings ridicule in some quarters. Nothing has been the subject for
+so much charlatanry. It is something that any teacher, good or bad, can
+claim in this country. Every Italian is of course very proud indeed of
+the wonderful vocal traditions of Italy, the centuries of idealism in
+search of better and better tone production. There are of course certain
+statements made by great voice teachers of other days that have been put
+down and may be read in almost any library in large American cities. But
+that these things make a vocal method that will suit all cases is too
+absurd to consider. The good sense of the old Italian master would hold
+such a plan up to ridicule. Singing is first of all an art, and an art
+can not be circumscribed by any set of rules or principles.
+
+The artist must, first of all, know a very great deal about all possible
+phases of the technic of his art and must then adjust himself to the
+particular problem before him. Therefore we might say that the Italian
+method was a method and then again that it was no method. As a matter of
+fact it is thousands of methods--one for each case or vocal problem. For
+instance, if I were to sing by the same means that Mr. Caruso employs it
+would not at all be the best thing for my voice, yet for Mr. Caruso it
+is without question the very best method, or his vocal quality would
+not be in such superb condition after constant years of use. He is the
+proof of his own method.
+
+I should say that the Italian vocal teacher teaches, first of all, with
+his ears. He listens with the greatest possible intensity to every shade
+of tone-color until his ideal tone reveals itself. This often requires
+months and months of patience. The teacher must recognize the vocal
+deficiencies and work to correct them. For instance, I never had to work
+with my high tones. They are to-day produced in the same way in which I
+produced them when I was a boy. Fortunately I had teachers who
+recognized this and let it go at that.
+
+Possibly the worst kind of a vocal teacher is the one who has some set
+plan or device or theory which must be followed "willy-nilly" in order
+that the teacher's theories may be vindicated. With such a teacher no
+voice is safe. The very best natural voices have to follow some patent
+plan just because the teacher has been taught in one way, is
+inexperienced, and has not good sense enough to let nature's perfect
+work alone. Both of my teachers knew that my high tones were all right
+and the practice was directed toward the lower tones. They worked me for
+over ten months on scales and sustained tones until the break that came
+at E flat above the Bass Clef was welded from the lower tones to the
+upper tones so that I could sing up or down with no ugly break audible.
+
+I was drilled at first upon the vowel "ah." I hear American vocal
+authorities refer to "ah" as in father. That seems to me too flat a
+sound, one lacking in real resonance. The vowel used in my case in Italy
+and in hundreds of other cases I have noted is a slightly broader vowel,
+such as may be found half-way between the vowel "ah" as in father, and
+the "aw" as in law. It is not a dull sound, yet it is not the sound of
+"ah" in father. Perhaps the word "doff" or the first syllable of Boston,
+when properly pronounced, gives the right impression.
+
+I do not know enough of American vocal training to give an intelligent
+criticism, but I wonder if American vocal teachers give as much
+attention to special parts of the training as teachers in Italy do. I
+hope they do, as I consider it very necessary. Consider the matter of
+staccato. A good vocal staccato is really a very difficult
+thing--difficult when it is right; that is, when on the pitch--every
+time, clear, distinct, and at the same time not hard and stiff. It took
+me weeks to acquire the right way of singing such a passage as _Un di,
+quando le veneri_, from _Traviata_, but those were very profitable
+weeks--
+
+[Illustration: musical notation
+
+    Un di, quan-do le ve-ne-ri il
+    tem-po a-vr� fu-ga-te
+]
+
+Accurate attack in such a passage is by no means easy. Anyone can sing
+it--but _how it is sung_ makes the real difference.
+
+The public has very odd ideas about singing. For instance, it would be
+amazed to learn that _Trovatore_ is a much more difficult r�le for me to
+sing and sing right than either _Parsifal_ or _Pelleas and Melisande_.
+This largely because of the pure vocal demands and the flowing style.
+The Debussy opera, wonderful as it is, does not begin to make the vocal
+demands that such a work as _Trovatore_ does.
+
+When the singer once acquires proficiency, the acquisition of new r�les
+comes very easy indeed. The main difficulty is the daily need for
+drilling the voice until it has the same quality every day. It can be
+done only by incessant attention. Here are some of the exercises I do
+every day with my accompanist:
+
+[Illustration: musical notation
+
+_First time forte second time piano._]
+
+
+
+
+DAVID BISPHAM
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+David Bispham, in many ways the most distinguished of all American
+singers, was born in Philadelphia January 5th, 1857. Educated at
+Haverford College, Pa. At first a highly successful amateur in
+Philadelphia choirs and theatricals, he went to Milan in 1886, studying
+with Vannuccini, Lamperti and later in London with Shakespeare and
+Randegger. His operatic d�but was made in Messager's _Basoche_ at the
+Royal English Opera House, 1891. In 1892 he appeared as Kurvenal and met
+with great favor. His Wagnerian r�les have been especially distinctive
+since the start. From 1896 to 1909 he sang alternately at the
+Metropolitan in New York and at Covent Garden in London, and was
+admittedly one of the foremost attractions of those great companies in
+the golden era of our operatic past. He was also immensely in demand as
+a recital and as an oratorio singer and as a dramatic reader. Few
+singers have shown the versatility and mastery of David Bispham and few
+have been so justly entitled to the academic honors LL.D., B.A., and
+Mus. Doc., which he had earned. He was the author of numerous articles
+on singing--the very successful autobiography, "A Quaker Singer's
+Reminiscences," and the collections, "David Bispham's Recital Album,"
+"The David Bispham Song Book" (for schools). He was also ever a strong
+champion of the use of the English language in singing. He died in New
+York City Oct. 2d, 1921.
+
+[Illustration: DAVID BISPHAM.]
+
+
+
+
+THE MAIN ELEMENTS OF INTERPRETATION
+
+DAVID BISPHAM
+
+
+So many things enter into the great problem of interpretation in singing
+that it is somewhat difficult to state definitely just what the young
+singer should consider the most important. Generally speaking, the
+following factors are of prime significance:
+
+    1. Natural Aptitude.
+    2. General Education and Culture.
+    3. Good Musical Training.
+    4. Accurate Vocal Training.
+    5. Familiarity with Traditions.
+    6. Freedom of Mind.
+    7. Good Health.
+    8. Life Experience.
+    9. Personal Magnetism--one of the most essential,--and
+    10. Idealism.
+
+1. _Natural Aptitude._--You will notice that foremost consideration is
+given to those broad general qualities without which all the technical
+and musical training of the world is practically worthless. The success
+of the art worker in all lines depends first upon the nature of the man
+or woman. Technical training of the highest and best kind is essential,
+but that which moves great audiences is not alone the mechanics of an
+art, but rather the broad education, experience, ideals, culture, the
+human sympathy and magnetism of the artist.
+
+2. _The Value of Education and Culture._--I cannot emphasize too
+strongly the value of a good general education and wide culture for the
+singer. The day has passed when a pretty face or a well-rounded ankle
+could be mistaken for art on the operatic stage. The public now demands
+something more than the heroic looking young fellow who comes down to
+the footlights with the assurance of youth and offers, for real vocal
+art, a voice fresh but crudely trained, and a bungling interpretation.
+
+Good education has often been responsible for the phenomenal success of
+American singers in European opera houses. Before the last war, in
+nearly all of the great operatic centers of the Continent, one found
+Americans ranking with the greatest artists in Europe. This was a most
+propitious condition, for it meant that American audiences have been
+compelled to give the long-delayed recognition to our own singers, and
+methods of general and vocal education.
+
+In most cases the young people of America who aspire to operatic
+triumphs come from a somewhat better class than singers do in Europe.
+They have had, in most cases, better educational, cultural and home
+advantages than the average European student. Their minds are trained to
+study intelligently; they are acquainted with the history of the great
+nations of the world; their tastes are cultivated, and they are filled
+with the American energy which is one of the marvels of the centuries.
+More than this, they have had a kind of moral uplift in their homes
+which is of immense value to them. They have higher ideals in life, they
+are more businesslike and they keep their purposes very clearly in view.
+This has created jealousy in some European centers; but it is simply a
+case of the survival of the fittest, and Europe was compelled to bow in
+recognition of this. Vocal art in our own land is no longer to be
+ignored, for our standards are as high as the highest in the world, and
+we are educating a race of singers of which any country might be proud.
+
+3. _Good Musical Training._--A thorough musical training--that is, a
+training upon some musical instrument such as the piano--is extremely
+desirable, but not absolutely essential; for the instrument called the
+Human Voice can be played on as effectively as a violin. The singer who
+is convinced of his ability, but who has not had such advantages in
+early youth, should not be discouraged. He can acquire a thorough
+knowledge of the essentials later on, but he will have to work very much
+harder to get his knowledge--as I was obliged to do. Artistic ability is
+by no means a certain quality. The famous art critic, Vassari, has
+called our attention to the fact that one painter who produced wonderful
+pictures had an exhaustive technical training, another arising at his
+side who also achieved wonderful results had to secure them by means of
+much bungling self-study. It is very hard to repress artistic ability.
+As the Bible says: "Many waters cannot quench love." So it is with
+music; if the ability is there, it will come to the front through fire
+and water.
+
+4. _Accurate and Rational Vocal Training._--I have added the word
+rational for it seems a necessary term at a time when so much vocal
+teaching is apparently in the hands of "faddists." There is only one way
+to sing, that is _the right way_, the way that is founded upon natural
+conditions. So much has been said in print about breathing, and placing
+the voice, and resonance, that anything new might seem redundant at this
+time. The whole thing in a nutshell is simply to make an effort to get
+the breath under such excellent control that it will obey the will so
+easily and fluently that the singer is almost unconscious of any means
+he may employ to this end. This can come only through long practice and
+careful observation. When the breath is once under proper control the
+supply must be so adjusted that neither too much nor too little will be
+applied to the larynx at one time. How to do this can be discovered only
+by much practice and self-criticism. When the tone has been created it
+must be reinforced and colored by passing through the mouth and nose,
+and the latter is a very present help in time of vocal trouble. This
+leads to a good tone on at least twenty-six steps and half-steps of the
+scale and with twenty or more vowel sounds--no easy task by any means.
+All this takes time, but there is no reason why it should take an
+interminable amount of time. If good results are not forthcoming in from
+nine months to a year, something is wrong with either the pupil or the
+teacher.
+
+The matter of securing vocal flexibility should not be postponed too
+long, but may in many instances be taken up in conjunction with the
+studies in tone production, after the first principles have been
+learned. Thereafter one enters upon the endless and indescribably
+interesting field of securing a repertoire. Only a teacher with wide
+experience and intimacy with the best in the vocal literature of the
+world can correctly grade and select pieces suitable to the
+ever-changing needs of the pupil.
+
+No matter how wonderful the flexibility of the voice, no matter how
+powerful the tones, no matter how extensive the repertoire, the singer
+will find all this worthless unless he possesses a voice that is
+susceptible to the expression of every shade of mental and emotional
+meaning which his intelligence, experience and general culture have
+revealed to him in the work he is interpreting. At all times his voice
+must be under control. Considered from the mechanical standpoint, the
+voice resembles the violin, the breath, as it passes over the vocal
+cords, corresponding to the bow and the resonance chambers corresponding
+to the resonance chambers in the violin.
+
+5. _Familiarity With Vocal Traditions._--We come to the matter of the
+study of the traditional methods of interpreting vocal masterpieces. We
+must, of course, study these traditions, but we must not be slaves to
+them. In other words, we must know the past in order to interpret
+masterpieces properly in the present. We must not, however, sacrifice
+that great quality--individuality--for slavery to convention. If the
+former Italian method of rendering certain arias was marred by the
+tremolo of some famous singers, there is no good artistic reason why any
+one should retain anything so hideous as a tremolo solely because it is
+traditional.
+
+There is a capital story of a young American singer who went to a
+European opera house with all the characteristic individuality and
+inquisitiveness of his people. In one opera the stage director told him
+to go to the back of the stage before singing his principal number and
+then walk straight down to the footlights and deliver the aria. "Why
+must I go to the back first?" asked the young singer. The director was
+amazed and blustered: "Why? Why, because the great Rubini did it that
+way--he created the part; it is the tradition." But the young singer was
+not satisfied, and finally found an old chorus man who had sung with
+Rubini, and asked him whether the tradition was founded upon a custom of
+the celebrated singer. "Yes," replied the chorus man, "da gretta Rubini
+he granda man. He go waya back; then he comea front; then he sing. Ah,
+grandissimo!" "But," persisted the young American, "_Why did he go to
+the back before he sang?_" "Oh!" exclaimed the excited Italian; "Why he
+go back? He go to spit!"
+
+Farcical as this incident may seem, many musical traditions are founded
+upon customs with quite as little musical or esthetic importance. Many
+traditions are to-day quite as useless as the buttons on the sleeves of
+our coats, although these very buttons were at one time employed by our
+forefathers to fasten back the long cuffs. There are, however, certain
+traditional methods of rendering great masterpieces, and particularly
+those marked by the florid ornamentation of the days of Handel, Bach and
+Haydn, which the singer must know. Unfortunately, many of these
+traditions have not been preserved in print in connection with the
+scores themselves, and the only way in which the young singer can
+acquire a knowledge of them is through hearing authoritative artists, or
+from teachers who have had wide and rich experience.
+
+6. _Freedom of Mind._--Under ideal conditions the mind should be free
+for music study and for public performance. This is not always possible;
+and some artists under great mental pressure have done their best work
+solely because they felt that the only way to bury sorrow and trouble
+was to thrust themselves into their artistic life and thus forget the
+pangs of misfortune. The student, however, should do everything possible
+to have his mind free so that he can give his best to his work. One who
+is wondering where the next penny is coming from is in a poor condition
+to impress an audience. Nevertheless, if the real ability is there it is
+bound to triumph over all obstacles.
+
+7. _Good Health._--Good health is one of the great factors of success in
+singing. Who needs a sounder mind than the artist? Good health comes
+from good, sensible living. The singer must never forget that the
+instrument he plays upon is a part of his body and that that instrument
+depends for its musical excellence and general condition upon good
+health. A $20,000 Stradivarius would be worthless if it were placed in a
+tub of water; and a larynx that earns for its owner from $500 to $1,500
+a night is equally valueless when saturated with the poisons that come
+from intemperate or unwise living. Many of the singer's throat troubles
+arise from an unhealthy condition of the stomach caused by excesses of
+diet; but, aside from this, a disease localized in any other part of the
+body affects the throat sympathetically and makes it difficult for the
+singer to get good results. Recital work, with its long fatiguing
+journeys on railroads, together with the other inconveniences of travel
+and the responsibility and strain that come from knowing that one person
+alone is to hold from 1,000 to 5,000 people interested for nearly two
+hours, demands a very sound physical condition.
+
+8. _Life Experience._--Culture does not come from the schoolroom alone.
+The refining processes of life are long and varied. As the violin gains
+in richness of tone and intrinsic value with age, so the singer's life
+experience has an effect upon the character of his singing. He must have
+seen life in its broadest sense, to place himself in touch with human
+sympathy. To do this and still retain the freshness and sweetness of his
+voice should be his great aim. The singer who lives a narrow and bigoted
+existence rarely meets with wide popular approval. The public wants to
+hear in a voice that wonderful something that tells them that it has
+had opportunities to know and to understand the human side of song, not
+giving parrot-like versions of some teacher's way of singing, but that
+the understanding comes from the very center of the mind, heart and
+soul. This is particularly true in the field of the song recital. Most
+of the renowned recital singers of the last half century, including
+Schumann-Heink, Sembrich, W�llner, the Henschels and others, were
+considerably past their youth when they made their greatest successes. A
+painting fresh from the artist's brush is raw, hard and uninteresting,
+till time, with its damp and dust, night and day, heat and cold, gives
+the enriching touch which adds so wonderfully to the softness and beauty
+of a picture. We singers are all living canvases. Time, and time only,
+can give us those shades and tints which reveal living experience. The
+young artist should hear many of the best singers, actors, and speakers,
+should read many of the best books, should see many beautiful pictures
+and wonderful buildings. But most of all, he should know and study many
+people and learn of their joys and their sorrows, their successes and
+their failures, their strength and their weaknesses, their loves and
+their hates. In all art human life is reflected, and this is
+particularly true in the case of vocal art. For years, in my youth, I
+never failed to attend all of the musical events of consequence in my
+native city. This was of immense value to me, since it gave me the means
+of cultivating my own judgment of what was good or bad in singing. Do
+not fear that you will become _blas�_. If you have the right spirit
+every musical event you attend will spur you on.
+
+You may say that it is expensive to hear great singers, and that you can
+only attend recitals and the opera occasionally. If this is really the
+case you still have a means of hearing singers which you should not
+neglect. I refer to the reproducing machines which have grown to be of
+such importance in vocal education. Phonograph records are nothing short
+of marvelous, and my earnestness in this cause is shown by the fact that
+I have long advocated their employment in the public schools, and have
+placed the matter before the educational authorities of New York. I
+earnestly urge the music teachers of this country, who are working for
+the real musical development of our children, to take this matter up in
+all seriousness. I can assure them that their efforts will bring them
+rich dividends in increased interest in musical work of their pupils,
+and the forming of a musical public. But nothing but the classics of
+song must be used. The time for the scorning of "high-brow" songs is
+past, and music must help this country to rid itself of the vogue of the
+"low-brow" and the "tough." Let singers strive to become educated
+ornaments of their lofty profession.
+
+9. _Personal Magnetism._--One of the most essential. The subject of
+"personal magnetism" is ridiculed by some, of course, but rarely laughed
+at by the artist who has experienced the astonishing phenomena in the
+opera house or the concert room. Like electricity it is intangible,
+indefinable, indescribable, but makes its existence known by
+manifestations that are almost uncanny. If personal magnetism does not
+exist, how then can we account for the fact that one pianist can sit
+down to the instrument and play a certain piece, and that another
+pianist could play the same piece with the same technical effect but
+losing entirely the charm and attractiveness with which the first
+pianist imbued the composition? Personal magnetism does not depend upon
+personal beauty nor erudition nor even upon perfect health. Henry Irving
+and Sarah Bernhardt were certainly not beautiful, but they held the
+world of the theater in the palm of their hand. Some artists have really
+been in the last stages of severe illness but have, nevertheless,
+possessed the divine electric spark to inspire hundreds, as did the
+hectic Chopin when he made his last famous visit to England and
+Scotland.
+
+Personal magnetism is not a kind of hypnotic influence to be found
+solely in the concert hall or the theater. Most artists possess it to a
+certain degree. Without this subtle and mysterious force, success with
+the public never comes.
+
+10. _Idealism._--Ideals are the flowers of youth. Only too often they
+are not tenderly cared for, and the result is that many who have been on
+the right track are turned in the direction of failure by materialism.
+It is absolutely essential for the young singer to have high ideals.
+Direct your efforts to the best in whatever branch of vocal art you
+determine to undertake. Do not for a moment let mediocrity or the
+substitution of artificial methods enter your vision. Holding to your
+ideal will mean costly sacrifices to you; but all sacrifices are worth
+while if one can realize one's ideal. The ideal is only another term for
+Heaven to me. If we could all attain to the ideal, we would all be in a
+kind of earthly Paradise. It has always seemed to me that when our Lord
+said "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand," he meant that it is at hand for
+us to possess now; that is the _ideal_ in life.
+
+[Illustration: DAME CLARA BUTT.]
+
+
+
+
+DAME CLARA BUTT
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Dame Butt was born at Southwick, Sussex, February 1, 1873. Her first
+lessons were with D. W. Rootham in Bristol.
+
+In 1889 she won a scholarship at the Royal College of music where the
+teacher was J. H. Blower. Later she studied for short periods with Bouhy
+in Paris and Etelka Gerster in Berlin. Her d�but was made as Ursula in
+Sullivan's setting of the Longfellow poem, _Golden Legend_. Her success
+was immediate and very great. She became in demand at all of the great
+English musical festivals and also sang before enormous audiences for
+years in the great English cities. In 1900 she married the noted English
+baritone R. Kennerly Rumford and together they have made many tours,
+including a tour of the world, appearing everywhere with continued
+success. Her voice is one of rich, full contralto quality with such
+individual characteristics that great English composers have written
+special works to reveal these great natural gifts. Dame Butt received
+her distinction of "Dame" from King George in 1920. Her happy family
+life with her children has won her endless admirers among musical people
+everywhere.
+
+
+
+
+SUCCESS IN CONCERT SINGING
+
+DAME CLARA BUTT
+
+HEALTH AND SINGING
+
+
+It must be obvious to all aspiring vocal students that splendid good
+health is well nigh indispensable to the singer. There have been
+singers, of course, who have had physical afflictions that have made
+their public appearances extremely painful, but they have succeeded in
+spite of these unfortunate drawbacks. In fact, if the young singer is
+ambitious and has that wonderful gift of directing her efforts in the
+way most likely to bring fortunate results, even physical weakness may
+be overcome. By this I mean that the singer will work out some plan for
+bringing her physical condition to the standard that fine singing
+demands. I believe most emphatically that the right spirit will conquer
+obstacles that often seem impassable. One might safely say that
+nine-tenths of the successes in all branches of artistic work are due to
+the inextinguishable fire that burns in the heart and mind of the art
+worker and incites him to pass through any ordeal in order to deliver
+his message to the world.
+
+
+MISDIRECTED EFFORT
+
+The cruel part of it all is that many aspire to become great singers who
+can never possibly have their hopes realized. Natural selection rather
+than destiny seems to govern this matter. The ugly caterpillar seems
+like an unpromising candidate for the brilliant career of the butterfly,
+and it oftentimes happens that students who seem unpromising to some
+have just the qualities which, with the right time, instruction and
+experience, will entitle them to great success. It is the little ant who
+hopes to grow iridescent wings, and who travels through conservatory
+after conservatory, hoping to find the magic chrysalis that will do
+this, who is to be pitied. Great success must depend upon special gifts,
+intellectual as well as vocal. Oh, if we only had some instinct, like
+that possessed by animals, that would enable us to determine accurately
+in advance the safest road for us to take, the road that will lead us to
+the best development of our real talents--not those we imagine we may
+have or those which the flattery of friends have grafted upon us! Mr.
+Rumford and I have witnessed so much very hard and very earnest work
+carried on by students who have no rational basis to hope for success as
+singers, that we have been placed in the uncomfortable position of
+advising young singers to seek some other life work.
+
+
+WHEN TO BEGIN
+
+The eternal question, "At what age shall I commence to study singing?"
+is always more or less amusing to the experienced singer. If the
+singer's spirit is in the child, nothing will stop his singing. He will
+sing from morning until night, and seems to be guided in most cases by
+an all-providing Nature that makes its untutored efforts the very best
+kind of practice. Unless the child is brought into contact with very bad
+music he is not likely to be injured. Children seem to be trying their
+best to prove the Darwinian theory by showing us that they can mimic
+quite as well as monkeys. The average child comes into the better part
+of his little store of wisdom through mimicry. Naturally if the little
+vocal student is taken to the vaudeville theatre, where every imaginable
+vocal law is smashed during a three-hour performance, and if the child
+observes that the smashing process is followed by the enthusiastic
+applause of the unthinking audience, it is only reasonable to suppose
+that the child will discover in this what he believes to be the most
+approved art of singing.
+
+It is evident then that the first thing which the parent of the musical
+child should consider is that of teaching him to appreciate what is
+looked upon as good and what is looked upon as bad. Although many
+singers with fine voices have appeared in vaudeville, the others must be
+regarded as "horrible" examples, and the child should know that they are
+such. On the other hand, it is quite evident that the more good singing
+that the child hears in the impressionable years of its youth the
+greater will be the effect upon the mind which is to direct the child's
+musical future. This is a branch of the vocalist's education which may
+begin long before the actual lessons. If it is carefully conducted the
+teacher should have far less difficulty in starting the child with the
+actual work. The only possible danger might be that the child's
+imitative faculty could lead it to extremes of pitch in imitating some
+singer. Even this is hardly more likely to injure it than the shouting
+and screaming which often accompanies the play of children.
+
+The actual time of starting must depend upon the individual. It is never
+too early for him to start in acquiring his musical knowledge.
+Everything he might learn of music itself, through the study of the
+piano or any other instrument would all become a part of his capital
+when he became a singer. Those singers are fortunate whose musical
+knowledge commenced with the cradle and whose first master was that
+greatest of all teachers, the mother. Speaking generally, it seems to be
+the impression of singing teachers that voice students should not
+commence the vocal side of their studies until they are from sixteen to
+seventeen years of age. In this connection, consider my own case. My
+first public appearance with orchestra was when I was fourteen. It was
+in Bristol, England, and among other things I sang _Ora Pro Nobis_ from
+Gounod's _Workers_.
+
+I was fortunate in having in my first teacher, D. W. Rootham, a man too
+thoroughly blessed with good British common sense to have any "tricks."
+He had no fantastic way of doing things, no proprietary methods, that
+none else in the world was supposed to possess. He listened for the
+beautiful in my voice and, as his sense of musical appreciation was
+highly cultivated, he could detect faults, explain them to me and show
+me how to overcome them by purely natural methods. The principal part of
+the process was to make me realize mentally just what was wrong and then
+what was the more artistic way of doing it.
+
+
+LETTING THE VOICE GROW
+
+After all, singing is singing, and I am convinced that my master's idea
+of just letting the voice grow with normal exercise and without excesses
+in any direction was the best way for me. It was certainly better than
+hours and hours of theory, interesting to the student of physiology, but
+often bewildering to the young vocalist. Real singing with real music is
+immeasurably better than ages of conjecture. It appears that some
+students spend years in learning how they are going to sing at some
+glorious day in the future, but it never seems to occur to them that in
+order to sing they must really use their voices. Of course, I do not
+mean to infer that the student must omit the necessary preparatory work.
+Solfeggios, for instance, and scales are extremely useful. Concone,
+tried and true, gives excellent material for all students. But why spend
+years in dreaming of theories regarding singing when everyone knows that
+the theory of singing has been the battleground for innumerable talented
+writers for centuries? Even now it is apparently impossible to reconcile
+all the vocal writers, except in so far as they all modestly admit that
+they have rediscovered the real old Italian school. Perhaps they have.
+But, admitting that an art teacher rediscovered the actual pigments
+used by Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt or Raphael, he would have no little
+task in creating a student who could duplicate _Mona Lisa_, _The Night
+Watch_ or the _Sistine Madonna_.
+
+After leaving Rootham, I won the four hundred guinea scholarship at the
+Royal College of Music and studied with Henry Blower. This I followed
+with a course with Bouhy in Paris and Etelka Gerster in Berlin. Mr.
+Rumford and I both concur in the opinion that it is necessary for the
+student who would sing in any foreign language to study in the country
+in which the language is spoken. In no other way can one get the real
+atmosphere. The preparatory work may be done in the home country, but if
+one fails to taste of the musical life of the country in which the songs
+came into being, there seems to be an indefinable absence of the right
+flavor. I believe in employing the native tongue for songs in recital
+work. It seems narrow to me to do otherwise. At the same time, I have
+always been a champion for songs written originally with English texts,
+and have sung innumerable times with programs made from English lyrics.
+
+
+PREPARING A REPERTOIRE
+
+The idea that concert and recital work is not as difficult as operatic
+work has been pretty well exploded by this time. In fact, it is very
+much more difficult to sing a simple song well in concert than it is to
+sing some of the elaborate Wagnerian recitatives in which the very
+complexities of the music make a convenient hiding place for the
+artist's vocal shortcomings. In concert everything is concentrated upon
+the singer. Convention has ever deprived him of the convenient gestures
+that give ease to the opera singer.
+
+The selection of useful material for concert purposes is immensely
+difficult. It must have artistic merit, it must have human interest, it
+must suit the singer, in most cases the piano must be used for
+accompaniment and the song must not be dependent upon an orchestral
+accompaniment for its value. It must not be too old, it must not be too
+far in advance of popular tastes. It is a bad plan to wander
+indiscriminately about among countless songs, never learning any really
+well. The student should begin to select numbers with great care,
+realizing that it is futile to try to do everything. Lord Bolingbroke,
+in his essay on the shortness of human life, shows how impossible it is
+for a man to read more than a mere fraction of a great library though he
+read regularly every day of his life. It is very much the same with
+music. The resources are so vast and time is so limited that there is no
+opportunity to learn everything. Far better is it for the vocalist to do
+a little well than to do much ineffectually.
+
+Good music well executed meets with very much the same appreciation
+everywhere. During our latest tour we gave almost the very same programs
+in America as those we have been giving upon the European Continent. The
+music-loving American public is likely to differ but slightly from that
+of the great music centers of the old world. Music has truly become a
+universal language.
+
+In developing a repertoire the student might look upon the musical
+public as though it were a huge circle filled with smaller circles, each
+little circle being a center of interest. One circle might insist upon
+old English songs, such as the delightful melodies of Arne, Carey,
+Monroe. Another circle might expect the arias of the old Italian
+masters, Carissimi, Jomelli, Sacchini or Scarlatti. Another circle would
+want to hear the German Lieder of such composers as Schumann, Schubert,
+Brahms, Franz and Wolf. Still another circle might go away disappointed
+if they could not hear something of the ultra modern writers, such as
+Strauss, Debussy or even that freak of musical cacophony, Schoenberg.
+However diverse may be the individual likings of these smaller circles,
+all of the members of your audience are united in liking music as a
+whole.
+
+The audience will demand variety in your repertoire but at the same time
+it will demand certain musical essentials which appeal to all. There is
+one circle in your audience that I have purposely reserved for separate
+discussion. That is the great circle of concert goers who are not
+skilled musicians, who are too frank, too candid, to adopt any of the
+cant of those social frauds who revel in Reger and Schoenberg, and just
+because it might stamp them as real connoisseurs, but who really can't
+recognize much difference between the _Liebestod_ of _Tristan und
+Isolde_ and _Rule Britannia_,--but the music lovers who are too honest
+to fail to state that they like the _Lost Chord_ or the lovely folk
+songs of your American composer, Stephen Foster. Mr. Plunkett Greene, in
+his work upon song interpretation, makes no room for the existence of
+songs of this kind. Indeed, he would cast them all into the discard.
+This seems to me a huge mistake. Surely we can not say that music is a
+monopoly of the few who have schooled their ears to enjoy outlandish
+disonances with delight. Music is perhaps the most universal of all the
+arts and with the gradual evolution of those who love it, a natural
+audience is provided for music of the more complicated sort. We learn to
+like our musical caviar with surprising rapidity. It was only yesterday
+that we were objecting to the delightful piano pieces of Debussy, who
+can generate an atmosphere with a single chord just as Murillo could
+inspire an emotion with a stroke of the brush.
+
+It is not safe to say that you do not like things in this way. I think
+that even Schoenberg is trying to be true to his muse. We must remember
+that Haydn, Beethoven, Wagner and Brahms passed through the fire of
+criticism in their day. The more breadth a singer puts into her work the
+more likely is she to reap success. Time only can produce the
+accomplished artist. The best is to find a joy in your work and think of
+nothing but large success. If you have the gift, triumph will be
+yours.
+
+[Illustration: GIUSEPPE CAMPANARI.
+
+� Dupont.]
+
+
+
+
+GIUSEPPE CAMPANARI
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+Giuseppe Campanari was born at Venice, Italy, Nov. 17th, 1858. His
+parents were not particularly musical but were very anxious for the boy
+to become a musician. At the age of nine he commenced to study the piano
+and later he entered the Conservatory of Milan, making his principal
+instrument the violoncello. Upon his graduation he secured a position in
+the 'cello section of the orchestra at "La Scala." Here for years he
+heard the greatest singers and the greatest operas, gaining a musical
+insight into the works through an understanding of the scores which has
+seldom if ever been possessed by a great opera singer. His first
+appearance as singer was at the Teatro dal Verme in Milan. Owing to
+voice strain he was obliged to give up singing and in the interim he
+took a position as a 'cellist in the Boston Symphony Orchestra,
+remaining with that organization some years. He then made appearances
+with the Emma Juch Opera Company, the Heinrichs Opera Company, and
+eventually at the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York, where he
+achieved his greatest triumphs as leading baritone. Mr. Campanari long
+since became an American citizen and has devoted his attention to
+teaching for years.
+
+His conference which follows is particularly interesting, as from the
+vocal standpoint he is almost entirely self taught.
+
+
+
+
+THE VALUE OF SELF-STUDY IN VOICE TRAINING
+
+GIUSEPPE CAMPANARI
+
+
+So much has been written upon the futility of applying one method to all
+cases in vocal instruction that it seems useless for me to say anything
+that would add to the volume of testimony against the custom of trying
+to teach all pupils in the same manner. No one man ever has had, has, or
+ever will have, a "method" superior to all others, for the very simple
+reason that the means one vocalist might employ to reach artistic
+success would be quite different from that which another singer, with an
+entirely different voice, different throat and different intellect,
+would be obliged to employ. One of the great laws of Nature is the law
+of variation; that is, no two children of any parents are ever exactly
+alike. Even in the case of twins there is often a great variation. The
+great English philosopher, Darwin, made much of this principle. It is
+one which all voice students and teachers should consider, for although
+there are, from the nature of things, many foundation principles which
+must remain the same in all cases, the differences in individual cases
+are sufficient to demand the greatest keenness of observation, the
+widest experience and an inexhaustible supply of patience upon the part
+of the teacher.
+
+Please understand, I am not decrying the use of books of exercises such
+as those of Concone, Marchesi, Regine, Panofka and others. Such books
+are necessary. I have used these and others in teaching, suiting the
+book to the individual case. The pupil needs material of this kind, and
+it should be chosen with the greatest care and consideration not only of
+the pupil's voice, but of his intellectual capacity and musical
+experience. These books should not be considered "methods." They are the
+common property of all teachers, and most teachers make use of them. My
+understanding of a "method" is a set of hard and fast rules, usually
+emanating from the mind of some one person who has the effrontery to
+pass them off upon an all too gullible public as the one road to a vocal
+Parnassus. Only the singer with years of experience can realize how
+ridiculous this course is and how large is the percentage of failure of
+the pupils of teachers whose sole claim to fame is that they teach
+the---- method. Proud as I am of the glorious past of vocal art in the
+country of my birth, I cannot help being amused and at the same time
+somewhat irritated when I think of the many palpable frauds that are
+classed under the head of the "Real Old Italian Method" by inexperienced
+teachers. We cannot depend upon the past in all cases to meet present
+conditions. The singers of the olden day in Italy were doubtless great,
+because they possessed naturally fine voices and used them in an
+unaffected, natural manner. In addition to this they were born speaking
+a tongue favorable to beautiful singing, led simple lives and had
+opportunities for hearing the great operas and the great singers
+unexcelled by those of any other European country. That they became
+great through the practice of any set of rules or methods is
+inconceivable. There were great teachers in olden Italy, very great
+teachers, and some of them made notes upon the means they employed, but
+I cannot believe that if these teachers were living to-day they would
+insist upon their ideas being applied to each and every individual case
+in the same identical manner.
+
+
+THE VALUE OF OPERA
+
+This leads us to the subject at hand. The students in Italy in the past
+have had advantages for self-study that were of greatest importance. On
+all sides good singing and great singing might be heard conveniently and
+economically. Opera was and is one of the great national amusements of
+Italy. Opera houses may be found in all of the larger cities and in most
+of the smaller ones. The prices of admission are, as a rule, very low.
+The result is that the boys in the street are often remarkably familiar
+with some of the best works. Indeed, it would not be extravagant to say
+that they were quite as familiar with these musical masterpieces as some
+of the residents of America are with the melodramatic doings of Jesse
+James or the "Queen of Chinatown." Thus it is that the average Italian
+boy with a fair education and quick powers of observation reaches his
+majority with a taste for singing trained by many opportunities to hear
+great singers. They have had the best vocal instruction in the world,
+providing, of course, they have exercised their powers of judgment. Thus
+it is that it happens that such a singer as Caruso, certainly one of the
+greatest tenors of all time, could be accidentally heard by a manager
+while singing and receive an offer for an engagement upon the spot.
+Caruso's present art, of course, is the result of much training that
+would fall under the head of "coaching," together with his splendid
+experience upon the operatic stage itself.
+
+I trust that I have not by this time given the reader of this page the
+impression that teachers are unnecessary. This is by no means the case.
+A good teacher is extremely desirable. If you have the good fortune to
+fall into the hands of a careful, experienced, intelligent teacher, much
+may be accomplished; but the teacher is by no means all that is
+required. The teacher should be judged by his pupils, and by nothing
+else. No matter what he may claim, it is invariably the results of his
+work (the pupil's) which must determine his value. Teachers come to me
+with wonderful theories and all imaginable kinds of methods. I always
+say to them: "Show me a good pupil who has been trained by your methods
+and I will say that you are a good teacher."
+
+Before our national elections I am asked, "Which one of the candidates
+do you believe will make the best President?" I always reply, "Wait four
+years and I will pass my opinion upon the ability of the candidate the
+people select." In other words, "the proof of the pudding is in the
+eating."
+
+
+SINGERS NOT BORN, BUT MADE
+
+We often hear the trite expression, "Singers are born, not made." This,
+to my mind, is by no means the case. One may be born with the talent and
+deep love for music, and one may be born with the physical
+qualifications which lead to the development of a beautiful voice, but
+the singer is something far more than this. Given a good voice and the
+love for his music, the singer's work is only begun. He is at the
+outstart of a road which is beset with all imaginable kinds of
+obstacles. In my own case I was extremely ambitious to be a singer.
+Night after night I played 'cello in the orchestra at La Scala, in
+Milan, always wishing and praying that I might some day be one of the
+actors in the wonderful world behind the footlights. I listened to the
+famous singers in the great opera house with the minutest attention,
+making mental notes of their manner of placing their voices--their
+method of interpretation, their stage business, and everything that I
+thought might be of any possible use to me in the career of the singer,
+which was dearest to my heart. I endeavored to employ all the common
+sense and good judgment I possessed to determine what was musically and
+vocally good or otherwise. I was fortunate in having the training of the
+musician, and also in having the invaluable advantage of becoming
+acquainted with the orchestral scores of the famous operas. Finally the
+long-awaited opportunity came and I made my d�but at the Teatro dal
+Verme, in Milan. I had had no real vocal instruction in the commonly
+accepted sense of the term; but I had really had a kind of instruction
+that was of inestimable value.
+
+
+NOT GIVEN TO ALL TO STUDY SUCCESSFULLY WITHOUT A TEACHER
+
+Success brought with it its disadvantages. I foolishly strained my voice
+through overwork. But this did not discourage me. I realized that many
+of the greatest singers the world has ever known were among those who
+had met with disastrous failure at some time in their careers. I came to
+America and played the violoncello in the Boston Symphony Orchestra. All
+the time I was practicing with the greatest care and with the sole
+object of restoring my voice. Finally it came back better than ever and
+I sang for Maurice Grau, the impresario of the Metropolitan Opera House,
+in New York. He engaged me and I sang continuously at the Metropolitan
+for several years. Notwithstanding this varied experience, I will seek
+to learn, and to learn by practical example, not theory. The only opera
+school in the world is the opera house itself. No school ever "made" a
+great singer or a great artist. The most they have done has been to lay
+the foundation. The making of the artist comes later.
+
+In order to do without instruction one must be very peculiarly
+constituted. One must be possessed of the pedagogical faculty to a
+marked degree. One must have within oneself those qualities for
+observing and detecting the right means leading to an artistic end which
+every good teacher possesses. In other words, one must be both teacher
+and pupil. This is a rare combination, since the power to teach, to
+impart instruction, is one that is given to very few. It is far better
+to study alone or not at all than with a poor teacher. The teacher's
+responsibility, particularly in the case of vocal students, is very
+great. So very much depends upon it. A poor teacher can do incalculable
+damage. By poor teachers I refer particularly to those who are carried
+away by idiotic theories and quack methods. We learn to sing by singing
+and not by carrying bricks upon our chest or other idiotic antics.
+Consequently I say that it is better to go all through life with a
+natural or "green" voice than to undergo the vocal torture that is
+sometimes palmed off upon the public as voice teaching. At best, all the
+greatest living teacher can do is to put the artist upon the right track
+and this in itself is responsibility enough for one man or one woman to
+assume.
+
+
+SINGERS MAKE THEIR OWN METHODS
+
+As I have already said, most every singer makes a method unto himself.
+It is all the same in the end. The Chinese may, for instance, have one
+name for God, the Persians another, the Mohammedans another, and the
+people of Christian lands another. But the God principle and the worship
+principle are the same with all. It is very similar in singing. The
+means that apply to my own case may apparently be different from those
+of another, but we are all seeking to produce beautiful tones and
+interpret the meaning of the composer properly.
+
+One thing, however, the student should seek to possess above all things,
+and this is a thorough foundation training in music itself. This can not
+begin too early. In my own home we have always had music. My children
+have always heard singing and playing and consequently they become
+critical at a very early age.
+
+I can not help repeating my advice to students who hope to find a vocal
+education in books or by the even more ridiculous correspondence method.
+Books may set one's mental machinery in motion and incite one to observe
+singers more closely, but teach they can not and never can. The
+sound-reproducing machines are of assistance in helping the student to
+understand the breathing, phrasing, etc., but there is nothing really to
+take the place of the living singer who can illustrate with his voice
+the niceties of placing and _timbre_.
+
+My advice to the voice students of America is to hear great singers.
+Hear them as many times as possible and consider the money invested as
+well placed as any you might spend in vocal instruction. The golden
+magnet, as well as the opportunities in other ways offered artists in
+America, has attracted the greatest singers of our time to this country.
+It is no longer necessary to go abroad to listen to great singers. In
+no country of the world is opera given with more lavish expenditure of
+money than in America. The great singers are now by no means confining
+their efforts to the large Eastern cities. Many of them make regular
+tours of the country, and students in all parts of this land are offered
+splendid opportunities for self-help through the means of concerts and
+musical festivals. After all, the most important thing for any singer is
+the development of the critical sense. Blind imitation is, of course,
+bad, but how is the student to progress unless he has had an opportunity
+to hear the best singers of the day? In my youth I heard continually
+such artists as La Salle, Gayarre, Patti, De Reszke and others. How
+could I help profiting by such excellent experiences?
+
+
+GREAT VOICES ARE RARE
+
+One may be sure that in these days few, if any, great voices go
+undiscovered. A remarkable natural voice is so rare that some one is
+sure to notice it and bring it to the attention of musicians. The
+trouble is that so many people are so painfully deluded regarding their
+voices. I have had them come to me with voices that are obviously
+execrable and still remain unconvinced when I have told them what seemed
+to me the truth. This business of hearing would-be singers is an
+unprofitable and an uncomfortable one; and most artists try to avoid the
+ordeal, although they are always very glad to encourage real talent.
+Most young singers, however, have little more than the bare ambition to
+sing, coupled with what can only be described by the American term, "a
+swelled head." Someone has told them that they are wonderfully gifted,
+and persons of this kind are most always ready to swallow flattery
+indiscriminately. Almost everyone, apparently, wants to go into opera
+nowadays. To singers who have not any chance whatever I have only to say
+that the sooner this is discovered the better. Far better put your money
+in bank and let compound interest do what your voice can not.
+
+
+
+
+ENRICO CARUSO
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Enrico Caruso was born at Naples, February 25th, 1873. His fondness for
+music dates from his earliest childhood; and he spent much of his spare
+money in attending the opera at San Carlo and hearing the foremost
+singers of his time in many of the r�les in which he appeared later on.
+His actual study, however, did not start until he was eighteen, when he
+came under the tuition of Guglielmo Vergine. In 1895 he made his d�but
+at the Teatro Cimarosa in _Caserta_. His first appearances drew
+comparatively little attention to his work and his future greatness was
+hardly suspected by many of those who heard him. However, by dint of
+long application to his art he gained more and more recognition. In 1902
+he made his d�but in London. The following year he came to New York,
+where the world's greatest singers had found an El Dorado for nearly a
+quarter of a century. There he was at once proclaimed the greatest of
+all tenors and from that time his success was undeviating. Indeed his
+voice was so wonderful and so individual that it is difficult to compare
+him with any of his great predecessors; Tamagno, Campanini, de Reszke
+and others. In Europe and in America he was welcomed with acclaim and
+the records of his voice are to be found in thousands of homes of music
+lovers who have never come in touch with him in any other way. Signor
+Caruso had a remarkable talent for drawing and for sculpture. His death,
+August 2d, 1921, ended the career of the greatest male singer of
+history.
+
+[Illustration: ENRICO CARUSO.]
+
+
+
+
+ITALY, THE HOME OF SONG
+
+ENRICO CARUSO
+
+
+OPERA AND THE PUBLIC IN ITALY
+
+Anyone who has traveled in Italy must have noticed the interest that is
+manifested at the opening of the opera season. This does not apply only
+to the people with means and advanced culture but also to what might be
+called the general public. In addition to the upper classes, the same
+class of people in America who would show the wildest enthusiasm over
+your popular sport, base-ball, would be similarly eager to attend the
+leading operatic performances in Italy. The opening of the opera is
+accompanied by an indescribable fervor. It is "in the air." The whole
+community seems to breathe opera. The children know the leading
+melodies, and often discuss the features of the performances as they
+hear their parents tell about them, just as the American small boy
+retails his father's opinions upon the political struggles of the day or
+upon the last ball game.
+
+It should not be thought that this does not mean a sacrifice to the
+masses, for opera is, in a sense, more expensive in Italy than in
+America; that is, it is more expensive by comparison in most parts of
+the country. It should be remembered that monetary values in Italy are
+entirely different from those in America. The average Italian of
+moderate means looks upon a lira as a coin far more valuable than its
+equivalent of twenty cents in United States currency. His income is
+likely to be limited, and he must spend it with care and wisdom. Again,
+in the great operatic centers, such as Milan, Naples or Rome, the prices
+are invariably adjusted to the importance of the production. In
+first-class productions the prices are often very high from the Italian
+standpoint. For instance, at La Scala in Milan, when an exceptionally
+fine performance is given with really great singers, the prices for
+orchestra chairs may run as high as thirty lira or six dollars a seat.
+Even to the wealthy Italian this amount seems the same as a much larger
+amount in America.
+
+To give opera in Italy with the same spectacular effects, the same casts
+composed almost exclusively of very renowned artists, the same _mise en
+scene_, etc., would require a price of admission really higher than in
+America. As a matter of fact, there is no place in the world where such
+a great number of performances, with so many world-renowned singers, are
+given as at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. There is no
+necessity for any one to make a special trip to Europe to hear excellent
+performances in these days. Of course such a trip would be interesting,
+as the performances given in many European centers are wonderfully fine,
+and they would be interesting to hear if only from the standpoint of
+comparing them with those given at the Metropolitan. However, the most
+eminent singers of the world come here constantly, and the performances
+are directed by the ablest men obtainable, and I am at loss to see why
+America should not be extremely proud of her operatic advantages. In
+addition to this the public manifests a most intelligent appreciation of
+the best in music. It is very agreeable to sing in America, as one is
+sure that when he does well the public will respond at once.
+
+
+ITALIAN, THE LANGUAGE OF MUSIC
+
+Perhaps the fact that in Italy the audiences may understand the
+performances better because of their knowledge of their native language
+may add to the pleasure of opera-going. This, however, is a question,
+except in the case of some of the more modern works. The older opera
+librettos left much to be desired from the dramatic and poetic
+standpoints. Italian after all is the language of music. In fact it is
+music in itself when properly spoken. Note that I say "when properly
+spoken." American girls go to Italy to study, and of course desire to
+acquire a knowledge of the language itself, for they have heard that it
+is beneficial in singing. They get a mere smattering, and do not make
+any attempt to secure a perfect accent. The result is about as funny as
+the efforts of the comedians who imitate German emigrants on the
+American stage.
+
+If you start the study of Italian, persist until you have really
+mastered the language. In doing this your ear will get such a drill and
+such a series of exercises as it has never had before. You will have to
+listen to the vowel sounds as you have never listened. This is
+necessary because in order to understand the grammar of the language you
+must hear the final vowel in each word and you must hear the consonants
+distinctly.
+
+There is another peculiar thing about Italian. If the student who has
+always studied and sung in English, German or French or Russian,
+attempts to sing in Italian, he is really turning a brilliant
+searchlight upon his own vocal ability. If he has any faults which have
+been concealed in his singing in his own language, they will be
+discovered at once the moment he commences to study in Italian. I do not
+know whether this is because the Italian of culture has a higher
+standard of diction in the enunciation of the vowel sounds, or whether
+the sounds themselves are so pure and smooth that they expose the
+deficiencies, but it is nevertheless the case. The American girl who
+studies Italian for six months and then hopes to sing in that language
+in a manner not likely to disturb the sense of the ridiculous is
+deceiving herself. It takes years to acquire fluency in a language.
+
+
+AUDIENCES THE SAME THE WORLD AROUND
+
+Audiences are as sensitive as individuals. Italy is known as "the home
+of the opera"; but I find that, as far as manifesting enthusiasm goes,
+the world is getting pretty much the same. If the public is pleased, it
+applauds no matter whether it be in Vienna, Paris, Rome, Buenos Aires,
+New York, or Oshkosh. An artist feels his bond with his audience very
+quickly. He knows whether his auditors are delighted, whether they are
+merely interested or whether they are indifferent a few seconds after he
+has been upon the stage. I can judge my own work at once by the attitude
+of the audience. No artist sings exactly alike on two successive nights.
+That would be impossible. Although every sincere artist tries to do his
+best at all times, there are, nevertheless, occasions when one sings
+better than at others. If I sing particularly well the audience is
+particularly enthusiastic; if I am not feeling well and my singing
+indicates it, the audience will let me know at once by not being quite
+so enthusiastic. It is a barometer which is almost unfailing. This is
+also an important thing for the young singer to consider. Audiences
+judge by real worth and not by reputation.
+
+Reputation may attract money to the box office, but once the people are
+inside the opera house the artist must really please them or suffer.
+Young singers should not be led to think that anything but real worth is
+of any lasting value. If the audience does not respond, do not blame the
+audience. It would respond if you could sing so beautifully that you
+could compel a response that you know should follow real artistic
+achievement. Don't blame your teacher or your lack of practice or
+anything or anybody but yourself. The verdict of the audience is better
+than the examination of a hundred so-called experts. There is something
+about an audience that makes it seem like a great human individual,
+whether in Naples or in San Francisco. If you touch the heart or please
+the sense of beauty, the appetite for lovely music--common to all
+mankind--the audience is yours, be it Italian, French, German or
+American.
+
+
+OPERATIC PREPARATION IN ITALY
+
+The American student with a really good voice and a really fine vocal
+and musical training, would have more opportunities for engagements in
+the smaller Italian opera houses, for the simple reason that there are
+more of these opera houses and more of these opera companies. Bear in
+mind, however, that opera in Italy depends to a large extent upon the
+standing of the artists engaged to put on the opera. In some cities of
+the smaller size the municipality makes an appropriation, which serves
+as a guarantee or subsidy. An impresario is informed what operas the
+community desires and what singers. He tries to comply with the demand.
+Often the city is very small and the demand very slightly indicated in
+real money. As a result the performances are comparatively mediocre. The
+American student sometimes fails to secure engagements with the big
+companies and tries to gain experience in these small companies.
+Sometimes he succeeds, but he should remember before undertaking this
+work that many native Italian singers with realty fine voices are
+looking for similar opportunities and that only a very few stand any
+chance of reaching really noteworthy success.
+
+
+OPERA WILL ALWAYS BE EXPENSIVE
+
+He should, of course, endeavor to seek engagements with the big
+companies if his voice and ability will warrant it. Where the most money
+is, there will be the salaried artists and the finest operatic
+spectacle. That is axiomatic. Opera is expensive and will always be
+expensive. The supply of unusual voices has always been limited and the
+services of their possessors have always commanded a high reward. This
+is based upon an economic law which applies to all things in life. The
+young singer should realize that, unless he can rise to the very top of
+his profession, he will be compelled to enlist in a veritable army of
+singers with little talent and less opportunity.
+
+One thing exists in Italy which is very greatly missed in America. Even
+in small companies in Italy a great deal of time is spent in rehearsals.
+In America rehearsals are tremendously expensive and sometimes first
+performances have suffered thereby. In fact, I doubt whether the public
+realizes what a very expensive thing opera is. The public has little
+opportunity to look behind the scenes. It sees only the finished
+performance, which runs smoothly only when a tremendous amount of
+mental, physical and financial oil has been poured upon the machinery. I
+often hear men say here in New York, "I had to pay fifty dollars for my
+seat to-night." That is absurd--the money is going to speculators
+instead of into the rightful channels. This money is simply lost as far
+as doing any service whatever to art is concerned. It does not go into
+the opera house treasury to make for better performances, but simply
+into the hands of some fellow who had been clever enough to deprive the
+public of its just opportunity to purchase seats. The public seems to
+have money enough to pay an outrageous amount for seats when necessary.
+Would it not be better to do away with the speculator at the door and
+pay say $10.00 for a seat that now costs $7.00? This would mean more
+rehearsals and better opera and no money donated to the undeserving
+horde at the portals of the temple.
+
+
+THE STUDENT'S PREPARATION
+
+I am told that many people in America have the impression that my vocal
+ability is kind of a "God-given" gift; that is, something that has come
+to me without effort. This is so very absurd that I can hardly believe
+that sensible people would give it a moment's credence. Every voice is
+in a sense the result of a development, and this is particularly so in
+my own case. The marble that comes from the quarries of Carrara may be
+very beautiful and white and flawless, but it does not shape itself into
+a work of art without the hand, the heart, and the intellect of the
+sculptor.
+
+Just to show how utterly ridiculous this popular opinion really is, let
+me cite the fact that at the age of fifteen everybody who heard me sing
+pronounced me a bass. When I went to Vergine I studied hard for four
+years. During the first three years the work was for the most part
+moulding and shaping the voice. Then I studied repertoire for one year
+and made my d�but. Even with the experience I had had at that time it
+was unreasonable to expect great success at once. I kept working hard
+and worked for at least seven years more before any really mentionable
+success came to me. All the time I had one thing on my mind and that was
+never to let a day pass without seeing some improvement in my voice. The
+discouragements were frequent and bitter; but I kept on working and
+waiting until my long awaited opportunities came in London and in New
+York. The great thing is, not to stop. Do not think that, because these
+great cities gave me a flattering reception, my work ceased. Quite on
+the contrary, I kept on working and am working still. Every time I go
+upon the stage I am endeavoring to discover something that will make my
+art more worthy of public acceptance. Every act of each opera is a new
+lesson.
+
+
+DIFFERENT R�LES
+
+It is difficult to invest a r�le with individuality. I have no favorite
+r�les. I have avoided this, because the moment one adopts a favorite
+r�le he becomes a specialist and ceases to be an artist. The artist does
+all r�les equally well. I have had the unique experience of creating
+many r�les in operas such as _Fedora_, _Adrienne_, _Germania_, _Girl of
+the Golden West_, _Maschera_. This is a splendid experience, as it
+always taxes the inventive faculties of the singing actor. This is
+particularly the case in the Italian opera of the newer composers, or
+rather the composers who have worked in Italy since the reformation of
+Wagner. Whatever may be said, the greatest influence in modern Italian
+opera is Wagner. Even the great Verdi was induced to change his methods
+in _A�da_, _Otello_, and _Falstaff_--all representing a much higher art
+than his earlier operas. However, Wagner did nothing to rob Italy of its
+natural gift of melody, even though he did institute a reform. He also
+did not influence such modern composers as Puccini, Mascagni, and
+Leoncavallo to the extent of marring their native originality and
+fertility.
+
+[Illustration: MME. JULIA CLAUSSEN.]
+
+
+
+
+MME. JULIA CLAUSSEN
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Mme. Julia Claussen was born at Stockholm, Sweden, the land of Jenny
+Lind and Nilsson. Her voice is a rich, flexible mezzo-soprano, with a
+range that has enabled her to assume some contralto r�les with more
+success than the average so-called contralto. In her childhood she
+studied piano, but did not undertake the serious study of voice until
+she was eighteen, when she became a student at the Royal Academy of
+Music, under Professor Lejdstrom (studying harmony and theory under the
+famous Swedish composer Sjogren). Her d�but was made at the Royal Opera,
+at the age of twenty-two, in _La Favorita_, singing the r�le in Swedish.
+Later she went to Berlin, where she was coached in German opera by
+Professor Friedrich at the Royal High School of Music. Her American
+d�but was made in 1912, in Chicago, where she made an immediate success
+in such r�les as _Ortrud_, _Br�nnhilde_ and _Carmen_. She was then
+engaged at Covent Garden and later sang at the Champs Elys�e Theatre,
+under Nikisch, in Paris. For two years she appeared at the Metropolitan.
+She has received the rare distinction of being awarded the Jenny Lind
+Medal from her own government and also of being admitted to the Royal
+Academy of Sweden, the youngest member ever elected to that august
+scientific and artistic body. She has also been decorated by King
+Gustavus V of Sweden with Literis et Artibus. In America she has made an
+immense success as a concert singer.
+
+
+
+
+MODERN ROADS TO VOCAL SUCCESS
+
+MME. JULIA CLAUSSEN
+
+
+WHY SWEDEN PRODUCES SO MANY SINGERS
+
+The question, "Why does Sweden produce so many singers?" is often asked
+me. First it is a matter of climate, then a matter of physique, and
+lastly, because the Swedish children do far more singing than any one
+finds in many other countries. The air in Sweden is very rarefied, clear
+and exhilarating. Owing to frugal living and abundant systematic
+exercise, the people become very robust. This is not a matter of one
+generation or so, but goes back for centuries. The Swedes are a strong,
+energetic, thorough race; and the same attributes of industry and
+precision which have made them famous in science are applied to the
+study of music.
+
+The Swedish child is made to understand that singing is a needful,
+serious part of his life. His musical training begins very early in the
+schools, with a definite scheme. All schools have competent, experienced
+teachers of singing. In my childhood another factor played a very
+important part. There was never the endless round of attractions, toys,
+parties, theatres and pastimes (to say nothing of the all-consuming
+movies). Life was more tranquil and therefore the pursuit of good music
+was far more enjoyable. American life moves at aeroplane speed. The poor
+little children hardly have time to breathe, let alone time to study
+music. Ragtime is the musical symptom of this American craving for speed
+and incessant excitement. In a blare and confusion of noises, like
+bedlam broken loose, what chance has a child to develop good taste? It
+is admittedly fascinating at times; but is without rhyme, reason or
+order. I never permit my children to pollute my piano with it. They may
+have it on the talking machine, but they must not be accomplices in
+making it.
+
+Of course, things have changed in Sweden, too; and American ragtime,
+always contagious, has now infected all Europe. This makes the music
+teacher's task in this day far more difficult than formerly. I hear my
+daughters practicing, and now and then they seem to be putting a dash of
+ragtime into Bach. If I stop them I find that "Bach is too slow, I don't
+like Bach!" This is almost like saying, "I don't like Rubens, Van Dyke
+or Millet; please, teacher, give me Mutt and Jeff or the Katzenjammer
+Kids!" American children need to be constantly taught to reverence the
+great creators of the land. Why, Jenny Lind is looked upon as a great
+national heroine in Sweden, much as one might regard George Washington
+in America. Before America can go about musical educational work
+properly, the teachers must inculcate this spirit, a proper appreciation
+of what is really beautiful, instead of a kind of wild, mob-like orgy of
+blare, bang, smash and shriek which so many have come to know as ragtime
+and jazz.
+
+
+SELF-CRITICISM
+
+If one should ask me what is the first consideration in becoming a
+success as a singer, I should say the ability to criticise one's self.
+In my own case I had a very competent musician as a teacher. He told me
+that my voice was naturally placed and did very little to help place it
+according to his own ideas. Perhaps that was well for me, because I knew
+myself what I was about. He used to say, "That sounds beautiful," but
+all the time I knew that it sounded terrible. It was then that I learned
+that my ear must be my best teacher. My teacher, for instance, told me
+that I would never be able to trill. This was very disheartening; but he
+really believed, according to his conservative knowledge, that I should
+never succeed in getting the necessary flexibility.
+
+By chance I happened to meet a celebrated Swedish singer, Mme. �stberg,
+of the old school. I communicated to her the discouraging news that I
+could never hope to trill. "Nonsense, my dear," she said, "someone told
+me that too, but I determined that I was going to learn. I did not know
+how to go about it exactly, but I knew that with the proper patience and
+will-power I would succeed. Therefore I worked up to three o'clock one
+morning, and before I went to bed I was able to trill."
+
+I decided to take Mme. �stberg's advice, and I practiced for several
+days until I knew that I could trill, and then I went back to my teacher
+and showed him what I could do. He had to admit it was a good trill,
+and he couldn't understand how I had so successfully disproved his
+theories by accomplishing it. It was then that I learned that the singer
+can do almost anything within the limits of the voice, if one will only
+work hard enough. Work is the great producer, and there is no substitute
+for it. Do not think that I am ungrateful to my teacher. He gave me a
+splendid musical drilling in all the standard solfeggios, in which he
+was most precise; and in later years I said to him, "I am not grateful
+to you for making my voice, but because you did not spoil it."
+
+After having sung a great deal and thought introspectively a great deal
+about the voice, one naturally begins to form a kind of philosophy
+regarding it. Of course, breathing exercises are the basis of all good
+singing methods, but it seems to me that singing teachers ask many of
+their pupils to do many queer impractical things in breathing, things
+that "don't work" when the singer is obliged to stand up before a big
+audience and make everyone hear without straining.
+
+If I were to teach a young girl right at this moment I would simply ask
+her to take a deep breath and note the expansion at the waist just above
+the diaphragm. Then I would ask her to say as many words as possible
+upon that breath, at the same time having the muscles adjacent to the
+diaphragm to support the breath; that is, to sustain it and not collapse
+or try to push it up. The trick is to get the most tone, not with the
+most breath but with the least breath, and especially the very least
+possible strain at the throat, which must be kept in a floating,
+gossamer-like condition all the time. I see girls, who have been to
+expensive teachers, doing all sorts of wonderful calisthenics with the
+diaphragm, things that God certainly did not intend us to do in learning
+to speak and to sing.
+
+Any attempt to draw in the front walls of the abdomen or the intercostal
+muscles during singing must put a kind of pneumatic pressure upon the
+breath stream, which is sure to constrict the throat. Therefore, in my
+own singing, I note the opposite effect. That is, there is rather a
+sensation of expansion instead of contraction during the process of
+expiration. This soon becomes very comfortable, relieves the throat of
+strain, relieves the tones of breathiness or all idea of forcing. There
+is none of the ugly heaving of the chest or shoulders; the body is in
+repose, and the singer has a firm grip upon the tone in the right way.
+The muscles of the front wall of the abdomen and the muscles between the
+lower ribs become very strong and equal to any strain, while the throat
+is free.
+
+In the emission of the actual tone itself I would advise the sensation
+of inhaling at first. The beginner should blow out the tone. Usually
+instead of having a lovely floating character, with the impression of
+control, the tone starts with being forced, and it always remains so.
+The singer oversings and has nothing in reserve. When I am singing I
+feel as though the farther away from the throat, the deeper down I can
+control the breath stream, the better and freer the tone becomes.
+Furthermore, I can sing the long, difficult Wagnerian r�les, with their
+tremendous demands upon the vocal organs, without the least sensation of
+fatigue. Some singers, after such performances, are "all in." No wonder
+they lose their voices when they should be in their prime.
+
+For me the most difficult vowel is "ah." The throat then is most open
+and the breath stream most difficult to control properly. Therefore I
+make it a habit to begin my practice with "oo, oh, ah, ay, ee" in
+succession. I never start with sustained tones. This would give my
+throat time to stiffen. I employ quick, soft scales, always remembering
+the basic principle of breath control I have mentioned, and always as
+though inhaling. This is an example of what I mean. To avoid shrillness
+on the upper tone I take the highest note with oo and descend with oo.
+
+[Illustration: musical notation: Ex. 1]
+
+The same thought applied to an arpeggio would be:
+
+[Illustration: musical notation: Ex. 2]
+
+These I take within comfortable limits of my voice, always remembering
+that the least strain is a backward step. These exercises are taken
+through all possible keys. There can never be too much practice of a
+scale or arpeggio exercise. Many singers, I know, who wonder why they do
+not succeed, cannot do a good scale, the very first thing they should be
+able to do. Every one should be like perfect pearls on a thread.
+
+
+AMERICA'S FATAL AMBITION
+
+One of the great troubles in America is the irrepressible ambition of
+both teachers and pupils. Europe is also not untinged with this.
+Teachers want to show results. Some teachers, I am told, start in with
+songs at the first or second lesson, with the sad knowledge that if they
+do not do this they may lose the pupil to some teacher who will peddle
+out songs. After four or five months I was given an operatic aria; and,
+of course, I sang it. A year of scales, exercises and solfeggios would
+have been far more time-saving. The pupils have too much to say about
+their education in this way. The teacher should be competent and then
+decide all such questions. American girls do not want this. They expect
+to step from vocal ignorance to a repertoire over night. When you study
+voice, you should study not for two years, but realize you will never
+stop studying, if you wish to keep your voice. Like any others, without
+exercise, the singing muscles grow weak and inefficient. There are so
+many, many things to learn.
+
+Of course, my whole training was that of the opera singer, and I was
+schooled principally in the Wagnerian r�les. With the coming of the war
+the prejudice against the greatest anti-imperialist (with the possible
+exception of Beethoven) which music ever has known--the immortal
+Wagner--became so strong that not until now has the demand for his
+operas become so great that they are being resumed with wonderful
+success. Therefore, with the exception of a few Italian and French
+r�les, my operatic repertoire went begging.
+
+It was necessary for me to enter the concert field, as the management of
+the opera company with which I had contracts secured such engagements
+for me. It was like starting life anew. There is very little opportunity
+to show one's individuality in opera. One must play the r�le. Therefore
+I had to learn a repertoire of songs, every one of which required
+different treatment and different individuality. With eighteen members
+on the program, the singer has a musical, mental and vocal task which
+devolves entirely upon herself without the aid of chorus, co-singers,
+orchestra, costumes, scenery and the glamour of the footlights. It was
+with the greatest delight that I could fulfill the demands of the
+concert platform. American musical taste is very exacting. The audiences
+use their imagination all the time, and like romantic songs with an
+atmospheric background, which accounts for my great success with songs
+of such type as Lieurance's _By the Waters of Minnetonka_. One of the
+greatest tasks I ever have had is that of singing my r�les in many
+different languages. I learned some of them first in Swedish, then in
+Italian, then in French, then in German, then in English; as I am
+obliged to re-learn my Wagnerian r�les now.
+
+The road to success in voice study, like the road to success in
+everything else, has one compass which should be a consistent guide, and
+that is common sense. Avoid extremes; hold fast to your ideals; have
+faith in your possibilities, and work! work!! work!!!
+
+[Illustration: CHARLES DALMORES IN MASSENET'S HERODIADE.
+
+� Mishkin.]
+
+
+
+
+CHARLES DALMORES
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+M. Charles Dalmores was born at Nancy, France, December 31st, 1871. His
+musical education was received at the Nancy Conservatoire under
+Professor Dauphin, and it was his intention to become a specialist in
+French horn. He also played the 'cello. When he applied to the Paris
+Conservatoire he was refused admission to the singing course because "he
+was too good a musician to waste his time with singing." He became
+professor of French horn at the Lyons Conservatory; but his love for
+opera led him to study by himself until he made his d�but at Rouen in
+1899. He then sang at the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels, Covent
+Garden, Bayreuth, New York, and Chicago, with ever-increasing success.
+Dalmores is a dramatic tenor, and his musicianship has enabled him to
+take extremely difficult r�les of the modern type and achieve real
+artistic triumphs. He is one of the finest examples of the self-trained
+vocalist.
+
+
+
+
+SELF-HELP IN VOICE STUDY
+
+CHARLES DALMORES
+
+
+It is always a pleasure to talk upon self-help and not self-study,
+because I believe most implicitly in the former and very much doubt the
+efficacy of the latter in actual voice study. The voice, of all things,
+demands the assistance of a good teacher, although in the end the
+results all come from within and not from without. That is, the voice is
+an organ of expression; and what we make of it depends upon our own
+thought a thousand times more than what we take in from the outside.
+
+It is the teacher who stimulates the right kind of thinking who is the
+best teacher. The teacher who seeks to make his pupils parrots rarely
+meets with success. My whole career is an illustration of this, and when
+I think of the apparently insurmountable obstacles over which I have
+been compelled to climb I cannot help feeling that the relation of a few
+of my own experiences in the way of self-help could not fail to be
+beneficial.
+
+
+AT THE PARIS CONSERVATORY
+
+I was born at Nancy on the 31st of December, 1871. I gave evidences of
+having musical talent and my musical instruction commenced at the age of
+six years. I studied first at the Conservatory at Nancy, intending to
+make a specialty of the violin. Then I had the misfortune of breaking my
+arm. It was decided thereafter that I had better study the French horn.
+This I did with much success and attribute my control of the breath at
+this day very largely to my elementary struggles with that most
+difficult of instruments. At the age of fourteen I played the second
+horn at Nancy. Finally, I went, with a purse made up by some citizens of
+my home town, to enter the great Conservatory at Paris. There I studied
+very hard and succeeded in winning my goal in the way of receiving the
+first prize for playing the French horn.
+
+For a time I played under Colonne, and between the ages of seventeen and
+twenty-three in Paris I played with the Lamoureaux Orchestra. All this
+time I had my heart set upon becoming a singer and paid particular
+attention to all of the wonderful orchestral works we rehearsed. The
+very mention of the fact that I desired to become a singer was met with
+huge ridicule by my friends, who evidently thought that it was a form of
+fanaticism. For a time I studied the 'cello and managed to acquire a
+very creditable technic upon that instrument.
+
+
+A DISCOURAGING PROSPECT
+
+Notwithstanding the success I had with the two instruments, I was
+confronted with the fact that I had before me the life of a poor
+musician. My salary was low, and there were few, if any, opportunities
+to increase it outside of my regular work with the orchestra. I was
+told that I had great talent, but this never had the effect of swelling
+my pocketbook. In my military service I played in the band of an
+infantry regiment; and when I told my companions that I aspired to be a
+great singer some day they greeted my declaration with howls of
+laughter, and pointed out the fact that I was already along in years and
+had an established profession.
+
+At the sedate age of twenty-three I was surprised to find myself
+appointed Professor of French Horn at the Conservatory of Lyons. Lyons
+is the second city of France from the standpoint of population. It is a
+busy manufacturing center, but is rich in architectural, natural and
+historical interest; and the position had its advantages, although it
+was away from the great French center, Paris. The opera at Nancy was
+exceedingly good, and I had an opportunity to go often. Singing and the
+opera were my life. My father had been manager at Nancy and I had made
+my first acquaintance with the stage as one of the boys in _Carmen_.
+
+
+A TEST THAT FAILED
+
+I have omitted to say that at Paris I tried to enter the classes for
+singing. My voice was apparently liked, but I was refused admission upon
+the basis that I was too good a musician to waste my time in becoming an
+inferior singer. Goodness gracious! Where is musicianship needed more
+than in the case of the singer? This amused me, and I resolved to bide
+my time. I played in opera orchestras whenever I had a chance, and thus
+became acquainted with the famous r�les. One eye was on the music and
+the other was on the stage. During the rests I dreamt of the time when I
+might become a singer like those over the footlights.
+
+Where there is a will there is usually a way. I taught solfeggio as well
+as French horn in the Lyons Conservatory. I devised all sorts of
+"home-made" exercises to improve my voice as I thought best. Some may
+have done me good, others probably were injurious. I listened to singers
+and tried to get points from them. Gradually I was unconsciously paving
+the way for the great opportunity of my life. It came in the form of an
+experienced teacher, Dauphin, who had been a basso for ten years at the
+leading theatre of Belgium, fourteen years in London, and later director
+at Geneva and Lyons. He also received the appointment of Professor at
+the Lyons Conservatory.
+
+
+A FAMOUS OPPORTUNITY
+
+One day Dauphin heard me singing and inquired who I was. Then he came in
+the room and said to me, "How much do you get here for teaching and
+playing?" I replied, proudly, "six thousand francs a year." He said,
+"You shall study with me and some day you shall earn as much as six
+thousand francs a month." Dauphin, bless his soul, was wrong. I now earn
+six thousand francs every night I sing instead of every month.
+
+I could hardly believe that the opportunity I had waited for so long had
+come. Dauphin had me come to his house and there he told me that my
+success in singing would depend quite as much upon my own industry as
+upon his instruction. Thus one professor in the conservatory taught
+another in the art he had long sought to master. Notwithstanding
+Dauphin's confidence in me, all of the other professors thought that I
+was doing a perfectly insane thing, and did all in their power to
+prevent me from going to what they thought was my ruin.
+
+
+DISCOURAGING ADVICE
+
+Nevertheless, I determined to show them that they were all mistaken.
+During the first winter I studied no less than six operas, at the same
+time taking various exercises to improve my voice. During the second
+winter I mastered one opera every month, and at the same time did all my
+regular work--studying in my spare hours. At the end of my course I
+passed the customary examination, receiving the least possible
+distinction from my colleagues who were still convinced that I was
+pursuing a course that would end in complete failure.
+
+This brought home the truth that if I was to get ahead at all I would
+have to depend entirely upon myself. The outlook was certainly not
+propitious. Nevertheless I studied by myself incessantly and disregarded
+the remarks of my pessimistic advisers. I sang in a church and also in a
+big synagogue to keep up my income. All the time I had to put up with
+the sarcasm of my colleagues who seemed to think, like many others, that
+the calling of the singer was one demanding little musicianship, and
+tried to make me see that in giving up the French horn and my
+conservatory professorship I would be abandoning a dignified career for
+that of a species of musician who at that time was not supposed to
+demand any special musical training. Could not a shoemaker or a
+blacksmith take a few lessons and become a great singer? I, however,
+determined to become a different kind of a singer. I believed that there
+was a place for the singer with a thorough musical training, and while I
+kept up my vocal work amid the rain of irony and derogatory remarks from
+my mistaken colleagues, I did not fail to keep up my interest in the
+deeper musical studies. I had a feeling that the more good music I knew
+the better would be my work in opera. I wish that all singers could see
+this. Many singers live in a little world all of their own. They know
+the music of the footlights, but there their experience ends. Every
+symphony I have played has been molded into my life experience in such a
+way that it cannot help being reflected in my work.
+
+
+A CRITICAL MOMENT
+
+Finally the time came for my d�but in 1899. It was a most serious
+occasion for me; for the rest of my career as a singer depended upon it.
+It was in Rouen, and my fee was to be fifteen hundred francs a month. I
+thought that that would make me the richest man in the world. It was the
+custom of the town for the captain of the police to come before the
+audience at the end and inquire whether the audience approved of the
+artist's singing or whether their vocal efforts were unsatisfactory.
+This was to be determined by a public demonstration. When the captain
+held up the sign "Approved," I felt as though the greatest moment in my
+life had arrived. I had worked so long and so hard for success and had
+been obliged to laugh down so much scorn that you can imagine my
+feelings. Suddenly a great volume of applause came from the house and I
+knew in a second what my future should be.
+
+Then it was that I realized that I was only a little way along my
+journey. I wanted to be the foremost French tenor of my time. I knew
+that success in France alone, while gratifying, would be limited, so I
+set out to conquer new worlds. Wagner, up to that time, had never been
+sung by any French tenor, so I determined to master German and become a
+Wagner singer. This I did, and it fell to me to receive that most
+coveted of Wagnerian distinctions, "soloist at Beyreuth," the citadel of
+the highest in German operatic art. In after years I sang in all parts
+of Germany with as much success as in France. Later I went to London and
+then to America, where I sang for many seasons. It has been no small
+pleasure for me to return to Paris, where I once lived in penury, and to
+receive the highest fee ever paid to a French singer in the French
+capital.
+
+
+THE NEED FOR GREAT CARE
+
+I don't know what more I can say upon the subject of self-help for the
+singer. I have simply told my own story and have related some of the
+obstacles that I have overcome. I trust that no one who has not a voice
+really worth while will be misled by what I have had to say. The voice
+is one of the most intricate and wonderful of the human organs. Properly
+exercised and cared for, it may be developed to a remarkable degree; but
+there are cases, of course, where there is not enough voice at the start
+to warrant the aspirant making the sacrifices that I have made to reach
+my goal. This is a very serious matter and one which should be
+determined by responsible judges. At the same time, the singers may see
+how possible it is for even experienced musicians, like my colleagues in
+Lyons, to be mistaken. If I had depended upon them and not fought my own
+way out, I would probably be an obscure teacher in the same old city
+earning the munificent salary of one hundred dollars a month.
+
+
+FIGHTING YOUR OWN WAY
+
+The student who has to fight his own way has a much harder battle of it;
+but he has a satisfaction which certainly does not come to the one who
+has all his instruction fees and living expenses paid for him. He feels
+that he has earned his success; and, by the processes of exploration
+through which the self-help student must invariably pass, he becomes
+invested with a confidence and "I know" feeling which is a great asset
+to him. The main thing is for him to keep busy all the time. He has not
+a minute to spare upon dreaming. He has no one to carry his burden but
+himself; and the exercise of carrying it himself is the thing which will
+do most to make him strong and successful.
+
+The artists who leap into success are very rare. Hundreds who have held
+mediocre positions come to the front, while those who appear most
+favored stay in the background. Do not seek to gain eminence by any
+influence but that of real earnest work; and if you do not intend to
+work and to work hard, drop all of your aspirations for operatic
+laurels.
+
+[Illustration: ANDREAS DIPPEL.
+
+� Dupont.]
+
+
+
+
+ANDREAS DIPPEL
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Andreas Dippel was born at Cassel, 1866. His father was a manufacturer
+who had the boy educated at the local gymnasium, with the view to making
+him a banker. After five years in a banking house he decided to become a
+singer and studied with Mme. Zottmayr. Later he went to Berlin, Milan
+and Vienna, where he studied with Julius Hey, Alberto Leoni and Johann
+Ress. In 1887 he made his d�but at Bremen, in _The Flying Dutchman_. He
+remained with that company until 1892. In the meantime, however, he had
+appeared at the Metropolitan in New York, with such success that he
+toured America as a concert singer with Anton Seidl, Arthur Nikisch, and
+Theodore Thomas. From 1893 to 1898 he was a member of the Imperial Court
+Opera at Vienna. In 1898 he returned to America to the Metropolitan. In
+1908 he was appointed administrative manager of the Metropolitan
+Company, later becoming the manager of the Philadelphia-Chicago Opera
+Company. Mr. Dippel is a fine dramatic tenor with the enormous
+repertoire of 150 works in four different languages. He is a fine actor
+and has been equally successful in New York, London, and Beyreuth. He
+also has a repertoire of 60 oratorios.
+
+
+
+
+IF MY DAUGHTER SHOULD STUDY FOR GRAND OPERA
+
+ANDREAS DIPPEL
+
+
+The training of the girl designed to become a great prima donna is one
+of the most complex problems imaginable. You ask me to consider the case
+of an imaginary daughter designed for the career in order to make my
+opinions seem more pertinent. Very well. If my daughter were studying
+for grand opera, and if she were a very little girl, I should first
+watch her very carefully to see whether she manifested any
+uncontrollable desire or ambition to become a great singer. Without such
+a desire she will never become great. Usually this ambition becomes
+evident at a very early age. Then I should realize that the mere desire
+to become a great singer is only an infinitesimal part of the actual
+requirements.
+
+She must have, first of all, fine health, abundant vitality and an
+artistic temperament. She must show signs of being industrious. She
+should have the patience to wait until real results can be accomplished.
+In fact, there are so many attributes that it is difficult to enumerate
+them all. But they are all worth considering seriously. Why? Simply
+because, if they are not considered, she may be obliged to spend years
+of labor for which she will receive no return except the most bitter
+disappointment conceivable. Of the thousands of girls who study to
+become prima donnas only a very few can succeed, from the nature of
+things. The others either abandon their ambitions or assume lesser r�les
+from little parts down to the chorus.
+
+You will notice that I have said but little about her voice. During her
+childhood there is very little means of judging of the voice. Some
+girls' voices that seem very promising when they are children turn out
+in a most disappointing manner. So you see I would be obliged to
+consider the other qualifications before I even thought of the voice. Of
+course, if the child showed no inclination for music or did not have the
+ability to "hold a tune," I should assume that she was one of those
+frequent freaks of nature which no amount of musical training can save.
+
+Above all things I should not attempt to force her to take up a career
+against her own natural inclinations or gifts. The designing mother who
+desires to have her own ambitions realized in her daughter is the bane
+of every impresario. With a will power worthy of a Bismarck she maps out
+a career for the young lady and then attempts to force the child through
+what she believes to be the proper channels leading to operatic success.
+She realizes that great singers achieve fame and wealth and she longs to
+taste of these. It is this, rather than any particular love for her
+child, that prompts her to fight all obstacles. No amount of advice or
+persuasion can make her believe that her child cannot become another
+Tetrazzini, or Garden, or Schumann-Heink, if only the impresario will
+give her a chance. In nine cases out of ten Fate and Nature have a
+conspiracy to keep the particular young lady in the r�le of a
+stenographer or a dressmaker; and in the battle with Fate and Nature
+even the most ambitious mother must be defeated.
+
+
+HER VERY EARLY TRAINING
+
+Once determined that she stood a fair chance of success in the operatic
+field I should take the greatest possible care of her health, both
+physically and intellectually. Note that I lay particular stress upon
+her physical training. It is most important, as no one but the
+experienced singer can form any idea of what demands are made upon the
+endurance and strength of the opera singer.
+
+Her general education should be conducted upon the most approved lines.
+Anything which will develop and expand the mind will be useful to her in
+later life. The later operatic r�les make far greater demands upon the
+mentality of the singer than those of other days. The singer is no
+longer a parrot with little or nothing to do but come before the
+footlights and sing a few beautiful tones to a few gesticulations. She
+is expected to act and to understand what she is acting. I would lay
+great stress upon history--the history of all nations--she should study
+the manners, the dress, the customs, the traditions, and the thought of
+different epochs. In order to be at home in _Pelleas and Melisande_, or
+_Tristan und Isolde_, or _La Boh�me_ she must have acquainted her mind
+with the historical conditions of the time indicated by the composer and
+librettist.
+
+
+HER FIRST MUSICAL TRAINING
+
+Her first musical training should be musical. That is, she should be
+taught how to listen to beautiful music before she ever hears the word
+technic. She should be taught sight reading, and she ought to be able to
+read any melody as easily as she would read a book. The earlier this
+study is commenced with the really musical child, the better. Before it
+is of any real value to the singer her sight reading should become
+second nature. She should have lost all idea of the technic of the art
+and read with ease and naturalness. This is of immense assistance. Then
+she should study the piano thoroughly. The piano is the door to the
+music of the opera. The singer who is dependent upon some assistant to
+play over the piano scores is unfortunate. It is not really necessary
+for her to learn any of the other instruments; but she should be able to
+play readily and correctly. It will help her in learning scores, more
+than anything else. It will also open the door to much other beautiful
+music which will elevate her taste and ennoble her ideals.
+
+She should go to the opera as frequently as possible in order that she
+may become acquainted with the great r�les intuitively. If she cannot
+attend the opera itself she can at least gain an idea of the great
+operatic music through the talking machines. The "repertory" of records
+is now very large, but of course does not include all of the music of
+all of the scenes.
+
+She should be taught the musical traditions of the different historical
+musical epochs and the different so-called music schools. First she
+should study musical history itself and then become acquainted with the
+music of the different periods. The study of the violin is also an
+advantage in training the ear to listen for correct intonation; but the
+violin is by no means absolutely necessary.
+
+
+LANGUAGES
+
+All educators recognize the fact that languages are attained best in
+childhood. The child's power of mimicry is so wonderful that it acquires
+a foreign language quite without any suggestion of accent, in a time
+which will always put their elders to shame. Foreign children, who come
+to America before the age of ten, speak both then-native tongue and
+English with equal fluency.
+
+The first new language to be taken up should be Italian. Properly
+spoken, there is no language so mellifluous as Italian. The beautiful
+quantitative value given to the vowels--the natural quest for euphony
+and the necessity for accurate pronunciation of the last syllable of a
+word in order to make the grammatical sense understandable--is a
+training for both the ear and the voice.
+
+Italy is the land of song; and most of the conductors give their
+directions in Italian. Not only the usual musical terms, but also the
+other directions are denoted in Italian by the orchestral conductors;
+and if the singer does not understand she must suffer accordingly.
+
+After the study of Italian I would recommend, in order, French and
+German. If my daughter were studying for opera, I should certainly leave
+nothing undone until she had mastered Italian, French, German and
+English. Although she would not have many opportunities to sing in
+English, under present operatic conditions, the English-speaking people
+in America, Great Britain, Canada, South Africa, and Australia are great
+patrons of musical art; and the artist must of course travel in some of
+these countries.
+
+
+THE STUDY OF THE VOICE ITSELF
+
+Her actual voice study should not commence before she is seventeen or
+eighteen years of age. In the hands of a very skilled and experienced
+teacher it might commence a little earlier; but it is better to wait
+until her health becomes more settled and her mature strength develops.
+At first the greatest care must be taken. The teacher has at best a
+delicate flower which a little neglect or a little over training may
+deform or even kill. I can not discuss methods, as that is not pertinent
+to this conference. There is no one absolutely right way; and many
+famous singers have traveled what seem quite different roads to reach
+the same end. However, it is a historic fact that few great singers have
+ever acquired voices which have had beautiful quality, perfect
+flexibility and reliability, who have not sung for some years in the old
+Italian style. Mind you, I am not referring to an old Italian school of
+singing here, but more to that class of music adopted by the old Italian
+composers--a style which permitted few vocal blemishes to go by
+unnoticed. Most of the great Wagnerian singers have been proficient in
+coloratura r�les before they undertook the more complicated parts of the
+great master at Beyreuth.
+
+It is better to leave the study of repertoire until later years; that
+is, until the study of voice has been pursued for a sufficient time to
+insure regular progress in the study of repertoire. Personally, I am
+opposed to those methods which take the student directly to the study of
+repertoire without any previous vocal drill. The voice, to be valuable
+to the singer, must be able to stand the wear and tear of many seasons.
+It is often some years before the young singer is able to achieve real
+success and the profits come with the later years. A voice that is not
+carefully drilled and trained, so that the singer knows how to get the
+most out of it, with the least strain and the least expenditure of
+effort, will not stand the wear and tear of many years of opera life.
+
+After all, the study of repertoire is the easiest thing. Getting the
+voice properly trained is the difficult thing. In the study of
+repertoire the singer often makes the mistake of leaping right into the
+more difficult r�les. She should start with the simpler r�les; such as
+those of some of the lesser parts in the old Italian operas. Then, she
+may essay the leading r�les of, let us say, _Traviata_, _Barber of
+Seville_, _Norma_, _Faust_, _Romeo and Juliet_, and _Carmen_.
+
+Instead of simple r�les, she seems inclined to spend her time upon
+_Isolde_, _Mimi_, _Elsa_ or _Butterfly_. It has become so, that now,
+when a new singer comes to me and wants to sing _Tosca_ or some r�le
+that (sic) the so-called new or _verissimo_ Italian school, I almost
+invariably refuse to listen. I ask them to sing something from _Norma_
+or _Puritani_ or _Dinorah_ or _Lucia_ in which it is impossible for them
+to conceal their vocal faults. But no, they want to sing the big aria
+from the second act of _Madama Butterfly_, which is hardly to be called
+an aria at all but rather a collection of dramatic phrases. When they
+are done, I ask them to sing some of the opening phrases from the same
+r�le, and ere long they discover that they really have nothing which an
+impresario can purchase. They are without the voice and without the
+complete knowledge of the parts which they desire to sing.
+
+Then they discover that the impresario knows that the tell-tale pieces
+are the old arias from old Italian operas. They reveal the voice in its
+entirety. If the breath control is not right, it becomes evident at
+once. If the quality is not right, it becomes as plain as the features
+of the young lady's face. There is no dramatic--emotional--curtain under
+which to hide these shortcomings. Consequently, knowing what I do, I
+would insist upon my daughter having a thorough training in the old
+Italian arias.
+
+
+HER TRAINING IN ACTING
+
+Her training in acting would depend largely upon her natural talent.
+Some children are born actors--natural mimics. They act from their
+childhood right up to old age. They can learn more in five minutes than
+others can learn in years. Some seem to require little or no training in
+the art of acting. As a rule they become the most forceful acting
+singers. Others improve wonderfully under the direction of a clever
+teacher.
+
+The new school of opera demands higher histrionic ability from the
+singer. In fact, we have come to a time when opera is a real drama set
+to music which is largely recitative and which does not distract from
+the action of the drama. The librettos of other days were, to say the
+least, ridiculous. If the music had not had a marvelous hold upon the
+people they could not have remained in popular favor. To my mind it is
+an indication of the wonderful power of music that these operas retain
+their favor. There is something about the melodies which seems to
+preserve them for all time; and the public is just as anxious to hear
+them to-day as it was twenty-five and fifty years ago.
+
+Richard Wagner turned the tide of acting in opera by his music dramas.
+Gluck and von Weber had already made an effort in the right direction;
+but it remained for the mighty power of Wagner to accomplish the final
+work. Now we are witnessing the rise of a school of musical dramatic
+actors such as Garden, Maurel, Renaud, and others which promises to
+raise the public taste in this matter and which will add vastly to the
+pleasure of opera going, as it will make the illusion appear more real.
+
+This also imposes upon the impresario a new contingency which threatens
+to make opera more and more expensive. Costumes, scenery and all the
+settings nowadays must be both historically authentic and costly. The
+collection of wigs, robes, and armor, together with a few sets of
+scenery, often with the chairs and other furniture actually painted on
+the scenes, which a few years ago were thought adequate for the
+equipment of an opera company, have now given way to equipment more
+elaborate than that of a Belasco or a Henry Irving. Nothing is left
+undone to make the picture real and beautiful. In fact operatic
+productions, as now given in America, are as complete and luxurious as
+any performances given anywhere in the world.
+
+
+
+
+MME. EMMA EAMES
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Mme. Emma Eames was born at Shanghai, China. Her father, a graduate of
+Harvard Law School, had been a sea-captain and had been in business in
+the Chinese city. At the age of five she was brought back to the home of
+her parents at Bath, Maine. Her mother was an accomplished amateur
+singer who supervised her early musical training. At sixteen she went to
+Boston to study with Miss Munger. At nineteen she became a pupil of
+Marchesi in Paris and remained with the celebrated teacher for two
+years. At twenty-one she made her d�but at the Grand Opera in Paris in
+_Romeo et Juliette_. Two years later she appeared at Covent Garden,
+London, with such success that she was immediately engaged for the
+Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Few singers ever gained such a
+strong hold upon the American and English public. Her voice is a fine
+flexible soprano, capable of doing _Marguerite_ or _Elisabeth_ equally
+well. Her husband, Emilio de Gogorza, with whom it is our privilege to
+present a conference later in this book, is one of the foremost
+baritones of our time.
+
+[Illustration: MME. EMMA EAMES.]
+
+
+
+
+HOW A GREAT MASTER COACHED OPERA SINGERS
+
+MME. EMMA EAMES
+
+GOUNOD AN IDEALIST
+
+
+One does not need to review the works of Charles Gounod to any great
+extent before discovering that above all things he was an idealist. His
+whole aspect of life and art was that of a man imbued with a sense of
+the beautiful and a longing to actualize some noble art purpose. He was
+of an age of idealists. Coming at the artificial period of the Second
+Empire, he was influenced by that artistic atmosphere, as were such
+masters of the brush as Jean August Ingres and Eug�ne Delacroix. This,
+however, was unconscious, and in no way affected his perfect sincerity
+in all he did.
+
+
+FIRST MEETING WITH GOUNOD
+
+I was taken to Gounod by my master, Mme. Mathilde Marchesi, who,
+perhaps, had some reason to regret her kindness in introducing me, since
+Gounod did not favor what he conceived as the Italian method of singing.
+He had a feeling that the Italian school, as he regarded it, was too
+obvious, and that French taste demanded more sincerity, more subtlety,
+better balance and a certain finesse which the purely vocal Italian
+style slightly obscured. Mme. Marchesi was very irate over Gounod's
+attitude, which she considered highly insulting; whereas, as a matter of
+fact, Gounod was doing the only thing that a man of his convictions
+could do, and that was to tell what he conceived as the truth.
+
+Gounod's study was a room which fitted his character perfectly. His very
+pronounced religious tendencies were marked by the stained glass windows
+which cast a delicate golden tint over the little piano he occasionally
+used when composing. On one side was a pipe organ upon which he was very
+fond of playing. In fact, the whole atmosphere was that of a chapel,
+which, together with the beautiful and dignified appearance of the
+master himself, made an impression that one could not forget. His great
+sincerity, his lofty aims, his wonderful earnestness, his dramatic
+intensity, were apparent at once. Many composers are hopelessly
+disappointing in their appearance, but when one saw Gounod, it was easy
+to realize whence come the beautiful musical colors which make _Romeo et
+Juliette_, _Faust_ and _The Redemption_ so rich and individual. His
+whole artistic character is revealed in a splendid word of advice he
+gave to me when I first went to him: "Anyone who is called to any form
+of musical expression must reveal himself only in the language that God
+has given him to speak with. Find this language yourself and try, above
+all things, to be sincere--never singing down to your public."
+
+Gounod had a wonderful power of compelling attention. While one was with
+him his personality was so great that it seemed to envelop you,
+obliterating everything else. This can be attributed not only to
+magnetism or hypnotism, but also to his own intense, all-burning
+interest in whatever he was engaged upon. Naturally the relationship of
+teacher and pupil is different from that of comradeship, but I was
+impressed that Gounod, even in moments of apparent repose, never seemed
+to lose that wonderful force which virtually consumed the entire
+attention of all those who were in his presence.
+
+He had remarkable gifts in painting word-pictures. His imagination was
+so vigorous that he could make one feel that which he saw in his mind's
+eye as actually present. I attribute this to the fact that he himself
+was possessed by the subject at hand and spoke from the fountains of his
+deepest conviction. First he made you see and then he made you express.
+He taught one that to convince others one must first be convinced.
+Indeed, he allowed a great variety of interpretations in order that one
+might interpret through one's own power of conception rather than
+through following blindly his own.
+
+During my lessons with Gounod he revealed not only his very pronounced
+histrionic ability, but also his charming talent as a singer. I had an
+accompanist who came with me to the lessons and when I was learning the
+various r�les, Gounod always sang the duets with me. Although he was
+well along in years, he had a small tenor voice, exquisitely sweet and
+sympathetic. He sang with delightful ease and with invariably perfect
+diction, and perfect vision. If some of our critics of musical
+performances were more familiar with the niceties of pronunciation and
+accentuation of different foreign languages, many of our present-day
+singers would be called upon to suffer some very severe criticisms. I
+speak of this because Gounod was most insistent upon correct
+pronunciation and accent, so that the full meaning of the words might be
+conveyed to every member of the audience.
+
+
+A HEARING AT THE OPERA
+
+When I went to the opera for my hearing or _audition_, Gounod went with
+me and we sang the duets together. The director, M. Gailhard, refused my
+application, claiming that I was a debutante and could not expect an
+initial performance at the Grand Op�ra despite my ability and musical
+attainments. It may be interesting for aspiring vocal students to learn
+something of the various obstacles which still stand in the way of a
+singer, even after one has had a very thorough training and acquired
+proficiency which should compel a hearing. Alas! in opera, as in many
+other lines of human endeavor, there is a political background that is
+often black with intrigue and machinations. I was determined to fight my
+way on the merit of my art, and accordingly I was obliged to wait for
+nearly two years before I was able to make my d�but. These were years
+filled with many exasperating circumstances.
+
+I went to Brussels after two years' study with Marchesi, having been
+promised my d�but there. I was kept for months awaiting it and was
+finally prevented from making an appearance by one who, pretending to be
+my friend and to be doing all in her power to further my career, was in
+reality threatening the directors with instant breaking of her contract
+should I be allowed to appear. I had this on the authority of Mr.
+Geva�rt, the then director of the Conservatoire and my firm friend. The
+artist was a great success and her word was law. It was on my return
+that I was taken to Gounod and I waited a year for a hearing.
+
+Gounod's opera, _Romeo et Juliette_, had been given at the Op�ra Comique
+many times but there was a demand for performances at the Grand Op�ra.
+Accordingly Gounod added a ballet, which fitted it for performance at
+the Op�ra. Apropos of this ballet, Gounod said to me, with no little
+touch of cynicism, "Now you shall see what kind of music a _Ga Ga_ can
+write" (Ga Ga is the French term for a very old man, that is, a man in
+his dotage). He was determined that I should be heard at the Grand Opera
+as Juliette, but even his influence could not prevent the director from
+signing an agreement with one he personally preferred, which required
+that she should have the honor of making her d�but at the Grand Op�ra in
+the part. Then it was that I became aware that it was not only because I
+was a debutante that I had been denied. Gounod would not consent to this
+arrangement, insisting on her making her d�but previously in _Faust_,
+and fortunate it was, since the singer in question never attained more
+than mediocre success. Gounod still demanded as a compromise that the
+first six performances of the opera should be given to Adelina Patti,
+and that they should send for me for the subsequent ones.
+
+In the meantime I was engaged at the Op�ra Comique. There Massenet
+looked with disfavor upon my d�but before that of Sybil Sanderson.
+Massenet had brought fortunes to the Op�ra Comique through his immensely
+popular and theatrically effective operas. Consequently his word was
+law. I waited for some months and no suggestion of an opportunity for a
+performance presented itself. All the time I was engaged in extending my
+repertoire and becoming more and more indignant at the treatment I was
+receiving in not being allowed to sing the operas thus acquired. My
+year's contract had still three months to run when I received an offer
+from St. Petersburg. Shortly thereafter I received a note from M.
+Gailhard announcing that he wished to see me. I went and he informed me
+that Gounod was still insistent upon my appearance in the r�le of
+_Juliette_. I was irritated by the whole long train of aggravating
+circumstances, but said, "Give me the contract, I'll sign it." Then I
+went directly to the Op�ra Comique and asked to see the director. I was
+towering with indignation--indeed, I felt myself at least seven feet
+tall and perhaps quite as wide. I demanded my contract. To his "Mais,
+Mademoiselle--" I commanded, "Send for it." He brought the contract and
+tore it up in my presence, only to learn next morning to his probable
+chagrin that I was engaged and announced for an important r�le at the
+Grand Op�ra. The first performance of a debutante at the Grand Op�ra is
+a great ordeal, and it is easy to imagine that the strain upon a young
+singer might deprive her of her natural powers of expression. The
+outcome of mine was most fortuitous and with success behind me I found
+my road very different indeed. However, if I had not had a friend at
+court, in the splendid person of Charles Gounod, I might have been
+obliged to wait years longer, and perhaps never have had an opportunity
+to appear in Paris, where only a few foreigners in a generation get such
+a privilege. It is a great one, I consider, as there is no school of
+good taste and restraint like the French, which is also one where one
+may acquire the more intellectual qualities in one's work and a sense of
+proportion and line.
+
+
+GOUNOD AS A MODERNIST
+
+I have continually called attention to Gounod's idealism. There are some
+to-day who might find the works of Gounod artificial in comparison with
+the works of some very modern writers. To them I can only say that the
+works of the great master gave a great deal of joy to audiences fully as
+competent to judge of their artistic and �sthetic beauty as any of the
+present day. Indeed, their flavor is so delicate and sublimated that the
+subsequent attempts at interpreting them with more realistic methods
+only succeeds in destroying their charm.
+
+It may be difficult for some who are saturated with the ultra-modern
+tendencies in music to look upon Gounod as a modernist, but thus he was
+regarded by his own friends. One of my most amusing recollections of
+Gounod was his telling me--himself much amused thereby--of the first
+performance of _Faust_. His friends had attended in large numbers to
+assist at the expected "success," only to be witnesses of a huge
+failure. Gounod told me that the only numbers to have any success
+whatsoever were the "Soldiers' Chorus," and that of the old men in the
+second part of the first act. He said that all his friends avoided him
+and disappeared or went on the other side of the street. Some of the
+more intimate told him that he must change his manner of writing as it
+was so "unmelodious" and "advanced." This seems to me a most interesting
+recollection, in view of the "cubist" music of Stravinsky and Co. of
+to-day.
+
+In thinking of Gounod we must not forget his period and his public. We
+must realize that his operatic heroes and heroines must be approached
+from an altogether idealistic attitude--never a materialistic one. See
+the manner in which Gounod has taken Shakespeare's _Juliette_ and
+translated her into an atmosphere of poetry. Nevertheless he constantly
+intensifies his dramatic situations as the dramatic nature of the
+composition demands.
+
+His _Juliette_, though consistent with his idea of her throughout, is
+not the _Juliet_ of Shakespeare. As also his _Marguerite_ is that of
+Kaulbach and not the Gretchen of Goethe.
+
+Of course, a great deal depends upon the training and school of the
+artist interpreting the r�le. In my own interpretations I am governed by
+certain art principles which seem very vital indeed to me. The figure of
+the Medi�val Princess _Elsa_ has to be represented with a restraint
+quite opposed to that of the panting savage _A�da_. Also, the
+palpitating, elemental _Tosca_ calls for another type of character
+painting than, for instance, the modest, gestureless, timid and womanly
+Japanese girl in Mascagni's _Iris_. These things are not taught in
+schools by teachers. They come only after the prolonged study which
+every conscientious artist must give to her r�les. Gounod felt this very
+strongly and impressed it upon me. All music had a meaning to him--an
+inner meaning which the great mind invariably divines through a kind of
+artistic intuition difficult to define. I remember his playing to me the
+last act of _Don Giovanni_, which in his hands gained the grandeur and
+depth of Greek tragedy. He had in his hands the power to thrill one to
+the very utmost. Again he was keenly delighted with the most joyous
+passages in music. He was exceptionally fond of Mozart. _Le Nozze di
+Figaro_ was especially appreciated. He used to say, after accompanying
+himself in the aria of Cherubino the Page, from the 1st act, "Isn't that
+Spring? Isn't that youth? Isn't that the joy of life? How marvelously
+Mozart has crystallized this wonderful exuberant spirit in his music!"
+
+
+ONE REASON FOR GOUNOD'S EMINENCE
+
+One reason for Gounod's eminence lay in his great reverence for his art.
+He believed in the cultivation of reverence for one's art, as the
+religious devotee has reverence for his cult. To Gounod his art was a
+religion. To use a very expressive colloquialism, "He never felt himself
+above his job." Time and again we meet men and women who make it a habit
+to look down upon their work as though they were superior to it. They
+are continually apologizing to their friends and depreciating their
+occupation. Such people seem foreordained for failure. If one can not
+regard the work one is engaged upon with the greatest earnestness and
+respect--if one can not feel that the work is worthy of one's deepest
+_reverence_, one can accomplish little. I have seen so much of this with
+students and aspiring musicians that I feel that I would be missing a
+big opportunity if I did not emphasize this fine trait in Gounod's
+character. I know of one man in particular who has been going down and
+down every year largely because he has never considered anything he has
+had to do as worthy of his best efforts. He has always been "above his
+job." If you are dissatisfied with your work, seek out something that
+you think is really deserving of your labor, something commensurate with
+your idea of a serious dignified occupation in which you feel that you
+may do your best work. In most cases, however, it is not a matter of
+occupation but an attitude of mind--the difference between an earnest
+dignified worker and one who finds it more comfortable to evade work.
+This is true in music as in everything else. If you can make your
+musical work a cult as Gounod did, if you have talent--vision--ah! how
+few have vision, how few can really and truly see--if you have the
+understanding which comes through vision, there is no artistic height
+which you may not climb.
+
+One can not hope to give a portrait of Gounod in so short an interview.
+One can only point out a few of his most distinguishing features. One
+who enjoyed his magnificent friendship can only look upon it as a
+hallowed memory. After all, Gounod has written himself into his own
+music and it is to that we must go if we would know his real nature.
+
+
+
+
+MME. FLORENCE EASTON
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Mme. Florence Easton was born at Middleborough, Yorkshire, England, Oct.
+25, 1887. At a very early age she was taken to Toronto, Canada, by her
+parents, who were both accomplished singers. She was given a musical
+training in youth with the view of making her a concert pianist. Her
+teacher was J. A. D. Tripp, and at the age of eleven she appeared in
+concert. Her vocal talents were discovered and she was sent to the Royal
+Academy at London, England, where her teachers were Reddy and Mme. Agnes
+Larkom, a pupil of Garcia. She then went to Paris and studied under
+Eliot Haslam, an English teacher resident in the French metropolis. She
+then took small parts in the well-known English Opera organization, the
+Moody-Manners Company, acquiring a large repertoire in English. With her
+husband, Francis Maclennen, she came to America to take the leading
+r�les in the Savage production of _Parsifal_, remaining to sing the next
+season in _Madama Butterfly_. The couple were then engaged to sing for
+six years at the Berlin Royal Opera and became wonderfully successful.
+After three years at Hamburg and two years with the Chicago Opera
+Company she was engaged for dramatic r�les at the Metropolitan, and has
+become a great favorite.
+
+[Illustration: MME. FLORENCE EASTON.
+
+� Mishkin.]
+
+
+
+
+THE OPEN DOOR TO OPERA
+
+MME. FLORENCE EASTON
+
+
+What is the open door to opera in America? Is there an open door, and if
+not, how can one be made? Who may go through that door and what are the
+terms of admission? These are questions which thousands of young
+American opera aspirants are asking just now.
+
+The prospect of singing at a great opera house is so alluring and the
+reward in money is often so great that students center their attentions
+upon the grand prize and are willing to take a chance of winning, even
+though they know that only one in a very few may succeed and then often
+at bitter sacrifice.
+
+The question is a most interesting one to me, as I think that I know
+what the open door to opera in this country might be--what it may be if
+enough patriotic Americans could be found to cut through the hard walls
+of materialism, conventionalism and indifference. It lies through the
+small opera company--the only real and great school which the opera
+singer of the future can have.
+
+
+THE SCHOOL OF PRIME DONNE
+
+In European countries there are innumerable small companies capable of
+giving good opera which the people enjoy quite as thoroughly as the
+metropolitan audiences of the world enjoy the opera which commands the
+best singers of the times. For years these small opera companies have
+been the training schools of the great singers. Not to have gone through
+such a school was as damaging an admission as that of not having gone
+through a college would be to a college professor applying for a new
+position. Lilli Lehmann, Schumann-Heink, Ruffo, Campanini, Jenny Lind,
+Patti, all are graduates of these schools of practice.
+
+In America there seems to have existed for years a kind of prejudice,
+bred of ignorance, against all opera companies except those employing
+all-star casts in the biggest theatres in the biggest cities. This
+existed, despite the fact that these secondary opera companies often put
+on opera that was superior to the best that was to be heard in some
+Italian, German and French cities which possessed opera companies that
+stood very high in the estimation of Americans who had never heard them.
+It was once actually the case that the fact that a singer had once sung
+in a smaller opera company prevented her from aspiring to sing in a
+great opera company. America, however, has become very much better
+informed and much more independent in such matters, and our opera goers
+are beginning to resemble European audiences in that they let their ears
+and their common sense determine what is best rather than their
+prejudices and their conventions regarding reputation. It was actually
+the case at one time in America that a singer with a great reputation
+could command a large audience, whereas a singer of far greater ability
+and infinitely better voice might be shut out because she had once sung
+in an opera company not as pretentious as those in the big cities. This
+seemed very comic indeed to many European singers, who laughed in their
+coat sleeves over the real situation.
+
+In the first place, the small companies in many cities would provide
+more singers with opportunities for training and public appearances. The
+United States now has two or three major opera companies. Count up on
+your fingers the greatest number of singers who could be accommodated
+with parts: only once or twice in a decade does the young singer, at the
+age when the best formative work must be done, have a chance to attain
+the leading r�les. If we had in America ten or twenty smaller opera
+companies of real merit, the chances would be greatly multiplied.
+
+The first thing that the singer has to fight is stage fright. No matter
+how well you may know a r�le in a studio, unless you are a very
+extraordinary person you are likely to take months in acquiring the
+stage freedom and ease in working before an audience. There is only one
+cure for stage fright, and that is to appear continually until it wears
+off. Many deserving singers have lost their great chances because they
+have depended upon what they have learned in the studio, only to find
+that when they went before a great and critical audience their ability
+was suddenly reduced to 10 per cent., if not to zero. Even after years
+of practice and experience in great European opera houses where I
+appeared repeatedly before royalty, the reputation of the Metropolitan
+Opera House in New York was so great that at the time I made my d�but
+there I was so afflicted by stage fright that my voice was actually
+reduced to one-half of its force and my other abilities accordingly.
+This is the truth, and I am glad to have young singers know it as it
+emphasizes my point.
+
+Imagine what the effect would have been upon a young singer who had
+never before sung in public on the stage. Footlight paralysis is one of
+the most terrifying of all acute diseases and there is no cure for it
+but experience.
+
+
+THE BEST BEGINNING
+
+In the Moody Manners Company in England, the directors wisely understood
+this situation and prepared for it. All the singers scheduled to take
+leading r�les (and they were for the most part very young singers, since
+when the singer became experienced enough she was immediately stolen by
+companies paying higher salaries) were expected to go for a certain time
+in the chorus (not to sing, just to walk off and on the stage) until
+familiar with the situation. Accordingly, my first appearance with the
+Moody Manners Company was when I walked out with the chorus. I have
+never heard of this being done deliberately by any other managers, but
+think how sensible it is!
+
+Again, it is far more advantageous for the young singer to appear in the
+smaller opera house at first, so that if any errors are made the opera
+goers will not be unforgiving. There is no tragedy greater than throwing
+a young girl into an operatic situation far greater than her experience
+and ability can meet, and then condemning her for years because she did
+not rise to the occasion. This has happened many times in recent years.
+Ambition is a beautiful thing; but when ambition induces one to walk
+upon a tight rope over Niagara, without having first learned to walk
+properly on earth, ambition should be restrained. I can recollect
+several singers who were widely heralded at their first performances by
+enthusiastic admirers, who are now no longer known. What has become of
+them? Is it not better to learn the profession of opera singing in its
+one great school, and learn it so thoroughly that one can advance in the
+profession, just as one may advance in every other profession? The
+singer in the small opera company who, night after night, says to
+herself, "To-morrow it must be better," is the one who will be the Lilli
+Lehmann, the Galli-Curci, or the Schumann-Heink of to-morrow; not the
+important person who insists upon postponing her d�but until she can
+appear at the Metropolitan or at Covent Garden.
+
+Colonel Henry W. Savage did America an immense service, as did the Aborn
+Brothers and Fortune Gallo, in helping to create a popular taste for
+opera presented in a less pretentious form. America needs such companies
+and needs them badly, not merely to educate the public up to an
+appreciation of the fact that the finest operatic performances in the
+world are now being given at the Metropolitan Opera House, but to help
+provide us with well-schooled singers for the future.
+
+
+NECESSITY OF ROUTINE
+
+Nothing can take the place of routine in learning operas. Many, many
+opera singers I have known seem to be woefully lacking in it. In
+learning a new opera, I learn all the parts that have anything to do
+with the part I am expected to sing. In other words, I find it very
+inadvisable to depend upon cues. There are so many disturbing things
+constantly occurring on the stage to throw one off one's track. For
+instance, when I made my first appearance in Mascagni's _Lodoletta_ I
+was obliged to go on with only twenty-four hours' notice, without
+rehearsal, in an opera I had seen produced only once. I had studied the
+r�le only two weeks. While on the stage I was so entranced with the
+wonderful singing of Mr. Caruso that I forgot to come in at the right
+time. He said to me quickly _sotto voce_--
+
+    "_Canta! Canta! Canta!_"
+
+And my routine drill of the part enabled me to come in without letting
+the audience know of my error.
+
+The mere matter of getting the voice to go with the orchestra, as well
+as that of identifying cues heard in the unusual quality of the
+orchestral instruments (so different from the tone quality of the
+piano), is most confusing, and only routine can accustom one to being
+ready to meet all of these strange conditions.
+
+One is supposed to keep an eye on the conductor practically all of the
+time while singing. The best singers are those who never forget this,
+but do it so artfully that the audience never suspects. Many singers
+follow the conductor's baton so conspicuously that they give the
+appearance of monkeys on a string. This, of course, is highly ludicrous.
+I don't know of any way of overcoming it but experience. Yes, there is
+another great help, and that is musicianship. The conductor who knows
+that an artist is a musician in fact, is immensely relieved and always
+very appreciative. Singers should learn as much about the technical side
+of music as possible. Learning to play the violin or the piano, and
+learning to play it well is invaluable.
+
+
+WATCHING FOR OPPORTUNITIES
+
+The singer must be ever on the alert for opportunities to advance. This
+is largely a matter of preparation. If one is capable, the opportunities
+usually come. I wonder if I may relate a little incident which occurred
+to me in Germany long before the war. I had been singing in Berlin, when
+the impresario of the Royal Opera approached me and asked me if I could
+sing _A�da_ on a following Monday. I realized that if I admitted that I
+had never sung _A�da_ before, the thoroughgoing, matter-of-fact German
+Intendant would never even let me have a chance. Emmy Destinn was then
+the prima donna at the Royal Opera, and had been taken ill. The post was
+one of the operatic plums of all Europe. Before I knew it, I had said
+"Yes, I can sing _A�da_." It was a white lie, and once told, I had to
+live up to it. I had never sung _A�da_, and only knew part of it.
+Running home I worked all night long to learn the last act. Over and
+over the r�le hundreds and hundreds of times I went, until it seemed as
+though my eyes would drop out of my head. Monday night came, and thanks
+to my routine experience in smaller companies, I had learned _A�da_ so
+that I was perfectly confident of it. Imagine the strain, however, when
+I learned that the Kaiser and the court were to be present. At the end I
+was called before the Kaiser, who, after warmly complimenting me, gave
+me the greatly coveted post in his opera house. I do not believe that he
+ever found out that the little Toronto girl had actually fibbed her way
+into an opportunity.
+
+
+TALES OF STRAUSS
+
+Strauss was one of the leading conductors while I was at the Royal Opera
+and I sang under his baton many, many times. He was a real genius,--in
+that once his art work was completed, his interest immediately centered
+upon the next. Once while we were performing _Rosenkavalier_ he came
+behind the scenes and said:
+
+"Will this awfully _long_ opera never end? I want to go home." I said to
+him, "But Doctor, you composed it yourself," and he said, "Yes, but I
+never meant to conduct it."
+
+Let it be explained that Strauss was an inveterate player of the German
+card game, Scat, and would far rather seek a quiet corner with a few
+choice companions than go through one of his own works night after
+night. However, whenever the creative instinct was at work he let
+nothing impede it. I remember seeing him write upon his cuffs (no doubt
+some passing theme) during a performance of _Meistersinger_ he was
+conducting.
+
+
+THE SINGER'S GREATEST NEED
+
+The singer's greatest need, or his greatest asset if he has one, is an
+honest critic. My husband and I have made it a point never to miss
+hearing one another sing, no matter how many times we have heard each
+other sing in a r�le. Sometimes, after a big performance, it is very
+hard to have to be told about all the things that one did not do well,
+but that is the only way to improve. There are always many people to
+tell one the good things, but I feel that the biggest help that I have
+had through my career has been the help of my husband, because he has
+always told me the places where I could improve, so that every
+performance I had something new to think about. An artist never stands
+still. He either goes forward or backward and, of course, the only way
+to get to the top is by going forward.
+
+The difficulty in America is in giving the young singers a chance after
+their voices are placed. If only we could have a number of excellent
+stock opera companies, even though there had to be a few traveling stars
+after the manner of the old dramatic companies, where everybody had to
+start at the bottom and work his way up, because with a lovely voice,
+talent and perseverance anyone can get to the top if one has a chance to
+work. By "work" I mean singing as many new r�les as possible and as
+often as possible and not starting at a big opera house singing perhaps
+two or three times during a season. Just think of it,--the singer at a
+small opera house has more chance to learn in two months than the
+beginner at a big opera house might have in five years. After all, the
+thing that is most valuable to a singer is time, as with time the voice
+will diminish in beauty. Getting to the top via the big opera house is
+the work of a lifetime, and the golden tones are gone before one really
+has an opportunity to do one's best work.
+
+[Illustration: GERALDINE FARRAR.]
+
+
+
+
+GERALDINE FARRAR
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Although one of the youngest of the noted American singers, none has
+achieved such an extensive international reputation as Miss Farrar. Born
+February 28, 1882, in Melrose, Mass., she was educated at the public
+schools in that city. At the school age she became the pupil of Mrs. J.
+H. Long, in Boston. After studying with several teachers, including Emma
+Thursby, in New York, and Trabadello, in Paris, she went to Lilli
+Lehmann in Berlin, and under this, the greatest of dramatic singers of
+her time, Miss Farrar received a most thorough and careful training in
+all the elements of her art. She made her d�but as Marguerite in _Faust_
+at the Royal Opera in Berlin, October 15th, 1901. Later, after touring
+European cities with ever increasing successes, she was engaged at the
+Opera Comique and Grand Opera, Paris, and then at the Metropolitan Opera
+House in New York, where she has been the leading soprano for many
+seasons. The many enticing offers made for appearances in moving
+pictures led to a new phase of her career. In many pictures she has
+appeared with her husband, M. Lou Tellegen, one of the most
+distinguished actors of the French school, who at one time was the
+leading man for Sarah Bernhardt.
+
+The following conference is rich in advice to any young woman who
+desires to know what she must do in order to become a prima donna.
+
+
+
+
+WHAT MUST I GO THROUGH TO BECOME A PRIMA DONNA?
+
+MME. GERALDINE FARRAR
+
+
+What must I do to become a prima donna? Let us reverse the usual method
+of discussing the question and begin with the artist upon the stage in a
+great opera house like the Metropolitan in New York, on a gala night,
+every seat sold and hundreds standing. It is a modern opera with a
+"heavy" score. What is the first consideration of the singer?
+
+Primarily, an artist in grand opera must _sing_ in some fashion to
+insure the proper projection of her r�le across the large spaces of the
+all-too-large auditoriums. Those admirable requisites of clear diction,
+facial expression and emotional appeal will be sadly hampered unless the
+medium of sound carries their message. It is only from sad experience
+that one among many rises superior to some of the disadvantages of our
+modern opera repertoire. Gone are the days when the facile vocalist was
+supported by a small group of musicians intent upon a discreet
+accompaniment for the benefit of the singer's vocal exertions. Voices
+trained for the older repertoire were not at the mercy of an enlarged
+orchestra pit, wherein the over-zealous gentlemen now fight--_furioso ad
+libitum_--for the supremacy of operatic effects.
+
+An amiable musical observer once asked me why we all shouted so in
+opera. I replied by a question, asking if he had ever made an
+after-dinner speech. He acquiesced. I asked him how many times he rapped
+on the table for attention and silence. He admitted it was rather often.
+I asked him why. He said, so that he might be heard. He answered his own
+question by conceding that the carrying timbre of a voice cannot compete
+successfully against even banquet hall festivities unless properly
+focused out of a normal speaking tone. The difference between a small
+room and one seating several hundred is far greater than the average
+auditor realizes. If the mere rattling of silver and china will eclipse
+this vocal effort in speech I leave to your imagination what must
+transpire when the singer is called upon to dominate with one thread of
+song the tremendous onslaught of an orchestra and to rise triumphant
+above it in a theater so large that the faithful gatherers in the
+gallery tell me we all look like pigmies, and half the time are barely
+heard. Since the recesses where we must perform are so exaggerated
+everything must be in like proportion, hence we are very often too
+noisy, but how can it be otherwise if we are to influence the eager
+taxpayer in row X? After all, he has not come to hear us _whisper_, and
+his point of vantage is not so admirable as if he were sitting at a
+musical comedy in a small theater. For this condition the size of the
+theater and the instrumentation imposed by the composer are to be
+censured, and less blame placed upon the overburdened shoulders of the
+vocal competitor against these odds. Little shading in operatic tone
+color is possible unless an accompanying phrase permits it or the
+trumpeter swallows a pin!
+
+
+LUCIA OR ZAZA
+
+If your repertoire is _The Barber_, _Lucia_, _Somnambula_ and all such
+Italian dainties, well and good. Nothing need disturb the complete
+enjoyment of this lace-work. But if your auditors weep at _Butterfly_
+and _Zaza_ or thrill to _Pagliacci_, they demand you use a quite
+different technic, which comes to the point of my story.
+
+I believe it was Jean de Reszke who advocated the voice "in the mask"
+united to breath support from the diaphragm. From personal observation I
+should say our coloratura charmers lay small emphasis on that highly
+important factor and use their head voices with a freedom more or less
+God given. But the power and life-giving quality of this fundamental
+cannot be too highly estimated for us who must color our phrases to suit
+modern dramatics and evolve a carrying quality that will not only
+eliminate the difficulty of vocal demands, but at the same time insure
+immunity from harmful after-effects. This indispensable twin of the head
+voice is the dynamo which alone must endure all the necessary fatigue,
+leaving the actual voice phrases free to float unrestricted with no
+ignoble distortions or possible signs of distress. Alas! it is not easy
+to write of this, but the experience of years proves how vital a point
+is its saving grace and how, unfortunately, it remains an unknown factor
+to many.
+
+To note two of our finest examples of greatness in this marvelous
+profession, Lilli Lehmann and Jean de Reszke, neither of whom had
+phenomenal vocal gifts, I would point out their remarkable mental
+equipment, unceasing and passionate desire for perfection, paired with
+an unerring instinct for the noble and distinguished such as has not
+been found in other exponents of purely vocal virtuosity, with a few
+rare exceptions, as Melba and Galli-Curci, for instance, to mention two
+beautiful instruments of our generation.
+
+The singing art is not a casual inspiration and it should never be
+treated as such. The real artist will have an organized mental strategy
+just as minute and reliable as any intricate machinery, and will under
+all circumstances (save complete physical disability) be able to control
+and dominate her gifts to their fullest extent. This is not learned in a
+few years within the four walls of a studio, but is the result of a
+lifetime of painstaking care and devotion.
+
+There was a time when ambition and overwork so told upon me that
+mistakenly I allowed myself to minimize my vocal practice. How wrong
+that was I found out in short time and I have returned long since to my
+earlier precepts as taught me by Lilli Lehmann.
+
+
+KEEP THE VOICE STRONG AND FLEXIBLE
+
+In her book, _How to Sing_, there is much for the student to digest with
+profit, though possible reservations are advisable, dependent upon one's
+individual health and vocal resistance. Her strong conviction was, and
+is, that a voice requires daily and conscientious exercise to keep it
+strong and flexible. Having successfully mastered the older Italian
+r�les as a young singer, her incursion into the later-day dramatic and
+classic repertoire in no wise became an excuse to let languish the
+fundamental idea of beautiful sound. How vitally important and admirably
+_bel canto_ sustained by the breath support has served her is readily
+understood when one remembers that she has outdistanced all the
+colleagues of her earlier career and now well over sixty, she is as
+indefatigable in her daily practice as we younger singers should be.
+
+This brief extract about Patti (again quoting Lilli Lehmann) will
+furnish an interesting comparison:
+
+In Adelina Patti everything was united--the splendid voice paired with
+great talent for singing, and the long oversight of her studies by her
+distinguished teacher, Strakosch. She never sang r�les that did not suit
+her voice; in her earlier years she sang only arias and duets or single
+solos, never taking part in ensembles. She never sang even her limited
+repertory when she was indisposed. She never attended rehearsals, but
+came to the theater in the evening and sang triumphantly, without ever
+having seen the persons who sang or acted with her. She spared herself
+rehearsals, which, on the day of the performance or the day before,
+exhaust all singers because of the excitement of all kinds attending
+them, and which contribute neither to the freshness of the voice nor to
+the joy of the profession.
+
+Although she was a Spaniard by birth and an American by early adoption,
+she was, so to speak, the greatest Italian singer of my time. All was
+absolutely good, correct and flawless, the voice like a bell that you
+seemed to hear long after its singing had ceased. Yet she could give no
+explanation of her art, and answered all her colleagues' questions
+concerning it with "Ah, je n'en sais rien!" She possessed unconsciously,
+as a gift of nature, a union of all those qualities that other singers
+must attain and possess consciously. Her vocal organs stood in the most
+favorable relations to each other. Her talent and her remarkably trained
+ear maintained control over the beauty of her singing and her voice.
+Fortunate circumstances of her life preserved her from all injury. The
+purity and flawlessness of her tone, the beautiful equalization of her
+whole voice constituted the magic by which she held her listeners
+entranced. Moreover, she was beautiful and gracious in appearance. The
+accent of great dramatic power she did not possess, yet I ascribe this
+more to her intellectual indolence than to her lack of ability.
+
+But how few of us would ever make a career if we waited for such favors
+from Nature!
+
+
+LESSONS MUST BE ADEQUATE
+
+Bearing in mind the absolute necessity and real joy in vocal work, it
+confounds and amazes me that teachers of this art feel their duty has
+been accomplished when they donate twenty minutes or half an hour to a
+pupil! I do not honestly believe this is a fair exchange, and it is
+certainly not within reason to believe that within so short a time a
+pupil can actually benefit by the concentration and instruction so
+hastily conferred upon her. If this be very plain speaking, it is said
+with the object to benefit the pupil only, for it is, after all, _they_
+who must pay the ultimate in success or failure. An hour devoted to the
+minute needs of one pupil is not too much time to devote to so delicate
+a subject. An intelligent taskmaster will let his pupil demonstrate ten
+or fifteen minutes and during the same period of rest will discuss and
+awaken the pupil's interest from an intelligent point of view, that some
+degree of individuality may color even the drudgery of the classroom. A
+word of counsel from such a mistress of song as Lehmann or Sembrich is
+priceless, but the sums that pour into greedy pockets of vocal
+mechanics, not to say a harsher word, is a regretable proceeding. Too
+many mediocrities are making sounds. Too many of the same class are
+trying to instruct, but, as in politics, the real culprit is the people.
+As long as the public forbear an intelligent protest in this direction,
+just so long will the studios be crowded with pathetic seekers for fame.
+What employment these infatuated individuals enjoyed before the advent
+of grand opera and the movies became a possible exhaust pipe for their
+vanity is not clear, but they certainly should be discouraged. New York
+alone is crowded with aspirants for the stage, and their little bag of
+tricks is of very slender proportions. Let us do everything in our power
+to help the really worthy talent; but it is a mistaken charity, and not
+patriotic, to shove singers and composers so called, of American birth,
+upon a weary public which perceives nothing except the fact that they
+are of native birth and have no talent to warrant such assumption.
+
+I do not think the musical observers are doing the cause of art in this
+country a favor when columns are written about the inferior works of the
+non-gifted. An ambitious effort is all right in its way, but that is no
+reason to connect the ill-advised production with American hopes. On the
+contrary, it does us a bad turn. I shall still contend that the English
+language is not a pretty one for our vocal exploitations, and within my
+experience of the past ten years I have heard but one American work
+which I can sincerely say would have given me pleasure to create, that
+same being Mr. Henry Hadley's recently produced _Cleopatra's Night_. His
+score is rich and deserving of the highest praise.
+
+In closing I should like to quote again from Mme. Lehmann's book an
+exercise that would seem to fulfill a long-felt want:
+
+"The great scale is the most necessary exercise for all kinds of voices.
+It was taught me by my mother. She taught it to all her pupils and to
+us."
+
+Here is the scale as Lehmann taught it to me.
+
+[Illustration: musical notation: Breath Breath Breath Breath]
+
+It was sung upon all the principal vowels. It was extended stepwise
+through different keys over the entire range of the two octaves of the
+voice. It was not her advice to practice it too softly, but it was done
+with all the resonating organs well supported by the diaphragm, the tone
+in a very supple and elastic "watery" state. She would think nothing of
+devoting from forty minutes to sixty minutes a day to the slow practice
+of this exercise. Of course, she would treat what one might call a heavy
+brunette voice quite differently from a bright blonde voice. These terms
+of blonde and brunette, of course, have nothing to do with the
+complexion of the individual, but to the color of the voice.
+
+
+THE ONLY CURE
+
+Lehmann said of this scale: "It is the only cure for all injuries, and
+at the same time the most excellent means of fortification against all
+over-exertion. I sing it every day, often twice, even if I have to sing
+one of the heaviest r�les in the evening. I can rely absolutely upon its
+assistance. I often take fifty minutes to go through it once, for I let
+no tone pass that is lacking in any degree in pitch, power, duration or
+in single vibration of the propagation form."
+
+Personally I supplement this great scale often with various florid
+legato phrases of arias selected from the older Italians or Mozart,
+whereby I can more easily achieve the vocal facility demanded by the
+tessitura of _Manon_ or _Faust_ and change to the darker-hued phrases
+demanded in _Carmen_ or _Butterfly_.
+
+But the open secret of all success is patient, never-ending,
+conscientious _work_, with a forceful emphasis on the _WORK_.
+
+[Illustration: JOHANNA GADSKI.]
+
+
+
+
+MME. JOHANNA GADSKI
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Mme. Gadski was born at Anclam, Prussia, June 15, 1872. Her studies in
+singing were principally with Mme. Schroeder-Chaloupha. When she was ten
+years old she sang successfully in concert at Stettin. Her operatic
+d�but was made in Berlin, in 1889, in Weber's _Der Freisch�tz_. She then
+appeared in the opera houses of Bremen and Mayence. In 1894 Dr. Walter
+Damrosch organized his opera company in New York and engaged Mme. Gadski
+for leading r�les. In 1898 she became high dramatic soprano with the
+Metropolitan Opera Company in New York, and the following year appeared
+at Covent Garden. She was constantly developing as a singer of Wagner
+r�les, notably _Brunhilde_ and _Isolde_. Her repertoire included forty
+r�les in all, and the demand for her appearance at festivals here and
+abroad became more and more insistent. She sang at the Metropolitan
+Opera House in New York until 1917, when the notoriety caused by the
+activities of her husband, Captain Hans Tauscher, American agent for
+large German weapon manufacturers, forced her to resign. Mme. Gadski
+made a close study of the Schumann Songs for years; and the following
+can not fail to be of artistic assistance to the singer.
+
+
+
+
+THE MASTER SONGS OF ROBERT SCHUMANN
+
+MME. JOHANNA GADSKI
+
+ROBERT SCHUMANN'S LYRIC GIFT
+
+
+One cannot delve very far into the works of Schumann without discovering
+that his gifts are peculiarly lyric. His melodic fecundity is all the
+more remarkable because of his strong originality. Even in many of his
+piano pieces, such as _Warum?_, _Tr�umerei_ or the famous _Slumber
+Song_, the lyric character is evident. Beautiful melodies which seem to
+lend themselves to the peculiar requirements of vocal music crop up
+every now and then in all his works. This is by no means the case with
+many of the other great masters. In some of Beethoven's songs, for
+instance, one can never lose sight of the fact that they are
+instrumental pieces. It was Schumann's particular privilege to be gifted
+with the acute sense of proportion which enabled him to estimate just
+what kind of an accompaniment a melody should have. Naturally some of
+his songs stand out far above others; and in these the music lover and
+vocal student will notice that there is usually a beautiful artistic
+balance between the accompaniment and the melody.
+
+Another characteristic is the sense of propriety with which Schumann
+connected his melodies with the thought of the poems he employed. This
+is doubtless due to the extensive literary training he himself enjoyed.
+It was impossible for a man of Schumann's life experience to apply an
+inappropriate melody to any given poem. With some song writers, this is
+by no means the case. The music of one song would fit almost any other
+set of words having the same poetic metre. Schumann was continually
+seeking after a distinctive atmosphere, and this it is which gives many
+of his works their lasting charm.
+
+
+THE INTIMATE AND DELICATE CHARACTER OF SCHUMANN SONGS
+
+Most of the greater Schumann songs are of a deliciously ultimate and
+delicate character. By this no one should infer that they are weak or
+spineless. Schumann was a deep student of psychology and of human life.
+In the majority of cases he eschewed the melodramatic. It is true that
+we have at least one song, _The Two Grenadiers_, which is melodramatic
+in the extreme; but this, according to the greatest judges, is not
+Schumann at his best. It was the particular delight of Schumann to take
+some intense little poem and apply to it a musical setting crowded full
+of deep poetical meaning. Again, he liked to paint musical pastels such
+as _Im wundersch�nen Monat Mai_, _Fr�hlingsnacht_ and _Der Nussbaum_.
+These songs are redolent with the fragrance of out-of-doors. There is
+not one jarring note. The indefinable beauty and inspiration of the
+fields and forests have been caught by the master and imprisoned forever
+in this wonderful music.
+
+_Im wundersch�nen Monat Mai_, which comes from the _Dichterliebe_ cycle,
+is indescribably delicate. It should be sung with great lightness and
+simplicity. Any effort toward a striving for effect would ruin this
+exquisite gem. _Fr�hlingsnacht_ with its wonderful accompaniment, which
+Franz Liszt thought so remarkable that he combined the melody and the
+accompaniment, with but slight alterations, and made a piano piece of
+the whole--is a difficult song to sing properly. If the singer does not
+catch the effervescent character of the song as a whole, the effect is
+lost. Any "dragging" of the tones destroys the wonderful exuberance
+which Schumann strove to connote. The balance between the singer and the
+accompanist must be perfect, and woe be to the singer who tries to sing
+_Fr�hlingsnacht_ with a lumbering accompanist.
+
+_Der Nussbaum_ is one of the most effective and "thankful" of all the
+Schumann songs. Experienced public singers almost invariably win popular
+appreciation with this song. It is probably my favorite of all the
+Schumann songs. Here again delicacy and simplicity reign supreme. In
+fact simplicity in interpretation is the great requirement of all the
+art songs. The amateur singer seems to be continually trying to secure
+"effect" with these songs and the only result of this is affectation. If
+amateurs could only realize how hard the really great masters tried to
+avoid results that were to be secured by the cheap methods of
+"affectation" and "show," they would make their singing more simple.
+Success in singing art songs comes through the ability of the artist to
+bring out the psychic, poetical and musical meaning of the song. There
+is no room for cheap vocal virtuosity. The great songs bear the sacred
+message of the best and finest in art. They represent the conscientious
+devotion of their composers to their loftiest ideals.
+
+I have mentioned three songs which are representative, but there are
+numberless other songs which reveal the intimate and personal character
+of Schumann's works. One popular mistake regarding these songs which is
+quite prevalent is that of thinking that they can only be sung in tiny
+rooms and never in large auditoriums. Time and again I have achieved
+some of the best results I have ever secured on the concert stage with
+delicate intimate works sung before audiences of thousands of people.
+The size of the auditorium has practically nothing to do with the song.
+The method of delivery is everything. If the song is properly and
+thoughtfully delivered, the audience, though it be one of thousands,
+will sit "quiet as mice" and listen reverently to the end. However, if
+one of these songs were to be sung in a flamboyant, bombastic manner, by
+some singer infected with the idea that in order to impress a multitude
+of people an exaggerated style is necessary, the results would be
+ruinous. If overdone, they are never appreciated. Art is art. Rembrandt
+in one of his master paintings exhibits just the right artistic balance.
+A copy of the same painting might become a mere daub, with a few twists
+of some bungling amateur's brush. Let the young singer remember that
+the results that are the most difficult to get in singing the art song
+are not those by which she may hope to make a sensational impression by
+means of show, but those which depend first and always upon sincerity,
+simplicity and a deep study of the real meaning of the masterpiece.
+
+
+THE LOVE INTEREST IN THE SCHUMANN SONGS
+
+Up to the time Schumann was thirty years of age (1840), his compositions
+were confined to works for the piano. These piano works include some of
+the very greatest and most inspired of his compositions for the
+instrument. In 1840 Schumann married Clara Wieck, daughter of his former
+pianoforte teacher. This marriage was accomplished only after the most
+severe opposition imaginable upon the part of the irate father-in-law,
+who was loath to see his daughter, whom he had trained to be one of the
+foremost pianists of her sex, marry an obscure composer. The effect of
+this opposition was to raise Schumann's affection to the condition of a
+kind of fanaticism. All this made a pronounced impression upon his art
+and seemed to make him long for expression through the medium of his
+love songs. He wrote to a friend at this time, "I am now writing nothing
+but songs great and small. I can hardly tell you how delightful it is to
+write for the voice, as compared with instrumental composition; and what
+a tumult and strife I feel within me as I sit down to it. I have brought
+forth quite new things in this line." In letters to his wife he is quite
+as impassioned over his song writing as the following quotations
+indicate: "Since yesterday morning, I have written twenty-seven pages of
+music (something new of which I can tell you nothing more than that I
+have laughed and wept for joy in composing them). When I composed them
+my soul was within yours. Without such a bride, indeed no one could
+write such music; once more I have composed so much that it seems almost
+uncanny. Alas! I cannot help it: I could sing myself to death like a
+nightingale."
+
+During the first year of his marriage Schumann wrote one hundred of the
+two hundred and forty-five songs that are attributed to him. In the
+published collections of his works, there are three songs attributed to
+Schumann which are known to be from the pen of his talented wife. As in
+his piano compositions Schumann avoided long pieces and preferred
+collections of comparatively short pieces, such as those in the
+_Carnaval_, _Kreisleriana_, _Papillons_, so in his early works for the
+voice Schumann chose to write short songs which were grouped in the form
+of cycles. Seven of these cycles are particularly well known. They are
+here given together with the best known songs from each group.
+
+        Cycle                            Songs
+
+    _Liederkreis_               {_Ich wandelte unter den B�umen._
+                                {_Mit Myrthen und Rosen._
+
+                                {_Die Lotusblume._
+    _Myrthen_                   {_Lass mich ihm am Busen hangen._
+                                {_Du bist wie eine Blume._
+                                {_Der Nussbaum._
+
+    _Eichendorff Liederkreis_   {_Waldesgespr�ch._
+                                {_Fr�hlingsnacht._
+
+                                {_Wanderlust._
+    _Kerner Cycle_              {_Frage._
+                                {_Stille Thr�nen._
+
+                                {_O, Ring an meinem Finger._
+    _Frauenliebe und Leben_     {_Er, der Herrlichste von Allen._
+
+                                {_Ich grolle nicht._
+    _Dichterliebe_              {_Im wundersch�nen Mai._
+                                {_Ich hab' im Traum geweinet._
+
+                                {_Three of the songs in this_
+    _Liebesfr�hling_            {_Cycle are attributed to_
+                                {_Clara Schumann._
+
+Critics seem to be agreed that Schumann's talent gradually deteriorated
+as his mental disease increased. Consequently, with but few exceptions
+his best song works are to be found among his early vocal compositions.
+I have tried repeatedly to bring forth some of the lesser known songs of
+Schumann and have time and again devoted long periods to their study,
+but apparently the public, by an unmistakable indication of lack of
+approval, will have none of them.
+
+Evidently, the songs by which Schumann is now best known are his best
+works from the standpoint of popular appreciation. Popular approval
+taken in the aggregate is a mighty determining factor. The survival of
+the fittest applies to songs as well as to other things in life. This is
+particularly so in the case of the four famous songs, _Die beiden
+Grenadiere_, _Widmung_, _Der Nussbaum_ and _Ich grolle nicht_, which
+never seem to diminish in popularity.
+
+
+SCHUMANN'S LOVE FOR THE ROMANTIC
+
+Schumann's fervid imagination readily led to a love for the romantic.
+His early fondness for the works of Jean Paul developed into a kind of
+life tendency, which resulted in winning him the title of the "Tone-Poet
+of Romanticism." Few of his songs, however, are really dramatic.
+_Waldesgespr�ch_, which Robert Franz called a pianoforte piece with a
+voice part added, is probably the best of Schumann's dramatic-romantic
+songs. I have always found that audiences are very partial to this song;
+and it may be sung by a female voice as well as the male voice. The _Two
+Grenadiers_ is strictly a man's song. _Ich grolle nicht_, while sung
+mostly by men, may, like the _Erl-King_ of Schubert, be sung quite as
+successfully by women singers possessing the qualities of depth and
+dramatic intensity.
+
+
+PECULIAR DIFFICULTIES IN INTERPRETING SCHUMANN SONGS
+
+I have already mentioned the necessity for simplicity in connection with
+the interpretation of the Schumann songs. I need not tell the readers of
+these pages that the proper interpretation of these songs requires a
+much more extensive and difficult kind of preparatory work than the more
+showy coloratura works which to the novice often seem vastly more
+difficult. The very simplicity of the Schubert and Schumann songs makes
+them more difficult to sing properly than the works of writers who
+adopted a somewhat more complicated style. The smallest vocal
+discrepancies become apparent at once and it is only by the most intense
+application and great attention to detail that it is possible for the
+singer to bring her art to a standard that will stand the test of these
+simple, but very difficult works. Too much coloratura singing is liable
+to rob the voice of its fullness and is not to be recommended as a
+preparation for the singer who would become a singer of the modern art
+songs. This does not mean that scales and arpeggios are to be avoided.
+In fact the flexibility and control demanded of the singers of art songs
+are quite as great as that required of the coloratura singer. The
+student must have her full quota of vocal exercises before she should
+think of attempting the Schumann Lieder.
+
+
+SCHUMANN'S POPULARITY IN AMERICA
+
+Americans seem to be particularly fond of Schumann. When artists are
+engaged for concert performances it is the custom in this country to
+present optional programs to the managers of the local concert
+enterprises. These managers represent all possible kinds of taste. It is
+the experience of most concert artists that the Schumann selections are
+almost invariably chosen. This is true of the West as well as of the
+South and East. One section of the program is without exception devoted
+to what they call classical songs and by this they mean the best songs
+rather than the songs whose chief claim is that they are from the old
+Italian schools of Carissimi, Scarlatti, etc. I make it a special point
+to present as many songs as possible with English words. The English
+language is not a difficult language in which to sing; and when the
+translation coincides with the original I can see no reason why American
+readers who may not be familiar with a foreign tongue should be denied
+the privilege of understanding what the song is about. If they do not
+understand, why sing words at all? Why not vocalize the melodies upon
+some vowel? Songs, however, were meant to combine poetry and music; and
+unless the audience has the benefit of understanding both, it has been
+defrauded of one of its chief delights.
+
+Some German poems, however, are almost untranslatable. It is for this
+reason that many of the works of L�we, for instance, have never attained
+wide popularity. The legends which L�we employed are often delightful,
+but the difficulties of translation are such that the original meaning
+is either marred or destroyed. The songs or ballads of L�we, without the
+words, do not seem to grasp American audiences and singers find it a
+thankless task to try to force them upon the public.
+
+I have been so long in America that I feel it my duty to share in
+popularizing the works of the many talented American composers. I
+frequently place MacDowell's beautiful songs on my programs; and the
+works of many other American composers, including Mrs. H. H. A. Beach,
+Sidney Homer, Frank Le Forge and others make fine concert numbers. It
+has seemed to me that America has a large future in the field of lyric
+composition. American poets have long since won their place in the
+international Hall of Fame. The lyrical spirit which they have expressed
+verbally will surely be imbued in the music of American composers. The
+opportunity is already here. Americans demand the best the world can
+produce. It makes no difference what the nationality of the composer.
+However, Americans are first of all patriotic; and the composer who
+produces real lyric masterpieces is not likely to be asked to wait for
+fame and competence, as did Schubert and Schumann.
+
+[Illustration: MME. AMELITA GALLI-CURCI.
+
+� Victor Georg.]
+
+
+
+
+MME. AMELITA GALLI-CURCI
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Mme. Galli-Curci was born at Milan, November 18th, 1889, of a family
+distinguished in the arts and in the professions. She entered the Milan
+Conservatory, winning the first prize and diploma in piano playing in
+1903. For a time after her graduation she toured as a pianist and then
+resolved to become a singer. She is practically self-taught in the vocal
+art. Her d�but was made in Rome at the Teatro Constanzi, in the r�le of
+_Gilda_ in _Rigoletto_. She was pronouncedly successful from the very
+start. During the next six years she sang principally in Italy, South
+America (Three Tours), and in Spain, her success increasing with every
+appearance. In 1916 she appeared at Chicago with the Chicago Opera
+Company, creating a furore. The exceptionally beautiful records of her
+interpretations created an immense demand to hear her in concert, and
+her successes everywhere have been historic. Not since Patti has there
+been a singer upon whom such wide-spread critical comment has been made
+in praise of her exquisite velvety quality of tone, vocal technic and
+interpretative intelligence. Hailed as "Patti's only successor," she has
+met with greater popular success in opera and concert than any of the
+singers of recent years. In 1921 she married the gifted American
+composer, Homer Samuels, who for many years had been the pianist upon
+her tours.
+
+
+
+
+TEACHING YOURSELF TO SING
+
+MME. AMELITA GALLI-CURCI
+
+
+Just what influence heredity may have upon the musical art and upon
+musicians has, of course, been a much discussed question. In my own
+case, I was fortunate in having a father who, although engaged in
+another vocation, was a fine amateur musician. My grandfather was a
+conductor and my grandmother was an opera singer of distinction in
+Italy. Like myself, she was a coloratura soprano, and I can recollect
+with joy her voice and her method of singing. Even at the age of
+seventy-five her voice was wonderfully well preserved, because she
+always sang with the greatest ease and with none of the forced throat
+restrictions which make the work of so many singers insufferable.
+
+My own musical education began at the age of five, when I commenced to
+play the piano. Meanwhile I sang around the house, and my grandmother
+used to say in good humor: "Keep it up, my dear; perhaps some day you
+may be a better singer than I am." My father, however, was more
+seriously interested in instrumental music, and desired that I should
+become a pianist. How fortunate for me! Otherwise, I should never have
+had that thorough musical drill which gave me an acquaintance with the
+art which I cannot believe could come in any other way. Mascagni was a
+very good friend of our family and took a great interest in my playing.
+He came to our house very frequently, and his advice and inspiration
+naturally meant much to a young, impressionable girl.
+
+
+GENERAL EDUCATION
+
+My general education was very carefully guarded by my father, who sent
+me to the best schools in Milan, one of which was under the management
+of Germans, and it was there that I acquired my acquaintance with the
+German language. I was then sent to the Conservatorio, and graduated
+with a gold medal as a pianist. This won me some distinction in Italy
+and enabled me to tour as a pianist. I did not pretend to play the big,
+exhaustive works, but my programs were made up of such pieces as the
+_Abeg_ of Schumann, studies by Scharwenka, impromptus of Chopin, the
+four scherzos of Chopin, the first ballade, the nocturnes (the fifth in
+the book was my favorite) and works of Bach. (Of course, I had been
+through the Wohltemperiertes Clavier.) In those days I was very frail,
+and I had aspired to develop my repertoire so that later I could include
+the great works for the piano requiring a more or less exhaustive
+technic of the bravura type.
+
+Once I went to hear Busoni, and after the concert, came to me like a
+revelation, "You can never be such a pianist as he. Your hand and your
+physical strength will not permit it." I went home in more or less
+sadness, knowing that despite the success I had had in my piano playing,
+my decision was a wise one. Figuratively, I closed the lid of my piano
+upon my career as a pianist and decided to learn how to sing. The memory
+of my grandmother's voice singing Bellini's _Qui la Voce_ was still
+ringing in my ears with the lovely purity of tone that she possessed.
+Mascagni called upon us at that time, and I asked him to hear me sing.
+He did so, and threw up his hands, saying, "Why in the world have you
+been wasting your time with piano playing when you have a natural voice
+like that? Such voices are born. Start to work at once to develop your
+voice." Meanwhile, of course, I had heard a great deal of singing and a
+great deal of so-called voice teaching. I went to two teachers in Milan,
+but was so dissatisfied with what I heard from them and from their
+pupils that I was determined that it would be necessary for me to
+develop my own voice. Please do not take this as an inference that all
+vocal teachers are bad or are dispensable. My own case was peculiar. I
+had been saturated with musical traditions since my babyhood. I had had,
+in addition, a very fine musical training. Of course, without this I
+could not have attempted to do what I did in the way of self-training.
+Nevertheless, it is my firm conviction that unless the student of
+singing has in his brain and in his soul those powers of judging for
+himself whether the quality of a tone, the intonation (pitch), the
+shading, the purity and the resonance are what they should be to insure
+the highest artistic results, it will be next to impossible for him to
+secure these. This is what is meant by the phrase--"singers are born and
+not made." The power of discrimination, the judgment, etc., must be
+inherent. No teacher can possibly give them to a pupil, except in an
+artificial way. That, possibly, is the reason why so many students sing
+like parrots: because they have the power of mimicry, but nothing comes
+from within. The fine teacher can, of course, take a fine sense of tonal
+values, etc., and, provided the student has a really good natural voice,
+lead him to reveal to himself the ways in which he can use his voice to
+the best advantage. Add to this a fine musical training, and we have a
+singer. But no teacher can give to a voice that velvety smoothness, that
+liquid fluency, that bell-like clarity which the ear of the educated
+musician expects, and which the public at large demands, unless the
+student has the power of determining for himself what is good and what
+is bad.
+
+
+FOUR YEARS OF HARD TRAINING
+
+It was no easy matter to give up the gratifying success which attended
+my pianistic appearances to begin a long term of self-study,
+self-development. Yet I realized that it would hardly be possible for me
+to accomplish what I desired in less than four years. Therefore, I
+worked daily for four years, drilling myself with the greatest care in
+scales, arpeggios and sustained tones. The colorature facility I seemed
+to possess naturally, to a certain extent; but I realized that only by
+hard and patient work would it be possible to have all my runs, trills,
+etc., so that they always would be smooth, articulate and free--that
+is, unrestricted--at any time. I studied the r�les in which I aspired
+to appear, and attended the opera faithfully to hear fine singing, as
+well as bad singing.
+
+As the work went on it became more and more enjoyable. I felt that I was
+upon the right path, and that meant everything. If I had continued as a
+pianist I could never have been more than a mediocrity, and that I could
+not have tolerated.
+
+About this time came a crisis in my father's business; it became
+necessary for me to teach. Accordingly, I took a number of piano pupils
+and enjoyed that phase of my work very much indeed. I gave lessons for
+four years, and in my spare time worked with my voice, all by myself,
+with my friend, the piano. My guiding principles were:
+
+     _There must be as little consciousness of effort in the throat as
+     possible._
+
+     _There must always be the Joy of Singing._
+
+     _Success is based upon sensation, whether it feels right to me in
+     my mouth, in my throat, that I know, and nobody else can tell me._
+
+I remember that my grandmother, who sang _Una voce poco fa_ at
+seventy-five, always cautioned me to never force a single tone. I did
+not study exercises like those of Concone, Panofka, Bordogni, etc.,
+because they seemed to me a waste of time in my case. I did not require
+musical knowledge, but needed special drill. I knew where my weak spots
+were. What was the use of vocal studies which required me to do a lot
+of work and only occasionally touched those portions of my voice which
+needed special attention? Learning a repertoire was a great task in
+itself, and there was no time to waste upon anything I did not actually
+need. Because of the natural fluency I have mentioned, I devoted most of
+my time to slower exercises at first. What could be simpler than this?
+
+[Illustration: musical notation: Ex. 1]
+
+These, of course, were sung in the most convenient range in my voice.
+The more rapid exercises I took from C to F above the treble staff.
+
+[Illustration: musical notation: Ex. 2]
+
+Even to this day I sing up to high F every day, in order that I may be
+sure that I have the tones to E below in public work. Another exercise
+which I used very frequently was this, in the form of a trill. Great
+care was taken to have the intonation (pitch) absolutely accurate in the
+rapid passages, as well as in the slow passages.
+
+[Illustration: musical notation: Ex. 3]
+
+When I had reached a certain point, I determined that it might be
+possible for me to get an engagement. I was then twenty, and my dear
+mother was horrified at the idea of my going on the stage so young. She
+was afraid of evil influences. In my own mind I realized that evil was
+everywhere, in business, society, everywhere, and that if one was to
+keep out of dirt and come out dean, one must make one's art the object
+first of all. Art is so great, so all-consuming, that any one with a
+deep reverence for its beauties, its grandeur, can have but little time
+for the lower things of life. All that an artist calls for in his soul
+is to be permitted to work at his best in his art. Then, and then only,
+is he happiest. Because of my mother's opposition, and because I felt I
+was strong enough to resist the temptations which she knew I might
+encounter, I virtually eloped with a copy of _Rigoletto_ under my arm
+and made my way for the Teatro Constanzi, the leading Opera House of
+Rome.
+
+I might readily have secured letters from influential musical friends,
+such as Mascagni and others, but I determined that it would be best to
+secure an engagement upon my own merits, if I could, and then I would
+know whether or not I was really prepared to make my d�but, or whether I
+had better study more. I went to the manager's office and, appealing to
+his business sense, told him that, as I was a young unknown singer, he
+could secure my services for little money, and begged for permission to
+sing for him. I knew he was beset by such requests, but he immediately
+gave me a hearing, and I was engaged for one performance of
+_Rigoletto_. The night of the d�but came, and I was obliged to sing
+_Caro Nome_ again in response to a vociferous encore. This was followed
+by other successes, and I was engaged for two years for a South American
+tour, under the direction of my good friend and adviser, the great
+operatic director, Mugnone. In South America there was enthusiasm
+everywhere, but all the time I kept working constantly with my voice,
+striving to perfect details.
+
+At the end of the South American tour I desired to visit New York and
+find out what America was like. Because of the war Europe was
+operatically impossible (it was 1916), but I had not the slightest idea
+of singing in the United States just then. By merest accident I ran into
+an American friend (Mr. Thorner) on Broadway. He had heard me sing in
+Italy, and immediately took me to Maestro Campanini, who was looking
+then for a coloratura soprano to sing for only two performances in
+Chicago, as the remainder of his program was filled for the year. This
+was in the springtime, and it meant that I was to remain in New York
+until October and November. The opportunity seemed like an unusual
+accident of fate, and I resolved to stay, studying my own voice all the
+while to improve it more and more. October and the d�but in _Rigoletto_
+came. The applause astounded me; it was electric, like a thunderstorm.
+No one was more astonished than I. Engagements and offers came from
+everywhere, but not enough, I hope, to ever induce me not to believe
+that in the vocal art one must continually strive for higher and higher
+goals. Laziness, indifference and lassitude which come with success are
+the ruin of Art and the artist. The normal healthy artist with the right
+ideals never reaches his Zenith. If he did, or if he thought he did, his
+career would come to a sudden end.
+
+[Illustration: MARY GARDEN.
+
+� Mishkin.]
+
+
+
+
+MARY GARDEN
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Mary Garden was born February 20th, 1877, in Aberdeen, Scotland. She
+came to America with her parents when she was eight years of age and was
+brought up in Chicopee, Massachusetts, Hartford, Connecticut, and
+Chicago, Illinois. She studied the violin when she was six and the piano
+when she was twelve. It was the ambition of her parents to make her an
+instrumental performer. She studied voice with Mrs. S. R. Duff, who in
+time took her to Paris and placed her under the instruction of
+Trabadello and Lucien Fug�re. Her operatic d�but was made in
+Charpentier's _Louise_ at the Opera Comique in 1900. Her success was
+immediate both as an actress and as a singer. She was chosen by Debussy
+and others for especially intricate r�les. She created the r�le of
+_Melisande_; also, _Fiammette_ in Laroux's _La Reine Fiammette_. In 1907
+she made her American d�but in _Tha�s_ at the Manhattan Opera House in
+New York City. Later she accepted leading r�les with the
+Philadelphia-Chicago Opera Co. She is considered by many the finest
+singing actress living--her histrionic gifts being in every way equal to
+her vocal gifts. In 1921 she was made the manager of the Chicago Opera
+Company.
+
+
+
+
+THE KNOW HOW IN THE ART OF SINGING
+
+MARY GARDEN
+
+
+The modern opera singer cannot content herself merely with the "know
+how" of singing. That is, she must be able to know so much more than the
+mere elemental facts of voice production that it would take volumes to
+give an intimation of the real requirements.
+
+The girl who wants to sing in opera must have one thought and one
+thought only--"what will contribute to my musical, histrionic and
+artistic success?"
+
+Unless the "career" comes first there is not likely to be any "career."
+
+I wonder if the public ever realizes what this sacrifice means to an
+artiste--to a woman.
+
+Of course, there are great recompenses--the thrill that comes with
+artistic triumphs--the sensations that accompany achievement--who but
+the artist can know what this means--the joy of bringing to life some
+great masterpiece?
+
+Music manifests itself in children at a very early age. It is very rare
+indeed that it comes to the surface later in life. I was always musical.
+Only the media changed--one time it was violin, then piano, then voice.
+The dolls of my sisters only annoyed me because I could not tolerate
+dolls. They seemed a waste of time to me, and when they had paper
+dolls, I would go into the room when nobody was looking and cut the
+dolls' heads off. I have never been able to account for my delight in
+doing this.
+
+My father was musical. He wanted me to be a musician, but he had little
+thought at first of my being a singer. Accordingly, at eight I was
+possessed of a fiddle. This meant more to me than all the dolls in the
+world. Oh, how I loved that violin, which I could make speak just by
+drawing a bow over it! There was something worth while.
+
+I was only as big as a minute, and, of course, as soon as I could play
+the routine things of de Beriot, variations and the like, I was
+considered one of those abominable things, "an infant prodigy."
+
+I was brought out to play for friends and any musical person who could
+stand it. Then I gave a concert, and my father saw the finger of destiny
+pointing to my career as a great violinist.
+
+To me the finger of destiny pointed the other way; because I immediately
+sickened of the violin and dropped it forever. Yes, I could play now if
+I had to, but you probably wouldn't want to hear me.
+
+Ah, but I do play. I play every time I sing. The violin taught me the
+need for perfect intonation, fluency in execution, ever so many things.
+
+Then came the piano. Here was a new artistic toy. I worked very hard
+with it. My sister and I went back to Aberdeen for a season of private
+school, and I kept up my piano until I could play acceptably many of
+the best-known compositions, Grieg, Chopin, etc., being my favorites. I
+was never a very fine pianist, understand me, but the piano unlocked the
+doors to thousands of musical treasure houses--admitted me to musical
+literature through the main gate, and has been of invaluable aid to me
+in my career. See my fingers, how long and thin they are--of course, I
+was a capable pianist--long, supple fingers, combined with my musical
+experience gained in violin playing, made that certain.
+
+Then I dropped the piano. Dropped it at once. Its possibilities stood
+revealed before me, and they were not to be the limit of my ambitions.
+
+For the girl who hopes to be an operatic "star" there could be nothing
+better than a good drilling in violin or piano. The girl has no business
+to sing while she is yet a child--and she is that until she is sixteen
+or over. Better let her work hard getting a good general education and a
+good musical education. The voice will keep, and it will be sweeter and
+fresher if it is not overused in childhood.
+
+Once, with my heart set upon becoming a singer, my father fortunately
+took me to Mrs. Robinson Duff, of Chicago. To her, my mentor to this
+day, I owe much of my vocal success. I was very young and very
+emotional, with a long pigtail down my back. At first the work did not
+enrapture me, for I could not see the use of spending so much time upon
+breathing. Now I realize what it did for me.
+
+What should the girl starting singing avoid? First, let her avoid an
+incompetent teacher. There are teachers, for instance, who deliberately
+teach the "stroke of the glottis" (coup de glotte).
+
+What is the stroke of the glottis? The lips of the vocal cords in the
+larynx are pressed together so that the air becomes compressed behind
+them and instead of coming out in a steady, unimpeded stream, it causes
+a kind of explosion. Say the word "up" in the throat very forcibly and
+you will get the right idea.
+
+This is a most pernicious habit. Somehow, it crept into some phases of
+vocal teaching, and has remained. It leads to a constant irritation of
+the throat and ruin to the vocal organs.
+
+When I went to Paris, Mrs. Duff took me to many of the leading vocal
+teachers of the city, and said, "Now, Mary, I want you to use your own
+judgment in picking out a teacher, because if you don't like the teacher
+you will not succeed."
+
+Thus we went around from studio to studio. One asked me to do this--to
+hum--to make funny, unnatural noises, anything but sing. Finally,
+Trabadello, now retired to his country home, really asked me to sing in
+a normal, natural way, not as a freak. I said to myself, "This is the
+teacher for me." I could not have had a better one.
+
+Look out for teachers with freak methods--ten to one they are making you
+one of their experiments. There is nothing that any voice teacher has
+ever found superior to giving simple scales and exercises sung upon the
+syllables Lah (ah, as in harbor), Leh (eh, as in they), Lee (ee, as in
+me). With a good teacher to keep watch over the breathing and the
+quality, "what more can one have?"
+
+I have always believed in a great many scales and in a great deal of
+singing florid r�les in Italian. Italian is inimitable for the singer.
+The dulcet, velvet-like character of the language gives something which
+nothing else can impart. It does not make any difference whether you
+purpose singing in French, German, English, Russian or Soudanese, you
+will gain much from exercising in Italian.
+
+Staccato practice is valuable. Here is an exercise which I take nearly
+every day of my life:
+
+[Illustration: musical notation]
+
+The staccato must be controlled from the diaphragm, however, and this
+comes only after a great deal of work.
+
+Three-quarters of an hour a day practice suffices me. I find it
+injurious to practice too long. But I study for hours. Such a r�le as
+_Aphrodite_ I take quietly and sing it over mentally time and time again
+without making a sound. I study the harmonies, the nuances, the
+phrasing, the breathing, so that when the time for singing it comes I
+know it and do not waste my voice by going over it time and again, as
+some singers do. In the end I find that I know it better for this kind
+of study.
+
+The study of acting has been a very personal matter with me. I have
+never been through any courses of study, such as that given in dramatic
+schools. This may do for some people, but it would have been impossible
+for me. There must be technic in all forms of art, but it has always
+seemed to me that acting was one of the arts in which the individual
+must make his own technic. I have seen many representatives of the
+schools of acting here and abroad. Sometimes their performances, based
+upon technical studies of the art, result in superb acting. Again, their
+work is altogether indifferent. Technic in acting is more likely to
+suppress than to inspire. If acting is not inspired, it is nothing. I
+study the human emotions that would naturally underlie the scene in
+which I am placed--then I think what one would be most likely to do
+under such conditions. When the actual time of appearance on the stage
+arrives, I forget all about this and make myself the person of the r�le.
+
+This is the Italian method rather than the French. There are, to my
+mind, no greater actors living than Duse and Zacchona, and they are both
+exponents of the natural method that I employ.
+
+Great acting has always impressed me wonderfully. I went from Paris to
+London repeatedly to see Beerbohm Tree in his best r�les. Sir Herbert
+was not always uniformly fine, but he was a great actor and I learned
+much from watching him. Once I induced Debussy to make the trip to see
+him act. Debussy was delighted.
+
+Debussy! Ah, what a rare genius--my greatest friend in Art! Everything
+he wrote we went over together. He was a terribly exacting master. Few
+people in America realize what a transcendent pianist he was. The piano
+seemed to be thinking, feeling, vibrating while he was at the keyboard.
+Time and again we went over his principal works, note for note. Now and
+then he would stop and clasp his hands over his face in sudden silence,
+repeating, "It is all wrong--it is all wrong." But he was too good a
+teacher to let it go at that. He could tell me exactly what was wrong
+and how to remedy it. When I first sang for him, at the time when they
+were about to produce _Pelleas and Melisande_ at the Opera Comique, I
+thought that I had not pleased him. But I learned later that he had said
+to M. Carr�, the director: "Don't look for anyone else." From that time
+he and his family became my close friends. The fatalistic side of our
+meeting seemed to interest him very much. "To think," he used to say,
+"that you were born in Aberdeen, Scotland, lived in America all those
+years and should come to Paris to create my _Melisande_!"
+
+As I have said, Debussy was a gorgeous pianist. He could play with the
+greatest delicacy and could play in the leonine fashion of Rubinstein.
+He was familiar with Beethoven, Bach, Handel and the classics, and was
+devoted to them. Wagner he could not abide. He called him a "griffe
+papier"--a scribbler. He thought that he had no importance in the world
+of music, and to mention Wagner to him was like waving a red flag
+before a bull.
+
+It is difficult to account for such an opinion. Wagner, to me, is the
+great tone colorist, the master of orchestral wealth and dramatic
+intensity. Sometimes I have been so Wagner-hungry that I have not known
+what to do. For years I went every year to Munich to see the wonderful
+performances at the Prinzregenten Theater.
+
+In closing let me say that it seems to me a great deal of the failure
+among young singers is that they are too impatient to acquire the "know
+how." They want to blossom out on the first night as great prima donnas,
+without any previous experience. How ridiculous this is! I worked for a
+whole year at the Opera Comique, at $100 a month, singing such a trying
+opera as _Louise_ two and three times a week. When they raised me to
+$175 a month I thought that I was rich, and when $400 a month came, my
+fortune had surely been made! All this time I was gaining precious
+experience. It could not have come to me in any other way. As I have
+said, the natural school--the natural school, like that of the
+Italians--stuffed as it is with glorious red blood instead of the white
+bones of technic in the misunderstood sense, was the only possible
+school for me. If our girls would only stop hoping to make a d�but at
+$1,000 a night and get down to real hard work, the results would come
+much quicker and there would be fewer broken hearts.
+
+
+
+
+MME. ALMA GLUCK
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Mme. Alma Gluck was born at Jassy, Roumania. Her father played the
+violin, but was not a professional musician. At the age of six she was
+brought to America. She was taught the piano and sang naturally, but had
+no idea of becoming a singer. Her vocal training was not begun until she
+was twenty years of age. Her teacher, at that time, was Signor
+Buzzi-Peccia, with whom she remained for three years, going directly
+from his studio to the Metropolitan Opera House of New York. She
+remained there for three years, when the immense success of her concert
+work drew her away from opera. She then studied with Jean de Reszke, and
+later with Mme. Sembrich for four or five years. Since then she has
+appeared in all parts of the United States with unvarying success. Her
+records have been among the most popular of any ever issued. Together
+with her husband, Efrem Zimbalist, the distinguished violinist, she has
+appeared before immense audiences in joint recitals.
+
+[Illustration: MME. ALMA GLUCK.
+
+� Mishkin.]
+
+
+
+
+BUILDING A VOCAL REPERTOIRE
+
+ALMA GLUCK
+
+
+Many seem surprised when I tell them that my vocal training did not
+begin until I was twenty years of age. It seems to me that it is a very
+great mistake for any girl to begin the serious study of singing before
+that age, as the feminine voice, in most instances, is hardly settled
+until then. Vocal study before that time is likely to be injurious,
+though some survive it in the hands of very careful and understanding
+teachers.
+
+The first kind of a repertoire that the student should acquire is a
+repertoire of solfeggios. I am a great believer in the solfeggio. Using
+that for a basis, one is assured of acquiring facility and musical
+accuracy. The experienced listener can tell at once the voice that has
+had such training. Always remember that musicianship carries one much
+further than a good natural voice. The voice, even more than the hands,
+needs a kind of exhaustive technical drill. This is because in this
+training you are really building the instrument itself. In the piano,
+one has the instrument complete before he begins; but in the case of the
+voice, the instrument has to be developed and sometimes _made_ by study.
+When the pupil is practicing, tones grow in volume, richness and
+fluency.
+
+There are exercises by Bordogni, Concone, Vaccai, Lamperti, Marchesi,
+Panofka, Panserson and many others with which I am not familiar, which
+are marvelously beneficial when intelligently studied. These I sang on
+the syllable "Ah," and not with the customary syllable names. It has
+been said that the syllables Do, Re, Mi, Fa, etc., aid one in reading.
+To my mind, they are often confusing.
+
+
+GO TO THE CLASSICS
+
+After a thorough drilling in solfeggios and technical exercises, I would
+have the student work on the operatic arias of Bellini, Rossini,
+Donizetti, Verdi, and others. These men knew how to write for the human
+voice! Their arias are so vocal that the voice develops under them and
+the student gains vocal assurance. They were written before modern
+philosophy entered into music--when music was intended for the ear
+rather than for the mind. I cannot lay too much stress on the importance
+of using these arias. They are a tonic for the voice, and bring back the
+elasticity which the more subdued singing of songs taxes.
+
+When one is painting pictures through words, and trying to create
+atmosphere in songs, so much repression is brought into play that the
+voice must have a safety-valve, and that one finds in the bravura arias.
+Here one sings for about fifty bars, "The sky is clouded for me," "I
+have been betrayed," or "Joy abounds"--the words being simply a vehicle
+for the ever-moving melody.
+
+When hearing an artist like John McCormack sing a popular ballad it all
+seems so easy, but in reality songs of that type are the very hardest to
+sing and must have back of them years of hard training or they fall to
+banality. They are far more difficult than the limpid operatic arias,
+and are actually dangerous for the insufficiently trained voice.
+
+
+THE LYRIC SONG REPERTOIRE
+
+Then when the student has her voice under complete control, it is safe
+to take up the lyric repertoire of Mendelssohn, Old English Songs, etc.
+How simple and charming they are! The works of the lighter French
+composers, Hahn, Massenet, Chaminade, Gounod, and others. Then Handel,
+Haydn, Mozart, L�we, Schubert, Schumann and Brahms. Later the student
+will continue with Strauss, Wolf, Reger, Rimsky-Korsakoff, Mousorgsky,
+Borodin and Rachmaninoff. Then the modern French composers, Ravel,
+Debussy, Georges, K�chlin, Hue, Chausson, and others. I leave French for
+the last because it is, in many ways, more difficult for an
+English-speaking person to sing. It is so full of complex and trying
+vowels that it requires the utmost subtlety to overcome these
+difficulties and still retain clarity in diction. For that reason the
+student should have the advice of a native French coach.
+
+When one has traveled this long road, then he is qualified to sing
+English songs and ballads.
+
+
+AMERICAN SONGS
+
+In this country we are rich in the quantity of songs rather than in the
+quality. The singer has to go through hundreds of compositions before he
+finds one that really says something. Commercialism overwhelms our
+composers. They approach their work with the question, "Will this go?"
+The spirit in which a work is conceived is that in which it will be
+executed. Inspired by the purse rather than the soul, the mercenary side
+fairly screams in many of the works put out by every-day American
+publishers. This does not mean that a song should be queer or ugly to be
+novel or immortal. It means that the sincerity of the art worker must
+permeate it as naturally as the green leaves break through the dead
+branches in springtime. Of the vast number of new American composers,
+there are hardly more than a dozen who seem to approach their work in
+the proper spirit of artistic reverence.
+
+
+ART FOR ART'S SAKE, A FARCE
+
+Nothing annoys me quite so much as the hysterical hypocrites who are
+forever prating about "art for art's sake." What nonsense! The student
+who deceives himself into thinking that he is giving his life like an
+ascetic in the spirit of sacrifice for art is the victim of a deplorable
+species of egotism. Art for art's sake is just as iniquitous an attitude
+in its way as art for money's sake. The real artist has no idea that he
+is sacrificing himself for art. He does what he does for one reason and
+one reason only--he can't help doing it. Just as the bird sings or the
+butterfly soars, because it is his natural characteristic, so the artist
+works.
+
+Time and again a student will send me an urgent appeal to hear her,
+saying she is poor and wants my advice as to whether it is worth while
+to continue her studies. I invariably refuse such requests, saying that
+if the student could give up her work on my advice she had better give
+it up without it. One does not study for a goal. One sings because one
+can't help it! The "goal" nine times out of ten is a mere accident.
+
+Art for art's sake is the mask of studio idlers. The task of acquiring a
+repertoire in these days, when the vocal literature is so immense, is so
+overwhelming, that the student with sense will devote all his energies
+to work, and not imagine himself a martyr to art.
+
+
+
+
+EMILIO DE GOGORZA
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Emilio Edoardo de Gogorza was born in Brooklyn, New York, May 29th,
+1874, of Spanish parents. His boyhood was spent in Spain, France and
+England. In the last named country he became a boy soprano and sang with
+much success. Part of his education was received at Oxford. He returned
+to America, where his vocal teachers were C. Moderati and E. Agramonte.
+His d�but was made in 1897 in a concert with Mme. Marcella Sembrich. His
+rich fluent baritone voice made him a great favorite at musical
+festivals in America. He has sung with nearly all of the leading
+American orchestras. The peculiar quality of his voice is especially
+adapted to record making and his records have been immensely popular. He
+married Emma Eames, July 13th, 1911.
+
+[Illustration: EMILIO DE GOGORZA.
+
+� Dupont]
+
+
+
+
+OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUNG CONCERT SINGERS
+
+EMILIO DE GOGORZA
+
+
+There has never been a time or a country presenting more inviting
+opportunities to the concert and the oratorio singer than the America of
+to-day. As a corollary to this statement there is the obvious fact that
+the American public, taken as a whole, is now the most discriminating
+public to be found anywhere in the world. Every concert is adequately
+reviewed by able writers; and singers are continually on their mettle.
+It therefore follows that while there are opportunities for concert and
+oratorio singers, there is no room for the inefficient, the talentless,
+brainless aspirants who imagine that a great vocal career awaits them
+simply because they have a few good tones and a pleasing stage presence.
+
+This is the age of the brain. In singing, the voice is only a detail. It
+is the mentality, the artistic feeling, the skill in interpretation that
+counts. Some of the greatest artists are vocally inferior to singers of
+lesser reputation. Why? Because they read, because they study, because
+they broaden their intellects and extend their culture until their
+appreciation of the beautiful is so comprehensive that every degree of
+human emotion may be effectively portrayed. In a word they become
+artists. Take the case of Victor Maurel, for instance. If he were ninety
+years old and had only the shred of a voice but still retained his
+artistic grasp, I would rather hear him than any living singer. I have
+learned more from hearing him sing than from any other singer. Verdi
+chose him to sing in _Otello_ against the advice of several friends,
+saying: "He has more brain than any five singers I know."
+
+Some people imagine that when an artist is embarked upon his
+professional work study ceases. It is a great mistake. No one works
+harder than I do to broaden my culture and interpretative skill. I am
+constantly studying and trust that I may never cease. The greater the
+artist the more incessant the study. It is one of the secrets of large
+success.
+
+
+SPECIAL STUDY REQUIRED FOR CONCERT SINGING
+
+People imagine that the opera requires a higher kind of vocal
+preparation than the concert or oratorio stage. This is also a great
+misconception. The operatic singers who have been successful as concert
+singers at once admit that concert singing is much more difficult.
+Comparatively few opera singers succeed as concert singers. Why? Because
+in opera the voice needs to be concentrated and more or less uniform. An
+opera house is really two buildings, the auditorium and the stage. The
+stage with its tall scene-loft is frequently as large from the
+standpoint of cubic feet as the auditorium. Sometimes it is larger. To
+fill these two immense buildings the voice must be strong and
+continually concentrated, _dans le Masque_. The delicate little effects
+that the concert singer is obliged to produce would not be heard over
+the footlights. In order to retain interest without the assistance of
+scenery and action the concert singer's interpretative work must be
+marked by an attention to details that the opera singer rarely
+considers. The voice, therefore, requires a different treatment. It must
+be so finely trained that it becomes susceptible to the most delicate
+change of thought in the singer's mind. This demands a really enormous
+amount of work.
+
+The successful concert singer must also have an endurance that enables
+her to undergo strains that the opera singer rarely knows. The grand
+opera singer in the great opera houses of the world rarely sings more
+than two or three times a week. The concert singer is often obliged to
+sing every night for weeks. They must learn how to relax and save the
+voice at all times, otherwise they will lose elasticity and sweetness.
+
+A young woman vocal student, with talent, a good natural voice,
+intelligence, industry, sufficient practice time, a high school
+education, and a knowledge of the rudiments of music, might complete a
+course of study leading to a successful concert d�but in three years.
+More frequently four or five years may be required. With a bungling
+teacher she may spend six or seven. The cost of her instruction, with a
+good teacher in a great metropolis, will be more per year than if she
+went to almost any one of the leading universities admitting women. She
+will have to work harder than if she took a regular college course.
+Progress depends upon the individual. One girl will accomplish more in
+two years than another will accomplish in five years. Again, the rate of
+progress depends upon personal development. Sometimes a course of study
+with a good teacher will awaken a latent energy and mental condition
+that will enable the student to make great strides.
+
+My most important work has been done by self-study with the assistance
+and advice of many singers and teachers who have been my friends. No
+pupil who depends entirely upon a teacher will succeed. She must work
+out her own salvation. It is the private thought, incessant effort and
+individual attitude that lead to success.
+
+
+STUDY IN YOUR HOME COUNTRY
+
+I honestly believe that the young vocal student can do far better by
+studying in America than by studying abroad. European residence and
+travel are very desirable, but the study may be done to better advantage
+right here in our own country. Americans want the best and they get it.
+In Europe they have no conception whatever of the extent of musical
+culture in America. It is a continual source of amazement to me. In the
+West and Northwest I find audiences just as intelligent and as
+appreciative as in Boston. There is the greatest imaginable catholicity
+of taste. Just at present the tendency is away from the old German
+classics and is leading to the modern works of French, German and
+American composers. Still I find that I can sing a song like Schumann's
+"Widmung" in Western cities that only a few years ago were mere
+collections of frontier huts and shacks, and discover that the genius of
+Schumann is just as potent there as in New York City. I have recently
+been all over Europe, and I have seen no such condition anywhere as that
+I have just described. It is especially gratifying to note in America a
+tremendous demand for the best vocal works of the American composers.
+
+The young concert singer must have a very comprehensive repertoire.
+Every new work properly mastered is an asset. In oratorio she should
+first of all learn those works that are most in demand, like the
+_Messiah_, the _Elijah_, the _Creation_ and the _Redemption_. Then
+attention may be given to the modern works and works more rarely
+performed, like those of Elgar, Perosi and others. After the young
+singer has proven her worth with the public she may expect an income of
+from $10,000.00 to $15,000.00 a year. That is what our first-class
+singers have received for high-class concert work. Some European prima
+donnas like Schumann-Heink and others have commanded much higher
+figures.
+
+You ask me what influence the sound reproducing machines have had upon
+the demand for good vocal music in America. They have unquestionably
+increased the demand very greatly. They have even been known to make
+reputations for singers entirely without any other road to publicity.
+Take the case of Madame Michaelowa, a Russian prima donna who has never
+visited America. Thousands of records of her voice have been sold in
+America, and now the demand for her appearance in this country has been
+so great that she has been offered huge sums for an American tour. I
+believe that if used intelligently the sound reproducing machine may
+become a great help to the teacher and student. It is used in many of
+the great opera houses of the world as an aid in determining the
+engagement of new singers who cannot be personally heard. Some of the
+records of my own voice have been so excellent that they seem positively
+uncanny to me when I hear them reproduced.
+
+I have no patent exercises to offer to singing students. There are a
+thousand ways of learning to breathe properly and they all lead to one
+end. Breathing may best be studied when it is made coincident with the
+requirements of singing. I have no fantastic technical studies to offer.
+My daily work simply consists of scales, arpeggios and the simplest kind
+of exercises, the simpler the better. I always make it a point to
+commence practicing very softly, slowly and surely. I never sing notes
+outside my most comfortable range at the start. Taking notes too high or
+too low is an extremely bad plan at first. Many young students make this
+fault. They also sing much too loud. The voice should be exercised for
+some considerable time on soft exercises before loud notes are even
+attempted. It is precisely the same as with physical exercises. The
+athlete who exerts himself to his fullest extent at first is working
+toward ultimate exhaustion. I have known students who sang "at the top
+of their lungs" and called it practice. The next day they grew hoarse
+and wondered why the hoarseness came.
+
+
+NEVER SING WHEN TIRED
+
+Never sing when out of sorts, tired or when the throat is sore. It is
+all very well to try to throw such a condition off as if it were a state
+of mind. My advice is, DON'T. I have known singers to try to sing off a
+sore throat and secure as a result a loss of voice for several days.
+
+Our American climate is very bad for singers. The dust of our
+manufacturing cities gets in the throat and irritates it badly. The
+noise is very nerve racking, and I have a theory that the electricity in
+the air is injurious.
+
+As I have said, the chances in the concert and operatic field are
+unlimited for those who deserve to be there. Don't be misled. Thousands
+of people are trying to become concert and oratorio singers who have not
+talent, temperament, magnetism, the right kind of intelligence nor the
+true musical feeling. It is pitiful to watch them. They are often
+deluded by teachers who are biased by pecuniary necessity. It is safe to
+say that at the end of a year's good instruction the teacher may safely
+tell what the pupil's chances are. Some teachers are brutally frank.
+Their opinions are worth those of a thousand teachers who consider their
+own interests first. Secure the opinions of as many artists as possible
+before you determine upon a professional career. The artist is not
+biased. He does not want you for a pupil and has nothing to gain in
+praising you. If he gives you an unfavorable report, thank him, because
+he is probably thinking of your best interests.
+
+As I have said, progress depends upon the individual. One man can go
+into a steel foundry and learn more in two years than another can in
+five. If you do not become conscious of audible results at the end of
+one or two years' study do some serious thinking. You are either on the
+wrong track or you have not the natural qualifications which lead to
+success on the concert and oratorio stage.
+
+[Illustration: MME. FRIEDA HEMPEL.
+
+� Mitzi]
+
+
+
+
+FRIEDA HEMPEL
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Frieda Hempel was born at Leipzig, June 26, 1885. She studied piano for
+a considerable time at the Leipzig Conservatory and the Stern
+Conservatory. Later she studied singing with Mme. Nicklass Kempner, to
+whom she is indebted for her entire vocal education up to the time of
+her d�but in opera. Her first appearance was in the _Merry Wives of
+Windsor_, at the Royal Opera in Berlin. After many very successful
+appearances in leading European Opera Houses she was engaged for the
+Metropolitan Opera House in New York where she immediately became very
+popular in stellar r�les. Her repertoire runs from the _Marriage of
+Figaro_ to _Die Meistersinger_. Her voice is a clear, pure, sweet
+soprano; and, like Mme. Sembrich and Mme. Galli-Curci, she clearly shows
+the value of her instrumental training in the accuracy, precision and
+clarity of her coloratura work. She has made many successful concert
+tours of the United States. In addition to being a brilliant singer she
+is an excellent actress. She is now an American citizen and the wife of
+an American business man.
+
+
+
+
+THOROUGHNESS IN VOCAL PREPARATION
+
+MME. FRIEDA HEMPEL
+
+WHY SOME SUCCEED AND SOME FAIL
+
+
+In every thousand girls who aspire to Grand Opera probably not more than
+one ever succeeds. This is by no means because of lack of good voices.
+There are great numbers of good voices; although many girls who want to
+be opera singers either deceive themselves or are deceived by others
+(often charlatan teachers) into believing that they have fine natural
+voices when they have not. There is nothing more glorious than a
+beautiful human voice--a voice strong, resonant, if necessary, but
+velvety and luscious if needs be. There are many girls with really
+beautiful natural voices who have lost their chances in Grand Opera
+largely because they have either not had the personal persistence
+necessary to carry them to the point where their services are in demand
+by the public or they have had the misfortune not to have the right kind
+of a vocal or musical drill master--a really good teacher.
+
+Teachers in these days waste a fearful amount of time in what they
+consider to be their methods. They tell you to sing in the back, or on
+the side or through the mask or what not, instead of getting right down
+to the real work. My teacher in Berlin, at the Conservatory, insisted
+first of all upon having me sing tones and scales--mostly long sustained
+tones--for at least one entire year. These were sung very softly, very
+evenly, until I could employ every tone in my voice with sureness and
+certainty. I don't see how it could possibly have been accomplished in
+less time. Try that on the American girl and she will think that she is
+being cheated out of something. Why should she wait a whole year with
+silly tones when she knows that she can sing a great aria with only a
+little more difficulty?
+
+The basis of all fine singing, whether in the opera house or on the
+concert stage, is a good legato. My teacher (Nicklass Kempner) was very
+insistent upon this. In working with such studies as those of Concone,
+Bordogni, L�tgen, Marchesi or Garcia--the best part of the attention of
+the teacher was given to the simple yet difficult matter of a beautiful
+legato. After one has been through a mass of such material, the matter
+of legato singing becomes more or less automatic. The tendency to slide
+from one tone to another is done away with. The connection between one
+tone and another in good legato is so clean, so free from blurs that
+there is nothing to compare it with. One tone takes the place of another
+just as though one coin or disk were placed directly on top of another
+without any of the edges showing. The change is instantaneous and
+imperceptible. If one were to gradually slide one coin over another coin
+you would have a graphic illustration of what most people think is
+legato. The result is that they sound like steam sirens, never quite
+definitely upon any tone of the scale.
+
+
+A GOOD LEGATO
+
+A good legato can only be acquired after an enormous amount of thorough
+training. The tendency to be careless is human. Habits of carefulness
+come only after much drill. The object of the student and the teacher
+should be to make a singer--not to acquire a scanty repertoire of a few
+arias. Very few of the operas I now sing were learned in my student
+days. That was not the object of my teacher. The object was to prepare
+me to take up anything from _Martha_ to _Rosenkavalier_ and know how to
+study it myself in the quickest and most thorough manner. Woe be to the
+pupil of the teacher who spends most of the time in teaching songs,
+arias, etc., before the pupil is really ready to study such things.
+
+
+GOOD FOUNDATIONS
+
+Everything is in a good foundation. If you expect a building to last
+only a few weeks you might put up a foundation in a day or so--but if
+you watch the builders of the great edifices here in American cities you
+will find that more time is often spent upon the foundation than upon
+the building itself. They dig right down to the bed rock and pile on so
+much stone, concrete and steel that even great earthquakes are often
+withstood.
+
+
+A LARGE REPERTOIRE
+
+With such a thorough foundation as I had it has not been difficult to
+acquire a repertoire of some seventy-five operas. That is, by learning
+one at a time and working continually over a number of years the operas
+come easily. In learning a new work I first read the work through as a
+whole several times to get the character well fixed in my mind. Then I
+play the music through several times until I am very familiar with it.
+Then I learn the voice part, never studying it as a voice part by
+itself, but always in relation to the orchestra and the other r�les.
+Finally, I learn the interpretation--the dramatic presentation. One gets
+so little help from the orchestra in modern works that many rehearsals
+are necessary. In some passages it is just like walking in a dark night.
+Only a true ear and thorough training can serve to keep one on the key
+or anywhere near the key. It is therefore highly necessary that vocal
+students should have a good musical training in addition to the vocal
+training. In most European conservatories the study of piano and harmony
+are compulsory for all vocal students. Not to have had this musical
+training that the study of the piano brings about, not to have had a
+good course in theory or in training for sight-singing (ear training) is
+to leave out important pillars in a thorough musical foundation.
+
+
+MORE OPERA FOR AMERICA
+
+It would be a great gratification for all who are interested in opera to
+see more fine opera houses erected in America with more opportunities
+for the people. The performances at the Metropolitan are exceedingly
+fine, but only a comparatively few people can possibly hear them and
+there is little opportunity for the performance of a wide variety of
+operas. The opera singer naturally gets tired of singing a few r�les
+over and over again. The American people should develop a taste for more
+and more different operas. There is such a wonderful field that it
+should not be confined to the performance of a very few works that
+happen to be in fashion. This is not at all the case in Europe--there
+the repertoires are very much more extensive--more interesting for the
+public and the artists alike.
+
+
+STRONG EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF OPERA
+
+Opera has always seemed to me a very necessary thing in the State. It
+has a strong educational value in that it develops the musical taste of
+the public as well as teaching lessons in history and the humanities in
+a very forceful manner. Children should be taken to opera as a regular
+part of their education. Opera makes a wonderful impression upon the
+child's imagination--the romance, the color, the music, the action are
+rarely forgotten. Many of the operas are beautiful big fairy stories and
+the little folks glory in them. Parents who desire to develop the taste
+of their children and at the same time stimulate their minds along
+broader lines can do no better than to take them to opera. Little towns
+in Europe often have fine opera houses, while many American cities
+several times their size have to put up with moving picture theatre
+houses. Why does not some enthusiastic American leader take up a
+campaign for more opera in America? With the taste of the public
+educated through countless talking machine records, it should not prove
+a bad business venture if it is gone about in a sensible manner.
+
+
+
+
+DAME NELLIE MELBA
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Dame Nellie Melba (stage name for Mrs. Nellie Porter Armstrong, n�e
+Mitchell) is described in Grove's Dictionary as "the first singer of
+British birth to attain such an exalted position upon the lyric stage as
+well as upon the concert platform." Dame Melba was born at Burnley near
+Melbourne, May 19, 1861, of Scotch ancestry. She sang at the Town Hall
+at Richmond when she was six years of age. She studied piano, harmony,
+composition and violin very thoroughly. At one time she was considered
+the finest amateur pianist in Melbourne. She also played the church
+organ in the local church with much success. In 1882 she married Captain
+Charles Armstrong, son of Sir Andrew Armstrong, Baronet (of Kings
+County, Ireland). In 1886 she sang at Queens Hall in London. After
+studying with Mme. Marchesi for twelve months she made her d�but as
+Gilda (_Rigoletto_) at the Th��tre de la Monnaie in Brussels. Her
+success was instantaneous. Her London d�but was made in _Lucia_ in 1888.
+One year later she made her Parisian d�but in Thomas' _Hamlet_. In 1894
+she created the r�le of Nedda in _I Pagliacci_. Petrograd "went wild"
+over her in 1892. In 1892 she repeated her successes and in 1893 she
+began her long series of American triumphs. The fact that her voice,
+like that of Patti, has remained astonishingly fresh and silvery despite
+the enormous amount of singing she has done attests better than anything
+else to the excellence of her method of singing. In the following
+conference she gives the secret of preserving the voice.
+
+[Illustration: DAME NELLIE MELBA.]
+
+
+
+
+COMMON SENSE IN TRAINING AND PRESERVING THE VOICE
+
+DAME NELLIE MELBA
+
+HOW CAN A GOOD VOICE BE DETECTED?
+
+
+The young singer's first anxiety is usually to learn whether her voice
+is sufficiently good to make it worth while to go through the enormous
+work of preparing herself for the operatic stage. How is she to
+determine this? Surely not upon the advice of her immediate friends, nor
+upon that of those to whom she would naturally turn for spiritual
+advice, medical advice or legal advice. But this is usually just what
+she does. Because of the honored positions held by her rector, her
+physician, or her family lawyer, their services are all brought to bear
+upon her, and after an examination of her musical ability their
+unskilled opinion is given a weight it obviously does not deserve. The
+only one to judge is a skilled musician, with good artistic taste and
+some experience in voice matters. It is sometimes difficult to approach
+a singing teacher for this advice, as even the most honest could not
+fail to be somewhat influenced where there is a prospect of a pupil. I
+do not mean to malign the thousands of worthy teachers, but such a
+position is a delicate one, and the pupil should avoid consulting with
+any adviser except one who is absolutely disinterested.
+
+In any event the mere possession of a voice that is sweet and strong by
+no means indicates that the owner has the additional equipment which the
+singer must possess. Musical intelligence is quite as great an asset as
+the possession of a fine voice. By musical intelligence I mean something
+quite different from general intelligence. People seem to expect that
+the young person who desires to become a fine pianist or a fine
+violinist, or a fine composer, should possess certain musical talents.
+That is, they should experience a certain quickness in grasping musical
+problems and executing them. The singer, however, by some peculiar
+popular ruling seems to be exempted from this. No greater mistake could
+possibly be made. Very few people are musically gifted. When one of
+these people happens to possess a good voice, great industry, a love for
+vocal art, physical strength, patience, good sense, good taste and
+abundant faith in her possibilities, the chances of making a good singer
+are excellent. I lay great stress upon great determination and good
+health. I am often obliged to sing one night, then travel a thousand
+miles to sing the next night. Notwithstanding such journeys, the singer
+is expected to be in prime condition, look nice, and please a veritable
+multitude of comparative strangers all expecting wonderful things from
+her. Do you wonder that I lay stress upon good health?
+
+The youthful training of the singer should be confined quite strictly to
+that of obtaining a good general and musical education. That is, the
+vocal training may be safely postponed until the singer is seventeen or
+eighteen years of age. Of course there have been cases of famous singers
+who have sung during their childhood, but they are exceptions to all
+rules. The study of singing demands the direction of an intelligent,
+well-ordered mind. It is by no means wholly a matter of imitation. In
+fact, without some cultivation of the taste, that is, the sense of
+discriminating between what is good and bad, one may imitate with
+disastrous results.
+
+
+WHAT WORK SHOULD THE GIRL UNDER EIGHTEEN DO?
+
+I remember well an incident in my own youth. I once went to a concert
+and heard a much lauded singer render an aria that was in turn
+vociferously applauded by the audience. This singer possessed a most
+wonderful tremolo. Every tone went up and down like the teeth of a saw.
+It was impossible for her to sing a pure even tone without wobbling up
+and down. But the untrained audience, hungry to applaud anything
+musical, had cheered the singer despite the tremolo. Consequently I went
+home and after a few minutes' work I found that it was possible for me
+to produce a very wonderful tremolo. I went proudly to my teacher and
+gave an exhibition of my new acquirement. "Who on earth have you been
+listening to?" exclaimed my teacher. I confessed and was admonished not
+to imitate.
+
+The voice in childhood is a very delicate organ despite the wear and
+tear which children give it by unnecessary howling and screaming. More
+than this, the child-mind is so susceptible to impressions and these
+impressions become so firmly fixed that the best vocal training for the
+child should be that of taking the little one to hear great singers. All
+that the juvenile mind hears is not lost, although much will be
+forgotten. However, the better part will be unconsciously stowed away in
+the subconscious mind, to burst forth later in beautiful song through no
+different process than that by which the little birds store away the
+song of the older birds. Dealers in singing birds place them in rooms
+with older and highly developed singing birds to train them. This is not
+exactly a process of imitation, but rather one of subconscious
+assimilation. The bird develops his own song later on, but has the
+advantage of the stored-up impressions of the trained birds.
+
+
+A GENERAL MUSICAL TRAINING
+
+I have known many singers to fail dismally because they were simply
+singers. The idea that all the singer needs to know is how to produce
+tones resonantly and sweetly, how to run scales, make gestures and smile
+prettily is a perfectly ridiculous one. Success, particularly operatic
+success, depends upon a knowledge of a great many things. The general
+education of the singer should be as well rounded as possible. Nothing
+the singer ever learns in the public schools, or the high schools, is
+ever lost. History and languages are most important. I studied Italian
+and French in my childhood and this knowledge was of immense help to me
+in my later work. When I first went to Paris I had to acquire a
+colloquial knowledge of the language, but in all cases I found that the
+drill in French verbs I had gone through virtually saved me years of
+work. The French pronunciation is extremely difficult to acquire and
+some are obliged to reside in France for years before a fluent
+pronunciation can be counted on.
+
+I cannot speak too emphatically upon the necessity for a thorough
+musical education. A smattering is only an aggravation. Fortunately, my
+parents saw to it that I was taught the piano, the organ, the violin and
+thoroughbass. At first it was thought that I would become a professional
+pianist; and many were good enough to declare that I was the finest
+amateur pianist in Melbourne. My Scotch-Presbyterian parents would have
+been horrified if they had had any idea that they were helping me to a
+career that was in any way related to the footlights. Fortunately, my
+splendid father, who is now eighty-five years old, has long since
+recovered from his prejudices and is the proudest of all over my
+achievements. But I can not be too grateful to him for his great
+interest in seeing that my early musical training was comprehensive.
+Aside from giving me a more musicianly insight into my work, it has
+proved an immense convenience. I can play any score through. I learn all
+my operas myself. This enables me to form my own conception, that is, to
+create it, instead of being unconsciously influenced by the tempos and
+expression of some other individual. The times that I have depended upon
+a _repititeur_ have been so few that I can hardly remember them. So
+there, little girl, when you get on your mother's long train and sing
+to an imaginary audience of thousands, you will do better to run to the
+keyboard and practice scales or study your �tudes.
+
+
+THE FIRST VOCAL PRACTICE
+
+The first vocal practice should be very simple. There should be nothing
+in the way of an exercise that would encourage forcing of any kind. In
+fact the young singer should always avoid doing anything beyond the
+normal. Remember that a sick body means a sick voice. Again, don't
+forget your daily outdoor exercise. Horseback riding, golf and tennis
+are my favorites. An hour's walk on a lovely country road is as good for
+a singer as an hour's practice. I mean that.
+
+In avoiding strain the pupil must above all things learn to sing the
+upper notes without effort or rather strain. While it is desirable that
+a pupil should practice all her notes every day, she should begin with
+the lower notes, then take the middle notes and then the so-called upper
+notes or head notes which are generally described as beginning with the
+F sharp on the top line of the treble staff. This line may be regarded
+as a danger line for singers young and old. It is imperative that when
+the soprano sings her head notes, beginning with F sharp and upward,
+they shall proceed very softly and entirely without strain as they
+ascend. I can not emphasize this too strongly.
+
+
+PRESERVING THE VOICE
+
+Let me give you one of my greatest secrets. Like all secrets, it is
+perfectly simple and entirely rational. _Never give the public all you
+have._ That is, the singer owes it to herself never to go beyond the
+boundaries of her vocal possibilities. The singer who sings to the
+utmost every time is like the athlete who exhausts himself to the state
+of collapse. This is the only way in which I can account for what the
+critics term "the remarkable preservation" of my own voice. I have been
+singing for years in all parts of the musical world, growing richer in
+musical and human experience and yet my voice to-day feels as fresh and
+as dear as when I was in my teens. I have never strained, I have never
+continued r�les that proved unsuited to me, I have never sung when I
+have not been in good voice.
+
+This leads to another very important point. I have often had students
+ask me how they can determine whether their teachers are giving them the
+kind of method or instruction they should have. I have always replied,
+"If you feel tired after a lesson, if your throat is strained after a
+little singing, if you feel exhausted, your teacher is on the wrong
+track, no matter what he labels his method or how wonderful his
+credentials are."
+
+Isn't that very simple? I have known young girls to go on practicing
+until they couldn't speak. Let them go to a physician and have the
+doctor show them by means of a laryngoscope just how tender and
+delicate their vocal organs are. I call them my "little bits of
+cotton"; they seem so frail and so tiny. Do you wonder that I guard them
+carefully? This practice consists of the simplest imaginable
+exercises--sustained scales, chromatic scales and trills. It is not so
+much _what_ one practices, but _how_ one practices.
+
+
+IS THE ART OF SINGING DYING OUT?
+
+We continually hear critics complain that the art of singing is dying.
+It is easy enough to be a pessimist, and I do not want to class myself
+with the pessimists; but I can safely say that, unless more attention is
+paid to the real art of singing, there must be a decadence in a short
+time. By this I mean that the voice seems to demand a kind of exercise
+leading to flexibility and fluent tone production that is not found in
+the ultra-dramatic music of any of the modern composers. Young singers
+begin with good voices and, after an altogether inadequate term of
+preparation, they essay the works of Strauss and Wagner. In two years
+the first sign of a breakup occurs. Their voices become rough,--the
+velvet vanishes and note after note "breaks" disagreeably. The music of
+the older Italian composers, from Scarlatti or Carissimi to Donizetti
+and Bellini, despite the absurd libretti of their operas, demanded first
+of all dulcet tones and limpid fluency. The singers who turned their
+noses up at the florid arabesques of old Italy for the more rugged
+pageantry of modern Germany are destined to suffer the consequences. Let
+us have the masterpieces of the heroic Teutons, by all means, but let
+them be sung by vocalists trained as vocalists and not merely by actors
+who have only taken a few steps in vocal art.
+
+The main point of all operatic work must be observed if opera is to
+continue successfully. Delibes chose me to sing a performance of his
+_Lakm�_ at Brussels. It was to be my d�but in French. I had not then
+mastered the French pronunciation so that I could sing acceptably at the
+Paris Grand Opera, the scene of my later triumphs. Consequently I was
+permitted to sing in Brussels. There the directors objected to my
+pronunciation, calling it "abominable." Delibes replied, "_Qu'elle
+chante en chinois, si elle veut, mais qu'elle chante mon opera_" ("Even
+if she sang in Chinese, I would be glad to have her sing my opera").
+
+I am asked what has been my greatest incentive. I can think of nothing
+greater than opposition. The early opposition from my family made me
+more and more determined to prove to them that I would be successful. If
+I heard some singer who sang successfully the r�les I essayed, then I
+would immediately make up my mind to excel that singer. This is a human
+trait I know; but I always profited by it. Never be afraid of
+competition or opposition. The more you overcome, the greater will be
+your ultimate triumph.
+
+
+
+
+MME. BERNICE DE PASQUALI
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Mme. Bernice de Pasquali, who succeeded Marcella Sembrich as coloratura
+soprano at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, is not an
+Italian, as her name suggests, but an American. She was born in Boston
+and is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Practically
+all of her musical training was received in New York City where she
+became a pupil of Oscar Saenger. Her successes, however, are not limited
+to America as she has appeared in Mexico, Cuba, South Africa and Europe,
+in many places receiving great ovations. Her voice is a clear, high,
+flexible soprano, equally fine for concert or opera. Her husband, Signor
+Pasquali, made a lifetime study of the principles of the "Bel Canto"
+school of singing, and the following conference is the result of long
+experiment and study in the esthetic, philosophical and physiological
+factors in the most significant of the so-called methods of voice
+training.
+
+[Illustration: MME. BERNICE DE PASQUALI.]
+
+
+
+
+SECRETS OF BEL CANTO
+
+MME. BERNICE DE PASQUALI
+
+CENTURIES OF EXPERIMENTAL EXPERIENCE
+
+
+In no land is song so much a part of the daily life of the individual as
+in Italy. The Italian peasant literally wakes up singing and goes to bed
+singing. Naturally a kind of respect, honor and even reverence attaches
+to the art of beautiful voice production in the land of Scarlatti,
+Palestrina and Verdi, that one does not find in other countries. When
+the Italian singing teachers looked for a word to describe their vocal
+methods they very naturally selected the most appropriate, "Bel Canto,"
+which means nothing more or less than "Beautiful Singing."
+
+Probably no words have been more abused in music teaching than "bel
+canto," and probably no words have a more direct meaning or a wider
+significance. What then is "good singing" as the Italians understand it?
+Principally the production of a perfectly controlled and exquisitely
+beautiful tone. Simple as this may seem and simple as it really is, the
+laws underlying the best way of teaching how to secure a beautiful tone
+are the evolution of empirical experiences coming down through the
+centuries.
+
+It is a significant fact that practically all of the great singers in
+Wagner r�les have first been trained in what is so loosely termed "bel
+canto" methods. Lilli Lehmann, Schumann-Heink, Nordica and others were
+capable of singing fine coloratura passages before they undertook the
+works of the great master of Beyreuth.
+
+
+THE SECRET OF CONSERVING THE VOICE
+
+In the mass of traditions, suggestions and advice which go to make the
+"bel canto" style, probably nothing is so important to American students
+as that which pertains to conserving the voice. Whether our girls are
+inordinately fond of display or whether they are unable to control their
+vocal organs I do not know, but one is continually treated to instances
+of the most ludicrous prodigality of voice. The whole idea of these
+young singers seems to be to make a "hit" by shouting or even
+screeching. There can be no milder terms for the straining of the tones
+so frequently heard. This prodigality has only one result--loss of
+voice.
+
+The great Rubini once wrote to his friend, the tenor Duprez, "You lost
+your voice because you always sang with your capital. I have kept mine
+because I have used only the interest." This historical epigram ought to
+be hung in all the vocal studios of America. Our American voices are too
+beautiful, too rare to be wasted, practically thrown away by expending
+the capital before it has been able to earn any interest.
+
+Moreover, the thing which has the most telling effect upon any audience
+is the beauty of tone quality. People will stop at any time to listen
+to the wonderful call of the nightingale. In some parts of Europe it is
+the custom to make parties to go at nights to the woods to hear that
+wonderful singer of the forests. Did you ever hear of any one forming a
+party for the express purpose of listening to the crowing of a rooster?
+One is a treat to the ear, the other is a shock. When our young singers
+learn that people do not attend concerts to have their ears shocked but
+to have them delighted with beautiful sound, they will be nearer the
+right idea in voice culture.
+
+The student's first effort, then, should be to preserve the voice. From
+the very first lesson he must strive to learn how to make the most with
+little.
+
+How is the student to know when he is straining the voice? This is
+simple enough to ascertain. At the very instant that the slightest
+constriction or effort is noticed strain is very likely to be present.
+Much of this depends upon administering exactly the right amount of
+breath to the vocal cords at the moment of singing. Too much breath or
+too little breath is bad. The student finds by patient experiment under
+the direction of the experienced teacher just how much breath to use.
+All sorts of devices are employed to test the breath, but it is probable
+that the best devices of all are those which all singers use as the
+ultimate test, the ear and the feeling of delightful relaxation
+surrounding the vocal organs during the process of singing.
+
+
+COURAGE IN SINGING
+
+Much of the student's early work is marred by fear. He fears to do this
+and he fears to do that, until he feels himself walled in by a set of
+rules that make his singing stilted. From the very start the singer,
+particularly the one who aspires to become an operatic singer, should
+endeavor to discard fear entirely. Think that if you fail in your
+efforts, thousands of singers have failed in a similar manner in their
+student days. Success in singing is at the end of a tall ladder, the
+rungs of which are repeated failures. We climb up over our failures to
+success. Learn to fear nothing, the public least of all. If the singer
+gives the audience the least suspicion that she is in fear of their
+verdict, the audience will detect it at once and the verdict will be
+bad. Also do not fear the criticism of jealous rivals.
+
+Affirm success. Say to yourself, "I will surely succeed if I persevere."
+In this way you will acquire those habits of tranquillity which are so
+essential for the singer to possess.
+
+
+THE REASON FOR THE LACK OF WELL-TRAINED VOICES
+
+There are abundant opportunities just now for finely trained singers. In
+fact there is a real dearth of "well-equipped" voices. Managers are
+scouring the world for singers with ability as well as the natural
+voice. Why does this dearth exist? Simply because the trend of modern
+musical work is far too rapid. Results are expected in an impossible
+space of time. The pupil and the maestro work for a few months and, lo
+and behold! a prima donna! Can any one who knows anything about the art
+of singing fail to realize how absurd this is? More voices are ruined by
+this haste than by anything else. It is like expecting the child to do
+the feats of the athlete without the athlete's training. There are
+singers in opera now who have barely passed the, what might be called,
+rudimentary stage.
+
+With the decline of the older operas, singers evidently came to the
+conclusion that it was not necessary to study for the perfection of
+tone-quality, evenness of execution and vocal agility. The modern
+writers did not write such fioratura passages, then why should it be
+necessary for the student to bother himself with years of study upon
+exercises and vocalises designed to prepare him for the operas of
+Bellini, Rossini, Spontini, Donizetti, Scarlatti, Carissimi or other
+masters of the florid school? What a fatuous reasoning. Are we to
+obliterate the lessons of history which indicate that voices trained in
+such a school as that of Patti, Jenny Lind, Sembrich, Lehmann, Malibran,
+Rubini and others, have phenomenal endurance, and are able to retain
+their freshness long after other voices have faded? No, if we would have
+the wonderful vitality and longevity of the voices of the past we must
+employ the methods of the past.
+
+
+THE DELICATE NATURE OF THE HUMAN VOICE
+
+Of all instruments the human voice is by far the most delicate and the
+most fragile. The wonder is that it will stand as much "punishment" as
+is constantly given to it. Some novices seem to treat it with as little
+respect as though it were made out of brass like a tuba or a trombone.
+The voice is subject to physical and psychical influences. Every singer
+knows how acutely all human emotions are reflected in the voice; at the
+same time all physical ailments are immediately active upon the voice of
+the singer.
+
+There is a certain freshness or "edge" which may be worn off the voice
+by ordinary conversation on the day of the concert or the opera. Some
+singers find it necessary to preserve the voice by refraining from all
+unnecessary talking prior to singing. Long-continued practice is also
+very bad. An hour is quite sufficient on the day of the concert. During
+the first years of study, half an hour a day is often enough practice.
+More practice should only be done under special conditions and with the
+direction of a thoroughly competent teacher.
+
+Singing in the open air, when particles of dust are blowing about, is
+particularly bad. The throat seems to become irritated at once. In my
+mind tobacco smoke is also extremely injurious to the voice,
+notwithstanding the fact that some singers apparently resist its effects
+for years. I once suffered severely from the effects of being in a room
+filled with tobacco smoke and was unable to sing for at least two
+months. I also think that it is a bad plan to sing immediately after
+eating. The peristaltic action of the stomach during the process of
+digestion is a very pronounced function and anything which might tend to
+disturb it might affect the general health.
+
+The singer must lead an exceedingly regular life, but the exaggerated
+privations and excessive care which some singers take are quite
+unnecessary. The main thing is to determine what is a normal life and
+then to live as close to this as possible. If you find that some article
+of diet disagrees with you, remember to avoid that food; for an upset
+stomach usually results in complete demoralization of the entire vocal
+system.
+
+
+SOME PRACTICE SUGGESTIONS
+
+No matter how great the artist, daily practice, if even not more than
+forty minutes a day, is absolutely necessary. There is a deep
+philosophical and physiological principle underlying this and it applies
+particularly to the vocal student. Each minute spent in intelligent
+practice makes the voice better and the task easier. The power to do
+comes with doing. Part of each day's practice should be devoted to
+singing the scale softly and slowly with perfect intonation. Every tone
+should be heard with the greatest possible acuteness. The ears should
+analyze the tone quality with the same scrutiny with which a botanist
+would examine the petals of a newly discovered specimen. As the singer
+does this he will notice that his sense of tone color will develop; and
+this is a very vital part of every successful singer's equipment. He
+will become aware of beauties as well as defects in his voice which may
+never have been even suspected if he will only listen "microscopically"
+enough.
+
+Much of the singer's progress depends upon the mental model he keeps
+before him. The singer who constantly hears the best of singing
+naturally progresses faster than one surrounded by inferior singing.
+This does not recommend that the student should imitate blindly but that
+he should hear as much fine singing as possible. Those who have not the
+means to attend concerts and the opera may gain immensely from hearing
+fine records. Little Adelina Patti, playing as a child on the stage of
+the old Academy of Music in New York, was really attending the finest
+kind of a conservatory unawares.
+
+The old Italian teachers and writers upon voice, knowing the florid
+style in which their pupils would be expected to sing, did not have much
+to do with fanciful exercises. They gave their lives to the quest of the
+"bel canto"; and many of them had difficulty in convincing their pupils
+that the simplest exercises were often the hardest. Take for instance
+this invaluable scale exercise sung with the marks of expression
+carefully observed.
+
+This exercise is one of the most difficult to sing properly.
+Nevertheless, some student will rush on to florid exercises before he
+can master this exercise. To sing it right it must be regarded with
+almost devotional reverence. Indeed, it may well be practiced
+diligently for years. Every tone is a problem, a problem which must be
+solved in the brain and in the body of the singer and not in the mind of
+any teacher. The student must hold up every tone for comparison with his
+ideal tone. Every note must ring sweet and clear, pure and free. Every
+tone must be even more susceptible to the emotions than the expression
+upon the most mobile face. Every tone must be made the means of
+conveying some human emotion. Some singers practice their exercises in
+such a perfunctory manner that they get as a result voices so stiff and
+hard that they sound as though they came from metallic instruments which
+could only be altered in a factory instead of from throats lined with a
+velvet-like membrane.
+
+[Illustration: musical notation: Sing with great attention to
+intonation.]
+
+Flexibility, mobility and susceptibility to expression are quite as
+important as mere sweetness. After the above exercise has been mastered
+the pupil may pass to the chromatic scale (scala semitonata sostenuto);
+and this scale should be sung in the same slow sustained manner as the
+foregoing illustration.
+
+
+
+
+MME. MARCELLA SEMBRICH
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Mme. Marcella Sembrich (Praxede Marcelline Kochanska) was born in
+Wisnewczyk, Galicia, February 15, 1858. Sembrich was her mother's name.
+Her father was a music teacher and she tells with pleasure how she
+watched her father make a little violin for her to practice upon. At the
+age of seven she was taken to Wilhelm Stengel at Lemberg for further
+instruction. Later she went to study with the famous pedagogue, Julius
+Epstein, at Vienna, who was amazed by the child's prodigious talent as a
+pianist and as a violinist. He asked, "Is there anything else she can
+do?" "Yes," replied Stengel, "I think she can sing." Sing she did; and
+Epstein was not long in determining that she should follow the career of
+the singer. Her other teachers were Victor Rokitansky, Richard Lewy and
+G. B. Lamperti and a few months with the elder Francesco Lamperti. Her
+d�but was made in Athens in 1877, in _I Puritani_. Thereafter she toured
+all of the European art centers with invariable success. Her first
+American appearance was in 1883. She came again in 1898 and for years
+sang with immense success in all parts of America. America has since
+become her home, where she has devoted much time to teaching.
+
+[Illustration: MME. MARCELLA SEMBRICH.
+
+� Dupont.]
+
+
+
+
+HOW FORTUNES ARE WASTED IN VOCAL EDUCATION
+
+MME. MARCELLA SEMBRICH
+
+EVERY ONE WHO CAN SHOULD LEARN TO SING
+
+
+Few accomplishments are more delight-giving than that of being able to
+sing. I would most enthusiastically advise anyone possessing a fair
+voice to have it trained by some reliable singing teacher. European
+peoples appreciate the great privilege of being able to sing for their
+own amusement, and the pleasure they get from their singing societies is
+inspiring.
+
+If Americans took more time for the development of accomplishments of
+this kind their journey through life would be far more enjoyable and
+perhaps more profitable. I believe that all should understand the art of
+singing, if only to become amateurs.
+
+That music makes the soul more beautiful I have not the least doubt.
+Because some musicians have led questionable lives does not prove the
+contrary. What might these men have been had they not been under the
+benign influence of music?
+
+One has only to watch people who are under the magic spell of beautiful
+music to understand what a power it has for the good. I believe that
+good vocal music should be a part of all progressive educational work.
+The more music we have, the more beautiful this world will be, the more
+kindly people will feel toward each other and the more life will be
+worth living.
+
+
+WRONG TO ENCOURAGE VOICELESS ASPIRANTS
+
+But when I say that everyone who possesses a voice should learn to sing
+I do not by any means wish to convey the idea that anyone who desires
+may become a great singer. That is a privilege that is given to but a
+very few fortunate people. So many things go together to make a great
+singer that the one who gives advice should be very circumspect in
+encouraging young people to undertake a professional career--especially
+an operatic career. Giving advice under any conditions is often
+thankless.
+
+I have been appealed to by hundreds of girls who have wanted me to hear
+them sing. I have always told them what seemed to me the truth, but I
+have been so dismayed at the manner in which this has been received that
+I hesitate greatly before hearing aspiring singers.
+
+It is the same way with the teachers. I know that some teachers are
+blamed for taking voiceless pupils, but the pupils are more often to
+blame than the teacher. I have known pupils who have been discouraged by
+several good teachers to persist until they finally found a teacher who
+would take them.
+
+Most teachers are conscientious--often too conscientious for their
+pocketbooks. If a representative teacher or a prominent singer advises
+you not to attempt a public career you should thank him, as he is
+doubtless trying to save you from years of miserable failure. It is a
+very serious matter for the pupil, and one that should be given almost
+sacred consideration by those who have the pupil's welfare at heart.
+
+Wise, indeed, is the young singer who can so estimate her talents that
+she will start along the right path. There are many positions which are
+desirable and laudable which can be ably filled by competent singers. If
+you have limitations which will prevent your ever reaching that
+"will-o'-the-wisp" known as "fame," do not waste money trying to achieve
+what is obviously out of your reach.
+
+If you can fill the position of soloist in a small choir creditably, do
+so and be contented. Don't aspire for operatic heights if you are
+hopelessly shackled by a lack of natural qualifications.
+
+It is a serious error to start vocal instruction too early. I do not
+believe that the girl's musical education should commence earlier than
+at the age of sixteen. It is true that in the cases of some very healthy
+girls no very great damage may be done, but it is a risk I certainly
+would not advise.
+
+Much money and time are wasted upon voice training of girls under the
+age of sixteen. If the girl is destined for a great career she will have
+the comprehension, the grasp, the insight that will lead her to learn
+very rapidly. Some people can take in the whole meaning of a picture at
+a glance; others are obliged to regard the picture for hours to see the
+same points of artistic interest. Quick comprehension is a great asset,
+and the girl who is of the right sort will lose nothing by waiting until
+she reaches the above age.
+
+
+PIANO OR VIOLIN STUDY ADVISABLE FOR ALL SINGERS
+
+Ambition, faithfulness to ideals and energy are the only hopes left open
+to the singer who is not gifted with a wonderfully beautiful natural
+voice. It is true that some singers of great intelligence and great
+energy have been able to achieve wide fame with natural voices that
+under other conditions would only attract local notice. These singers
+deserve great credit for their efforts.
+
+While the training of the voice may be deferred to the age of sixteen,
+the early years should by no means be wasted. The general education of
+the child, the fortification of the health and the study of music
+through the medium of some instrument are most important. The young girl
+who commences voice study with the ability to play either the violin or
+the piano has an enormous advantage over the young girl who has had no
+musical training.
+
+I found the piano training of my youth of greatest value, and through
+the study of the violin I learned certain secrets that I later applied
+to respiration and phrasing. Although my voice was naturally flexible, I
+have no doubt that the study of these instruments assisted in intonation
+and execution in a manner that I cannot over-estimate.
+
+A beautiful voice is not so great a gift, unless its possessor knows
+how to employ it to advantage. The musical training that one receives
+from the study of an instrument is of greatest value. Consequently, I
+advise parents who hope to make their children singers to give them the
+advantage of a thorough musical training in either violin study or the
+piano. Much wasted money and many blasted ambitions can be spared by
+such a course.
+
+
+A GOOD GENERAL EDUCATION OF VAST IMPORTANCE
+
+The singer whose general education has been neglected is in a most
+unfortunate plight. And by general education I do not mean only those
+academic studies that people learn in schools. The imagination must be
+stimulated, the heartfelt love for the poetical must be cultivated, and
+above all things the love for nature and mankind must be developed.
+
+I can take the greatest joy in a walk through a great forest. It is an
+education to me to be with nature. Unfortunately, only too many
+Americans go rushing through life neglecting those things which make
+life worth living.
+
+
+MUSICAL ADVANCE IN AMERICA
+
+There has been a most marvelous advance in this respect, however, in
+America. Not only in nature love but in art it has been my pleasure to
+watch a wonderful growth. When I first came here in 1883 things were
+entirely different in many respects. Now the great operatic novelties of
+Europe are presented here in magnificent style, and often before they
+are heard in many European capitals.
+
+In this respect America to-day ranks with the best in the world. Will
+you not kindly permit me to digress for a moment and say to the music
+lovers of America that I appreciate in the deepest manner the great
+kindnesses that have been shown to me everywhere? For this reason, I
+know that my criticisms, if they may be called such, will be received as
+they are intended.
+
+The singer should make a serious study of languages. French, German,
+English and Italian are the most necessary ones. I include English as I
+am convinced that it is only a matter of a short time when a school of
+opera written by English-speaking composers will arise. The great
+educational and musical advance in America is an indication of this.
+
+As for voice exercises, I have always been of the opinion that it is
+better to leave that matter entirely to the discretion of the teacher.
+There can be no universal voice exercise that will apply to all cases.
+Again, it is more a matter of how the exercise is sung than the exercise
+itself.
+
+The simplest exercise can become valuable in the hands of the great
+teacher. I have no faith in the teachers who make each and every pupil
+go through one and the same set of exercises in the same way. The voice
+teacher is like the physician. He must originate and prescribe certain
+remedies to suit certain cases. Much money is wasted by trying to do
+without a good teacher. If the pupil really has a great voice and the
+requisite talent, it is economical to take her to the best teacher
+obtainable.
+
+American women have wonderful voices. Moreover, they have great energy,
+talent and temperament. Their accomplishments in the operatic world are
+matters of present musical history. With such splendid effort and such
+generosity, it is easy to prophesy a great future for musical America.
+This is the land of great accomplishments.
+
+With time Americans will give more attention to the cultivation of
+details in art, they will acquire more repose perhaps, and then the
+tremendous energy which has done so much to make the country what it is
+will be a great factor in establishing a school of music in the new
+world which will rank with the greatest of all times.
+
+
+
+
+MME. ERNESTINE SCHUMANN-HEINK
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Mme. Ernestine Schumann-Heink (n�e Roessler) was born near the city of
+Prague, July 15, 1861. She relates that her father was a Czech and her
+mother was of Italian extraction. She was educated in Ursuline Convent
+and studied singing with Mme. Marietta von Leclair in Graz. Her first
+appearance was at the age of 15, when she is reported to have taken a
+solo part in a performance of the Beethoven Ninth Symphony, at an
+important concert in Graz. Her operatic d�but was made at the Royal
+Opera, Dresden, in _Trovatore_. There she studied under Krebs and Franz
+W�llner. It is impossible to detail Mme. Schumann-Heink's operatic
+successes here, since her numerous appearances at the leading operatic
+houses of the world have been followed by such triumphs that she is
+admittedly the greatest contralto soloist of her time. At Bayreuth,
+Covent Garden, and at the Metropolitan her appearances have drawn
+multitudes. In concert she proved one of the greatest of all singers of
+art songs. In 1905 she became an American citizen, her enthusiasm for
+this country leading her to name one of her sons George Washington.
+During the great war (in which four of her sons served with the American
+colors) she toured incessantly from camp to camp, giving her services
+for the entertainment of the soldiers and winning countless admirers in
+this way. Her glorious voice extends from D on the third line of the
+bass clef to C on the second leger line above the treble clef.
+
+[Illustration: MME. ERNESTINE SCHUMANN-HEINK.]
+
+
+
+
+KEEPING THE VOICE IN PRIME CONDITION
+
+MME. ERNESTINE SCHUMANN-HEINK
+
+THE ARTIST'S RESPONSIBILITY
+
+
+Would you have me give the secret of my success at the very outstart? It
+is very simple and centers around this subject of the artist's
+responsibility to the audience. My secret is absolute devotion to the
+audience. I love my audiences. They are all my friends. I feel a bond
+with them the moment I step before them. Whether I am singing in blas�
+New York or before an audience of farmer folk in some Western
+Chautauqua, my attitude toward my audience is quite the same. I take the
+same care and thought with every audience. This even extends to my
+dress. The singer, who wears an elaborate gown before a Metropolitan
+audience and wears some worn-out old rag of a thing when singing at some
+rural festival, shows that she has not the proper respect in her mind.
+Respect is everything.
+
+Therefore it is necessary for me to have my voice in the best of
+condition every day of the year. It is my duty to my audience. The woman
+who comes to a country Chautauqua and brings her baby with her and
+perchance nurses the little one during the concert gets a great deal
+closer to my heart than the stiff-backed aristocrat who has just left a
+Pekingese spaniel outside of the opera house door in a $6000.00
+limousine. That little country woman expects to hear the singer at her
+best. Therefore, I practice just as carefully on the day of the
+Chautauqua concert as I would if I were to sing _Ortrud_ the same night
+at the Metropolitan in New York.
+
+American audiences are becoming more and more discriminating. Likewise
+they are more and more responsive. As an American citizen, I am devoted
+to all the ideals of the new world. They have accepted me in the most
+whole-souled manner and I am grateful to the land of my adoption.
+
+
+THE ADVANTAGE OF AN EARLY TRAINING
+
+Whether or not the voice keeps in prime condition to-day depends largely
+upon the early training of the singer. If that training is a good one, a
+sound one, a sensible one, the voice will, with regular practice, keep
+in good condition for a remarkably long time. The trouble is that the
+average student is too impatient in these days to take time for a
+sufficient training. The voice at the outstart must be trained lightly
+and carefully. There must not be the least strain. I believe that at the
+beginning two lessons a week should be sufficient. The lessons should
+not be longer than one-half an hour and the home practice should not
+exceed at the start fifty minutes a day. Even then the practice should
+be divided into two periods. The young singer should practice _mezza
+voce_, which simply means nothing more or less than "half voice." Never
+practice with full voice unless singing under the direction of a
+well-schooled teacher with years of practical singing experience.
+
+It is easy enough to shout. Some of the singers in modern opera seem to
+employ a kind of megaphone method. They stand stock still on the stage
+and bawl out the phrases as though they were announcing trains in a
+railroad terminal. Such singers disappear in a few years. Their voices
+seem torn to shreds. The reason is that they have not given sufficient
+attention to _bel canto_ in their early training. They seem to forget
+that voice must first of all be beautiful. _Bel canto_,--beautiful
+singing,--not the singing of meaningless Italian phrases, as so many
+insist, but the glorious _bel canto_ which Bach, Haydn and Mozart
+demand,--a _bel canto_ that cultivates the musical taste, disciplines
+the voice and trains the singer technically to do great things. Please
+understand that I am not disparaging the good and beautiful in Italian
+masterpieces. The musician will know what I mean. The singer can gain
+little, however, from music that intellectually and vocally is better
+suited to a parrot than a human being.
+
+Some of the older singers made _bel canto_ such an art that people came
+to hear them for their voices alone, and not for their intellectual or
+emotional interpretations of a r�le. Perhaps you never heard Patti in
+her prime. Ah! Patti--the wonderful Adelina with the glorious golden
+voice. It was she who made me ambitious to study breathing until it
+became an art. To hear her as she trippingly left the stage in Verdi's
+_Traviata_ singing runs with ease and finish that other singers slur or
+stumble over,--ah! that was an art!
+
+[Illustration: musical notation: Ex. 1
+
+    il mio pen sier, il mio pen-sier___
+
+    il mio pen-sier.
+]
+
+Volumes have been written on breathing and volumes more could be
+written. This is not the place to discuss the singer's great fundamental
+need. Need I say more than that I practice deep breathing every day of
+my life?
+
+
+THE AGE FOR STARTING
+
+It is my opinion that no girl who wishes to keep her voice in the prime
+of condition all the time in after years should start to study much
+earlier than seventeen or eighteen years of age. In the case of a man I
+do not believe that he should start until he is past twenty or even
+twenty-two. I know that this is contrary to what many singers think, but
+the period of mutation in both sexes is a much slower process than most
+teachers realize, and I have given this matter a great deal of serious
+thought.
+
+
+LET EVERYBODY SING!
+
+Can I digress long enough to say that I think that everybody should
+sing? That is, they should learn to sing under a good singing
+instructor. This does not mean that they should look forward toward a
+professional career. God forbid! There are enough half-baked singers in
+the world now who are striving to become professionals. But the public
+should know that singing is the healthiest kind of exercise imaginable.
+When one sings properly one exercises nearly all of the important
+muscles of the torso. The circulation of the blood is improved, the
+digestion bettered, the heart promoted to healthy action--in fact,
+everything is bettered. Singers as a rule are notoriously healthy and
+often very long lived. The new movement for community singing in the
+open air is a magnificent one. Let everybody sing!
+
+A great singing teacher with a reputation as big as Napoleon's or George
+Washington's is not needed. There are thousands and thousands of unknown
+teachers who are most excellent. Often the advice or the instruction is
+very much the same. What difference does it make whether I buy Castile
+soap in a huge Broadway store or a little country store, if the soap is
+the same? Many people hesitate to study because they can not study with
+a great teacher. Nonsense! Pick out some sensible, well-drilled teacher
+and then use your own good judgment to guide yourself. Remember that
+Schumann-Heink did not study with a world-famed teacher. Whoever hears
+of Marietta von Leclair in these days? Yet I do not think that I could
+have done any more with my voice if I had had every famous teacher from
+Niccolo Antonio Porpora down to the present day. The individual singer
+must have ideals, and then leave nothing undone to attain those ideals.
+One of my ideals was to be able to sing pianissimo with the kind of
+resonance that makes it carry up to the farthest gallery. That is one of
+the most difficult things I had to learn, and I attained it only after
+years of faithful practice.
+
+
+THE SINGER'S DAILY ROUTINE
+
+To keep the voice in prime condition the singer's first consideration is
+physical and mental health. If the body or the mind is over-taxed
+singing becomes an impossibility. It is amazing what the healthy body
+and the busy mind can really stand. I take but three weeks' vacation
+during the year and find that I am a great deal better for it. Long
+terms of enforced indolence do not mean rest. The real artist is
+happiest when at work, and I want to work. Fortunately I am never at
+loss for opportunity. The ambitious vocal student can benefit as much by
+studying a good book on hygiene or the conservation of the health as
+from a book on the art of singing.
+
+First of all comes diet. Americans as a rule eat far too much. Why do
+some of the good churchgoing people raise such an incessant row about
+over-drinking when they constantly injure themselves quite as much by
+over-eating? What difference does it make whether you ruin your stomach,
+liver or kidneys by too much alcohol or too much roast beef? One vice is
+as bad as another. The singer must live upon a light diet. A heavy diet
+is by no means necessary to keep up a robust physique. I am rarely ill,
+am exceedingly strong in every way, and yet eat very little indeed. I
+find that my voice is in the best of condition when I eat very
+moderately. My digestion is a serious matter with me, and I take every
+precaution to see that it is not congested in any way. This is most
+important to the singer. Here is an average m�nu for my days when I am
+on tour:
+
+             _BREAKFAST
+    Two or more glasses of Cold Water
+          (not ice water)
+             Ham and Eggs
+               Coffee
+               Toast._
+
+           _MID-DAY DINNER
+                Soup
+           Some Meat Order
+             A Vegetable
+           Plenty of Salad
+               Fruit._
+
+              _SUPPER
+             A Sandwich
+               Fruit._
+
+Such a m�nu I find ample for the heaviest kind of professional work. If
+I eat more, my work may deteriorate, and I know it.
+
+Fresh air, sunshine, sufficient rest and daily baths in tepid water
+night and morning are a part of my regular routine. I lay special
+stress upon the baths. Nothing invigorates the singer as much as this.
+Avoid very cold baths, but see to it that you have a good reaction after
+each bath. There is nothing like such a routine as this to avoid colds.
+If you have a cold try the same remedies to try to get rid of it. To me,
+one day at Atlantic City is better for a cold than all the medicine I
+can take. I call Atlantic City my cold doctor. Of course, there are many
+other shore resorts that may be just as helpful, but when I can do so I
+always make a bee line for Atlantic City the moment I feel a serious
+cold on the way.
+
+Sensible singers know now that they must avoid alcohol, even in limited
+quantities, if they desire to be in the prime of condition and keep the
+voice for a long, long time. Champagne particularly is poison to the
+singer just before singing. It seems to irritate the throat and make
+good vocal work impossible. I am sorry for the singer who feels that
+some spur like champagne or a cup of strong coffee is desirable before
+going upon the stage.
+
+It amuses me to hear girls say, "I would give anything to be a great
+singer"; and then go and lace themselves until they look like Jersey
+mosquitoes. The breath is the motive power of the voice. Without it
+under intelligent control nothing can be accomplished. One might as well
+try to run an automobile without gasoline as sing without breath. How
+can a girl breathe when she has squeezed her lungs to one-half their
+normal size?
+
+
+PREPARATION FOR HEAVY R�LES
+
+The voice can never be kept in prime condition if it is obliged to carry
+a load that it has not been prepared to carry. Most voices that wear out
+are voices that have been overburdened. Either the singer does not know
+how to sing or the r�le is too heavy. I think that I may be forgiven for
+pointing out that I have repeatedly sung the heaviest and most exacting
+r�les in opera. My voice would have been shattered years ago if I had
+not prepared myself for these r�les and sung them properly. A man may be
+able to carry a load of fifty pounds for miles if he carries it on his
+back, but he will not be able to carry it a quarter of a mile if he
+holds it out at arm's length from the body, with one arm. Does this not
+make the point clear?
+
+Some r�les demand maturity. It is suicidal for the young singer to
+attempt them. The composer and the conductor naturally think only of the
+effect at the performance. The singer's welfare with them is a secondary
+consideration. I have sung under the great composers and conductors,
+from Richard Wagner to Richard Strauss. Some of the Strauss r�les are
+even more strenuous than those of Wagner. They call for great energy as
+well as great vocal ability. Young singers essay these heavy r�les and
+the voices go to pieces. Why not wait a little while? Why not be
+patient?
+
+The singer is haunted by the delusion that success can only come to her
+if she sings great r�les. If she can not ape Melba in _Traviata_, Emma
+Eames as Elizabeth in _Tannh�user_ or Geraldine Farrar in _Butterfly_,
+she pouts and refuses to do anything. Offer her a small part and she
+sneers at it. Ha! Ha! All my earliest successes were made in the
+smallest kinds of parts. I realized that I had only a little to do and
+only very little time to do it in. Consequently, I gave myself heart and
+soul to that part. It must be done so artistically, so intelligently, so
+beautifully that it would command success. Imagine the r�les of Erda and
+Norna, and Marie in _Flying Dutchman_. They are so small that they can
+hardly be seen. Yet these r�les were my first door to success and fame.
+Wagner did not think of them as little things. He was a real master and
+knew that in every art-work a small part is just as important as a great
+part. It is a part of a beautiful whole. Don't turn up your nose at
+little things. Take every opportunity, and treat it as though it were
+the greatest thing in your life. It pays.
+
+Everything that amounts to anything in my entire career has come through
+struggle. At first a horrible struggle with poverty. No girl student in
+a hall bedroom to-day (and my heart goes out to them now) endures more
+than I went through. It was work, work, work, from morning to night,
+with domestic cares and worries enough all the time to drive a woman
+mad. Keep up your spirits, girls. If you have the right kind of fight in
+you, success will surely come. Never think of discouragement, no matter
+what happens. Keep working every day and always hoping. It will come
+out all right if you have the gift and the perseverance. Compulsion is
+the greatest element in the vocalist's success. Poverty has a knout in
+its hand driving you on. Well, let it,--and remember that under that
+knout you will travel twice as fast as the rich girl possibly can with
+her fifty-horse-power automobile. Keep true to the best. _Muss_--"I
+MUST," "I will," the mere necessity is a help not a hindrance, if you
+have the right stuff in you. Learn to depend upon yourself, and know
+that when you have something that the public wants it will not be slow
+in running after you. Don't ask for help. I never had any help. Tell
+that to the aspiring geese who think that I have some magic power
+whereby I can help a mediocre singer to success by the mere twist of the
+hand.
+
+
+DAILY EXERCISES OF A PRIMA DONNA
+
+[Illustration: musical notation]
+
+Daily vocal exercises are the daily bread of the singer. They should be
+practiced just as regularly as one sits down to the table to eat, or as
+one washes one's teeth or as one bathes. As a rule the average
+professional singer does not resort to complicated exercises and great
+care is taken to avoid strain. It is perfectly easy for me, a contralto,
+to sing C in alt but do you suppose I sing it in my daily exercises? It
+is one of the extreme notes in my range and it might be a strain.
+Consequently I avoid it. I also sing most of my exercises _mezza voce_.
+
+There should always be periods of intermission between practice. I often
+go about my routine work while on tour, walking up and down the room,
+packing my trunk, etc., and practicing gently at the same time. I enjoy
+it and it makes my work lighter.
+
+Of course I take great pains to practice carefully. My exercises are for
+the most part simple scales, arpeggios or trills. For instance, I will
+start with the following:
+
+[Illustration: musical notation]
+
+This I sing in middle voice and very softly. Thereby I do not become
+tired and I don't bother the neighborhood. If I sang this in the big,
+full lower tones and sang loud, my voice would be fatigued rather than
+benefited and the neighbors would hate me. This I continue up to _D_ or
+_E_ flat.
+
+[Illustration: musical notation]
+
+Above this I invariably use what is termed the head tone. Female singers
+should always begin the head tone on this degree of the staff and not on
+_F_ and _F#_, as is sometimes recommended.
+
+I always use the Italian vowel _ah_ in my exercises. It seems best to
+me. I know that _oo_ and _ue_ are recommended for contraltos, but I
+have long had the firm conviction that one should first perfect the
+natural vocal color through securing good tones by means of the most
+open vowel. After this is done the voice may be further colored by the
+judicious employment of other vowels. Sopranos, for instance, can help
+their head tones by singing _ee_ (Italian _i_).
+
+I know nothing better for acquiring a flexible tone than to sing trills
+like the following:
+
+[Illustration: musical notation]
+
+and at the same time preserve a gentle, smiling expression. Smile
+naturally, as though you were genuinely amused at something,--smile
+until your upper teeth are uncovered. Then, try these exercises with the
+vowel _ah_. Don't be afraid of getting a trivial, colorless tone. It is
+easy enough to make the tone sombre by willing it so, when the occasion
+demands. You will be amazed what this smiling, genial, _liebensw�rdig_
+expression will do to relieve stiffness and help you in placing your
+voice right. The old Italians knew about it and advocated it strongly.
+There is nothing like it to keep the voice youthful, fresh and in the
+prime of condition.
+
+
+THE SINGER MUST RELAX
+
+Probably more voices are ruined by strain than through any other cause.
+The singer must relax all the time. This does not mean flabbiness. It
+does not mean that the singer should collapse before singing. Relaxation
+in the singer's sense is a delicious condition of buoyancy, of
+lightness, of freedom, of ease and entire lack of tightening in any
+part. When I relax I feel as though every atom in my body were floating
+in space. There is not one single little nerve on tension. The singer
+must be particularly careful when approaching a climax in a great work
+of art. Then the tendency to tighten up is at its greatest. This must be
+anticipated.
+
+Take such a case as the following passage from the famous aria from
+Saint-Sa�ns' _Samson et Delila_, "_Mon coeur s'ouvre � ta voix_." The
+climax is obviously on the words "Ah!--verse moi." The climax is the
+note marked by a star (_f_ on the top line).
+
+[Illustration: musical notation:
+
+Reponds a ma ten-dres-se, Re-ponds a ma ten-dress-s!
+
+Ah!--ver-se-moi--ver-se-moi.. l-i-vres-se!]
+
+When I am singing the last notes of the previous phrase to the word
+"tendresse," anyone who has observed me closely will notice that I
+instinctively let my shoulders drop,--that the facial muscles become
+relaxed as when one is about to smile or about to yawn. I am then
+relaxing to meet the great melodic climax and meet it in such a manner
+that I will have abundant reserve force after it has been sung. When one
+has to sing before an audience of five or six thousand people such a
+climax is immensely important and it requires great balance to meet it
+and triumph in it.
+
+
+
+
+ANTONIO SCOTTI
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Antonio Scotti was born at Naples, Jan. 25, 1866, and did much of his
+vocal study there with Mme. Trifari Paganini. His d�but was made at the
+Teatro Reale, in the Island of Malta, in 1889. The opera was _Martha_.
+After touring the Italian opera houses he spent seven seasons in South
+America at a time when the interest in grand opera on that continent was
+developing tremendously. He then toured Spain and Russia with great
+success and made his d�but at Covent Garden, London, in 1899. His
+success was so great that he was immediately engaged for the
+Metropolitan in New York, where he has sung every season since that
+time. His most successful r�les have been in _La Tosca_, _La Boh�me_, _I
+Pagliacci_, _Carmen_, _Falstaff_, _L'Oracolo_ and _Otello_. His voice is
+a rich and powerful baritone. He is considered one of the finest actors
+among the grand opera singers. During recent years he has toured with an
+opera company of his own, making many successful appearances in some of
+the smaller as well as the larger American cities.
+
+[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF ANTONIO SCOTTI IN THE COSTUME OF HIS MOST
+FAMOUS R�LE, SCARPIA, IN "LA TOSCA," BY PUCCINI.]
+
+
+
+
+ITALIAN OPERA IN AMERICA
+
+ANTONIO SCOTTI
+
+
+So closely identified is Italy with all that pertains to opera, that the
+question of the future of Italian opera in America is one that interests
+me immensely. It has been my privilege to devote a number of the best
+years of my life to singing in Italian opera in this wonderful country,
+and one cannot help noticing, first of all, the almost indescribable
+advance that America has made along all lines. It is so marvelous that
+those who reside continually in this country do not stop to consider it.
+Musicians of Europe who have never visited America can form no
+conception of it, and when they once have had an opportunity to observe
+musical conditions in America, the great opera houses, the music
+schools, the theatres and the bustling, hustling activity, together with
+the extraordinary casts of world-famous operatic stars presented in our
+leading cities, they are amazed in the extreme.
+
+It is very gratifying for me to realize that the operatic compositions
+of my countrymen must play a very important part in the operatic future
+of America. It has always seemed to me that there is far more variety in
+the works of the modern Italian composers than in those of other
+nations. Almost all of the later German operas bear the unmistakable
+stamp of Wagner. Those which do not, show decided Italian influences.
+The operas of Mozart are largely founded on Italian models, although
+they show a marvelous genius peculiar to the great master who created
+them.
+
+
+OPERATIC TENDENCIES
+
+The Italian opera of the future will without doubt follow the lead of
+Verdi, that is, the later works of Verdi. To me _Falstaff_ seems the
+most remarkable of all Italian operas. The public is not well enough
+acquainted with this work to demand it with the same force that they
+demand some of the more popular works of Verdi. Verdi was always
+melodious. His compositions are a beautiful lace-work of melodies. It
+has seemed to me that some of the Italian operatic composers who have
+been strongly influenced by Wagner have made the mistake of supposing
+that Wagner was not a master of melody. Consequently they have
+sacrificed their Italian birthright of melody for all kinds of
+cacophony. Wagner was really wonderfully melodious. Some of his melodies
+are among the most beautiful ever conceived. I do not refer only to the
+melodies such as "Oh, Thou Sublime Evening Star" of _Tannh�user_ or the
+"Bridal March" of _Lohengrin_, but also to the inexhaustible fund of
+melodies that one may find in most every one of his astonishing works.
+True, these melodies are different in type from most melodies of Italian
+origin, but they are none the less melodies, and beautiful ones. Verdi's
+later operas contain such melodies and he is the model which the young
+composers of Italy will doubtless follow. Puccini, Mascagni,
+Leoncavallo, and others, have written works rich in melody and yet not
+wanting in dramatic charm, orchestral accompaniment and musicianly
+treatment.
+
+
+OPERA THE NATURAL GENIUS OF ITALY'S COMPOSERS
+
+When the Italian student leaves the conservatory, in ninety-nine cases
+out of a hundred his ambitions are solely along the line of operatic
+composition. This seems his natural bent or mould. Of course he has
+written small fugues and perhaps even symphonies, but in the majority of
+instances these have been mere academic exercises. I regret that this is
+the case, and heartily wish that we had more Bossis, Martuccis and
+Sgambattis, but, again, would it not be a great mistake to try to make a
+symphonist out of an operatic composer? In the case of Perosi I often
+regret that he is a priest and therefore cannot write for the theatre,
+because I earnestly believe that notwithstanding his success as a
+composer of religious music, his natural bent is for the theatre or the
+opera.
+
+
+THE COMPOSERS OF TO-DAY
+
+Of the great Italian opera composers of to-day, I feel that Puccini is,
+perhaps, the greatest because he has a deeper and more intimate
+appreciation of theatrical values. Every note that Puccini writes smells
+of the paint and canvas behind the proscenium arch. He seems to know
+just what kind of music will go best with a certain series of words in
+order to bring out the dramatic meaning. This is in no sense a
+depreciation of the fine things that Mascagni, Leoncavallo and others
+have done. It is simply my personal estimate of Puccini's worth as an
+operatic composer. Personally, I like _Madama Butterfly_ better than any
+other Italian opera written in recent years. Aside from _Falstaff_, my
+own best r�le is probably in _La Tosca_. The two most popular Italian
+operas of to-day are without doubt _A�da_ and _Madama Butterfly_. That
+is, these operas draw the greatest audiences at present. It is
+gratifying to note a very much unified and catholic taste throughout the
+entire country. That is to say, in Chicago, San Francisco, Boston and
+Philadelphia one finds the public taste very similar. This indicates
+that the great musical advance in recent years in America has not been
+confined to one or two eastern cities.
+
+
+THE INFLUENCE OF THE STAR SYSTEM
+
+It is often regretable that the reputation of the singer draws bigger
+audiences in America than the work to be performed. American people go
+to hear some particular singer and not to hear the work of the composer.
+In other countries this is not so invariably the rule. It is a condition
+that may be overcome in time in America. It often happens that
+remarkably good performances are missed by the public who are only drawn
+to the opera house when some great operatic celebrity sings.
+
+The intrinsic beauties of the opera itself should have much to do with
+controlling its presentation. In all cases at present the Italian opera
+seems in preponderance, but this cannot be said to be a result of the
+engagement of casts composed exclusively of Italian singers. In our
+American opera houses many singers of many different nationalities are
+engaged in singing in Italian opera. Personally, I am opposed to operas
+being sung in any tongue but that in which the opera was originally
+written. If I am not mistaken, the Covent Garden Opera House and the
+Metropolitan Opera House are the only two opera houses in the world
+where this system is followed. No one can realize what I mean until he
+has heard a Wagner opera presented in French, a tongue that seems
+absolutely unfitted for the music of Wagner.
+
+
+THE POSSIBLE INFLUENCE OF STRAUSS AND DEBUSSY
+
+I do not feel that either Strauss or Debussy will have an influence upon
+the music of the coming Italian composers similar to that which the
+music of Wagner had upon Verdi and his followers. Personally, I admire
+them very much, but they seem unvocal, and Italy is nothing if not
+vocal. To me _Pelleas and Melisande_ would be quite as interesting if it
+were acted in pantomime with the orchestral accompaniment. The voice
+parts, to my way of thinking, could almost be dispensed with. The piece
+is a beautiful dream, and the story so evident that it could almost be
+played as an "opera without words." But vocal it certainly is not, and
+the opportunities of the singer are decidedly limited. Strauss, also,
+does not even treat the voice with the scant consideration bestowed upon
+it in some of the extreme passages of the Wagner operas. Occasionally
+the singer has an opportunity, but it cannot be denied that to the actor
+and the orchestra falls the lion's share of the work.
+
+
+OPERATIC CENTERS IN ITALY
+
+Americans seem to think that the only really great operatic center of
+Italy is Milan. This is doubtless due to the celebrity of the famous
+opera house, La Scala, and to the fact that the great publishing house
+of Ricordi is located there, but it is by no means indicative of the
+true condition. The fact is that the appreciation of opera is often
+greater outside of Milan than in the city. In Naples, Rome and Florence
+opera is given on a grand scale, and many other Italian cities possess
+fine theaters and fine operatic companies. The San Carlos Company, at
+Naples, is usually exceptionally good, and the opera house itself is a
+most excellent one. The greatest musical industry centers around Milan
+owing, as we have said, to the publishing interests in that city. If an
+Italian composer wants to produce one of his works he usually makes
+arrangements with his publisher. This, of course, brings him at once to
+Milan in most cases.
+
+
+MORE NEW OPERAS SHOULD BE PRODUCED
+
+It is, of course, difficult to gain an audience for a new work, but this
+is largely the fault of the public. The managers are usually willing
+and glad to bring out novelties if the public can be found to appreciate
+them. _Madama Butterfly_ is a novelty, but it leaped into immediate and
+enormous appreciation. Would that we could find a number like it!
+_Madama Butterfly's_ success has been largely due to the fact that the
+work bears the direct evidences of inspiration. I was with Puccini in
+London when he saw for the first time John Luther Long's story,
+dramatized by a Belasco, produced in the form of a one-act play. He had
+a number of librettos under consideration at that time, but he cast them
+all aside at once. I never knew Puccini to be more excited. The story of
+the little Japanese piece was on his mind all the time. He could not
+seem to get away from it. It was in this white heat of inspiration that
+the piece was moulded. Operas do not come out of the "nowhere." They are
+born of the artistic enthusiasm and intellectual exuberance of the
+trained composer.
+
+
+AMERICA'S MUSICAL FUTURE
+
+One of the marvelous conditions of music in this country is that the
+opera, the concert, the oratorio and the recital all seem to meet with
+equal appreciation. The fact that most students of music in this land
+play the piano has opened the avenues leading to an appreciation of
+orchestral scores. In the case of opera the condition was quite
+different. The appreciation of operatic music demands the voice of the
+trained artist and this could not be brought to the home until the
+sound reproducing machine had been perfected. The great increase in the
+interest in opera in recent years is doubtless due to the fact that
+thousands and thousands of those instruments are in use in as many homes
+and music studios. It is far past the "toy" stage, and is a genuine
+factor in the art development and musical education of America. At first
+the sound reproducing machine met with tremendous opposition owing to
+the fact that bad instruments and poorer records had prejudiced the
+public, but now they have reached a condition whereby the voice is
+reflected with astonishing veracity. The improvements I have observed
+during the past years have seemed altogether wonderful to me. The
+thought that half a century hence the voices of our great singers of
+to-day may be heard in the homes of all countries of the globe gives a
+sense of satisfaction to the singer, since it gives a permanence to his
+art which was inconceivable twenty-five years ago.
+
+[Illustration: HENRI SCOTT.]
+
+
+
+
+HENRI SCOTT
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Henri Scott was born at Coatesville, Pa., April 8, 1876. He was intended
+for a business career but became interested in music, at first in an
+amateur way, in Philadelphia. Encouraged by local successes he went to
+study voice with Oscar Saenger, remaining with him for upward of eleven
+years. He was fortunate in making appearances with the "Philadelphia
+Operatic Society," a remarkable amateur organization giving performances
+of grand opera on a large scale. With this organization he made his
+first stage appearances as Ramphis in _A�da_, in 1897. He had his
+passage booked for Europe, where he was assured many fine appearances,
+when he accidentally met Oscar Hammerstein, who engaged him for five
+years. Under this manager he made his professional d�but as Ramphis at
+the Manhattan Opera House in New York, in 1909. Hammerstein, a year
+thereafter, terminated his New York performances by selling out to the
+Metropolitan Opera Company. Mr. Scott then went to Rome, where he made
+his first appearance in _Faust_, with great success. He was immediately
+engaged for the Chicago Opera Company where, during three years, he sang
+some thirty-five different r�les. In 1911 he was engaged as a leading
+basso by the Metropolitan, where he remained for many seasons. He has
+sung on tour with the Thomas Orchestra, with Caruso and at many famous
+festivals. He has appeared with success in over one hundred cities in
+the United States and Canada. In response to many offers he went into
+vaudeville, where he has sung to hundreds of thousands of Americans,
+with immense success. Mr. Scott is therefore in a position to speak of
+this new and interesting phase of bringing musical masterpieces to "the
+masses."
+
+
+
+
+THE SINGER'S LARGER MUSICAL PUBLIC
+
+HENRI SCOTT
+
+
+Like every American, I resent the epithet, "the masses," because I have
+always considered myself a part of that mysterious unbounded
+organization of people to which all democratic Americans feel that they
+belong. One who is not a member of the masses in America is perforce a
+"snob" and a "prig." Possibly one of the reasons why our republic has
+survived so many years is that all true Americans are aristocratic, not
+in the attitude of "I am as good as everyone," but yet human enough to
+feel deep in their hearts, "Any good citizen is as good as I."
+
+
+WHY GRAND OPERA IS EXPENSIVE
+
+Music in America should be the property of everybody. The talking
+machines come near making it that, if one may judge from the sounds that
+come from half the homes at night. But the people want to hear the best
+music from living performers "in the flesh." At the same time,
+comparatively, very few can pay from two to twenty dollars a seat to
+hear great opera and great singers. The reason why grand opera costs so
+much is that the really fine voices, with trained operatic experience,
+are very, very few; and, since only a few performances are given a year,
+the price must be high. It is simply the law of supply and demand.
+
+There are, in America, two large grand opera companies and half a dozen
+traveling ones, some of them very excellent. There are probably twenty
+large symphony orchestras and at least one hundred oratorio societies of
+size. To say that these bodies and others purveying good music, reach
+more than five million auditors a year would possibly be a generous
+figure. But five million is not one-twentieth of the population of
+America. What about the nineteen-twentieths?
+
+On the other hand, there are in America between two and three thousand
+good vaudeville and moving picture houses where the best music in some
+form is heard not once or twice a week for a short season, but several
+times each day. Some of the moving picture houses have orchestras of
+thirty-five to eighty men, selected from musicians of the finest
+ability, many of whom have played in some of the greatest orchestras of
+the world. These orchestras and the talking machines are doing more to
+bring good music to the public than all the larger organizations, if we
+consider the subject from a standpoint of numbers.
+
+
+A REVOLUTION IN TASTE
+
+The whole character of the entertainments in moving picture and
+vaudeville theaters has been revolutionized. The buildings are veritable
+temples of art. The class of the entertainment is constantly improving
+in response to a demand which the business instincts of the managers
+cannot fail to recognize. The situation is simply this: The American
+people, with their wonderful thirst for self-betterment, which has
+brought about the prodigious success of the educational papers, the
+schools and the Chautauquas, like to have the beautiful things in art
+served to them with inspiriting amusement. We, as a people, have been
+becoming more and more refined in our tastes. We want better and better
+things, not merely in music, but in everything. In my boyhood there were
+thousands of families in fair circumstances who would endure having the
+most awful chromos upon their walls. These have for the most part
+entirely disappeared except in the homes of the newest aliens. It is
+true that much of our music is pretty raw in the popular field; but even
+in this it is getting better slowly and surely.
+
+If in recent years there has been a revolution in the popular taste for
+vaudeville, B. F. Keith was the "Washington" of that revolution. He
+understood the human demand for clean entertainment, with plenty of
+healthy fun and an artistic background. He knew the public call for the
+best music and instilled his convictions in his able followers. Mr.
+Keith's attitude was responsible for the signs which one formerly saw in
+the dressing rooms of good vaudeville theaters, which read:
+
+    +--------------------------------------------------+
+    |Profanity of any kind, objectionable or suggestive|
+    |remarks, are forbidden in this theater.           |
+    |Offenders are liable to have the curtain rung     |
+    |down upon them during such an act.                |
+    +--------------------------------------------------+
+
+Fortunately these signs have now disappeared, as the actors have been so
+disciplined that they know that a coarse remark would injure them with
+the management.
+
+Vaudeville is on a far higher basis than much so-called comic opera.
+Some acts are paid exceedingly large sums. Sarah Bernhardt received
+$7000.00 a week; Calve, Bispham, Kocian, Carolina White and Marguerite
+Sylvia, accordingly.
+
+Dorothy Jordan, Bessie Abbott, Rosa Ponselle, Orville Harold and the
+recent Indian sensation at the Metropolitan, Chief Caupolican, actually
+had their beginnings in vaudeville. In other words, vaudeville was the
+stepping-stone to grand opera.
+
+
+SINGING FOR MILLIONS
+
+Success in this new field depends upon personality as well as art. It
+also develops personality. It is no place for a "stick." The singer must
+at all times be in human touch with the audience. The lofty individuals
+who are thinking far more about themselves than about the songs they are
+singing have no place here. The task is infinitely more difficult than
+grand opera. It is far more difficult than recital or oratorio singing.
+There can be no sham, no pose. The songs must please or the audience
+will let one know it in a second.
+
+The wear and tear upon the voice is much less than in opera. During the
+week I sing in all three and one-half hours (not counting rehearsals).
+When I am singing Mephistopheles in _Faust_ I am in a theater at least
+six hours--the make-up alone requires at least one and one-half hours.
+Then time is demanded for rehearsals with the company and with various
+coaches.
+
+
+THE ART OF "PUTTING IT OVER"
+
+Thus the vaudeville singer who is genuinely interested in the progress
+of his art has ample time to study new songs and new r�les. In the
+jargon of vaudeville, everything is based upon whether the singer is
+able "to put the number over." This is a far more serious matter than
+one thinks. The audience is made up of the great public--the common
+people, God bless them. There is not the select gathering of musically
+cultured people that one finds in Carnegie Hall or the Auditorium.
+Therefore, in singing music that is admittedly a musical masterpiece,
+one must select only those works which may be interpreted with a broad
+human appeal. One is far closer to his fellow-man in vaudeville than in
+grand opera, because the emotions of the auditors are more responsive.
+It is intensely gratifying to know that these people want real art. My
+greatest success has been in Lieurance's Indian songs and in excerpts
+from grand opera. Upon one occasion my number was followed by that of a
+very popular comedienne whose performance was known to be of the
+farcical, rip-roaring type which vaudeville audiences were supposed to
+like above all things. It was my pleasure to be recalled, even after the
+curtain had ascended upon her performance, and to be compelled to give
+another song as an encore. The preference of the vaudeville audience
+for really good music has been indicated to me time and again. But it is
+not merely the good music that draws: the music must be interpreted
+properly. Much excellent music is ruined in vaudeville by ridiculous
+renditions.
+
+
+HOW TO GET AN ENGAGEMENT
+
+Singers have asked me time and again how to get an engagement. The first
+thing is to be sure that you have something to sell that is really worth
+while. Think of how many people are willing to pay to hear you sing! The
+more that they are willing to pay, the more valuable you are to the
+managers who buy your services. Therefore reputation, of course, is an
+important point to the manager. An unknown singer can not hope to get
+the same fee as the celebrated singer no matter how fine the voice or
+the art. Mr. E. Falber and Mr. Martin Beck, who have been responsible
+for a great many of the engagements of great artists in vaudeville and
+who are great believers in fine music in vaudeville, have, through their
+high position in business, helped hundreds. But they can not help anyone
+who has nothing to sell.
+
+The home office of the big vaudeville exchange is at Forty-seventh and
+Broadway, N.Y., and it is one of the busiest places in the great city.
+Even at that, it has always been a mystery to me just how the thousands
+of numbers are arranged so that there will be as little loss as possible
+for the performers; for it must be remembered that the vaudeville
+artists buy their own stage clothes and scenery, attend to their
+transportation and pay all their own expenses; unless they can afford
+the luxury of a personal manager who knows how to do these things just a
+little better.
+
+The singer looking for an engagement must in some way do something to
+gain some kind of recognition. Perhaps it may come from the fact that
+the manager of the local theater in her town has heard her sing, or some
+well-known singer is interested in her and is willing to write a letter
+of introduction to someone influential in headquarters. With the
+enormous demands made upon the time of the "powers that be," it is
+hardly fair to expect them to hear anyone and everyone. With such a
+letter or such an introduction, arrange for an audition at the
+headquarters in New York. Remember all the time that if you have
+anything really worth while to sell the managers are just as anxious to
+hear you as you are to be heard. There is no occasion for nervousness.
+
+
+EXCELLENT CONDITIONS
+
+Sometimes the managers are badly mistaken. It is common gossip that a
+very celebrated opera singer sought a vaudeville engagement and was
+turned down because of the lack of the musical experience of the
+manager, and because she was unknown. If he wanted her to-day his figure
+would have to be several thousand dollars a week.
+
+The average vaudeville theater in America is far better for the singer,
+in many ways, than many of the opera houses. In fact the vaudeville
+theaters are new; while the opera houses are old, and often sadly run
+down and out of date. Possibly the finest vaudeville theater in America
+is in Providence, R. I., and was built by E. F. Albee. It is palatial in
+every aspect, built as strong and substantial as a fort, and yet as
+elegant as a mansion. It is much easier to sing in these modern theaters
+made of stone and concrete than in many of the old-fashioned opera
+houses. Indeed, some of the vaudeville audiences often hear a singer at
+far better advantage than in the opera house.
+
+The singer who realizes the wonderful artistic opportunities provided in
+reaching such immense numbers of people, who will understand that he
+must sing up to the larger humanity rather than thinking that he must
+sing down to a mob, who will work to do better vocal and interpretative
+thinking at every successive performance, will lose nothing by singing
+in vaudeville and may gain an army of friends and admirers he could not
+otherwise possibly acquire.
+
+
+
+
+EMMA THURSBY
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Emma Thursby was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., and studied singing with
+Julius Meyers, Achille Errani, Mme. Rudersdorf, Lamperti (elder), San
+Giovanni and finally with Maurice Strakosch. She began her career as a
+church singer in New York and throngs went to different New York
+churches to hear her exquisitely mellow and beautiful voice. For many
+years she was the soprano of the famous Plymouth Church when Henry Ward
+Beecher was the pastor. Her voice became so famous that she went on a
+tour with Maurice Strakosch for seven years, in Europe and America,
+everywhere meeting with sensational success. Later she toured with the
+Gilmore Band and with the Thomas Orchestra. She became as popular in
+London and in Paris as in New York. Her fame became so great that she
+finally made a tour of the world, appearing with great success even in
+China and Japan.
+
+[Illustration: EMMA THURSBY.]
+
+
+
+
+SINGING IN CONCERT AND WHAT IT MEANS
+
+EMMA THURSBY
+
+
+Although conditions have changed very greatly since I was last regularly
+engaged in making concert tours, the change has been rather one of
+advantage to young singers than one to their disadvantage. The enormous
+advance in musical taste can only be expressed by the word "startling."
+For while we have apparently a vast amount of worthless music being
+continually inoculated into our unsuspecting public, we have,
+nevertheless, a corresponding cultivation of the love for good music
+which contributes much to the support of the concert singer of the
+present day.
+
+The old time lyceum has almost disappeared, but the high-class song
+recital has taken its place and recitals that would have been barely
+possible years ago are now frequently given with greatest financial and
+artistic success. Schumann, Franz, Strauss, Grieg and MacDowell have
+conquered the field formerly held by the vapid and meaningless
+compositions of brainless composers who wrote solely to amuse or to
+appeal to morbid sentimentality.
+
+The conditions of travel, also, have been greatly improved. It is now
+possible to go about in railroad cars and stop at hotels, and at the
+same time experience very little inconvenience and discomfort. This
+makes the career of the concert artist a far more desirable one than in
+former years. Uninviting hotels, frigid cars, poorly prepared meals and
+the lack of privacy were scarcely the best things to stimulate a high
+degree of musical inspiration.
+
+
+HEALTH
+
+Nevertheless, the girl who would be successful in concert must either
+possess or acquire good health as her first and all-essential asset.
+Notwithstanding the marvelous improvement in traveling facilities and
+accommodations, the nervous strain of public performance is not
+lessened, and it not infrequently happens that these very facilities
+enable the avaricious manager to crowd in more concerts and recitals
+than in former years, with the consequent strain upon the vitality of
+the singer.
+
+Of course, the singer must also possess the foundation for a good
+natural voice, a sense of hearing capable of being trained to the
+keenest perception of pitch, quality, rhythm and metre, an attractive
+personality, a bright mind, a good general education and an artistic
+temperament--a very extraordinary list, I grant you, but we must
+remember that the public pays out its money to hear extraordinary people
+and the would-be singer who does not possess qualifications of this
+description had better sincerely solicit the advice of some experienced,
+unbiased teacher or singer before putting forth upon the musical seas in
+a bark which must meet with certain destruction in weathering the first
+storm. The teacher who consciously advises a singer to undertake a
+public career and at the same time knows that such a career would very
+likely be a failure is beneath the recognition of any honest man or
+woman.
+
+
+THE SINGER'S EARLY TRAINING
+
+The education of the singer should not commence too early, if we mean by
+education the training of the voice. If you discover that a child has a
+very remarkable voice, "ear" and musical intelligence you had better let
+the voice alone and give your attention to the general musical education
+of the child along the lines of that received by Madame Sembrich, who is
+a fine violinist and pianist. So few are the teachers who know anything
+whatever about the child-voice, or who can treat it with any degree of
+safety, that it is far better to leave it alone than to tamper with it.
+Encourage the child to sing softly, sweetly and naturally, much as in
+free fluent conversation, telling him to form the habit of speaking his
+tones forward "on the lips" rather than in the throat. If you have among
+your acquaintances some musician or singer of indisputable ability and
+impeccable honor who can give you disinterested advice have the child go
+to this friend now and then to ascertain whether any bad and unnatural
+habits are being formed. Of course we have the famous cases of Patti and
+others, who seem to have sung from infancy. I have no recollection of
+the time when I first commenced to sing. I have always sung and gloried
+in my singing.
+
+See to it that your musical child has a good general education. This
+does not necessarily mean a college or university training. In fact, the
+amount of music study a singer has to accomplish in these days makes the
+higher academic training apparently impossible. However, with the great
+musical advance there has come a demand for higher and better ordered
+intellectual work among singers. This condition is becoming more and
+more imperative every day. At the same time you must remember also that
+nothing should be undertaken that might in any way be liable to
+undermine or impair the child's health.
+
+
+WHEN TO BEGIN TRAINING
+
+The time to begin training depends upon the maturity of the voice and
+the individual, considered together with the physical condition of the
+pupil. Some girls are ready to start voice work at sixteen, while others
+are not really in condition until a somewhat older age. Here again comes
+the necessity for the teacher of judgment and experience. A teacher who
+might in any way be influenced by the necessity for securing a pupil or
+a fee should be avoided as one avoids the shyster lawyer. Starting vocal
+instruction too early has been the precipice over which many a promising
+career has been dashed to early oblivion.
+
+In choosing a teacher I hardly know what to say, in these days of myriad
+methods and endless claims. The greatest teachers I have known have
+been men and women of great simplicity and directness. The perpetrator
+of the complicated system is normally the creator of vocal failures. The
+secret of singing is at once a marvelous mystery and again an open
+secret to those who have realized its simplicity. It cannot be
+altogether written, nor can it be imparted by words alone. Imitation
+undoubtedly plays an important part, but it is not everything. The
+teacher must be one who has actually realized the great truths which
+underlie the best, simplest and most natural methods of securing results
+and who must possess the wonderful power of exactly communicating these
+principles to the pupil. A good teacher is far rarer than a good singer.
+Singers are often poor teachers, as they destroy the individuality of
+the pupil by demanding arbitrary imitation. A teacher can only be judged
+by results, and the pupil should never permit herself to be deluded by
+advertisements and claims a teacher is unable to substantiate with
+successful pupils.
+
+
+HABITS OF SPEECH, POISE AND THINKING
+
+One of the deep foundation piers of all educational effort is the
+inculcation of habits. The most successful voice teacher is the one who
+is most happy in developing habits of correct singing. These habits must
+be watched with the persistence, perseverance and affectionate care of
+the scientist. The teacher must realize that the single lapse or
+violation of a habit may mean the ruin of weeks or months of hard work.
+
+One of the most necessary habits a teacher should form is that of
+speaking with ease, naturalness and vocal charm. Many of our American
+girls speak with indescribable harshness, slovenliness and shrillness.
+This is a severe tax upon the sensibilities of a musical person and I
+know of countless people who suffer acute annoyance from this source.
+Vowels are emitted with a nasal twang or a throaty growl that seem at
+times most unpardonable noises when coming from a pretty face.
+Consonants are juggled and mangled until the words are very difficult to
+comprehend. Our girls are improving in this respect, but there is still
+cause for grievous complaint among voice teachers, who find in this one
+of their most formidable obstacles.
+
+Another common natural fault, which is particularly offensive to me, is
+that of an objectionable bodily poise. I have found throughout my entire
+career that bodily poise in concert work is of paramount importance, but
+I seem to have great difficulty in sufficiently impressing this great
+truth upon young ladies who would be singers. The noted Parisian
+teacher, Sbriglia, is said to require one entire year to build up and
+fortify the chest. I have always felt that the best poise is that in
+which the shoulders are held well back, although not in a stiff or
+strained position, the upper part of the body leaning forward gently and
+naturally and the whole frame balanced by a sense of relaxation and
+ease. In this position the natural equilibrium is not taxed, and a
+peculiar sensation of non-constraint seems to be noticeable,
+particularly over the entire area of the front of the torso. This
+position suggests ease and an absence of that military rigidity which is
+so fatal to all good vocal effort. It also permits of a freer movement
+of the abdominal walls, as well as the intercostal muscles, and is thus
+conducive to the most natural breathing. Too much anatomical explanation
+is liable to confuse the young singer, and if the matter of breathing
+can be assisted by poise, just so much is gained.
+
+Another important habit that the teacher should see to at the start is
+that of correct thinking. Most vocal beginners are poor thinkers and
+fail to realize the vast importance of the mind in all voice work.
+Unless the teacher has the power of inspiring the pupil to a realization
+of the great fact that nothing is accomplished in the throat that has
+not been previously performed in the mind, the path will be a difficult
+one. During the process of singing the throat and the auxiliary vocal
+process of breathing are really a part of the brain, or, more
+specifically, the mind or soul. The body is never more than an
+instrument. Without the performer it is as voiceless as the piano of
+Richard Wagner standing in all its solitary silence at Wahnfried--a mute
+monument of the marvelous thoughts which once rang from its vibrating
+wires to all parts of the civilized world. We really sing with that
+which leaves the body after death. It is in the cultivation of this
+mystery of mysteries, the soul, that most singers fail. The mental ideal
+is, after all, that which makes the singer. Patti possessed this ideal
+as a child, and with it the wonderful bodily qualifications which made
+her immortal. But it requires work to overcome vocal deficiencies, and
+Patti as a child was known to have been a ceaseless worker and thinker,
+always trying to bring her little body up to the high �sthetic
+appreciation of the best artistic interpretation of a given passage.
+
+
+MAURICE STRAKOSCH'S TEN VOCAL COMMANDMENTS
+
+It was from Maurice Strakosch that I learned of the methods pursued by
+Patti in her daily work, and although Strakosch was not a teacher in the
+commercial sense of the word, as he had comparatively few pupils, he was
+nevertheless a very fine musician, and there is no doubt that Patti owed
+a great deal to his careful and insistent r�gime and instruction.
+Although our relation was that of impresario and artist, I cannot be
+grateful enough to him for the advice and instruction I received from
+him. The technical exercises he employed were exceedingly simple and he
+gave more attention to how they were sung than to the exercises
+themselves. I know of no more effective set of exercises than
+Strakosch's ten daily exercises. They were sung to the different vowels,
+principally to the vowel "ah," as in "father." Notwithstanding their
+great simplicity Strakosch gave the greatest possible attention and time
+to them. Patti used these exercises, which he called his "Ten
+Commandments for the Singer," daily, and there can be little doubt that
+the extraordinary preservation of her voice is the result of these
+simple means. I have used them for years with exceptional results in
+all cases. However, if the singer has any idea that the mere practice of
+these exercises to the different vowel sounds will inevitably bring
+success she is greatly mistaken. These exercises are only valuable when
+used with vowels correctly and naturally "placed," and that means, in
+some cases, years of the most careful and painstaking work.
+
+     Following are the famous "Ten Vocal Commandments," as used by
+     Adelina Patti and several great singers in their daily work. Note
+     their simplicity and gradual increase in difficulty. They are to be
+     transposed at the teacher's discretion to suit the range of the
+     voice and are to be used with the different vowels.
+
+[Illustration: I, musical notation]
+
+[Illustration: II, musical notation]
+
+[Illustration: III, musical notation]
+
+[Illustration: IV, musical notation]
+
+[Illustration: V, musical notation]
+
+[Illustration: VI, musical notation]
+
+[Illustration: VII, musical notation]
+
+[Illustration: VIII, musical notation]
+
+[Illustration: IX, musical notation]
+
+[Illustration: X, musical notation]
+
+The concert singer of the present day must have linguistic attainments
+far greater than those in demand some years ago. She is required to sing
+in English, French, German, Italian and some singers are now attempting
+the interpretation of songs in Slavic and other tongues. Not only do we
+have to consider arias and passages from the great oratorios and operas
+as a part of the present-day repertoire, but the song of the "Lied" type
+has come to have a valuable significance in all concert work. Many songs
+intended for the chamber and the salon are now included in programs of
+concerts and recitals given in our largest auditoriums. Only a very few
+numbers are in themselves songs written for the concert hall. Most of
+the numbers now sung at song concerts are really transplanted from
+either the stage or the chamber. This makes the position of the concert
+singer an extremely difficult one. Without the dramatic accessories of
+the opera house or the intimacy of the home circle, she is expected to
+achieve results varying from the cry of the Valkyries, in _Die Walk�re_,
+to the frail fragrance of Franz' _Es hat die Rose sich beklagt_. I do
+not wonder that Mme. Schumann-Heink and others have declared that there
+is nothing more difficult or exhausting than concert singing. The
+enormous fees paid to great concert singers are not surprising when we
+consider how very few must be the people who can ever hope to attain
+great heights in this work.
+
+[Illustration: REINALD WERRENRATH.
+
+� Mishkin.]
+
+
+
+
+REINALD WERRENRATH
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Reinald Werrenrath was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., August 7, 1883. His
+father, George Werrenrath, was a distinguished singer, and his mother
+(n�e Aretta Camp) is the daughter of Henry Camp, who was for many years
+musical director of Plymouth Church during the ministry there of Henry
+Ward Beecher. George Werrenrath was a Dane, with an unusually rich tenor
+voice, trained by the best teachers of his time in Germany, Italy,
+France and England. During his engagement as leading tenor in the Royal
+Opera House in Wiesbaden, he left Germany by the advice of Adelina
+Patti, eventually going to England with Maurice Strakosch, who was then
+his coach. In London Werrenrath had a fine career, and there was formed
+a warm and ultimate friendship with Charles Gounod, with whom he studied
+and toured in concerts through England and Belgium. George Werrenrath
+came to New York in 1876, by the influence of Mme. Antoinette Sterling
+and of the well-known Dane, General C. T. Christensen. He immediately
+became well known by his appearance with the Theodore Thomas Orchestra,
+as well as by his engagement at Plymouth Church, where he was soloist
+for seven years. He was probably the first artist to give song-recitals
+in the United States, while his performances in opera are still
+cherished in the memories of those people who can look back on some of
+the fine representations given under the baton of Adolph Neuendorf, at
+the old Academy of Music, which made the way for the later work at the
+Metropolitan Opera House. His interpretation of _Lohengrin_ was adjudged
+most wonderfully poetical.
+
+Reinald Werrenrath studied first with his father. At the Boys' High
+School and at New York University he was leader of musical affairs
+throughout the eight years spent in those schools. He studied violin
+with Carl Venth for four years, and had as his vocal teachers Dr. Carl
+Dufft, Frank King Clark, Dr. Arthur Mees, Percy Rector Stephens and
+Victor Maurel, giving especial credit for his voice training to years of
+study with Mr. Stephens whose vocal teaching ideas he sketches in part
+in the following. He has appeared with immense success in concert and
+oratorio in all parts of the United States. His talking machine records
+have been in great demand for years, and his voice is known to thousands
+who have never seen him. His operatic d�but was in _Pagliacci_, as
+_Silvio_, in the Metropolitan Opera House, February 19, 1919, where he
+later had specially fine success as _Valentine_ in _Faust_ and as the
+_Toreador_ in _Carmen_.
+
+
+
+
+NEW ASPECTS OF THE ART OF SINGING IN AMERICA
+
+REINALD WERRENRATH
+
+
+Every now and then someone asks me whether America is really becoming
+musical. All I can say is that a year ago I, with my accompanist,
+traveled over 61,000 miles, touching every part of this country and,
+during that eight months, singing almost nightly when the transit
+facilities would permit, found everywhere the very greatest enthusiasm
+for the very best music. Of course, Americans want some numbers on the
+program with the so-called "human" element; but at the same time they
+court the best in vocal art and seem never to get enough of it. All of
+my instruction has been received in America. All of my teachers, with
+the exception of my father and Victor Maurel, were born in America; so I
+may be called very much of an American product.
+
+Just why Americans should ever have been obsessed with the idea that it
+was impossible to teach voice successfully on this side of the Atlantic
+is hard to tell. I have a suspicion that many like the adventure of
+foreign travel far more than the labor of study. Probably ninety-five
+per cent. of the pupils who went over did so for the fascinating
+experience of living in a European environment rather than for the
+downright purpose of coming back great artists. Therefore, we should
+not blame the European teachers altogether for the countless failures
+that have floated back to us almost on every tide. I have recently heard
+a report that many of the highest-priced and most efficient voice
+teachers in Italy are Americans who have Italianized their names.
+Certainly the most successful voice teachers in Berlin were George
+Ferguson and Frank King Clark, who was at the top of the list also in
+Paris when he was there.
+
+The American singer should remember in these days that, first of all, he
+must sing in America and in the English language more than in any other.
+I am not one of those who decry singing in foreign languages. Certain
+songs, it is true, cannot be translated so that their meaning can be
+completely understood in English; yet, if the reader will think for a
+moment, how is the American auditor to understand a single thought of a
+poem in a language of which he knows nothing?
+
+The Italian is a glorious language for the singer, and with it English
+cannot be compared, with its thirty-one vowel sounds and its many
+coughing, sputtering consonants. Training in Italian solfeggios is very
+fine for creating a free, flowing style. Many of the Italian teachers
+were obsessed with the idea of the big tone. The audiences fired back
+volleys of "Bravos!" and "Da Capos" when the tenor took off his plumed
+hat, stood on his toes and howled a high C. That was part of his stock
+in trade. Naturally, he forced his voice, and most of the men singers
+quit at the age of fifty. I hope to be in my prime at that time, as my
+voice seems to grow better each year. Battistini, who was born in 1857,
+is an exception. His voice, I am told, is remarkably preserved.
+
+
+CLIMATIC CONDITIONS A SERIOUS HANDICAP
+
+Climatic conditions in many parts of America prove a serious handicap to
+the singer. At the same time, according to the law of the survival of
+the fittest, American singers must take care of themselves much better
+than the Italians, for instance. The salubrious, balmy climate of most
+of Italy is ideal for the throat. On our Eastern seaboard I find that
+fifty per cent. of my audiences in winter seem to have colds and
+bronchitis. The singer who is obliged to tour must, of course, take
+every possible precaution against catching cold; and that means becoming
+infected from exposure to colds when the system is run down. I attempt
+to avoid colds by securing plenty of outdoor exercise. I always walk to
+my hotel and to the station when I have time; and I walk as much as I
+can during the day. When I am not singing I immediately start to
+play--to fish, swim or hunt in the woods if I can make an opportunity.
+
+
+OPERATIC STUDY
+
+In one respect Europe is unquestionably superior to America for the
+vocal student. The student who wants to sing in opera will find in
+Europe ten opportunities for gaining experience to one here. While we
+have a few more opera companies than twenty-five years ago, it is still
+a great task to secure even an opening. Americans, outside of the great
+cities, do not seem to be especially inclined toward opera. They will
+accept a little of it when it is given to them by a superb company like
+the Metropolitan. In New York we find a public more cosmopolitan than in
+any other city of the world, with the possible exception of London. In
+immediate ancestry it is more European than American, and naturally
+opera becomes a great public demand. Seats sell at fabulous prices and
+the houses are crowded. Next comes opera at popular prices; and we have
+one or two very good companies giving that with success. Then there is
+the opera in America's other cosmopolitan center, Chicago, where many
+world-famed artists appear. After that, opera in America is hardly worth
+mentioning. What chance has the student? Only one who for years has been
+uniformed in a black dress suit and backed into the curve of the grand
+piano in a recital hall can know what it means to get out on the
+operatic stage, in those fantastic clothes, walk around, act, sing and
+at the same time watch the conductor with his ninety men. Only he can
+know what the difference between singing in concert and on the operatic
+stage really is. Yet old opera singers who enter the recital field
+invariably say that it is far harder to get up alone in a large hall and
+become the whole performance, aided and abetted only by an able
+accompanist, than it is to sing in opera.
+
+The recital has the effect of preserving the fineness of many operatic
+voices. Modern opera has ruined dozens of fine vocal organs because of
+the tremendous strain made upon them and the tendency to neglect vocal
+art for dramatic impression.
+
+If there were more of the better _singing_ in opera, such as one hears
+from Mr. Caruso, there would be less comment upon opera as a bastard
+art. Operatic work is very exhilarating. The difference between concert
+and opera for the singer is that between oatmeal porridge and an old
+vintage champagne. There is no time at the Metropolitan for raw singers.
+The works in the repertoire must be known so well in the singing and the
+acting that they may be put on perfectly with the least possible
+rehearsals. Therefore, the singer has no time for routine. The lack of a
+foreign name will keep no American singer out of the Metropolitan; but
+the lack of the ability to save the company hundreds of dollars through
+needless waits at rehearsals will.
+
+
+NATURAL METHODS OF SINGING
+
+Certainly no country in recent years has produced so many "corking" good
+singers as America. Our voices are fresh, virile, pure and rich; when
+the teaching is right. Our singers are for the most part finely educated
+and know how to interpret the texts intelligently. Mr. W. J. Henderson,
+the eminent New York critic, in his "Art of Singing," gave the following
+definition, which my former teacher, the late Dr. Carl Dufft, endorsed
+very highly: "Singing is the expression of a text by means of tones made
+by the human voice." More and more the truth of this comes to me.
+Singing is not merely vocalizing but always a means of communication in
+which the artist must convey the message of the two great minds of the
+poet and the composer to his fellow man. In this the voice must be as
+natural as possible, as human as possible, and not merely a sugary tone.
+The German, the Frenchman, the Englishman and the American strive first
+for an intelligent interpretation of the text. The Italian thinks of
+tone first and the text afterward, except in the modern Italian school
+of realistic singing. For this one must consider the voice normally and
+sensibly.
+
+I owe my treatment of my voice largely to Mr. Stephens, with whom I have
+studied for the last eight years, taking a lesson every day I am in New
+York. This is advisable, I believe, because no matter how well one may
+think one sings, another trained mind with other ears may detect defects
+that might lead to serious difficulties later. His methods are difficult
+to describe; but a few main principles may be very interesting to
+vocalists.
+
+My daily work in practice is commenced by stretching exercises, in which
+I aim to free the muscles covering the upper part of the abdomen and the
+intercostal muscles at the side and back--all by stretching upward and
+writhing around, as it were, so that there cannot possibly be any
+constriction. Then, with my elbows bent and my fists over my head, I
+stretch the muscles over my shoulders and shoulder blades. Finally, I
+rotate my head upward and around, so that the muscles of the neck are
+freed and become very easy and flexible. While I am finishing with the
+last exercise I begin speaking in a fairly moderate tone such vowel
+combinations as "OH-AH," "OH-AH," "EE-AY," "EE-AY," "EE-AY-EE-AY-EE-AY,"
+etc. While doing this I walk about the room so that there will not be
+any suggestion of stiltedness or vocal or muscular interference. At
+first this is done without the addition of any attempted nasal
+resonance. Gradually nasal resonance is introduced with different spoken
+vowels, while at the same time every effort is made to preserve ease and
+flexibility of the entire body. Then, when it seems as though the right
+vocal quality is coming, pitch is introduced at the most convenient
+range and exercises with pitch are taken through the range of the voice.
+The whole idea is to make the tones as natural and free and pure as
+possible with the least effort. I am opposed to the old idea of tone
+placing, in which the pupil toed a mark, set the throat at some
+prescribed angle, adjusted the tongue in some approved design, and then,
+gripped like the unfortunate victim in the old-fashioned photographer's
+irons, attempted to sing a sustained tone or a rapid scale. What was the
+result--consciousness and stiltedness and, as a rule, a tired throat and
+a ruined singer. These ideas may seem revolutionary to many. They are
+only a few of Mr. Stephens' very numerous devices; but for many years
+they have been of more benefit than anything else in keeping me vocally
+fit.
+
+We in the New World should be on the outlook for advance along all
+lines. Our American composers have held far too close to European ideals
+and done too little real thinking for themselves. Our vocal teachers
+and, for that matter, teachers in all branches of musical art in America
+have been most progressive in devising new ways and better methods.
+There will never be an American method of singing because we are too
+wise not to realize that every pupil needs different and special
+treatment. What is fine for one might be injurious to the next one.
+
+[Illustration: EVAN WILLIAMS.]
+
+
+
+
+EVAN WILLIAMS
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Evan Williams, as his name suggests, was of Welsh ancestry, although
+born in Trumbull County, Ohio, Sept. 7, 1867. As a boy his singing
+attracted the attention of his friends and neighbors. When a young man
+he went to Mme. Louise von Fielitsen, in Cleveland, and studied under
+her for four years. At the end of this time it became necessary for him
+to earn money immediately, as he had married at the age of twenty.
+Accordingly he went with the "Primrose and West" minstrels for one
+season. Everywhere he appeared his voice attracted enthusiastic
+attention. This aroused his ambition and in 1894 he went to New York
+where he was engaged at All Angels Church at a yearly salary of
+$1000.00. Six months later the Marble Collegiate Church took him over at
+$1500.00 which was shortly raised to $2000.00. In 1896 he appeared at
+the Worcester Festival with great success and then went to New York to
+study with James Sauvage for three years.
+
+Notwithstanding his long terms of instruction with teachers of high
+reputation, Mr. Williams felt that he had still much to learn, as he
+would find himself singing finely one night and so badly on the next
+that he would resolve never to sing again. Accordingly he studied with
+Meehan for three years more. Then he retired from the concert stage for
+three years in order to improve himself. Deciding to appear in public
+again he went to London where he sang for three years with popular
+success. However, he was still dissatisfied with his voice. Mr.
+Williams' personal narrative tells how he got his voice back. His death,
+May 24, 1918, prevented him from carrying out his project to become a
+teacher and thus introduce his discoveries. The following, therefore,
+becomes of interesting historical significance.
+
+
+
+
+HOW I REGAINED A LOST VOICE
+
+EVAN WILLIAMS
+
+
+There is nothing so disquieting to the singer as the feeling that his
+voice, upon which his artistic hopes, to say nothing of his livelihood,
+depend, is not a reliable organ, but a fickle thing which to-day may be
+in splendid condition but to-morrow may be gone. Time and again I have
+been driven to the verge of desperation by my own voice. While I am
+grateful to all of my excellent teachers for the many valuable things
+they taught me, I had a strong feeling that there was something which I
+must know and which only I myself could find out for myself. After a
+very wide experience here and in England I found myself with so little
+confidence in my ability to produce uniformly excellent results when on
+the concert stage, that I retired to Akron, Ohio, resolving to spend the
+rest of my life in teaching. There I remained for four years, thinking
+out the great problem that confronted me. It is only during the last
+year that I have become convinced that I have solved it. My musical work
+has made me well-to-do and I want now to give my ideas to the world so
+that others may profit if they find them valuable. I have nothing to
+sell--but I trust that I can put into words, without inventing a new and
+bewildering nomenclature, something that will prove of practical
+assistance to young singers as it has been to me.
+
+
+AN INDISPUTABLE RECORD
+
+In 1908 I left Akron and resolved to try to reinstate myself in New York
+as a singer. I also made talking machine records, only to find that
+seldom could I make a record at the first attempt that was up to the
+very high standard maintained by the company in the case of all records
+placed upon the market for sale. This meant a great waste of my time and
+the company's material and services. It naturally set me thinking. If I
+could do it one time--why couldn't I do it all the time? There was no
+contradicting the talking machine record. The machine records the
+slightest blemish as well as the most perfect tone. There was no getting
+away from the fact that sometimes my singing was far from what I wished
+it to be.
+
+The strange thing about it all was that my singing did not seem to
+depend upon the physical condition or feeling of my throat. Some days
+when my throat felt at its very best the records would come back in a
+way that I was ashamed of. It is a strange feeling to hear one's own
+voice from the talking machine. It sounds quite differently from the
+impression one gets while singing. I began to ponder, why were some of
+my records poor and others good?
+
+After deep thought for a very long period of time, I commenced to make
+certain postulates which I believe I have since proved (to my own
+satisfaction at least) to be reasonable and true. They not only
+resulted in an improvement in my voice, but they enabled me to do at
+command what I had previously been able to do only occasionally. They
+are:
+
+    I. Tone creates its own support.
+
+    II. Much of the time spent in elaborate breathing
+    exercises (while excellent for the health and valuable
+    to the singer, in a way) do not produce the
+    results that are expected.
+
+    III. The singer's first studies should be with his brain
+    and ear, rather than through an attempt at
+    muscular control of the breathing muscles.
+
+    IV. Vocal resonance can be developed through a
+    proper understanding of tone color (vocal timbre),
+    so that uniformly excellent production of tones
+    will result.
+
+
+TONE CREATES ITS OWN SUPPORT
+
+The first two postulates can be discussed as one. Tone creates its own
+support. How does a bird learn to sing? How does the animal learn to
+cry? How does the lion learn to roar? Or the donkey learn to bray? By
+practicing breathing exercises? Most certainly not. I have known many,
+many singers with splendid voices who have never heard of breathing
+exercises. Go out into the Welsh mining districts and listen to the
+voices. They learn to breathe by learning how to sing, and by singing.
+These men have lungs that the average vocal student would give a fortune
+to possess. By singing correctly they acquire all the lung control that
+any vocal composition could demand.
+
+As a matter of fact, one does not need such a huge amount of breath to
+sing. The average singer uses entirely too much. A goose has lungs ten
+times as large as a nightingale but that doesn't make the goose's song
+lovely to listen to. I have known men with lungs big enough to work a
+blast furnace who yet had little bits of voices, so small that they were
+ridiculous. It would be better for most vocal students to emit the
+breath for five seconds before attacking the tone. One of the reasons
+for much vocal forcing is too much breath. Maybe I haven't thought about
+these things! I have spent hours in silence making up my mind. It is my
+firm conviction that the average person (entirely without instruction in
+breathing of a special kind) has enough breath to sing any phrase one
+might be called upon to sing. I think, without question, that teachers
+and singers have all been working their heads off to develop strength in
+the wrong direction. Mind you--this is not a sermon against breathing. I
+believe in plenty of breathing exercises for the sake of one's health.
+
+
+A GOOD POSITION
+
+Singers study breathing as though they were trying to learn how to push
+out the voice or pull it out by suction. By standing in a sensible
+position with the chest high (but not forced up) the lung capacity of
+the average individual is quite surprising. A good position can be
+secured through the old Delsarte exercise which is as follows:
+
+    I. Stand on the balls of your feet, heels just touching
+    the floor.
+
+    II. Hold your arms at your side in a relaxed condition.
+
+    III. Move your arms forward until they form an
+    angle of forty-five degrees with the body. Press
+    the palms down until the chest is up comfortably.
+
+    IV. Now let your arms drop back without letting
+    your chest fall. Feel a sense of ease and freedom
+    over the whole body. Breathe naturally and
+    deeply.
+
+In other words, to "poise" the breath, stand erect, at attention. Most
+people when called to this "attention" posture stiffen themselves so
+that they are in a position of resistance. When I say _attention_,--I
+mean the position in which you have alertness but at the same time
+complete freedom,--when you can freely smile, sigh, scowl and
+sneer,--the attention that will permit expansion of the chest with every
+change of mood. Then, open the mouth without inhaling. Let the breath
+out for five seconds, close the mouth and inhale through the nostrils. I
+keep the fact that I breathe into the lungs through the nostrils before
+me all the time. Again open the mouth without allowing the air to pass
+in. Practice this until a comfortable stretch is felt in the flesh of
+the face, the top of the head, the back, the chest and the abdomen. If
+you stretch violently you will not experience this feeling.
+
+
+SENSATIONS
+
+I fully realize that much of what I have said will not be in accord with
+what is preached, practiced and taught by many vocal teachers and I
+cannot attempt to reply to any critics. I merely know what sensations
+and experiences I have had after a lifetime of practical work in a
+profession which has brought me a fortune. Furthermore I know that
+anything anyone might say on the subject of the human voice would be at
+variance with the opinions of others. There is probably no subject in
+human ken in which there is such a marked difference of opinion. I can
+merely try to describe my own sensations and vocal experiences. In
+trying to represent the course of the sensation I experience in
+producing a good tone, I have employed the following illustration.
+Imagine two pieces of whip cord. Tie the ends together. Place the knot
+immediately under the upper lip directly beneath the center bone of the
+nose, run the strings straight back for an inch, then up over the cheek
+bones, then down around the uvula, thence down the large cords inside
+the neck. At a point in the center between the shoulders the cords would
+split in order to let one set go down the back and the other toward the
+chest, meeting again under the arm-pits, thence down the short ribs,
+thence down and joining in another knot slightly back of the pelvic
+bone. Laugh, if you will, but this is actually the sensation I have
+repeatedly felt in producing what the talking machine has shown to be a
+good tone. Remember that there were plenty to laugh at Columbus,
+Gallileo and even Darius Green of the Flying Machine.
+
+Stand in "attention" as directed, with the body responsive and the mind
+sensitive to physical impressions. When opening the mouth without taking
+in air a slight stretch will be experienced along the whole track I have
+described. The poise felt in this position is what permitted Bob
+Fitzsimmons to strike a deadly blow with a two-inch stroke. It is the
+responsive poise with which I sing both loud and soft tones.
+Furthermore, I do not believe in an absolutely relaxed lower jaw as
+though it had been broken. Who could sing with a broken jaw?--and a
+broken jaw would represent ideal relaxation. The jaw should be slightly
+stretched but never strained. I think that the word relaxation, as used
+by most teachers and as understood by most students, is responsible for
+more ruined voices than all other terms used in vocal teaching. I have
+talked this matter over with numberless great singers who are constantly
+before the public, and their very singing is the best contradiction of
+this. When you hold your hand out freely before you what is it that
+keeps it from falling at your side? That same condition controls the
+jaw. Find it: it is not relaxation. If you would be a perfect singer
+find the juggler who is balancing a feather. Imagine yourself poised on
+the top of that feather, and sing without falling off.
+
+
+CONTRASTING TIMBRES THAT LEAD TO A BEAUTIFUL TONE WHEN COMBINED
+
+We shall now seek to illustrate two contrasting qualities of tones,
+between which lies that quality which I sought for so long. The desired
+quality is not a compromise, but seems to be located half way between
+two extremes, and may best be brought to the attention of the reader by
+describing the extremes.
+
+The first is a dark quality of tone. To get this, place the tips of the
+second fingers on the sides of the voice box (Adam's apple) and make a
+dark almost breathy sound, using "u" as in the word hum. Do this without
+any signs of strain. Allow the sound to float up into the mouth and
+nose. To many there will also be a sensation as though the sound were
+also floating down into the lungs (into both lungs). Do not make any
+conscious effort to force the sound or place it in any particular
+location. The sound will do it of its own accord if you do not strain.
+While the sound is being made, there will be a slight upward pulling of
+the voice box, a slight tugging at the voice box. This, of course,
+occurs automatically, and there should be no attempt to control it or
+promote it. It is nature at work. The tongue, while making this sound,
+should be limp, with the tip resting on the lower front teeth. All along
+it is necessary to caution the singer not to strive to do artificial
+things. Therefore do not poke or stick the tip of your tongue against
+the front teeth. If your tongue is not strained it will rest there
+naturally. Work at this exercise until you can fill the mouth and nose
+(and also seemingly the chest) with a rich, smooth, well-controlled,
+well-modulated dark sound and do it easily,--with slight effort. Do not
+try to hold the sound in the throat.
+
+The second sound we shall experiment with is the extreme antithesis of
+the first sound. Its resonance is high and it is bright in every sense.
+Place the fingers on the joints just in front and above holes in the
+ears. Open the mouth without inhaling and make the sound of "e" as in
+when. As the dark sound described before cannot be made too dark this
+sound cannot be made too strident. It is the extreme from the rumble of
+the drum to the piercing rasp of the file. I have called it the animal
+sound, and in calling it strident, please do not infer that the nose, or
+any part of the mouth or soft palate, should be pinched to make it
+nasal, in the restricted sense of that term. When I sing this tone it is
+accompanied with a sensation as though the tone were being reflected
+downward from the voice box over to each side of the chest just in front
+of the arm-pits and then downward into the abdomen. Here the great
+danger arises that the unskilled student will try to produce this
+sensation, whereas the fact of the matter is that the sensation is the
+accompaniment of the properly produced tone and cannot be made
+artificially. Don't work for the sensation, work for the tone that
+produces such a sensation. At the same time the tone has a sensation of
+upward reflection, as though it arose at the back of the voice box and
+separated there, passed up behind the jaws to the points where your
+fingers are resting, entering the mouth from above, as it were from a
+point just between the hard and soft palates, and becoming one sound in
+the mouth.
+
+The uvula and part of the soft palate should be associated with the dark
+sound. The hard palate and part of the soft palate should be associated
+with the strident tone.
+
+
+THE TONGUE POSITION
+
+In making the strident sound the tongue should rest in the same position
+as for the dark sound. The dark tone never changes and is the basic
+sound which gives fullness, foundation, depth to the ultimate tone.
+Without it all voices are thin and unsubstantial. The nearer the singer
+gets to this the nearer he approaches the great vibrating base upon
+which the world is founded.
+
+Remember that the dark tone never changes. It is the background, the
+canvas upon which the singer paints his infinite moods by means of
+different vowels, emotions, and the tone colors which are derived in
+numberless modifications from the strident tone. Another simile may
+bring the subject nearer to the reader student. Imagine the dark tone
+and all the sensations in different parts of the body as a kind of
+atmosphere or gas which requires to be set on fire by the electric spark
+of the strident tone. The dark tone is all necessary, but it is useless
+unless it is properly electrified by the strident tone.
+
+
+A PRACTICAL STEP
+
+How shall we utilize what we have learned, so that the student may
+convince himself that herein ties the truth which, properly understood
+and sensibly applied, will lead to a means of improving his tone. If the
+foregoing has been carefully read and understood, the following exercise
+to get the tone which results from a combination of the dark and the
+strident is simple.
+
+    I. Stand erect as directed.
+
+    II. Open the mouth _without inhaling_.
+
+    III. Produce the dark tone ("u" as in hum).
+
+    IV. Close the mouth and allow the air to pass in and
+    out of the nostrils for a few seconds.
+
+    V. Open the mouth without inhaling.
+
+    VI. Make the strident sound ("e" as in when).
+
+    VII. Close the mouth and let the air pass in and out
+    of nostrils a few seconds.
+
+    VIII. Open the mouth without inhaling.
+
+    IX. Sing the vowel "Ah" as in _father_ in such a manner
+    that it is a combination of the dark tone and
+    the strident tone.
+
+    X. Do this in such a way that all of the breathy
+    disagreeable features of the dark tone disappear
+    but its foundation features remain to give it fullness
+    and roundness, while all of the disagreeable
+    features of the strident tone disappear although
+    its color-giving, light-giving, life-giving characteristics
+    are retained to give the combination-tone
+    richness and sweetness. A beautiful result
+    is inevitable, if the principle is properly understood.
+    I have tried this with many people who
+    have sung but little before in their lives and who
+    were not conscious of having interesting voices.
+    Without a long course of vocal lessons or anything
+    of the sort they have been able to produce
+    in a short time--a very few minutes--a tone
+    that would be admired by any critic.
+
+
+A COMFORTABLE PITCH
+
+It is to be assumed that the student will, in these experiments, take
+the pitch in his voice which is most comfortable. Having mastered the
+combination tone on "Ah" at any pitch, it will be easy to try other
+pitches and other vowels. "Ah" is the natural vowel, but having secured
+the "know how" through a correct production of "Ah" the same results may
+be attained with any other vowel produced in a similar way. "E" as in
+_see_ has of course more of the strident quality, the high, bright
+quality and "OO" as in moon more of the dark, but even these extreme
+tones may be so placed that they become enriched through the employment
+of resonance of all those parts of the mouth, nose and body which may be
+brought naturally to reinforce them.
+
+
+"PING"
+
+I have never met a singer who was not looking for "ping" or what is
+called brightness. Most voices are hopelessly dead, and therefore lack
+sweetness. The voices are filled with night--black hollow gloomy night
+or else they are as strident as the caterwauling of a Tom Cat. The happy
+mean between the extremes is the area in which the singer's greatest
+results are attained.
+
+Think of your tone, always. The breath will then take care of itself. If
+the tone has a tremulo, or sounds stuffy or sounds weak, you have not
+apportioned the right amount of breath to it, but you are not going to
+gain this information by thinking of the breath but by thinking of the
+tone.
+
+
+LET YOUR OWN EARS CONVINCE YOU
+
+Now, that is all there is to it. I am not striving to found a method or
+anything of the sort; but I have seen students waste years on what is
+called "voice placing" and not come to anything like the same result
+that will come after the accomplishment of this simple matter. Try it
+out with your own voice. You will see in a short time what it will do.
+Your own ears will convince you, to say nothing of the ears of your
+friends. All I know is that after I discovered this, it was possible for
+me to employ it and make records with so small a percentage of discard
+that I have been surprised.
+
+It remains for the intelligent teachers to apply such knowledge to a
+systematic vocal course of exercises, studies and songs, which will help
+the pupil to progress most rapidly. Don't think that I am pretending to
+tell all that there is to vocal culture in an hour. It is a great and
+important study upon which I have spent a lifetime. However, as I said
+before, I have nothing to sell and I am only too happy to give this
+information which has cost me so many hours of thought to crystallize.
+
+
+Typographical errors corrected by the transcriber of this etext:
+
+Talmadge=>Talmage
+
+Artious=>Artibus
+
+citadal=>citadel
+
+Wohltemperites=>Wohltemperiertes
+
+liebenswurdig=>liebensw�rdig
+
+D�libes=>Delibes
+
+Words not changed: unforgetable, skilful, Beyreuth, marvelous
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Great Singers on the Art of Singing, by
+James Francis Cooke
+
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diff --git a/33358-8.zip b/33358-8.zip
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+  <head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+<title>
+  The Project Gutenberg eBook of Great Singers on the Art of Singing, by James Francis Cooke.
+</title>
+<style type="text/css">
+ p {margin-top:.75em;text-align:justify;margin-bottom:.75em;text-indent:2%;}
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+  </head>
+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Great Singers on the Art of Singing, by 
+James Francis Cooke
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Great Singers on the Art of Singing
+       Educational Conferences with Foremost Artists
+
+Author: James Francis Cooke
+
+Release Date: August 6, 2010 [EBook #33358]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT SINGERS ON THE ART OF SINGING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="figcenterdd" style="width: 378px;">
+<a href="images/dustcover.jpg">
+<img src="images/dustcover_sml.jpg" width="378" height="550" alt="dustcover"
+title="dustcover" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 377px;">
+<a href="images/cover_lg.jpg">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg"
+id="coverpage"
+width="377" height="550" alt="cover"
+title="cover" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_001" id="page_001"></a></p>
+
+<div class="boxx">
+<h1>GREAT<br />
+SINGERS &nbsp;ON&nbsp; THE<br />
+ART&nbsp; <i>of</i> &nbsp;SINGING</h1>
+
+<p class="cb">EDUCATIONAL CONFERENCES<br />
+WITH FOREMOST ARTISTS</p>
+
+<p class="cb">BY<br />
+JAMES FRANCIS COOKE</p>
+
+<p class="cb">A SERIES<br />
+OF PERSONAL STUDY TALKS WITH<br />
+THE MOST RENOWNED OPERA<br />
+CONCERT AND ORATORIO<br />SINGERS OF THE TIME</p>
+
+<p class="cb"><i>ESPECIALLY PLANNED FOR<br />
+VOICE STUDENTS</i></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 46px;">
+<img src="images/logo.png" width="30" height="40" alt="logo"
+title="logo" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="cb"><span class="theo">THEO. PRESSER CO.</span><br />
+PHILADELPHIA, PA.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_002" id="page_002"></a></p>
+
+<p class="c"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1921, by Theo. Presser Co.</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">International Copyright Secured</span></p>
+
+<p><a name="page_003" id="page_003"></a></p>
+
+<h3>CONTENTS</h3>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="contents">
+
+<tr><td align="right" colspan="3" class="smcap">PAGE</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Introduction</span></td><td align="right" colspan="2"><a href="#page_005">5</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Technic of Operatic Production</span></td><td align="right" colspan="2"><a href="#page_021">21</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">What the American Girl Should Know About an Operatic Career &nbsp; </span></td><td><a href="#FRANCES_ALDA"><i>Frances Alda</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_031">31</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Modern Vocal Methods in Italy</span></td><td><a href="#PASQUALE_AMATO"><i>Pasquale Amato</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_038">38</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Main Elements of Interpretation</span></td><td><a href="#DAVID_BISPHAM"><i>David Bispham</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_045">45</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Success in Concert Singing</span></td><td><a href="#DAME_CLARA_BUTT"><i>Dame Clara Butt</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_058">58</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Value of Self-Study in Voice Training</span></td><td><a href="#GIUSEPPE_CAMPANARI"><i>Giuseppe Campanari</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_068">68</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Italy, the Home of Song</span></td><td><a href="#ENRICO_CARUSO"><i>Enrico Caruso</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_079">79</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Modern Roads To Vocal Success</span></td><td><a href="#MME_JULIA_CLAUSSEN"><i>Julia Claussen</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_090">90</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Self-Help in Voice Study</span></td><td><a href="#CHARLES_DALMORES"><i>Charles Dalmores</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_100">100</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">If My Daughter Should Study for Grand Opera</span></td><td><a href="#ANDREAS_DIPPEL"><i>Andreas Dippel</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_110">110</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">How a Great Master Coached Opera Singers</span></td><td><a href="#MME_EMMA_EAMES"><i>Emma Eames</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_121">121</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Open Door To Opera</span></td><td><a href="#MME_FLORENCE_EASTON"><i>Florence Easton</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_133">133</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">What Must I Go Through to Become a Prima Donna?</span></td><td><a href="#GERALDINE_FARRAR"><i>Geraldine Farrar</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_144">144</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Master Songs of Robert Schumann</span></td><td><a href="#MME_JOHANNA_GADSKI"><i>Johanna Gadski</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_154">154</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Teaching Yourself to Sing</span></td><td><a href="#MME_AMELITA_GALLI-CURCI"><i>Amelita Galli-Curci</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_166">166</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Know How in the Art of Singing</span></td><td><a href="#MARY_GARDEN"><i>Mary Garden</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_176">176</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Building a Vocal Repertoire</span></td><td><a href="#MME_ALMA_GLUCK"><i>Alma Gluck</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_185">185</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Opportunities for Young Concert Singers</span></td><td><a href="#EMILIO_DE_GOGORZA"><i>Emilio de Gogorza</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_191">191</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Thoroughness in Vocal Preparation</span></td><td><a href="#FRIEDA_HEMPEL"><i>Frieda Hempel</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_200">200</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Common Sense in Training and Preserving the Voice</span></td><td><a href="#DAME_NELLIE_MELBA"><i>Dame Nellie Melba</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_207">207</a><a name="page_004" id="page_004"></a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Secrets of Bel Canto</span></td><td><a href="#MME_BERNICE_DE_PASQUALI"><i>Bernice de Pasquali</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_217">217</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">How Fortunes Are Wasted in Vocal Education</span></td><td><a href="#MME_MARCELLA_SEMBRICH"><i>Marcella Sembrich</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_227">227</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Keeping the Voice in Prime Condition</span></td><td><a href="#MME_ERNESTINE_SCHUMANN-HEINK"><i>Ernestine Schumann-Heink</i></a> &nbsp; </td><td align="right"><a href="#page_235">235</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Italian Opera in America</span></td><td><a href="#ANTONIO_SCOTTI"><i>Antonio Scotti</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_251">251</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Singer's Larger Musical Public</span></td><td><a href="#HENRI_SCOTT"><i>Henri Scott</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_260">260</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Singing in Concert and What It Means</span></td><td><a href="#EMMA_THURSBY"><i>Emma Thursby</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_269">269</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">New Aspects of the Art of Singing in America</span></td><td><a href="#REINALD_WERRENRATH"><i>Reinald Werrenrath</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_283">283</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">How I Regained a Lost Voice</span></td><td><a href="#EVAN_WILLIAMS"><i>Evan Williams</i></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_292">292</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><a name="page_005" id="page_005"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Vocal Gold Mines and How They are Developed</span></h4>
+
+<p>Plutarch tells how a Laconian youth picked all the feathers from the
+scrawny body of a nightingale and when he saw what a tiny thing was left
+exclaimed,</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poetry">
+<tr><td align="left">"<i>Surely thou art all voice</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;<i>and nothing else!</i>"</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>Among the tens of thousands of young men and women who, having heard a
+few famous singers, suddenly determine to follow the trail of the
+footlights, there must be a very great number who think that the success
+of the singer is "voice and nothing else." If this collection of
+conferences serves to indicate how much more goes into the development
+of the modern singer than mere voice, the effort will be fruitful.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing is more fascinating in human relations than the medium of
+communication we call speech. When this is combined with beautiful music
+in song, its charm is supreme. The conferences collected in this book
+were secured during a period of from ten to fifteen years; and in every
+case the notes have been carefully, often microscopically, reviewed and
+approved by the artist. They are the record of actual accomplishment and
+not mere metempirical opinions. The general design was directed by the
+hundreds of questions that<a name="page_006" id="page_006"></a> had been presented to the writer in his own
+experience in teaching the art of singing. Only the practical teacher of
+singing has the opportunity to discover the real needs of the student;
+and only the artist of wide experience can answer many of the serious
+questions asked.</p>
+
+<p>The writer's first interest in the subject of voice commenced with the
+recollection of the wonderfully human and fascinating vocal organ of
+Henry Ward Beecher, whom he had the joy to know in his early boyhood.
+The memory of such a voice as that of Beecher is ineradicable. Once, at
+the same age, he was taken to hear Beecher's rival pulpit orator, the
+Rev. T. de Witt Talmage, in the Brooklyn Tabernacle. The harsh, raucous,
+nasal, penetrating, rasping, irritating voice of that clergyman only
+served to emphasize the delight in listening to Beecher. Then he heard
+the wonderful orotund organ of Col. Robert J. Ingersoll and the
+sonorous, mellow voice of Edwin Booth.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly he found himself enlisted as a soprano in the boy choir of a
+large Episcopal church. While there he became the soloist, singing many
+of the leading arias from famous oratorios before he was able to
+identify the musical importance of such works. Then came a long training
+in piano and in organ playing, followed by public appearances as a
+pianist and engagements as an organist and choirmaster in different
+churches. This, coupled with song composition, musical criticism and
+editing, experience in conducting, managing concerts, accompanying noted
+singers and, later, in teaching<a name="page_007" id="page_007"></a> voice for many years, formed a
+background that is recounted here only to let the reader know that the
+conferences were not put down by one unacquainted with the actual daily
+needs of the student, from his earliest efforts to his platform
+triumphs.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">What Must the Singer Have?</span></h4>
+
+<p>What must the singer have? A voice? Of course. But how good must that
+voice be? "Ah, there's the rub!" It is this very point which adds so
+much fascination to the chances of becoming a great singer; and it is
+this very point upon which so many, many careers have been wrecked. The
+young singer learns that Jenny Lind was first refused by Garcia because
+he considered her case hopeless; he learns that Sir George Henschel told
+Bispham that he had insufficient voice to encourage him to take up the
+career of the singer; he learns dozens of similar instances; and then he
+goes to hear some famous singer with slender vocal gifts who, by force
+of tremendous dramatic power, eclipses dozens with finer voices. He
+thereupon resolves that "voice" must be a secondary matter in the
+singer's success.</p>
+
+<p>There could not be a greater mistake. There must be a good vocal basis.
+There must be a voice capable of development through a sufficient gamut
+to encompass the great works written for such a voice. It must be
+capable of development into sufficient "size" and power that it may fill
+large auditoriums. It must be sweet, true to pitch, clear; and, above
+all, it must have<a name="page_008" id="page_008"></a> that kind of an individual quality which seems to
+draw the musical interest of the average person to it.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Perfect Voice</span></h4>
+
+<p>Paradoxically enough, the public does not seem to want the "perfect"
+voice, but rather, the "human" voice. A noted expert, who for many years
+directed the recording laboratories of a famous sound reproducing
+machine company, a man whose acquaintance with great singers of the time
+is very wide, once told the writer of a singer who made records so
+perfect from the standpoint of tone that no musical critic could
+possibly find fault with them. Yet these records did not meet with a
+market from the general public. The reason is that the public demands
+something far more than a flawless voice and technically correct
+singing. It demands the human quality, that wonderful something that
+shines through the voice of every normal, living being as the soul
+shines through the eyes. It is this thing which gives individuality and
+identity to the voice and makes the widest appeal to the greatest number
+of people.</p>
+
+<p>Patti was not great because her dulcet tones were like honey to the ear.
+Mere sweetness does not attract vast audiences time and again. Once, in
+a medi�val German city, the writer was informed that a nightingale had
+been heard in the <i>glacis</i> on the previous night. The following evening
+a party of friends was formed and wandered through the park whispering
+with delight at every outburst from the silver throat. Never<a name="page_009" id="page_009"></a> had bird
+music been so beautiful. The next night someone suggested that we go
+again; but no one could be found who was enthusiastic enough to repeat
+the experience. The very perfection of the nightingale's song, once
+heard, had been sufficient.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Lure of Individuality</span></h4>
+
+<p>Certain performers in vaudeville owe their continued popularity to the
+fascinating individuality of their voices. Albert Chevalier, once heard,
+could never be forgotten. His pathetic lilt to "My Old Dutuch" has made
+thousands weep. When he sings such a number he has a far higher artistic
+control over his audience than many an elaborately trained singer
+trilling away at some very complicated aria.</p>
+
+<p>A second-rate opera singer once bemoaned his fate to the writer. He
+complained that he was obliged to sing for $100.00 a week,
+notwithstanding his years of study and preparation, while Harry Lauder,
+the Scotch comedian, could get $1000 a night on his tours. As a matter
+of fact Mr. Lauder, entirely apart from his ability as an actor, had a
+far better voice and had that appealing quality that simply commandeers
+his auditors the moment he opens his mouth.</p>
+
+<p>Any method or scheme of teaching the art of singing that does not seek
+to develop the inherent intellectual and emotional vocal complexion of
+the singer can never approach a good method. Vocal perfection that does
+not admit of the manifestation of the real individual has been the death
+knell of many an aspiring student.<a name="page_010" id="page_010"></a> Nordica, Jean de Reszke, Victor
+Maurel, Plan�on, Sims Reeves, Schumann-Heink, Garden, Dr. W�llner, Evan
+Williams, Galli-Curci, and especially our greatest of American singers,
+David Bispham, all have manifested a vocal individuality as unforgetable
+to the ear as their countenances are to the eye.</p>
+
+<p>If the reader happens to be a young singer and can grasp the
+significance of the previous paragraph, he may have something more
+valuable to him than many lessons. The world is not seeking merely the
+perfect voice but a great musical individuality manifested through a
+voice developed to express that individuality in the most natural and at
+the same time the most comprehensive manner possible. Therefore, young
+man and young woman, does it not seem of the greatest importance to you
+to develop, first of all, the <i>mind and the soul</i>, so that when the
+great hour comes, your audience will hear through the notes that pour
+from your throat something of your intellectual and emotional character?
+They will not know how, nor will they ask why they hear it,&mdash;but its
+manifestation will either be there or it will not be there. Upon this
+will depend much of your future success. It can not be concealed from
+the discerning critics in whose hands your progress rests. The high
+intellectual training received in college by Ffrang�on Davies, David
+Bispham, Plunkett Greene, Herbert Witherspoon, Reinald Werrenrath and
+others, is just as apparent to the intelligent listener, in their
+singing at recitals, as it would be in their conversation. Others have<a name="page_011" id="page_011"></a>
+received an equivalent intellectual training in other ways. The young
+singer, who thinks that in the future he can "get by" without such a
+training, is booked for disappointment. Get a college education if you
+can; and, if you can not, fight to get its equivalent. No useful
+experience in the singer's career is a wasted one. The early
+instrumental training of Melba, Sembrich, Campanari, Hempel, Dalmores,
+Garden, and Galli-Curci, shows out in their finished singing, in
+wonderful manner. Every singer should be able to play the piano well. It
+has a splendid effect in the musical discipline of the mind. In European
+conservatories, in many instances, the study of the piano is compulsory.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Your Philosophy of Singing</span></h4>
+
+<p>The student of singing should be an inveterate reader of "worthwhile"
+comments upon his art. In this way, if he has a discriminating mind, he
+will be able to form a "philosophy of singing" of his own. Richard
+Wagner prefaced his music dramas with lengthy essays giving his reasons
+for pursuing a certain course. Whatever their value may be to the
+musical public at this time, it could not have been less than that to
+the great master when he was fighting to straighten out for his own
+satisfaction in his own mind just what he should do and how he should do
+it. Therefore, read interminably; but believe nothing that you read
+until you have weighed it carefully in your own mind and determined its
+usefulness in its application to your own particular case.<a name="page_012" id="page_012"></a></p>
+
+<p>The student will find the following books of real value in his quest for
+vocal truth: <i>The Philosophy of Singing</i>, Clara Kathleen Rogers; <i>The
+Vocal Instructor</i>, E. J. Myer; <i>The Psychology of Singing</i>, David C.
+Taylor; <i>How to Sing</i>, Lilli Lehmann; <i>Reminiscences of a Quaker
+Singer</i>, David Bispham; <i>The Art of the Singer</i>, W. J. Henderson.</p>
+
+<p>The student should also read the biographies of famous singers and keep
+in touch with the progress of the art, through reading the best
+magazines.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The History of Singing</span></h4>
+
+<p>The history of singing parallels the history of civilization. Egypt,
+Israel, Greece and Rome made their contributions; but how they sang and
+what they sang we can not definitely know because of the destruction of
+the bridge between ancient and modern notation, and because not until
+Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877, was there any tangible
+means of recording the voices of the singers. The wisdom of Socrates,
+Plato and C�sar is therefore of trifling significance in helping us to
+find out more than how highly the art was regarded. The absurd antics of
+Nero, in his ambition to distinguish himself as a singer, indicated in
+some more or less indefinite way the importance given to singing in the
+heyday of Rome. The incessant references to singing, in Greek
+literature, tell us that singing was looked upon not merely as an
+accomplishment but as one of the necessary arts.</p>
+
+<p>Coincident with the coming of Italian opera, about<a name="page_013" id="page_013"></a> 1600, we find a
+great revival of the art of singing; and many of the old Italian masters
+have bequeathed us some fairly instructive comments upon the art of <i>bel
+canto</i>. That these old Italian teachers were largely individualists and
+taught empirically, with no set methods other than that which their own
+ears determined, seems to be accepted quite generally by investigators
+at this date. The <i>Osservazione sopra il Canto figurato</i> of Pietro
+Francesco Tosi (procurable in English), published in 1723, and the
+<i>Reflessioni pratichi sul Canto figurato</i>, published in 1776, are
+valuable documents for the serious student, particularly because these
+men seemed to recognize that the so-called registers should be
+equalized. With them developed an ever-expanding jargon of voice
+directions which persist to this day among vocal teachers. Such
+directions as "sing through the mask" (meaning the face); "sing with the
+throat open"; "sing as though you were just about to smile"; "sing as
+though you were just about to experience the sensation of swallowing"
+(<i>come bere</i>); "support the tone"; etc., etc., are often more confusing
+than helpful. Manual Garcia (1805-1906), who invented the laryngoscope
+in 1855, made an earnest effort to bring scientific observation to the
+aid of the vocal teacher, by providing a tiny mirror on the end of a
+rod, enabling the teacher to see the vocal cords during the process of
+phonation. How much this actually helped the singing teacher is still a
+moot point; but it must be remembered that Garcia had many extremely
+successful pupils, including the immortal Jenny Lind.<a name="page_014" id="page_014"></a></p>
+
+<p>The writer again advises the serious student of singing to spend a great
+deal of time in forming his own conception of the principles by which he
+can get the most from his voice. Any progressive artist teacher will
+encourage him in this course. In other words, it is not enough in these
+days that he shall sing; but he must know how he produces his results
+and be able to produce them time and time again with constantly
+increasing success. Note in the succeeding conferences how many of the
+great singers have given very careful and minute consideration to this.
+The late Evan Williams spent years of thought and study upon it; and the
+writer considers that his observations in this volume are among the most
+important contributions to the literature of voice teaching. This was
+the only form in which they appeared in print. Only one student in a
+hundred thousand can dispense with a good vocal teacher, as did the
+brilliant Galli-Curci or the unforgetable Campanari. A really fine
+teacher of voice is practically indispensable to most students. This
+does not mean that the best teacher is the one with the greatest
+reputation. The reputation of a teacher only too often has depended upon
+his good fortune early in life in securing pupils who have made
+spectacular successes in a short time. There are hundreds of splendid
+vocal teachers in America now, and it is very gratifying to see many of
+their pupils make great successes in Europe without any previous
+instruction "on the other side."</p>
+
+<p>Surely nothing can be more helpful to the ambitious<a name="page_015" id="page_015"></a> vocal student than
+the direct advice, personal suggestions and hints of the greatest
+singers of the time. It is with this thought that the writer takes
+especial pride in being the medium of the presentation of the following
+conferences. It is suggested that a careful study of the best
+sound-reproducing-machine records of the great singers included will add
+much to the interest of the study of this work.</p>
+
+<p>The enormous incomes received from some vocal gold mines, such as
+Caruso, John McCormack, Patti, Galli-Curci, and others, have made the
+lure of the singer's career so great that many young vocalists are
+inclined to forget that all of the great singers of the day have
+attained their triumphs only after years of hard work. Galli-Curci's
+overwhelmingly successful American d�but followed years of real labor,
+when she was glad to accept small engagements in order to advance in her
+art. John McCormack's first American appearances were at a side show at
+the St. Louis World's Fair. Sacrifice is often the seed kernel of large
+success. Too few young singers are willing to plant that kernel. They
+expect success to come at the end of a few courses of study and a few
+hundred dollars spent in advertising. The public, particularly the
+American public, is a wary one. It may be possible to advertise
+worthless gold mining stock in such a way that thousands may be swindled
+before the crook behind the scheme is jailed. But it is impossible to
+sell our public a so-called golden-voiced singer whose voice is really
+nothing more than tin-foil and very thin tin-foil at that.<a name="page_016" id="page_016"></a></p>
+
+<p>Every year certain kinds of slippery managers accept huge fees from
+would-be singers, which are supposed to be invested in a mysterious
+formula which, like the philosopher's stone, will turn a baser metal
+into pure gold. No campaign of advertising spent upon a mediocrity or an
+inadequately prepared artist can ever result in anything but a
+disastrous waste. Don't spend a penny in advertising until you have
+really something to sell which the public will want. It takes years to
+make a fine singer known; but it takes only one concert to expose an
+inadequate singer. Every one of the artists represented in this book has
+been "through the mill" and every one has triumphed gloriously in the
+end. There is one road. They have defined it in remarkable fashion in
+these conferences. The sign-posts read, "Work, Sacrifice, Joy, Triumph."</p>
+
+<p>With the multiplicity of methods and schemes for practice it is not
+surprising that the main essentials of the subject are sometimes
+obscured. That such discussions as those included in this book will
+enable the thinking student to crystallize in his own mind something
+which to him will become a method long after he has left his student
+days, can not be questioned. One of the significant things which he will
+have to learn is perfect intonation, keeping on the right pitch all the
+time; and another thing is freedom from restriction, best expressed by
+the word poise. William Shakespeare, greatest of English singing
+teachers of his day, once expressed these important points in the
+following words:<a name="page_017" id="page_017"></a></p>
+
+<p>"The Foundations of the Art of Singing are two in number:</p>
+
+<p>"First: (A) How to take breath and (B) how to press it out slowly. (The
+act of slow exhalation is seen in our endeavor to warm some object with
+the breath.)</p>
+
+<p>"Second: How to sing to this controlled breath pressure.</p>
+
+<p>"It may be interesting at this point to observe how the old singers
+practiced when seeking a full tone while using little breath. They
+watched the effect of their breath by singing against a mirror or
+against the flame of a taper. If a note required too much pressure the
+command over the breath was lost&mdash;the mirror was unduly tarnished or the
+flame unduly puffed. 'Ah' was their pattern vowel, being the most
+difficult on account of the openness of the throat&mdash;the vowel which, by
+letting more breath out, demanded the greatest control. The perfect
+poise of the instrument on the controlled breath was found to bring
+about <i>three</i> important results to the singer:</p>
+
+<p>"<i>First result</i>&mdash;Unerring tuning. As we do not experience any sensation
+of consciously using the muscles in the throat, we can only judge of the
+result by listening. When the note sounds to the right breath control it
+springs unconsciously and instantaneously to the tune we intended. The
+freedom of the instrument not being interfered with, it follows through
+our wishing it&mdash;like any other act naturally performed. This unerring
+tuning is the first result of a right foundation.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Second result</i>&mdash;The throat spaces are felt to be<a name="page_018" id="page_018"></a> unconscious and
+arrange themselves independently in the different positions prompted by
+the will and necessary to pronounciation, the factors being freedom of
+tongue and soft palate, and freedom of lips.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Third result</i>&mdash;The complete freedom of the face and eyes which adapt
+themselves to those changes necessary to the expression of the emotions.</p>
+
+<p>"The artist can increase the intensity of his tone without necessarily
+increasing its volume, and can thus produce the softest effect. By his
+skill he can emit the soft note and cause it to travel as far as a loud
+note, thus arousing emotions as of distance, as of memories of the past.
+He produces equally well the more powerful gradations without
+overstepping the boundary of noble and expressive singing. On the other
+hand, an indifferent performer would scarcely venture on a soft effect,
+the absence of breath support would cause him to become inaudible and
+should he attempt to crescendo such a note the result would be throaty
+and unsatisfactory."</p>
+
+<p>Another most important subject is diction, and the writer can think of
+nothing better than to quote from Mme. Lilli Lehmann, the greatest
+Wagnerian soprano of the last century.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us now consider some of the reasons why some American singers have
+failed to succeed. How do American women begin their studies? Many
+commence their lessons in December or January. They take two or three
+half-hour lessons a week, even attending these irregularly, and ending
+their year's instruction<a name="page_019" id="page_019"></a> in March or, at the latest, in April. Surely
+music study under such circumstances is little less than farcical. The
+voice, above all things, needs careful and constant attention. Moreover,
+many are lacking lamentably in the right preparations. Some are
+evidently so benighted as to believe that preparation is unnecessary. Or
+do they believe that the singing teacher must also provide a musical and
+general education?</p>
+
+<p>"Is there one among them, for instance, who can enunciate her own
+language faultlessly; that is, as the stage demands? Many fail to
+realize that they should, first of all, be taught elocution (diction) by
+teachers who can show them how to pronounce vowels purely and
+beautifully, and consonants correctly and distinctly, so as to give
+words their proper sounds. How can anyone expect to sing in a foreign
+language when he has no idea of his own language&mdash;no idea how this
+wonderful member, the tongue, should be used&mdash;to say nothing of the
+terrible faults in speaking? I endorse the study of elocution as a
+preparatory study for all singing. No one can realize how much simpler
+and how much more efficient it would make the work of the singing
+teacher."</p>
+
+<p>Finally, the writer feels that there is much to be inferred from the
+popular criticism of the man in the street&mdash;"There is no music in that
+voice." Mr. Hoipolloi knows just what he means when he says that. As a
+matter of fact, the average voice has very little music in it. By music
+the man means that the pitch of the tones that he hears shall be so
+unmistakable and<a name="page_020" id="page_020"></a> so accurate, that the quality shall be so pure and the
+thought of the singer so sincere and so worth-while, that the auditor
+feels the wonderful human emotion that comes only from listening to a
+beautiful human voice. Put real music in every tone and your success
+will not be far distant.</p>
+
+<p class="r"><span class="smcap">James Francis Cooke.</span></p>
+
+<p>Bala, Pa.</p>
+
+<p><a name="page_021" id="page_021"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="THE_TECHNIC_OF_OPERATIC_PRODUCTION" id="THE_TECHNIC_OF_OPERATIC_PRODUCTION"></a>THE TECHNIC OF OPERATIC PRODUCTION</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">What the Student Who Aspires to Go Into Opera Should Know about the
+Mechanical Side of Giving an Operatic Performance</span></h4>
+
+<p>Even after one has mastered the art of singing there is still much that
+the artist must learn about the actual working of the opera house
+itself. This of course is best done by actual experience; but the writer
+has found that much can be gained by insight into some of the conditions
+that exist in the modern opera house.</p>
+
+<p>In the childhood of hundreds of people now living opera was given with
+scenery and costumes that would be ridiculed in vaudeville if seen
+to-day. Pianos, lamps, chairs and even bird cages were often painted
+right on the scenery. One set of costumes and properties was made to do
+for the better part of the repertoire in such a way that even the most
+flexible imagination was stretched to the breaking point several times
+during the performance. Now, most of this has changed and the modern
+opera house stage is often a mechanical and electrical marvel.</p>
+
+<p>It is most human to want to peep behind the scenes and see something of
+the machinery which causes the wonderful spectacle of the stage. We
+remember how, as children, we longed to open the clock and see the
+wheels go round. Behind the asbestos curtain there is a world of ropes,
+lights, electrical and mechanical<a name="page_022" id="page_022"></a> machinery, paints and canvas, which
+is always a territory filled with interest to those who sit in the seats
+in front.</p>
+
+<p>Much of the success of the opera in New York, during the early part of
+the present century, was due to the great efficiency of the Director,
+Giulio Gatti-Casazza. Gatti-Casazza was a graduate of the Royal Italian
+Naval Academy at Leghorn, and had been intended for a career as a naval
+engineer before he undertook the management of the opera at Ferrara.
+This he did because his father was on the board of directors of the
+Ferrara opera house, and the institution had not been a great success.
+His directorship was so well executed that he was appointed head
+director of the opera at La Scala in Milan and astonished the musical
+world with his wonderful Italian productions of Wagner's operas under
+the conductorship of Toscanini. In New York many reforms were
+instituted, and later took the New York company to Paris, giving
+performances which made Europe realize that opera in New York is as fine
+as that in any music center in the world, and in some particulars finer.
+The New York opera is more cosmopolitan than that of any other country.
+Its company included artists from practically every European country,
+but fortunately includes more American singers and musicians to-day than
+at any time in our operatic history. We are indebted to the staff of the
+Metropolitan Opera House, experts who, with the kind permission of the
+director, furnished the writer with the following interesting
+information:</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterdd" style="width: 550px;">
+<a href="images/p022a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p022a_sml.jpg" width="550" height="298" alt="Profile of the Paris Grand Opera. (Note That the Stage
+Section Is Larger Than the Auditorium. Also Note the Immense Space Given
+to the Grand Entrance Stairway.)"
+title="Profile of the Paris Grand Opera. (Note That the Stage
+Section Is Larger Than the Auditorium. Also Note the Immense Space Given
+to the Grand Entrance Stairway.)" /></a>
+<span class="caption">Profile of the Paris Grand Opera. (Note That the Stage
+Section Is Larger Than the Auditorium. Also Note the Immense Space Given
+to the Grand Entrance Stairway.)</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_023" id="page_023"></a></p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">A World of Detail</span></h4>
+
+<p>Few people have any idea of how many persons and how many departments
+are connected with the opera and its presentation. Considering them in
+order, they might be classed as follows:</p>
+
+<ul><li>The General Manager and his assistants.</li>
+<li>The Musical Director and his assistants.</li>
+<li>The Stage Director and his assistants.</li>
+<li>The Technical Director and his assistants.</li>
+<li>The Business Director and his assistants.</li>
+<li>The Wardrobe Director and his assistants.</li>
+<li>The Master of Properties and his assistants.</li>
+<li>The Head Engineer and his assistants.</li>
+<li>The Accountant and his assistants.</li>
+<li>The Advertising Manager and his assistants.</li>
+<li>The Press Representatives and his assistants.</li>
+<li>The Superintendent and his assistants.</li>
+<li>The Head Usher and his assistants.</li>
+<li>The Electrician and his assistants.</li></ul>
+
+<p>Few of these important and necessary factors in the production ever
+appear before the public. Like the miners who supply us with the wealth
+of the earth, they work, as it were, underground. No one is more
+directly concerned with making the production than the Technical
+Director. In that we are fortunate in having the views of Mr. Edward
+Siedle, Technical Director of the Metropolitan Opera Company, of New
+York. The complete picture that the public sees is made under the
+supervision of Mr. Siedle, and during<a name="page_024" id="page_024"></a> the actual production he is
+responsible for all of the technical details. His experience has
+extended over a great many years in different countries. He writes:</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Technic of the Production</span></h4>
+
+<p>I understand you wish me to give you some idea of the technicalities
+involved in producing the stage pictures which go to form an opera. Let
+us suppose it is an opera by an American composer. My first procedure
+would be to place myself in touch with the author and composer. After
+having one or two talks with them I secure a libretto. When a mutual
+understanding is agreed upon between us as to the character of the
+scenes required and the positions of particular things in relation to
+the business which has to take place during the performance, I make my
+plans accordingly, and look up all the data available bearing upon the
+subject.</p>
+
+<p>It is now time to call in the scenic artist, giving him my views and
+ideas, so that he can start upon the designing and painting of the
+scenery. His first design would be in the form of a rough sketch and a
+more clearly worked-out ground plan. After further discussion and
+alterations we should definitely agree upon a scheme, and he would
+proceed to make a scale model. When this model is finished it is a
+perfect miniature scene of the opera as it will appear on the night the
+opera is produced.</p>
+
+<p>The author and composer are then called in to meet the impresario and
+myself for a final consultation.<a name="page_025" id="page_025"></a> We now finally criticize our plans,
+making any alterations which may seem necessary to us. When these
+alterations are completed the plans are handed over to the carpenter,
+who immediately starts making his frames and covering them with canvas,
+working from the scale model. The scenic artist is now able to commence
+his work in earnest.</p>
+
+<p>The "properties" are our next consideration. Sketches and patterns are
+made, authorities are consulted, and everything possible is done to aid
+the Property Master in doing his part of the work.</p>
+
+<p>Unless the opera in question calls for special mechanical effects, or
+special stage machinery, the scene is adapted to the stage as it is. If
+anything exceptional has to be achieved, however, special machinery is
+constructed.</p>
+
+<p>The designing of the costumes is gone over in much the same way as the
+construction of the scenery. The period in which the opera is laid, the
+various characters and their station in life, are all well talked over
+by the composer, author and myself. The costume designer is then called
+in, and after listening to what every one has to say and reading the
+libretto, he submits his designs. These, when finished, are criticized
+by the impresario, the composer, the author and myself, and any
+suggestion which will improve them is accepted by the designer, and
+alterations are made until everything is satisfactory. The designs are
+then sent to the costume maker.</p>
+
+<p>The important matter of lighting and electrical<a name="page_026" id="page_026"></a> effects is not dealt
+with until after the scenery has been completed, painted and set up on
+the stage, except in the case when exceptional effects are demanded. The
+matter is then carefully discussed and arranged so that the apparatus
+will be ready by the time the earlier rehearsals are taking place.</p>
+
+<p>The staff required by a Technical Director in such an institution as the
+Metropolitan Opera House is necessarily a large one. He needs an able
+scenic artist with his assistants and an efficient carpenter with his
+assistants to complete the scenic arrangements as indicated in the
+models. The completed scenery is delivered over to the stage carpenter
+who has a large body of assistants, and is held responsible for the
+running of the opera during rehearsals and performances. The stage
+carpenter has also under his control a body of carpenters who work all
+night, commencing their duties after the opera is over, removing all the
+scenery used in the opera just finished from the opera house and
+bringing from the various storehouses the scenery required for the next
+performance or rehearsal. The electrician is an important member of my
+staff, and he, of course, has a number of assistants. The Property
+Master and his assistants and the Wardrobe Mistress and her assistants
+also are extremely important. Then the active engineer who is
+responsible for the heating and ventilating, and also for many of the
+stage effects, is another necessary and important member. In all, the
+Opera House, when in full swing, requires for the technical or stage
+detail work alone about 185 people.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterdd" style="width: 550px;">
+<a href="images/p026a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p026a_sml.jpg" width="550" height="410" alt="How an Operatic Stage looks From Behind."
+title="How an Operatic Stage looks From Behind." /></a>
+<span class="caption">How an Operatic Stage looks From Behind.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_027" id="page_027"></a>Thus far we have not considered the musical side of the production. This
+is, of course, under the management of the General Director and the
+leading Musical Director. Very little time at best is at the disposal of
+the musical director. A director like Toscanini would, in a first-class
+opera house, with a full and competent company, require about fifteen
+days to complete the rehearsals, and other preparations for such a
+production as <i>A�da</i>, should such a work be brought out as a novelty. A
+good conductor needs at least four orchestra rehearsals. <i>Pelleas et
+Melisande</i> would require more extensive rehearsing, as the music is of a
+new order and is, in a sense, a new form of art.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Important Rehearsals</span></h4>
+
+<p>While the head musical director is engaged with the principals and the
+orchestra, the Chorus-master spends his time training the chorus. If his
+work is not efficiently done, the entire production is greatly impeded.
+The assistant conductors undertake the work of rehearsing the soloists
+prior to their appearance in connection with the orchestra. They must
+know the Head Director's ideas perfectly, and see that the soloists do
+not introduce interpretations which are too much at variance with his
+ideas and the accepted traditions. In all about ten rehearsals are given
+to a work in a room set aside for that purpose, then there are five
+stage rehearsals, and finally four full ensemble rehearsals with
+orchestra. In putting on an old work, such as those in the standard
+repertoire, no rehearsals are demanded.<a name="page_028" id="page_028"></a></p>
+
+<p>The musical forces of the Metropolitan Opera House, for instance, make a
+company of at least two leading conductors, twelve assistant conductors,
+about ninety soloists, a chorus numbering at least one hundred and
+twenty-five singers, thirty musicians for stage music, about twenty
+stage attendants and an orchestra of from eighty to one hundred
+performers, to say nothing of the costume, scenic and business staff,
+making a little industry all in itself.</p>
+
+<p>The General Director, the Stage Manager, and often the Musical Director
+make innumerable suggestions to the singers regarding the proper
+histrionic presentation of their r�les. As a rule singers give too
+little attention to the dramatic side of their work and demand too much
+of the stage manager. In recent years there has been a great improvement
+in this. Prior to the time of Gluck, Weber and Wagner, acting in opera
+was a matter of ridicule.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Ballet</span></h4>
+
+<p>About seventy or one hundred persons make up the ballet of a modern
+grand opera. At least ten years of continuous study are required to make
+a finished ballet dancer in the histrionic sense. Many receive very
+large fees for their services. The art of stage dancing also has
+undergone many great reforms in recent years; and the ballets of to-day
+are therefore much more popular than they were in the latter part of the
+last century. The most popular ballets of to-day are the <i>Coppelia</i> and
+<i>Sylvia</i> of Delibes. The ballets from<a name="page_029" id="page_029"></a> the operas of <i>La Gioconda</i>,
+<i>Samson et Delila</i>, <i>Armide</i>, <i>Mephistophele</i>, <i>A�da</i>, <i>Orfeo</i>,
+<i>L'Africaine</i>, and <i>The Damnation of Faust</i> also are very popular.</p>
+
+<p>At a modern opera house like the Metropolitan in New York City the
+number of employees will be between six hundred and seven hundred, and
+the cost of a season will be about one million dollars.<a name="page_030" id="page_030"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="FRANCES_ALDA" id="FRANCES_ALDA"></a>FRANCES ALDA<br />
+(MME. GIULIO GATTI-CASAZZA)</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>Mme. Frances Alda was born at Christ Church, New Zealand, May 31st,
+1883. She was educated at Melbourne and studied singing with Mathilde
+Marchesi in Paris. Her d�but was made in Massenet's <i>Manon</i>, at the
+Opera Comique in Paris in 1904. After highly successful engagements in
+Paris, Brussels, Parma and Milan (where she created the title r�le in
+the Italian version of <i>Louise</i>), she made her American d�but at the
+Metropolitan Opera House in New York as Gilda in Verdi's <i>Rigoletto</i>.
+Since her initial success in New York she has been connected with the
+Metropolitan stage every season. In 1910 she married Giulio
+Gatti-Casazza, manager of the Metropolitan Opera House, and is probably
+better able to speak upon the subject herewith discussed than any one in
+America. She has also appeared with great success in London, Warsaw,
+Buenos Aires and other cities, in opera and in concert. Many of the most
+important leading r�les in modern opera have been created by her in
+America.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 373px;">
+<a href="images/p030a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p030a_sml.jpg" width="373" height="550" alt="Mme. Frances Alda. � Underwood &amp; Underwood."
+title="Mme. Frances Alda. � Underwood &amp; Underwood." /></a>
+<span class="caption">Mme. Frances Alda.<br /><span class="captionn">� Underwood &amp; Underwood.</span></span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_031" id="page_031"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="WHAT_THE_AMERICAN_GIRL_SHOULD_KNOW_ABOUT_AN_OPERATIC_CAREER" id="WHAT_THE_AMERICAN_GIRL_SHOULD_KNOW_ABOUT_AN_OPERATIC_CAREER"></a>WHAT THE AMERICAN GIRL SHOULD KNOW ABOUT AN OPERATIC CAREER<br />
+MME. FRANCES ALDA (MME. GATTI-CASAZZA)</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Regularity and Success</span></h4>
+
+<p>To the girl who aspires to have an operatic career, who has the
+requisite vocal gifts, physical health, stage presence and&mdash;most
+important of all&mdash;a high degree of intelligence, the great essential is
+regular daily work. This implies regular lessons, regular practice,
+regular exercise, regular sleep, regular meals&mdash;in fact, a life of
+regularity. The daily lesson in most cases seems an imperative
+necessity. Lessons strung over a series of years merely because it seems
+more economical to take one lesson a week instead of seven rarely
+produce the expected results. Marchesi, with her famous wisdom on vocal
+matters, advised twenty minutes a day and then not more than ten minutes
+at a time.</p>
+
+<p>For nine months I studied with the great Parisian maestra and in my
+tenth month I made my d�but. Of course, I had sung a great deal before
+that time and also could play both the piano and the violin. A thorough
+musical knowledge is always valuable. The early years of the girl who is
+destined for an operatic career may be much more safely spent with
+Czerny exercises for the piano or Kreutzer studies for the violin than
+with Concone Solfeggios for the voice. Most girls<a name="page_032" id="page_032"></a> over-exercise their
+voices during the years when they are too delicate. It always pays to
+wait and spend the time in developing the purely musical side of study.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Moderation and Good Sense</span></h4>
+
+<p>More voices collapse from over-practice and more careers collapse from
+under-work than from anything else. The girl who hopes to become a prima
+donna will dream of her work morning, noon and night. Nothing can take
+it out of her mind. She will seek to study every imaginable thing that
+could in any way contribute to her equipment. There is so much to learn
+that she must work hard to learn all. Even now I study pretty regularly
+two hours a day, but I rarely sing more than a few minutes. I hum over
+my new r�les with my accompanist, Frank La Forge, and study them in that
+way. It was to such methods as this that Marchesi attributed the
+wonderful longevity of the voices of her best-known pupils. When they
+followed the advice of the dear old maestra their voices lasted a long,
+long time. Her vocal exercises were little more than scales sung very
+slowly, single, sustained tones repeated time and again until her
+critical ear was entirely satisfied, and then arpeggios. After that came
+more complicated technical drills to prepare the pupil for the fioriture
+work demanded in the more florid operas. At the base of all, however,
+were the simplest kind of exercises. Through her discriminating sense of
+tone quality, her great persistence and her boundless enthusiasm, she
+used these simple vocal<a name="page_033" id="page_033"></a> materials with a wizardry that produced great
+<i>prime donne</i>.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Precious Head Voice</span></h4>
+
+<p>Marchesi laid great stress upon the use of the head voice. This she
+illustrated to all her pupils herself, at the same time not hesitating
+to insist that it was impossible for a male teacher to teach the head
+voice properly. (Marchesi herself carried out her theories by refusing
+to teach any male applicants.) She never let any pupil sing above F on
+the top line of the treble staff in anything but the head voice. They
+rarely ever touched their highest notes with full voice. The upper part
+of the voice was conserved with infinite care to avoid early breakdowns.
+Even when the pupils sang the top notes they did it with the feeling
+that there was still something in reserve. In my operatic work at
+present I feel this to be of greatest importance. The singer who
+exhausts herself upon the top notes is neither artistic nor effective.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The American Girl's Chances in Opera</span></h4>
+
+<p>The American girl who fancies that she has less chances in opera than
+her sisters of the European countries is silly. Look at the lists of
+artists at the Metropolitan, for instance. The list includes twice as
+many artists of American nationality as of any other nation. This is in
+no sense the result of pandering to the patriotism of the American
+public. It is simply a matter of supply and demand. New Yorkers demand
+the best opera in the world and expect the best voices<a name="page_034" id="page_034"></a> in the world.
+The management would accept fine artists with fine voices from China or
+Africa or the North Pole if they were forthcoming. A diamond is a
+diamond no matter where it comes from. The management virtually ransacks
+the musical marts of Europe every year for fine voices. Inevitably the
+list of American artists remains higher. On the whole, the American
+girls have better natural voices, more ambition and are willing to study
+seriously, patiently and energetically. This is due in a measure to
+better physical conditions in America and in Australia, another free
+country that has produced unusual singers. What is the result? America
+is now producing the best and enjoying the best. There is more fine
+music of all kinds now in New York during one week than one can get in
+Paris in a month and more than one can get in Milan in six months. This
+has made New York a great operatic and musical center. It is a wonderful
+opportunity for Americans who desire to enter opera.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Need for Superior Intelligence</span></h4>
+
+<p>There was a time in the halcyon days of the old coloratura singers when
+the opera singer was not expected to have very much more intelligence
+than a parrot. Any singer who could warble away at runs and trills was a
+great artist. The situation has changed entirely to-day. The modern
+opera-goer demands great acting as well as great singing. The opera
+house calls for brains as well as voices. There should properly be great
+and sincere rivalry among fine singers. The singer must<a name="page_035" id="page_035"></a> listen to other
+singers with minute care and patience, and then try to learn how to
+improve herself by self-study and intelligent comparison. Just as the
+great actor studies everything that pertains to his r�le, so the great
+singer knows the history of the epoch of the opera in which he is to
+appear, he knows the customs, he may know something of the literature of
+the time. In other words, he must live and think in another atmosphere
+before he can walk upon the stage and make the audience feel that he is
+really a part of the picture. Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree gave a
+presentation that was convincing and beautiful, while the mediocre
+actor, not willing to give as much brain work to his performance, falls
+far short of an artistic performance.</p>
+
+<p>A modern performance of any of the great works as they are presented at
+the Metropolitan is rehearsed with great care and attention to
+historical detail. Instances of this are the performances of <i>L'Amore di
+Tre Re</i>, <i>Carmen</i>, <i>Boh�me</i>, and <i>Lohengrin</i>, as well as such great
+works as <i>Die Meistersinger</i>, and <i>Tristan und Isolde</i>.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Physical Strength and Singing</span></h4>
+
+<p>Few singers seem to realize that an operatic career will be determined
+in its success very largely through physical strength, all other factors
+being present in the desired degree. That is, the singer must be strong
+physically in order to succeed in opera. This applies to women as well
+as to men. No one knows what the physical strain is, how hard the work
+and study are.<a name="page_036" id="page_036"></a> In front of you is a sea of highly intelligent, cultured
+people, who for years have been trained in the best traditions of the
+opera. They pay the highest prices paid anywhere for entertainment. They
+are entitled to the best. To face such an audience and maintain the high
+traditions of the house through three hours of a complicated modern
+score is a musical, dramatic and intellectual feat that demands, first
+of all, a superb physical condition. Every day of my life in New York I
+go for a walk, mostly around the reservoir in Central Park, because it
+is high and the air is pure and free. As a result I seldom have a cold,
+even in mid-winter. I have not missed a performance in eight years, and
+this, of course, is due to the fact that my health is my first daily
+consideration.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 373px;">
+<a href="images/p036a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p036a_sml.jpg" width="373" height="550" alt="Pasquale Amato. � Mishkin."
+title="Pasquale Amato. � Mishkin." /></a>
+<span class="caption">Pasquale Amato.<br /><span class="captionn">� Mishkin.</span></span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_037" id="page_037"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="PASQUALE_AMATO" id="PASQUALE_AMATO"></a>PASQUALE AMATO</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>Pasquale Amato, for so many years the leading baritone at the
+Metropolitan Opera House in New York, was born at Naples March 21st,
+1878. He was intended for the career of an engineer and was educated at
+the Instituto Tecnico Domenico. He then studied at the Conservatory of
+Naples from 1896 to 1899. His teachers there were Cucialla and Carelli.
+He made his d�but as Germont in <i>La Traviata</i> in the Teatro Bellini at
+Naples in 1900. Thereafter his successes have been exceptionally great
+in the music centers of South America, Italy, Russia, England, Egypt,
+and Germany. He has created numerous r�les at the Metropolitan Opera
+House, among them Jack Rance in the <i>Girl of the Golden West</i>; Golaud in
+<i>Pelleas and Melisande</i> (Milan); <i>L'Amore di Tre Re</i>; <i>Cyrano</i>
+(Damrosch); <i>Lodoletta</i> (Mascagni); <i>Madame Sans Gene</i>. He has visited
+South America as an artist no less than ten times. His voice is
+susceptible of fine dramatic feeling.<a name="page_038" id="page_038"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="MODERN_VOCAL_METHODS_IN_ITALY" id="MODERN_VOCAL_METHODS_IN_ITALY"></a>MODERN VOCAL METHODS IN ITALY</h3>
+
+<h4>PASQUALE AMATO</h4>
+
+<p>When I was about sixteen years of age my voice was sufficiently settled
+to encourage my friends and family to believe that I might become a
+singer. This is a proud discovery for an Italian boy, as
+singing&mdash;especially operatic singing&mdash;is held in such high regard in
+Italy that one naturally looks forward with joy to a career in the great
+opera houses of one's native country and possibly to those over the sea.
+At eighteen I was accordingly entered in the conservatory, but not
+without many conditions, which should be of especial interest to young
+American vocal students. The teachers did not immediately accept me as
+good vocal material. I was recognized to have musical inclinations and
+musical gifts and I was placed under observation so that it might be
+determined whether the state-supported conservatory should direct my
+musical education along vocal lines or along other lines.</p>
+
+<p>This is one of the cardinal differences between musical education in
+America and musical education in Italy. In America a pupil suddenly
+determines that he is destined to become a great opera singer and
+forthwith he hires a teacher to make him one. He might have been
+destined to become a plumber, or a lawyer, or a comedian, but that has
+little to do with the matter if he has money and can employ a teacher.
+In Italy<a name="page_039" id="page_039"></a> such a direction of talents would be considered a waste to the
+individual and to the state. Of course the system has its very decided
+faults, for a corps of teachers with poor or biased judgment could do a
+great deal of damage by discouraging real talent, as was, indeed, the
+case with the great Verdi, who at the age of eighteen was refused
+admission to the Milan Conservatory by the director, Basili, on the
+score of lack of talent.</p>
+
+<p>However, for the most part the judges are experienced and skilful men,
+and when a pupil has been under surveillance for some time the liability
+of an error in judgment is very slight. Accordingly, after I had spent
+some time in getting acquainted with music through the study of
+Notation, Sight-singing, Theory, Harmony, Piano, etc., I was informed at
+the end of two years that I had been selected for an operatic career. I
+can remember the time with great joy. It meant a new life to me, for I
+was certain that with the help of such conservative masters I should
+succeed.</p>
+
+<p>On the whole, at this time, I consider the Italian system a very wise
+one for it does not fool away any time with incompetence. I have met so
+many young musicians who have shown indications of great study but who
+seem destitute of talent. It seems like coaxing insignificant shrubs to
+become great oak trees. No amount of coaxing or study will give them
+real talent if they do not have it, so why waste the money of the state
+and the money of the individual upon it. On the<a name="page_040" id="page_040"></a> other hand, wherever in
+the world there is real talent, the state should provide money to
+develop it, just as it provides money to educate the young.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Italian Vocal Teaching</span></h4>
+
+<p>So much has been said about the Old Italian Vocal Method that the very
+name brings ridicule in some quarters. Nothing has been the subject for
+so much charlatanry. It is something that any teacher, good or bad, can
+claim in this country. Every Italian is of course very proud indeed of
+the wonderful vocal traditions of Italy, the centuries of idealism in
+search of better and better tone production. There are of course certain
+statements made by great voice teachers of other days that have been put
+down and may be read in almost any library in large American cities. But
+that these things make a vocal method that will suit all cases is too
+absurd to consider. The good sense of the old Italian master would hold
+such a plan up to ridicule. Singing is first of all an art, and an art
+can not be circumscribed by any set of rules or principles.</p>
+
+<p>The artist must, first of all, know a very great deal about all possible
+phases of the technic of his art and must then adjust himself to the
+particular problem before him. Therefore we might say that the Italian
+method was a method and then again that it was no method. As a matter of
+fact it is thousands of methods&mdash;one for each case or vocal problem. For
+instance, if I were to sing by the same means that Mr. Caruso employs it
+would not at all be the best thing for my voice, yet for Mr. Caruso it
+is without question the<a name="page_041" id="page_041"></a> very best method, or his vocal quality would
+not be in such superb condition after constant years of use. He is the
+proof of his own method.</p>
+
+<p>I should say that the Italian vocal teacher teaches, first of all, with
+his ears. He listens with the greatest possible intensity to every shade
+of tone-color until his ideal tone reveals itself. This often requires
+months and months of patience. The teacher must recognize the vocal
+deficiencies and work to correct them. For instance, I never had to work
+with my high tones. They are to-day produced in the same way in which I
+produced them when I was a boy. Fortunately I had teachers who
+recognized this and let it go at that.</p>
+
+<p>Possibly the worst kind of a vocal teacher is the one who has some set
+plan or device or theory which must be followed "willy-nilly" in order
+that the teacher's theories may be vindicated. With such a teacher no
+voice is safe. The very best natural voices have to follow some patent
+plan just because the teacher has been taught in one way, is
+inexperienced, and has not good sense enough to let nature's perfect
+work alone. Both of my teachers knew that my high tones were all right
+and the practice was directed toward the lower tones. They worked me for
+over ten months on scales and sustained tones until the break that came
+at E flat above the Bass Clef was welded from the lower tones to the
+upper tones so that I could sing up or down with no ugly break audible.</p>
+
+<p>I was drilled at first upon the vowel "ah." I hear American vocal
+authorities refer to "ah" as in father.<a name="page_042" id="page_042"></a> That seems to me too flat a
+sound, one lacking in real resonance. The vowel used in my case in Italy
+and in hundreds of other cases I have noted is a slightly broader vowel,
+such as may be found half-way between the vowel "ah" as in father, and
+the "aw" as in law. It is not a dull sound, yet it is not the sound of
+"ah" in father. Perhaps the word "doff" or the first syllable of Boston,
+when properly pronounced, gives the right impression.</p>
+
+<p>I do not know enough of American vocal training to give an intelligent
+criticism, but I wonder if American vocal teachers give as much
+attention to special parts of the training as teachers in Italy do. I
+hope they do, as I consider it very necessary. Consider the matter of
+staccato. A good vocal staccato is really a very difficult
+thing&mdash;difficult when it is right; that is, when on the pitch&mdash;every
+time, clear, distinct, and at the same time not hard and stiff. It took
+me weeks to acquire the right way of singing such a passage as <i>Un di,
+quando le veneri</i>, from <i>Traviata</i>, but those were very profitable
+weeks&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/pm043.png" width="90%" alt="musical notation
+Un di, quan-do le ve-ne-ri il
+tem-po a-vr� fu-ga-te"
+title="musical notation
+Un di, quan-do le ve-ne-ri il
+tem-po a-vr� fu-ga-te" />
+</div>
+
+<p>Accurate attack in such a passage is by no means<a name="page_043" id="page_043"></a> easy. Anyone can sing
+it&mdash;but <i>how it is sung</i> makes the real difference.</p>
+
+<p>The public has very odd ideas about singing. For instance, it would be
+amazed to learn that <i>Trovatore</i> is a much more difficult r�le for me to
+sing and sing right than either <i>Parsifal</i> or <i>Pelleas and Melisande</i>.
+This largely because of the pure vocal demands and the flowing style.
+The Debussy opera, wonderful as it is, does not begin to make the vocal
+demands that such a work as <i>Trovatore</i> does.</p>
+
+<p>When the singer once acquires proficiency, the acquisition of new r�les
+comes very easy indeed. The main difficulty is the daily need for
+drilling the voice until it has the same quality every day. It can be
+done only by incessant attention. Here are some of the exercises I do
+every day with my accompanist:</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/pm044.png" width="90%" alt="musical notation
+First time forte second time piano."
+title="musical notation
+First time forte second time piano." />
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_044" id="page_044"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="DAVID_BISPHAM" id="DAVID_BISPHAM"></a>DAVID BISPHAM</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>David Bispham, in many ways the most distinguished of all American
+singers, was born in Philadelphia January 5th, 1857. Educated at
+Haverford College, Pa. At first a highly successful amateur in
+Philadelphia choirs and theatricals, he went to Milan in 1886, studying
+with Vannuccini, Lamperti and later in London with Shakespeare and
+Randegger. His operatic d�but was made in Messager's <i>Basoche</i> at the
+Royal English Opera House, 1891. In 1892 he appeared as Kurvenal and met
+with great favor. His Wagnerian r�les have been especially distinctive
+since the start. From 1896 to 1909 he sang alternately at the
+Metropolitan in New York and at Covent Garden in London, and was
+admittedly one of the foremost attractions of those great companies in
+the golden era of our operatic past. He was also immensely in demand as
+a recital and as an oratorio singer and as a dramatic reader. Few
+singers have shown the versatility and mastery of David Bispham and few
+have been so justly entitled to the academic honors LL.D., B.A., and
+Mus. Doc., which he had earned. He was the author of numerous articles
+on singing&mdash;the very successful autobiography, "A Quaker Singer's
+Reminiscences," and the collections, "David Bispham's Recital Album,"
+"The David Bispham Song Book" (for schools). He was also ever a strong
+champion of the use of the English language in singing. He died in New
+York City Oct. 2d, 1921.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 369px;">
+<a href="images/p044a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p044a_sml.jpg" width="369" height="550" alt="David Bispham."
+title="David Bispham." /></a>
+<span class="caption">David Bispham.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_045" id="page_045"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="THE_MAIN_ELEMENTS_OF_INTERPRETATION" id="THE_MAIN_ELEMENTS_OF_INTERPRETATION"></a>THE MAIN ELEMENTS OF INTERPRETATION</h3>
+
+<h4>DAVID BISPHAM</h4>
+
+<p>So many things enter into the great problem of interpretation in singing
+that it is somewhat difficult to state definitely just what the young
+singer should consider the most important. Generally speaking, the
+following factors are of prime significance:</p>
+
+<ul><li>1. Natural Aptitude.</li>
+<li>2. General Education and Culture.</li>
+<li>3. Good Musical Training.</li>
+<li>4. Accurate Vocal Training.</li>
+<li>5. Familiarity with Traditions.</li>
+<li>6. Freedom of Mind.</li>
+<li>7. Good Health.</li>
+<li>8. Life Experience.</li>
+<li>9. Personal Magnetism&mdash;one of the most essential,&mdash;and</li>
+<li>10. Idealism.</li></ul>
+
+<p>1. <i>Natural Aptitude.</i>&mdash;You will notice that foremost consideration is
+given to those broad general qualities without which all the technical
+and musical training of the world is practically worthless. The success
+of the art worker in all lines depends first upon the nature of the man
+or woman. Technical training of the highest and best kind is essential,
+but that which moves great audiences is not alone the mechanics of an
+art, but rather the broad education, experience,<a name="page_046" id="page_046"></a> ideals, culture, the
+human sympathy and magnetism of the artist.</p>
+
+<p>2. <i>The Value of Education and Culture.</i>&mdash;I cannot emphasize too
+strongly the value of a good general education and wide culture for the
+singer. The day has passed when a pretty face or a well-rounded ankle
+could be mistaken for art on the operatic stage. The public now demands
+something more than the heroic looking young fellow who comes down to
+the footlights with the assurance of youth and offers, for real vocal
+art, a voice fresh but crudely trained, and a bungling interpretation.</p>
+
+<p>Good education has often been responsible for the phenomenal success of
+American singers in European opera houses. Before the last war, in
+nearly all of the great operatic centers of the Continent, one found
+Americans ranking with the greatest artists in Europe. This was a most
+propitious condition, for it meant that American audiences have been
+compelled to give the long-delayed recognition to our own singers, and
+methods of general and vocal education.</p>
+
+<p>In most cases the young people of America who aspire to operatic
+triumphs come from a somewhat better class than singers do in Europe.
+They have had, in most cases, better educational, cultural and home
+advantages than the average European student. Their minds are trained to
+study intelligently; they are acquainted with the history of the great
+nations of the world; their tastes are cultivated, and they are filled
+with the American energy which is one of the<a name="page_047" id="page_047"></a> marvels of the centuries.
+More than this, they have had a kind of moral uplift in their homes
+which is of immense value to them. They have higher ideals in life, they
+are more businesslike and they keep their purposes very clearly in view.
+This has created jealousy in some European centers; but it is simply a
+case of the survival of the fittest, and Europe was compelled to bow in
+recognition of this. Vocal art in our own land is no longer to be
+ignored, for our standards are as high as the highest in the world, and
+we are educating a race of singers of which any country might be proud.</p>
+
+<p>3. <i>Good Musical Training.</i>&mdash;A thorough musical training&mdash;that is, a
+training upon some musical instrument such as the piano&mdash;is extremely
+desirable, but not absolutely essential; for the instrument called the
+Human Voice can be played on as effectively as a violin. The singer who
+is convinced of his ability, but who has not had such advantages in
+early youth, should not be discouraged. He can acquire a thorough
+knowledge of the essentials later on, but he will have to work very much
+harder to get his knowledge&mdash;as I was obliged to do. Artistic ability is
+by no means a certain quality. The famous art critic, Vassari, has
+called our attention to the fact that one painter who produced wonderful
+pictures had an exhaustive technical training, another arising at his
+side who also achieved wonderful results had to secure them by means of
+much bungling self-study. It is very hard to repress artistic ability.
+As the Bible says: "Many<a name="page_048" id="page_048"></a> waters cannot quench love." So it is with
+music; if the ability is there, it will come to the front through fire
+and water.</p>
+
+<p>4. <i>Accurate and Rational Vocal Training.</i>&mdash;I have added the word
+rational for it seems a necessary term at a time when so much vocal
+teaching is apparently in the hands of "faddists." There is only one way
+to sing, that is <i>the right way</i>, the way that is founded upon natural
+conditions. So much has been said in print about breathing, and placing
+the voice, and resonance, that anything new might seem redundant at this
+time. The whole thing in a nutshell is simply to make an effort to get
+the breath under such excellent control that it will obey the will so
+easily and fluently that the singer is almost unconscious of any means
+he may employ to this end. This can come only through long practice and
+careful observation. When the breath is once under proper control the
+supply must be so adjusted that neither too much nor too little will be
+applied to the larynx at one time. How to do this can be discovered only
+by much practice and self-criticism. When the tone has been created it
+must be reinforced and colored by passing through the mouth and nose,
+and the latter is a very present help in time of vocal trouble. This
+leads to a good tone on at least twenty-six steps and half-steps of the
+scale and with twenty or more vowel sounds&mdash;no easy task by any means.
+All this takes time, but there is no reason why it should take an
+interminable amount of time. If good results are not forthcoming in from
+nine months<a name="page_049" id="page_049"></a> to a year, something is wrong with either the pupil or the
+teacher.</p>
+
+<p>The matter of securing vocal flexibility should not be postponed too
+long, but may in many instances be taken up in conjunction with the
+studies in tone production, after the first principles have been
+learned. Thereafter one enters upon the endless and indescribably
+interesting field of securing a repertoire. Only a teacher with wide
+experience and intimacy with the best in the vocal literature of the
+world can correctly grade and select pieces suitable to the
+ever-changing needs of the pupil.</p>
+
+<p>No matter how wonderful the flexibility of the voice, no matter how
+powerful the tones, no matter how extensive the repertoire, the singer
+will find all this worthless unless he possesses a voice that is
+susceptible to the expression of every shade of mental and emotional
+meaning which his intelligence, experience and general culture have
+revealed to him in the work he is interpreting. At all times his voice
+must be under control. Considered from the mechanical standpoint, the
+voice resembles the violin, the breath, as it passes over the vocal
+cords, corresponding to the bow and the resonance chambers corresponding
+to the resonance chambers in the violin.</p>
+
+<p>5. <i>Familiarity With Vocal Traditions.</i>&mdash;We come to the matter of the
+study of the traditional methods of interpreting vocal masterpieces. We
+must, of course, study these traditions, but we must not be slaves to
+them. In other words, we must know the past in order<a name="page_050" id="page_050"></a> to interpret
+masterpieces properly in the present. We must not, however, sacrifice
+that great quality&mdash;individuality&mdash;for slavery to convention. If the
+former Italian method of rendering certain arias was marred by the
+tremolo of some famous singers, there is no good artistic reason why any
+one should retain anything so hideous as a tremolo solely because it is
+traditional.</p>
+
+<p>There is a capital story of a young American singer who went to a
+European opera house with all the characteristic individuality and
+inquisitiveness of his people. In one opera the stage director told him
+to go to the back of the stage before singing his principal number and
+then walk straight down to the footlights and deliver the aria. "Why
+must I go to the back first?" asked the young singer. The director was
+amazed and blustered: "Why? Why, because the great Rubini did it that
+way&mdash;he created the part; it is the tradition." But the young singer was
+not satisfied, and finally found an old chorus man who had sung with
+Rubini, and asked him whether the tradition was founded upon a custom of
+the celebrated singer. "Yes," replied the chorus man, "da gretta Rubini
+he granda man. He go waya back; then he comea front; then he sing. Ah,
+grandissimo!" "But," persisted the young American, "<i>Why did he go to
+the back before he sang?</i>" "Oh!" exclaimed the excited Italian; "Why he
+go back? He go to spit!"</p>
+
+<p>Farcical as this incident may seem, many musical traditions are founded
+upon customs with quite as little musical or esthetic importance. Many
+traditions<a name="page_051" id="page_051"></a> are to-day quite as useless as the buttons on the sleeves of
+our coats, although these very buttons were at one time employed by our
+forefathers to fasten back the long cuffs. There are, however, certain
+traditional methods of rendering great masterpieces, and particularly
+those marked by the florid ornamentation of the days of Handel, Bach and
+Haydn, which the singer must know. Unfortunately, many of these
+traditions have not been preserved in print in connection with the
+scores themselves, and the only way in which the young singer can
+acquire a knowledge of them is through hearing authoritative artists, or
+from teachers who have had wide and rich experience.</p>
+
+<p>6. <i>Freedom of Mind.</i>&mdash;Under ideal conditions the mind should be free
+for music study and for public performance. This is not always possible;
+and some artists under great mental pressure have done their best work
+solely because they felt that the only way to bury sorrow and trouble
+was to thrust themselves into their artistic life and thus forget the
+pangs of misfortune. The student, however, should do everything possible
+to have his mind free so that he can give his best to his work. One who
+is wondering where the next penny is coming from is in a poor condition
+to impress an audience. Nevertheless, if the real ability is there it is
+bound to triumph over all obstacles.</p>
+
+<p>7. <i>Good Health.</i>&mdash;Good health is one of the great factors of success in
+singing. Who needs a sounder mind than the artist? Good health comes
+from good, sensible living. The singer must never forget that the<a name="page_052" id="page_052"></a>
+instrument he plays upon is a part of his body and that that instrument
+depends for its musical excellence and general condition upon good
+health. A $20,000 Stradivarius would be worthless if it were placed in a
+tub of water; and a larynx that earns for its owner from $500 to $1,500
+a night is equally valueless when saturated with the poisons that come
+from intemperate or unwise living. Many of the singer's throat troubles
+arise from an unhealthy condition of the stomach caused by excesses of
+diet; but, aside from this, a disease localized in any other part of the
+body affects the throat sympathetically and makes it difficult for the
+singer to get good results. Recital work, with its long fatiguing
+journeys on railroads, together with the other inconveniences of travel
+and the responsibility and strain that come from knowing that one person
+alone is to hold from 1,000 to 5,000 people interested for nearly two
+hours, demands a very sound physical condition.</p>
+
+<p>8. <i>Life Experience.</i>&mdash;Culture does not come from the schoolroom alone.
+The refining processes of life are long and varied. As the violin gains
+in richness of tone and intrinsic value with age, so the singer's life
+experience has an effect upon the character of his singing. He must have
+seen life in its broadest sense, to place himself in touch with human
+sympathy. To do this and still retain the freshness and sweetness of his
+voice should be his great aim. The singer who lives a narrow and bigoted
+existence rarely meets with wide popular approval. The public wants to
+hear in a voice that wonderful something that tells them that it has<a name="page_053" id="page_053"></a>
+had opportunities to know and to understand the human side of song, not
+giving parrot-like versions of some teacher's way of singing, but that
+the understanding comes from the very center of the mind, heart and
+soul. This is particularly true in the field of the song recital. Most
+of the renowned recital singers of the last half century, including
+Schumann-Heink, Sembrich, W�llner, the Henschels and others, were
+considerably past their youth when they made their greatest successes. A
+painting fresh from the artist's brush is raw, hard and uninteresting,
+till time, with its damp and dust, night and day, heat and cold, gives
+the enriching touch which adds so wonderfully to the softness and beauty
+of a picture. We singers are all living canvases. Time, and time only,
+can give us those shades and tints which reveal living experience. The
+young artist should hear many of the best singers, actors, and speakers,
+should read many of the best books, should see many beautiful pictures
+and wonderful buildings. But most of all, he should know and study many
+people and learn of their joys and their sorrows, their successes and
+their failures, their strength and their weaknesses, their loves and
+their hates. In all art human life is reflected, and this is
+particularly true in the case of vocal art. For years, in my youth, I
+never failed to attend all of the musical events of consequence in my
+native city. This was of immense value to me, since it gave me the means
+of cultivating my own judgment of what was good or bad in singing. Do
+not fear that you will become <i>blas�</i>.<a name="page_054" id="page_054"></a> If you have the right spirit
+every musical event you attend will spur you on.</p>
+
+<p>You may say that it is expensive to hear great singers, and that you can
+only attend recitals and the opera occasionally. If this is really the
+case you still have a means of hearing singers which you should not
+neglect. I refer to the reproducing machines which have grown to be of
+such importance in vocal education. Phonograph records are nothing short
+of marvelous, and my earnestness in this cause is shown by the fact that
+I have long advocated their employment in the public schools, and have
+placed the matter before the educational authorities of New York. I
+earnestly urge the music teachers of this country, who are working for
+the real musical development of our children, to take this matter up in
+all seriousness. I can assure them that their efforts will bring them
+rich dividends in increased interest in musical work of their pupils,
+and the forming of a musical public. But nothing but the classics of
+song must be used. The time for the scorning of "high-brow" songs is
+past, and music must help this country to rid itself of the vogue of the
+"low-brow" and the "tough." Let singers strive to become educated
+ornaments of their lofty profession.</p>
+
+<p>9. <i>Personal Magnetism.</i>&mdash;One of the most essential. The subject of
+"personal magnetism" is ridiculed by some, of course, but rarely laughed
+at by the artist who has experienced the astonishing phenomena in the
+opera house or the concert room. Like electricity it is intangible,
+indefinable, indescribable, but makes its<a name="page_055" id="page_055"></a> existence known by
+manifestations that are almost uncanny. If personal magnetism does not
+exist, how then can we account for the fact that one pianist can sit
+down to the instrument and play a certain piece, and that another
+pianist could play the same piece with the same technical effect but
+losing entirely the charm and attractiveness with which the first
+pianist imbued the composition? Personal magnetism does not depend upon
+personal beauty nor erudition nor even upon perfect health. Henry Irving
+and Sarah Bernhardt were certainly not beautiful, but they held the
+world of the theater in the palm of their hand. Some artists have really
+been in the last stages of severe illness but have, nevertheless,
+possessed the divine electric spark to inspire hundreds, as did the
+hectic Chopin when he made his last famous visit to England and
+Scotland.</p>
+
+<p>Personal magnetism is not a kind of hypnotic influence to be found
+solely in the concert hall or the theater. Most artists possess it to a
+certain degree. Without this subtle and mysterious force, success with
+the public never comes.</p>
+
+<p>10. <i>Idealism.</i>&mdash;Ideals are the flowers of youth. Only too often they
+are not tenderly cared for, and the result is that many who have been on
+the right track are turned in the direction of failure by materialism.
+It is absolutely essential for the young singer to have high ideals.
+Direct your efforts to the best in whatever branch of vocal art you
+determine to undertake. Do not for a moment let mediocrity or the
+substitution of<a name="page_056" id="page_056"></a> artificial methods enter your vision. Holding to your
+ideal will mean costly sacrifices to you; but all sacrifices are worth
+while if one can realize one's ideal. The ideal is only another term for
+Heaven to me. If we could all attain to the ideal, we would all be in a
+kind of earthly Paradise. It has always seemed to me that when our Lord
+said "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand," he meant that it is at hand for
+us to possess now; that is the <i>ideal</i> in life.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 372px;">
+<a href="images/p056a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p056a_sml.jpg" width="372" height="550" alt="Dame Clara Butt."
+title="Dame Clara Butt." /></a>
+<span class="caption">Dame Clara Butt.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_057" id="page_057"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="DAME_CLARA_BUTT" id="DAME_CLARA_BUTT"></a>DAME CLARA BUTT</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>Dame Butt was born at Southwick, Sussex, February 1, 1873. Her first
+lessons were with D. W. Rootham in Bristol.</p>
+
+<p>In 1889 she won a scholarship at the Royal College of music where the
+teacher was J. H. Blower. Later she studied for short periods with Bouhy
+in Paris and Etelka Gerster in Berlin. Her d�but was made as Ursula in
+Sullivan's setting of the Longfellow poem, <i>Golden Legend</i>. Her success
+was immediate and very great. She became in demand at all of the great
+English musical festivals and also sang before enormous audiences for
+years in the great English cities. In 1900 she married the noted English
+baritone R. Kennerly Rumford and together they have made many tours,
+including a tour of the world, appearing everywhere with continued
+success. Her voice is one of rich, full contralto quality with such
+individual characteristics that great English composers have written
+special works to reveal these great natural gifts. Dame Butt received
+her distinction of "Dame" from King George in 1920. Her happy family
+life with her children has won her endless admirers among musical people
+everywhere.<a name="page_058" id="page_058"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="SUCCESS_IN_CONCERT_SINGING" id="SUCCESS_IN_CONCERT_SINGING"></a>SUCCESS IN CONCERT SINGING</h3>
+
+<h4>DAME CLARA BUTT</h4>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">HEALTH AND SINGING</span></h4>
+
+<p>It must be obvious to all aspiring vocal students that splendid good
+health is well nigh indispensable to the singer. There have been
+singers, of course, who have had physical afflictions that have made
+their public appearances extremely painful, but they have succeeded in
+spite of these unfortunate drawbacks. In fact, if the young singer is
+ambitious and has that wonderful gift of directing her efforts in the
+way most likely to bring fortunate results, even physical weakness may
+be overcome. By this I mean that the singer will work out some plan for
+bringing her physical condition to the standard that fine singing
+demands. I believe most emphatically that the right spirit will conquer
+obstacles that often seem impassable. One might safely say that
+nine-tenths of the successes in all branches of artistic work are due to
+the inextinguishable fire that burns in the heart and mind of the art
+worker and incites him to pass through any ordeal in order to deliver
+his message to the world.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Misdirected Effort</span></h4>
+
+<p>The cruel part of it all is that many aspire to become great singers who
+can never possibly have their hopes<a name="page_059" id="page_059"></a> realized. Natural selection rather
+than destiny seems to govern this matter. The ugly caterpillar seems
+like an unpromising candidate for the brilliant career of the butterfly,
+and it oftentimes happens that students who seem unpromising to some
+have just the qualities which, with the right time, instruction and
+experience, will entitle them to great success. It is the little ant who
+hopes to grow iridescent wings, and who travels through conservatory
+after conservatory, hoping to find the magic chrysalis that will do
+this, who is to be pitied. Great success must depend upon special gifts,
+intellectual as well as vocal. Oh, if we only had some instinct, like
+that possessed by animals, that would enable us to determine accurately
+in advance the safest road for us to take, the road that will lead us to
+the best development of our real talents&mdash;not those we imagine we may
+have or those which the flattery of friends have grafted upon us! Mr.
+Rumford and I have witnessed so much very hard and very earnest work
+carried on by students who have no rational basis to hope for success as
+singers, that we have been placed in the uncomfortable position of
+advising young singers to seek some other life work.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">When To Begin</span></h4>
+
+<p>The eternal question, "At what age shall I commence to study singing?"
+is always more or less amusing to the experienced singer. If the
+singer's spirit is in the child, nothing will stop his singing. He will
+sing from morning until night, and seems to be guided in<a name="page_060" id="page_060"></a> most cases by
+an all-providing Nature that makes its untutored efforts the very best
+kind of practice. Unless the child is brought into contact with very bad
+music he is not likely to be injured. Children seem to be trying their
+best to prove the Darwinian theory by showing us that they can mimic
+quite as well as monkeys. The average child comes into the better part
+of his little store of wisdom through mimicry. Naturally if the little
+vocal student is taken to the vaudeville theatre, where every imaginable
+vocal law is smashed during a three-hour performance, and if the child
+observes that the smashing process is followed by the enthusiastic
+applause of the unthinking audience, it is only reasonable to suppose
+that the child will discover in this what he believes to be the most
+approved art of singing.</p>
+
+<p>It is evident then that the first thing which the parent of the musical
+child should consider is that of teaching him to appreciate what is
+looked upon as good and what is looked upon as bad. Although many
+singers with fine voices have appeared in vaudeville, the others must be
+regarded as "horrible" examples, and the child should know that they are
+such. On the other hand, it is quite evident that the more good singing
+that the child hears in the impressionable years of its youth the
+greater will be the effect upon the mind which is to direct the child's
+musical future. This is a branch of the vocalist's education which may
+begin long before the actual lessons. If it is carefully conducted the
+teacher should have far less difficulty in<a name="page_061" id="page_061"></a> starting the child with the
+actual work. The only possible danger might be that the child's
+imitative faculty could lead it to extremes of pitch in imitating some
+singer. Even this is hardly more likely to injure it than the shouting
+and screaming which often accompanies the play of children.</p>
+
+<p>The actual time of starting must depend upon the individual. It is never
+too early for him to start in acquiring his musical knowledge.
+Everything he might learn of music itself, through the study of the
+piano or any other instrument would all become a part of his capital
+when he became a singer. Those singers are fortunate whose musical
+knowledge commenced with the cradle and whose first master was that
+greatest of all teachers, the mother. Speaking generally, it seems to be
+the impression of singing teachers that voice students should not
+commence the vocal side of their studies until they are from sixteen to
+seventeen years of age. In this connection, consider my own case. My
+first public appearance with orchestra was when I was fourteen. It was
+in Bristol, England, and among other things I sang <i>Ora Pro Nobis</i> from
+Gounod's <i>Workers</i>.</p>
+
+<p>I was fortunate in having in my first teacher, D. W. Rootham, a man too
+thoroughly blessed with good British common sense to have any "tricks."
+He had no fantastic way of doing things, no proprietary methods, that
+none else in the world was supposed to possess. He listened for the
+beautiful in my voice and, as his sense of musical appreciation was
+highly cultivated, he could detect faults, explain them to me and<a name="page_062" id="page_062"></a> show
+me how to overcome them by purely natural methods. The principal part of
+the process was to make me realize mentally just what was wrong and then
+what was the more artistic way of doing it.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Letting the Voice Grow</span></h4>
+
+<p>After all, singing is singing, and I am convinced that my master's idea
+of just letting the voice grow with normal exercise and without excesses
+in any direction was the best way for me. It was certainly better than
+hours and hours of theory, interesting to the student of physiology, but
+often bewildering to the young vocalist. Real singing with real music is
+immeasurably better than ages of conjecture. It appears that some
+students spend years in learning how they are going to sing at some
+glorious day in the future, but it never seems to occur to them that in
+order to sing they must really use their voices. Of course, I do not
+mean to infer that the student must omit the necessary preparatory work.
+Solfeggios, for instance, and scales are extremely useful. Concone,
+tried and true, gives excellent material for all students. But why spend
+years in dreaming of theories regarding singing when everyone knows that
+the theory of singing has been the battleground for innumerable talented
+writers for centuries? Even now it is apparently impossible to reconcile
+all the vocal writers, except in so far as they all modestly admit that
+they have rediscovered the real old Italian school. Perhaps they have.
+But, admitting that an art teacher rediscovered the actual pigments<a name="page_063" id="page_063"></a>
+used by Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt or Raphael, he would have no little
+task in creating a student who could duplicate <i>Mona Lisa</i>, <i>The Night
+Watch</i> or the <i>Sistine Madonna</i>.</p>
+
+<p>After leaving Rootham, I won the four hundred guinea scholarship at the
+Royal College of Music and studied with Henry Blower. This I followed
+with a course with Bouhy in Paris and Etelka Gerster in Berlin. Mr.
+Rumford and I both concur in the opinion that it is necessary for the
+student who would sing in any foreign language to study in the country
+in which the language is spoken. In no other way can one get the real
+atmosphere. The preparatory work may be done in the home country, but if
+one fails to taste of the musical life of the country in which the songs
+came into being, there seems to be an indefinable absence of the right
+flavor. I believe in employing the native tongue for songs in recital
+work. It seems narrow to me to do otherwise. At the same time, I have
+always been a champion for songs written originally with English texts,
+and have sung innumerable times with programs made from English lyrics.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Preparing a Repertoire</span></h4>
+
+<p>The idea that concert and recital work is not as difficult as operatic
+work has been pretty well exploded by this time. In fact, it is very
+much more difficult to sing a simple song well in concert than it is to
+sing some of the elaborate Wagnerian recitatives in which the very
+complexities of the music make a convenient<a name="page_064" id="page_064"></a> hiding place for the
+artist's vocal shortcomings. In concert everything is concentrated upon
+the singer. Convention has ever deprived him of the convenient gestures
+that give ease to the opera singer.</p>
+
+<p>The selection of useful material for concert purposes is immensely
+difficult. It must have artistic merit, it must have human interest, it
+must suit the singer, in most cases the piano must be used for
+accompaniment and the song must not be dependent upon an orchestral
+accompaniment for its value. It must not be too old, it must not be too
+far in advance of popular tastes. It is a bad plan to wander
+indiscriminately about among countless songs, never learning any really
+well. The student should begin to select numbers with great care,
+realizing that it is futile to try to do everything. Lord Bolingbroke,
+in his essay on the shortness of human life, shows how impossible it is
+for a man to read more than a mere fraction of a great library though he
+read regularly every day of his life. It is very much the same with
+music. The resources are so vast and time is so limited that there is no
+opportunity to learn everything. Far better is it for the vocalist to do
+a little well than to do much ineffectually.</p>
+
+<p>Good music well executed meets with very much the same appreciation
+everywhere. During our latest tour we gave almost the very same programs
+in America as those we have been giving upon the European Continent. The
+music-loving American public is likely to differ but slightly from that
+of the great music<a name="page_065" id="page_065"></a> centers of the old world. Music has truly become a
+universal language.</p>
+
+<p>In developing a repertoire the student might look upon the musical
+public as though it were a huge circle filled with smaller circles, each
+little circle being a center of interest. One circle might insist upon
+old English songs, such as the delightful melodies of Arne, Carey,
+Monroe. Another circle might expect the arias of the old Italian
+masters, Carissimi, Jomelli, Sacchini or Scarlatti. Another circle would
+want to hear the German Lieder of such composers as Schumann, Schubert,
+Brahms, Franz and Wolf. Still another circle might go away disappointed
+if they could not hear something of the ultra modern writers, such as
+Strauss, Debussy or even that freak of musical cacophony, Schoenberg.
+However diverse may be the individual likings of these smaller circles,
+all of the members of your audience are united in liking music as a
+whole.</p>
+
+<p>The audience will demand variety in your repertoire but at the same time
+it will demand certain musical essentials which appeal to all. There is
+one circle in your audience that I have purposely reserved for separate
+discussion. That is the great circle of concert goers who are not
+skilled musicians, who are too frank, too candid, to adopt any of the
+cant of those social frauds who revel in Reger and Schoenberg, and just
+because it might stamp them as real connoisseurs, but who really can't
+recognize much difference between the <i>Liebestod</i> of <i>Tristan und
+Isolde</i> and <i>Rule<a name="page_066" id="page_066"></a> Britannia</i>,&mdash;but the music lovers who are too honest
+to fail to state that they like the <i>Lost Chord</i> or the lovely folk
+songs of your American composer, Stephen Foster. Mr. Plunkett Greene, in
+his work upon song interpretation, makes no room for the existence of
+songs of this kind. Indeed, he would cast them all into the discard.
+This seems to me a huge mistake. Surely we can not say that music is a
+monopoly of the few who have schooled their ears to enjoy outlandish
+disonances with delight. Music is perhaps the most universal of all the
+arts and with the gradual evolution of those who love it, a natural
+audience is provided for music of the more complicated sort. We learn to
+like our musical caviar with surprising rapidity. It was only yesterday
+that we were objecting to the delightful piano pieces of Debussy, who
+can generate an atmosphere with a single chord just as Murillo could
+inspire an emotion with a stroke of the brush.</p>
+
+<p>It is not safe to say that you do not like things in this way. I think
+that even Schoenberg is trying to be true to his muse. We must remember
+that Haydn, Beethoven, Wagner and Brahms passed through the fire of
+criticism in their day. The more breadth a singer puts into her work the
+more likely is she to reap success. Time only can produce the
+accomplished artist. The best is to find a joy in your work and think of
+nothing but large success. If you have the gift, triumph will be
+yours.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 369px;">
+<a href="images/p066a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p066a_sml.jpg" width="369" height="550" alt="Giuseppe Campanari. � Dupont."
+title="Giuseppe Campanari. � Dupont." /></a>
+<span class="caption">Giuseppe Campanari.<br /><span class="captionn">� Dupont.</span></span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_067" id="page_067"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="GIUSEPPE_CAMPANARI" id="GIUSEPPE_CAMPANARI"></a>GIUSEPPE CAMPANARI</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>Giuseppe Campanari was born at Venice, Italy, Nov. 17th, 1858. His
+parents were not particularly musical but were very anxious for the boy
+to become a musician. At the age of nine he commenced to study the piano
+and later he entered the Conservatory of Milan, making his principal
+instrument the violoncello. Upon his graduation he secured a position in
+the 'cello section of the orchestra at "La Scala." Here for years he
+heard the greatest singers and the greatest operas, gaining a musical
+insight into the works through an understanding of the scores which has
+seldom if ever been possessed by a great opera singer. His first
+appearance as singer was at the Teatro dal Verme in Milan. Owing to
+voice strain he was obliged to give up singing and in the interim he
+took a position as a 'cellist in the Boston Symphony Orchestra,
+remaining with that organization some years. He then made appearances
+with the Emma Juch Opera Company, the Heinrichs Opera Company, and
+eventually at the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York, where he
+achieved his greatest triumphs as leading baritone. Mr. Campanari long
+since became an American citizen and has devoted his attention to
+teaching for years.</p>
+
+<p>His conference which follows is particularly interesting, as from the
+vocal standpoint he is almost entirely self taught.<a name="page_068" id="page_068"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="THE_VALUE_OF_SELF-STUDY_IN_VOICE_TRAINING" id="THE_VALUE_OF_SELF-STUDY_IN_VOICE_TRAINING"></a>THE VALUE OF SELF-STUDY IN VOICE TRAINING</h3>
+
+<h4>GIUSEPPE CAMPANARI</h4>
+
+<p>So much has been written upon the futility of applying one method to all
+cases in vocal instruction that it seems useless for me to say anything
+that would add to the volume of testimony against the custom of trying
+to teach all pupils in the same manner. No one man ever has had, has, or
+ever will have, a "method" superior to all others, for the very simple
+reason that the means one vocalist might employ to reach artistic
+success would be quite different from that which another singer, with an
+entirely different voice, different throat and different intellect,
+would be obliged to employ. One of the great laws of Nature is the law
+of variation; that is, no two children of any parents are ever exactly
+alike. Even in the case of twins there is often a great variation. The
+great English philosopher, Darwin, made much of this principle. It is
+one which all voice students and teachers should consider, for although
+there are, from the nature of things, many foundation principles which
+must remain the same in all cases, the differences in individual cases
+are sufficient to demand the greatest keenness of observation, the
+widest experience and an inexhaustible supply of patience upon the part
+of the teacher.<a name="page_069" id="page_069"></a></p>
+
+<p>Please understand, I am not decrying the use of books of exercises such
+as those of Concone, Marchesi, Regine, Panofka and others. Such books
+are necessary. I have used these and others in teaching, suiting the
+book to the individual case. The pupil needs material of this kind, and
+it should be chosen with the greatest care and consideration not only of
+the pupil's voice, but of his intellectual capacity and musical
+experience. These books should not be considered "methods." They are the
+common property of all teachers, and most teachers make use of them. My
+understanding of a "method" is a set of hard and fast rules, usually
+emanating from the mind of some one person who has the effrontery to
+pass them off upon an all too gullible public as the one road to a vocal
+Parnassus. Only the singer with years of experience can realize how
+ridiculous this course is and how large is the percentage of failure of
+the pupils of teachers whose sole claim to fame is that they teach
+the&mdash;&mdash; method. Proud as I am of the glorious past of vocal art in the
+country of my birth, I cannot help being amused and at the same time
+somewhat irritated when I think of the many palpable frauds that are
+classed under the head of the "Real Old Italian Method" by inexperienced
+teachers. We cannot depend upon the past in all cases to meet present
+conditions. The singers of the olden day in Italy were doubtless great,
+because they possessed naturally fine voices and used them in an
+unaffected, natural manner. In addition to this they were born speaking
+a tongue favorable to beautiful<a name="page_070" id="page_070"></a> singing, led simple lives and had
+opportunities for hearing the great operas and the great singers
+unexcelled by those of any other European country. That they became
+great through the practice of any set of rules or methods is
+inconceivable. There were great teachers in olden Italy, very great
+teachers, and some of them made notes upon the means they employed, but
+I cannot believe that if these teachers were living to-day they would
+insist upon their ideas being applied to each and every individual case
+in the same identical manner.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Value of Opera</span></h4>
+
+<p>This leads us to the subject at hand. The students in Italy in the past
+have had advantages for self-study that were of greatest importance. On
+all sides good singing and great singing might be heard conveniently and
+economically. Opera was and is one of the great national amusements of
+Italy. Opera houses may be found in all of the larger cities and in most
+of the smaller ones. The prices of admission are, as a rule, very low.
+The result is that the boys in the street are often remarkably familiar
+with some of the best works. Indeed, it would not be extravagant to say
+that they were quite as familiar with these musical masterpieces as some
+of the residents of America are with the melodramatic doings of Jesse
+James or the "Queen of Chinatown." Thus it is that the average Italian
+boy with a fair education and quick powers of observation reaches his
+majority with a taste for singing trained by many<a name="page_071" id="page_071"></a> opportunities to hear
+great singers. They have had the best vocal instruction in the world,
+providing, of course, they have exercised their powers of judgment. Thus
+it is that it happens that such a singer as Caruso, certainly one of the
+greatest tenors of all time, could be accidentally heard by a manager
+while singing and receive an offer for an engagement upon the spot.
+Caruso's present art, of course, is the result of much training that
+would fall under the head of "coaching," together with his splendid
+experience upon the operatic stage itself.</p>
+
+<p>I trust that I have not by this time given the reader of this page the
+impression that teachers are unnecessary. This is by no means the case.
+A good teacher is extremely desirable. If you have the good fortune to
+fall into the hands of a careful, experienced, intelligent teacher, much
+may be accomplished; but the teacher is by no means all that is
+required. The teacher should be judged by his pupils, and by nothing
+else. No matter what he may claim, it is invariably the results of his
+work (the pupil's) which must determine his value. Teachers come to me
+with wonderful theories and all imaginable kinds of methods. I always
+say to them: "Show me a good pupil who has been trained by your methods
+and I will say that you are a good teacher."</p>
+
+<p>Before our national elections I am asked, "Which one of the candidates
+do you believe will make the best President?" I always reply, "Wait four
+years and I will pass my opinion upon the ability of the candidate<a name="page_072" id="page_072"></a> the
+people select." In other words, "the proof of the pudding is in the
+eating."</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Singers Not Born, But Made</span></h4>
+
+<p>We often hear the trite expression, "Singers are born, not made." This,
+to my mind, is by no means the case. One may be born with the talent and
+deep love for music, and one may be born with the physical
+qualifications which lead to the development of a beautiful voice, but
+the singer is something far more than this. Given a good voice and the
+love for his music, the singer's work is only begun. He is at the
+outstart of a road which is beset with all imaginable kinds of
+obstacles. In my own case I was extremely ambitious to be a singer.
+Night after night I played 'cello in the orchestra at La Scala, in
+Milan, always wishing and praying that I might some day be one of the
+actors in the wonderful world behind the footlights. I listened to the
+famous singers in the great opera house with the minutest attention,
+making mental notes of their manner of placing their voices&mdash;their
+method of interpretation, their stage business, and everything that I
+thought might be of any possible use to me in the career of the singer,
+which was dearest to my heart. I endeavored to employ all the common
+sense and good judgment I possessed to determine what was musically and
+vocally good or otherwise. I was fortunate in having the training of the
+musician, and also in having the invaluable advantage of becoming
+acquainted with the orchestral scores of the<a name="page_073" id="page_073"></a> famous operas. Finally the
+long-awaited opportunity came and I made my d�but at the Teatro dal
+Verme, in Milan. I had had no real vocal instruction in the commonly
+accepted sense of the term; but I had really had a kind of instruction
+that was of inestimable value.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Not Given To All To Study Successfully Without A Teacher</span></h4>
+
+<p>Success brought with it its disadvantages. I foolishly strained my voice
+through overwork. But this did not discourage me. I realized that many
+of the greatest singers the world has ever known were among those who
+had met with disastrous failure at some time in their careers. I came to
+America and played the violoncello in the Boston Symphony Orchestra. All
+the time I was practicing with the greatest care and with the sole
+object of restoring my voice. Finally it came back better than ever and
+I sang for Maurice Grau, the impresario of the Metropolitan Opera House,
+in New York. He engaged me and I sang continuously at the Metropolitan
+for several years. Notwithstanding this varied experience, I will seek
+to learn, and to learn by practical example, not theory. The only opera
+school in the world is the opera house itself. No school ever "made" a
+great singer or a great artist. The most they have done has been to lay
+the foundation. The making of the artist comes later.</p>
+
+<p>In order to do without instruction one must be very peculiarly
+constituted. One must be possessed of the<a name="page_074" id="page_074"></a> pedagogical faculty to a
+marked degree. One must have within oneself those qualities for
+observing and detecting the right means leading to an artistic end which
+every good teacher possesses. In other words, one must be both teacher
+and pupil. This is a rare combination, since the power to teach, to
+impart instruction, is one that is given to very few. It is far better
+to study alone or not at all than with a poor teacher. The teacher's
+responsibility, particularly in the case of vocal students, is very
+great. So very much depends upon it. A poor teacher can do incalculable
+damage. By poor teachers I refer particularly to those who are carried
+away by idiotic theories and quack methods. We learn to sing by singing
+and not by carrying bricks upon our chest or other idiotic antics.
+Consequently I say that it is better to go all through life with a
+natural or "green" voice than to undergo the vocal torture that is
+sometimes palmed off upon the public as voice teaching. At best, all the
+greatest living teacher can do is to put the artist upon the right track
+and this in itself is responsibility enough for one man or one woman to
+assume.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Singers Make Their Own Methods</span></h4>
+
+<p>As I have already said, most every singer makes a method unto himself.
+It is all the same in the end. The Chinese may, for instance, have one
+name for God, the Persians another, the Mohammedans another, and the
+people of Christian lands another. But the God principle and the worship
+principle are the same<a name="page_075" id="page_075"></a> with all. It is very similar in singing. The
+means that apply to my own case may apparently be different from those
+of another, but we are all seeking to produce beautiful tones and
+interpret the meaning of the composer properly.</p>
+
+<p>One thing, however, the student should seek to possess above all things,
+and this is a thorough foundation training in music itself. This can not
+begin too early. In my own home we have always had music. My children
+have always heard singing and playing and consequently they become
+critical at a very early age.</p>
+
+<p>I can not help repeating my advice to students who hope to find a vocal
+education in books or by the even more ridiculous correspondence method.
+Books may set one's mental machinery in motion and incite one to observe
+singers more closely, but teach they can not and never can. The
+sound-reproducing machines are of assistance in helping the student to
+understand the breathing, phrasing, etc., but there is nothing really to
+take the place of the living singer who can illustrate with his voice
+the niceties of placing and <i>timbre</i>.</p>
+
+<p>My advice to the voice students of America is to hear great singers.
+Hear them as many times as possible and consider the money invested as
+well placed as any you might spend in vocal instruction. The golden
+magnet, as well as the opportunities in other ways offered artists in
+America, has attracted the greatest singers of our time to this country.
+It is no longer necessary to go abroad to listen to great singers. In<a name="page_076" id="page_076"></a>
+no country of the world is opera given with more lavish expenditure of
+money than in America. The great singers are now by no means confining
+their efforts to the large Eastern cities. Many of them make regular
+tours of the country, and students in all parts of this land are offered
+splendid opportunities for self-help through the means of concerts and
+musical festivals. After all, the most important thing for any singer is
+the development of the critical sense. Blind imitation is, of course,
+bad, but how is the student to progress unless he has had an opportunity
+to hear the best singers of the day? In my youth I heard continually
+such artists as La Salle, Gayarre, Patti, De Reszke and others. How
+could I help profiting by such excellent experiences?</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Great Voices are Rare</span></h4>
+
+<p>One may be sure that in these days few, if any, great voices go
+undiscovered. A remarkable natural voice is so rare that some one is
+sure to notice it and bring it to the attention of musicians. The
+trouble is that so many people are so painfully deluded regarding their
+voices. I have had them come to me with voices that are obviously
+execrable and still remain unconvinced when I have told them what seemed
+to me the truth. This business of hearing would-be singers is an
+unprofitable and an uncomfortable one; and most artists try to avoid the
+ordeal, although they are always very glad to encourage real talent.
+Most young singers, however, have little more than the bare ambition<a name="page_077" id="page_077"></a> to
+sing, coupled with what can only be described by the American term, "a
+swelled head." Someone has told them that they are wonderfully gifted,
+and persons of this kind are most always ready to swallow flattery
+indiscriminately. Almost everyone, apparently, wants to go into opera
+nowadays. To singers who have not any chance whatever I have only to say
+that the sooner this is discovered the better. Far better put your money
+in bank and let compound interest do what your voice can not.<a name="page_078" id="page_078"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="ENRICO_CARUSO" id="ENRICO_CARUSO"></a>ENRICO CARUSO</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>Enrico Caruso was born at Naples, February 25th, 1873. His fondness for
+music dates from his earliest childhood; and he spent much of his spare
+money in attending the opera at San Carlo and hearing the foremost
+singers of his time in many of the r�les in which he appeared later on.
+His actual study, however, did not start until he was eighteen, when he
+came under the tuition of Guglielmo Vergine. In 1895 he made his d�but
+at the Teatro Cimarosa in <i>Caserta</i>. His first appearances drew
+comparatively little attention to his work and his future greatness was
+hardly suspected by many of those who heard him. However, by dint of
+long application to his art he gained more and more recognition. In 1902
+he made his d�but in London. The following year he came to New York,
+where the world's greatest singers had found an El Dorado for nearly a
+quarter of a century. There he was at once proclaimed the greatest of
+all tenors and from that time his success was undeviating. Indeed his
+voice was so wonderful and so individual that it is difficult to compare
+him with any of his great predecessors; Tamagno, Campanini, de Reszke
+and others. In Europe and in America he was welcomed with acclaim and
+the records of his voice are to be found in thousands of homes of music
+lovers who have never come in touch with him in any other way. Signor
+Caruso had a remarkable talent for drawing and for sculpture. His death,
+August 2d, 1921, ended the career of the greatest male singer of
+history.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 373px;">
+<a href="images/p078a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p078a_sml.jpg" width="373" height="550" alt="Enrico Caruso."
+title="Enrico Caruso." /></a>
+<span class="caption">Enrico Caruso.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_079" id="page_079"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="ITALY_THE_HOME_OF_SONG" id="ITALY_THE_HOME_OF_SONG"></a>ITALY, THE HOME OF SONG</h3>
+
+<h4>ENRICO CARUSO</h4>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Opera and the Public in Italy</span></h4>
+
+<p>Anyone who has traveled in Italy must have noticed the interest that is
+manifested at the opening of the opera season. This does not apply only
+to the people with means and advanced culture but also to what might be
+called the general public. In addition to the upper classes, the same
+class of people in America who would show the wildest enthusiasm over
+your popular sport, base-ball, would be similarly eager to attend the
+leading operatic performances in Italy. The opening of the opera is
+accompanied by an indescribable fervor. It is "in the air." The whole
+community seems to breathe opera. The children know the leading
+melodies, and often discuss the features of the performances as they
+hear their parents tell about them, just as the American small boy
+retails his father's opinions upon the political struggles of the day or
+upon the last ball game.</p>
+
+<p>It should not be thought that this does not mean a sacrifice to the
+masses, for opera is, in a sense, more expensive in Italy than in
+America; that is, it is more expensive by comparison in most parts of
+the country. It should be remembered that monetary values in Italy are
+entirely different from those in America.<a name="page_080" id="page_080"></a> The average Italian of
+moderate means looks upon a lira as a coin far more valuable than its
+equivalent of twenty cents in United States currency. His income is
+likely to be limited, and he must spend it with care and wisdom. Again,
+in the great operatic centers, such as Milan, Naples or Rome, the prices
+are invariably adjusted to the importance of the production. In
+first-class productions the prices are often very high from the Italian
+standpoint. For instance, at La Scala in Milan, when an exceptionally
+fine performance is given with really great singers, the prices for
+orchestra chairs may run as high as thirty lira or six dollars a seat.
+Even to the wealthy Italian this amount seems the same as a much larger
+amount in America.</p>
+
+<p>To give opera in Italy with the same spectacular effects, the same casts
+composed almost exclusively of very renowned artists, the same <i>mise en
+scene</i>, etc., would require a price of admission really higher than in
+America. As a matter of fact, there is no place in the world where such
+a great number of performances, with so many world-renowned singers, are
+given as at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. There is no
+necessity for any one to make a special trip to Europe to hear excellent
+performances in these days. Of course such a trip would be interesting,
+as the performances given in many European centers are wonderfully fine,
+and they would be interesting to hear if only from the standpoint of
+comparing them with those given at the Metropolitan. However, the most
+eminent singers of the world come here constantly,<a name="page_081" id="page_081"></a> and the performances
+are directed by the ablest men obtainable, and I am at loss to see why
+America should not be extremely proud of her operatic advantages. In
+addition to this the public manifests a most intelligent appreciation of
+the best in music. It is very agreeable to sing in America, as one is
+sure that when he does well the public will respond at once.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Italian, the Language of Music</span></h4>
+
+<p>Perhaps the fact that in Italy the audiences may understand the
+performances better because of their knowledge of their native language
+may add to the pleasure of opera-going. This, however, is a question,
+except in the case of some of the more modern works. The older opera
+librettos left much to be desired from the dramatic and poetic
+standpoints. Italian after all is the language of music. In fact it is
+music in itself when properly spoken. Note that I say "when properly
+spoken." American girls go to Italy to study, and of course desire to
+acquire a knowledge of the language itself, for they have heard that it
+is beneficial in singing. They get a mere smattering, and do not make
+any attempt to secure a perfect accent. The result is about as funny as
+the efforts of the comedians who imitate German emigrants on the
+American stage.</p>
+
+<p>If you start the study of Italian, persist until you have really
+mastered the language. In doing this your ear will get such a drill and
+such a series of exercises as it has never had before. You will have to
+listen to the vowel sounds as you have never listened. This is<a name="page_082" id="page_082"></a>
+necessary because in order to understand the grammar of the language you
+must hear the final vowel in each word and you must hear the consonants
+distinctly.</p>
+
+<p>There is another peculiar thing about Italian. If the student who has
+always studied and sung in English, German or French or Russian,
+attempts to sing in Italian, he is really turning a brilliant
+searchlight upon his own vocal ability. If he has any faults which have
+been concealed in his singing in his own language, they will be
+discovered at once the moment he commences to study in Italian. I do not
+know whether this is because the Italian of culture has a higher
+standard of diction in the enunciation of the vowel sounds, or whether
+the sounds themselves are so pure and smooth that they expose the
+deficiencies, but it is nevertheless the case. The American girl who
+studies Italian for six months and then hopes to sing in that language
+in a manner not likely to disturb the sense of the ridiculous is
+deceiving herself. It takes years to acquire fluency in a language.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Audiences the Same the World Around</span></h4>
+
+<p>Audiences are as sensitive as individuals. Italy is known as "the home
+of the opera"; but I find that, as far as manifesting enthusiasm goes,
+the world is getting pretty much the same. If the public is pleased, it
+applauds no matter whether it be in Vienna, Paris, Rome, Buenos Aires,
+New York, or Oshkosh. An artist feels his bond with his audience very
+quickly. He knows whether his auditors are delighted, whether<a name="page_083" id="page_083"></a> they are
+merely interested or whether they are indifferent a few seconds after he
+has been upon the stage. I can judge my own work at once by the attitude
+of the audience. No artist sings exactly alike on two successive nights.
+That would be impossible. Although every sincere artist tries to do his
+best at all times, there are, nevertheless, occasions when one sings
+better than at others. If I sing particularly well the audience is
+particularly enthusiastic; if I am not feeling well and my singing
+indicates it, the audience will let me know at once by not being quite
+so enthusiastic. It is a barometer which is almost unfailing. This is
+also an important thing for the young singer to consider. Audiences
+judge by real worth and not by reputation.</p>
+
+<p>Reputation may attract money to the box office, but once the people are
+inside the opera house the artist must really please them or suffer.
+Young singers should not be led to think that anything but real worth is
+of any lasting value. If the audience does not respond, do not blame the
+audience. It would respond if you could sing so beautifully that you
+could compel a response that you know should follow real artistic
+achievement. Don't blame your teacher or your lack of practice or
+anything or anybody but yourself. The verdict of the audience is better
+than the examination of a hundred so-called experts. There is something
+about an audience that makes it seem like a great human individual,
+whether in Naples or in San Francisco. If you touch the heart or please
+the<a name="page_084" id="page_084"></a> sense of beauty, the appetite for lovely music&mdash;common to all
+mankind&mdash;the audience is yours, be it Italian, French, German or
+American.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Operatic Preparation in Italy</span></h4>
+
+<p>The American student with a really good voice and a really fine vocal
+and musical training, would have more opportunities for engagements in
+the smaller Italian opera houses, for the simple reason that there are
+more of these opera houses and more of these opera companies. Bear in
+mind, however, that opera in Italy depends to a large extent upon the
+standing of the artists engaged to put on the opera. In some cities of
+the smaller size the municipality makes an appropriation, which serves
+as a guarantee or subsidy. An impresario is informed what operas the
+community desires and what singers. He tries to comply with the demand.
+Often the city is very small and the demand very slightly indicated in
+real money. As a result the performances are comparatively mediocre. The
+American student sometimes fails to secure engagements with the big
+companies and tries to gain experience in these small companies.
+Sometimes he succeeds, but he should remember before undertaking this
+work that many native Italian singers with realty fine voices are
+looking for similar opportunities and that only a very few stand any
+chance of reaching really noteworthy success.<a name="page_085" id="page_085"></a></p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Opera Will Always Be Expensive</span></h4>
+
+<p>He should, of course, endeavor to seek engagements with the big
+companies if his voice and ability will warrant it. Where the most money
+is, there will be the salaried artists and the finest operatic
+spectacle. That is axiomatic. Opera is expensive and will always be
+expensive. The supply of unusual voices has always been limited and the
+services of their possessors have always commanded a high reward. This
+is based upon an economic law which applies to all things in life. The
+young singer should realize that, unless he can rise to the very top of
+his profession, he will be compelled to enlist in a veritable army of
+singers with little talent and less opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>One thing exists in Italy which is very greatly missed in America. Even
+in small companies in Italy a great deal of time is spent in rehearsals.
+In America rehearsals are tremendously expensive and sometimes first
+performances have suffered thereby. In fact, I doubt whether the public
+realizes what a very expensive thing opera is. The public has little
+opportunity to look behind the scenes. It sees only the finished
+performance, which runs smoothly only when a tremendous amount of
+mental, physical and financial oil has been poured upon the machinery. I
+often hear men say here in New York, "I had to pay fifty dollars for my
+seat to-night." That is absurd&mdash;the money is going to speculators
+instead of into the rightful channels. This money is simply lost as far
+as doing any<a name="page_086" id="page_086"></a> service whatever to art is concerned. It does not go into
+the opera house treasury to make for better performances, but simply
+into the hands of some fellow who had been clever enough to deprive the
+public of its just opportunity to purchase seats. The public seems to
+have money enough to pay an outrageous amount for seats when necessary.
+Would it not be better to do away with the speculator at the door and
+pay say $10.00 for a seat that now costs $7.00? This would mean more
+rehearsals and better opera and no money donated to the undeserving
+horde at the portals of the temple.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Student's Preparation</span></h4>
+
+<p>I am told that many people in America have the impression that my vocal
+ability is kind of a "God-given" gift; that is, something that has come
+to me without effort. This is so very absurd that I can hardly believe
+that sensible people would give it a moment's credence. Every voice is
+in a sense the result of a development, and this is particularly so in
+my own case. The marble that comes from the quarries of Carrara may be
+very beautiful and white and flawless, but it does not shape itself into
+a work of art without the hand, the heart, and the intellect of the
+sculptor.</p>
+
+<p>Just to show how utterly ridiculous this popular opinion really is, let
+me cite the fact that at the age of fifteen everybody who heard me sing
+pronounced me a bass. When I went to Vergine I studied hard for<a name="page_087" id="page_087"></a> four
+years. During the first three years the work was for the most part
+moulding and shaping the voice. Then I studied repertoire for one year
+and made my d�but. Even with the experience I had had at that time it
+was unreasonable to expect great success at once. I kept working hard
+and worked for at least seven years more before any really mentionable
+success came to me. All the time I had one thing on my mind and that was
+never to let a day pass without seeing some improvement in my voice. The
+discouragements were frequent and bitter; but I kept on working and
+waiting until my long awaited opportunities came in London and in New
+York. The great thing is, not to stop. Do not think that, because these
+great cities gave me a flattering reception, my work ceased. Quite on
+the contrary, I kept on working and am working still. Every time I go
+upon the stage I am endeavoring to discover something that will make my
+art more worthy of public acceptance. Every act of each opera is a new
+lesson.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Different R�les</span></h4>
+
+<p>It is difficult to invest a r�le with individuality. I have no favorite
+r�les. I have avoided this, because the moment one adopts a favorite
+r�le he becomes a specialist and ceases to be an artist. The artist does
+all r�les equally well. I have had the unique experience of creating
+many r�les in operas such as <i>Fedora</i>, <i>Adrienne</i>, <i>Germania</i>, <i>Girl of
+the Golden West</i>, <i>Maschera</i>. This is a splendid experience, as it
+always taxes the<a name="page_088" id="page_088"></a> inventive faculties of the singing actor. This is
+particularly the case in the Italian opera of the newer composers, or
+rather the composers who have worked in Italy since the reformation of
+Wagner. Whatever may be said, the greatest influence in modern Italian
+opera is Wagner. Even the great Verdi was induced to change his methods
+in <i>A�da</i>, <i>Otello</i>, and <i>Falstaff</i>&mdash;all representing a much higher art
+than his earlier operas. However, Wagner did nothing to rob Italy of its
+natural gift of melody, even though he did institute a reform. He also
+did not influence such modern composers as Puccini, Mascagni, and
+Leoncavallo to the extent of marring their native originality and
+fertility.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 372px;">
+<a href="images/p088a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p088a_sml.jpg" width="372" height="550" alt="Mme. Julia Claussen."
+title="Mme. Julia Claussen." /></a>
+<span class="caption">Mme. Julia Claussen.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_089" id="page_089"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="MME_JULIA_CLAUSSEN" id="MME_JULIA_CLAUSSEN"></a>MME. JULIA CLAUSSEN</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>Mme. Julia Claussen was born at Stockholm, Sweden, the land of Jenny
+Lind and Nilsson. Her voice is a rich, flexible mezzo-soprano, with a
+range that has enabled her to assume some contralto r�les with more
+success than the average so-called contralto. In her childhood she
+studied piano, but did not undertake the serious study of voice until
+she was eighteen, when she became a student at the Royal Academy of
+Music, under Professor Lejdstrom (studying harmony and theory under the
+famous Swedish composer Sjogren). Her d�but was made at the Royal Opera,
+at the age of twenty-two, in <i>La Favorita</i>, singing the r�le in Swedish.
+Later she went to Berlin, where she was coached in German opera by
+Professor Friedrich at the Royal High School of Music. Her American
+d�but was made in 1912, in Chicago, where she made an immediate success
+in such r�les as <i>Ortrud</i>, <i>Br�nnhilde</i> and <i>Carmen</i>. She was then
+engaged at Covent Garden and later sang at the Champs Elys�e Theatre,
+under Nikisch, in Paris. For two years she appeared at the Metropolitan.
+She has received the rare distinction of being awarded the Jenny Lind
+Medal from her own government and also of being admitted to the Royal
+Academy of Sweden, the youngest member ever elected to that august
+scientific and artistic body. She has also been decorated by King
+Gustavus V of Sweden with Literis et Artibus. In America she has made an
+immense success as a concert singer.<a name="page_090" id="page_090"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="MODERN_ROADS_TO_VOCAL_SUCCESS" id="MODERN_ROADS_TO_VOCAL_SUCCESS"></a>MODERN ROADS TO VOCAL SUCCESS</h3>
+
+<h4>MME. JULIA CLAUSSEN</h4>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Why Sweden Produces So Many Singers</span></h4>
+
+<p>The question, "Why does Sweden produce so many singers?" is often asked
+me. First it is a matter of climate, then a matter of physique, and
+lastly, because the Swedish children do far more singing than any one
+finds in many other countries. The air in Sweden is very rarefied, clear
+and exhilarating. Owing to frugal living and abundant systematic
+exercise, the people become very robust. This is not a matter of one
+generation or so, but goes back for centuries. The Swedes are a strong,
+energetic, thorough race; and the same attributes of industry and
+precision which have made them famous in science are applied to the
+study of music.</p>
+
+<p>The Swedish child is made to understand that singing is a needful,
+serious part of his life. His musical training begins very early in the
+schools, with a definite scheme. All schools have competent, experienced
+teachers of singing. In my childhood another factor played a very
+important part. There was never the endless round of attractions, toys,
+parties, theatres and pastimes (to say nothing of the all-consuming
+movies). Life was more tranquil and therefore the pursuit of good music
+was far more enjoyable. American life moves at aeroplane speed. The poor
+little children<a name="page_091" id="page_091"></a> hardly have time to breathe, let alone time to study
+music. Ragtime is the musical symptom of this American craving for speed
+and incessant excitement. In a blare and confusion of noises, like
+bedlam broken loose, what chance has a child to develop good taste? It
+is admittedly fascinating at times; but is without rhyme, reason or
+order. I never permit my children to pollute my piano with it. They may
+have it on the talking machine, but they must not be accomplices in
+making it.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, things have changed in Sweden, too; and American ragtime,
+always contagious, has now infected all Europe. This makes the music
+teacher's task in this day far more difficult than formerly. I hear my
+daughters practicing, and now and then they seem to be putting a dash of
+ragtime into Bach. If I stop them I find that "Bach is too slow, I don't
+like Bach!" This is almost like saying, "I don't like Rubens, Van Dyke
+or Millet; please, teacher, give me Mutt and Jeff or the Katzenjammer
+Kids!" American children need to be constantly taught to reverence the
+great creators of the land. Why, Jenny Lind is looked upon as a great
+national heroine in Sweden, much as one might regard George Washington
+in America. Before America can go about musical educational work
+properly, the teachers must inculcate this spirit, a proper appreciation
+of what is really beautiful, instead of a kind of wild, mob-like orgy of
+blare, bang, smash and shriek which so many have come to know as ragtime
+and jazz.<a name="page_092" id="page_092"></a></p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Self-Criticism</span></h4>
+
+<p>If one should ask me what is the first consideration in becoming a
+success as a singer, I should say the ability to criticise one's self.
+In my own case I had a very competent musician as a teacher. He told me
+that my voice was naturally placed and did very little to help place it
+according to his own ideas. Perhaps that was well for me, because I knew
+myself what I was about. He used to say, "That sounds beautiful," but
+all the time I knew that it sounded terrible. It was then that I learned
+that my ear must be my best teacher. My teacher, for instance, told me
+that I would never be able to trill. This was very disheartening; but he
+really believed, according to his conservative knowledge, that I should
+never succeed in getting the necessary flexibility.</p>
+
+<p>By chance I happened to meet a celebrated Swedish singer, Mme. �stberg,
+of the old school. I communicated to her the discouraging news that I
+could never hope to trill. "Nonsense, my dear," she said, "someone told
+me that too, but I determined that I was going to learn. I did not know
+how to go about it exactly, but I knew that with the proper patience and
+will-power I would succeed. Therefore I worked up to three o'clock one
+morning, and before I went to bed I was able to trill."</p>
+
+<p>I decided to take Mme. �stberg's advice, and I practiced for several
+days until I knew that I could trill, and then I went back to my teacher
+and showed<a name="page_093" id="page_093"></a> him what I could do. He had to admit it was a good trill,
+and he couldn't understand how I had so successfully disproved his
+theories by accomplishing it. It was then that I learned that the singer
+can do almost anything within the limits of the voice, if one will only
+work hard enough. Work is the great producer, and there is no substitute
+for it. Do not think that I am ungrateful to my teacher. He gave me a
+splendid musical drilling in all the standard solfeggios, in which he
+was most precise; and in later years I said to him, "I am not grateful
+to you for making my voice, but because you did not spoil it."</p>
+
+<p>After having sung a great deal and thought introspectively a great deal
+about the voice, one naturally begins to form a kind of philosophy
+regarding it. Of course, breathing exercises are the basis of all good
+singing methods, but it seems to me that singing teachers ask many of
+their pupils to do many queer impractical things in breathing, things
+that "don't work" when the singer is obliged to stand up before a big
+audience and make everyone hear without straining.</p>
+
+<p>If I were to teach a young girl right at this moment I would simply ask
+her to take a deep breath and note the expansion at the waist just above
+the diaphragm. Then I would ask her to say as many words as possible
+upon that breath, at the same time having the muscles adjacent to the
+diaphragm to support the breath; that is, to sustain it and not collapse
+or try to push it up. The trick is to get the most tone, not with the
+most<a name="page_094" id="page_094"></a> breath but with the least breath, and especially the very least
+possible strain at the throat, which must be kept in a floating,
+gossamer-like condition all the time. I see girls, who have been to
+expensive teachers, doing all sorts of wonderful calisthenics with the
+diaphragm, things that God certainly did not intend us to do in learning
+to speak and to sing.</p>
+
+<p>Any attempt to draw in the front walls of the abdomen or the intercostal
+muscles during singing must put a kind of pneumatic pressure upon the
+breath stream, which is sure to constrict the throat. Therefore, in my
+own singing, I note the opposite effect. That is, there is rather a
+sensation of expansion instead of contraction during the process of
+expiration. This soon becomes very comfortable, relieves the throat of
+strain, relieves the tones of breathiness or all idea of forcing. There
+is none of the ugly heaving of the chest or shoulders; the body is in
+repose, and the singer has a firm grip upon the tone in the right way.
+The muscles of the front wall of the abdomen and the muscles between the
+lower ribs become very strong and equal to any strain, while the throat
+is free.</p>
+
+<p>In the emission of the actual tone itself I would advise the sensation
+of inhaling at first. The beginner should blow out the tone. Usually
+instead of having a lovely floating character, with the impression of
+control, the tone starts with being forced, and it always remains so.
+The singer oversings and has nothing in reserve. When I am singing I
+feel as though the farther away from the throat, the deeper down I can<a name="page_095" id="page_095"></a>
+control the breath stream, the better and freer the tone becomes.
+Furthermore, I can sing the long, difficult Wagnerian r�les, with their
+tremendous demands upon the vocal organs, without the least sensation of
+fatigue. Some singers, after such performances, are "all in." No wonder
+they lose their voices when they should be in their prime.</p>
+
+<p>For me the most difficult vowel is "ah." The throat then is most open
+and the breath stream most difficult to control properly. Therefore I
+make it a habit to begin my practice with "oo, oh, ah, ay, ee" in
+succession. I never start with sustained tones. This would give my
+throat time to stiffen. I employ quick, soft scales, always remembering
+the basic principle of breath control I have mentioned, and always as
+though inhaling. This is an example of what I mean. To avoid shrillness
+on the upper tone I take the highest note with oo and descend with oo.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/pm095a.png" width="90%" alt="musical notation: Ex. 1"
+title="musical notation: Ex. 1" />
+</div>
+
+<p>The same thought applied to an arpeggio would be:</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/pm095b.png" width="90%" alt="musical notation: Ex. 2"
+title="musical notation: Ex. 2" />
+</div>
+
+<p>These I take within comfortable limits of my voice, always remembering
+that the least strain is a backward step. These exercises are taken
+through all possible<a name="page_096" id="page_096"></a> keys. There can never be too much practice of a
+scale or arpeggio exercise. Many singers, I know, who wonder why they do
+not succeed, cannot do a good scale, the very first thing they should be
+able to do. Every one should be like perfect pearls on a thread.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">America's Fatal Ambition</span></h4>
+
+<p>One of the great troubles in America is the irrepressible ambition of
+both teachers and pupils. Europe is also not untinged with this.
+Teachers want to show results. Some teachers, I am told, start in with
+songs at the first or second lesson, with the sad knowledge that if they
+do not do this they may lose the pupil to some teacher who will peddle
+out songs. After four or five months I was given an operatic aria; and,
+of course, I sang it. A year of scales, exercises and solfeggios would
+have been far more time-saving. The pupils have too much to say about
+their education in this way. The teacher should be competent and then
+decide all such questions. American girls do not want this. They expect
+to step from vocal ignorance to a repertoire over night. When you study
+voice, you should study not for two years, but realize you will never
+stop studying, if you wish to keep your voice. Like any others, without
+exercise, the singing muscles grow weak and inefficient. There are so
+many, many things to learn.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, my whole training was that of the opera singer, and I was
+schooled principally in the Wagnerian<a name="page_097" id="page_097"></a> r�les. With the coming of the war
+the prejudice against the greatest anti-imperialist (with the possible
+exception of Beethoven) which music ever has known&mdash;the immortal
+Wagner&mdash;became so strong that not until now has the demand for his
+operas become so great that they are being resumed with wonderful
+success. Therefore, with the exception of a few Italian and French
+r�les, my operatic repertoire went begging.</p>
+
+<p>It was necessary for me to enter the concert field, as the management of
+the opera company with which I had contracts secured such engagements
+for me. It was like starting life anew. There is very little opportunity
+to show one's individuality in opera. One must play the r�le. Therefore
+I had to learn a repertoire of songs, every one of which required
+different treatment and different individuality. With eighteen members
+on the program, the singer has a musical, mental and vocal task which
+devolves entirely upon herself without the aid of chorus, co-singers,
+orchestra, costumes, scenery and the glamour of the footlights. It was
+with the greatest delight that I could fulfill the demands of the
+concert platform. American musical taste is very exacting. The audiences
+use their imagination all the time, and like romantic songs with an
+atmospheric background, which accounts for my great success with songs
+of such type as Lieurance's <i>By the Waters of Minnetonka</i>. One of the
+greatest tasks I ever have had is that of singing my r�les in many
+different languages. I learned some of them first in Swedish, then in
+Italian, then in French, then in German, then in<a name="page_098" id="page_098"></a> English; as I am
+obliged to re-learn my Wagnerian r�les now.</p>
+
+<p>The road to success in voice study, like the road to success in
+everything else, has one compass which should be a consistent guide, and
+that is common sense. Avoid extremes; hold fast to your ideals; have
+faith in your possibilities, and work! work!! work!!!</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 370px;">
+<a href="images/p098a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p098a_sml.jpg" width="370" height="550" alt="Charles Dalmores in Massenet&#39;s Herodiade. � Mishkin."
+title="Charles Dalmores in Massenet&#39;s Herodiade. � Mishkin." /></a>
+<span class="caption">Charles Dalmores in Massenet&#39;s Herodiade.<br /><span class="captionn">� Mishkin.</span></span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_099" id="page_099"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="CHARLES_DALMORES" id="CHARLES_DALMORES"></a>CHARLES DALMORES</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>M. Charles Dalmores was born at Nancy, France, December 31st, 1871. His
+musical education was received at the Nancy Conservatoire under
+Professor Dauphin, and it was his intention to become a specialist in
+French horn. He also played the 'cello. When he applied to the Paris
+Conservatoire he was refused admission to the singing course because "he
+was too good a musician to waste his time with singing." He became
+professor of French horn at the Lyons Conservatory; but his love for
+opera led him to study by himself until he made his d�but at Rouen in
+1899. He then sang at the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels, Covent
+Garden, Bayreuth, New York, and Chicago, with ever-increasing success.
+Dalmores is a dramatic tenor, and his musicianship has enabled him to
+take extremely difficult r�les of the modern type and achieve real
+artistic triumphs. He is one of the finest examples of the self-trained
+vocalist.<a name="page_100" id="page_100"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="SELF-HELP_IN_VOICE_STUDY" id="SELF-HELP_IN_VOICE_STUDY"></a>SELF-HELP IN VOICE STUDY</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Charles Dalmores</span></h4>
+
+<p>It is always a pleasure to talk upon self-help and not self-study,
+because I believe most implicitly in the former and very much doubt the
+efficacy of the latter in actual voice study. The voice, of all things,
+demands the assistance of a good teacher, although in the end the
+results all come from within and not from without. That is, the voice is
+an organ of expression; and what we make of it depends upon our own
+thought a thousand times more than what we take in from the outside.</p>
+
+<p>It is the teacher who stimulates the right kind of thinking who is the
+best teacher. The teacher who seeks to make his pupils parrots rarely
+meets with success. My whole career is an illustration of this, and when
+I think of the apparently insurmountable obstacles over which I have
+been compelled to climb I cannot help feeling that the relation of a few
+of my own experiences in the way of self-help could not fail to be
+beneficial.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">At the Paris Conservatory</span></h4>
+
+<p>I was born at Nancy on the 31st of December, 1871. I gave evidences of
+having musical talent and my musical instruction commenced at the age of
+six years. I studied first at the Conservatory at Nancy, intending<a name="page_101" id="page_101"></a> to
+make a specialty of the violin. Then I had the misfortune of breaking my
+arm. It was decided thereafter that I had better study the French horn.
+This I did with much success and attribute my control of the breath at
+this day very largely to my elementary struggles with that most
+difficult of instruments. At the age of fourteen I played the second
+horn at Nancy. Finally, I went, with a purse made up by some citizens of
+my home town, to enter the great Conservatory at Paris. There I studied
+very hard and succeeded in winning my goal in the way of receiving the
+first prize for playing the French horn.</p>
+
+<p>For a time I played under Colonne, and between the ages of seventeen and
+twenty-three in Paris I played with the Lamoureaux Orchestra. All this
+time I had my heart set upon becoming a singer and paid particular
+attention to all of the wonderful orchestral works we rehearsed. The
+very mention of the fact that I desired to become a singer was met with
+huge ridicule by my friends, who evidently thought that it was a form of
+fanaticism. For a time I studied the 'cello and managed to acquire a
+very creditable technic upon that instrument.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">A Discouraging Prospect</span></h4>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the success I had with the two instruments, I was
+confronted with the fact that I had before me the life of a poor
+musician. My salary was low, and there were few, if any, opportunities
+to increase it outside of my regular work with the orchestra.<a name="page_102" id="page_102"></a> I was
+told that I had great talent, but this never had the effect of swelling
+my pocketbook. In my military service I played in the band of an
+infantry regiment; and when I told my companions that I aspired to be a
+great singer some day they greeted my declaration with howls of
+laughter, and pointed out the fact that I was already along in years and
+had an established profession.</p>
+
+<p>At the sedate age of twenty-three I was surprised to find myself
+appointed Professor of French Horn at the Conservatory of Lyons. Lyons
+is the second city of France from the standpoint of population. It is a
+busy manufacturing center, but is rich in architectural, natural and
+historical interest; and the position had its advantages, although it
+was away from the great French center, Paris. The opera at Nancy was
+exceedingly good, and I had an opportunity to go often. Singing and the
+opera were my life. My father had been manager at Nancy and I had made
+my first acquaintance with the stage as one of the boys in <i>Carmen</i>.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">A Test That Failed</span></h4>
+
+<p>I have omitted to say that at Paris I tried to enter the classes for
+singing. My voice was apparently liked, but I was refused admission upon
+the basis that I was too good a musician to waste my time in becoming an
+inferior singer. Goodness gracious! Where is musicianship needed more
+than in the case of the singer? This amused me, and I resolved to bide
+my time. I played in opera orchestras whenever I had a<a name="page_103" id="page_103"></a> chance, and thus
+became acquainted with the famous r�les. One eye was on the music and
+the other was on the stage. During the rests I dreamt of the time when I
+might become a singer like those over the footlights.</p>
+
+<p>Where there is a will there is usually a way. I taught solfeggio as well
+as French horn in the Lyons Conservatory. I devised all sorts of
+"home-made" exercises to improve my voice as I thought best. Some may
+have done me good, others probably were injurious. I listened to singers
+and tried to get points from them. Gradually I was unconsciously paving
+the way for the great opportunity of my life. It came in the form of an
+experienced teacher, Dauphin, who had been a basso for ten years at the
+leading theatre of Belgium, fourteen years in London, and later director
+at Geneva and Lyons. He also received the appointment of Professor at
+the Lyons Conservatory.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">A Famous Opportunity</span></h4>
+
+<p>One day Dauphin heard me singing and inquired who I was. Then he came in
+the room and said to me, "How much do you get here for teaching and
+playing?" I replied, proudly, "six thousand francs a year." He said,
+"You shall study with me and some day you shall earn as much as six
+thousand francs a month." Dauphin, bless his soul, was wrong. I now earn
+six thousand francs every night I sing instead of every month.</p>
+
+<p>I could hardly believe that the opportunity I had waited for so long had
+come. Dauphin had me come to his house and there he told me that my
+success in<a name="page_104" id="page_104"></a> singing would depend quite as much upon my own industry as
+upon his instruction. Thus one professor in the conservatory taught
+another in the art he had long sought to master. Notwithstanding
+Dauphin's confidence in me, all of the other professors thought that I
+was doing a perfectly insane thing, and did all in their power to
+prevent me from going to what they thought was my ruin.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Discouraging Advice</span></h4>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, I determined to show them that they were all mistaken.
+During the first winter I studied no less than six operas, at the same
+time taking various exercises to improve my voice. During the second
+winter I mastered one opera every month, and at the same time did all my
+regular work&mdash;studying in my spare hours. At the end of my course I
+passed the customary examination, receiving the least possible
+distinction from my colleagues who were still convinced that I was
+pursuing a course that would end in complete failure.</p>
+
+<p>This brought home the truth that if I was to get ahead at all I would
+have to depend entirely upon myself. The outlook was certainly not
+propitious. Nevertheless I studied by myself incessantly and disregarded
+the remarks of my pessimistic advisers. I sang in a church and also in a
+big synagogue to keep up my income. All the time I had to put up with
+the sarcasm of my colleagues who seemed to think, like many others, that
+the calling of the singer was one demanding<a name="page_105" id="page_105"></a> little musicianship, and
+tried to make me see that in giving up the French horn and my
+conservatory professorship I would be abandoning a dignified career for
+that of a species of musician who at that time was not supposed to
+demand any special musical training. Could not a shoemaker or a
+blacksmith take a few lessons and become a great singer? I, however,
+determined to become a different kind of a singer. I believed that there
+was a place for the singer with a thorough musical training, and while I
+kept up my vocal work amid the rain of irony and derogatory remarks from
+my mistaken colleagues, I did not fail to keep up my interest in the
+deeper musical studies. I had a feeling that the more good music I knew
+the better would be my work in opera. I wish that all singers could see
+this. Many singers live in a little world all of their own. They know
+the music of the footlights, but there their experience ends. Every
+symphony I have played has been molded into my life experience in such a
+way that it cannot help being reflected in my work.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">A Critical Moment</span></h4>
+
+<p>Finally the time came for my d�but in 1899. It was a most serious
+occasion for me; for the rest of my career as a singer depended upon it.
+It was in Rouen, and my fee was to be fifteen hundred francs a month. I
+thought that that would make me the richest man in the world. It was the
+custom of the town for the captain of the police to come before the
+audience at the<a name="page_106" id="page_106"></a> end and inquire whether the audience approved of the
+artist's singing or whether their vocal efforts were unsatisfactory.
+This was to be determined by a public demonstration. When the captain
+held up the sign "Approved," I felt as though the greatest moment in my
+life had arrived. I had worked so long and so hard for success and had
+been obliged to laugh down so much scorn that you can imagine my
+feelings. Suddenly a great volume of applause came from the house and I
+knew in a second what my future should be.</p>
+
+<p>Then it was that I realized that I was only a little way along my
+journey. I wanted to be the foremost French tenor of my time. I knew
+that success in France alone, while gratifying, would be limited, so I
+set out to conquer new worlds. Wagner, up to that time, had never been
+sung by any French tenor, so I determined to master German and become a
+Wagner singer. This I did, and it fell to me to receive that most
+coveted of Wagnerian distinctions, "soloist at Beyreuth," the citadel of
+the highest in German operatic art. In after years I sang in all parts
+of Germany with as much success as in France. Later I went to London and
+then to America, where I sang for many seasons. It has been no small
+pleasure for me to return to Paris, where I once lived in penury, and to
+receive the highest fee ever paid to a French singer in the French
+capital.<a name="page_107" id="page_107"></a></p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Need For Great Care</span></h4>
+
+<p>I don't know what more I can say upon the subject of self-help for the
+singer. I have simply told my own story and have related some of the
+obstacles that I have overcome. I trust that no one who has not a voice
+really worth while will be misled by what I have had to say. The voice
+is one of the most intricate and wonderful of the human organs. Properly
+exercised and cared for, it may be developed to a remarkable degree; but
+there are cases, of course, where there is not enough voice at the start
+to warrant the aspirant making the sacrifices that I have made to reach
+my goal. This is a very serious matter and one which should be
+determined by responsible judges. At the same time, the singers may see
+how possible it is for even experienced musicians, like my colleagues in
+Lyons, to be mistaken. If I had depended upon them and not fought my own
+way out, I would probably be an obscure teacher in the same old city
+earning the munificent salary of one hundred dollars a month.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Fighting Your Own Way</span></h4>
+
+<p>The student who has to fight his own way has a much harder battle of it;
+but he has a satisfaction which certainly does not come to the one who
+has all his instruction fees and living expenses paid for him. He feels
+that he has earned his success; and, by the processes of exploration
+through which the self-help student must invariably pass, he becomes
+invested with a<a name="page_108" id="page_108"></a> confidence and "I know" feeling which is a great asset
+to him. The main thing is for him to keep busy all the time. He has not
+a minute to spare upon dreaming. He has no one to carry his burden but
+himself; and the exercise of carrying it himself is the thing which will
+do most to make him strong and successful.</p>
+
+<p>The artists who leap into success are very rare. Hundreds who have held
+mediocre positions come to the front, while those who appear most
+favored stay in the background. Do not seek to gain eminence by any
+influence but that of real earnest work; and if you do not intend to
+work and to work hard, drop all of your aspirations for operatic
+laurels.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 370px;">
+<a href="images/p108a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p108a_sml.jpg" width="370" height="550" alt="Andreas Dippel. � Dupont."
+title="Andreas Dippel. � Dupont." /></a>
+<span class="caption">Andreas Dippel.<br /><span class="captionn">� Dupont.</span></span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_109" id="page_109"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="ANDREAS_DIPPEL" id="ANDREAS_DIPPEL"></a>ANDREAS DIPPEL</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>Andreas Dippel was born at Cassel, 1866. His father was a manufacturer
+who had the boy educated at the local gymnasium, with the view to making
+him a banker. After five years in a banking house he decided to become a
+singer and studied with Mme. Zottmayr. Later he went to Berlin, Milan
+and Vienna, where he studied with Julius Hey, Alberto Leoni and Johann
+Ress. In 1887 he made his d�but at Bremen, in <i>The Flying Dutchman</i>. He
+remained with that company until 1892. In the meantime, however, he had
+appeared at the Metropolitan in New York, with such success that he
+toured America as a concert singer with Anton Seidl, Arthur Nikisch, and
+Theodore Thomas. From 1893 to 1898 he was a member of the Imperial Court
+Opera at Vienna. In 1898 he returned to America to the Metropolitan. In
+1908 he was appointed administrative manager of the Metropolitan
+Company, later becoming the manager of the Philadelphia-Chicago Opera
+Company. Mr. Dippel is a fine dramatic tenor with the enormous
+repertoire of 150 works in four different languages. He is a fine actor
+and has been equally successful in New York, London, and Beyreuth. He
+also has a repertoire of 60 oratorios.<a name="page_110" id="page_110"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="IF_MY_DAUGHTER_SHOULD_STUDY_FOR_GRAND_OPERA" id="IF_MY_DAUGHTER_SHOULD_STUDY_FOR_GRAND_OPERA"></a>IF MY DAUGHTER SHOULD STUDY FOR GRAND OPERA</h3>
+
+<h4>ANDREAS DIPPEL</h4>
+
+<p>The training of the girl designed to become a great prima donna is one
+of the most complex problems imaginable. You ask me to consider the case
+of an imaginary daughter designed for the career in order to make my
+opinions seem more pertinent. Very well. If my daughter were studying
+for grand opera, and if she were a very little girl, I should first
+watch her very carefully to see whether she manifested any
+uncontrollable desire or ambition to become a great singer. Without such
+a desire she will never become great. Usually this ambition becomes
+evident at a very early age. Then I should realize that the mere desire
+to become a great singer is only an infinitesimal part of the actual
+requirements.</p>
+
+<p>She must have, first of all, fine health, abundant vitality and an
+artistic temperament. She must show signs of being industrious. She
+should have the patience to wait until real results can be accomplished.
+In fact, there are so many attributes that it is difficult to enumerate
+them all. But they are all worth considering seriously. Why? Simply
+because, if they are not considered, she may be obliged to spend years
+of labor for which she will receive no return except the most<a name="page_111" id="page_111"></a> bitter
+disappointment conceivable. Of the thousands of girls who study to
+become prima donnas only a very few can succeed, from the nature of
+things. The others either abandon their ambitions or assume lesser r�les
+from little parts down to the chorus.</p>
+
+<p>You will notice that I have said but little about her voice. During her
+childhood there is very little means of judging of the voice. Some
+girls' voices that seem very promising when they are children turn out
+in a most disappointing manner. So you see I would be obliged to
+consider the other qualifications before I even thought of the voice. Of
+course, if the child showed no inclination for music or did not have the
+ability to "hold a tune," I should assume that she was one of those
+frequent freaks of nature which no amount of musical training can save.</p>
+
+<p>Above all things I should not attempt to force her to take up a career
+against her own natural inclinations or gifts. The designing mother who
+desires to have her own ambitions realized in her daughter is the bane
+of every impresario. With a will power worthy of a Bismarck she maps out
+a career for the young lady and then attempts to force the child through
+what she believes to be the proper channels leading to operatic success.
+She realizes that great singers achieve fame and wealth and she longs to
+taste of these. It is this, rather than any particular love for her
+child, that prompts her to fight all obstacles. No amount of advice or
+persuasion can make her believe that her child cannot become another
+Tetrazzini, or Garden, or Schumann-<a name="page_112" id="page_112"></a>Heink, if only the impresario will
+give her a chance. In nine cases out of ten Fate and Nature have a
+conspiracy to keep the particular young lady in the r�le of a
+stenographer or a dressmaker; and in the battle with Fate and Nature
+even the most ambitious mother must be defeated.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Her Very Early Training</span></h4>
+
+<p>Once determined that she stood a fair chance of success in the operatic
+field I should take the greatest possible care of her health, both
+physically and intellectually. Note that I lay particular stress upon
+her physical training. It is most important, as no one but the
+experienced singer can form any idea of what demands are made upon the
+endurance and strength of the opera singer.</p>
+
+<p>Her general education should be conducted upon the most approved lines.
+Anything which will develop and expand the mind will be useful to her in
+later life. The later operatic r�les make far greater demands upon the
+mentality of the singer than those of other days. The singer is no
+longer a parrot with little or nothing to do but come before the
+footlights and sing a few beautiful tones to a few gesticulations. She
+is expected to act and to understand what she is acting. I would lay
+great stress upon history&mdash;the history of all nations&mdash;she should study
+the manners, the dress, the customs, the traditions, and the thought of
+different epochs. In order to be at home in <i>Pelleas and Melisande</i>, or
+<i>Tristan und Isolde</i>, or <i>La Boh�me</i> she<a name="page_113" id="page_113"></a> must have acquainted her mind
+with the historical conditions of the time indicated by the composer and
+librettist.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Her First Musical Training</span></h4>
+
+<p>Her first musical training should be musical. That is, she should be
+taught how to listen to beautiful music before she ever hears the word
+technic. She should be taught sight reading, and she ought to be able to
+read any melody as easily as she would read a book. The earlier this
+study is commenced with the really musical child, the better. Before it
+is of any real value to the singer her sight reading should become
+second nature. She should have lost all idea of the technic of the art
+and read with ease and naturalness. This is of immense assistance. Then
+she should study the piano thoroughly. The piano is the door to the
+music of the opera. The singer who is dependent upon some assistant to
+play over the piano scores is unfortunate. It is not really necessary
+for her to learn any of the other instruments; but she should be able to
+play readily and correctly. It will help her in learning scores, more
+than anything else. It will also open the door to much other beautiful
+music which will elevate her taste and ennoble her ideals.</p>
+
+<p>She should go to the opera as frequently as possible in order that she
+may become acquainted with the great r�les intuitively. If she cannot
+attend the opera itself she can at least gain an idea of the great
+operatic music through the talking machines. The "repertory"<a name="page_114" id="page_114"></a> of records
+is now very large, but of course does not include all of the music of
+all of the scenes.</p>
+
+<p>She should be taught the musical traditions of the different historical
+musical epochs and the different so-called music schools. First she
+should study musical history itself and then become acquainted with the
+music of the different periods. The study of the violin is also an
+advantage in training the ear to listen for correct intonation; but the
+violin is by no means absolutely necessary.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Languages</span></h4>
+
+<p>All educators recognize the fact that languages are attained best in
+childhood. The child's power of mimicry is so wonderful that it acquires
+a foreign language quite without any suggestion of accent, in a time
+which will always put their elders to shame. Foreign children, who come
+to America before the age of ten, speak both then-native tongue and
+English with equal fluency.</p>
+
+<p>The first new language to be taken up should be Italian. Properly
+spoken, there is no language so mellifluous as Italian. The beautiful
+quantitative value given to the vowels&mdash;the natural quest for euphony
+and the necessity for accurate pronunciation of the last syllable of a
+word in order to make the grammatical sense understandable&mdash;is a
+training for both the ear and the voice.</p>
+
+<p>Italy is the land of song; and most of the conductors give their
+directions in Italian. Not only the usual<a name="page_115" id="page_115"></a> musical terms, but also the
+other directions are denoted in Italian by the orchestral conductors;
+and if the singer does not understand she must suffer accordingly.</p>
+
+<p>After the study of Italian I would recommend, in order, French and
+German. If my daughter were studying for opera, I should certainly leave
+nothing undone until she had mastered Italian, French, German and
+English. Although she would not have many opportunities to sing in
+English, under present operatic conditions, the English-speaking people
+in America, Great Britain, Canada, South Africa, and Australia are great
+patrons of musical art; and the artist must of course travel in some of
+these countries.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Study of the Voice Itself</span></h4>
+
+<p>Her actual voice study should not commence before she is seventeen or
+eighteen years of age. In the hands of a very skilled and experienced
+teacher it might commence a little earlier; but it is better to wait
+until her health becomes more settled and her mature strength develops.
+At first the greatest care must be taken. The teacher has at best a
+delicate flower which a little neglect or a little over training may
+deform or even kill. I can not discuss methods, as that is not pertinent
+to this conference. There is no one absolutely right way; and many
+famous singers have traveled what seem quite different roads to reach
+the same end. However, it is a historic fact that few great singers have
+ever acquired voices which have had beautiful<a name="page_116" id="page_116"></a> quality, perfect
+flexibility and reliability, who have not sung for some years in the old
+Italian style. Mind you, I am not referring to an old Italian school of
+singing here, but more to that class of music adopted by the old Italian
+composers&mdash;a style which permitted few vocal blemishes to go by
+unnoticed. Most of the great Wagnerian singers have been proficient in
+coloratura r�les before they undertook the more complicated parts of the
+great master at Beyreuth.</p>
+
+<p>It is better to leave the study of repertoire until later years; that
+is, until the study of voice has been pursued for a sufficient time to
+insure regular progress in the study of repertoire. Personally, I am
+opposed to those methods which take the student directly to the study of
+repertoire without any previous vocal drill. The voice, to be valuable
+to the singer, must be able to stand the wear and tear of many seasons.
+It is often some years before the young singer is able to achieve real
+success and the profits come with the later years. A voice that is not
+carefully drilled and trained, so that the singer knows how to get the
+most out of it, with the least strain and the least expenditure of
+effort, will not stand the wear and tear of many years of opera life.</p>
+
+<p>After all, the study of repertoire is the easiest thing. Getting the
+voice properly trained is the difficult thing. In the study of
+repertoire the singer often makes the mistake of leaping right into the
+more difficult r�les. She should start with the simpler r�les; such as
+those of some of the lesser parts in the old Italian operas.<a name="page_117" id="page_117"></a> Then, she
+may essay the leading r�les of, let us say, <i>Traviata</i>, <i>Barber of
+Seville</i>, <i>Norma</i>, <i>Faust</i>, <i>Romeo and Juliet</i>, and <i>Carmen</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Instead of simple r�les, she seems inclined to spend her time upon
+<i>Isolde</i>, <i>Mimi</i>, <i>Elsa</i> or <i>Butterfly</i>. It has become so, that now,
+when a new singer comes to me and wants to sing <i>Tosca</i> or some r�le
+that (sic) the so-called new or <i>verissimo</i> Italian school, I almost
+invariably refuse to listen. I ask them to sing something from <i>Norma</i>
+or <i>Puritani</i> or <i>Dinorah</i> or <i>Lucia</i> in which it is impossible for them
+to conceal their vocal faults. But no, they want to sing the big aria
+from the second act of <i>Madama Butterfly</i>, which is hardly to be called
+an aria at all but rather a collection of dramatic phrases. When they
+are done, I ask them to sing some of the opening phrases from the same
+r�le, and ere long they discover that they really have nothing which an
+impresario can purchase. They are without the voice and without the
+complete knowledge of the parts which they desire to sing.</p>
+
+<p>Then they discover that the impresario knows that the tell-tale pieces
+are the old arias from old Italian operas. They reveal the voice in its
+entirety. If the breath control is not right, it becomes evident at
+once. If the quality is not right, it becomes as plain as the features
+of the young lady's face. There is no dramatic&mdash;emotional&mdash;curtain under
+which to hide these shortcomings. Consequently, knowing what I do, I
+would insist upon my daughter having a thorough training in the old
+Italian arias.<a name="page_118" id="page_118"></a></p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Her Training in Acting</span></h4>
+
+<p>Her training in acting would depend largely upon her natural talent.
+Some children are born actors&mdash;natural mimics. They act from their
+childhood right up to old age. They can learn more in five minutes than
+others can learn in years. Some seem to require little or no training in
+the art of acting. As a rule they become the most forceful acting
+singers. Others improve wonderfully under the direction of a clever
+teacher.</p>
+
+<p>The new school of opera demands higher histrionic ability from the
+singer. In fact, we have come to a time when opera is a real drama set
+to music which is largely recitative and which does not distract from
+the action of the drama. The librettos of other days were, to say the
+least, ridiculous. If the music had not had a marvelous hold upon the
+people they could not have remained in popular favor. To my mind it is
+an indication of the wonderful power of music that these operas retain
+their favor. There is something about the melodies which seems to
+preserve them for all time; and the public is just as anxious to hear
+them to-day as it was twenty-five and fifty years ago.</p>
+
+<p>Richard Wagner turned the tide of acting in opera by his music dramas.
+Gluck and von Weber had already made an effort in the right direction;
+but it remained for the mighty power of Wagner to accomplish the final
+work. Now we are witnessing the rise of a school of musical dramatic
+actors such as Garden,<a name="page_119" id="page_119"></a> Maurel, Renaud, and others which promises to
+raise the public taste in this matter and which will add vastly to the
+pleasure of opera going, as it will make the illusion appear more real.</p>
+
+<p>This also imposes upon the impresario a new contingency which threatens
+to make opera more and more expensive. Costumes, scenery and all the
+settings nowadays must be both historically authentic and costly. The
+collection of wigs, robes, and armor, together with a few sets of
+scenery, often with the chairs and other furniture actually painted on
+the scenes, which a few years ago were thought adequate for the
+equipment of an opera company, have now given way to equipment more
+elaborate than that of a Belasco or a Henry Irving. Nothing is left
+undone to make the picture real and beautiful. In fact operatic
+productions, as now given in America, are as complete and luxurious as
+any performances given anywhere in the world.<a name="page_120" id="page_120"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="MME_EMMA_EAMES" id="MME_EMMA_EAMES"></a>MME. EMMA EAMES</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>Mme. Emma Eames was born at Shanghai, China. Her father, a graduate of
+Harvard Law School, had been a sea-captain and had been in business in
+the Chinese city. At the age of five she was brought back to the home of
+her parents at Bath, Maine. Her mother was an accomplished amateur
+singer who supervised her early musical training. At sixteen she went to
+Boston to study with Miss Munger. At nineteen she became a pupil of
+Marchesi in Paris and remained with the celebrated teacher for two
+years. At twenty-one she made her d�but at the Grand Opera in Paris in
+<i>Romeo et Juliette</i>. Two years later she appeared at Covent Garden,
+London, with such success that she was immediately engaged for the
+Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Few singers ever gained such a
+strong hold upon the American and English public. Her voice is a fine
+flexible soprano, capable of doing <i>Marguerite</i> or <i>Elisabeth</i> equally
+well. Her husband, Emilio de Gogorza, with whom it is our privilege to
+present a conference later in this book, is one of the foremost
+baritones of our time.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 367px;">
+<a href="images/p120a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p120a_sml.jpg" width="367" height="550" alt="Mme. Emma Eames."
+title="Mme. Emma Eames." /></a>
+<span class="caption">Mme. Emma Eames.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_121" id="page_121"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="HOW_A_GREAT_MASTER_COACHED_OPERA_SINGERS" id="HOW_A_GREAT_MASTER_COACHED_OPERA_SINGERS"></a>HOW A GREAT MASTER COACHED OPERA SINGERS</h3>
+
+<h4>MME. EMMA EAMES</h4>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Gounod an Idealist</span></h4>
+
+<p>One does not need to review the works of Charles Gounod to any great
+extent before discovering that above all things he was an idealist. His
+whole aspect of life and art was that of a man imbued with a sense of
+the beautiful and a longing to actualize some noble art purpose. He was
+of an age of idealists. Coming at the artificial period of the Second
+Empire, he was influenced by that artistic atmosphere, as were such
+masters of the brush as Jean August Ingres and Eug�ne Delacroix. This,
+however, was unconscious, and in no way affected his perfect sincerity
+in all he did.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">First Meeting with Gounod</span></h4>
+
+<p>I was taken to Gounod by my master, Mme. Mathilde Marchesi, who,
+perhaps, had some reason to regret her kindness in introducing me, since
+Gounod did not favor what he conceived as the Italian method of singing.
+He had a feeling that the Italian school, as he regarded it, was too
+obvious, and that French taste demanded more sincerity, more subtlety,
+better balance and a certain finesse which the purely vocal Italian
+style slightly obscured. Mme. Marchesi was<a name="page_122" id="page_122"></a> very irate over Gounod's
+attitude, which she considered highly insulting; whereas, as a matter of
+fact, Gounod was doing the only thing that a man of his convictions
+could do, and that was to tell what he conceived as the truth.</p>
+
+<p>Gounod's study was a room which fitted his character perfectly. His very
+pronounced religious tendencies were marked by the stained glass windows
+which cast a delicate golden tint over the little piano he occasionally
+used when composing. On one side was a pipe organ upon which he was very
+fond of playing. In fact, the whole atmosphere was that of a chapel,
+which, together with the beautiful and dignified appearance of the
+master himself, made an impression that one could not forget. His great
+sincerity, his lofty aims, his wonderful earnestness, his dramatic
+intensity, were apparent at once. Many composers are hopelessly
+disappointing in their appearance, but when one saw Gounod, it was easy
+to realize whence come the beautiful musical colors which make <i>Romeo et
+Juliette</i>, <i>Faust</i> and <i>The Redemption</i> so rich and individual. His
+whole artistic character is revealed in a splendid word of advice he
+gave to me when I first went to him: "Anyone who is called to any form
+of musical expression must reveal himself only in the language that God
+has given him to speak with. Find this language yourself and try, above
+all things, to be sincere&mdash;never singing down to your public."</p>
+
+<p>Gounod had a wonderful power of compelling attention. While one was with
+him his personality was so<a name="page_123" id="page_123"></a> great that it seemed to envelop you,
+obliterating everything else. This can be attributed not only to
+magnetism or hypnotism, but also to his own intense, all-burning
+interest in whatever he was engaged upon. Naturally the relationship of
+teacher and pupil is different from that of comradeship, but I was
+impressed that Gounod, even in moments of apparent repose, never seemed
+to lose that wonderful force which virtually consumed the entire
+attention of all those who were in his presence.</p>
+
+<p>He had remarkable gifts in painting word-pictures. His imagination was
+so vigorous that he could make one feel that which he saw in his mind's
+eye as actually present. I attribute this to the fact that he himself
+was possessed by the subject at hand and spoke from the fountains of his
+deepest conviction. First he made you see and then he made you express.
+He taught one that to convince others one must first be convinced.
+Indeed, he allowed a great variety of interpretations in order that one
+might interpret through one's own power of conception rather than
+through following blindly his own.</p>
+
+<p>During my lessons with Gounod he revealed not only his very pronounced
+histrionic ability, but also his charming talent as a singer. I had an
+accompanist who came with me to the lessons and when I was learning the
+various r�les, Gounod always sang the duets with me. Although he was
+well along in years, he had a small tenor voice, exquisitely sweet and
+sympathetic. He sang with delightful ease and with invariably perfect<a name="page_124" id="page_124"></a>
+diction, and perfect vision. If some of our critics of musical
+performances were more familiar with the niceties of pronunciation and
+accentuation of different foreign languages, many of our present-day
+singers would be called upon to suffer some very severe criticisms. I
+speak of this because Gounod was most insistent upon correct
+pronunciation and accent, so that the full meaning of the words might be
+conveyed to every member of the audience.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">A Hearing at the Opera</span></h4>
+
+<p>When I went to the opera for my hearing or <i>audition</i>, Gounod went with
+me and we sang the duets together. The director, M. Gailhard, refused my
+application, claiming that I was a debutante and could not expect an
+initial performance at the Grand Op�ra despite my ability and musical
+attainments. It may be interesting for aspiring vocal students to learn
+something of the various obstacles which still stand in the way of a
+singer, even after one has had a very thorough training and acquired
+proficiency which should compel a hearing. Alas! in opera, as in many
+other lines of human endeavor, there is a political background that is
+often black with intrigue and machinations. I was determined to fight my
+way on the merit of my art, and accordingly I was obliged to wait for
+nearly two years before I was able to make my d�but. These were years
+filled with many exasperating circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>I went to Brussels after two years' study with Marchesi, having been
+promised my d�but there. I was<a name="page_125" id="page_125"></a> kept for months awaiting it and was
+finally prevented from making an appearance by one who, pretending to be
+my friend and to be doing all in her power to further my career, was in
+reality threatening the directors with instant breaking of her contract
+should I be allowed to appear. I had this on the authority of Mr.
+Geva�rt, the then director of the Conservatoire and my firm friend. The
+artist was a great success and her word was law. It was on my return
+that I was taken to Gounod and I waited a year for a hearing.</p>
+
+<p>Gounod's opera, <i>Romeo et Juliette</i>, had been given at the Op�ra Comique
+many times but there was a demand for performances at the Grand Op�ra.
+Accordingly Gounod added a ballet, which fitted it for performance at
+the Op�ra. Apropos of this ballet, Gounod said to me, with no little
+touch of cynicism, "Now you shall see what kind of music a <i>Ga Ga</i> can
+write" (Ga Ga is the French term for a very old man, that is, a man in
+his dotage). He was determined that I should be heard at the Grand Opera
+as Juliette, but even his influence could not prevent the director from
+signing an agreement with one he personally preferred, which required
+that she should have the honor of making her d�but at the Grand Op�ra in
+the part. Then it was that I became aware that it was not only because I
+was a debutante that I had been denied. Gounod would not consent to this
+arrangement, insisting on her making her d�but previously in <i>Faust</i>,
+and fortunate it was, since the singer in question never attained more
+than mediocre success. Gounod still demanded<a name="page_126" id="page_126"></a> as a compromise that the
+first six performances of the opera should be given to Adelina Patti,
+and that they should send for me for the subsequent ones.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime I was engaged at the Op�ra Comique. There Massenet
+looked with disfavor upon my d�but before that of Sybil Sanderson.
+Massenet had brought fortunes to the Op�ra Comique through his immensely
+popular and theatrically effective operas. Consequently his word was
+law. I waited for some months and no suggestion of an opportunity for a
+performance presented itself. All the time I was engaged in extending my
+repertoire and becoming more and more indignant at the treatment I was
+receiving in not being allowed to sing the operas thus acquired. My
+year's contract had still three months to run when I received an offer
+from St. Petersburg. Shortly thereafter I received a note from M.
+Gailhard announcing that he wished to see me. I went and he informed me
+that Gounod was still insistent upon my appearance in the r�le of
+<i>Juliette</i>. I was irritated by the whole long train of aggravating
+circumstances, but said, "Give me the contract, I'll sign it." Then I
+went directly to the Op�ra Comique and asked to see the director. I was
+towering with indignation&mdash;indeed, I felt myself at least seven feet
+tall and perhaps quite as wide. I demanded my contract. To his "Mais,
+Mademoiselle&mdash;" I commanded, "Send for it." He brought the contract and
+tore it up in my presence, only to learn next morning to his probable
+chagrin that I was engaged and announced for an important r�le at the<a name="page_127" id="page_127"></a>
+Grand Op�ra. The first performance of a debutante at the Grand Op�ra is
+a great ordeal, and it is easy to imagine that the strain upon a young
+singer might deprive her of her natural powers of expression. The
+outcome of mine was most fortuitous and with success behind me I found
+my road very different indeed. However, if I had not had a friend at
+court, in the splendid person of Charles Gounod, I might have been
+obliged to wait years longer, and perhaps never have had an opportunity
+to appear in Paris, where only a few foreigners in a generation get such
+a privilege. It is a great one, I consider, as there is no school of
+good taste and restraint like the French, which is also one where one
+may acquire the more intellectual qualities in one's work and a sense of
+proportion and line.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Gounod as a Modernist</span></h4>
+
+<p>I have continually called attention to Gounod's idealism. There are some
+to-day who might find the works of Gounod artificial in comparison with
+the works of some very modern writers. To them I can only say that the
+works of the great master gave a great deal of joy to audiences fully as
+competent to judge of their artistic and �sthetic beauty as any of the
+present day. Indeed, their flavor is so delicate and sublimated that the
+subsequent attempts at interpreting them with more realistic methods
+only succeeds in destroying their charm.</p>
+
+<p>It may be difficult for some who are saturated with the ultra-modern
+tendencies in music to look upon<a name="page_128" id="page_128"></a> Gounod as a modernist, but thus he was
+regarded by his own friends. One of my most amusing recollections of
+Gounod was his telling me&mdash;himself much amused thereby&mdash;of the first
+performance of <i>Faust</i>. His friends had attended in large numbers to
+assist at the expected "success," only to be witnesses of a huge
+failure. Gounod told me that the only numbers to have any success
+whatsoever were the "Soldiers' Chorus," and that of the old men in the
+second part of the first act. He said that all his friends avoided him
+and disappeared or went on the other side of the street. Some of the
+more intimate told him that he must change his manner of writing as it
+was so "unmelodious" and "advanced." This seems to me a most interesting
+recollection, in view of the "cubist" music of Stravinsky and Co. of
+to-day.</p>
+
+<p>In thinking of Gounod we must not forget his period and his public. We
+must realize that his operatic heroes and heroines must be approached
+from an altogether idealistic attitude&mdash;never a materialistic one. See
+the manner in which Gounod has taken Shakespeare's <i>Juliette</i> and
+translated her into an atmosphere of poetry. Nevertheless he constantly
+intensifies his dramatic situations as the dramatic nature of the
+composition demands.</p>
+
+<p>His <i>Juliette</i>, though consistent with his idea of her throughout, is
+not the <i>Juliet</i> of Shakespeare. As also his <i>Marguerite</i> is that of
+Kaulbach and not the Gretchen of Goethe.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, a great deal depends upon the training<a name="page_129" id="page_129"></a> and school of the
+artist interpreting the r�le. In my own interpretations I am governed by
+certain art principles which seem very vital indeed to me. The figure of
+the Medi�val Princess <i>Elsa</i> has to be represented with a restraint
+quite opposed to that of the panting savage <i>A�da</i>. Also, the
+palpitating, elemental <i>Tosca</i> calls for another type of character
+painting than, for instance, the modest, gestureless, timid and womanly
+Japanese girl in Mascagni's <i>Iris</i>. These things are not taught in
+schools by teachers. They come only after the prolonged study which
+every conscientious artist must give to her r�les. Gounod felt this very
+strongly and impressed it upon me. All music had a meaning to him&mdash;an
+inner meaning which the great mind invariably divines through a kind of
+artistic intuition difficult to define. I remember his playing to me the
+last act of <i>Don Giovanni</i>, which in his hands gained the grandeur and
+depth of Greek tragedy. He had in his hands the power to thrill one to
+the very utmost. Again he was keenly delighted with the most joyous
+passages in music. He was exceptionally fond of Mozart. <i>Le Nozze di
+Figaro</i> was especially appreciated. He used to say, after accompanying
+himself in the aria of Cherubino the Page, from the 1st act, "Isn't that
+Spring? Isn't that youth? Isn't that the joy of life? How marvelously
+Mozart has crystallized this wonderful exuberant spirit in his music!"<a name="page_130" id="page_130"></a></p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">One Reason for Gounod's Eminence</span></h4>
+
+<p>One reason for Gounod's eminence lay in his great reverence for his art.
+He believed in the cultivation of reverence for one's art, as the
+religious devotee has reverence for his cult. To Gounod his art was a
+religion. To use a very expressive colloquialism, "He never felt himself
+above his job." Time and again we meet men and women who make it a habit
+to look down upon their work as though they were superior to it. They
+are continually apologizing to their friends and depreciating their
+occupation. Such people seem foreordained for failure. If one can not
+regard the work one is engaged upon with the greatest earnestness and
+respect&mdash;if one can not feel that the work is worthy of one's deepest
+<i>reverence</i>, one can accomplish little. I have seen so much of this with
+students and aspiring musicians that I feel that I would be missing a
+big opportunity if I did not emphasize this fine trait in Gounod's
+character. I know of one man in particular who has been going down and
+down every year largely because he has never considered anything he has
+had to do as worthy of his best efforts. He has always been "above his
+job." If you are dissatisfied with your work, seek out something that
+you think is really deserving of your labor, something commensurate with
+your idea of a serious dignified occupation in which you feel that you
+may do your best work. In most cases, however, it is not a matter of
+occupation but an attitude of mind&mdash;the difference between an earnest<a name="page_131" id="page_131"></a>
+dignified worker and one who finds it more comfortable to evade work.
+This is true in music as in everything else. If you can make your
+musical work a cult as Gounod did, if you have talent&mdash;vision&mdash;ah! how
+few have vision, how few can really and truly see&mdash;if you have the
+understanding which comes through vision, there is no artistic height
+which you may not climb.</p>
+
+<p>One can not hope to give a portrait of Gounod in so short an interview.
+One can only point out a few of his most distinguishing features. One
+who enjoyed his magnificent friendship can only look upon it as a
+hallowed memory. After all, Gounod has written himself into his own
+music and it is to that we must go if we would know his real nature.<a name="page_132" id="page_132"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="MME_FLORENCE_EASTON" id="MME_FLORENCE_EASTON"></a>MME. FLORENCE EASTON</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>Mme. Florence Easton was born at Middleborough, Yorkshire, England, Oct.
+25, 1887. At a very early age she was taken to Toronto, Canada, by her
+parents, who were both accomplished singers. She was given a musical
+training in youth with the view of making her a concert pianist. Her
+teacher was J. A. D. Tripp, and at the age of eleven she appeared in
+concert. Her vocal talents were discovered and she was sent to the Royal
+Academy at London, England, where her teachers were Reddy and Mme. Agnes
+Larkom, a pupil of Garcia. She then went to Paris and studied under
+Eliot Haslam, an English teacher resident in the French metropolis. She
+then took small parts in the well-known English Opera organization, the
+Moody-Manners Company, acquiring a large repertoire in English. With her
+husband, Francis Maclennen, she came to America to take the leading
+r�les in the Savage production of <i>Parsifal</i>, remaining to sing the next
+season in <i>Madama Butterfly</i>. The couple were then engaged to sing for
+six years at the Berlin Royal Opera and became wonderfully successful.
+After three years at Hamburg and two years with the Chicago Opera
+Company she was engaged for dramatic r�les at the Metropolitan, and has
+become a great favorite.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 369px;">
+<a href="images/p132a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p132a_sml.jpg" width="369" height="550" alt="Mme. Florence Easton. � Mishkin."
+title="Mme. Florence Easton. � Mishkin." /></a>
+<span class="caption">Mme. Florence Easton.<br /><span class="captionn">� Mishkin.</span></span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_133" id="page_133"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="THE_OPEN_DOOR_TO_OPERA" id="THE_OPEN_DOOR_TO_OPERA"></a>THE OPEN DOOR TO OPERA</h3>
+
+<h4>MME. FLORENCE EASTON</h4>
+
+<p>What is the open door to opera in America? Is there an open door, and if
+not, how can one be made? Who may go through that door and what are the
+terms of admission? These are questions which thousands of young
+American opera aspirants are asking just now.</p>
+
+<p>The prospect of singing at a great opera house is so alluring and the
+reward in money is often so great that students center their attentions
+upon the grand prize and are willing to take a chance of winning, even
+though they know that only one in a very few may succeed and then often
+at bitter sacrifice.</p>
+
+<p>The question is a most interesting one to me, as I think that I know
+what the open door to opera in this country might be&mdash;what it may be if
+enough patriotic Americans could be found to cut through the hard walls
+of materialism, conventionalism and indifference. It lies through the
+small opera company&mdash;the only real and great school which the opera
+singer of the future can have.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The School of Prime Donne</span></h4>
+
+<p>In European countries there are innumerable small companies capable of
+giving good opera which the people enjoy quite as thoroughly as the
+metropolitan<a name="page_134" id="page_134"></a> audiences of the world enjoy the opera which commands the
+best singers of the times. For years these small opera companies have
+been the training schools of the great singers. Not to have gone through
+such a school was as damaging an admission as that of not having gone
+through a college would be to a college professor applying for a new
+position. Lilli Lehmann, Schumann-Heink, Ruffo, Campanini, Jenny Lind,
+Patti, all are graduates of these schools of practice.</p>
+
+<p>In America there seems to have existed for years a kind of prejudice,
+bred of ignorance, against all opera companies except those employing
+all-star casts in the biggest theatres in the biggest cities. This
+existed, despite the fact that these secondary opera companies often put
+on opera that was superior to the best that was to be heard in some
+Italian, German and French cities which possessed opera companies that
+stood very high in the estimation of Americans who had never heard them.
+It was once actually the case that the fact that a singer had once sung
+in a smaller opera company prevented her from aspiring to sing in a
+great opera company. America, however, has become very much better
+informed and much more independent in such matters, and our opera goers
+are beginning to resemble European audiences in that they let their ears
+and their common sense determine what is best rather than their
+prejudices and their conventions regarding reputation. It was actually
+the case at one time in America that a singer with a great reputation
+could command a large audience, whereas a singer of<a name="page_135" id="page_135"></a> far greater ability
+and infinitely better voice might be shut out because she had once sung
+in an opera company not as pretentious as those in the big cities. This
+seemed very comic indeed to many European singers, who laughed in their
+coat sleeves over the real situation.</p>
+
+<p>In the first place, the small companies in many cities would provide
+more singers with opportunities for training and public appearances. The
+United States now has two or three major opera companies. Count up on
+your fingers the greatest number of singers who could be accommodated
+with parts: only once or twice in a decade does the young singer, at the
+age when the best formative work must be done, have a chance to attain
+the leading r�les. If we had in America ten or twenty smaller opera
+companies of real merit, the chances would be greatly multiplied.</p>
+
+<p>The first thing that the singer has to fight is stage fright. No matter
+how well you may know a r�le in a studio, unless you are a very
+extraordinary person you are likely to take months in acquiring the
+stage freedom and ease in working before an audience. There is only one
+cure for stage fright, and that is to appear continually until it wears
+off. Many deserving singers have lost their great chances because they
+have depended upon what they have learned in the studio, only to find
+that when they went before a great and critical audience their ability
+was suddenly reduced to 10 per cent., if not to zero. Even after years
+of practice and experience in great European opera houses where<a name="page_136" id="page_136"></a> I
+appeared repeatedly before royalty, the reputation of the Metropolitan
+Opera House in New York was so great that at the time I made my d�but
+there I was so afflicted by stage fright that my voice was actually
+reduced to one-half of its force and my other abilities accordingly.
+This is the truth, and I am glad to have young singers know it as it
+emphasizes my point.</p>
+
+<p>Imagine what the effect would have been upon a young singer who had
+never before sung in public on the stage. Footlight paralysis is one of
+the most terrifying of all acute diseases and there is no cure for it
+but experience.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Best Beginning</span></h4>
+
+<p>In the Moody Manners Company in England, the directors wisely understood
+this situation and prepared for it. All the singers scheduled to take
+leading r�les (and they were for the most part very young singers, since
+when the singer became experienced enough she was immediately stolen by
+companies paying higher salaries) were expected to go for a certain time
+in the chorus (not to sing, just to walk off and on the stage) until
+familiar with the situation. Accordingly, my first appearance with the
+Moody Manners Company was when I walked out with the chorus. I have
+never heard of this being done deliberately by any other managers, but
+think how sensible it is!</p>
+
+<p>Again, it is far more advantageous for the young singer to appear in the
+smaller opera house at first,<a name="page_137" id="page_137"></a> so that if any errors are made the opera
+goers will not be unforgiving. There is no tragedy greater than throwing
+a young girl into an operatic situation far greater than her experience
+and ability can meet, and then condemning her for years because she did
+not rise to the occasion. This has happened many times in recent years.
+Ambition is a beautiful thing; but when ambition induces one to walk
+upon a tight rope over Niagara, without having first learned to walk
+properly on earth, ambition should be restrained. I can recollect
+several singers who were widely heralded at their first performances by
+enthusiastic admirers, who are now no longer known. What has become of
+them? Is it not better to learn the profession of opera singing in its
+one great school, and learn it so thoroughly that one can advance in the
+profession, just as one may advance in every other profession? The
+singer in the small opera company who, night after night, says to
+herself, "To-morrow it must be better," is the one who will be the Lilli
+Lehmann, the Galli-Curci, or the Schumann-Heink of to-morrow; not the
+important person who insists upon postponing her d�but until she can
+appear at the Metropolitan or at Covent Garden.</p>
+
+<p>Colonel Henry W. Savage did America an immense service, as did the Aborn
+Brothers and Fortune Gallo, in helping to create a popular taste for
+opera presented in a less pretentious form. America needs such companies
+and needs them badly, not merely to educate the public up to an
+appreciation of the fact that the finest operatic performances in the
+world are now<a name="page_138" id="page_138"></a> being given at the Metropolitan Opera House, but to help
+provide us with well-schooled singers for the future.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Necessity of Routine</span></h4>
+
+<p>Nothing can take the place of routine in learning operas. Many, many
+opera singers I have known seem to be woefully lacking in it. In
+learning a new opera, I learn all the parts that have anything to do
+with the part I am expected to sing. In other words, I find it very
+inadvisable to depend upon cues. There are so many disturbing things
+constantly occurring on the stage to throw one off one's track. For
+instance, when I made my first appearance in Mascagni's <i>Lodoletta</i> I
+was obliged to go on with only twenty-four hours' notice, without
+rehearsal, in an opera I had seen produced only once. I had studied the
+r�le only two weeks. While on the stage I was so entranced with the
+wonderful singing of Mr. Caruso that I forgot to come in at the right
+time. He said to me quickly <i>sotto voce</i>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="c">"<i>Canta! Canta! Canta!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>And my routine drill of the part enabled me to come in without letting
+the audience know of my error.</p>
+
+<p>The mere matter of getting the voice to go with the orchestra, as well
+as that of identifying cues heard in the unusual quality of the
+orchestral instruments (so different from the tone quality of the
+piano), is most confusing, and only routine can accustom one to being
+ready to meet all of these strange conditions.<a name="page_139" id="page_139"></a></p>
+
+<p>One is supposed to keep an eye on the conductor practically all of the
+time while singing. The best singers are those who never forget this,
+but do it so artfully that the audience never suspects. Many singers
+follow the conductor's baton so conspicuously that they give the
+appearance of monkeys on a string. This, of course, is highly ludicrous.
+I don't know of any way of overcoming it but experience. Yes, there is
+another great help, and that is musicianship. The conductor who knows
+that an artist is a musician in fact, is immensely relieved and always
+very appreciative. Singers should learn as much about the technical side
+of music as possible. Learning to play the violin or the piano, and
+learning to play it well is invaluable.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Watching for Opportunities</span></h4>
+
+<p>The singer must be ever on the alert for opportunities to advance. This
+is largely a matter of preparation. If one is capable, the opportunities
+usually come. I wonder if I may relate a little incident which occurred
+to me in Germany long before the war. I had been singing in Berlin, when
+the impresario of the Royal Opera approached me and asked me if I could
+sing <i>A�da</i> on a following Monday. I realized that if I admitted that I
+had never sung <i>A�da</i> before, the thoroughgoing, matter-of-fact German
+Intendant would never even let me have a chance. Emmy Destinn was then
+the prima donna at the Royal Opera, and had been taken ill. The post was
+one of the operatic plums of all Europe. Before I knew it, I had said<a name="page_140" id="page_140"></a>
+"Yes, I can sing <i>A�da</i>." It was a white lie, and once told, I had to
+live up to it. I had never sung <i>A�da</i>, and only knew part of it.
+Running home I worked all night long to learn the last act. Over and
+over the r�le hundreds and hundreds of times I went, until it seemed as
+though my eyes would drop out of my head. Monday night came, and thanks
+to my routine experience in smaller companies, I had learned <i>A�da</i> so
+that I was perfectly confident of it. Imagine the strain, however, when
+I learned that the Kaiser and the court were to be present. At the end I
+was called before the Kaiser, who, after warmly complimenting me, gave
+me the greatly coveted post in his opera house. I do not believe that he
+ever found out that the little Toronto girl had actually fibbed her way
+into an opportunity.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Tales of Strauss</span></h4>
+
+<p>Strauss was one of the leading conductors while I was at the Royal Opera
+and I sang under his baton many, many times. He was a real genius,&mdash;in
+that once his art work was completed, his interest immediately centered
+upon the next. Once while we were performing <i>Rosenkavalier</i> he came
+behind the scenes and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Will this awfully <i>long</i> opera never end? I want to go home." I said to
+him, "But Doctor, you composed it yourself," and he said, "Yes, but I
+never meant to conduct it."</p>
+
+<p>Let it be explained that Strauss was an inveterate player of the German
+card game, Scat, and would far<a name="page_141" id="page_141"></a> rather seek a quiet corner with a few
+choice companions than go through one of his own works night after
+night. However, whenever the creative instinct was at work he let
+nothing impede it. I remember seeing him write upon his cuffs (no doubt
+some passing theme) during a performance of <i>Meistersinger</i> he was
+conducting.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Singer's Greatest Need</span></h4>
+
+<p>The singer's greatest need, or his greatest asset if he has one, is an
+honest critic. My husband and I have made it a point never to miss
+hearing one another sing, no matter how many times we have heard each
+other sing in a r�le. Sometimes, after a big performance, it is very
+hard to have to be told about all the things that one did not do well,
+but that is the only way to improve. There are always many people to
+tell one the good things, but I feel that the biggest help that I have
+had through my career has been the help of my husband, because he has
+always told me the places where I could improve, so that every
+performance I had something new to think about. An artist never stands
+still. He either goes forward or backward and, of course, the only way
+to get to the top is by going forward.</p>
+
+<p>The difficulty in America is in giving the young singers a chance after
+their voices are placed. If only we could have a number of excellent
+stock opera companies, even though there had to be a few traveling stars
+after the manner of the old dramatic companies,<a name="page_142" id="page_142"></a> where everybody had to
+start at the bottom and work his way up, because with a lovely voice,
+talent and perseverance anyone can get to the top if one has a chance to
+work. By "work" I mean singing as many new r�les as possible and as
+often as possible and not starting at a big opera house singing perhaps
+two or three times during a season. Just think of it,&mdash;the singer at a
+small opera house has more chance to learn in two months than the
+beginner at a big opera house might have in five years. After all, the
+thing that is most valuable to a singer is time, as with time the voice
+will diminish in beauty. Getting to the top via the big opera house is
+the work of a lifetime, and the golden tones are gone before one really
+has an opportunity to do one's best work.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 371px;">
+<a href="images/p142a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p142a_sml.jpg" width="371" height="550" alt="Geraldine Farrar."
+title="Geraldine Farrar." /></a>
+<span class="caption">Geraldine Farrar.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_143" id="page_143"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="GERALDINE_FARRAR" id="GERALDINE_FARRAR"></a>GERALDINE FARRAR</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>Although one of the youngest of the noted American singers, none has
+achieved such an extensive international reputation as Miss Farrar. Born
+February 28, 1882, in Melrose, Mass., she was educated at the public
+schools in that city. At the school age she became the pupil of Mrs. J.
+H. Long, in Boston. After studying with several teachers, including Emma
+Thursby, in New York, and Trabadello, in Paris, she went to Lilli
+Lehmann in Berlin, and under this, the greatest of dramatic singers of
+her time, Miss Farrar received a most thorough and careful training in
+all the elements of her art. She made her d�but as Marguerite in <i>Faust</i>
+at the Royal Opera in Berlin, October 15th, 1901. Later, after touring
+European cities with ever increasing successes, she was engaged at the
+Opera Comique and Grand Opera, Paris, and then at the Metropolitan Opera
+House in New York, where she has been the leading soprano for many
+seasons. The many enticing offers made for appearances in moving
+pictures led to a new phase of her career. In many pictures she has
+appeared with her husband, M. Lou Tellegen, one of the most
+distinguished actors of the French school, who at one time was the
+leading man for Sarah Bernhardt.</p>
+
+<p>The following conference is rich in advice to any young woman who
+desires to know what she must do in order to become a prima donna.<a name="page_144" id="page_144"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="WHAT_MUST_I_GO_THROUGH_TO_BECOME_A_PRIMA_DONNA" id="WHAT_MUST_I_GO_THROUGH_TO_BECOME_A_PRIMA_DONNA"></a>WHAT MUST I GO THROUGH TO BECOME A PRIMA DONNA?</h3>
+
+<h4>MME. GERALDINE FARRAR</h4>
+
+<p>What must I do to become a prima donna? Let us reverse the usual method
+of discussing the question and begin with the artist upon the stage in a
+great opera house like the Metropolitan in New York, on a gala night,
+every seat sold and hundreds standing. It is a modern opera with a
+"heavy" score. What is the first consideration of the singer?</p>
+
+<p>Primarily, an artist in grand opera must <i>sing</i> in some fashion to
+insure the proper projection of her r�le across the large spaces of the
+all-too-large auditoriums. Those admirable requisites of clear diction,
+facial expression and emotional appeal will be sadly hampered unless the
+medium of sound carries their message. It is only from sad experience
+that one among many rises superior to some of the disadvantages of our
+modern opera repertoire. Gone are the days when the facile vocalist was
+supported by a small group of musicians intent upon a discreet
+accompaniment for the benefit of the singer's vocal exertions. Voices
+trained for the older repertoire were not at the mercy of an enlarged
+orchestra pit, wherein the over-zealous gentlemen now fight&mdash;<i>furioso ad
+libitum</i>&mdash;for the supremacy of operatic effects.<a name="page_145" id="page_145"></a></p>
+
+<p>An amiable musical observer once asked me why we all shouted so in
+opera. I replied by a question, asking if he had ever made an
+after-dinner speech. He acquiesced. I asked him how many times he rapped
+on the table for attention and silence. He admitted it was rather often.
+I asked him why. He said, so that he might be heard. He answered his own
+question by conceding that the carrying timbre of a voice cannot compete
+successfully against even banquet hall festivities unless properly
+focused out of a normal speaking tone. The difference between a small
+room and one seating several hundred is far greater than the average
+auditor realizes. If the mere rattling of silver and china will eclipse
+this vocal effort in speech I leave to your imagination what must
+transpire when the singer is called upon to dominate with one thread of
+song the tremendous onslaught of an orchestra and to rise triumphant
+above it in a theater so large that the faithful gatherers in the
+gallery tell me we all look like pigmies, and half the time are barely
+heard. Since the recesses where we must perform are so exaggerated
+everything must be in like proportion, hence we are very often too
+noisy, but how can it be otherwise if we are to influence the eager
+taxpayer in row X? After all, he has not come to hear us <i>whisper</i>, and
+his point of vantage is not so admirable as if he were sitting at a
+musical comedy in a small theater. For this condition the size of the
+theater and the instrumentation imposed by the composer are to be
+censured, and less blame placed upon the overburdened<a name="page_146" id="page_146"></a> shoulders of the
+vocal competitor against these odds. Little shading in operatic tone
+color is possible unless an accompanying phrase permits it or the
+trumpeter swallows a pin!</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Lucia or Zaza</span></h4>
+
+<p>If your repertoire is <i>The Barber</i>, <i>Lucia</i>, <i>Somnambula</i> and all such
+Italian dainties, well and good. Nothing need disturb the complete
+enjoyment of this lace-work. But if your auditors weep at <i>Butterfly</i>
+and <i>Zaza</i> or thrill to <i>Pagliacci</i>, they demand you use a quite
+different technic, which comes to the point of my story.</p>
+
+<p>I believe it was Jean de Reszke who advocated the voice "in the mask"
+united to breath support from the diaphragm. From personal observation I
+should say our coloratura charmers lay small emphasis on that highly
+important factor and use their head voices with a freedom more or less
+God given. But the power and life-giving quality of this fundamental
+cannot be too highly estimated for us who must color our phrases to suit
+modern dramatics and evolve a carrying quality that will not only
+eliminate the difficulty of vocal demands, but at the same time insure
+immunity from harmful after-effects. This indispensable twin of the head
+voice is the dynamo which alone must endure all the necessary fatigue,
+leaving the actual voice phrases free to float unrestricted with no
+ignoble distortions or possible signs of distress. Alas! it is not easy
+to write of this, but the experience of years proves how vital a point
+is its saving grace and how, unfortunately, it remains an unknown factor
+to many.<a name="page_147" id="page_147"></a></p>
+
+<p>To note two of our finest examples of greatness in this marvelous
+profession, Lilli Lehmann and Jean de Reszke, neither of whom had
+phenomenal vocal gifts, I would point out their remarkable mental
+equipment, unceasing and passionate desire for perfection, paired with
+an unerring instinct for the noble and distinguished such as has not
+been found in other exponents of purely vocal virtuosity, with a few
+rare exceptions, as Melba and Galli-Curci, for instance, to mention two
+beautiful instruments of our generation.</p>
+
+<p>The singing art is not a casual inspiration and it should never be
+treated as such. The real artist will have an organized mental strategy
+just as minute and reliable as any intricate machinery, and will under
+all circumstances (save complete physical disability) be able to control
+and dominate her gifts to their fullest extent. This is not learned in a
+few years within the four walls of a studio, but is the result of a
+lifetime of painstaking care and devotion.</p>
+
+<p>There was a time when ambition and overwork so told upon me that
+mistakenly I allowed myself to minimize my vocal practice. How wrong
+that was I found out in short time and I have returned long since to my
+earlier precepts as taught me by Lilli Lehmann.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Keep the Voice Strong and Flexible</span></h4>
+
+<p>In her book, <i>How to Sing</i>, there is much for the student to digest with
+profit, though possible reservations are advisable, dependent upon one's
+individual health and vocal resistance. Her strong conviction was, and<a name="page_148" id="page_148"></a>
+is, that a voice requires daily and conscientious exercise to keep it
+strong and flexible. Having successfully mastered the older Italian
+r�les as a young singer, her incursion into the later-day dramatic and
+classic repertoire in no wise became an excuse to let languish the
+fundamental idea of beautiful sound. How vitally important and admirably
+<i>bel canto</i> sustained by the breath support has served her is readily
+understood when one remembers that she has outdistanced all the
+colleagues of her earlier career and now well over sixty, she is as
+indefatigable in her daily practice as we younger singers should be.</p>
+
+<p>This brief extract about Patti (again quoting Lilli Lehmann) will
+furnish an interesting comparison:</p>
+
+<p>In Adelina Patti everything was united&mdash;the splendid voice paired with
+great talent for singing, and the long oversight of her studies by her
+distinguished teacher, Strakosch. She never sang r�les that did not suit
+her voice; in her earlier years she sang only arias and duets or single
+solos, never taking part in ensembles. She never sang even her limited
+repertory when she was indisposed. She never attended rehearsals, but
+came to the theater in the evening and sang triumphantly, without ever
+having seen the persons who sang or acted with her. She spared herself
+rehearsals, which, on the day of the performance or the day before,
+exhaust all singers because of the excitement of all kinds attending
+them, and which contribute neither to the freshness of the voice nor to
+the joy of the profession.<a name="page_149" id="page_149"></a></p>
+
+<p>Although she was a Spaniard by birth and an American by early adoption,
+she was, so to speak, the greatest Italian singer of my time. All was
+absolutely good, correct and flawless, the voice like a bell that you
+seemed to hear long after its singing had ceased. Yet she could give no
+explanation of her art, and answered all her colleagues' questions
+concerning it with "Ah, je n'en sais rien!" She possessed unconsciously,
+as a gift of nature, a union of all those qualities that other singers
+must attain and possess consciously. Her vocal organs stood in the most
+favorable relations to each other. Her talent and her remarkably trained
+ear maintained control over the beauty of her singing and her voice.
+Fortunate circumstances of her life preserved her from all injury. The
+purity and flawlessness of her tone, the beautiful equalization of her
+whole voice constituted the magic by which she held her listeners
+entranced. Moreover, she was beautiful and gracious in appearance. The
+accent of great dramatic power she did not possess, yet I ascribe this
+more to her intellectual indolence than to her lack of ability.</p>
+
+<p>But how few of us would ever make a career if we waited for such favors
+from Nature!</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Lessons Must be Adequate</span></h4>
+
+<p>Bearing in mind the absolute necessity and real joy in vocal work, it
+confounds and amazes me that teachers of this art feel their duty has
+been accomplished when they donate twenty minutes or half an<a name="page_150" id="page_150"></a> hour to a
+pupil! I do not honestly believe this is a fair exchange, and it is
+certainly not within reason to believe that within so short a time a
+pupil can actually benefit by the concentration and instruction so
+hastily conferred upon her. If this be very plain speaking, it is said
+with the object to benefit the pupil only, for it is, after all, <i>they</i>
+who must pay the ultimate in success or failure. An hour devoted to the
+minute needs of one pupil is not too much time to devote to so delicate
+a subject. An intelligent taskmaster will let his pupil demonstrate ten
+or fifteen minutes and during the same period of rest will discuss and
+awaken the pupil's interest from an intelligent point of view, that some
+degree of individuality may color even the drudgery of the classroom. A
+word of counsel from such a mistress of song as Lehmann or Sembrich is
+priceless, but the sums that pour into greedy pockets of vocal
+mechanics, not to say a harsher word, is a regretable proceeding. Too
+many mediocrities are making sounds. Too many of the same class are
+trying to instruct, but, as in politics, the real culprit is the people.
+As long as the public forbear an intelligent protest in this direction,
+just so long will the studios be crowded with pathetic seekers for fame.
+What employment these infatuated individuals enjoyed before the advent
+of grand opera and the movies became a possible exhaust pipe for their
+vanity is not clear, but they certainly should be discouraged. New York
+alone is crowded with aspirants for the stage, and their little bag of
+tricks is of very slender proportions. Let us do everything in our power
+to help the really worthy talent; but it is a<a name="page_151" id="page_151"></a> mistaken charity, and not
+patriotic, to shove singers and composers so called, of American birth,
+upon a weary public which perceives nothing except the fact that they
+are of native birth and have no talent to warrant such assumption.</p>
+
+<p>I do not think the musical observers are doing the cause of art in this
+country a favor when columns are written about the inferior works of the
+non-gifted. An ambitious effort is all right in its way, but that is no
+reason to connect the ill-advised production with American hopes. On the
+contrary, it does us a bad turn. I shall still contend that the English
+language is not a pretty one for our vocal exploitations, and within my
+experience of the past ten years I have heard but one American work
+which I can sincerely say would have given me pleasure to create, that
+same being Mr. Henry Hadley's recently produced <i>Cleopatra's Night</i>. His
+score is rich and deserving of the highest praise.</p>
+
+<p>In closing I should like to quote again from Mme. Lehmann's book an
+exercise that would seem to fulfill a long-felt want:</p>
+
+<p>"The great scale is the most necessary exercise for all kinds of voices.
+It was taught me by my mother. She taught it to all her pupils and to
+us."</p>
+
+<p>Here is the scale as Lehmann taught it to me.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/pm151.png" width="90%" alt="musical notation: Breath Breath Breath Breath"
+title="musical notation: Breath Breath Breath Breath" />
+</div>
+
+<p>It was sung upon all the principal vowels. It was extended stepwise
+through different keys over the entire<a name="page_152" id="page_152"></a> range of the two octaves of the
+voice. It was not her advice to practice it too softly, but it was done
+with all the resonating organs well supported by the diaphragm, the tone
+in a very supple and elastic "watery" state. She would think nothing of
+devoting from forty minutes to sixty minutes a day to the slow practice
+of this exercise. Of course, she would treat what one might call a heavy
+brunette voice quite differently from a bright blonde voice. These terms
+of blonde and brunette, of course, have nothing to do with the
+complexion of the individual, but to the color of the voice.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Only Cure</span></h4>
+
+<p>Lehmann said of this scale: "It is the only cure for all injuries, and
+at the same time the most excellent means of fortification against all
+over-exertion. I sing it every day, often twice, even if I have to sing
+one of the heaviest r�les in the evening. I can rely absolutely upon its
+assistance. I often take fifty minutes to go through it once, for I let
+no tone pass that is lacking in any degree in pitch, power, duration or
+in single vibration of the propagation form."</p>
+
+<p>Personally I supplement this great scale often with various florid
+legato phrases of arias selected from the older Italians or Mozart,
+whereby I can more easily achieve the vocal facility demanded by the
+tessitura of <i>Manon</i> or <i>Faust</i> and change to the darker-hued phrases
+demanded in <i>Carmen</i> or <i>Butterfly</i>.</p>
+
+<p>But the open secret of all success is patient, never-ending,
+conscientious <i>work</i>, with a forceful emphasis on the <i>WORK</i>.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 371px;">
+<a href="images/p152a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p152a_sml.jpg" width="371" height="550" alt="Johanna Gadski."
+title="Johanna Gadski." /></a>
+<span class="caption">Johanna Gadski.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_153" id="page_153"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="MME_JOHANNA_GADSKI" id="MME_JOHANNA_GADSKI"></a>MME. JOHANNA GADSKI</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>Mme. Gadski was born at Anclam, Prussia, June 15, 1872. Her studies in
+singing were principally with Mme. Schroeder-Chaloupha. When she was ten
+years old she sang successfully in concert at Stettin. Her operatic
+d�but was made in Berlin, in 1889, in Weber's <i>Der Freisch�tz</i>. She then
+appeared in the opera houses of Bremen and Mayence. In 1894 Dr. Walter
+Damrosch organized his opera company in New York and engaged Mme. Gadski
+for leading r�les. In 1898 she became high dramatic soprano with the
+Metropolitan Opera Company in New York, and the following year appeared
+at Covent Garden. She was constantly developing as a singer of Wagner
+r�les, notably <i>Brunhilde</i> and <i>Isolde</i>. Her repertoire included forty
+r�les in all, and the demand for her appearance at festivals here and
+abroad became more and more insistent. She sang at the Metropolitan
+Opera House in New York until 1917, when the notoriety caused by the
+activities of her husband, Captain Hans Tauscher, American agent for
+large German weapon manufacturers, forced her to resign. Mme. Gadski
+made a close study of the Schumann Songs for years; and the following
+can not fail to be of artistic assistance to the singer.<a name="page_154" id="page_154"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="THE_MASTER_SONGS_OF_ROBERT_SCHUMANN" id="THE_MASTER_SONGS_OF_ROBERT_SCHUMANN"></a>THE MASTER SONGS OF ROBERT SCHUMANN</h3>
+
+<h4>MME. JOHANNA GADSKI</h4>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Robert Schumann's Lyric Gift</span></h4>
+
+<p>One cannot delve very far into the works of Schumann without discovering
+that his gifts are peculiarly lyric. His melodic fecundity is all the
+more remarkable because of his strong originality. Even in many of his
+piano pieces, such as <i>Warum?</i>, <i>Tr�umerei</i> or the famous <i>Slumber
+Song</i>, the lyric character is evident. Beautiful melodies which seem to
+lend themselves to the peculiar requirements of vocal music crop up
+every now and then in all his works. This is by no means the case with
+many of the other great masters. In some of Beethoven's songs, for
+instance, one can never lose sight of the fact that they are
+instrumental pieces. It was Schumann's particular privilege to be gifted
+with the acute sense of proportion which enabled him to estimate just
+what kind of an accompaniment a melody should have. Naturally some of
+his songs stand out far above others; and in these the music lover and
+vocal student will notice that there is usually a beautiful artistic
+balance between the accompaniment and the melody.</p>
+
+<p>Another characteristic is the sense of propriety with which Schumann
+connected his melodies with the thought of the poems he employed. This
+is doubtless<a name="page_155" id="page_155"></a> due to the extensive literary training he himself enjoyed.
+It was impossible for a man of Schumann's life experience to apply an
+inappropriate melody to any given poem. With some song writers, this is
+by no means the case. The music of one song would fit almost any other
+set of words having the same poetic metre. Schumann was continually
+seeking after a distinctive atmosphere, and this it is which gives many
+of his works their lasting charm.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Intimate and Delicate Character of Schumann Songs</span></h4>
+
+<p>Most of the greater Schumann songs are of a deliciously ultimate and
+delicate character. By this no one should infer that they are weak or
+spineless. Schumann was a deep student of psychology and of human life.
+In the majority of cases he eschewed the melodramatic. It is true that
+we have at least one song, <i>The Two Grenadiers</i>, which is melodramatic
+in the extreme; but this, according to the greatest judges, is not
+Schumann at his best. It was the particular delight of Schumann to take
+some intense little poem and apply to it a musical setting crowded full
+of deep poetical meaning. Again, he liked to paint musical pastels such
+as <i>Im wundersch�nen Monat Mai</i>, <i>Fr�hlingsnacht</i> and <i>Der Nussbaum</i>.
+These songs are redolent with the fragrance of out-of-doors. There is
+not one jarring note. The indefinable beauty and inspiration of the
+fields and forests have been caught by the master and imprisoned forever
+in this wonderful music.<a name="page_156" id="page_156"></a></p>
+
+<p><i>Im wundersch�nen Monat Mai</i>, which comes from the <i>Dichterliebe</i> cycle,
+is indescribably delicate. It should be sung with great lightness and
+simplicity. Any effort toward a striving for effect would ruin this
+exquisite gem. <i>Fr�hlingsnacht</i> with its wonderful accompaniment, which
+Franz Liszt thought so remarkable that he combined the melody and the
+accompaniment, with but slight alterations, and made a piano piece of
+the whole&mdash;is a difficult song to sing properly. If the singer does not
+catch the effervescent character of the song as a whole, the effect is
+lost. Any "dragging" of the tones destroys the wonderful exuberance
+which Schumann strove to connote. The balance between the singer and the
+accompanist must be perfect, and woe be to the singer who tries to sing
+<i>Fr�hlingsnacht</i> with a lumbering accompanist.</p>
+
+<p><i>Der Nussbaum</i> is one of the most effective and "thankful" of all the
+Schumann songs. Experienced public singers almost invariably win popular
+appreciation with this song. It is probably my favorite of all the
+Schumann songs. Here again delicacy and simplicity reign supreme. In
+fact simplicity in interpretation is the great requirement of all the
+art songs. The amateur singer seems to be continually trying to secure
+"effect" with these songs and the only result of this is affectation. If
+amateurs could only realize how hard the really great masters tried to
+avoid results that were to be secured by the cheap methods of
+"affectation" and "show," they would make their singing more simple.
+Success in singing art songs comes through the<a name="page_157" id="page_157"></a> ability of the artist to
+bring out the psychic, poetical and musical meaning of the song. There
+is no room for cheap vocal virtuosity. The great songs bear the sacred
+message of the best and finest in art. They represent the conscientious
+devotion of their composers to their loftiest ideals.</p>
+
+<p>I have mentioned three songs which are representative, but there are
+numberless other songs which reveal the intimate and personal character
+of Schumann's works. One popular mistake regarding these songs which is
+quite prevalent is that of thinking that they can only be sung in tiny
+rooms and never in large auditoriums. Time and again I have achieved
+some of the best results I have ever secured on the concert stage with
+delicate intimate works sung before audiences of thousands of people.
+The size of the auditorium has practically nothing to do with the song.
+The method of delivery is everything. If the song is properly and
+thoughtfully delivered, the audience, though it be one of thousands,
+will sit "quiet as mice" and listen reverently to the end. However, if
+one of these songs were to be sung in a flamboyant, bombastic manner, by
+some singer infected with the idea that in order to impress a multitude
+of people an exaggerated style is necessary, the results would be
+ruinous. If overdone, they are never appreciated. Art is art. Rembrandt
+in one of his master paintings exhibits just the right artistic balance.
+A copy of the same painting might become a mere daub, with a few twists
+of some bungling amateur's brush. Let the young singer remember<a name="page_158" id="page_158"></a> that
+the results that are the most difficult to get in singing the art song
+are not those by which she may hope to make a sensational impression by
+means of show, but those which depend first and always upon sincerity,
+simplicity and a deep study of the real meaning of the masterpiece.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Love Interest in the Schumann Songs</span></h4>
+
+<p>Up to the time Schumann was thirty years of age (1840), his compositions
+were confined to works for the piano. These piano works include some of
+the very greatest and most inspired of his compositions for the
+instrument. In 1840 Schumann married Clara Wieck, daughter of his former
+pianoforte teacher. This marriage was accomplished only after the most
+severe opposition imaginable upon the part of the irate father-in-law,
+who was loath to see his daughter, whom he had trained to be one of the
+foremost pianists of her sex, marry an obscure composer. The effect of
+this opposition was to raise Schumann's affection to the condition of a
+kind of fanaticism. All this made a pronounced impression upon his art
+and seemed to make him long for expression through the medium of his
+love songs. He wrote to a friend at this time, "I am now writing nothing
+but songs great and small. I can hardly tell you how delightful it is to
+write for the voice, as compared with instrumental composition; and what
+a tumult and strife I feel within me as I sit down to it. I have brought
+forth quite new things in this line." In letters to his wife he is quite
+as impassioned<a name="page_159" id="page_159"></a> over his song writing as the following quotations
+indicate: "Since yesterday morning, I have written twenty-seven pages of
+music (something new of which I can tell you nothing more than that I
+have laughed and wept for joy in composing them). When I composed them
+my soul was within yours. Without such a bride, indeed no one could
+write such music; once more I have composed so much that it seems almost
+uncanny. Alas! I cannot help it: I could sing myself to death like a
+nightingale."</p>
+
+<p>During the first year of his marriage Schumann wrote one hundred of the
+two hundred and forty-five songs that are attributed to him. In the
+published collections of his works, there are three songs attributed to
+Schumann which are known to be from the pen of his talented wife. As in
+his piano compositions Schumann avoided long pieces and preferred
+collections of comparatively short pieces, such as those in the
+<i>Carnaval</i>, <i>Kreisleriana</i>, <i>Papillons</i>, so in his early works for the
+voice Schumann chose to write short songs which were grouped in the form
+of cycles. Seven of these cycles are particularly well known. They are
+here given together with the best known songs from each group.</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="songs">
+
+<tr valign="middle"><td align="center">Cycle</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="center">Songs</td></tr>
+
+<tr valign="middle"><td><i>Liederkreis</i></td><td style="font-size:250%;">{</td><td><i>Ich wandelte unter den B�umen.</i><br />
+<i>Mit Myrthen und Rosen.</i></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="3">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr valign="middle"><td><i>Myrthen</i></td><td style="font-size:300%;">{</td><td><i>Die Lotusblume.</i><a name="page_160" id="page_160"></a><br />
+<i>Lass mich ihm am Busen hangen.</i><br />
+<i>Du bist wie eine Blume.</i><br />
+<i>Der Nussbaum.</i></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="3">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr valign="middle"><td><i>Eichendorff Liederkreis</i></td><td style="font-size:250%;">{</td><td><i>Waldesgespr�ch.</i><br />
+<i>Fr�hlingsnacht.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr valign="middle"><td><i>Kerner Cycle</i></td><td style="font-size:250%;">{</td><td><i>Wanderlust.</i><br />
+<i>Frage.</i><br />
+<i>Stille Thr�nen.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+
+<tr valign="middle"><td><i>Frauenliebe und Leben</i></td><td style="font-size:250%;">{</td><td><i>O, Ring an meinem Finger.</i><br />
+<i>Er, der Herrlichste von Allen.</i></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="3">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr valign="middle"><td><i>Dichterliebe</i></td><td style="font-size:250%;">{</td><td><i>Ich grolle nicht.</i><br />
+<i>Im wundersch�nen Mai.</i><br />
+<i>Ich hab' im Traum geweinet.</i></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="3">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr valign="middle"><td><i>Liebesfr�hling</i></td><td style="font-size:250%;">{</td><td>
+<i>Three of the songs in this</i><br />
+<i>Cycle are attributed to</i><br />
+<i>Clara Schumann.</i></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>Critics seem to be agreed that Schumann's talent gradually deteriorated
+as his mental disease increased. Consequently, with but few exceptions
+his best song works are to be found among his early vocal compositions.
+I have tried repeatedly to bring forth some of the lesser known songs of
+Schumann and have time and again devoted long periods to their study,
+but<a name="page_161" id="page_161"></a> apparently the public, by an unmistakable indication of lack of
+approval, will have none of them.</p>
+
+<p>Evidently, the songs by which Schumann is now best known are his best
+works from the standpoint of popular appreciation. Popular approval
+taken in the aggregate is a mighty determining factor. The survival of
+the fittest applies to songs as well as to other things in life. This is
+particularly so in the case of the four famous songs, <i>Die beiden
+Grenadiere</i>, <i>Widmung</i>, <i>Der Nussbaum</i> and <i>Ich grolle nicht</i>, which
+never seem to diminish in popularity.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Schumann's Love for the Romantic</span></h4>
+
+<p>Schumann's fervid imagination readily led to a love for the romantic.
+His early fondness for the works of Jean Paul developed into a kind of
+life tendency, which resulted in winning him the title of the "Tone-Poet
+of Romanticism." Few of his songs, however, are really dramatic.
+<i>Waldesgespr�ch</i>, which Robert Franz called a pianoforte piece with a
+voice part added, is probably the best of Schumann's dramatic-romantic
+songs. I have always found that audiences are very partial to this song;
+and it may be sung by a female voice as well as the male voice. The <i>Two
+Grenadiers</i> is strictly a man's song. <i>Ich grolle nicht</i>, while sung
+mostly by men, may, like the <i>Erl-King</i> of Schubert, be sung quite as
+successfully by women singers possessing the qualities of depth and
+dramatic intensity.<a name="page_162" id="page_162"></a></p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Peculiar Difficulties in Interpreting Schumann Songs</span></h4>
+
+<p>I have already mentioned the necessity for simplicity in connection with
+the interpretation of the Schumann songs. I need not tell the readers of
+these pages that the proper interpretation of these songs requires a
+much more extensive and difficult kind of preparatory work than the more
+showy coloratura works which to the novice often seem vastly more
+difficult. The very simplicity of the Schubert and Schumann songs makes
+them more difficult to sing properly than the works of writers who
+adopted a somewhat more complicated style. The smallest vocal
+discrepancies become apparent at once and it is only by the most intense
+application and great attention to detail that it is possible for the
+singer to bring her art to a standard that will stand the test of these
+simple, but very difficult works. Too much coloratura singing is liable
+to rob the voice of its fullness and is not to be recommended as a
+preparation for the singer who would become a singer of the modern art
+songs. This does not mean that scales and arpeggios are to be avoided.
+In fact the flexibility and control demanded of the singers of art songs
+are quite as great as that required of the coloratura singer. The
+student must have her full quota of vocal exercises before she should
+think of attempting the Schumann Lieder.<a name="page_163" id="page_163"></a></p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Schumann's Popularity in America</span></h4>
+
+<p>Americans seem to be particularly fond of Schumann. When artists are
+engaged for concert performances it is the custom in this country to
+present optional programs to the managers of the local concert
+enterprises. These managers represent all possible kinds of taste. It is
+the experience of most concert artists that the Schumann selections are
+almost invariably chosen. This is true of the West as well as of the
+South and East. One section of the program is without exception devoted
+to what they call classical songs and by this they mean the best songs
+rather than the songs whose chief claim is that they are from the old
+Italian schools of Carissimi, Scarlatti, etc. I make it a special point
+to present as many songs as possible with English words. The English
+language is not a difficult language in which to sing; and when the
+translation coincides with the original I can see no reason why American
+readers who may not be familiar with a foreign tongue should be denied
+the privilege of understanding what the song is about. If they do not
+understand, why sing words at all? Why not vocalize the melodies upon
+some vowel? Songs, however, were meant to combine poetry and music; and
+unless the audience has the benefit of understanding both, it has been
+defrauded of one of its chief delights.</p>
+
+<p>Some German poems, however, are almost untranslatable. It is for this
+reason that many of the works of L�we, for instance, have never attained
+wide popularity.<a name="page_164" id="page_164"></a> The legends which L�we employed are often delightful,
+but the difficulties of translation are such that the original meaning
+is either marred or destroyed. The songs or ballads of L�we, without the
+words, do not seem to grasp American audiences and singers find it a
+thankless task to try to force them upon the public.</p>
+
+<p>I have been so long in America that I feel it my duty to share in
+popularizing the works of the many talented American composers. I
+frequently place MacDowell's beautiful songs on my programs; and the
+works of many other American composers, including Mrs. H. H. A. Beach,
+Sidney Homer, Frank Le Forge and others make fine concert numbers. It
+has seemed to me that America has a large future in the field of lyric
+composition. American poets have long since won their place in the
+international Hall of Fame. The lyrical spirit which they have expressed
+verbally will surely be imbued in the music of American composers. The
+opportunity is already here. Americans demand the best the world can
+produce. It makes no difference what the nationality of the composer.
+However, Americans are first of all patriotic; and the composer who
+produces real lyric masterpieces is not likely to be asked to wait for
+fame and competence, as did Schubert and Schumann.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 367px;">
+<a href="images/p164a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p164a_sml.jpg" width="367" height="550" alt="Mme. Amelita Galli-Curci. � Victor Georg."
+title="Mme. Amelita Galli-Curci. � Victor Georg." /></a>
+<span class="caption">Mme. Amelita Galli-Curci.<br /><span class="captionn">� Victor Georg.</span></span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_165" id="page_165"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="MME_AMELITA_GALLI-CURCI" id="MME_AMELITA_GALLI-CURCI"></a>MME. AMELITA GALLI-CURCI</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>Mme. Galli-Curci was born at Milan, November 18th, 1889, of a family
+distinguished in the arts and in the professions. She entered the Milan
+Conservatory, winning the first prize and diploma in piano playing in
+1903. For a time after her graduation she toured as a pianist and then
+resolved to become a singer. She is practically self-taught in the vocal
+art. Her d�but was made in Rome at the Teatro Constanzi, in the r�le of
+<i>Gilda</i> in <i>Rigoletto</i>. She was pronouncedly successful from the very
+start. During the next six years she sang principally in Italy, South
+America (Three Tours), and in Spain, her success increasing with every
+appearance. In 1916 she appeared at Chicago with the Chicago Opera
+Company, creating a furore. The exceptionally beautiful records of her
+interpretations created an immense demand to hear her in concert, and
+her successes everywhere have been historic. Not since Patti has there
+been a singer upon whom such wide-spread critical comment has been made
+in praise of her exquisite velvety quality of tone, vocal technic and
+interpretative intelligence. Hailed as "Patti's only successor," she has
+met with greater popular success in opera and concert than any of the
+singers of recent years. In 1921 she married the gifted American
+composer, Homer Samuels, who for many years had been the pianist upon
+her tours.<a name="page_166" id="page_166"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="TEACHING_YOURSELF_TO_SING" id="TEACHING_YOURSELF_TO_SING"></a>TEACHING YOURSELF TO SING</h3>
+
+<h4>MME. AMELITA GALLI-CURCI</h4>
+
+<p>Just what influence heredity may have upon the musical art and upon
+musicians has, of course, been a much discussed question. In my own
+case, I was fortunate in having a father who, although engaged in
+another vocation, was a fine amateur musician. My grandfather was a
+conductor and my grandmother was an opera singer of distinction in
+Italy. Like myself, she was a coloratura soprano, and I can recollect
+with joy her voice and her method of singing. Even at the age of
+seventy-five her voice was wonderfully well preserved, because she
+always sang with the greatest ease and with none of the forced throat
+restrictions which make the work of so many singers insufferable.</p>
+
+<p>My own musical education began at the age of five, when I commenced to
+play the piano. Meanwhile I sang around the house, and my grandmother
+used to say in good humor: "Keep it up, my dear; perhaps some day you
+may be a better singer than I am." My father, however, was more
+seriously interested in instrumental music, and desired that I should
+become a pianist. How fortunate for me! Otherwise, I should never have
+had that thorough musical drill which gave me an acquaintance with the
+art which I cannot believe could come in any other way. Mascagni was a<a name="page_167" id="page_167"></a>
+very good friend of our family and took a great interest in my playing.
+He came to our house very frequently, and his advice and inspiration
+naturally meant much to a young, impressionable girl.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">General Education</span></h4>
+
+<p>My general education was very carefully guarded by my father, who sent
+me to the best schools in Milan, one of which was under the management
+of Germans, and it was there that I acquired my acquaintance with the
+German language. I was then sent to the Conservatorio, and graduated
+with a gold medal as a pianist. This won me some distinction in Italy
+and enabled me to tour as a pianist. I did not pretend to play the big,
+exhaustive works, but my programs were made up of such pieces as the
+<i>Abeg</i> of Schumann, studies by Scharwenka, impromptus of Chopin, the
+four scherzos of Chopin, the first ballade, the nocturnes (the fifth in
+the book was my favorite) and works of Bach. (Of course, I had been
+through the Wohltemperiertes Clavier.) In those days I was very frail,
+and I had aspired to develop my repertoire so that later I could include
+the great works for the piano requiring a more or less exhaustive
+technic of the bravura type.</p>
+
+<p>Once I went to hear Busoni, and after the concert, came to me like a
+revelation, "You can never be such a pianist as he. Your hand and your
+physical strength will not permit it." I went home in more or less
+sadness, knowing that despite the success I had had in my piano playing,
+my decision was a wise one. Figuratively,<a name="page_168" id="page_168"></a> I closed the lid of my piano
+upon my career as a pianist and decided to learn how to sing. The memory
+of my grandmother's voice singing Bellini's <i>Qui la Voce</i> was still
+ringing in my ears with the lovely purity of tone that she possessed.
+Mascagni called upon us at that time, and I asked him to hear me sing.
+He did so, and threw up his hands, saying, "Why in the world have you
+been wasting your time with piano playing when you have a natural voice
+like that? Such voices are born. Start to work at once to develop your
+voice." Meanwhile, of course, I had heard a great deal of singing and a
+great deal of so-called voice teaching. I went to two teachers in Milan,
+but was so dissatisfied with what I heard from them and from their
+pupils that I was determined that it would be necessary for me to
+develop my own voice. Please do not take this as an inference that all
+vocal teachers are bad or are dispensable. My own case was peculiar. I
+had been saturated with musical traditions since my babyhood. I had had,
+in addition, a very fine musical training. Of course, without this I
+could not have attempted to do what I did in the way of self-training.
+Nevertheless, it is my firm conviction that unless the student of
+singing has in his brain and in his soul those powers of judging for
+himself whether the quality of a tone, the intonation (pitch), the
+shading, the purity and the resonance are what they should be to insure
+the highest artistic results, it will be next to impossible for him to
+secure these. This is what is meant by the phrase&mdash;"singers are born and
+not<a name="page_169" id="page_169"></a> made." The power of discrimination, the judgment, etc., must be
+inherent. No teacher can possibly give them to a pupil, except in an
+artificial way. That, possibly, is the reason why so many students sing
+like parrots: because they have the power of mimicry, but nothing comes
+from within. The fine teacher can, of course, take a fine sense of tonal
+values, etc., and, provided the student has a really good natural voice,
+lead him to reveal to himself the ways in which he can use his voice to
+the best advantage. Add to this a fine musical training, and we have a
+singer. But no teacher can give to a voice that velvety smoothness, that
+liquid fluency, that bell-like clarity which the ear of the educated
+musician expects, and which the public at large demands, unless the
+student has the power of determining for himself what is good and what
+is bad.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Four Years of Hard Training</span></h4>
+
+<p>It was no easy matter to give up the gratifying success which attended
+my pianistic appearances to begin a long term of self-study,
+self-development. Yet I realized that it would hardly be possible for me
+to accomplish what I desired in less than four years. Therefore, I
+worked daily for four years, drilling myself with the greatest care in
+scales, arpeggios and sustained tones. The colorature facility I seemed
+to possess naturally, to a certain extent; but I realized that only by
+hard and patient work would it be possible to have all my runs, trills,
+etc., so that they always would be smooth, articulate and free&mdash;that
+is,<a name="page_170" id="page_170"></a> unrestricted&mdash;at any time. I studied the r�les in which I aspired
+to appear, and attended the opera faithfully to hear fine singing, as
+well as bad singing.</p>
+
+<p>As the work went on it became more and more enjoyable. I felt that I was
+upon the right path, and that meant everything. If I had continued as a
+pianist I could never have been more than a mediocrity, and that I could
+not have tolerated.</p>
+
+<p>About this time came a crisis in my father's business; it became
+necessary for me to teach. Accordingly, I took a number of piano pupils
+and enjoyed that phase of my work very much indeed. I gave lessons for
+four years, and in my spare time worked with my voice, all by myself,
+with my friend, the piano. My guiding principles were:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><i>There must be as little consciousness of effort in the throat as
+possible.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>There must always be the Joy of Singing.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Success is based upon sensation, whether it feels right to me in
+my mouth, in my throat, that I know, and nobody else can tell me.</i></p></div>
+
+<p>I remember that my grandmother, who sang <i>Una voce poco fa</i> at
+seventy-five, always cautioned me to never force a single tone. I did
+not study exercises like those of Concone, Panofka, Bordogni, etc.,
+because they seemed to me a waste of time in my case. I did not require
+musical knowledge, but needed special drill. I knew where my weak spots
+were. What was the use of vocal studies which required me to do a<a name="page_171" id="page_171"></a> lot
+of work and only occasionally touched those portions of my voice which
+needed special attention? Learning a repertoire was a great task in
+itself, and there was no time to waste upon anything I did not actually
+need. Because of the natural fluency I have mentioned, I devoted most of
+my time to slower exercises at first. What could be simpler than this?</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/pm171a.png" width="90%" alt="musical notation: Ex. 1"
+title="musical notation: Ex. 1" />
+</div>
+
+<p>These, of course, were sung in the most convenient range in my voice.
+The more rapid exercises I took from C to F above the treble staff.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/pm171b.png" width="30%" alt="musical notation: Ex. 2"
+title="musical notation: Ex. 2" />
+</div>
+
+<p>Even to this day I sing up to high F every day, in order that I may be
+sure that I have the tones to E below in public work. Another exercise
+which I used very frequently was this, in the form of a trill. Great
+care was taken to have the intonation (pitch) absolutely accurate in the
+rapid passages, as well as in the slow passages.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/pm171c.png" width="90%" alt="musical notation: Ex. 3"
+title="musical notation: Ex. 3" />
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_172" id="page_172"></a></p>
+
+<p>When I had reached a certain point, I determined that it might be
+possible for me to get an engagement. I was then twenty, and my dear
+mother was horrified at the idea of my going on the stage so young. She
+was afraid of evil influences. In my own mind I realized that evil was
+everywhere, in business, society, everywhere, and that if one was to
+keep out of dirt and come out dean, one must make one's art the object
+first of all. Art is so great, so all-consuming, that any one with a
+deep reverence for its beauties, its grandeur, can have but little time
+for the lower things of life. All that an artist calls for in his soul
+is to be permitted to work at his best in his art. Then, and then only,
+is he happiest. Because of my mother's opposition, and because I felt I
+was strong enough to resist the temptations which she knew I might
+encounter, I virtually eloped with a copy of <i>Rigoletto</i> under my arm
+and made my way for the Teatro Constanzi, the leading Opera House of
+Rome.</p>
+
+<p>I might readily have secured letters from influential musical friends,
+such as Mascagni and others, but I determined that it would be best to
+secure an engagement upon my own merits, if I could, and then I would
+know whether or not I was really prepared to make my d�but, or whether I
+had better study more. I went to the manager's office and, appealing to
+his business sense, told him that, as I was a young unknown singer, he
+could secure my services for little money, and begged for permission to
+sing for him. I knew he was beset by such requests, but he immediately
+gave me a hearing,<a name="page_173" id="page_173"></a> and I was engaged for one performance of
+<i>Rigoletto</i>. The night of the d�but came, and I was obliged to sing
+<i>Caro Nome</i> again in response to a vociferous encore. This was followed
+by other successes, and I was engaged for two years for a South American
+tour, under the direction of my good friend and adviser, the great
+operatic director, Mugnone. In South America there was enthusiasm
+everywhere, but all the time I kept working constantly with my voice,
+striving to perfect details.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of the South American tour I desired to visit New York and
+find out what America was like. Because of the war Europe was
+operatically impossible (it was 1916), but I had not the slightest idea
+of singing in the United States just then. By merest accident I ran into
+an American friend (Mr. Thorner) on Broadway. He had heard me sing in
+Italy, and immediately took me to Maestro Campanini, who was looking
+then for a coloratura soprano to sing for only two performances in
+Chicago, as the remainder of his program was filled for the year. This
+was in the springtime, and it meant that I was to remain in New York
+until October and November. The opportunity seemed like an unusual
+accident of fate, and I resolved to stay, studying my own voice all the
+while to improve it more and more. October and the d�but in <i>Rigoletto</i>
+came. The applause astounded me; it was electric, like a thunderstorm.
+No one was more astonished than I. Engagements and offers came from
+everywhere, but not enough, I hope, to ever induce me not to believe
+that in<a name="page_174" id="page_174"></a> the vocal art one must continually strive for higher and higher
+goals. Laziness, indifference and lassitude which come with success are
+the ruin of Art and the artist. The normal healthy artist with the right
+ideals never reaches his Zenith. If he did, or if he thought he did, his
+career would come to a sudden end.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 372px;">
+<a href="images/p174a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p174a_sml.jpg" width="372" height="550" alt="Mary Garden. � Mishkin."
+title="Mary Garden. � Mishkin." /></a>
+<span class="caption">Mary Garden.<br /><span class="captionn">� Mishkin.</span></span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_175" id="page_175"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="MARY_GARDEN" id="MARY_GARDEN"></a>MARY GARDEN</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>Mary Garden was born February 20th, 1877, in Aberdeen, Scotland. She
+came to America with her parents when she was eight years of age and was
+brought up in Chicopee, Massachusetts, Hartford, Connecticut, and
+Chicago, Illinois. She studied the violin when she was six and the piano
+when she was twelve. It was the ambition of her parents to make her an
+instrumental performer. She studied voice with Mrs. S. R. Duff, who in
+time took her to Paris and placed her under the instruction of
+Trabadello and Lucien Fug�re. Her operatic d�but was made in
+Charpentier's <i>Louise</i> at the Opera Comique in 1900. Her success was
+immediate both as an actress and as a singer. She was chosen by Debussy
+and others for especially intricate r�les. She created the r�le of
+<i>Melisande</i>; also, <i>Fiammette</i> in Laroux's <i>La Reine Fiammette</i>. In 1907
+she made her American d�but in <i>Tha�s</i> at the Manhattan Opera House in
+New York City. Later she accepted leading r�les with the
+Philadelphia-Chicago Opera Co. She is considered by many the finest
+singing actress living&mdash;her histrionic gifts being in every way equal to
+her vocal gifts. In 1921 she was made the manager of the Chicago Opera
+Company.<a name="page_176" id="page_176"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="THE_KNOW_HOW_IN_THE_ART_OF_SINGING" id="THE_KNOW_HOW_IN_THE_ART_OF_SINGING"></a>THE KNOW HOW IN THE ART OF SINGING</h3>
+
+<h4>MARY GARDEN</h4>
+
+<p>The modern opera singer cannot content herself merely with the "know
+how" of singing. That is, she must be able to know so much more than the
+mere elemental facts of voice production that it would take volumes to
+give an intimation of the real requirements.</p>
+
+<p>The girl who wants to sing in opera must have one thought and one
+thought only&mdash;"what will contribute to my musical, histrionic and
+artistic success?"</p>
+
+<p>Unless the "career" comes first there is not likely to be any "career."</p>
+
+<p>I wonder if the public ever realizes what this sacrifice means to an
+artiste&mdash;to a woman.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, there are great recompenses&mdash;the thrill that comes with
+artistic triumphs&mdash;the sensations that accompany achievement&mdash;who but
+the artist can know what this means&mdash;the joy of bringing to life some
+great masterpiece?</p>
+
+<p>Music manifests itself in children at a very early age. It is very rare
+indeed that it comes to the surface later in life. I was always musical.
+Only the media changed&mdash;one time it was violin, then piano, then voice.
+The dolls of my sisters only annoyed me because I could not tolerate
+dolls. They seemed a waste<a name="page_177" id="page_177"></a> of time to me, and when they had paper
+dolls, I would go into the room when nobody was looking and cut the
+dolls' heads off. I have never been able to account for my delight in
+doing this.</p>
+
+<p>My father was musical. He wanted me to be a musician, but he had little
+thought at first of my being a singer. Accordingly, at eight I was
+possessed of a fiddle. This meant more to me than all the dolls in the
+world. Oh, how I loved that violin, which I could make speak just by
+drawing a bow over it! There was something worth while.</p>
+
+<p>I was only as big as a minute, and, of course, as soon as I could play
+the routine things of de Beriot, variations and the like, I was
+considered one of those abominable things, "an infant prodigy."</p>
+
+<p>I was brought out to play for friends and any musical person who could
+stand it. Then I gave a concert, and my father saw the finger of destiny
+pointing to my career as a great violinist.</p>
+
+<p>To me the finger of destiny pointed the other way; because I immediately
+sickened of the violin and dropped it forever. Yes, I could play now if
+I had to, but you probably wouldn't want to hear me.</p>
+
+<p>Ah, but I do play. I play every time I sing. The violin taught me the
+need for perfect intonation, fluency in execution, ever so many things.</p>
+
+<p>Then came the piano. Here was a new artistic toy. I worked very hard
+with it. My sister and I went back to Aberdeen for a season of private
+school, and I kept up my piano until I could play acceptably many of
+the<a name="page_178" id="page_178"></a> best-known compositions, Grieg, Chopin, etc., being my favorites. I
+was never a very fine pianist, understand me, but the piano unlocked the
+doors to thousands of musical treasure houses&mdash;admitted me to musical
+literature through the main gate, and has been of invaluable aid to me
+in my career. See my fingers, how long and thin they are&mdash;of course, I
+was a capable pianist&mdash;long, supple fingers, combined with my musical
+experience gained in violin playing, made that certain.</p>
+
+<p>Then I dropped the piano. Dropped it at once. Its possibilities stood
+revealed before me, and they were not to be the limit of my ambitions.</p>
+
+<p>For the girl who hopes to be an operatic "star" there could be nothing
+better than a good drilling in violin or piano. The girl has no business
+to sing while she is yet a child&mdash;and she is that until she is sixteen
+or over. Better let her work hard getting a good general education and a
+good musical education. The voice will keep, and it will be sweeter and
+fresher if it is not overused in childhood.</p>
+
+<p>Once, with my heart set upon becoming a singer, my father fortunately
+took me to Mrs. Robinson Duff, of Chicago. To her, my mentor to this
+day, I owe much of my vocal success. I was very young and very
+emotional, with a long pigtail down my back. At first the work did not
+enrapture me, for I could not see the use of spending so much time upon
+breathing. Now I realize what it did for me.</p>
+
+<p>What should the girl starting singing avoid? First,<a name="page_179" id="page_179"></a> let her avoid an
+incompetent teacher. There are teachers, for instance, who deliberately
+teach the "stroke of the glottis" (coup de glotte).</p>
+
+<p>What is the stroke of the glottis? The lips of the vocal cords in the
+larynx are pressed together so that the air becomes compressed behind
+them and instead of coming out in a steady, unimpeded stream, it causes
+a kind of explosion. Say the word "up" in the throat very forcibly and
+you will get the right idea.</p>
+
+<p>This is a most pernicious habit. Somehow, it crept into some phases of
+vocal teaching, and has remained. It leads to a constant irritation of
+the throat and ruin to the vocal organs.</p>
+
+<p>When I went to Paris, Mrs. Duff took me to many of the leading vocal
+teachers of the city, and said, "Now, Mary, I want you to use your own
+judgment in picking out a teacher, because if you don't like the teacher
+you will not succeed."</p>
+
+<p>Thus we went around from studio to studio. One asked me to do this&mdash;to
+hum&mdash;to make funny, unnatural noises, anything but sing. Finally,
+Trabadello, now retired to his country home, really asked me to sing in
+a normal, natural way, not as a freak. I said to myself, "This is the
+teacher for me." I could not have had a better one.</p>
+
+<p>Look out for teachers with freak methods&mdash;ten to one they are making you
+one of their experiments. There is nothing that any voice teacher has
+ever found superior to giving simple scales and exercises sung upon the
+syllables Lah (ah, as in harbor), Leh (eh, as<a name="page_180" id="page_180"></a> in they), Lee (ee, as in
+me). With a good teacher to keep watch over the breathing and the
+quality, "what more can one have?"</p>
+
+<p>I have always believed in a great many scales and in a great deal of
+singing florid r�les in Italian. Italian is inimitable for the singer.
+The dulcet, velvet-like character of the language gives something which
+nothing else can impart. It does not make any difference whether you
+purpose singing in French, German, English, Russian or Soudanese, you
+will gain much from exercising in Italian.</p>
+
+<p>Staccato practice is valuable. Here is an exercise which I take nearly
+every day of my life:</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/pm180.png" width="90%" alt="musical notation"
+title="musical notation" />
+</div>
+
+<p>The staccato must be controlled from the diaphragm, however, and this
+comes only after a great deal of work.</p>
+
+<p>Three-quarters of an hour a day practice suffices me. I find it
+injurious to practice too long. But I study for hours. Such a r�le as
+<i>Aphrodite</i> I take quietly and sing it over mentally time and time again
+without making a sound. I study the harmonies, the nuances, the
+phrasing, the breathing, so that when the time for singing it comes I
+know it and do not waste my voice by going over it time and again, as
+some singers do. In the end I find that I know it better for this kind
+of study.<a name="page_181" id="page_181"></a></p>
+
+<p>The study of acting has been a very personal matter with me. I have
+never been through any courses of study, such as that given in dramatic
+schools. This may do for some people, but it would have been impossible
+for me. There must be technic in all forms of art, but it has always
+seemed to me that acting was one of the arts in which the individual
+must make his own technic. I have seen many representatives of the
+schools of acting here and abroad. Sometimes their performances, based
+upon technical studies of the art, result in superb acting. Again, their
+work is altogether indifferent. Technic in acting is more likely to
+suppress than to inspire. If acting is not inspired, it is nothing. I
+study the human emotions that would naturally underlie the scene in
+which I am placed&mdash;then I think what one would be most likely to do
+under such conditions. When the actual time of appearance on the stage
+arrives, I forget all about this and make myself the person of the r�le.</p>
+
+<p>This is the Italian method rather than the French. There are, to my
+mind, no greater actors living than Duse and Zacchona, and they are both
+exponents of the natural method that I employ.</p>
+
+<p>Great acting has always impressed me wonderfully. I went from Paris to
+London repeatedly to see Beerbohm Tree in his best r�les. Sir Herbert
+was not always uniformly fine, but he was a great actor and I learned
+much from watching him. Once I induced Debussy to make the trip to see
+him act. Debussy was delighted.<a name="page_182" id="page_182"></a></p>
+
+<p>Debussy! Ah, what a rare genius&mdash;my greatest friend in Art! Everything
+he wrote we went over together. He was a terribly exacting master. Few
+people in America realize what a transcendent pianist he was. The piano
+seemed to be thinking, feeling, vibrating while he was at the keyboard.
+Time and again we went over his principal works, note for note. Now and
+then he would stop and clasp his hands over his face in sudden silence,
+repeating, "It is all wrong&mdash;it is all wrong." But he was too good a
+teacher to let it go at that. He could tell me exactly what was wrong
+and how to remedy it. When I first sang for him, at the time when they
+were about to produce <i>Pelleas and Melisande</i> at the Opera Comique, I
+thought that I had not pleased him. But I learned later that he had said
+to M. Carr�, the director: "Don't look for anyone else." From that time
+he and his family became my close friends. The fatalistic side of our
+meeting seemed to interest him very much. "To think," he used to say,
+"that you were born in Aberdeen, Scotland, lived in America all those
+years and should come to Paris to create my <i>Melisande</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>As I have said, Debussy was a gorgeous pianist. He could play with the
+greatest delicacy and could play in the leonine fashion of Rubinstein.
+He was familiar with Beethoven, Bach, Handel and the classics, and was
+devoted to them. Wagner he could not abide. He called him a "griffe
+papier"&mdash;a scribbler. He thought that he had no importance in the world
+of<a name="page_183" id="page_183"></a> music, and to mention Wagner to him was like waving a red flag
+before a bull.</p>
+
+<p>It is difficult to account for such an opinion. Wagner, to me, is the
+great tone colorist, the master of orchestral wealth and dramatic
+intensity. Sometimes I have been so Wagner-hungry that I have not known
+what to do. For years I went every year to Munich to see the wonderful
+performances at the Prinzregenten Theater.</p>
+
+<p>In closing let me say that it seems to me a great deal of the failure
+among young singers is that they are too impatient to acquire the "know
+how." They want to blossom out on the first night as great prima donnas,
+without any previous experience. How ridiculous this is! I worked for a
+whole year at the Opera Comique, at $100 a month, singing such a trying
+opera as <i>Louise</i> two and three times a week. When they raised me to
+$175 a month I thought that I was rich, and when $400 a month came, my
+fortune had surely been made! All this time I was gaining precious
+experience. It could not have come to me in any other way. As I have
+said, the natural school&mdash;the natural school, like that of the
+Italians&mdash;stuffed as it is with glorious red blood instead of the white
+bones of technic in the misunderstood sense, was the only possible
+school for me. If our girls would only stop hoping to make a d�but at
+$1,000 a night and get down to real hard work, the results would come
+much quicker and there would be fewer broken hearts.<a name="page_184" id="page_184"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="MME_ALMA_GLUCK" id="MME_ALMA_GLUCK"></a>MME. ALMA GLUCK</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>Mme. Alma Gluck was born at Jassy, Roumania. Her father played the
+violin, but was not a professional musician. At the age of six she was
+brought to America. She was taught the piano and sang naturally, but had
+no idea of becoming a singer. Her vocal training was not begun until she
+was twenty years of age. Her teacher, at that time, was Signor
+Buzzi-Peccia, with whom she remained for three years, going directly
+from his studio to the Metropolitan Opera House of New York. She
+remained there for three years, when the immense success of her concert
+work drew her away from opera. She then studied with Jean de Reszke, and
+later with Mme. Sembrich for four or five years. Since then she has
+appeared in all parts of the United States with unvarying success. Her
+records have been among the most popular of any ever issued. Together
+with her husband, Efrem Zimbalist, the distinguished violinist, she has
+appeared before immense audiences in joint recitals.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 371px;">
+<a href="images/p184a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p184a_sml.jpg" width="371" height="550" alt="Mme. Alma Gluck. � Mishkin."
+title="Mme. Alma Gluck. � Mishkin." /></a>
+<span class="caption">Mme. Alma Gluck.<br /><span class="captionn">� Mishkin.</span></span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_185" id="page_185"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="BUILDING_A_VOCAL_REPERTOIRE" id="BUILDING_A_VOCAL_REPERTOIRE"></a>BUILDING A VOCAL REPERTOIRE</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Alma Gluck</span></h4>
+
+<p>Many seem surprised when I tell them that my vocal training did not
+begin until I was twenty years of age. It seems to me that it is a very
+great mistake for any girl to begin the serious study of singing before
+that age, as the feminine voice, in most instances, is hardly settled
+until then. Vocal study before that time is likely to be injurious,
+though some survive it in the hands of very careful and understanding
+teachers.</p>
+
+<p>The first kind of a repertoire that the student should acquire is a
+repertoire of solfeggios. I am a great believer in the solfeggio. Using
+that for a basis, one is assured of acquiring facility and musical
+accuracy. The experienced listener can tell at once the voice that has
+had such training. Always remember that musicianship carries one much
+further than a good natural voice. The voice, even more than the hands,
+needs a kind of exhaustive technical drill. This is because in this
+training you are really building the instrument itself. In the piano,
+one has the instrument complete before he begins; but in the case of the
+voice, the instrument has to be developed and sometimes <i>made</i> by study.
+When the pupil is practicing, tones grow in volume, richness and
+fluency.</p>
+
+<p>There are exercises by Bordogni, Concone, Vaccai,<a name="page_186" id="page_186"></a> Lamperti, Marchesi,
+Panofka, Panserson and many others with which I am not familiar, which
+are marvelously beneficial when intelligently studied. These I sang on
+the syllable "Ah," and not with the customary syllable names. It has
+been said that the syllables Do, Re, Mi, Fa, etc., aid one in reading.
+To my mind, they are often confusing.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Go to the Classics</span></h4>
+
+<p>After a thorough drilling in solfeggios and technical exercises, I would
+have the student work on the operatic arias of Bellini, Rossini,
+Donizetti, Verdi, and others. These men knew how to write for the human
+voice! Their arias are so vocal that the voice develops under them and
+the student gains vocal assurance. They were written before modern
+philosophy entered into music&mdash;when music was intended for the ear
+rather than for the mind. I cannot lay too much stress on the importance
+of using these arias. They are a tonic for the voice, and bring back the
+elasticity which the more subdued singing of songs taxes.</p>
+
+<p>When one is painting pictures through words, and trying to create
+atmosphere in songs, so much repression is brought into play that the
+voice must have a safety-valve, and that one finds in the bravura arias.
+Here one sings for about fifty bars, "The sky is clouded for me," "I
+have been betrayed," or "Joy abounds"&mdash;the words being simply a vehicle
+for the ever-moving melody.</p>
+
+<p>When hearing an artist like John McCormack sing a<a name="page_187" id="page_187"></a> popular ballad it all
+seems so easy, but in reality songs of that type are the very hardest to
+sing and must have back of them years of hard training or they fall to
+banality. They are far more difficult than the limpid operatic arias,
+and are actually dangerous for the insufficiently trained voice.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Lyric Song Repertoire</span></h4>
+
+<p>Then when the student has her voice under complete control, it is safe
+to take up the lyric repertoire of Mendelssohn, Old English Songs, etc.
+How simple and charming they are! The works of the lighter French
+composers, Hahn, Massenet, Chaminade, Gounod, and others. Then Handel,
+Haydn, Mozart, L�we, Schubert, Schumann and Brahms. Later the student
+will continue with Strauss, Wolf, Reger, Rimsky-Korsakoff, Mousorgsky,
+Borodin and Rachmaninoff. Then the modern French composers, Ravel,
+Debussy, Georges, K�chlin, Hue, Chausson, and others. I leave French for
+the last because it is, in many ways, more difficult for an
+English-speaking person to sing. It is so full of complex and trying
+vowels that it requires the utmost subtlety to overcome these
+difficulties and still retain clarity in diction. For that reason the
+student should have the advice of a native French coach.</p>
+
+<p>When one has traveled this long road, then he is qualified to sing
+English songs and ballads.<a name="page_188" id="page_188"></a></p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">American Songs</span></h4>
+
+<p>In this country we are rich in the quantity of songs rather than in the
+quality. The singer has to go through hundreds of compositions before he
+finds one that really says something. Commercialism overwhelms our
+composers. They approach their work with the question, "Will this go?"
+The spirit in which a work is conceived is that in which it will be
+executed. Inspired by the purse rather than the soul, the mercenary side
+fairly screams in many of the works put out by every-day American
+publishers. This does not mean that a song should be queer or ugly to be
+novel or immortal. It means that the sincerity of the art worker must
+permeate it as naturally as the green leaves break through the dead
+branches in springtime. Of the vast number of new American composers,
+there are hardly more than a dozen who seem to approach their work in
+the proper spirit of artistic reverence.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Art for Art's Sake, a Farce</span></h4>
+
+<p>Nothing annoys me quite so much as the hysterical hypocrites who are
+forever prating about "art for art's sake." What nonsense! The student
+who deceives himself into thinking that he is giving his life like an
+ascetic in the spirit of sacrifice for art is the victim of a deplorable
+species of egotism. Art for art's sake is just as iniquitous an attitude
+in its way as art for money's sake. The real artist has no idea<a name="page_189" id="page_189"></a> that he
+is sacrificing himself for art. He does what he does for one reason and
+one reason only&mdash;he can't help doing it. Just as the bird sings or the
+butterfly soars, because it is his natural characteristic, so the artist
+works.</p>
+
+<p>Time and again a student will send me an urgent appeal to hear her,
+saying she is poor and wants my advice as to whether it is worth while
+to continue her studies. I invariably refuse such requests, saying that
+if the student could give up her work on my advice she had better give
+it up without it. One does not study for a goal. One sings because one
+can't help it! The "goal" nine times out of ten is a mere accident.</p>
+
+<p>Art for art's sake is the mask of studio idlers. The task of acquiring a
+repertoire in these days, when the vocal literature is so immense, is so
+overwhelming, that the student with sense will devote all his energies
+to work, and not imagine himself a martyr to art.<a name="page_190" id="page_190"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="EMILIO_DE_GOGORZA" id="EMILIO_DE_GOGORZA"></a>EMILIO DE GOGORZA</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>Emilio Edoardo de Gogorza was born in Brooklyn, New York, May 29th,
+1874, of Spanish parents. His boyhood was spent in Spain, France and
+England. In the last named country he became a boy soprano and sang with
+much success. Part of his education was received at Oxford. He returned
+to America, where his vocal teachers were C. Moderati and E. Agramonte.
+His d�but was made in 1897 in a concert with Mme. Marcella Sembrich. His
+rich fluent baritone voice made him a great favorite at musical
+festivals in America. He has sung with nearly all of the leading
+American orchestras. The peculiar quality of his voice is especially
+adapted to record making and his records have been immensely popular. He
+married Emma Eames, July 13th, 1911.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 369px;">
+<a href="images/p190a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p190a_sml.jpg" width="369" height="550" alt="Emilio de Gogorza. � Dupont"
+title="Emilio de Gogorza. � Dupont" /></a>
+<span class="caption">Emilio de Gogorza.<br /><span class="captionn">� Dupont</span></span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_191" id="page_191"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="OPPORTUNITIES_FOR_YOUNG_CONCERT_SINGERS" id="OPPORTUNITIES_FOR_YOUNG_CONCERT_SINGERS"></a>OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUNG CONCERT SINGERS</h3>
+
+<h4>EMILIO DE GOGORZA</h4>
+
+<p>There has never been a time or a country presenting more inviting
+opportunities to the concert and the oratorio singer than the America of
+to-day. As a corollary to this statement there is the obvious fact that
+the American public, taken as a whole, is now the most discriminating
+public to be found anywhere in the world. Every concert is adequately
+reviewed by able writers; and singers are continually on their mettle.
+It therefore follows that while there are opportunities for concert and
+oratorio singers, there is no room for the inefficient, the talentless,
+brainless aspirants who imagine that a great vocal career awaits them
+simply because they have a few good tones and a pleasing stage presence.</p>
+
+<p>This is the age of the brain. In singing, the voice is only a detail. It
+is the mentality, the artistic feeling, the skill in interpretation that
+counts. Some of the greatest artists are vocally inferior to singers of
+lesser reputation. Why? Because they read, because they study, because
+they broaden their intellects and extend their culture until their
+appreciation of the beautiful is so comprehensive that every degree of
+human emotion may be effectively portrayed. In a word they<a name="page_192" id="page_192"></a> become
+artists. Take the case of Victor Maurel, for instance. If he were ninety
+years old and had only the shred of a voice but still retained his
+artistic grasp, I would rather hear him than any living singer. I have
+learned more from hearing him sing than from any other singer. Verdi
+chose him to sing in <i>Otello</i> against the advice of several friends,
+saying: "He has more brain than any five singers I know."</p>
+
+<p>Some people imagine that when an artist is embarked upon his
+professional work study ceases. It is a great mistake. No one works
+harder than I do to broaden my culture and interpretative skill. I am
+constantly studying and trust that I may never cease. The greater the
+artist the more incessant the study. It is one of the secrets of large
+success.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Special Study Required for Concert Singing</span></h4>
+
+<p>People imagine that the opera requires a higher kind of vocal
+preparation than the concert or oratorio stage. This is also a great
+misconception. The operatic singers who have been successful as concert
+singers at once admit that concert singing is much more difficult.
+Comparatively few opera singers succeed as concert singers. Why? Because
+in opera the voice needs to be concentrated and more or less uniform. An
+opera house is really two buildings, the auditorium and the stage. The
+stage with its tall scene-loft is frequently as large from the
+standpoint of cubic feet as the auditorium. Sometimes it is larger. To
+fill these two immense buildings the voice must be strong and
+continually<a name="page_193" id="page_193"></a> concentrated, <i>dans le Masque</i>. The delicate little effects
+that the concert singer is obliged to produce would not be heard over
+the footlights. In order to retain interest without the assistance of
+scenery and action the concert singer's interpretative work must be
+marked by an attention to details that the opera singer rarely
+considers. The voice, therefore, requires a different treatment. It must
+be so finely trained that it becomes susceptible to the most delicate
+change of thought in the singer's mind. This demands a really enormous
+amount of work.</p>
+
+<p>The successful concert singer must also have an endurance that enables
+her to undergo strains that the opera singer rarely knows. The grand
+opera singer in the great opera houses of the world rarely sings more
+than two or three times a week. The concert singer is often obliged to
+sing every night for weeks. They must learn how to relax and save the
+voice at all times, otherwise they will lose elasticity and sweetness.</p>
+
+<p>A young woman vocal student, with talent, a good natural voice,
+intelligence, industry, sufficient practice time, a high school
+education, and a knowledge of the rudiments of music, might complete a
+course of study leading to a successful concert d�but in three years.
+More frequently four or five years may be required. With a bungling
+teacher she may spend six or seven. The cost of her instruction, with a
+good teacher in a great metropolis, will be more per year than if she
+went to almost any one of the leading universities admitting women. She
+will have to work harder than if<a name="page_194" id="page_194"></a> she took a regular college course.
+Progress depends upon the individual. One girl will accomplish more in
+two years than another will accomplish in five years. Again, the rate of
+progress depends upon personal development. Sometimes a course of study
+with a good teacher will awaken a latent energy and mental condition
+that will enable the student to make great strides.</p>
+
+<p>My most important work has been done by self-study with the assistance
+and advice of many singers and teachers who have been my friends. No
+pupil who depends entirely upon a teacher will succeed. She must work
+out her own salvation. It is the private thought, incessant effort and
+individual attitude that lead to success.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Study in Your Home Country</span></h4>
+
+<p>I honestly believe that the young vocal student can do far better by
+studying in America than by studying abroad. European residence and
+travel are very desirable, but the study may be done to better advantage
+right here in our own country. Americans want the best and they get it.
+In Europe they have no conception whatever of the extent of musical
+culture in America. It is a continual source of amazement to me. In the
+West and Northwest I find audiences just as intelligent and as
+appreciative as in Boston. There is the greatest imaginable catholicity
+of taste. Just at present the tendency is away from the old German
+classics and is leading to the modern works of French,<a name="page_195" id="page_195"></a> German and
+American composers. Still I find that I can sing a song like Schumann's
+"Widmung" in Western cities that only a few years ago were mere
+collections of frontier huts and shacks, and discover that the genius of
+Schumann is just as potent there as in New York City. I have recently
+been all over Europe, and I have seen no such condition anywhere as that
+I have just described. It is especially gratifying to note in America a
+tremendous demand for the best vocal works of the American composers.</p>
+
+<p>The young concert singer must have a very comprehensive repertoire.
+Every new work properly mastered is an asset. In oratorio she should
+first of all learn those works that are most in demand, like the
+<i>Messiah</i>, the <i>Elijah</i>, the <i>Creation</i> and the <i>Redemption</i>. Then
+attention may be given to the modern works and works more rarely
+performed, like those of Elgar, Perosi and others. After the young
+singer has proven her worth with the public she may expect an income of
+from $10,000.00 to $15,000.00 a year. That is what our first-class
+singers have received for high-class concert work. Some European prima
+donnas like Schumann-Heink and others have commanded much higher
+figures.</p>
+
+<p>You ask me what influence the sound reproducing machines have had upon
+the demand for good vocal music in America. They have unquestionably
+increased the demand very greatly. They have even been known to make
+reputations for singers entirely without any other road to publicity.
+Take the case of<a name="page_196" id="page_196"></a> Madame Michaelowa, a Russian prima donna who has never
+visited America. Thousands of records of her voice have been sold in
+America, and now the demand for her appearance in this country has been
+so great that she has been offered huge sums for an American tour. I
+believe that if used intelligently the sound reproducing machine may
+become a great help to the teacher and student. It is used in many of
+the great opera houses of the world as an aid in determining the
+engagement of new singers who cannot be personally heard. Some of the
+records of my own voice have been so excellent that they seem positively
+uncanny to me when I hear them reproduced.</p>
+
+<p>I have no patent exercises to offer to singing students. There are a
+thousand ways of learning to breathe properly and they all lead to one
+end. Breathing may best be studied when it is made coincident with the
+requirements of singing. I have no fantastic technical studies to offer.
+My daily work simply consists of scales, arpeggios and the simplest kind
+of exercises, the simpler the better. I always make it a point to
+commence practicing very softly, slowly and surely. I never sing notes
+outside my most comfortable range at the start. Taking notes too high or
+too low is an extremely bad plan at first. Many young students make this
+fault. They also sing much too loud. The voice should be exercised for
+some considerable time on soft exercises before loud notes are even
+attempted. It is precisely the same as with physical exercises. The
+athlete who exerts himself to his fullest extent at first<a name="page_197" id="page_197"></a> is working
+toward ultimate exhaustion. I have known students who sang "at the top
+of their lungs" and called it practice. The next day they grew hoarse
+and wondered why the hoarseness came.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Never Sing When Tired</span></h4>
+
+<p>Never sing when out of sorts, tired or when the throat is sore. It is
+all very well to try to throw such a condition off as if it were a state
+of mind. My advice is, DON'T. I have known singers to try to sing off a
+sore throat and secure as a result a loss of voice for several days.</p>
+
+<p>Our American climate is very bad for singers. The dust of our
+manufacturing cities gets in the throat and irritates it badly. The
+noise is very nerve racking, and I have a theory that the electricity in
+the air is injurious.</p>
+
+<p>As I have said, the chances in the concert and operatic field are
+unlimited for those who deserve to be there. Don't be misled. Thousands
+of people are trying to become concert and oratorio singers who have not
+talent, temperament, magnetism, the right kind of intelligence nor the
+true musical feeling. It is pitiful to watch them. They are often
+deluded by teachers who are biased by pecuniary necessity. It is safe to
+say that at the end of a year's good instruction the teacher may safely
+tell what the pupil's chances are. Some teachers are brutally frank.
+Their opinions are worth those of a thousand teachers who consider their
+own interests first. Secure the opinions of as<a name="page_198" id="page_198"></a> many artists as possible
+before you determine upon a professional career. The artist is not
+biased. He does not want you for a pupil and has nothing to gain in
+praising you. If he gives you an unfavorable report, thank him, because
+he is probably thinking of your best interests.</p>
+
+<p>As I have said, progress depends upon the individual. One man can go
+into a steel foundry and learn more in two years than another can in
+five. If you do not become conscious of audible results at the end of
+one or two years' study do some serious thinking. You are either on the
+wrong track or you have not the natural qualifications which lead to
+success on the concert and oratorio stage.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 368px;">
+<a href="images/p198a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p198a_sml.jpg" width="368" height="550" alt="Mme. Frieda Hempel. � Mitzi"
+title="Mme. Frieda Hempel. � Mitzi" /></a>
+<span class="caption">Mme. Frieda Hempel.<br /><span class="captionn">� Mitzi</span></span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_199" id="page_199"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="FRIEDA_HEMPEL" id="FRIEDA_HEMPEL"></a>FRIEDA HEMPEL</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>Frieda Hempel was born at Leipzig, June 26, 1885. She studied piano for
+a considerable time at the Leipzig Conservatory and the Stern
+Conservatory. Later she studied singing with Mme. Nicklass Kempner, to
+whom she is indebted for her entire vocal education up to the time of
+her d�but in opera. Her first appearance was in the <i>Merry Wives of
+Windsor</i>, at the Royal Opera in Berlin. After many very successful
+appearances in leading European Opera Houses she was engaged for the
+Metropolitan Opera House in New York where she immediately became very
+popular in stellar r�les. Her repertoire runs from the <i>Marriage of
+Figaro</i> to <i>Die Meistersinger</i>. Her voice is a clear, pure, sweet
+soprano; and, like Mme. Sembrich and Mme. Galli-Curci, she clearly shows
+the value of her instrumental training in the accuracy, precision and
+clarity of her coloratura work. She has made many successful concert
+tours of the United States. In addition to being a brilliant singer she
+is an excellent actress. She is now an American citizen and the wife of
+an American business man.<a name="page_200" id="page_200"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="THOROUGHNESS_IN_VOCAL_PREPARATION" id="THOROUGHNESS_IN_VOCAL_PREPARATION"></a>THOROUGHNESS IN VOCAL PREPARATION</h3>
+
+<h4>MME. FRIEDA HEMPEL</h4>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Why Some Succeed and Some Fail</span></h4>
+
+<p>In every thousand girls who aspire to Grand Opera probably not more than
+one ever succeeds. This is by no means because of lack of good voices.
+There are great numbers of good voices; although many girls who want to
+be opera singers either deceive themselves or are deceived by others
+(often charlatan teachers) into believing that they have fine natural
+voices when they have not. There is nothing more glorious than a
+beautiful human voice&mdash;a voice strong, resonant, if necessary, but
+velvety and luscious if needs be. There are many girls with really
+beautiful natural voices who have lost their chances in Grand Opera
+largely because they have either not had the personal persistence
+necessary to carry them to the point where their services are in demand
+by the public or they have had the misfortune not to have the right kind
+of a vocal or musical drill master&mdash;a really good teacher.</p>
+
+<p>Teachers in these days waste a fearful amount of time in what they
+consider to be their methods. They tell you to sing in the back, or on
+the side or through the mask or what not, instead of getting right down
+to the real work. My teacher in Berlin, at the Conservatory,<a name="page_201" id="page_201"></a> insisted
+first of all upon having me sing tones and scales&mdash;mostly long sustained
+tones&mdash;for at least one entire year. These were sung very softly, very
+evenly, until I could employ every tone in my voice with sureness and
+certainty. I don't see how it could possibly have been accomplished in
+less time. Try that on the American girl and she will think that she is
+being cheated out of something. Why should she wait a whole year with
+silly tones when she knows that she can sing a great aria with only a
+little more difficulty?</p>
+
+<p>The basis of all fine singing, whether in the opera house or on the
+concert stage, is a good legato. My teacher (Nicklass Kempner) was very
+insistent upon this. In working with such studies as those of Concone,
+Bordogni, L�tgen, Marchesi or Garcia&mdash;the best part of the attention of
+the teacher was given to the simple yet difficult matter of a beautiful
+legato. After one has been through a mass of such material, the matter
+of legato singing becomes more or less automatic. The tendency to slide
+from one tone to another is done away with. The connection between one
+tone and another in good legato is so clean, so free from blurs that
+there is nothing to compare it with. One tone takes the place of another
+just as though one coin or disk were placed directly on top of another
+without any of the edges showing. The change is instantaneous and
+imperceptible. If one were to gradually slide one coin over another coin
+you would have a graphic illustration of what most<a name="page_202" id="page_202"></a> people think is
+legato. The result is that they sound like steam sirens, never quite
+definitely upon any tone of the scale.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">A Good Legato</span></h4>
+
+<p>A good legato can only be acquired after an enormous amount of thorough
+training. The tendency to be careless is human. Habits of carefulness
+come only after much drill. The object of the student and the teacher
+should be to make a singer&mdash;not to acquire a scanty repertoire of a few
+arias. Very few of the operas I now sing were learned in my student
+days. That was not the object of my teacher. The object was to prepare
+me to take up anything from <i>Martha</i> to <i>Rosenkavalier</i> and know how to
+study it myself in the quickest and most thorough manner. Woe be to the
+pupil of the teacher who spends most of the time in teaching songs,
+arias, etc., before the pupil is really ready to study such things.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Good Foundations</span></h4>
+
+<p>Everything is in a good foundation. If you expect a building to last
+only a few weeks you might put up a foundation in a day or so&mdash;but if
+you watch the builders of the great edifices here in American cities you
+will find that more time is often spent upon the foundation than upon
+the building itself. They dig right down to the bed rock and pile on so
+much stone, concrete and steel that even great earthquakes are often
+withstood.<a name="page_203" id="page_203"></a></p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">A Large Repertoire</span></h4>
+
+<p>With such a thorough foundation as I had it has not been difficult to
+acquire a repertoire of some seventy-five operas. That is, by learning
+one at a time and working continually over a number of years the operas
+come easily. In learning a new work I first read the work through as a
+whole several times to get the character well fixed in my mind. Then I
+play the music through several times until I am very familiar with it.
+Then I learn the voice part, never studying it as a voice part by
+itself, but always in relation to the orchestra and the other r�les.
+Finally, I learn the interpretation&mdash;the dramatic presentation. One gets
+so little help from the orchestra in modern works that many rehearsals
+are necessary. In some passages it is just like walking in a dark night.
+Only a true ear and thorough training can serve to keep one on the key
+or anywhere near the key. It is therefore highly necessary that vocal
+students should have a good musical training in addition to the vocal
+training. In most European conservatories the study of piano and harmony
+are compulsory for all vocal students. Not to have had this musical
+training that the study of the piano brings about, not to have had a
+good course in theory or in training for sight-singing (ear training) is
+to leave out important pillars in a thorough musical foundation.<a name="page_204" id="page_204"></a></p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">More Opera for America</span></h4>
+
+<p>It would be a great gratification for all who are interested in opera to
+see more fine opera houses erected in America with more opportunities
+for the people. The performances at the Metropolitan are exceedingly
+fine, but only a comparatively few people can possibly hear them and
+there is little opportunity for the performance of a wide variety of
+operas. The opera singer naturally gets tired of singing a few r�les
+over and over again. The American people should develop a taste for more
+and more different operas. There is such a wonderful field that it
+should not be confined to the performance of a very few works that
+happen to be in fashion. This is not at all the case in Europe&mdash;there
+the repertoires are very much more extensive&mdash;more interesting for the
+public and the artists alike.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Strong Educational Value of Opera</span></h4>
+
+<p>Opera has always seemed to me a very necessary thing in the State. It
+has a strong educational value in that it develops the musical taste of
+the public as well as teaching lessons in history and the humanities in
+a very forceful manner. Children should be taken to opera as a regular
+part of their education. Opera makes a wonderful impression upon the
+child's imagination&mdash;the romance, the color, the music, the action are
+rarely forgotten. Many of the operas are beautiful big fairy stories and
+the little folks glory<a name="page_205" id="page_205"></a> in them. Parents who desire to develop the taste
+of their children and at the same time stimulate their minds along
+broader lines can do no better than to take them to opera. Little towns
+in Europe often have fine opera houses, while many American cities
+several times their size have to put up with moving picture theatre
+houses. Why does not some enthusiastic American leader take up a
+campaign for more opera in America? With the taste of the public
+educated through countless talking machine records, it should not prove
+a bad business venture if it is gone about in a sensible manner.<a name="page_206" id="page_206"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="DAME_NELLIE_MELBA" id="DAME_NELLIE_MELBA"></a>DAME NELLIE MELBA</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>Dame Nellie Melba (stage name for Mrs. Nellie Porter Armstrong, n�e
+Mitchell) is described in Grove's Dictionary as "the first singer of
+British birth to attain such an exalted position upon the lyric stage as
+well as upon the concert platform." Dame Melba was born at Burnley near
+Melbourne, May 19, 1861, of Scotch ancestry. She sang at the Town Hall
+at Richmond when she was six years of age. She studied piano, harmony,
+composition and violin very thoroughly. At one time she was considered
+the finest amateur pianist in Melbourne. She also played the church
+organ in the local church with much success. In 1882 she married Captain
+Charles Armstrong, son of Sir Andrew Armstrong, Baronet (of Kings
+County, Ireland). In 1886 she sang at Queens Hall in London. After
+studying with Mme. Marchesi for twelve months she made her d�but as
+Gilda (<i>Rigoletto</i>) at the Th��tre de la Monnaie in Brussels. Her
+success was instantaneous. Her London d�but was made in <i>Lucia</i> in 1888.
+One year later she made her Parisian d�but in Thomas' <i>Hamlet</i>. In 1894
+she created the r�le of Nedda in <i>I Pagliacci</i>. Petrograd "went wild"
+over her in 1892. In 1892 she repeated her successes and in 1893 she
+began her long series of American triumphs. The fact that her voice,
+like that of Patti, has remained astonishingly fresh and silvery despite
+the enormous amount of singing she has done attests better than anything
+else to the excellence of her method of singing. In the following
+conference she gives the secret of preserving the voice.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 366px;">
+<a href="images/p206a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p206a_sml.jpg" width="366" height="550" alt="Dame Nellie Melba."
+title="Dame Nellie Melba." /></a>
+<span class="caption">Dame Nellie Melba.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_207" id="page_207"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="COMMON_SENSE_IN_TRAINING_AND_PRESERVING_THE_VOICE" id="COMMON_SENSE_IN_TRAINING_AND_PRESERVING_THE_VOICE"></a>COMMON SENSE IN TRAINING AND PRESERVING THE VOICE</h3>
+
+<h4>DAME NELLIE MELBA</h4>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">How Can a Good Voice be Detected?</span></h4>
+
+<p>The young singer's first anxiety is usually to learn whether her voice
+is sufficiently good to make it worth while to go through the enormous
+work of preparing herself for the operatic stage. How is she to
+determine this? Surely not upon the advice of her immediate friends, nor
+upon that of those to whom she would naturally turn for spiritual
+advice, medical advice or legal advice. But this is usually just what
+she does. Because of the honored positions held by her rector, her
+physician, or her family lawyer, their services are all brought to bear
+upon her, and after an examination of her musical ability their
+unskilled opinion is given a weight it obviously does not deserve. The
+only one to judge is a skilled musician, with good artistic taste and
+some experience in voice matters. It is sometimes difficult to approach
+a singing teacher for this advice, as even the most honest could not
+fail to be somewhat influenced where there is a prospect of a pupil. I
+do not mean to malign the thousands of worthy teachers, but such a
+position is a delicate one, and the pupil should avoid consulting with
+any adviser except one who is absolutely disinterested.</p>
+
+<p>In any event the mere possession of a voice that is<a name="page_208" id="page_208"></a> sweet and strong by
+no means indicates that the owner has the additional equipment which the
+singer must possess. Musical intelligence is quite as great an asset as
+the possession of a fine voice. By musical intelligence I mean something
+quite different from general intelligence. People seem to expect that
+the young person who desires to become a fine pianist or a fine
+violinist, or a fine composer, should possess certain musical talents.
+That is, they should experience a certain quickness in grasping musical
+problems and executing them. The singer, however, by some peculiar
+popular ruling seems to be exempted from this. No greater mistake could
+possibly be made. Very few people are musically gifted. When one of
+these people happens to possess a good voice, great industry, a love for
+vocal art, physical strength, patience, good sense, good taste and
+abundant faith in her possibilities, the chances of making a good singer
+are excellent. I lay great stress upon great determination and good
+health. I am often obliged to sing one night, then travel a thousand
+miles to sing the next night. Notwithstanding such journeys, the singer
+is expected to be in prime condition, look nice, and please a veritable
+multitude of comparative strangers all expecting wonderful things from
+her. Do you wonder that I lay stress upon good health?</p>
+
+<p>The youthful training of the singer should be confined quite strictly to
+that of obtaining a good general and musical education. That is, the
+vocal training may be safely postponed until the singer is seventeen<a name="page_209" id="page_209"></a> or
+eighteen years of age. Of course there have been cases of famous singers
+who have sung during their childhood, but they are exceptions to all
+rules. The study of singing demands the direction of an intelligent,
+well-ordered mind. It is by no means wholly a matter of imitation. In
+fact, without some cultivation of the taste, that is, the sense of
+discriminating between what is good and bad, one may imitate with
+disastrous results.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">What Work Should the Girl Under Eighteen Do?</span></h4>
+
+<p>I remember well an incident in my own youth. I once went to a concert
+and heard a much lauded singer render an aria that was in turn
+vociferously applauded by the audience. This singer possessed a most
+wonderful tremolo. Every tone went up and down like the teeth of a saw.
+It was impossible for her to sing a pure even tone without wobbling up
+and down. But the untrained audience, hungry to applaud anything
+musical, had cheered the singer despite the tremolo. Consequently I went
+home and after a few minutes' work I found that it was possible for me
+to produce a very wonderful tremolo. I went proudly to my teacher and
+gave an exhibition of my new acquirement. "Who on earth have you been
+listening to?" exclaimed my teacher. I confessed and was admonished not
+to imitate.</p>
+
+<p>The voice in childhood is a very delicate organ despite the wear and
+tear which children give it by unnecessary howling and screaming. More
+than this,<a name="page_210" id="page_210"></a> the child-mind is so susceptible to impressions and these
+impressions become so firmly fixed that the best vocal training for the
+child should be that of taking the little one to hear great singers. All
+that the juvenile mind hears is not lost, although much will be
+forgotten. However, the better part will be unconsciously stowed away in
+the subconscious mind, to burst forth later in beautiful song through no
+different process than that by which the little birds store away the
+song of the older birds. Dealers in singing birds place them in rooms
+with older and highly developed singing birds to train them. This is not
+exactly a process of imitation, but rather one of subconscious
+assimilation. The bird develops his own song later on, but has the
+advantage of the stored-up impressions of the trained birds.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">A General Musical Training</span></h4>
+
+<p>I have known many singers to fail dismally because they were simply
+singers. The idea that all the singer needs to know is how to produce
+tones resonantly and sweetly, how to run scales, make gestures and smile
+prettily is a perfectly ridiculous one. Success, particularly operatic
+success, depends upon a knowledge of a great many things. The general
+education of the singer should be as well rounded as possible. Nothing
+the singer ever learns in the public schools, or the high schools, is
+ever lost. History and languages are most important. I studied Italian
+and French in my childhood and this knowledge was of immense help to me
+in my later work. When I first went to Paris I had<a name="page_211" id="page_211"></a> to acquire a
+colloquial knowledge of the language, but in all cases I found that the
+drill in French verbs I had gone through virtually saved me years of
+work. The French pronunciation is extremely difficult to acquire and
+some are obliged to reside in France for years before a fluent
+pronunciation can be counted on.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot speak too emphatically upon the necessity for a thorough
+musical education. A smattering is only an aggravation. Fortunately, my
+parents saw to it that I was taught the piano, the organ, the violin and
+thoroughbass. At first it was thought that I would become a professional
+pianist; and many were good enough to declare that I was the finest
+amateur pianist in Melbourne. My Scotch-Presbyterian parents would have
+been horrified if they had had any idea that they were helping me to a
+career that was in any way related to the footlights. Fortunately, my
+splendid father, who is now eighty-five years old, has long since
+recovered from his prejudices and is the proudest of all over my
+achievements. But I can not be too grateful to him for his great
+interest in seeing that my early musical training was comprehensive.
+Aside from giving me a more musicianly insight into my work, it has
+proved an immense convenience. I can play any score through. I learn all
+my operas myself. This enables me to form my own conception, that is, to
+create it, instead of being unconsciously influenced by the tempos and
+expression of some other individual. The times that I have depended upon
+a <i>repititeur</i> have been so few that I can hardly remember them. So
+there,<a name="page_212" id="page_212"></a> little girl, when you get on your mother's long train and sing
+to an imaginary audience of thousands, you will do better to run to the
+keyboard and practice scales or study your �tudes.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The First Vocal Practice</span></h4>
+
+<p>The first vocal practice should be very simple. There should be nothing
+in the way of an exercise that would encourage forcing of any kind. In
+fact the young singer should always avoid doing anything beyond the
+normal. Remember that a sick body means a sick voice. Again, don't
+forget your daily outdoor exercise. Horseback riding, golf and tennis
+are my favorites. An hour's walk on a lovely country road is as good for
+a singer as an hour's practice. I mean that.</p>
+
+<p>In avoiding strain the pupil must above all things learn to sing the
+upper notes without effort or rather strain. While it is desirable that
+a pupil should practice all her notes every day, she should begin with
+the lower notes, then take the middle notes and then the so-called upper
+notes or head notes which are generally described as beginning with the
+F sharp on the top line of the treble staff. This line may be regarded
+as a danger line for singers young and old. It is imperative that when
+the soprano sings her head notes, beginning with F sharp and upward,
+they shall proceed very softly and entirely without strain as they
+ascend. I can not emphasize this too strongly.<a name="page_213" id="page_213"></a></p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Preserving the Voice</span></h4>
+
+<p>Let me give you one of my greatest secrets. Like all secrets, it is
+perfectly simple and entirely rational. <i>Never give the public all you
+have.</i> That is, the singer owes it to herself never to go beyond the
+boundaries of her vocal possibilities. The singer who sings to the
+utmost every time is like the athlete who exhausts himself to the state
+of collapse. This is the only way in which I can account for what the
+critics term "the remarkable preservation" of my own voice. I have been
+singing for years in all parts of the musical world, growing richer in
+musical and human experience and yet my voice to-day feels as fresh and
+as dear as when I was in my teens. I have never strained, I have never
+continued r�les that proved unsuited to me, I have never sung when I
+have not been in good voice.</p>
+
+<p>This leads to another very important point. I have often had students
+ask me how they can determine whether their teachers are giving them the
+kind of method or instruction they should have. I have always replied,
+"If you feel tired after a lesson, if your throat is strained after a
+little singing, if you feel exhausted, your teacher is on the wrong
+track, no matter what he labels his method or how wonderful his
+credentials are."</p>
+
+<p>Isn't that very simple? I have known young girls to go on practicing
+until they couldn't speak. Let them go to a physician and have the
+doctor show them by means of a laryngoscope just how tender and
+delicate<a name="page_214" id="page_214"></a> their vocal organs are. I call them my "little bits of
+cotton"; they seem so frail and so tiny. Do you wonder that I guard them
+carefully? This practice consists of the simplest imaginable
+exercises&mdash;sustained scales, chromatic scales and trills. It is not so
+much <i>what</i> one practices, but <i>how</i> one practices.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Is the Art of Singing Dying Out?</span></h4>
+
+<p>We continually hear critics complain that the art of singing is dying.
+It is easy enough to be a pessimist, and I do not want to class myself
+with the pessimists; but I can safely say that, unless more attention is
+paid to the real art of singing, there must be a decadence in a short
+time. By this I mean that the voice seems to demand a kind of exercise
+leading to flexibility and fluent tone production that is not found in
+the ultra-dramatic music of any of the modern composers. Young singers
+begin with good voices and, after an altogether inadequate term of
+preparation, they essay the works of Strauss and Wagner. In two years
+the first sign of a breakup occurs. Their voices become rough,&mdash;the
+velvet vanishes and note after note "breaks" disagreeably. The music of
+the older Italian composers, from Scarlatti or Carissimi to Donizetti
+and Bellini, despite the absurd libretti of their operas, demanded first
+of all dulcet tones and limpid fluency. The singers who turned their
+noses up at the florid arabesques of old Italy for the more rugged
+pageantry of modern Germany are destined to suffer the consequences. Let
+us have the masterpieces of the heroic<a name="page_215" id="page_215"></a> Teutons, by all means, but let
+them be sung by vocalists trained as vocalists and not merely by actors
+who have only taken a few steps in vocal art.</p>
+
+<p>The main point of all operatic work must be observed if opera is to
+continue successfully. Delibes chose me to sing a performance of his
+<i>Lakm�</i> at Brussels. It was to be my d�but in French. I had not then
+mastered the French pronunciation so that I could sing acceptably at the
+Paris Grand Opera, the scene of my later triumphs. Consequently I was
+permitted to sing in Brussels. There the directors objected to my
+pronunciation, calling it "abominable." Delibes replied, "<i>Qu'elle
+chante en chinois, si elle veut, mais qu'elle chante mon opera</i>" ("Even
+if she sang in Chinese, I would be glad to have her sing my opera").</p>
+
+<p>I am asked what has been my greatest incentive. I can think of nothing
+greater than opposition. The early opposition from my family made me
+more and more determined to prove to them that I would be successful. If
+I heard some singer who sang successfully the r�les I essayed, then I
+would immediately make up my mind to excel that singer. This is a human
+trait I know; but I always profited by it. Never be afraid of
+competition or opposition. The more you overcome, the greater will be
+your ultimate triumph.<a name="page_216" id="page_216"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="MME_BERNICE_DE_PASQUALI" id="MME_BERNICE_DE_PASQUALI"></a>MME. BERNICE DE PASQUALI</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>Mme. Bernice de Pasquali, who succeeded Marcella Sembrich as coloratura
+soprano at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, is not an
+Italian, as her name suggests, but an American. She was born in Boston
+and is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Practically
+all of her musical training was received in New York City where she
+became a pupil of Oscar Saenger. Her successes, however, are not limited
+to America as she has appeared in Mexico, Cuba, South Africa and Europe,
+in many places receiving great ovations. Her voice is a clear, high,
+flexible soprano, equally fine for concert or opera. Her husband, Signor
+Pasquali, made a lifetime study of the principles of the "Bel Canto"
+school of singing, and the following conference is the result of long
+experiment and study in the esthetic, philosophical and physiological
+factors in the most significant of the so-called methods of voice
+training.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 375px;">
+<a href="images/p216a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p216a_sml.jpg" width="375" height="550" alt="Mme. Bernice de Pasquali."
+title="Mme. Bernice de Pasquali." /></a>
+<span class="caption">Mme. Bernice de Pasquali.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_217" id="page_217"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="SECRETS_OF_BEL_CANTO" id="SECRETS_OF_BEL_CANTO"></a>SECRETS OF BEL CANTO</h3>
+
+<h4>MME. BERNICE DE PASQUALI</h4>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Centuries of Experimental Experience</span></h4>
+
+<p>In no land is song so much a part of the daily life of the individual as
+in Italy. The Italian peasant literally wakes up singing and goes to bed
+singing. Naturally a kind of respect, honor and even reverence attaches
+to the art of beautiful voice production in the land of Scarlatti,
+Palestrina and Verdi, that one does not find in other countries. When
+the Italian singing teachers looked for a word to describe their vocal
+methods they very naturally selected the most appropriate, "Bel Canto,"
+which means nothing more or less than "Beautiful Singing."</p>
+
+<p>Probably no words have been more abused in music teaching than "bel
+canto," and probably no words have a more direct meaning or a wider
+significance. What then is "good singing" as the Italians understand it?
+Principally the production of a perfectly controlled and exquisitely
+beautiful tone. Simple as this may seem and simple as it really is, the
+laws underlying the best way of teaching how to secure a beautiful tone
+are the evolution of empirical experiences coming down through the
+centuries.</p>
+
+<p>It is a significant fact that practically all of the great singers in
+Wagner r�les have first been trained<a name="page_218" id="page_218"></a> in what is so loosely termed "bel
+canto" methods. Lilli Lehmann, Schumann-Heink, Nordica and others were
+capable of singing fine coloratura passages before they undertook the
+works of the great master of Beyreuth.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Secret of Conserving the Voice</span></h4>
+
+<p>In the mass of traditions, suggestions and advice which go to make the
+"bel canto" style, probably nothing is so important to American students
+as that which pertains to conserving the voice. Whether our girls are
+inordinately fond of display or whether they are unable to control their
+vocal organs I do not know, but one is continually treated to instances
+of the most ludicrous prodigality of voice. The whole idea of these
+young singers seems to be to make a "hit" by shouting or even
+screeching. There can be no milder terms for the straining of the tones
+so frequently heard. This prodigality has only one result&mdash;loss of
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>The great Rubini once wrote to his friend, the tenor Duprez, "You lost
+your voice because you always sang with your capital. I have kept mine
+because I have used only the interest." This historical epigram ought to
+be hung in all the vocal studios of America. Our American voices are too
+beautiful, too rare to be wasted, practically thrown away by expending
+the capital before it has been able to earn any interest.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, the thing which has the most telling effect upon any audience
+is the beauty of tone quality.<a name="page_219" id="page_219"></a> People will stop at any time to listen
+to the wonderful call of the nightingale. In some parts of Europe it is
+the custom to make parties to go at nights to the woods to hear that
+wonderful singer of the forests. Did you ever hear of any one forming a
+party for the express purpose of listening to the crowing of a rooster?
+One is a treat to the ear, the other is a shock. When our young singers
+learn that people do not attend concerts to have their ears shocked but
+to have them delighted with beautiful sound, they will be nearer the
+right idea in voice culture.</p>
+
+<p>The student's first effort, then, should be to preserve the voice. From
+the very first lesson he must strive to learn how to make the most with
+little.</p>
+
+<p>How is the student to know when he is straining the voice? This is
+simple enough to ascertain. At the very instant that the slightest
+constriction or effort is noticed strain is very likely to be present.
+Much of this depends upon administering exactly the right amount of
+breath to the vocal cords at the moment of singing. Too much breath or
+too little breath is bad. The student finds by patient experiment under
+the direction of the experienced teacher just how much breath to use.
+All sorts of devices are employed to test the breath, but it is probable
+that the best devices of all are those which all singers use as the
+ultimate test, the ear and the feeling of delightful relaxation
+surrounding the vocal organs during the process of singing.<a name="page_220" id="page_220"></a></p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Courage in Singing</span></h4>
+
+<p>Much of the student's early work is marred by fear. He fears to do this
+and he fears to do that, until he feels himself walled in by a set of
+rules that make his singing stilted. From the very start the singer,
+particularly the one who aspires to become an operatic singer, should
+endeavor to discard fear entirely. Think that if you fail in your
+efforts, thousands of singers have failed in a similar manner in their
+student days. Success in singing is at the end of a tall ladder, the
+rungs of which are repeated failures. We climb up over our failures to
+success. Learn to fear nothing, the public least of all. If the singer
+gives the audience the least suspicion that she is in fear of their
+verdict, the audience will detect it at once and the verdict will be
+bad. Also do not fear the criticism of jealous rivals.</p>
+
+<p>Affirm success. Say to yourself, "I will surely succeed if I persevere."
+In this way you will acquire those habits of tranquillity which are so
+essential for the singer to possess.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Reason for the Lack of Well-Trained Voices</span></h4>
+
+<p>There are abundant opportunities just now for finely trained singers. In
+fact there is a real dearth of "well-equipped" voices. Managers are
+scouring the world for singers with ability as well as the natural
+voice. Why does this dearth exist? Simply because the trend of modern
+musical work is far too rapid. Results<a name="page_221" id="page_221"></a> are expected in an impossible
+space of time. The pupil and the maestro work for a few months and, lo
+and behold! a prima donna! Can any one who knows anything about the art
+of singing fail to realize how absurd this is? More voices are ruined by
+this haste than by anything else. It is like expecting the child to do
+the feats of the athlete without the athlete's training. There are
+singers in opera now who have barely passed the, what might be called,
+rudimentary stage.</p>
+
+<p>With the decline of the older operas, singers evidently came to the
+conclusion that it was not necessary to study for the perfection of
+tone-quality, evenness of execution and vocal agility. The modern
+writers did not write such fioratura passages, then why should it be
+necessary for the student to bother himself with years of study upon
+exercises and vocalises designed to prepare him for the operas of
+Bellini, Rossini, Spontini, Donizetti, Scarlatti, Carissimi or other
+masters of the florid school? What a fatuous reasoning. Are we to
+obliterate the lessons of history which indicate that voices trained in
+such a school as that of Patti, Jenny Lind, Sembrich, Lehmann, Malibran,
+Rubini and others, have phenomenal endurance, and are able to retain
+their freshness long after other voices have faded? No, if we would have
+the wonderful vitality and longevity of the voices of the past we must
+employ the methods of the past.<a name="page_222" id="page_222"></a></p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Delicate Nature of the Human Voice</span></h4>
+
+<p>Of all instruments the human voice is by far the most delicate and the
+most fragile. The wonder is that it will stand as much "punishment" as
+is constantly given to it. Some novices seem to treat it with as little
+respect as though it were made out of brass like a tuba or a trombone.
+The voice is subject to physical and psychical influences. Every singer
+knows how acutely all human emotions are reflected in the voice; at the
+same time all physical ailments are immediately active upon the voice of
+the singer.</p>
+
+<p>There is a certain freshness or "edge" which may be worn off the voice
+by ordinary conversation on the day of the concert or the opera. Some
+singers find it necessary to preserve the voice by refraining from all
+unnecessary talking prior to singing. Long-continued practice is also
+very bad. An hour is quite sufficient on the day of the concert. During
+the first years of study, half an hour a day is often enough practice.
+More practice should only be done under special conditions and with the
+direction of a thoroughly competent teacher.</p>
+
+<p>Singing in the open air, when particles of dust are blowing about, is
+particularly bad. The throat seems to become irritated at once. In my
+mind tobacco smoke is also extremely injurious to the voice,
+notwithstanding the fact that some singers apparently resist its effects
+for years. I once suffered severely from the effects of being in a room
+filled with tobacco smoke and<a name="page_223" id="page_223"></a> was unable to sing for at least two
+months. I also think that it is a bad plan to sing immediately after
+eating. The peristaltic action of the stomach during the process of
+digestion is a very pronounced function and anything which might tend to
+disturb it might affect the general health.</p>
+
+<p>The singer must lead an exceedingly regular life, but the exaggerated
+privations and excessive care which some singers take are quite
+unnecessary. The main thing is to determine what is a normal life and
+then to live as close to this as possible. If you find that some article
+of diet disagrees with you, remember to avoid that food; for an upset
+stomach usually results in complete demoralization of the entire vocal
+system.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Some Practice Suggestions</span></h4>
+
+<p>No matter how great the artist, daily practice, if even not more than
+forty minutes a day, is absolutely necessary. There is a deep
+philosophical and physiological principle underlying this and it applies
+particularly to the vocal student. Each minute spent in intelligent
+practice makes the voice better and the task easier. The power to do
+comes with doing. Part of each day's practice should be devoted to
+singing the scale softly and slowly with perfect intonation. Every tone
+should be heard with the greatest possible acuteness. The ears should
+analyze the tone quality with the same scrutiny with which a botanist
+would examine the petals of a newly discovered specimen. As the singer
+does this he will notice that his sense of tone<a name="page_224" id="page_224"></a> color will develop; and
+this is a very vital part of every successful singer's equipment. He
+will become aware of beauties as well as defects in his voice which may
+never have been even suspected if he will only listen "microscopically"
+enough.</p>
+
+<p>Much of the singer's progress depends upon the mental model he keeps
+before him. The singer who constantly hears the best of singing
+naturally progresses faster than one surrounded by inferior singing.
+This does not recommend that the student should imitate blindly but that
+he should hear as much fine singing as possible. Those who have not the
+means to attend concerts and the opera may gain immensely from hearing
+fine records. Little Adelina Patti, playing as a child on the stage of
+the old Academy of Music in New York, was really attending the finest
+kind of a conservatory unawares.</p>
+
+<p>The old Italian teachers and writers upon voice, knowing the florid
+style in which their pupils would be expected to sing, did not have much
+to do with fanciful exercises. They gave their lives to the quest of the
+"bel canto"; and many of them had difficulty in convincing their pupils
+that the simplest exercises were often the hardest. Take for instance
+this invaluable scale exercise sung with the marks of expression
+carefully observed.</p>
+
+<p>This exercise is one of the most difficult to sing properly.
+Nevertheless, some student will rush on to florid exercises before he
+can master this exercise. To sing it right it must be regarded with
+almost devotional reverence. Indeed, it may well be practiced
+diligently<a name="page_225" id="page_225"></a> for years. Every tone is a problem, a problem which must be
+solved in the brain and in the body of the singer and not in the mind of
+any teacher. The student must hold up every tone for comparison with his
+ideal tone. Every note must ring sweet and clear, pure and free. Every
+tone must be even more susceptible to the emotions than the expression
+upon the most mobile face. Every tone must be made the means of
+conveying some human emotion. Some singers practice their exercises in
+such a perfunctory manner that they get as a result voices so stiff and
+hard that they sound as though they came from metallic instruments which
+could only be altered in a factory instead of from throats lined with a
+velvet-like membrane.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<span class="caption">Sing with great attention to intonation.</span><br />
+<img src="images/pm225a.png" width="90%"  alt="musical notation: Sing with great attention to intonation."
+title="musical notation: Sing with great attention to intonation." />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/pm225b.png" width="90%" alt="musical notation"
+title="musical notation" />
+</div>
+
+<p>Flexibility, mobility and susceptibility to expression are quite as
+important as mere sweetness. After the above exercise has been mastered
+the pupil may pass to the chromatic scale (scala semitonata sostenuto);
+and this scale should be sung in the same slow sustained manner as the
+foregoing illustration.<a name="page_226" id="page_226"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="MME_MARCELLA_SEMBRICH" id="MME_MARCELLA_SEMBRICH"></a>MME. MARCELLA SEMBRICH</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>Mme. Marcella Sembrich (Praxede Marcelline Kochanska) was born in
+Wisnewczyk, Galicia, February 15, 1858. Sembrich was her mother's name.
+Her father was a music teacher and she tells with pleasure how she
+watched her father make a little violin for her to practice upon. At the
+age of seven she was taken to Wilhelm Stengel at Lemberg for further
+instruction. Later she went to study with the famous pedagogue, Julius
+Epstein, at Vienna, who was amazed by the child's prodigious talent as a
+pianist and as a violinist. He asked, "Is there anything else she can
+do?" "Yes," replied Stengel, "I think she can sing." Sing she did; and
+Epstein was not long in determining that she should follow the career of
+the singer. Her other teachers were Victor Rokitansky, Richard Lewy and
+G. B. Lamperti and a few months with the elder Francesco Lamperti. Her
+d�but was made in Athens in 1877, in <i>I Puritani</i>. Thereafter she toured
+all of the European art centers with invariable success. Her first
+American appearance was in 1883. She came again in 1898 and for years
+sang with immense success in all parts of America. America has since
+become her home, where she has devoted much time to teaching.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 367px;">
+<a href="images/p226a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p226a_sml.jpg" width="367" height="550" alt="Mme. Marcella Sembrich. � Dupont."
+title="Mme. Marcella Sembrich. � Dupont." /></a>
+<span class="caption">Mme. Marcella Sembrich.<br /><span class="captionn">� Dupont.</span></span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_227" id="page_227"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="HOW_FORTUNES_ARE_WASTED_IN_VOCAL_EDUCATION" id="HOW_FORTUNES_ARE_WASTED_IN_VOCAL_EDUCATION"></a>HOW FORTUNES ARE WASTED IN VOCAL EDUCATION</h3>
+
+<h4>MME. MARCELLA SEMBRICH</h4>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Every One Who Can Should Learn to Sing</span></h4>
+
+<p>Few accomplishments are more delight-giving than that of being able to
+sing. I would most enthusiastically advise anyone possessing a fair
+voice to have it trained by some reliable singing teacher. European
+peoples appreciate the great privilege of being able to sing for their
+own amusement, and the pleasure they get from their singing societies is
+inspiring.</p>
+
+<p>If Americans took more time for the development of accomplishments of
+this kind their journey through life would be far more enjoyable and
+perhaps more profitable. I believe that all should understand the art of
+singing, if only to become amateurs.</p>
+
+<p>That music makes the soul more beautiful I have not the least doubt.
+Because some musicians have led questionable lives does not prove the
+contrary. What might these men have been had they not been under the
+benign influence of music?</p>
+
+<p>One has only to watch people who are under the magic spell of beautiful
+music to understand what a power it has for the good. I believe that
+good vocal music should be a part of all progressive educational work.
+The more music we have, the more beautiful<a name="page_228" id="page_228"></a> this world will be, the more
+kindly people will feel toward each other and the more life will be
+worth living.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Wrong to Encourage Voiceless Aspirants</span></h4>
+
+<p>But when I say that everyone who possesses a voice should learn to sing
+I do not by any means wish to convey the idea that anyone who desires
+may become a great singer. That is a privilege that is given to but a
+very few fortunate people. So many things go together to make a great
+singer that the one who gives advice should be very circumspect in
+encouraging young people to undertake a professional career&mdash;especially
+an operatic career. Giving advice under any conditions is often
+thankless.</p>
+
+<p>I have been appealed to by hundreds of girls who have wanted me to hear
+them sing. I have always told them what seemed to me the truth, but I
+have been so dismayed at the manner in which this has been received that
+I hesitate greatly before hearing aspiring singers.</p>
+
+<p>It is the same way with the teachers. I know that some teachers are
+blamed for taking voiceless pupils, but the pupils are more often to
+blame than the teacher. I have known pupils who have been discouraged by
+several good teachers to persist until they finally found a teacher who
+would take them.</p>
+
+<p>Most teachers are conscientious&mdash;often too conscientious for their
+pocketbooks. If a representative teacher or a prominent singer advises
+you not to attempt<a name="page_229" id="page_229"></a> a public career you should thank him, as he is
+doubtless trying to save you from years of miserable failure. It is a
+very serious matter for the pupil, and one that should be given almost
+sacred consideration by those who have the pupil's welfare at heart.</p>
+
+<p>Wise, indeed, is the young singer who can so estimate her talents that
+she will start along the right path. There are many positions which are
+desirable and laudable which can be ably filled by competent singers. If
+you have limitations which will prevent your ever reaching that
+"will-o'-the-wisp" known as "fame," do not waste money trying to achieve
+what is obviously out of your reach.</p>
+
+<p>If you can fill the position of soloist in a small choir creditably, do
+so and be contented. Don't aspire for operatic heights if you are
+hopelessly shackled by a lack of natural qualifications.</p>
+
+<p>It is a serious error to start vocal instruction too early. I do not
+believe that the girl's musical education should commence earlier than
+at the age of sixteen. It is true that in the cases of some very healthy
+girls no very great damage may be done, but it is a risk I certainly
+would not advise.</p>
+
+<p>Much money and time are wasted upon voice training of girls under the
+age of sixteen. If the girl is destined for a great career she will have
+the comprehension, the grasp, the insight that will lead her to learn
+very rapidly. Some people can take in the whole meaning of a picture at
+a glance; others are obliged to regard the picture for hours to see the
+same points of<a name="page_230" id="page_230"></a> artistic interest. Quick comprehension is a great asset,
+and the girl who is of the right sort will lose nothing by waiting until
+she reaches the above age.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Piano or Violin Study Advisable for all Singers</span></h4>
+
+<p>Ambition, faithfulness to ideals and energy are the only hopes left open
+to the singer who is not gifted with a wonderfully beautiful natural
+voice. It is true that some singers of great intelligence and great
+energy have been able to achieve wide fame with natural voices that
+under other conditions would only attract local notice. These singers
+deserve great credit for their efforts.</p>
+
+<p>While the training of the voice may be deferred to the age of sixteen,
+the early years should by no means be wasted. The general education of
+the child, the fortification of the health and the study of music
+through the medium of some instrument are most important. The young girl
+who commences voice study with the ability to play either the violin or
+the piano has an enormous advantage over the young girl who has had no
+musical training.</p>
+
+<p>I found the piano training of my youth of greatest value, and through
+the study of the violin I learned certain secrets that I later applied
+to respiration and phrasing. Although my voice was naturally flexible, I
+have no doubt that the study of these instruments assisted in intonation
+and execution in a manner that I cannot over-estimate.</p>
+
+<p>A beautiful voice is not so great a gift, unless its<a name="page_231" id="page_231"></a> possessor knows
+how to employ it to advantage. The musical training that one receives
+from the study of an instrument is of greatest value. Consequently, I
+advise parents who hope to make their children singers to give them the
+advantage of a thorough musical training in either violin study or the
+piano. Much wasted money and many blasted ambitions can be spared by
+such a course.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">A Good General Education of Vast Importance</span></h4>
+
+<p>The singer whose general education has been neglected is in a most
+unfortunate plight. And by general education I do not mean only those
+academic studies that people learn in schools. The imagination must be
+stimulated, the heartfelt love for the poetical must be cultivated, and
+above all things the love for nature and mankind must be developed.</p>
+
+<p>I can take the greatest joy in a walk through a great forest. It is an
+education to me to be with nature. Unfortunately, only too many
+Americans go rushing through life neglecting those things which make
+life worth living.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Musical Advance in America</span></h4>
+
+<p>There has been a most marvelous advance in this respect, however, in
+America. Not only in nature love but in art it has been my pleasure to
+watch a wonderful growth. When I first came here in 1883 things were
+entirely different in many respects. Now the great operatic novelties of
+Europe are presented here<a name="page_232" id="page_232"></a> in magnificent style, and often before they
+are heard in many European capitals.</p>
+
+<p>In this respect America to-day ranks with the best in the world. Will
+you not kindly permit me to digress for a moment and say to the music
+lovers of America that I appreciate in the deepest manner the great
+kindnesses that have been shown to me everywhere? For this reason, I
+know that my criticisms, if they may be called such, will be received as
+they are intended.</p>
+
+<p>The singer should make a serious study of languages. French, German,
+English and Italian are the most necessary ones. I include English as I
+am convinced that it is only a matter of a short time when a school of
+opera written by English-speaking composers will arise. The great
+educational and musical advance in America is an indication of this.</p>
+
+<p>As for voice exercises, I have always been of the opinion that it is
+better to leave that matter entirely to the discretion of the teacher.
+There can be no universal voice exercise that will apply to all cases.
+Again, it is more a matter of how the exercise is sung than the exercise
+itself.</p>
+
+<p>The simplest exercise can become valuable in the hands of the great
+teacher. I have no faith in the teachers who make each and every pupil
+go through one and the same set of exercises in the same way. The voice
+teacher is like the physician. He must originate and prescribe certain
+remedies to suit certain cases. Much money is wasted by trying to do
+without a good teacher. If the pupil really has a great<a name="page_233" id="page_233"></a> voice and the
+requisite talent, it is economical to take her to the best teacher
+obtainable.</p>
+
+<p>American women have wonderful voices. Moreover, they have great energy,
+talent and temperament. Their accomplishments in the operatic world are
+matters of present musical history. With such splendid effort and such
+generosity, it is easy to prophesy a great future for musical America.
+This is the land of great accomplishments.</p>
+
+<p>With time Americans will give more attention to the cultivation of
+details in art, they will acquire more repose perhaps, and then the
+tremendous energy which has done so much to make the country what it is
+will be a great factor in establishing a school of music in the new
+world which will rank with the greatest of all times.<a name="page_234" id="page_234"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="MME_ERNESTINE_SCHUMANN-HEINK" id="MME_ERNESTINE_SCHUMANN-HEINK"></a>MME. ERNESTINE SCHUMANN-HEINK</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>Mme. Ernestine Schumann-Heink (n�e Roessler) was born near the city of
+Prague, July 15, 1861. She relates that her father was a Czech and her
+mother was of Italian extraction. She was educated in Ursuline Convent
+and studied singing with Mme. Marietta von Leclair in Graz. Her first
+appearance was at the age of 15, when she is reported to have taken a
+solo part in a performance of the Beethoven Ninth Symphony, at an
+important concert in Graz. Her operatic d�but was made at the Royal
+Opera, Dresden, in <i>Trovatore</i>. There she studied under Krebs and Franz
+W�llner. It is impossible to detail Mme. Schumann-Heink's operatic
+successes here, since her numerous appearances at the leading operatic
+houses of the world have been followed by such triumphs that she is
+admittedly the greatest contralto soloist of her time. At Bayreuth,
+Covent Garden, and at the Metropolitan her appearances have drawn
+multitudes. In concert she proved one of the greatest of all singers of
+art songs. In 1905 she became an American citizen, her enthusiasm for
+this country leading her to name one of her sons George Washington.
+During the great war (in which four of her sons served with the American
+colors) she toured incessantly from camp to camp, giving her services
+for the entertainment of the soldiers and winning countless admirers in
+this way. Her glorious voice extends from D on the third line of the
+bass clef to C on the second leger line above the treble clef.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 371px;">
+<a href="images/p234a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p234a_sml.jpg" width="371" height="550" alt="Mme. Ernestine Schumann-Heink."
+title="Mme. Ernestine Schumann-Heink." /></a>
+<span class="caption">Mme. Ernestine Schumann-Heink.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_235" id="page_235"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="KEEPING_THE_VOICE_IN_PRIME_CONDITION" id="KEEPING_THE_VOICE_IN_PRIME_CONDITION"></a>KEEPING THE VOICE IN PRIME CONDITION</h3>
+
+<h4>MME. ERNESTINE SCHUMANN-HEINK</h4>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Artist's Responsibility</span></h4>
+
+<p>Would you have me give the secret of my success at the very outstart? It
+is very simple and centers around this subject of the artist's
+responsibility to the audience. My secret is absolute devotion to the
+audience. I love my audiences. They are all my friends. I feel a bond
+with them the moment I step before them. Whether I am singing in blas�
+New York or before an audience of farmer folk in some Western
+Chautauqua, my attitude toward my audience is quite the same. I take the
+same care and thought with every audience. This even extends to my
+dress. The singer, who wears an elaborate gown before a Metropolitan
+audience and wears some worn-out old rag of a thing when singing at some
+rural festival, shows that she has not the proper respect in her mind.
+Respect is everything.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore it is necessary for me to have my voice in the best of
+condition every day of the year. It is my duty to my audience. The woman
+who comes to a country Chautauqua and brings her baby with her and
+perchance nurses the little one during the concert gets a great deal
+closer to my heart than the stiff-backed aristocrat who has just left a
+Pekingese spaniel outside of the opera house door in a $6000.00
+limousine. That<a name="page_236" id="page_236"></a> little country woman expects to hear the singer at her
+best. Therefore, I practice just as carefully on the day of the
+Chautauqua concert as I would if I were to sing <i>Ortrud</i> the same night
+at the Metropolitan in New York.</p>
+
+<p>American audiences are becoming more and more discriminating. Likewise
+they are more and more responsive. As an American citizen, I am devoted
+to all the ideals of the new world. They have accepted me in the most
+whole-souled manner and I am grateful to the land of my adoption.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Advantage of an Early Training</span></h4>
+
+<p>Whether or not the voice keeps in prime condition to-day depends largely
+upon the early training of the singer. If that training is a good one, a
+sound one, a sensible one, the voice will, with regular practice, keep
+in good condition for a remarkably long time. The trouble is that the
+average student is too impatient in these days to take time for a
+sufficient training. The voice at the outstart must be trained lightly
+and carefully. There must not be the least strain. I believe that at the
+beginning two lessons a week should be sufficient. The lessons should
+not be longer than one-half an hour and the home practice should not
+exceed at the start fifty minutes a day. Even then the practice should
+be divided into two periods. The young singer should practice <i>mezza
+voce</i>, which simply means nothing more or less than "half voice." Never
+practice with full voice unless singing under the direction of a<a name="page_237" id="page_237"></a>
+well-schooled teacher with years of practical singing experience.</p>
+
+<p>It is easy enough to shout. Some of the singers in modern opera seem to
+employ a kind of megaphone method. They stand stock still on the stage
+and bawl out the phrases as though they were announcing trains in a
+railroad terminal. Such singers disappear in a few years. Their voices
+seem torn to shreds. The reason is that they have not given sufficient
+attention to <i>bel canto</i> in their early training. They seem to forget
+that voice must first of all be beautiful. <i>Bel canto</i>,&mdash;beautiful
+singing,&mdash;not the singing of meaningless Italian phrases, as so many
+insist, but the glorious <i>bel canto</i> which Bach, Haydn and Mozart
+demand,&mdash;a <i>bel canto</i> that cultivates the musical taste, disciplines
+the voice and trains the singer technically to do great things. Please
+understand that I am not disparaging the good and beautiful in Italian
+masterpieces. The musician will know what I mean. The singer can gain
+little, however, from music that intellectually and vocally is better
+suited to a parrot than a human being.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the older singers made <i>bel canto</i> such an art that people came
+to hear them for their voices alone, and not for their intellectual or
+emotional interpretations of a r�le. Perhaps you never heard Patti in
+her prime. Ah! Patti&mdash;the wonderful Adelina with the glorious golden
+voice. It was she who made me ambitious to study breathing until it
+became an art. To hear her as she trippingly left the stage in Verdi's
+<i>Traviata</i> singing runs with ease and finish that other<a name="page_238" id="page_238"></a> singers slur or
+stumble over,&mdash;ah! that was an art!</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/pm238.png" width="90%"  alt="musical notation: Ex. 1
+il mio pen sier, il mio pen-sier___
+il mio pen-sier."
+title="musical notation: Ex. 1
+il mio pen sier, il mio pen-sier___
+il mio pen-sier." />
+</div>
+
+<p>Volumes have been written on breathing and volumes more could be
+written. This is not the place to discuss the singer's great fundamental
+need. Need I say more than that I practice deep breathing every day of
+my life?</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Age for Starting</span></h4>
+
+<p>It is my opinion that no girl who wishes to keep her voice in the prime
+of condition all the time in after years should start to study much
+earlier than seventeen or eighteen years of age. In the case of a man I
+do not believe that he should start until he is past twenty or even
+twenty-two. I know that this is contrary to what many singers think, but
+the period of mutation in both sexes is a much slower process than most
+teachers realize, and I have given this matter a great deal of serious
+thought.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Let Everybody Sing!</span></h4>
+
+<p>Can I digress long enough to say that I think that everybody should
+sing? That is, they should learn to<a name="page_239" id="page_239"></a> sing under a good singing
+instructor. This does not mean that they should look forward toward a
+professional career. God forbid! There are enough half-baked singers in
+the world now who are striving to become professionals. But the public
+should know that singing is the healthiest kind of exercise imaginable.
+When one sings properly one exercises nearly all of the important
+muscles of the torso. The circulation of the blood is improved, the
+digestion bettered, the heart promoted to healthy action&mdash;in fact,
+everything is bettered. Singers as a rule are notoriously healthy and
+often very long lived. The new movement for community singing in the
+open air is a magnificent one. Let everybody sing!</p>
+
+<p>A great singing teacher with a reputation as big as Napoleon's or George
+Washington's is not needed. There are thousands and thousands of unknown
+teachers who are most excellent. Often the advice or the instruction is
+very much the same. What difference does it make whether I buy Castile
+soap in a huge Broadway store or a little country store, if the soap is
+the same? Many people hesitate to study because they can not study with
+a great teacher. Nonsense! Pick out some sensible, well-drilled teacher
+and then use your own good judgment to guide yourself. Remember that
+Schumann-Heink did not study with a world-famed teacher. Whoever hears
+of Marietta von Leclair in these days? Yet I do not think that I could
+have done any more with my voice if I had had every famous teacher from
+Niccolo Antonio Porpora down<a name="page_240" id="page_240"></a> to the present day. The individual singer
+must have ideals, and then leave nothing undone to attain those ideals.
+One of my ideals was to be able to sing pianissimo with the kind of
+resonance that makes it carry up to the farthest gallery. That is one of
+the most difficult things I had to learn, and I attained it only after
+years of faithful practice.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Singer's Daily Routine</span></h4>
+
+<p>To keep the voice in prime condition the singer's first consideration is
+physical and mental health. If the body or the mind is over-taxed
+singing becomes an impossibility. It is amazing what the healthy body
+and the busy mind can really stand. I take but three weeks' vacation
+during the year and find that I am a great deal better for it. Long
+terms of enforced indolence do not mean rest. The real artist is
+happiest when at work, and I want to work. Fortunately I am never at
+loss for opportunity. The ambitious vocal student can benefit as much by
+studying a good book on hygiene or the conservation of the health as
+from a book on the art of singing.</p>
+
+<p>First of all comes diet. Americans as a rule eat far too much. Why do
+some of the good churchgoing people raise such an incessant row about
+over-drinking when they constantly injure themselves quite as much by
+over-eating? What difference does it make whether you ruin your stomach,
+liver or kidneys by too much alcohol or too much roast beef? One vice is
+as bad as another. The singer must live upon a light diet. A<a name="page_241" id="page_241"></a> heavy diet
+is by no means necessary to keep up a robust physique. I am rarely ill,
+am exceedingly strong in every way, and yet eat very little indeed. I
+find that my voice is in the best of condition when I eat very
+moderately. My digestion is a serious matter with me, and I take every
+precaution to see that it is not congested in any way. This is most
+important to the singer. Here is an average m�nu for my days when I am
+on tour:</p>
+
+<p class="c"><i>BREAKFAST<br />
+Two or more glasses of Cold Water<br />
+(not ice water)<br />
+Ham and Eggs<br />
+Coffee<br />
+Toast.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>MID-DAY DINNER<br />
+Soup<br />
+Some Meat Order<br />
+A Vegetable<br />
+Plenty of Salad<br />
+Fruit.</i><br />
+<br />
+<i>SUPPER<br />
+A Sandwich<br />
+Fruit.</i></p>
+
+<p>Such a m�nu I find ample for the heaviest kind of professional work. If
+I eat more, my work may deteriorate, and I know it.</p>
+
+<p>Fresh air, sunshine, sufficient rest and daily baths in tepid water
+night and morning are a part of my regular<a name="page_242" id="page_242"></a> routine. I lay special
+stress upon the baths. Nothing invigorates the singer as much as this.
+Avoid very cold baths, but see to it that you have a good reaction after
+each bath. There is nothing like such a routine as this to avoid colds.
+If you have a cold try the same remedies to try to get rid of it. To me,
+one day at Atlantic City is better for a cold than all the medicine I
+can take. I call Atlantic City my cold doctor. Of course, there are many
+other shore resorts that may be just as helpful, but when I can do so I
+always make a bee line for Atlantic City the moment I feel a serious
+cold on the way.</p>
+
+<p>Sensible singers know now that they must avoid alcohol, even in limited
+quantities, if they desire to be in the prime of condition and keep the
+voice for a long, long time. Champagne particularly is poison to the
+singer just before singing. It seems to irritate the throat and make
+good vocal work impossible. I am sorry for the singer who feels that
+some spur like champagne or a cup of strong coffee is desirable before
+going upon the stage.</p>
+
+<p>It amuses me to hear girls say, "I would give anything to be a great
+singer"; and then go and lace themselves until they look like Jersey
+mosquitoes. The breath is the motive power of the voice. Without it
+under intelligent control nothing can be accomplished. One might as well
+try to run an automobile without gasoline as sing without breath. How
+can a girl breathe when she has squeezed her lungs to one-half their
+normal size?<a name="page_243" id="page_243"></a></p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Preparation for Heavy R�les</span></h4>
+
+<p>The voice can never be kept in prime condition if it is obliged to carry
+a load that it has not been prepared to carry. Most voices that wear out
+are voices that have been overburdened. Either the singer does not know
+how to sing or the r�le is too heavy. I think that I may be forgiven for
+pointing out that I have repeatedly sung the heaviest and most exacting
+r�les in opera. My voice would have been shattered years ago if I had
+not prepared myself for these r�les and sung them properly. A man may be
+able to carry a load of fifty pounds for miles if he carries it on his
+back, but he will not be able to carry it a quarter of a mile if he
+holds it out at arm's length from the body, with one arm. Does this not
+make the point clear?</p>
+
+<p>Some r�les demand maturity. It is suicidal for the young singer to
+attempt them. The composer and the conductor naturally think only of the
+effect at the performance. The singer's welfare with them is a secondary
+consideration. I have sung under the great composers and conductors,
+from Richard Wagner to Richard Strauss. Some of the Strauss r�les are
+even more strenuous than those of Wagner. They call for great energy as
+well as great vocal ability. Young singers essay these heavy r�les and
+the voices go to pieces. Why not wait a little while? Why not be
+patient?</p>
+
+<p>The singer is haunted by the delusion that success can only come to her
+if she sings great r�les. If she<a name="page_244" id="page_244"></a> can not ape Melba in <i>Traviata</i>, Emma
+Eames as Elizabeth in <i>Tannh�user</i> or Geraldine Farrar in <i>Butterfly</i>,
+she pouts and refuses to do anything. Offer her a small part and she
+sneers at it. Ha! Ha! All my earliest successes were made in the
+smallest kinds of parts. I realized that I had only a little to do and
+only very little time to do it in. Consequently, I gave myself heart and
+soul to that part. It must be done so artistically, so intelligently, so
+beautifully that it would command success. Imagine the r�les of Erda and
+Norna, and Marie in <i>Flying Dutchman</i>. They are so small that they can
+hardly be seen. Yet these r�les were my first door to success and fame.
+Wagner did not think of them as little things. He was a real master and
+knew that in every art-work a small part is just as important as a great
+part. It is a part of a beautiful whole. Don't turn up your nose at
+little things. Take every opportunity, and treat it as though it were
+the greatest thing in your life. It pays.</p>
+
+<p>Everything that amounts to anything in my entire career has come through
+struggle. At first a horrible struggle with poverty. No girl student in
+a hall bedroom to-day (and my heart goes out to them now) endures more
+than I went through. It was work, work, work, from morning to night,
+with domestic cares and worries enough all the time to drive a woman
+mad. Keep up your spirits, girls. If you have the right kind of fight in
+you, success will surely come. Never think of discouragement, no matter
+what happens. Keep working every day and always hoping. It will come<a name="page_245" id="page_245"></a>
+out all right if you have the gift and the perseverance. Compulsion is
+the greatest element in the vocalist's success. Poverty has a knout in
+its hand driving you on. Well, let it,&mdash;and remember that under that
+knout you will travel twice as fast as the rich girl possibly can with
+her fifty-horse-power automobile. Keep true to the best. <i>Muss</i>&mdash;"I
+MUST," "I will," the mere necessity is a help not a hindrance, if you
+have the right stuff in you. Learn to depend upon yourself, and know
+that when you have something that the public wants it will not be slow
+in running after you. Don't ask for help. I never had any help. Tell
+that to the aspiring geese who think that I have some magic power
+whereby I can help a mediocre singer to success by the mere twist of the
+hand.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Daily Exercises of a Prima Donna</span></h4>
+
+<p>Daily vocal exercises are the daily bread of the singer. They should be
+practiced just as regularly as one sits down to the table to eat, or as
+one washes one's teeth or as one bathes. As a rule the average
+professional singer does not resort to complicated exercises and great
+care is taken to avoid strain. It is perfectly easy for me, a contralto,
+to sing C in alt</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/pm245.png" width="23%" alt="musical notation"
+title="musical notation" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="nind">but do you suppose I sing it in my daily exercises? It
+is one of the extreme notes in my range and it<a name="page_246" id="page_246"></a> might be a strain.
+Consequently I avoid it. I also sing most of my exercises <i>mezza voce</i>.</p>
+
+<p>There should always be periods of intermission between practice. I often
+go about my routine work while on tour, walking up and down the room,
+packing my trunk, etc., and practicing gently at the same time. I enjoy
+it and it makes my work lighter.</p>
+
+<p>Of course I take great pains to practice carefully. My exercises are for
+the most part simple scales, arpeggios or trills. For instance, I will
+start with the following:</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/pm246a.png" width="90%" alt="musical notation"
+title="musical notation" />
+</div>
+
+<p>This I sing in middle voice and very softly. Thereby I do not become
+tired and I don't bother the neighborhood. If I sang this in the big,
+full lower tones and sang loud, my voice would be fatigued rather than
+benefited and the neighbors would hate me. This I continue up to <i>D</i> or
+<i>E</i> flat.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/pm246b.png" width="30%" alt="musical notation"
+title="musical notation" />
+</div>
+
+<p>Above this I invariably use what is termed the head tone. Female singers
+should always begin the head tone on this degree of the staff and not on
+<i>F</i> and <i>F&#9839;</i>, as is sometimes recommended.</p>
+
+<p>I always use the Italian vowel <i>ah</i> in my exercises. It seems best to
+me. I know that <i>oo</i> and <i>ue</i> are recommended<a name="page_247" id="page_247"></a> for contraltos, but I
+have long had the firm conviction that one should first perfect the
+natural vocal color through securing good tones by means of the most
+open vowel. After this is done the voice may be further colored by the
+judicious employment of other vowels. Sopranos, for instance, can help
+their head tones by singing <i>ee</i> (Italian <i>i</i>).</p>
+
+<p>I know nothing better for acquiring a flexible tone than to sing trills
+like the following:</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/pm247.png" width="90%" alt="musical notation"
+title="musical notation" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="nind">and at the same time preserve a gentle, smiling expression. Smile
+naturally, as though you were genuinely amused at something,&mdash;smile
+until your upper teeth are uncovered. Then, try these exercises with the
+vowel <i>ah</i>. Don't be afraid of getting a trivial, colorless tone. It is
+easy enough to make the tone sombre by willing it so, when the occasion
+demands. You will be amazed what this smiling, genial, <i>liebensw�rdig</i>
+expression will do to relieve stiffness and help you in placing your
+voice right. The old Italians knew about it and advocated it strongly.
+There is nothing like it to keep the voice youthful, fresh and in the
+prime of condition.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Singer Must Relax</span></h4>
+
+<p>Probably more voices are ruined by strain than through any other cause.
+The singer must relax all<a name="page_248" id="page_248"></a> the time. This does not mean flabbiness. It
+does not mean that the singer should collapse before singing. Relaxation
+in the singer's sense is a delicious condition of buoyancy, of
+lightness, of freedom, of ease and entire lack of tightening in any
+part. When I relax I feel as though every atom in my body were floating
+in space. There is not one single little nerve on tension. The singer
+must be particularly careful when approaching a climax in a great work
+of art. Then the tendency to tighten up is at its greatest. This must be
+anticipated.</p>
+
+<p>Take such a case as the following passage from the famous aria from
+Saint-Sa�ns' <i>Samson et Delila</i>, "<i>Mon coeur s'ouvre � ta voix</i>." The
+climax is obviously on the words "Ah!&mdash;verse moi." The climax is the
+note marked by a star (<i>f</i> on the top line).</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/pm248.png" width="90%" alt="musical notation:
+Reponds a ma ten-dres-se, Re-ponds a ma ten-dress-s!
+Ah!&mdash;ver-se-moi&mdash;ver-se-moi.. l-i-vres-se!"
+title="musical notation:
+Reponds a ma ten-dres-se, Re-ponds a ma ten-dress-s!
+Ah!&mdash;ver-se-moi&mdash;ver-se-moi.. l-i-vres-se!" />
+</div>
+
+<p>When I am singing the last notes of the previous<a name="page_249" id="page_249"></a> phrase to the word
+"tendresse," anyone who has observed me closely will notice that I
+instinctively let my shoulders drop,&mdash;that the facial muscles become
+relaxed as when one is about to smile or about to yawn. I am then
+relaxing to meet the great melodic climax and meet it in such a manner
+that I will have abundant reserve force after it has been sung. When one
+has to sing before an audience of five or six thousand people such a
+climax is immensely important and it requires great balance to meet it
+and triumph in it.<a name="page_250" id="page_250"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="ANTONIO_SCOTTI" id="ANTONIO_SCOTTI"></a>ANTONIO SCOTTI</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>Antonio Scotti was born at Naples, Jan. 25, 1866, and did much of his
+vocal study there with Mme. Trifari Paganini. His d�but was made at the
+Teatro Reale, in the Island of Malta, in 1889. The opera was <i>Martha</i>.
+After touring the Italian opera houses he spent seven seasons in South
+America at a time when the interest in grand opera on that continent was
+developing tremendously. He then toured Spain and Russia with great
+success and made his d�but at Covent Garden, London, in 1899. His
+success was so great that he was immediately engaged for the
+Metropolitan in New York, where he has sung every season since that
+time. His most successful r�les have been in <i>La Tosca</i>, <i>La Boh�me</i>, <i>I
+Pagliacci</i>, <i>Carmen</i>, <i>Falstaff</i>, <i>L'Oracolo</i> and <i>Otello</i>. His voice is
+a rich and powerful baritone. He is considered one of the finest actors
+among the grand opera singers. During recent years he has toured with an
+opera company of his own, making many successful appearances in some of
+the smaller as well as the larger American cities.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 378px;">
+<a href="images/p250a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p250a_sml.jpg" width="378" height="550" alt="Portrait of Antonio Scotti in the Costume of His Most Famous R�le, Scarpia, in &quot;La Tosca,&quot; by Puccini."
+title="Portrait of Antonio Scotti in the Costume of His Most Famous R�le, Scarpia, in &quot;La Tosca,&quot; by Puccini." /></a>
+<span class="caption">Portrait of Antonio Scotti in the Costume of His Most<br />
+Famous R�le, Scarpia, in &quot;La Tosca,&quot; by Puccini.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_251" id="page_251"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="ITALIAN_OPERA_IN_AMERICA" id="ITALIAN_OPERA_IN_AMERICA"></a>ITALIAN OPERA IN AMERICA</h3>
+
+<h4>ANTONIO SCOTTI</h4>
+
+<p>So closely identified is Italy with all that pertains to opera, that the
+question of the future of Italian opera in America is one that interests
+me immensely. It has been my privilege to devote a number of the best
+years of my life to singing in Italian opera in this wonderful country,
+and one cannot help noticing, first of all, the almost indescribable
+advance that America has made along all lines. It is so marvelous that
+those who reside continually in this country do not stop to consider it.
+Musicians of Europe who have never visited America can form no
+conception of it, and when they once have had an opportunity to observe
+musical conditions in America, the great opera houses, the music
+schools, the theatres and the bustling, hustling activity, together with
+the extraordinary casts of world-famous operatic stars presented in our
+leading cities, they are amazed in the extreme.</p>
+
+<p>It is very gratifying for me to realize that the operatic compositions
+of my countrymen must play a very important part in the operatic future
+of America. It has always seemed to me that there is far more variety in
+the works of the modern Italian composers than in those of other
+nations. Almost all of the later German operas bear the unmistakable
+stamp of Wagner. Those<a name="page_252" id="page_252"></a> which do not, show decided Italian influences.
+The operas of Mozart are largely founded on Italian models, although
+they show a marvelous genius peculiar to the great master who created
+them.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Operatic Tendencies</span></h4>
+
+<p>The Italian opera of the future will without doubt follow the lead of
+Verdi, that is, the later works of Verdi. To me <i>Falstaff</i> seems the
+most remarkable of all Italian operas. The public is not well enough
+acquainted with this work to demand it with the same force that they
+demand some of the more popular works of Verdi. Verdi was always
+melodious. His compositions are a beautiful lace-work of melodies. It
+has seemed to me that some of the Italian operatic composers who have
+been strongly influenced by Wagner have made the mistake of supposing
+that Wagner was not a master of melody. Consequently they have
+sacrificed their Italian birthright of melody for all kinds of
+cacophony. Wagner was really wonderfully melodious. Some of his melodies
+are among the most beautiful ever conceived. I do not refer only to the
+melodies such as "Oh, Thou Sublime Evening Star" of <i>Tannh�user</i> or the
+"Bridal March" of <i>Lohengrin</i>, but also to the inexhaustible fund of
+melodies that one may find in most every one of his astonishing works.
+True, these melodies are different in type from most melodies of Italian
+origin, but they are none the less melodies, and beautiful ones. Verdi's
+later operas contain such melodies and he is the model which the<a name="page_253" id="page_253"></a> young
+composers of Italy will doubtless follow. Puccini, Mascagni,
+Leoncavallo, and others, have written works rich in melody and yet not
+wanting in dramatic charm, orchestral accompaniment and musicianly
+treatment.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Opera the Natural Genius of Italy's Composers</span></h4>
+
+<p>When the Italian student leaves the conservatory, in ninety-nine cases
+out of a hundred his ambitions are solely along the line of operatic
+composition. This seems his natural bent or mould. Of course he has
+written small fugues and perhaps even symphonies, but in the majority of
+instances these have been mere academic exercises. I regret that this is
+the case, and heartily wish that we had more Bossis, Martuccis and
+Sgambattis, but, again, would it not be a great mistake to try to make a
+symphonist out of an operatic composer? In the case of Perosi I often
+regret that he is a priest and therefore cannot write for the theatre,
+because I earnestly believe that notwithstanding his success as a
+composer of religious music, his natural bent is for the theatre or the
+opera.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Composers of To-day</span></h4>
+
+<p>Of the great Italian opera composers of to-day, I feel that Puccini is,
+perhaps, the greatest because he has a deeper and more intimate
+appreciation of theatrical values. Every note that Puccini writes smells
+of the paint and canvas behind the proscenium arch. He seems to know
+just what kind of music will go best<a name="page_254" id="page_254"></a> with a certain series of words in
+order to bring out the dramatic meaning. This is in no sense a
+depreciation of the fine things that Mascagni, Leoncavallo and others
+have done. It is simply my personal estimate of Puccini's worth as an
+operatic composer. Personally, I like <i>Madama Butterfly</i> better than any
+other Italian opera written in recent years. Aside from <i>Falstaff</i>, my
+own best r�le is probably in <i>La Tosca</i>. The two most popular Italian
+operas of to-day are without doubt <i>A�da</i> and <i>Madama Butterfly</i>. That
+is, these operas draw the greatest audiences at present. It is
+gratifying to note a very much unified and catholic taste throughout the
+entire country. That is to say, in Chicago, San Francisco, Boston and
+Philadelphia one finds the public taste very similar. This indicates
+that the great musical advance in recent years in America has not been
+confined to one or two eastern cities.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Influence of the Star System</span></h4>
+
+<p>It is often regretable that the reputation of the singer draws bigger
+audiences in America than the work to be performed. American people go
+to hear some particular singer and not to hear the work of the composer.
+In other countries this is not so invariably the rule. It is a condition
+that may be overcome in time in America. It often happens that
+remarkably good performances are missed by the public who are only drawn
+to the opera house when some great operatic celebrity sings.</p>
+
+<p>The intrinsic beauties of the opera itself should have<a name="page_255" id="page_255"></a> much to do with
+controlling its presentation. In all cases at present the Italian opera
+seems in preponderance, but this cannot be said to be a result of the
+engagement of casts composed exclusively of Italian singers. In our
+American opera houses many singers of many different nationalities are
+engaged in singing in Italian opera. Personally, I am opposed to operas
+being sung in any tongue but that in which the opera was originally
+written. If I am not mistaken, the Covent Garden Opera House and the
+Metropolitan Opera House are the only two opera houses in the world
+where this system is followed. No one can realize what I mean until he
+has heard a Wagner opera presented in French, a tongue that seems
+absolutely unfitted for the music of Wagner.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Possible Influence of Strauss and Debussy</span></h4>
+
+<p>I do not feel that either Strauss or Debussy will have an influence upon
+the music of the coming Italian composers similar to that which the
+music of Wagner had upon Verdi and his followers. Personally, I admire
+them very much, but they seem unvocal, and Italy is nothing if not
+vocal. To me <i>Pelleas and Melisande</i> would be quite as interesting if it
+were acted in pantomime with the orchestral accompaniment. The voice
+parts, to my way of thinking, could almost be dispensed with. The piece
+is a beautiful dream, and the story so evident that it could almost be
+played as an "opera without words." But vocal it certainly is not, and
+the opportunities of the singer are decidedly limited.<a name="page_256" id="page_256"></a> Strauss, also,
+does not even treat the voice with the scant consideration bestowed upon
+it in some of the extreme passages of the Wagner operas. Occasionally
+the singer has an opportunity, but it cannot be denied that to the actor
+and the orchestra falls the lion's share of the work.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Operatic Centers in Italy</span></h4>
+
+<p>Americans seem to think that the only really great operatic center of
+Italy is Milan. This is doubtless due to the celebrity of the famous
+opera house, La Scala, and to the fact that the great publishing house
+of Ricordi is located there, but it is by no means indicative of the
+true condition. The fact is that the appreciation of opera is often
+greater outside of Milan than in the city. In Naples, Rome and Florence
+opera is given on a grand scale, and many other Italian cities possess
+fine theaters and fine operatic companies. The San Carlos Company, at
+Naples, is usually exceptionally good, and the opera house itself is a
+most excellent one. The greatest musical industry centers around Milan
+owing, as we have said, to the publishing interests in that city. If an
+Italian composer wants to produce one of his works he usually makes
+arrangements with his publisher. This, of course, brings him at once to
+Milan in most cases.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">More New Operas Should be Produced</span></h4>
+
+<p>It is, of course, difficult to gain an audience for a new work, but this
+is largely the fault of the public.<a name="page_257" id="page_257"></a> The managers are usually willing
+and glad to bring out novelties if the public can be found to appreciate
+them. <i>Madama Butterfly</i> is a novelty, but it leaped into immediate and
+enormous appreciation. Would that we could find a number like it!
+<i>Madama Butterfly's</i> success has been largely due to the fact that the
+work bears the direct evidences of inspiration. I was with Puccini in
+London when he saw for the first time John Luther Long's story,
+dramatized by a Belasco, produced in the form of a one-act play. He had
+a number of librettos under consideration at that time, but he cast them
+all aside at once. I never knew Puccini to be more excited. The story of
+the little Japanese piece was on his mind all the time. He could not
+seem to get away from it. It was in this white heat of inspiration that
+the piece was moulded. Operas do not come out of the "nowhere." They are
+born of the artistic enthusiasm and intellectual exuberance of the
+trained composer.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">America's Musical Future</span></h4>
+
+<p>One of the marvelous conditions of music in this country is that the
+opera, the concert, the oratorio and the recital all seem to meet with
+equal appreciation. The fact that most students of music in this land
+play the piano has opened the avenues leading to an appreciation of
+orchestral scores. In the case of opera the condition was quite
+different. The appreciation of operatic music demands the voice of the
+trained artist and this could not be brought to the home until the<a name="page_258" id="page_258"></a>
+sound reproducing machine had been perfected. The great increase in the
+interest in opera in recent years is doubtless due to the fact that
+thousands and thousands of those instruments are in use in as many homes
+and music studios. It is far past the "toy" stage, and is a genuine
+factor in the art development and musical education of America. At first
+the sound reproducing machine met with tremendous opposition owing to
+the fact that bad instruments and poorer records had prejudiced the
+public, but now they have reached a condition whereby the voice is
+reflected with astonishing veracity. The improvements I have observed
+during the past years have seemed altogether wonderful to me. The
+thought that half a century hence the voices of our great singers of
+to-day may be heard in the homes of all countries of the globe gives a
+sense of satisfaction to the singer, since it gives a permanence to his
+art which was inconceivable twenty-five years ago.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 376px;">
+<a href="images/p258a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p258a_sml.jpg" width="376" height="550" alt="Henri Scott."
+title="Henri Scott." /></a>
+<span class="caption">Henri Scott.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_259" id="page_259"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="HENRI_SCOTT" id="HENRI_SCOTT"></a>HENRI SCOTT</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>Henri Scott was born at Coatesville, Pa., April 8, 1876. He was intended
+for a business career but became interested in music, at first in an
+amateur way, in Philadelphia. Encouraged by local successes he went to
+study voice with Oscar Saenger, remaining with him for upward of eleven
+years. He was fortunate in making appearances with the "Philadelphia
+Operatic Society," a remarkable amateur organization giving performances
+of grand opera on a large scale. With this organization he made his
+first stage appearances as Ramphis in <i>A�da</i>, in 1897. He had his
+passage booked for Europe, where he was assured many fine appearances,
+when he accidentally met Oscar Hammerstein, who engaged him for five
+years. Under this manager he made his professional d�but as Ramphis at
+the Manhattan Opera House in New York, in 1909. Hammerstein, a year
+thereafter, terminated his New York performances by selling out to the
+Metropolitan Opera Company. Mr. Scott then went to Rome, where he made
+his first appearance in <i>Faust</i>, with great success. He was immediately
+engaged for the Chicago Opera Company where, during three years, he sang
+some thirty-five different r�les. In 1911 he was engaged as a leading
+basso by the Metropolitan, where he remained for many seasons. He has
+sung on tour with the Thomas Orchestra, with Caruso and at many famous
+festivals. He has appeared with success in over one hundred cities in
+the United States and Canada. In response to many offers he went into
+vaudeville, where he has sung to hundreds of thousands of Americans,
+with immense success. Mr. Scott is therefore in a position to speak of
+this new and interesting phase of bringing musical masterpieces to "the
+masses."<a name="page_260" id="page_260"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="THE_SINGERS_LARGER_MUSICAL_PUBLIC" id="THE_SINGERS_LARGER_MUSICAL_PUBLIC"></a>THE SINGER'S LARGER MUSICAL PUBLIC</h3>
+
+<h4>HENRI SCOTT</h4>
+
+<p>Like every American, I resent the epithet, "the masses," because I have
+always considered myself a part of that mysterious unbounded
+organization of people to which all democratic Americans feel that they
+belong. One who is not a member of the masses in America is perforce a
+"snob" and a "prig." Possibly one of the reasons why our republic has
+survived so many years is that all true Americans are aristocratic, not
+in the attitude of "I am as good as everyone," but yet human enough to
+feel deep in their hearts, "Any good citizen is as good as I."</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Why Grand Opera is Expensive</span></h4>
+
+<p>Music in America should be the property of everybody. The talking
+machines come near making it that, if one may judge from the sounds that
+come from half the homes at night. But the people want to hear the best
+music from living performers "in the flesh." At the same time,
+comparatively, very few can pay from two to twenty dollars a seat to
+hear great opera and great singers. The reason why grand opera costs so
+much is that the really fine voices, with trained operatic experience,
+are very, very few; and, since only a few performances are given a year,
+the price must be high. It is simply the law of supply and demand.<a name="page_261" id="page_261"></a></p>
+
+<p>There are, in America, two large grand opera companies and half a dozen
+traveling ones, some of them very excellent. There are probably twenty
+large symphony orchestras and at least one hundred oratorio societies of
+size. To say that these bodies and others purveying good music, reach
+more than five million auditors a year would possibly be a generous
+figure. But five million is not one-twentieth of the population of
+America. What about the nineteen-twentieths?</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, there are in America between two and three thousand
+good vaudeville and moving picture houses where the best music in some
+form is heard not once or twice a week for a short season, but several
+times each day. Some of the moving picture houses have orchestras of
+thirty-five to eighty men, selected from musicians of the finest
+ability, many of whom have played in some of the greatest orchestras of
+the world. These orchestras and the talking machines are doing more to
+bring good music to the public than all the larger organizations, if we
+consider the subject from a standpoint of numbers.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">A Revolution in Taste</span></h4>
+
+<p>The whole character of the entertainments in moving picture and
+vaudeville theaters has been revolutionized. The buildings are veritable
+temples of art. The class of the entertainment is constantly improving
+in response to a demand which the business instincts of the managers
+cannot fail to recognize. The situation is simply this: The American
+people, with their wonderful<a name="page_262" id="page_262"></a> thirst for self-betterment, which has
+brought about the prodigious success of the educational papers, the
+schools and the Chautauquas, like to have the beautiful things in art
+served to them with inspiriting amusement. We, as a people, have been
+becoming more and more refined in our tastes. We want better and better
+things, not merely in music, but in everything. In my boyhood there were
+thousands of families in fair circumstances who would endure having the
+most awful chromos upon their walls. These have for the most part
+entirely disappeared except in the homes of the newest aliens. It is
+true that much of our music is pretty raw in the popular field; but even
+in this it is getting better slowly and surely.</p>
+
+<p>If in recent years there has been a revolution in the popular taste for
+vaudeville, B. F. Keith was the "Washington" of that revolution. He
+understood the human demand for clean entertainment, with plenty of
+healthy fun and an artistic background. He knew the public call for the
+best music and instilled his convictions in his able followers. Mr.
+Keith's attitude was responsible for the signs which one formerly saw in
+the dressing rooms of good vaudeville theaters, which read:</p>
+
+<div class="siggn"><p>Profanity of any kind, objectionable or suggestive
+remarks, are forbidden in this theater.
+Offenders are liable to have the curtain rung
+down upon them during such an act.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_263" id="page_263"></a></p>
+
+<p>Fortunately these signs have now disappeared, as the actors have been so
+disciplined that they know that a coarse remark would injure them with
+the management.</p>
+
+<p>Vaudeville is on a far higher basis than much so-called comic opera.
+Some acts are paid exceedingly large sums. Sarah Bernhardt received
+$7000.00 a week; Calve, Bispham, Kocian, Carolina White and Marguerite
+Sylvia, accordingly.</p>
+
+<p>Dorothy Jordan, Bessie Abbott, Rosa Ponselle, Orville Harold and the
+recent Indian sensation at the Metropolitan, Chief Caupolican, actually
+had their beginnings in vaudeville. In other words, vaudeville was the
+stepping-stone to grand opera.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Singing for Millions</span></h4>
+
+<p>Success in this new field depends upon personality as well as art. It
+also develops personality. It is no place for a "stick." The singer must
+at all times be in human touch with the audience. The lofty individuals
+who are thinking far more about themselves than about the songs they are
+singing have no place here. The task is infinitely more difficult than
+grand opera. It is far more difficult than recital or oratorio singing.
+There can be no sham, no pose. The songs must please or the audience
+will let one know it in a second.</p>
+
+<p>The wear and tear upon the voice is much less than in opera. During the
+week I sing in all three and one-half hours (not counting rehearsals).
+When I am singing Mephistopheles in <i>Faust</i> I am in a theater at<a name="page_264" id="page_264"></a> least
+six hours&mdash;the make-up alone requires at least one and one-half hours.
+Then time is demanded for rehearsals with the company and with various
+coaches.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Art of "Putting it Over"</span></h4>
+
+<p>Thus the vaudeville singer who is genuinely interested in the progress
+of his art has ample time to study new songs and new r�les. In the
+jargon of vaudeville, everything is based upon whether the singer is
+able "to put the number over." This is a far more serious matter than
+one thinks. The audience is made up of the great public&mdash;the common
+people, God bless them. There is not the select gathering of musically
+cultured people that one finds in Carnegie Hall or the Auditorium.
+Therefore, in singing music that is admittedly a musical masterpiece,
+one must select only those works which may be interpreted with a broad
+human appeal. One is far closer to his fellow-man in vaudeville than in
+grand opera, because the emotions of the auditors are more responsive.
+It is intensely gratifying to know that these people want real art. My
+greatest success has been in Lieurance's Indian songs and in excerpts
+from grand opera. Upon one occasion my number was followed by that of a
+very popular comedienne whose performance was known to be of the
+farcical, rip-roaring type which vaudeville audiences were supposed to
+like above all things. It was my pleasure to be recalled, even after the
+curtain had ascended upon her performance, and to be compelled to give
+another song as an encore. The preference of the<a name="page_265" id="page_265"></a> vaudeville audience
+for really good music has been indicated to me time and again. But it is
+not merely the good music that draws: the music must be interpreted
+properly. Much excellent music is ruined in vaudeville by ridiculous
+renditions.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">How to Get an Engagement</span></h4>
+
+<p>Singers have asked me time and again how to get an engagement. The first
+thing is to be sure that you have something to sell that is really worth
+while. Think of how many people are willing to pay to hear you sing! The
+more that they are willing to pay, the more valuable you are to the
+managers who buy your services. Therefore reputation, of course, is an
+important point to the manager. An unknown singer can not hope to get
+the same fee as the celebrated singer no matter how fine the voice or
+the art. Mr. E. Falber and Mr. Martin Beck, who have been responsible
+for a great many of the engagements of great artists in vaudeville and
+who are great believers in fine music in vaudeville, have, through their
+high position in business, helped hundreds. But they can not help anyone
+who has nothing to sell.</p>
+
+<p>The home office of the big vaudeville exchange is at Forty-seventh and
+Broadway, N.Y., and it is one of the busiest places in the great city.
+Even at that, it has always been a mystery to me just how the thousands
+of numbers are arranged so that there will be as little loss as possible
+for the performers; for it must be remembered that the vaudeville
+artists buy their own<a name="page_266" id="page_266"></a> stage clothes and scenery, attend to their
+transportation and pay all their own expenses; unless they can afford
+the luxury of a personal manager who knows how to do these things just a
+little better.</p>
+
+<p>The singer looking for an engagement must in some way do something to
+gain some kind of recognition. Perhaps it may come from the fact that
+the manager of the local theater in her town has heard her sing, or some
+well-known singer is interested in her and is willing to write a letter
+of introduction to someone influential in headquarters. With the
+enormous demands made upon the time of the "powers that be," it is
+hardly fair to expect them to hear anyone and everyone. With such a
+letter or such an introduction, arrange for an audition at the
+headquarters in New York. Remember all the time that if you have
+anything really worth while to sell the managers are just as anxious to
+hear you as you are to be heard. There is no occasion for nervousness.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Excellent Conditions</span></h4>
+
+<p>Sometimes the managers are badly mistaken. It is common gossip that a
+very celebrated opera singer sought a vaudeville engagement and was
+turned down because of the lack of the musical experience of the
+manager, and because she was unknown. If he wanted her to-day his figure
+would have to be several thousand dollars a week.</p>
+
+<p>The average vaudeville theater in America is far better for the singer,
+in many ways, than many of the<a name="page_267" id="page_267"></a> opera houses. In fact the vaudeville
+theaters are new; while the opera houses are old, and often sadly run
+down and out of date. Possibly the finest vaudeville theater in America
+is in Providence, R. I., and was built by E. F. Albee. It is palatial in
+every aspect, built as strong and substantial as a fort, and yet as
+elegant as a mansion. It is much easier to sing in these modern theaters
+made of stone and concrete than in many of the old-fashioned opera
+houses. Indeed, some of the vaudeville audiences often hear a singer at
+far better advantage than in the opera house.</p>
+
+<p>The singer who realizes the wonderful artistic opportunities provided in
+reaching such immense numbers of people, who will understand that he
+must sing up to the larger humanity rather than thinking that he must
+sing down to a mob, who will work to do better vocal and interpretative
+thinking at every successive performance, will lose nothing by singing
+in vaudeville and may gain an army of friends and admirers he could not
+otherwise possibly acquire.<a name="page_268" id="page_268"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="EMMA_THURSBY" id="EMMA_THURSBY"></a>EMMA THURSBY</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>Emma Thursby was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., and studied singing with
+Julius Meyers, Achille Errani, Mme. Rudersdorf, Lamperti (elder), San
+Giovanni and finally with Maurice Strakosch. She began her career as a
+church singer in New York and throngs went to different New York
+churches to hear her exquisitely mellow and beautiful voice. For many
+years she was the soprano of the famous Plymouth Church when Henry Ward
+Beecher was the pastor. Her voice became so famous that she went on a
+tour with Maurice Strakosch for seven years, in Europe and America,
+everywhere meeting with sensational success. Later she toured with the
+Gilmore Band and with the Thomas Orchestra. She became as popular in
+London and in Paris as in New York. Her fame became so great that she
+finally made a tour of the world, appearing with great success even in
+China and Japan.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 370px;">
+<a href="images/p268a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p268a_sml.jpg" width="370" height="550" alt="Emma Thursby."
+title="Emma Thursby." /></a>
+<span class="caption">Emma Thursby.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_269" id="page_269"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="SINGING_IN_CONCERT_AND_WHAT_IT_MEANS" id="SINGING_IN_CONCERT_AND_WHAT_IT_MEANS"></a>SINGING IN CONCERT AND WHAT IT MEANS</h3>
+
+<h4>EMMA THURSBY</h4>
+
+<p>Although conditions have changed very greatly since I was last regularly
+engaged in making concert tours, the change has been rather one of
+advantage to young singers than one to their disadvantage. The enormous
+advance in musical taste can only be expressed by the word "startling."
+For while we have apparently a vast amount of worthless music being
+continually inoculated into our unsuspecting public, we have,
+nevertheless, a corresponding cultivation of the love for good music
+which contributes much to the support of the concert singer of the
+present day.</p>
+
+<p>The old time lyceum has almost disappeared, but the high-class song
+recital has taken its place and recitals that would have been barely
+possible years ago are now frequently given with greatest financial and
+artistic success. Schumann, Franz, Strauss, Grieg and MacDowell have
+conquered the field formerly held by the vapid and meaningless
+compositions of brainless composers who wrote solely to amuse or to
+appeal to morbid sentimentality.</p>
+
+<p>The conditions of travel, also, have been greatly improved. It is now
+possible to go about in railroad cars and stop at hotels, and at the
+same time experience very little inconvenience and discomfort. This
+makes<a name="page_270" id="page_270"></a> the career of the concert artist a far more desirable one than in
+former years. Uninviting hotels, frigid cars, poorly prepared meals and
+the lack of privacy were scarcely the best things to stimulate a high
+degree of musical inspiration.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Health</span></h4>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, the girl who would be successful in concert must either
+possess or acquire good health as her first and all-essential asset.
+Notwithstanding the marvelous improvement in traveling facilities and
+accommodations, the nervous strain of public performance is not
+lessened, and it not infrequently happens that these very facilities
+enable the avaricious manager to crowd in more concerts and recitals
+than in former years, with the consequent strain upon the vitality of
+the singer.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, the singer must also possess the foundation for a good
+natural voice, a sense of hearing capable of being trained to the
+keenest perception of pitch, quality, rhythm and metre, an attractive
+personality, a bright mind, a good general education and an artistic
+temperament&mdash;a very extraordinary list, I grant you, but we must
+remember that the public pays out its money to hear extraordinary people
+and the would-be singer who does not possess qualifications of this
+description had better sincerely solicit the advice of some experienced,
+unbiased teacher or singer before putting forth upon the musical seas in
+a bark which must meet with certain destruction in weathering the<a name="page_271" id="page_271"></a> first
+storm. The teacher who consciously advises a singer to undertake a
+public career and at the same time knows that such a career would very
+likely be a failure is beneath the recognition of any honest man or
+woman.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Singer's Early Training</span></h4>
+
+<p>The education of the singer should not commence too early, if we mean by
+education the training of the voice. If you discover that a child has a
+very remarkable voice, "ear" and musical intelligence you had better let
+the voice alone and give your attention to the general musical education
+of the child along the lines of that received by Madame Sembrich, who is
+a fine violinist and pianist. So few are the teachers who know anything
+whatever about the child-voice, or who can treat it with any degree of
+safety, that it is far better to leave it alone than to tamper with it.
+Encourage the child to sing softly, sweetly and naturally, much as in
+free fluent conversation, telling him to form the habit of speaking his
+tones forward "on the lips" rather than in the throat. If you have among
+your acquaintances some musician or singer of indisputable ability and
+impeccable honor who can give you disinterested advice have the child go
+to this friend now and then to ascertain whether any bad and unnatural
+habits are being formed. Of course we have the famous cases of Patti and
+others, who seem to have sung from infancy. I have no recollection of
+the time<a name="page_272" id="page_272"></a> when I first commenced to sing. I have always sung and gloried
+in my singing.</p>
+
+<p>See to it that your musical child has a good general education. This
+does not necessarily mean a college or university training. In fact, the
+amount of music study a singer has to accomplish in these days makes the
+higher academic training apparently impossible. However, with the great
+musical advance there has come a demand for higher and better ordered
+intellectual work among singers. This condition is becoming more and
+more imperative every day. At the same time you must remember also that
+nothing should be undertaken that might in any way be liable to
+undermine or impair the child's health.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">When to Begin Training</span></h4>
+
+<p>The time to begin training depends upon the maturity of the voice and
+the individual, considered together with the physical condition of the
+pupil. Some girls are ready to start voice work at sixteen, while others
+are not really in condition until a somewhat older age. Here again comes
+the necessity for the teacher of judgment and experience. A teacher who
+might in any way be influenced by the necessity for securing a pupil or
+a fee should be avoided as one avoids the shyster lawyer. Starting vocal
+instruction too early has been the precipice over which many a promising
+career has been dashed to early oblivion.</p>
+
+<p>In choosing a teacher I hardly know what to say, in these days of myriad
+methods and endless claims.<a name="page_273" id="page_273"></a> The greatest teachers I have known have
+been men and women of great simplicity and directness. The perpetrator
+of the complicated system is normally the creator of vocal failures. The
+secret of singing is at once a marvelous mystery and again an open
+secret to those who have realized its simplicity. It cannot be
+altogether written, nor can it be imparted by words alone. Imitation
+undoubtedly plays an important part, but it is not everything. The
+teacher must be one who has actually realized the great truths which
+underlie the best, simplest and most natural methods of securing results
+and who must possess the wonderful power of exactly communicating these
+principles to the pupil. A good teacher is far rarer than a good singer.
+Singers are often poor teachers, as they destroy the individuality of
+the pupil by demanding arbitrary imitation. A teacher can only be judged
+by results, and the pupil should never permit herself to be deluded by
+advertisements and claims a teacher is unable to substantiate with
+successful pupils.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Habits of Speech, Poise and Thinking</span></h4>
+
+<p>One of the deep foundation piers of all educational effort is the
+inculcation of habits. The most successful voice teacher is the one who
+is most happy in developing habits of correct singing. These habits must
+be watched with the persistence, perseverance and affectionate care of
+the scientist. The teacher must realize that the single lapse or
+violation of a habit may mean the ruin of weeks or months of hard work.<a name="page_274" id="page_274"></a></p>
+
+<p>One of the most necessary habits a teacher should form is that of
+speaking with ease, naturalness and vocal charm. Many of our American
+girls speak with indescribable harshness, slovenliness and shrillness.
+This is a severe tax upon the sensibilities of a musical person and I
+know of countless people who suffer acute annoyance from this source.
+Vowels are emitted with a nasal twang or a throaty growl that seem at
+times most unpardonable noises when coming from a pretty face.
+Consonants are juggled and mangled until the words are very difficult to
+comprehend. Our girls are improving in this respect, but there is still
+cause for grievous complaint among voice teachers, who find in this one
+of their most formidable obstacles.</p>
+
+<p>Another common natural fault, which is particularly offensive to me, is
+that of an objectionable bodily poise. I have found throughout my entire
+career that bodily poise in concert work is of paramount importance, but
+I seem to have great difficulty in sufficiently impressing this great
+truth upon young ladies who would be singers. The noted Parisian
+teacher, Sbriglia, is said to require one entire year to build up and
+fortify the chest. I have always felt that the best poise is that in
+which the shoulders are held well back, although not in a stiff or
+strained position, the upper part of the body leaning forward gently and
+naturally and the whole frame balanced by a sense of relaxation and
+ease. In this position the natural equilibrium is not taxed, and a
+peculiar sensation of non-constraint seems to be noticeable,
+particularly over the entire area<a name="page_275" id="page_275"></a> of the front of the torso. This
+position suggests ease and an absence of that military rigidity which is
+so fatal to all good vocal effort. It also permits of a freer movement
+of the abdominal walls, as well as the intercostal muscles, and is thus
+conducive to the most natural breathing. Too much anatomical explanation
+is liable to confuse the young singer, and if the matter of breathing
+can be assisted by poise, just so much is gained.</p>
+
+<p>Another important habit that the teacher should see to at the start is
+that of correct thinking. Most vocal beginners are poor thinkers and
+fail to realize the vast importance of the mind in all voice work.
+Unless the teacher has the power of inspiring the pupil to a realization
+of the great fact that nothing is accomplished in the throat that has
+not been previously performed in the mind, the path will be a difficult
+one. During the process of singing the throat and the auxiliary vocal
+process of breathing are really a part of the brain, or, more
+specifically, the mind or soul. The body is never more than an
+instrument. Without the performer it is as voiceless as the piano of
+Richard Wagner standing in all its solitary silence at Wahnfried&mdash;a mute
+monument of the marvelous thoughts which once rang from its vibrating
+wires to all parts of the civilized world. We really sing with that
+which leaves the body after death. It is in the cultivation of this
+mystery of mysteries, the soul, that most singers fail. The mental ideal
+is, after all, that which makes the singer. Patti possessed this ideal
+as a child, and with it the wonderful<a name="page_276" id="page_276"></a> bodily qualifications which made
+her immortal. But it requires work to overcome vocal deficiencies, and
+Patti as a child was known to have been a ceaseless worker and thinker,
+always trying to bring her little body up to the high �sthetic
+appreciation of the best artistic interpretation of a given passage.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Maurice Strakosch's Ten Vocal Commandments</span></h4>
+
+<p>It was from Maurice Strakosch that I learned of the methods pursued by
+Patti in her daily work, and although Strakosch was not a teacher in the
+commercial sense of the word, as he had comparatively few pupils, he was
+nevertheless a very fine musician, and there is no doubt that Patti owed
+a great deal to his careful and insistent r�gime and instruction.
+Although our relation was that of impresario and artist, I cannot be
+grateful enough to him for the advice and instruction I received from
+him. The technical exercises he employed were exceedingly simple and he
+gave more attention to how they were sung than to the exercises
+themselves. I know of no more effective set of exercises than
+Strakosch's ten daily exercises. They were sung to the different vowels,
+principally to the vowel "ah," as in "father." Notwithstanding their
+great simplicity Strakosch gave the greatest possible attention and time
+to them. Patti used these exercises, which he called his "Ten
+Commandments for the Singer," daily, and there can be little doubt that
+the extraordinary preservation of her voice is the result of these
+simple means. I have used them for years with<a name="page_277" id="page_277"></a> exceptional results in
+all cases. However, if the singer has any idea that the mere practice of
+these exercises to the different vowel sounds will inevitably bring
+success she is greatly mistaken. These exercises are only valuable when
+used with vowels correctly and naturally "placed," and that means, in
+some cases, years of the most careful and painstaking work.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquott"><p>Following are the famous "Ten Vocal Commandments," as used by
+Adelina Patti and several great singers in their daily work. Note
+their simplicity and gradual increase in difficulty. They are to be
+transposed at the teacher's discretion to suit the range of the
+voice and are to be used with the different vowels.</p></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/pm277.png"
+width="70%"
+alt="I-III, musical notation"
+title="I-III, musical notation" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/pm278.png"
+width="70%"
+alt="VI-VIII, musical notation"
+title="VI-VIII, musical notation" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/pm279.png"
+width="70%"
+alt="IX-X, musical notation"
+title="IX-X, musical notation" />
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_279" id="page_279"></a></p>
+
+<p>The concert singer of the present day must have linguistic attainments
+far greater than those in demand some years ago. She is required to sing
+in English, French, German, Italian and some singers are now attempting
+the interpretation of songs in Slavic and other tongues. Not only do we
+have to consider arias and passages from the great oratorios and operas
+as a part of the present-day repertoire, but the song of the "Lied" type
+has come to have a valuable significance in all concert work. Many songs
+intended for the chamber and the salon are now included in programs of
+concerts and recitals given in our largest auditoriums. Only a very few
+numbers are in themselves<a name="page_280" id="page_280"></a> songs written for the concert hall. Most of
+the numbers now sung at song concerts are really transplanted from
+either the stage or the chamber. This makes the position of the concert
+singer an extremely difficult one. Without the dramatic accessories of
+the opera house or the intimacy of the home circle, she is expected to
+achieve results varying from the cry of the Valkyries, in <i>Die Walk�re</i>,
+to the frail fragrance of Franz' <i>Es hat die Rose sich beklagt</i>. I do
+not wonder that Mme. Schumann-Heink and others have declared that there
+is nothing more difficult or exhausting than concert singing. The
+enormous fees paid to great concert singers are not surprising when we
+consider how very few must be the people who can ever hope to attain
+great heights in this work.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 368px;">
+<a href="images/p280a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p280a_sml.jpg" width="368" height="550" alt="Reinald Werrenrath. � Mishkin."
+title="Reinald Werrenrath. � Mishkin." /></a>
+<span class="caption">Reinald Werrenrath.<br /><span class="captionn">� Mishkin.</span></span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_281" id="page_281"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="REINALD_WERRENRATH" id="REINALD_WERRENRATH"></a>REINALD WERRENRATH</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>Reinald Werrenrath was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., August 7, 1883. His
+father, George Werrenrath, was a distinguished singer, and his mother
+(n�e Aretta Camp) is the daughter of Henry Camp, who was for many years
+musical director of Plymouth Church during the ministry there of Henry
+Ward Beecher. George Werrenrath was a Dane, with an unusually rich tenor
+voice, trained by the best teachers of his time in Germany, Italy,
+France and England. During his engagement as leading tenor in the Royal
+Opera House in Wiesbaden, he left Germany by the advice of Adelina
+Patti, eventually going to England with Maurice Strakosch, who was then
+his coach. In London Werrenrath had a fine career, and there was formed
+a warm and ultimate friendship with Charles Gounod, with whom he studied
+and toured in concerts through England and Belgium. George Werrenrath
+came to New York in 1876, by the influence of Mme. Antoinette Sterling
+and of the well-known Dane, General C. T. Christensen. He immediately
+became well known by his appearance with the Theodore Thomas Orchestra,
+as well as by his engagement at Plymouth Church, where he was soloist
+for seven years. He was probably the first artist to give song-recitals
+in the United States, while his performances in opera are still
+cherished in the memories of those people who can look back on some of
+the fine representations given under the baton of Adolph Neuendorf, at
+the old Academy of Music, which made the way for the later<a name="page_282" id="page_282"></a> work at the
+Metropolitan Opera House. His interpretation of <i>Lohengrin</i> was adjudged
+most wonderfully poetical.</p>
+
+<p>Reinald Werrenrath studied first with his father. At the Boys' High
+School and at New York University he was leader of musical affairs
+throughout the eight years spent in those schools. He studied violin
+with Carl Venth for four years, and had as his vocal teachers Dr. Carl
+Dufft, Frank King Clark, Dr. Arthur Mees, Percy Rector Stephens and
+Victor Maurel, giving especial credit for his voice training to years of
+study with Mr. Stephens whose vocal teaching ideas he sketches in part
+in the following. He has appeared with immense success in concert and
+oratorio in all parts of the United States. His talking machine records
+have been in great demand for years, and his voice is known to thousands
+who have never seen him. His operatic d�but was in <i>Pagliacci</i>, as
+<i>Silvio</i>, in the Metropolitan Opera House, February 19, 1919, where he
+later had specially fine success as <i>Valentine</i> in <i>Faust</i> and as the
+<i>Toreador</i> in <i>Carmen</i>.<a name="page_283" id="page_283"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="NEW_ASPECTS_OF_THE_ART_OF_SINGING_IN_AMERICA" id="NEW_ASPECTS_OF_THE_ART_OF_SINGING_IN_AMERICA"></a>NEW ASPECTS OF THE ART OF SINGING IN AMERICA</h3>
+
+<h4>REINALD WERRENRATH</h4>
+
+<p>Every now and then someone asks me whether America is really becoming
+musical. All I can say is that a year ago I, with my accompanist,
+traveled over 61,000 miles, touching every part of this country and,
+during that eight months, singing almost nightly when the transit
+facilities would permit, found everywhere the very greatest enthusiasm
+for the very best music. Of course, Americans want some numbers on the
+program with the so-called "human" element; but at the same time they
+court the best in vocal art and seem never to get enough of it. All of
+my instruction has been received in America. All of my teachers, with
+the exception of my father and Victor Maurel, were born in America; so I
+may be called very much of an American product.</p>
+
+<p>Just why Americans should ever have been obsessed with the idea that it
+was impossible to teach voice successfully on this side of the Atlantic
+is hard to tell. I have a suspicion that many like the adventure of
+foreign travel far more than the labor of study. Probably ninety-five
+per cent. of the pupils who went over did so for the fascinating
+experience of living in a European environment rather than for the
+downright purpose<a name="page_284" id="page_284"></a> of coming back great artists. Therefore, we should
+not blame the European teachers altogether for the countless failures
+that have floated back to us almost on every tide. I have recently heard
+a report that many of the highest-priced and most efficient voice
+teachers in Italy are Americans who have Italianized their names.
+Certainly the most successful voice teachers in Berlin were George
+Ferguson and Frank King Clark, who was at the top of the list also in
+Paris when he was there.</p>
+
+<p>The American singer should remember in these days that, first of all, he
+must sing in America and in the English language more than in any other.
+I am not one of those who decry singing in foreign languages. Certain
+songs, it is true, cannot be translated so that their meaning can be
+completely understood in English; yet, if the reader will think for a
+moment, how is the American auditor to understand a single thought of a
+poem in a language of which he knows nothing?</p>
+
+<p>The Italian is a glorious language for the singer, and with it English
+cannot be compared, with its thirty-one vowel sounds and its many
+coughing, sputtering consonants. Training in Italian solfeggios is very
+fine for creating a free, flowing style. Many of the Italian teachers
+were obsessed with the idea of the big tone. The audiences fired back
+volleys of "Bravos!" and "Da Capos" when the tenor took off his plumed
+hat, stood on his toes and howled a high C. That was part of his stock
+in trade. Naturally, he forced his voice, and most of the men singers
+quit at the age of fifty.<a name="page_285" id="page_285"></a> I hope to be in my prime at that time, as my
+voice seems to grow better each year. Battistini, who was born in 1857,
+is an exception. His voice, I am told, is remarkably preserved.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Climatic Conditions a Serious Handicap</span></h4>
+
+<p>Climatic conditions in many parts of America prove a serious handicap to
+the singer. At the same time, according to the law of the survival of
+the fittest, American singers must take care of themselves much better
+than the Italians, for instance. The salubrious, balmy climate of most
+of Italy is ideal for the throat. On our Eastern seaboard I find that
+fifty per cent. of my audiences in winter seem to have colds and
+bronchitis. The singer who is obliged to tour must, of course, take
+every possible precaution against catching cold; and that means becoming
+infected from exposure to colds when the system is run down. I attempt
+to avoid colds by securing plenty of outdoor exercise. I always walk to
+my hotel and to the station when I have time; and I walk as much as I
+can during the day. When I am not singing I immediately start to
+play&mdash;to fish, swim or hunt in the woods if I can make an opportunity.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Operatic Study</span></h4>
+
+<p>In one respect Europe is unquestionably superior to America for the
+vocal student. The student who wants to sing in opera will find in
+Europe ten opportunities for gaining experience to one here. While we
+have a<a name="page_286" id="page_286"></a> few more opera companies than twenty-five years ago, it is still
+a great task to secure even an opening. Americans, outside of the great
+cities, do not seem to be especially inclined toward opera. They will
+accept a little of it when it is given to them by a superb company like
+the Metropolitan. In New York we find a public more cosmopolitan than in
+any other city of the world, with the possible exception of London. In
+immediate ancestry it is more European than American, and naturally
+opera becomes a great public demand. Seats sell at fabulous prices and
+the houses are crowded. Next comes opera at popular prices; and we have
+one or two very good companies giving that with success. Then there is
+the opera in America's other cosmopolitan center, Chicago, where many
+world-famed artists appear. After that, opera in America is hardly worth
+mentioning. What chance has the student? Only one who for years has been
+uniformed in a black dress suit and backed into the curve of the grand
+piano in a recital hall can know what it means to get out on the
+operatic stage, in those fantastic clothes, walk around, act, sing and
+at the same time watch the conductor with his ninety men. Only he can
+know what the difference between singing in concert and on the operatic
+stage really is. Yet old opera singers who enter the recital field
+invariably say that it is far harder to get up alone in a large hall and
+become the whole performance, aided and abetted only by an able
+accompanist, than it is to sing in opera.</p>
+
+<p>The recital has the effect of preserving the fineness<a name="page_287" id="page_287"></a> of many operatic
+voices. Modern opera has ruined dozens of fine vocal organs because of
+the tremendous strain made upon them and the tendency to neglect vocal
+art for dramatic impression.</p>
+
+<p>If there were more of the better <i>singing</i> in opera, such as one hears
+from Mr. Caruso, there would be less comment upon opera as a bastard
+art. Operatic work is very exhilarating. The difference between concert
+and opera for the singer is that between oatmeal porridge and an old
+vintage champagne. There is no time at the Metropolitan for raw singers.
+The works in the repertoire must be known so well in the singing and the
+acting that they may be put on perfectly with the least possible
+rehearsals. Therefore, the singer has no time for routine. The lack of a
+foreign name will keep no American singer out of the Metropolitan; but
+the lack of the ability to save the company hundreds of dollars through
+needless waits at rehearsals will.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Natural Methods of Singing</span></h4>
+
+<p>Certainly no country in recent years has produced so many "corking" good
+singers as America. Our voices are fresh, virile, pure and rich; when
+the teaching is right. Our singers are for the most part finely educated
+and know how to interpret the texts intelligently. Mr. W. J. Henderson,
+the eminent New York critic, in his "Art of Singing," gave the following
+definition, which my former teacher, the late Dr. Carl Dufft, endorsed
+very highly: "Singing is the expression of a text by means of tones made
+by the human voice."<a name="page_288" id="page_288"></a> More and more the truth of this comes to me.
+Singing is not merely vocalizing but always a means of communication in
+which the artist must convey the message of the two great minds of the
+poet and the composer to his fellow man. In this the voice must be as
+natural as possible, as human as possible, and not merely a sugary tone.
+The German, the Frenchman, the Englishman and the American strive first
+for an intelligent interpretation of the text. The Italian thinks of
+tone first and the text afterward, except in the modern Italian school
+of realistic singing. For this one must consider the voice normally and
+sensibly.</p>
+
+<p>I owe my treatment of my voice largely to Mr. Stephens, with whom I have
+studied for the last eight years, taking a lesson every day I am in New
+York. This is advisable, I believe, because no matter how well one may
+think one sings, another trained mind with other ears may detect defects
+that might lead to serious difficulties later. His methods are difficult
+to describe; but a few main principles may be very interesting to
+vocalists.</p>
+
+<p>My daily work in practice is commenced by stretching exercises, in which
+I aim to free the muscles covering the upper part of the abdomen and the
+intercostal muscles at the side and back&mdash;all by stretching upward and
+writhing around, as it were, so that there cannot possibly be any
+constriction. Then, with my elbows bent and my fists over my head, I
+stretch the muscles over my shoulders and shoulder blades. Finally, I
+rotate my head upward and around, so that<a name="page_289" id="page_289"></a> the muscles of the neck are
+freed and become very easy and flexible. While I am finishing with the
+last exercise I begin speaking in a fairly moderate tone such vowel
+combinations as "OH-AH," "OH-AH," "EE-AY," "EE-AY," "EE-AY-EE-AY-EE-AY,"
+etc. While doing this I walk about the room so that there will not be
+any suggestion of stiltedness or vocal or muscular interference. At
+first this is done without the addition of any attempted nasal
+resonance. Gradually nasal resonance is introduced with different spoken
+vowels, while at the same time every effort is made to preserve ease and
+flexibility of the entire body. Then, when it seems as though the right
+vocal quality is coming, pitch is introduced at the most convenient
+range and exercises with pitch are taken through the range of the voice.
+The whole idea is to make the tones as natural and free and pure as
+possible with the least effort. I am opposed to the old idea of tone
+placing, in which the pupil toed a mark, set the throat at some
+prescribed angle, adjusted the tongue in some approved design, and then,
+gripped like the unfortunate victim in the old-fashioned photographer's
+irons, attempted to sing a sustained tone or a rapid scale. What was the
+result&mdash;consciousness and stiltedness and, as a rule, a tired throat and
+a ruined singer. These ideas may seem revolutionary to many. They are
+only a few of Mr. Stephens' very numerous devices; but for many years
+they have been of more benefit than anything else in keeping me vocally
+fit.</p>
+
+<p>We in the New World should be on the outlook for<a name="page_290" id="page_290"></a> advance along all
+lines. Our American composers have held far too close to European ideals
+and done too little real thinking for themselves. Our vocal teachers
+and, for that matter, teachers in all branches of musical art in America
+have been most progressive in devising new ways and better methods.
+There will never be an American method of singing because we are too
+wise not to realize that every pupil needs different and special
+treatment. What is fine for one might be injurious to the next one.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 369px;">
+<a href="images/p290a.jpg">
+<img src="images/p290a_sml.jpg" width="369" height="550" alt="Evan Williams."
+title="Evan Williams." /></a>
+<span class="caption">Evan Williams.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="page_291" id="page_291"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="EVAN_WILLIAMS" id="EVAN_WILLIAMS"></a>EVAN WILLIAMS</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Biographical</span></h4>
+
+<p>Evan Williams, as his name suggests, was of Welsh ancestry, although
+born in Trumbull County, Ohio, Sept. 7, 1867. As a boy his singing
+attracted the attention of his friends and neighbors. When a young man
+he went to Mme. Louise von Fielitsen, in Cleveland, and studied under
+her for four years. At the end of this time it became necessary for him
+to earn money immediately, as he had married at the age of twenty.
+Accordingly he went with the "Primrose and West" minstrels for one
+season. Everywhere he appeared his voice attracted enthusiastic
+attention. This aroused his ambition and in 1894 he went to New York
+where he was engaged at All Angels Church at a yearly salary of
+$1000.00. Six months later the Marble Collegiate Church took him over at
+$1500.00 which was shortly raised to $2000.00. In 1896 he appeared at
+the Worcester Festival with great success and then went to New York to
+study with James Sauvage for three years.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding his long terms of instruction with teachers of high
+reputation, Mr. Williams felt that he had still much to learn, as he
+would find himself singing finely one night and so badly on the next
+that he would resolve never to sing again. Accordingly he studied with
+Meehan for three years more. Then he retired from the concert stage for
+three years in order to improve himself. Deciding to appear in public
+again he went to London where he sang for three years with popular
+success. However, he was still dissatisfied with his voice. Mr.
+Williams' personal narrative tells how he got his voice back. His death,
+May 24, 1918, prevented him from carrying out his project to become a
+teacher and thus introduce his discoveries. The following, therefore,
+becomes of interesting historical significance.<a name="page_292" id="page_292"></a></p>
+
+<h3><a name="HOW_I_REGAINED_A_LOST_VOICE" id="HOW_I_REGAINED_A_LOST_VOICE"></a>HOW I REGAINED A LOST VOICE</h3>
+
+<h4>EVAN WILLIAMS</h4>
+
+<p>There is nothing so disquieting to the singer as the feeling that his
+voice, upon which his artistic hopes, to say nothing of his livelihood,
+depend, is not a reliable organ, but a fickle thing which to-day may be
+in splendid condition but to-morrow may be gone. Time and again I have
+been driven to the verge of desperation by my own voice. While I am
+grateful to all of my excellent teachers for the many valuable things
+they taught me, I had a strong feeling that there was something which I
+must know and which only I myself could find out for myself. After a
+very wide experience here and in England I found myself with so little
+confidence in my ability to produce uniformly excellent results when on
+the concert stage, that I retired to Akron, Ohio, resolving to spend the
+rest of my life in teaching. There I remained for four years, thinking
+out the great problem that confronted me. It is only during the last
+year that I have become convinced that I have solved it. My musical work
+has made me well-to-do and I want now to give my ideas to the world so
+that others may profit if they find them valuable. I have nothing to
+sell&mdash;but I trust that I can put into words, without inventing a new and
+bewildering<a name="page_293" id="page_293"></a> nomenclature, something that will prove of practical
+assistance to young singers as it has been to me.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">An Indisputable Record</span></h4>
+
+<p>In 1908 I left Akron and resolved to try to reinstate myself in New York
+as a singer. I also made talking machine records, only to find that
+seldom could I make a record at the first attempt that was up to the
+very high standard maintained by the company in the case of all records
+placed upon the market for sale. This meant a great waste of my time and
+the company's material and services. It naturally set me thinking. If I
+could do it one time&mdash;why couldn't I do it all the time? There was no
+contradicting the talking machine record. The machine records the
+slightest blemish as well as the most perfect tone. There was no getting
+away from the fact that sometimes my singing was far from what I wished
+it to be.</p>
+
+<p>The strange thing about it all was that my singing did not seem to
+depend upon the physical condition or feeling of my throat. Some days
+when my throat felt at its very best the records would come back in a
+way that I was ashamed of. It is a strange feeling to hear one's own
+voice from the talking machine. It sounds quite differently from the
+impression one gets while singing. I began to ponder, why were some of
+my records poor and others good?</p>
+
+<p>After deep thought for a very long period of time, I commenced to make
+certain postulates which I believe I have since proved (to my own
+satisfaction at least)<a name="page_294" id="page_294"></a> to be reasonable and true. They not only
+resulted in an improvement in my voice, but they enabled me to do at
+command what I had previously been able to do only occasionally. They
+are:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" summary="list">
+
+<tr valign="top"><td align="right">I.</td><td>Tone creates its own support.</td></tr>
+
+<tr valign="top"><td align="right">II.</td><td>Much of the time spent in elaborate breathing
+exercises (while excellent for the health and valuable
+to the singer, in a way) do not produce the
+results that are expected.</td></tr>
+
+<tr valign="top"><td align="right">III.</td><td>The singer's first studies should be with his brain
+and ear, rather than through an attempt at
+muscular control of the breathing muscles.</td></tr>
+
+<tr valign="top"><td align="right">IV.</td><td>Vocal resonance can be developed through a
+proper understanding of tone color (vocal timbre),
+so that uniformly excellent production of tones
+will result.</td></tr></table>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Tone Creates Its Own Support</span></h4>
+
+<p>The first two postulates can be discussed as one. Tone creates its own
+support. How does a bird learn to sing? How does the animal learn to
+cry? How does the lion learn to roar? Or the donkey learn to bray? By
+practicing breathing exercises? Most certainly not. I have known many,
+many singers with splendid voices who have never heard of breathing
+exercises. Go out into the Welsh mining districts and listen to the
+voices. They learn to breathe by learning how to sing, and by singing.
+These men have lungs that the average vocal student would give a fortune
+to possess. By singing correctly they acquire all the lung control that
+any vocal composition could demand.<a name="page_295" id="page_295"></a></p>
+
+<p>As a matter of fact, one does not need such a huge amount of breath to
+sing. The average singer uses entirely too much. A goose has lungs ten
+times as large as a nightingale but that doesn't make the goose's song
+lovely to listen to. I have known men with lungs big enough to work a
+blast furnace who yet had little bits of voices, so small that they were
+ridiculous. It would be better for most vocal students to emit the
+breath for five seconds before attacking the tone. One of the reasons
+for much vocal forcing is too much breath. Maybe I haven't thought about
+these things! I have spent hours in silence making up my mind. It is my
+firm conviction that the average person (entirely without instruction in
+breathing of a special kind) has enough breath to sing any phrase one
+might be called upon to sing. I think, without question, that teachers
+and singers have all been working their heads off to develop strength in
+the wrong direction. Mind you&mdash;this is not a sermon against breathing. I
+believe in plenty of breathing exercises for the sake of one's health.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">A Good Position</span></h4>
+
+<p>Singers study breathing as though they were trying to learn how to push
+out the voice or pull it out by suction. By standing in a sensible
+position with the chest high (but not forced up) the lung capacity of
+the average individual is quite surprising. A good position can be
+secured through the old Delsarte exercise which is as follows:<a name="page_296" id="page_296"></a></p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" summary="list">
+
+<tr valign="top"><td align="right">I.</td><td> Stand on the balls of your feet, heels just touching
+the floor.</td></tr>
+
+<tr valign="top"><td align="right">II.</td><td> Hold your arms at your side in a relaxed condition.</td></tr>
+
+<tr valign="top"><td align="right">III.</td><td> Move your arms forward until they form an
+angle of forty-five degrees with the body. Press
+the palms down until the chest is up comfortably.</td></tr>
+
+<tr valign="top"><td align="right">IV.</td><td> Now let your arms drop back without letting
+your chest fall. Feel a sense of ease and freedom
+over the whole body. Breathe naturally and
+deeply.</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>In other words, to "poise" the breath, stand erect, at attention. Most
+people when called to this "attention" posture stiffen themselves so
+that they are in a position of resistance. When I say <i>attention</i>,&mdash;I
+mean the position in which you have alertness but at the same time
+complete freedom,&mdash;when you can freely smile, sigh, scowl and
+sneer,&mdash;the attention that will permit expansion of the chest with every
+change of mood. Then, open the mouth without inhaling. Let the breath
+out for five seconds, close the mouth and inhale through the nostrils. I
+keep the fact that I breathe into the lungs through the nostrils before
+me all the time. Again open the mouth without allowing the air to pass
+in. Practice this until a comfortable stretch is felt in the flesh of
+the face, the top of the head, the back, the chest and the abdomen. If
+you stretch violently you will not experience this feeling.<a name="page_297" id="page_297"></a></p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Sensations</span></h4>
+
+<p>I fully realize that much of what I have said will not be in accord with
+what is preached, practiced and taught by many vocal teachers and I
+cannot attempt to reply to any critics. I merely know what sensations
+and experiences I have had after a lifetime of practical work in a
+profession which has brought me a fortune. Furthermore I know that
+anything anyone might say on the subject of the human voice would be at
+variance with the opinions of others. There is probably no subject in
+human ken in which there is such a marked difference of opinion. I can
+merely try to describe my own sensations and vocal experiences. In
+trying to represent the course of the sensation I experience in
+producing a good tone, I have employed the following illustration.
+Imagine two pieces of whip cord. Tie the ends together. Place the knot
+immediately under the upper lip directly beneath the center bone of the
+nose, run the strings straight back for an inch, then up over the cheek
+bones, then down around the uvula, thence down the large cords inside
+the neck. At a point in the center between the shoulders the cords would
+split in order to let one set go down the back and the other toward the
+chest, meeting again under the arm-pits, thence down the short ribs,
+thence down and joining in another knot slightly back of the pelvic
+bone. Laugh, if you will, but this is actually the sensation I have
+repeatedly felt in producing what the talking machine has shown to be a
+good tone. Remember<a name="page_298" id="page_298"></a> that there were plenty to laugh at Columbus,
+Gallileo and even Darius Green of the Flying Machine.</p>
+
+<p>Stand in "attention" as directed, with the body responsive and the mind
+sensitive to physical impressions. When opening the mouth without taking
+in air a slight stretch will be experienced along the whole track I have
+described. The poise felt in this position is what permitted Bob
+Fitzsimmons to strike a deadly blow with a two-inch stroke. It is the
+responsive poise with which I sing both loud and soft tones.
+Furthermore, I do not believe in an absolutely relaxed lower jaw as
+though it had been broken. Who could sing with a broken jaw?&mdash;and a
+broken jaw would represent ideal relaxation. The jaw should be slightly
+stretched but never strained. I think that the word relaxation, as used
+by most teachers and as understood by most students, is responsible for
+more ruined voices than all other terms used in vocal teaching. I have
+talked this matter over with numberless great singers who are constantly
+before the public, and their very singing is the best contradiction of
+this. When you hold your hand out freely before you what is it that
+keeps it from falling at your side? That same condition controls the
+jaw. Find it: it is not relaxation. If you would be a perfect singer
+find the juggler who is balancing a feather. Imagine yourself poised on
+the top of that feather, and sing without falling off.<a name="page_299" id="page_299"></a></p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Contrasting Timbres that Lead to a Beautiful Tone When Combined</span></h4>
+
+<p>We shall now seek to illustrate two contrasting qualities of tones,
+between which lies that quality which I sought for so long. The desired
+quality is not a compromise, but seems to be located half way between
+two extremes, and may best be brought to the attention of the reader by
+describing the extremes.</p>
+
+<p>The first is a dark quality of tone. To get this, place the tips of the
+second fingers on the sides of the voice box (Adam's apple) and make a
+dark almost breathy sound, using "u" as in the word hum. Do this without
+any signs of strain. Allow the sound to float up into the mouth and
+nose. To many there will also be a sensation as though the sound were
+also floating down into the lungs (into both lungs). Do not make any
+conscious effort to force the sound or place it in any particular
+location. The sound will do it of its own accord if you do not strain.
+While the sound is being made, there will be a slight upward pulling of
+the voice box, a slight tugging at the voice box. This, of course,
+occurs automatically, and there should be no attempt to control it or
+promote it. It is nature at work. The tongue, while making this sound,
+should be limp, with the tip resting on the lower front teeth. All along
+it is necessary to caution the singer not to strive to do artificial
+things. Therefore do not poke or stick the tip of your tongue against
+the front teeth. If your tongue is not strained it will rest<a name="page_300" id="page_300"></a> there
+naturally. Work at this exercise until you can fill the mouth and nose
+(and also seemingly the chest) with a rich, smooth, well-controlled,
+well-modulated dark sound and do it easily,&mdash;with slight effort. Do not
+try to hold the sound in the throat.</p>
+
+<p>The second sound we shall experiment with is the extreme antithesis of
+the first sound. Its resonance is high and it is bright in every sense.
+Place the fingers on the joints just in front and above holes in the
+ears. Open the mouth without inhaling and make the sound of "e" as in
+when. As the dark sound described before cannot be made too dark this
+sound cannot be made too strident. It is the extreme from the rumble of
+the drum to the piercing rasp of the file. I have called it the animal
+sound, and in calling it strident, please do not infer that the nose, or
+any part of the mouth or soft palate, should be pinched to make it
+nasal, in the restricted sense of that term. When I sing this tone it is
+accompanied with a sensation as though the tone were being reflected
+downward from the voice box over to each side of the chest just in front
+of the arm-pits and then downward into the abdomen. Here the great
+danger arises that the unskilled student will try to produce this
+sensation, whereas the fact of the matter is that the sensation is the
+accompaniment of the properly produced tone and cannot be made
+artificially. Don't work for the sensation, work for the tone that
+produces such a sensation. At the same time the tone has a sensation of
+upward reflection, as though it arose at the back of<a name="page_301" id="page_301"></a> the voice box and
+separated there, passed up behind the jaws to the points where your
+fingers are resting, entering the mouth from above, as it were from a
+point just between the hard and soft palates, and becoming one sound in
+the mouth.</p>
+
+<p>The uvula and part of the soft palate should be associated with the dark
+sound. The hard palate and part of the soft palate should be associated
+with the strident tone.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Tongue Position</span></h4>
+
+<p>In making the strident sound the tongue should rest in the same position
+as for the dark sound. The dark tone never changes and is the basic
+sound which gives fullness, foundation, depth to the ultimate tone.
+Without it all voices are thin and unsubstantial. The nearer the singer
+gets to this the nearer he approaches the great vibrating base upon
+which the world is founded.</p>
+
+<p>Remember that the dark tone never changes. It is the background, the
+canvas upon which the singer paints his infinite moods by means of
+different vowels, emotions, and the tone colors which are derived in
+numberless modifications from the strident tone. Another simile may
+bring the subject nearer to the reader student. Imagine the dark tone
+and all the sensations in different parts of the body as a kind of
+atmosphere or gas which requires to be set on fire by the electric spark
+of the strident tone. The dark tone is all necessary, but it is useless
+unless it is properly electrified by the strident tone.<a name="page_302" id="page_302"></a></p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">A Practical Step</span></h4>
+
+<p>How shall we utilize what we have learned, so that the student may
+convince himself that herein ties the truth which, properly understood
+and sensibly applied, will lead to a means of improving his tone. If the
+foregoing has been carefully read and understood, the following exercise
+to get the tone which results from a combination of the dark and the
+strident is simple.</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" summary="list">
+
+<tr valign="top"><td align="right">I.</td><td> Stand erect as directed.</td></tr>
+
+<tr valign="top"><td align="right">II.</td><td> Open the mouth <i>without inhaling</i>.</td></tr>
+
+<tr valign="top"><td align="right">III.</td><td> Produce the dark tone ("u" as in hum).</td></tr>
+
+<tr valign="top"><td align="right">IV.</td><td> Close the mouth and allow the air to pass in and
+out of the nostrils for a few seconds.</td></tr>
+
+<tr valign="top"><td align="right">V.</td><td> Open the mouth without inhaling.</td></tr>
+
+<tr valign="top"><td align="right">VI.</td><td> Make the strident sound ("e" as in when).</td></tr>
+
+<tr valign="top"><td align="right">VII.</td><td> Close the mouth and let the air pass in and out
+of nostrils a few seconds.</td></tr>
+
+<tr valign="top"><td align="right">VIII.</td><td> Open the mouth without inhaling.</td></tr>
+
+<tr valign="top"><td align="right">IX.</td><td> Sing the vowel "Ah" as in <i>father</i> in such a manner
+that it is a combination of the dark tone and
+the strident tone.</td></tr>
+
+<tr valign="top"><td align="right">X.</td><td> Do this in such a way that all of the breathy
+disagreeable features of the dark tone disappear
+but its foundation features remain to give it fullness
+and roundness, while all of the disagreeable
+features of the strident tone disappear although
+its color-giving, light-giving, life-giving characteristics
+are retained to give the combination-tone
+richness and sweetness. A beautiful result
+is inevitable, if the principle is properly understood.
+I have tried this with many people who
+have sung but little before in their lives and who
+were not conscious of having interesting voices.
+Without a long course of vocal lessons or anything
+of the sort they have been able to produce
+in a short time&mdash;a very few minutes&mdash;a tone
+that would be admired by any critic.</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">A Comfortable Pitch</span></h4>
+
+<p>It is to be assumed that the student will, in these experiments, take
+the pitch in his voice which is most comfortable. Having mastered the
+combination tone on "Ah" at any pitch, it will be easy to try other
+pitches and other vowels. "Ah" is the natural vowel, but having secured
+the "know how" through a correct production of "Ah" the same results may
+be attained with any other vowel produced in a similar way. "E" as in
+<i>see</i> has of course more of the strident quality, the high, bright
+quality and "OO" as in moon more of the dark, but even these extreme
+tones may be so placed that they become enriched through the employment
+of resonance of all those parts of the mouth, nose and body which may be
+brought naturally to reinforce them.</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Ping</span>"</p>
+
+<p>I have never met a singer who was not looking for "ping" or what is
+called brightness. Most voices are hopelessly dead, and therefore lack
+sweetness. The voices are filled with night&mdash;black hollow gloomy night
+or else they are as strident as the caterwauling of a Tom Cat. The happy
+mean between the extremes is the area in which the singer's greatest
+results are attained.<a name="page_304" id="page_304"></a></p>
+
+<p>Think of your tone, always. The breath will then take care of itself. If
+the tone has a tremulo, or sounds stuffy or sounds weak, you have not
+apportioned the right amount of breath to it, but you are not going to
+gain this information by thinking of the breath but by thinking of the
+tone.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Let Your Own Ears Convince You</span></h4>
+
+<p>Now, that is all there is to it. I am not striving to found a method or
+anything of the sort; but I have seen students waste years on what is
+called "voice placing" and not come to anything like the same result
+that will come after the accomplishment of this simple matter. Try it
+out with your own voice. You will see in a short time what it will do.
+Your own ears will convince you, to say nothing of the ears of your
+friends. All I know is that after I discovered this, it was possible for
+me to employ it and make records with so small a percentage of discard
+that I have been surprised.</p>
+
+<p>It remains for the intelligent teachers to apply such knowledge to a
+systematic vocal course of exercises, studies and songs, which will help
+the pupil to progress most rapidly. Don't think that I am pretending to
+tell all that there is to vocal culture in an hour. It is a great and
+important study upon which I have spent a lifetime. However, as I said
+before, I have nothing to sell and I am only too happy to give this
+information which has cost me so many hours of thought to crystallize.</p>
+
+
+<div class="figcenterd" style="width: 410px;">
+<a href="images/back_dustcover.jpg">
+<img src="images/back_dustcover_sml.jpg" width="410" height="550" alt="back dustcover"
+title="back dustcover" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="transcriber-note"
+style="margin-top:15%;">
+<tr><td align="center">Typographical errors corrected by the transcriber of this etext:</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">Talmadge=>Talmage</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">Artious=>Artibus</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">citadal=>citadel</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">Wohltemperites=>Wohltemperiertes</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">liebenswurdig=>liebensw�rdig</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center">D�libes=>Delibes</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center"><br />Words not changed:
+unforgetable,
+skilful,
+Beyreuth,
+marvelous</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Great Singers on the Art of Singing, by 
+James Francis Cooke
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+</body>
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+</html>
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Great Singers on the Art of Singing, by
+James Francis Cooke
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Great Singers on the Art of Singing
+       Educational Conferences with Foremost Artists
+
+Author: James Francis Cooke
+
+Release Date: August 6, 2010 [EBook #33358]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT SINGERS ON THE ART OF SINGING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+GREAT
+SINGERS ON THE
+ART _of_ SINGING
+
+EDUCATIONAL CONFERENCES
+WITH FOREMOST ARTISTS
+
+BY
+JAMES FRANCIS COOKE
+
+A SERIES
+OF PERSONAL STUDY TALKS WITH
+THE MOST RENOWNED OPERA
+CONCERT AND ORATORIO
+SINGERS OF THE TIME
+
+_ESPECIALLY PLANNED FOR
+VOICE STUDENTS_
+
+[Illustration]
+
+THEO. PRESSER CO.
+PHILADELPHIA, PA.
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY THEO. PRESSER CO.
+
+INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT SECURED
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+PAGE
+
+INTRODUCTION                                                       5
+
+THE TECHNIC OF OPERATIC PRODUCTION                                21
+
+WHAT THE AMERICAN GIRL SHOULD
+KNOW ABOUT AN OPERATIC CAREER         _Frances Alda_              31
+
+MODERN VOCAL METHODS IN ITALY         _Pasquale Amato_            38
+
+THE MAIN ELEMENTS OF INTERPRETATION
+                                      _David Bispham_             45
+
+SUCCESS IN CONCERT SINGING            _Dame Clara Butt_           58
+
+THE VALUE OF SELF-STUDY IN VOICE
+TRAINING                              _Giuseppe Campanari_        68
+
+ITALY, THE HOME OF SONG               _Enrico Caruso_             79
+
+MODERN ROADS TO VOCAL SUCCESS         _Julia Claussen_            90
+
+SELF-HELP IN VOICE STUDY              _Charles Dalmores_         100
+
+IF MY DAUGHTER SHOULD STUDY FOR
+GRAND OPERA                           _Andreas Dippel_           110
+
+HOW A GREAT MASTER COACHED
+OPERA SINGERS                         _Emma Eames_               121
+
+THE OPEN DOOR TO OPERA                _Florence Easton_          133
+
+WHAT MUST I GO THROUGH TO BECOME
+A PRIMA DONNA?                        _Geraldine Farrar_         144
+
+THE MASTER SONGS OF ROBERT
+SCHUMANN                              _Johanna Gadski_           154
+
+TEACHING YOURSELF TO SING             _Amelita Galli-Curci_      166
+
+THE KNOW HOW IN THE ART OF SINGING
+                                      _Mary Garden_              176
+
+BUILDING A VOCAL REPERTOIRE           _Alma Gluck_               185
+
+OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUNG CONCERT
+SINGERS                               _Emilio de Gogorza_        191
+
+THOROUGHNESS IN VOCAL PREPARATION
+                                      _Frieda Hempel_            200
+
+COMMON SENSE IN TRAINING AND
+PRESERVING THE VOICE                  _Dame Nellie Melba_        207
+
+SECRETS OF BEL CANTO                  _Bernice de Pasquali_      217
+
+HOW FORTUNES ARE WASTED IN VOCAL
+EDUCATION                             _Marcella Sembrich_        227
+
+KEEPING THE VOICE IN PRIME CONDITION  _Ernestine Schumann-Heink_ 235
+
+ITALIAN OPERA IN AMERICA              _Antonio Scotti_           251
+
+THE SINGER'S LARGER MUSICAL PUBLIC    _Henri Scott_              260
+
+SINGING IN CONCERT AND WHAT IT MEANS  _Emma Thursby_             269
+
+NEW ASPECTS OF THE ART OF SINGING
+IN AMERICA                            _Reinald Werrenrath_       283
+
+HOW I REGAINED A LOST VOICE           _Evan Williams_            292
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+VOCAL GOLD MINES AND HOW THEY ARE DEVELOPED
+
+
+Plutarch tells how a Laconian youth picked all the feathers from the
+scrawny body of a nightingale and when he saw what a tiny thing was left
+exclaimed,
+
+    "_Surely thou art all voice
+    and nothing else!_"
+
+Among the tens of thousands of young men and women who, having heard a
+few famous singers, suddenly determine to follow the trail of the
+footlights, there must be a very great number who think that the success
+of the singer is "voice and nothing else." If this collection of
+conferences serves to indicate how much more goes into the development
+of the modern singer than mere voice, the effort will be fruitful.
+
+Nothing is more fascinating in human relations than the medium of
+communication we call speech. When this is combined with beautiful music
+in song, its charm is supreme. The conferences collected in this book
+were secured during a period of from ten to fifteen years; and in every
+case the notes have been carefully, often microscopically, reviewed and
+approved by the artist. They are the record of actual accomplishment and
+not mere metempirical opinions. The general design was directed by the
+hundreds of questions that had been presented to the writer in his own
+experience in teaching the art of singing. Only the practical teacher of
+singing has the opportunity to discover the real needs of the student;
+and only the artist of wide experience can answer many of the serious
+questions asked.
+
+The writer's first interest in the subject of voice commenced with the
+recollection of the wonderfully human and fascinating vocal organ of
+Henry Ward Beecher, whom he had the joy to know in his early boyhood.
+The memory of such a voice as that of Beecher is ineradicable. Once, at
+the same age, he was taken to hear Beecher's rival pulpit orator, the
+Rev. T. de Witt Talmage, in the Brooklyn Tabernacle. The harsh, raucous,
+nasal, penetrating, rasping, irritating voice of that clergyman only
+served to emphasize the delight in listening to Beecher. Then he heard
+the wonderful orotund organ of Col. Robert J. Ingersoll and the
+sonorous, mellow voice of Edwin Booth.
+
+Shortly he found himself enlisted as a soprano in the boy choir of a
+large Episcopal church. While there he became the soloist, singing many
+of the leading arias from famous oratorios before he was able to
+identify the musical importance of such works. Then came a long training
+in piano and in organ playing, followed by public appearances as a
+pianist and engagements as an organist and choirmaster in different
+churches. This, coupled with song composition, musical criticism and
+editing, experience in conducting, managing concerts, accompanying noted
+singers and, later, in teaching voice for many years, formed a
+background that is recounted here only to let the reader know that the
+conferences were not put down by one unacquainted with the actual daily
+needs of the student, from his earliest efforts to his platform
+triumphs.
+
+
+WHAT MUST THE SINGER HAVE?
+
+What must the singer have? A voice? Of course. But how good must that
+voice be? "Ah, there's the rub!" It is this very point which adds so
+much fascination to the chances of becoming a great singer; and it is
+this very point upon which so many, many careers have been wrecked. The
+young singer learns that Jenny Lind was first refused by Garcia because
+he considered her case hopeless; he learns that Sir George Henschel told
+Bispham that he had insufficient voice to encourage him to take up the
+career of the singer; he learns dozens of similar instances; and then he
+goes to hear some famous singer with slender vocal gifts who, by force
+of tremendous dramatic power, eclipses dozens with finer voices. He
+thereupon resolves that "voice" must be a secondary matter in the
+singer's success.
+
+There could not be a greater mistake. There must be a good vocal basis.
+There must be a voice capable of development through a sufficient gamut
+to encompass the great works written for such a voice. It must be
+capable of development into sufficient "size" and power that it may fill
+large auditoriums. It must be sweet, true to pitch, clear; and, above
+all, it must have that kind of an individual quality which seems to
+draw the musical interest of the average person to it.
+
+
+THE PERFECT VOICE
+
+Paradoxically enough, the public does not seem to want the "perfect"
+voice, but rather, the "human" voice. A noted expert, who for many years
+directed the recording laboratories of a famous sound reproducing
+machine company, a man whose acquaintance with great singers of the time
+is very wide, once told the writer of a singer who made records so
+perfect from the standpoint of tone that no musical critic could
+possibly find fault with them. Yet these records did not meet with a
+market from the general public. The reason is that the public demands
+something far more than a flawless voice and technically correct
+singing. It demands the human quality, that wonderful something that
+shines through the voice of every normal, living being as the soul
+shines through the eyes. It is this thing which gives individuality and
+identity to the voice and makes the widest appeal to the greatest number
+of people.
+
+Patti was not great because her dulcet tones were like honey to the ear.
+Mere sweetness does not attract vast audiences time and again. Once, in
+a mediaeval German city, the writer was informed that a nightingale had
+been heard in the _glacis_ on the previous night. The following evening
+a party of friends was formed and wandered through the park whispering
+with delight at every outburst from the silver throat. Never had bird
+music been so beautiful. The next night someone suggested that we go
+again; but no one could be found who was enthusiastic enough to repeat
+the experience. The very perfection of the nightingale's song, once
+heard, had been sufficient.
+
+
+THE LURE OF INDIVIDUALITY
+
+Certain performers in vaudeville owe their continued popularity to the
+fascinating individuality of their voices. Albert Chevalier, once heard,
+could never be forgotten. His pathetic lilt to "My Old Dutuch" has made
+thousands weep. When he sings such a number he has a far higher artistic
+control over his audience than many an elaborately trained singer
+trilling away at some very complicated aria.
+
+A second-rate opera singer once bemoaned his fate to the writer. He
+complained that he was obliged to sing for $100.00 a week,
+notwithstanding his years of study and preparation, while Harry Lauder,
+the Scotch comedian, could get $1000 a night on his tours. As a matter
+of fact Mr. Lauder, entirely apart from his ability as an actor, had a
+far better voice and had that appealing quality that simply commandeers
+his auditors the moment he opens his mouth.
+
+Any method or scheme of teaching the art of singing that does not seek
+to develop the inherent intellectual and emotional vocal complexion of
+the singer can never approach a good method. Vocal perfection that does
+not admit of the manifestation of the real individual has been the death
+knell of many an aspiring student. Nordica, Jean de Reszke, Victor
+Maurel, Plancon, Sims Reeves, Schumann-Heink, Garden, Dr. Wuellner, Evan
+Williams, Galli-Curci, and especially our greatest of American singers,
+David Bispham, all have manifested a vocal individuality as unforgetable
+to the ear as their countenances are to the eye.
+
+If the reader happens to be a young singer and can grasp the
+significance of the previous paragraph, he may have something more
+valuable to him than many lessons. The world is not seeking merely the
+perfect voice but a great musical individuality manifested through a
+voice developed to express that individuality in the most natural and at
+the same time the most comprehensive manner possible. Therefore, young
+man and young woman, does it not seem of the greatest importance to you
+to develop, first of all, the _mind and the soul_, so that when the
+great hour comes, your audience will hear through the notes that pour
+from your throat something of your intellectual and emotional character?
+They will not know how, nor will they ask why they hear it,--but its
+manifestation will either be there or it will not be there. Upon this
+will depend much of your future success. It can not be concealed from
+the discerning critics in whose hands your progress rests. The high
+intellectual training received in college by Ffrangcon Davies, David
+Bispham, Plunkett Greene, Herbert Witherspoon, Reinald Werrenrath and
+others, is just as apparent to the intelligent listener, in their
+singing at recitals, as it would be in their conversation. Others have
+received an equivalent intellectual training in other ways. The young
+singer, who thinks that in the future he can "get by" without such a
+training, is booked for disappointment. Get a college education if you
+can; and, if you can not, fight to get its equivalent. No useful
+experience in the singer's career is a wasted one. The early
+instrumental training of Melba, Sembrich, Campanari, Hempel, Dalmores,
+Garden, and Galli-Curci, shows out in their finished singing, in
+wonderful manner. Every singer should be able to play the piano well. It
+has a splendid effect in the musical discipline of the mind. In European
+conservatories, in many instances, the study of the piano is compulsory.
+
+
+YOUR PHILOSOPHY OF SINGING
+
+The student of singing should be an inveterate reader of "worthwhile"
+comments upon his art. In this way, if he has a discriminating mind, he
+will be able to form a "philosophy of singing" of his own. Richard
+Wagner prefaced his music dramas with lengthy essays giving his reasons
+for pursuing a certain course. Whatever their value may be to the
+musical public at this time, it could not have been less than that to
+the great master when he was fighting to straighten out for his own
+satisfaction in his own mind just what he should do and how he should do
+it. Therefore, read interminably; but believe nothing that you read
+until you have weighed it carefully in your own mind and determined its
+usefulness in its application to your own particular case.
+
+The student will find the following books of real value in his quest for
+vocal truth: _The Philosophy of Singing_, Clara Kathleen Rogers; _The
+Vocal Instructor_, E. J. Myer; _The Psychology of Singing_, David C.
+Taylor; _How to Sing_, Lilli Lehmann; _Reminiscences of a Quaker
+Singer_, David Bispham; _The Art of the Singer_, W. J. Henderson.
+
+The student should also read the biographies of famous singers and keep
+in touch with the progress of the art, through reading the best
+magazines.
+
+
+THE HISTORY OF SINGING
+
+The history of singing parallels the history of civilization. Egypt,
+Israel, Greece and Rome made their contributions; but how they sang and
+what they sang we can not definitely know because of the destruction of
+the bridge between ancient and modern notation, and because not until
+Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877, was there any tangible
+means of recording the voices of the singers. The wisdom of Socrates,
+Plato and Caesar is therefore of trifling significance in helping us to
+find out more than how highly the art was regarded. The absurd antics of
+Nero, in his ambition to distinguish himself as a singer, indicated in
+some more or less indefinite way the importance given to singing in the
+heyday of Rome. The incessant references to singing, in Greek
+literature, tell us that singing was looked upon not merely as an
+accomplishment but as one of the necessary arts.
+
+Coincident with the coming of Italian opera, about 1600, we find a
+great revival of the art of singing; and many of the old Italian masters
+have bequeathed us some fairly instructive comments upon the art of _bel
+canto_. That these old Italian teachers were largely individualists and
+taught empirically, with no set methods other than that which their own
+ears determined, seems to be accepted quite generally by investigators
+at this date. The _Osservazione sopra il Canto figurato_ of Pietro
+Francesco Tosi (procurable in English), published in 1723, and the
+_Reflessioni pratichi sul Canto figurato_, published in 1776, are
+valuable documents for the serious student, particularly because these
+men seemed to recognize that the so-called registers should be
+equalized. With them developed an ever-expanding jargon of voice
+directions which persist to this day among vocal teachers. Such
+directions as "sing through the mask" (meaning the face); "sing with the
+throat open"; "sing as though you were just about to smile"; "sing as
+though you were just about to experience the sensation of swallowing"
+(_come bere_); "support the tone"; etc., etc., are often more confusing
+than helpful. Manual Garcia (1805-1906), who invented the laryngoscope
+in 1855, made an earnest effort to bring scientific observation to the
+aid of the vocal teacher, by providing a tiny mirror on the end of a
+rod, enabling the teacher to see the vocal cords during the process of
+phonation. How much this actually helped the singing teacher is still a
+moot point; but it must be remembered that Garcia had many extremely
+successful pupils, including the immortal Jenny Lind.
+
+The writer again advises the serious student of singing to spend a great
+deal of time in forming his own conception of the principles by which he
+can get the most from his voice. Any progressive artist teacher will
+encourage him in this course. In other words, it is not enough in these
+days that he shall sing; but he must know how he produces his results
+and be able to produce them time and time again with constantly
+increasing success. Note in the succeeding conferences how many of the
+great singers have given very careful and minute consideration to this.
+The late Evan Williams spent years of thought and study upon it; and the
+writer considers that his observations in this volume are among the most
+important contributions to the literature of voice teaching. This was
+the only form in which they appeared in print. Only one student in a
+hundred thousand can dispense with a good vocal teacher, as did the
+brilliant Galli-Curci or the unforgetable Campanari. A really fine
+teacher of voice is practically indispensable to most students. This
+does not mean that the best teacher is the one with the greatest
+reputation. The reputation of a teacher only too often has depended upon
+his good fortune early in life in securing pupils who have made
+spectacular successes in a short time. There are hundreds of splendid
+vocal teachers in America now, and it is very gratifying to see many of
+their pupils make great successes in Europe without any previous
+instruction "on the other side."
+
+Surely nothing can be more helpful to the ambitious vocal student than
+the direct advice, personal suggestions and hints of the greatest
+singers of the time. It is with this thought that the writer takes
+especial pride in being the medium of the presentation of the following
+conferences. It is suggested that a careful study of the best
+sound-reproducing-machine records of the great singers included will add
+much to the interest of the study of this work.
+
+The enormous incomes received from some vocal gold mines, such as
+Caruso, John McCormack, Patti, Galli-Curci, and others, have made the
+lure of the singer's career so great that many young vocalists are
+inclined to forget that all of the great singers of the day have
+attained their triumphs only after years of hard work. Galli-Curci's
+overwhelmingly successful American debut followed years of real labor,
+when she was glad to accept small engagements in order to advance in her
+art. John McCormack's first American appearances were at a side show at
+the St. Louis World's Fair. Sacrifice is often the seed kernel of large
+success. Too few young singers are willing to plant that kernel. They
+expect success to come at the end of a few courses of study and a few
+hundred dollars spent in advertising. The public, particularly the
+American public, is a wary one. It may be possible to advertise
+worthless gold mining stock in such a way that thousands may be swindled
+before the crook behind the scheme is jailed. But it is impossible to
+sell our public a so-called golden-voiced singer whose voice is really
+nothing more than tin-foil and very thin tin-foil at that.
+
+Every year certain kinds of slippery managers accept huge fees from
+would-be singers, which are supposed to be invested in a mysterious
+formula which, like the philosopher's stone, will turn a baser metal
+into pure gold. No campaign of advertising spent upon a mediocrity or an
+inadequately prepared artist can ever result in anything but a
+disastrous waste. Don't spend a penny in advertising until you have
+really something to sell which the public will want. It takes years to
+make a fine singer known; but it takes only one concert to expose an
+inadequate singer. Every one of the artists represented in this book has
+been "through the mill" and every one has triumphed gloriously in the
+end. There is one road. They have defined it in remarkable fashion in
+these conferences. The sign-posts read, "Work, Sacrifice, Joy, Triumph."
+
+With the multiplicity of methods and schemes for practice it is not
+surprising that the main essentials of the subject are sometimes
+obscured. That such discussions as those included in this book will
+enable the thinking student to crystallize in his own mind something
+which to him will become a method long after he has left his student
+days, can not be questioned. One of the significant things which he will
+have to learn is perfect intonation, keeping on the right pitch all the
+time; and another thing is freedom from restriction, best expressed by
+the word poise. William Shakespeare, greatest of English singing
+teachers of his day, once expressed these important points in the
+following words:
+
+"The Foundations of the Art of Singing are two in number:
+
+"First: (A) How to take breath and (B) how to press it out slowly. (The
+act of slow exhalation is seen in our endeavor to warm some object with
+the breath.)
+
+"Second: How to sing to this controlled breath pressure.
+
+"It may be interesting at this point to observe how the old singers
+practiced when seeking a full tone while using little breath. They
+watched the effect of their breath by singing against a mirror or
+against the flame of a taper. If a note required too much pressure the
+command over the breath was lost--the mirror was unduly tarnished or the
+flame unduly puffed. 'Ah' was their pattern vowel, being the most
+difficult on account of the openness of the throat--the vowel which, by
+letting more breath out, demanded the greatest control. The perfect
+poise of the instrument on the controlled breath was found to bring
+about _three_ important results to the singer:
+
+"_First result_--Unerring tuning. As we do not experience any sensation
+of consciously using the muscles in the throat, we can only judge of the
+result by listening. When the note sounds to the right breath control it
+springs unconsciously and instantaneously to the tune we intended. The
+freedom of the instrument not being interfered with, it follows through
+our wishing it--like any other act naturally performed. This unerring
+tuning is the first result of a right foundation.
+
+"_Second result_--The throat spaces are felt to be unconscious and
+arrange themselves independently in the different positions prompted by
+the will and necessary to pronounciation, the factors being freedom of
+tongue and soft palate, and freedom of lips.
+
+"_Third result_--The complete freedom of the face and eyes which adapt
+themselves to those changes necessary to the expression of the emotions.
+
+"The artist can increase the intensity of his tone without necessarily
+increasing its volume, and can thus produce the softest effect. By his
+skill he can emit the soft note and cause it to travel as far as a loud
+note, thus arousing emotions as of distance, as of memories of the past.
+He produces equally well the more powerful gradations without
+overstepping the boundary of noble and expressive singing. On the other
+hand, an indifferent performer would scarcely venture on a soft effect,
+the absence of breath support would cause him to become inaudible and
+should he attempt to crescendo such a note the result would be throaty
+and unsatisfactory."
+
+Another most important subject is diction, and the writer can think of
+nothing better than to quote from Mme. Lilli Lehmann, the greatest
+Wagnerian soprano of the last century.
+
+"Let us now consider some of the reasons why some American singers have
+failed to succeed. How do American women begin their studies? Many
+commence their lessons in December or January. They take two or three
+half-hour lessons a week, even attending these irregularly, and ending
+their year's instruction in March or, at the latest, in April. Surely
+music study under such circumstances is little less than farcical. The
+voice, above all things, needs careful and constant attention. Moreover,
+many are lacking lamentably in the right preparations. Some are
+evidently so benighted as to believe that preparation is unnecessary. Or
+do they believe that the singing teacher must also provide a musical and
+general education?
+
+"Is there one among them, for instance, who can enunciate her own
+language faultlessly; that is, as the stage demands? Many fail to
+realize that they should, first of all, be taught elocution (diction) by
+teachers who can show them how to pronounce vowels purely and
+beautifully, and consonants correctly and distinctly, so as to give
+words their proper sounds. How can anyone expect to sing in a foreign
+language when he has no idea of his own language--no idea how this
+wonderful member, the tongue, should be used--to say nothing of the
+terrible faults in speaking? I endorse the study of elocution as a
+preparatory study for all singing. No one can realize how much simpler
+and how much more efficient it would make the work of the singing
+teacher."
+
+Finally, the writer feels that there is much to be inferred from the
+popular criticism of the man in the street--"There is no music in that
+voice." Mr. Hoipolloi knows just what he means when he says that. As a
+matter of fact, the average voice has very little music in it. By music
+the man means that the pitch of the tones that he hears shall be so
+unmistakable and so accurate, that the quality shall be so pure and the
+thought of the singer so sincere and so worth-while, that the auditor
+feels the wonderful human emotion that comes only from listening to a
+beautiful human voice. Put real music in every tone and your success
+will not be far distant.
+
+JAMES FRANCIS COOKE.
+
+Bala, Pa.
+
+
+
+
+THE TECHNIC OF OPERATIC PRODUCTION
+
+WHAT THE STUDENT WHO ASPIRES TO GO INTO OPERA SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE
+MECHANICAL SIDE OF GIVING AN OPERATIC PERFORMANCE
+
+
+Even after one has mastered the art of singing there is still much that
+the artist must learn about the actual working of the opera house
+itself. This of course is best done by actual experience; but the writer
+has found that much can be gained by insight into some of the conditions
+that exist in the modern opera house.
+
+In the childhood of hundreds of people now living opera was given with
+scenery and costumes that would be ridiculed in vaudeville if seen
+to-day. Pianos, lamps, chairs and even bird cages were often painted
+right on the scenery. One set of costumes and properties was made to do
+for the better part of the repertoire in such a way that even the most
+flexible imagination was stretched to the breaking point several times
+during the performance. Now, most of this has changed and the modern
+opera house stage is often a mechanical and electrical marvel.
+
+It is most human to want to peep behind the scenes and see something of
+the machinery which causes the wonderful spectacle of the stage. We
+remember how, as children, we longed to open the clock and see the
+wheels go round. Behind the asbestos curtain there is a world of ropes,
+lights, electrical and mechanical machinery, paints and canvas, which
+is always a territory filled with interest to those who sit in the seats
+in front.
+
+Much of the success of the opera in New York, during the early part of
+the present century, was due to the great efficiency of the Director,
+Giulio Gatti-Casazza. Gatti-Casazza was a graduate of the Royal Italian
+Naval Academy at Leghorn, and had been intended for a career as a naval
+engineer before he undertook the management of the opera at Ferrara.
+This he did because his father was on the board of directors of the
+Ferrara opera house, and the institution had not been a great success.
+His directorship was so well executed that he was appointed head
+director of the opera at La Scala in Milan and astonished the musical
+world with his wonderful Italian productions of Wagner's operas under
+the conductorship of Toscanini. In New York many reforms were
+instituted, and later took the New York company to Paris, giving
+performances which made Europe realize that opera in New York is as fine
+as that in any music center in the world, and in some particulars finer.
+The New York opera is more cosmopolitan than that of any other country.
+Its company included artists from practically every European country,
+but fortunately includes more American singers and musicians to-day than
+at any time in our operatic history. We are indebted to the staff of the
+Metropolitan Opera House, experts who, with the kind permission of the
+director, furnished the writer with the following interesting
+information:
+
+[Illustration: PROFILE OF THE PARIS GRAND OPERA. (NOTE THAT THE STAGE
+SECTION IS LARGER THAN THE AUDITORIUM. ALSO NOTE THE IMMENSE SPACE GIVEN
+TO THE GRAND ENTRANCE STAIRWAY.)]
+
+
+A WORLD OF DETAIL
+
+Few people have any idea of how many persons and how many departments
+are connected with the opera and its presentation. Considering them in
+order, they might be classed as follows:
+
+    The General Manager and his assistants.
+    The Musical Director and his assistants.
+    The Stage Director and his assistants.
+    The Technical Director and his assistants.
+    The Business Director and his assistants.
+    The Wardrobe Director and his assistants.
+    The Master of Properties and his assistants.
+    The Head Engineer and his assistants.
+    The Accountant and his assistants.
+    The Advertising Manager and his assistants.
+    The Press Representatives and his assistants.
+    The Superintendent and his assistants.
+    The Head Usher and his assistants.
+    The Electrician and his assistants.
+
+Few of these important and necessary factors in the production ever
+appear before the public. Like the miners who supply us with the wealth
+of the earth, they work, as it were, underground. No one is more
+directly concerned with making the production than the Technical
+Director. In that we are fortunate in having the views of Mr. Edward
+Siedle, Technical Director of the Metropolitan Opera Company, of New
+York. The complete picture that the public sees is made under the
+supervision of Mr. Siedle, and during the actual production he is
+responsible for all of the technical details. His experience has
+extended over a great many years in different countries. He writes:
+
+
+THE TECHNIC OF THE PRODUCTION
+
+I understand you wish me to give you some idea of the technicalities
+involved in producing the stage pictures which go to form an opera. Let
+us suppose it is an opera by an American composer. My first procedure
+would be to place myself in touch with the author and composer. After
+having one or two talks with them I secure a libretto. When a mutual
+understanding is agreed upon between us as to the character of the
+scenes required and the positions of particular things in relation to
+the business which has to take place during the performance, I make my
+plans accordingly, and look up all the data available bearing upon the
+subject.
+
+It is now time to call in the scenic artist, giving him my views and
+ideas, so that he can start upon the designing and painting of the
+scenery. His first design would be in the form of a rough sketch and a
+more clearly worked-out ground plan. After further discussion and
+alterations we should definitely agree upon a scheme, and he would
+proceed to make a scale model. When this model is finished it is a
+perfect miniature scene of the opera as it will appear on the night the
+opera is produced.
+
+The author and composer are then called in to meet the impresario and
+myself for a final consultation. We now finally criticize our plans,
+making any alterations which may seem necessary to us. When these
+alterations are completed the plans are handed over to the carpenter,
+who immediately starts making his frames and covering them with canvas,
+working from the scale model. The scenic artist is now able to commence
+his work in earnest.
+
+The "properties" are our next consideration. Sketches and patterns are
+made, authorities are consulted, and everything possible is done to aid
+the Property Master in doing his part of the work.
+
+Unless the opera in question calls for special mechanical effects, or
+special stage machinery, the scene is adapted to the stage as it is. If
+anything exceptional has to be achieved, however, special machinery is
+constructed.
+
+The designing of the costumes is gone over in much the same way as the
+construction of the scenery. The period in which the opera is laid, the
+various characters and their station in life, are all well talked over
+by the composer, author and myself. The costume designer is then called
+in, and after listening to what every one has to say and reading the
+libretto, he submits his designs. These, when finished, are criticized
+by the impresario, the composer, the author and myself, and any
+suggestion which will improve them is accepted by the designer, and
+alterations are made until everything is satisfactory. The designs are
+then sent to the costume maker.
+
+The important matter of lighting and electrical effects is not dealt
+with until after the scenery has been completed, painted and set up on
+the stage, except in the case when exceptional effects are demanded. The
+matter is then carefully discussed and arranged so that the apparatus
+will be ready by the time the earlier rehearsals are taking place.
+
+The staff required by a Technical Director in such an institution as the
+Metropolitan Opera House is necessarily a large one. He needs an able
+scenic artist with his assistants and an efficient carpenter with his
+assistants to complete the scenic arrangements as indicated in the
+models. The completed scenery is delivered over to the stage carpenter
+who has a large body of assistants, and is held responsible for the
+running of the opera during rehearsals and performances. The stage
+carpenter has also under his control a body of carpenters who work all
+night, commencing their duties after the opera is over, removing all the
+scenery used in the opera just finished from the opera house and
+bringing from the various storehouses the scenery required for the next
+performance or rehearsal. The electrician is an important member of my
+staff, and he, of course, has a number of assistants. The Property
+Master and his assistants and the Wardrobe Mistress and her assistants
+also are extremely important. Then the active engineer who is
+responsible for the heating and ventilating, and also for many of the
+stage effects, is another necessary and important member. In all, the
+Opera House, when in full swing, requires for the technical or stage
+detail work alone about 185 people.
+
+[Illustration: HOW AN OPERATIC STAGE LOOKS FROM BEHIND.]
+
+Thus far we have not considered the musical side of the production. This
+is, of course, under the management of the General Director and the
+leading Musical Director. Very little time at best is at the disposal of
+the musical director. A director like Toscanini would, in a first-class
+opera house, with a full and competent company, require about fifteen
+days to complete the rehearsals, and other preparations for such a
+production as _Aida_, should such a work be brought out as a novelty. A
+good conductor needs at least four orchestra rehearsals. _Pelleas et
+Melisande_ would require more extensive rehearsing, as the music is of a
+new order and is, in a sense, a new form of art.
+
+
+IMPORTANT REHEARSALS
+
+While the head musical director is engaged with the principals and the
+orchestra, the Chorus-master spends his time training the chorus. If his
+work is not efficiently done, the entire production is greatly impeded.
+The assistant conductors undertake the work of rehearsing the soloists
+prior to their appearance in connection with the orchestra. They must
+know the Head Director's ideas perfectly, and see that the soloists do
+not introduce interpretations which are too much at variance with his
+ideas and the accepted traditions. In all about ten rehearsals are given
+to a work in a room set aside for that purpose, then there are five
+stage rehearsals, and finally four full ensemble rehearsals with
+orchestra. In putting on an old work, such as those in the standard
+repertoire, no rehearsals are demanded.
+
+The musical forces of the Metropolitan Opera House, for instance, make a
+company of at least two leading conductors, twelve assistant conductors,
+about ninety soloists, a chorus numbering at least one hundred and
+twenty-five singers, thirty musicians for stage music, about twenty
+stage attendants and an orchestra of from eighty to one hundred
+performers, to say nothing of the costume, scenic and business staff,
+making a little industry all in itself.
+
+The General Director, the Stage Manager, and often the Musical Director
+make innumerable suggestions to the singers regarding the proper
+histrionic presentation of their roles. As a rule singers give too
+little attention to the dramatic side of their work and demand too much
+of the stage manager. In recent years there has been a great improvement
+in this. Prior to the time of Gluck, Weber and Wagner, acting in opera
+was a matter of ridicule.
+
+
+THE BALLET
+
+About seventy or one hundred persons make up the ballet of a modern
+grand opera. At least ten years of continuous study are required to make
+a finished ballet dancer in the histrionic sense. Many receive very
+large fees for their services. The art of stage dancing also has
+undergone many great reforms in recent years; and the ballets of to-day
+are therefore much more popular than they were in the latter part of the
+last century. The most popular ballets of to-day are the _Coppelia_ and
+_Sylvia_ of Delibes. The ballets from the operas of _La Gioconda_,
+_Samson et Delila_, _Armide_, _Mephistophele_, _Aida_, _Orfeo_,
+_L'Africaine_, and _The Damnation of Faust_ also are very popular.
+
+At a modern opera house like the Metropolitan in New York City the
+number of employees will be between six hundred and seven hundred, and
+the cost of a season will be about one million dollars.
+
+
+
+
+FRANCES ALDA
+
+(MME. GIULIO GATTI-CASAZZA)
+
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+Mme. Frances Alda was born at Christ Church, New Zealand, May 31st,
+1883. She was educated at Melbourne and studied singing with Mathilde
+Marchesi in Paris. Her debut was made in Massenet's _Manon_, at the
+Opera Comique in Paris in 1904. After highly successful engagements in
+Paris, Brussels, Parma and Milan (where she created the title role in
+the Italian version of _Louise_), she made her American debut at the
+Metropolitan Opera House in New York as Gilda in Verdi's _Rigoletto_.
+Since her initial success in New York she has been connected with the
+Metropolitan stage every season. In 1910 she married Giulio
+Gatti-Casazza, manager of the Metropolitan Opera House, and is probably
+better able to speak upon the subject herewith discussed than any one in
+America. She has also appeared with great success in London, Warsaw,
+Buenos Aires and other cities, in opera and in concert. Many of the most
+important leading roles in modern opera have been created by her in
+America.
+
+[Illustration: MME. FRANCES ALDA.
+
+(C) Underwood & Underwood.]
+
+
+
+
+WHAT THE AMERICAN GIRL SHOULD KNOW ABOUT AN OPERATIC CAREER
+
+MME. FRANCES ALDA (MME. GATTI-CASAZZA)
+
+
+REGULARITY AND SUCCESS
+
+To the girl who aspires to have an operatic career, who has the
+requisite vocal gifts, physical health, stage presence and--most
+important of all--a high degree of intelligence, the great essential is
+regular daily work. This implies regular lessons, regular practice,
+regular exercise, regular sleep, regular meals--in fact, a life of
+regularity. The daily lesson in most cases seems an imperative
+necessity. Lessons strung over a series of years merely because it seems
+more economical to take one lesson a week instead of seven rarely
+produce the expected results. Marchesi, with her famous wisdom on vocal
+matters, advised twenty minutes a day and then not more than ten minutes
+at a time.
+
+For nine months I studied with the great Parisian maestra and in my
+tenth month I made my debut. Of course, I had sung a great deal before
+that time and also could play both the piano and the violin. A thorough
+musical knowledge is always valuable. The early years of the girl who is
+destined for an operatic career may be much more safely spent with
+Czerny exercises for the piano or Kreutzer studies for the violin than
+with Concone Solfeggios for the voice. Most girls over-exercise their
+voices during the years when they are too delicate. It always pays to
+wait and spend the time in developing the purely musical side of study.
+
+
+MODERATION AND GOOD SENSE
+
+More voices collapse from over-practice and more careers collapse from
+under-work than from anything else. The girl who hopes to become a prima
+donna will dream of her work morning, noon and night. Nothing can take
+it out of her mind. She will seek to study every imaginable thing that
+could in any way contribute to her equipment. There is so much to learn
+that she must work hard to learn all. Even now I study pretty regularly
+two hours a day, but I rarely sing more than a few minutes. I hum over
+my new roles with my accompanist, Frank La Forge, and study them in that
+way. It was to such methods as this that Marchesi attributed the
+wonderful longevity of the voices of her best-known pupils. When they
+followed the advice of the dear old maestra their voices lasted a long,
+long time. Her vocal exercises were little more than scales sung very
+slowly, single, sustained tones repeated time and again until her
+critical ear was entirely satisfied, and then arpeggios. After that came
+more complicated technical drills to prepare the pupil for the fioriture
+work demanded in the more florid operas. At the base of all, however,
+were the simplest kind of exercises. Through her discriminating sense of
+tone quality, her great persistence and her boundless enthusiasm, she
+used these simple vocal materials with a wizardry that produced great
+_prime donne_.
+
+
+THE PRECIOUS HEAD VOICE
+
+Marchesi laid great stress upon the use of the head voice. This she
+illustrated to all her pupils herself, at the same time not hesitating
+to insist that it was impossible for a male teacher to teach the head
+voice properly. (Marchesi herself carried out her theories by refusing
+to teach any male applicants.) She never let any pupil sing above F on
+the top line of the treble staff in anything but the head voice. They
+rarely ever touched their highest notes with full voice. The upper part
+of the voice was conserved with infinite care to avoid early breakdowns.
+Even when the pupils sang the top notes they did it with the feeling
+that there was still something in reserve. In my operatic work at
+present I feel this to be of greatest importance. The singer who
+exhausts herself upon the top notes is neither artistic nor effective.
+
+
+THE AMERICAN GIRL'S CHANCES IN OPERA
+
+The American girl who fancies that she has less chances in opera than
+her sisters of the European countries is silly. Look at the lists of
+artists at the Metropolitan, for instance. The list includes twice as
+many artists of American nationality as of any other nation. This is in
+no sense the result of pandering to the patriotism of the American
+public. It is simply a matter of supply and demand. New Yorkers demand
+the best opera in the world and expect the best voices in the world.
+The management would accept fine artists with fine voices from China or
+Africa or the North Pole if they were forthcoming. A diamond is a
+diamond no matter where it comes from. The management virtually ransacks
+the musical marts of Europe every year for fine voices. Inevitably the
+list of American artists remains higher. On the whole, the American
+girls have better natural voices, more ambition and are willing to study
+seriously, patiently and energetically. This is due in a measure to
+better physical conditions in America and in Australia, another free
+country that has produced unusual singers. What is the result? America
+is now producing the best and enjoying the best. There is more fine
+music of all kinds now in New York during one week than one can get in
+Paris in a month and more than one can get in Milan in six months. This
+has made New York a great operatic and musical center. It is a wonderful
+opportunity for Americans who desire to enter opera.
+
+
+THE NEED FOR SUPERIOR INTELLIGENCE
+
+There was a time in the halcyon days of the old coloratura singers when
+the opera singer was not expected to have very much more intelligence
+than a parrot. Any singer who could warble away at runs and trills was a
+great artist. The situation has changed entirely to-day. The modern
+opera-goer demands great acting as well as great singing. The opera
+house calls for brains as well as voices. There should properly be great
+and sincere rivalry among fine singers. The singer must listen to other
+singers with minute care and patience, and then try to learn how to
+improve herself by self-study and intelligent comparison. Just as the
+great actor studies everything that pertains to his role, so the great
+singer knows the history of the epoch of the opera in which he is to
+appear, he knows the customs, he may know something of the literature of
+the time. In other words, he must live and think in another atmosphere
+before he can walk upon the stage and make the audience feel that he is
+really a part of the picture. Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree gave a
+presentation that was convincing and beautiful, while the mediocre
+actor, not willing to give as much brain work to his performance, falls
+far short of an artistic performance.
+
+A modern performance of any of the great works as they are presented at
+the Metropolitan is rehearsed with great care and attention to
+historical detail. Instances of this are the performances of _L'Amore di
+Tre Re_, _Carmen_, _Boheme_, and _Lohengrin_, as well as such great
+works as _Die Meistersinger_, and _Tristan und Isolde_.
+
+
+PHYSICAL STRENGTH AND SINGING
+
+Few singers seem to realize that an operatic career will be determined
+in its success very largely through physical strength, all other factors
+being present in the desired degree. That is, the singer must be strong
+physically in order to succeed in opera. This applies to women as well
+as to men. No one knows what the physical strain is, how hard the work
+and study are. In front of you is a sea of highly intelligent, cultured
+people, who for years have been trained in the best traditions of the
+opera. They pay the highest prices paid anywhere for entertainment. They
+are entitled to the best. To face such an audience and maintain the high
+traditions of the house through three hours of a complicated modern
+score is a musical, dramatic and intellectual feat that demands, first
+of all, a superb physical condition. Every day of my life in New York I
+go for a walk, mostly around the reservoir in Central Park, because it
+is high and the air is pure and free. As a result I seldom have a cold,
+even in mid-winter. I have not missed a performance in eight years, and
+this, of course, is due to the fact that my health is my first daily
+consideration.
+
+[Illustration: PASQUALE AMATO.
+
+(C) Mishkin.]
+
+
+
+
+PASQUALE AMATO
+
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+Pasquale Amato, for so many years the leading baritone at the
+Metropolitan Opera House in New York, was born at Naples March 21st,
+1878. He was intended for the career of an engineer and was educated at
+the Instituto Tecnico Domenico. He then studied at the Conservatory of
+Naples from 1896 to 1899. His teachers there were Cucialla and Carelli.
+He made his debut as Germont in _La Traviata_ in the Teatro Bellini at
+Naples in 1900. Thereafter his successes have been exceptionally great
+in the music centers of South America, Italy, Russia, England, Egypt,
+and Germany. He has created numerous roles at the Metropolitan Opera
+House, among them Jack Rance in the _Girl of the Golden West_; Golaud in
+_Pelleas and Melisande_ (Milan); _L'Amore di Tre Re_; _Cyrano_
+(Damrosch); _Lodoletta_ (Mascagni); _Madame Sans Gene_. He has visited
+South America as an artist no less than ten times. His voice is
+susceptible of fine dramatic feeling.
+
+
+
+
+MODERN VOCAL METHODS IN ITALY
+
+PASQUALE AMATO
+
+
+When I was about sixteen years of age my voice was sufficiently settled
+to encourage my friends and family to believe that I might become a
+singer. This is a proud discovery for an Italian boy, as
+singing--especially operatic singing--is held in such high regard in
+Italy that one naturally looks forward with joy to a career in the great
+opera houses of one's native country and possibly to those over the sea.
+At eighteen I was accordingly entered in the conservatory, but not
+without many conditions, which should be of especial interest to young
+American vocal students. The teachers did not immediately accept me as
+good vocal material. I was recognized to have musical inclinations and
+musical gifts and I was placed under observation so that it might be
+determined whether the state-supported conservatory should direct my
+musical education along vocal lines or along other lines.
+
+This is one of the cardinal differences between musical education in
+America and musical education in Italy. In America a pupil suddenly
+determines that he is destined to become a great opera singer and
+forthwith he hires a teacher to make him one. He might have been
+destined to become a plumber, or a lawyer, or a comedian, but that has
+little to do with the matter if he has money and can employ a teacher.
+In Italy such a direction of talents would be considered a waste to the
+individual and to the state. Of course the system has its very decided
+faults, for a corps of teachers with poor or biased judgment could do a
+great deal of damage by discouraging real talent, as was, indeed, the
+case with the great Verdi, who at the age of eighteen was refused
+admission to the Milan Conservatory by the director, Basili, on the
+score of lack of talent.
+
+However, for the most part the judges are experienced and skilful men,
+and when a pupil has been under surveillance for some time the liability
+of an error in judgment is very slight. Accordingly, after I had spent
+some time in getting acquainted with music through the study of
+Notation, Sight-singing, Theory, Harmony, Piano, etc., I was informed at
+the end of two years that I had been selected for an operatic career. I
+can remember the time with great joy. It meant a new life to me, for I
+was certain that with the help of such conservative masters I should
+succeed.
+
+On the whole, at this time, I consider the Italian system a very wise
+one for it does not fool away any time with incompetence. I have met so
+many young musicians who have shown indications of great study but who
+seem destitute of talent. It seems like coaxing insignificant shrubs to
+become great oak trees. No amount of coaxing or study will give them
+real talent if they do not have it, so why waste the money of the state
+and the money of the individual upon it. On the other hand, wherever in
+the world there is real talent, the state should provide money to
+develop it, just as it provides money to educate the young.
+
+
+ITALIAN VOCAL TEACHING
+
+So much has been said about the Old Italian Vocal Method that the very
+name brings ridicule in some quarters. Nothing has been the subject for
+so much charlatanry. It is something that any teacher, good or bad, can
+claim in this country. Every Italian is of course very proud indeed of
+the wonderful vocal traditions of Italy, the centuries of idealism in
+search of better and better tone production. There are of course certain
+statements made by great voice teachers of other days that have been put
+down and may be read in almost any library in large American cities. But
+that these things make a vocal method that will suit all cases is too
+absurd to consider. The good sense of the old Italian master would hold
+such a plan up to ridicule. Singing is first of all an art, and an art
+can not be circumscribed by any set of rules or principles.
+
+The artist must, first of all, know a very great deal about all possible
+phases of the technic of his art and must then adjust himself to the
+particular problem before him. Therefore we might say that the Italian
+method was a method and then again that it was no method. As a matter of
+fact it is thousands of methods--one for each case or vocal problem. For
+instance, if I were to sing by the same means that Mr. Caruso employs it
+would not at all be the best thing for my voice, yet for Mr. Caruso it
+is without question the very best method, or his vocal quality would
+not be in such superb condition after constant years of use. He is the
+proof of his own method.
+
+I should say that the Italian vocal teacher teaches, first of all, with
+his ears. He listens with the greatest possible intensity to every shade
+of tone-color until his ideal tone reveals itself. This often requires
+months and months of patience. The teacher must recognize the vocal
+deficiencies and work to correct them. For instance, I never had to work
+with my high tones. They are to-day produced in the same way in which I
+produced them when I was a boy. Fortunately I had teachers who
+recognized this and let it go at that.
+
+Possibly the worst kind of a vocal teacher is the one who has some set
+plan or device or theory which must be followed "willy-nilly" in order
+that the teacher's theories may be vindicated. With such a teacher no
+voice is safe. The very best natural voices have to follow some patent
+plan just because the teacher has been taught in one way, is
+inexperienced, and has not good sense enough to let nature's perfect
+work alone. Both of my teachers knew that my high tones were all right
+and the practice was directed toward the lower tones. They worked me for
+over ten months on scales and sustained tones until the break that came
+at E flat above the Bass Clef was welded from the lower tones to the
+upper tones so that I could sing up or down with no ugly break audible.
+
+I was drilled at first upon the vowel "ah." I hear American vocal
+authorities refer to "ah" as in father. That seems to me too flat a
+sound, one lacking in real resonance. The vowel used in my case in Italy
+and in hundreds of other cases I have noted is a slightly broader vowel,
+such as may be found half-way between the vowel "ah" as in father, and
+the "aw" as in law. It is not a dull sound, yet it is not the sound of
+"ah" in father. Perhaps the word "doff" or the first syllable of Boston,
+when properly pronounced, gives the right impression.
+
+I do not know enough of American vocal training to give an intelligent
+criticism, but I wonder if American vocal teachers give as much
+attention to special parts of the training as teachers in Italy do. I
+hope they do, as I consider it very necessary. Consider the matter of
+staccato. A good vocal staccato is really a very difficult
+thing--difficult when it is right; that is, when on the pitch--every
+time, clear, distinct, and at the same time not hard and stiff. It took
+me weeks to acquire the right way of singing such a passage as _Un di,
+quando le veneri_, from _Traviata_, but those were very profitable
+weeks--
+
+[Illustration: musical notation
+
+    Un di, quan-do le ve-ne-ri il
+    tem-po a-vra fu-ga-te
+]
+
+Accurate attack in such a passage is by no means easy. Anyone can sing
+it--but _how it is sung_ makes the real difference.
+
+The public has very odd ideas about singing. For instance, it would be
+amazed to learn that _Trovatore_ is a much more difficult role for me to
+sing and sing right than either _Parsifal_ or _Pelleas and Melisande_.
+This largely because of the pure vocal demands and the flowing style.
+The Debussy opera, wonderful as it is, does not begin to make the vocal
+demands that such a work as _Trovatore_ does.
+
+When the singer once acquires proficiency, the acquisition of new roles
+comes very easy indeed. The main difficulty is the daily need for
+drilling the voice until it has the same quality every day. It can be
+done only by incessant attention. Here are some of the exercises I do
+every day with my accompanist:
+
+[Illustration: musical notation
+
+_First time forte second time piano._]
+
+
+
+
+DAVID BISPHAM
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+David Bispham, in many ways the most distinguished of all American
+singers, was born in Philadelphia January 5th, 1857. Educated at
+Haverford College, Pa. At first a highly successful amateur in
+Philadelphia choirs and theatricals, he went to Milan in 1886, studying
+with Vannuccini, Lamperti and later in London with Shakespeare and
+Randegger. His operatic debut was made in Messager's _Basoche_ at the
+Royal English Opera House, 1891. In 1892 he appeared as Kurvenal and met
+with great favor. His Wagnerian roles have been especially distinctive
+since the start. From 1896 to 1909 he sang alternately at the
+Metropolitan in New York and at Covent Garden in London, and was
+admittedly one of the foremost attractions of those great companies in
+the golden era of our operatic past. He was also immensely in demand as
+a recital and as an oratorio singer and as a dramatic reader. Few
+singers have shown the versatility and mastery of David Bispham and few
+have been so justly entitled to the academic honors LL.D., B.A., and
+Mus. Doc., which he had earned. He was the author of numerous articles
+on singing--the very successful autobiography, "A Quaker Singer's
+Reminiscences," and the collections, "David Bispham's Recital Album,"
+"The David Bispham Song Book" (for schools). He was also ever a strong
+champion of the use of the English language in singing. He died in New
+York City Oct. 2d, 1921.
+
+[Illustration: DAVID BISPHAM.]
+
+
+
+
+THE MAIN ELEMENTS OF INTERPRETATION
+
+DAVID BISPHAM
+
+
+So many things enter into the great problem of interpretation in singing
+that it is somewhat difficult to state definitely just what the young
+singer should consider the most important. Generally speaking, the
+following factors are of prime significance:
+
+    1. Natural Aptitude.
+    2. General Education and Culture.
+    3. Good Musical Training.
+    4. Accurate Vocal Training.
+    5. Familiarity with Traditions.
+    6. Freedom of Mind.
+    7. Good Health.
+    8. Life Experience.
+    9. Personal Magnetism--one of the most essential,--and
+    10. Idealism.
+
+1. _Natural Aptitude._--You will notice that foremost consideration is
+given to those broad general qualities without which all the technical
+and musical training of the world is practically worthless. The success
+of the art worker in all lines depends first upon the nature of the man
+or woman. Technical training of the highest and best kind is essential,
+but that which moves great audiences is not alone the mechanics of an
+art, but rather the broad education, experience, ideals, culture, the
+human sympathy and magnetism of the artist.
+
+2. _The Value of Education and Culture._--I cannot emphasize too
+strongly the value of a good general education and wide culture for the
+singer. The day has passed when a pretty face or a well-rounded ankle
+could be mistaken for art on the operatic stage. The public now demands
+something more than the heroic looking young fellow who comes down to
+the footlights with the assurance of youth and offers, for real vocal
+art, a voice fresh but crudely trained, and a bungling interpretation.
+
+Good education has often been responsible for the phenomenal success of
+American singers in European opera houses. Before the last war, in
+nearly all of the great operatic centers of the Continent, one found
+Americans ranking with the greatest artists in Europe. This was a most
+propitious condition, for it meant that American audiences have been
+compelled to give the long-delayed recognition to our own singers, and
+methods of general and vocal education.
+
+In most cases the young people of America who aspire to operatic
+triumphs come from a somewhat better class than singers do in Europe.
+They have had, in most cases, better educational, cultural and home
+advantages than the average European student. Their minds are trained to
+study intelligently; they are acquainted with the history of the great
+nations of the world; their tastes are cultivated, and they are filled
+with the American energy which is one of the marvels of the centuries.
+More than this, they have had a kind of moral uplift in their homes
+which is of immense value to them. They have higher ideals in life, they
+are more businesslike and they keep their purposes very clearly in view.
+This has created jealousy in some European centers; but it is simply a
+case of the survival of the fittest, and Europe was compelled to bow in
+recognition of this. Vocal art in our own land is no longer to be
+ignored, for our standards are as high as the highest in the world, and
+we are educating a race of singers of which any country might be proud.
+
+3. _Good Musical Training._--A thorough musical training--that is, a
+training upon some musical instrument such as the piano--is extremely
+desirable, but not absolutely essential; for the instrument called the
+Human Voice can be played on as effectively as a violin. The singer who
+is convinced of his ability, but who has not had such advantages in
+early youth, should not be discouraged. He can acquire a thorough
+knowledge of the essentials later on, but he will have to work very much
+harder to get his knowledge--as I was obliged to do. Artistic ability is
+by no means a certain quality. The famous art critic, Vassari, has
+called our attention to the fact that one painter who produced wonderful
+pictures had an exhaustive technical training, another arising at his
+side who also achieved wonderful results had to secure them by means of
+much bungling self-study. It is very hard to repress artistic ability.
+As the Bible says: "Many waters cannot quench love." So it is with
+music; if the ability is there, it will come to the front through fire
+and water.
+
+4. _Accurate and Rational Vocal Training._--I have added the word
+rational for it seems a necessary term at a time when so much vocal
+teaching is apparently in the hands of "faddists." There is only one way
+to sing, that is _the right way_, the way that is founded upon natural
+conditions. So much has been said in print about breathing, and placing
+the voice, and resonance, that anything new might seem redundant at this
+time. The whole thing in a nutshell is simply to make an effort to get
+the breath under such excellent control that it will obey the will so
+easily and fluently that the singer is almost unconscious of any means
+he may employ to this end. This can come only through long practice and
+careful observation. When the breath is once under proper control the
+supply must be so adjusted that neither too much nor too little will be
+applied to the larynx at one time. How to do this can be discovered only
+by much practice and self-criticism. When the tone has been created it
+must be reinforced and colored by passing through the mouth and nose,
+and the latter is a very present help in time of vocal trouble. This
+leads to a good tone on at least twenty-six steps and half-steps of the
+scale and with twenty or more vowel sounds--no easy task by any means.
+All this takes time, but there is no reason why it should take an
+interminable amount of time. If good results are not forthcoming in from
+nine months to a year, something is wrong with either the pupil or the
+teacher.
+
+The matter of securing vocal flexibility should not be postponed too
+long, but may in many instances be taken up in conjunction with the
+studies in tone production, after the first principles have been
+learned. Thereafter one enters upon the endless and indescribably
+interesting field of securing a repertoire. Only a teacher with wide
+experience and intimacy with the best in the vocal literature of the
+world can correctly grade and select pieces suitable to the
+ever-changing needs of the pupil.
+
+No matter how wonderful the flexibility of the voice, no matter how
+powerful the tones, no matter how extensive the repertoire, the singer
+will find all this worthless unless he possesses a voice that is
+susceptible to the expression of every shade of mental and emotional
+meaning which his intelligence, experience and general culture have
+revealed to him in the work he is interpreting. At all times his voice
+must be under control. Considered from the mechanical standpoint, the
+voice resembles the violin, the breath, as it passes over the vocal
+cords, corresponding to the bow and the resonance chambers corresponding
+to the resonance chambers in the violin.
+
+5. _Familiarity With Vocal Traditions._--We come to the matter of the
+study of the traditional methods of interpreting vocal masterpieces. We
+must, of course, study these traditions, but we must not be slaves to
+them. In other words, we must know the past in order to interpret
+masterpieces properly in the present. We must not, however, sacrifice
+that great quality--individuality--for slavery to convention. If the
+former Italian method of rendering certain arias was marred by the
+tremolo of some famous singers, there is no good artistic reason why any
+one should retain anything so hideous as a tremolo solely because it is
+traditional.
+
+There is a capital story of a young American singer who went to a
+European opera house with all the characteristic individuality and
+inquisitiveness of his people. In one opera the stage director told him
+to go to the back of the stage before singing his principal number and
+then walk straight down to the footlights and deliver the aria. "Why
+must I go to the back first?" asked the young singer. The director was
+amazed and blustered: "Why? Why, because the great Rubini did it that
+way--he created the part; it is the tradition." But the young singer was
+not satisfied, and finally found an old chorus man who had sung with
+Rubini, and asked him whether the tradition was founded upon a custom of
+the celebrated singer. "Yes," replied the chorus man, "da gretta Rubini
+he granda man. He go waya back; then he comea front; then he sing. Ah,
+grandissimo!" "But," persisted the young American, "_Why did he go to
+the back before he sang?_" "Oh!" exclaimed the excited Italian; "Why he
+go back? He go to spit!"
+
+Farcical as this incident may seem, many musical traditions are founded
+upon customs with quite as little musical or esthetic importance. Many
+traditions are to-day quite as useless as the buttons on the sleeves of
+our coats, although these very buttons were at one time employed by our
+forefathers to fasten back the long cuffs. There are, however, certain
+traditional methods of rendering great masterpieces, and particularly
+those marked by the florid ornamentation of the days of Handel, Bach and
+Haydn, which the singer must know. Unfortunately, many of these
+traditions have not been preserved in print in connection with the
+scores themselves, and the only way in which the young singer can
+acquire a knowledge of them is through hearing authoritative artists, or
+from teachers who have had wide and rich experience.
+
+6. _Freedom of Mind._--Under ideal conditions the mind should be free
+for music study and for public performance. This is not always possible;
+and some artists under great mental pressure have done their best work
+solely because they felt that the only way to bury sorrow and trouble
+was to thrust themselves into their artistic life and thus forget the
+pangs of misfortune. The student, however, should do everything possible
+to have his mind free so that he can give his best to his work. One who
+is wondering where the next penny is coming from is in a poor condition
+to impress an audience. Nevertheless, if the real ability is there it is
+bound to triumph over all obstacles.
+
+7. _Good Health._--Good health is one of the great factors of success in
+singing. Who needs a sounder mind than the artist? Good health comes
+from good, sensible living. The singer must never forget that the
+instrument he plays upon is a part of his body and that that instrument
+depends for its musical excellence and general condition upon good
+health. A $20,000 Stradivarius would be worthless if it were placed in a
+tub of water; and a larynx that earns for its owner from $500 to $1,500
+a night is equally valueless when saturated with the poisons that come
+from intemperate or unwise living. Many of the singer's throat troubles
+arise from an unhealthy condition of the stomach caused by excesses of
+diet; but, aside from this, a disease localized in any other part of the
+body affects the throat sympathetically and makes it difficult for the
+singer to get good results. Recital work, with its long fatiguing
+journeys on railroads, together with the other inconveniences of travel
+and the responsibility and strain that come from knowing that one person
+alone is to hold from 1,000 to 5,000 people interested for nearly two
+hours, demands a very sound physical condition.
+
+8. _Life Experience._--Culture does not come from the schoolroom alone.
+The refining processes of life are long and varied. As the violin gains
+in richness of tone and intrinsic value with age, so the singer's life
+experience has an effect upon the character of his singing. He must have
+seen life in its broadest sense, to place himself in touch with human
+sympathy. To do this and still retain the freshness and sweetness of his
+voice should be his great aim. The singer who lives a narrow and bigoted
+existence rarely meets with wide popular approval. The public wants to
+hear in a voice that wonderful something that tells them that it has
+had opportunities to know and to understand the human side of song, not
+giving parrot-like versions of some teacher's way of singing, but that
+the understanding comes from the very center of the mind, heart and
+soul. This is particularly true in the field of the song recital. Most
+of the renowned recital singers of the last half century, including
+Schumann-Heink, Sembrich, Wuellner, the Henschels and others, were
+considerably past their youth when they made their greatest successes. A
+painting fresh from the artist's brush is raw, hard and uninteresting,
+till time, with its damp and dust, night and day, heat and cold, gives
+the enriching touch which adds so wonderfully to the softness and beauty
+of a picture. We singers are all living canvases. Time, and time only,
+can give us those shades and tints which reveal living experience. The
+young artist should hear many of the best singers, actors, and speakers,
+should read many of the best books, should see many beautiful pictures
+and wonderful buildings. But most of all, he should know and study many
+people and learn of their joys and their sorrows, their successes and
+their failures, their strength and their weaknesses, their loves and
+their hates. In all art human life is reflected, and this is
+particularly true in the case of vocal art. For years, in my youth, I
+never failed to attend all of the musical events of consequence in my
+native city. This was of immense value to me, since it gave me the means
+of cultivating my own judgment of what was good or bad in singing. Do
+not fear that you will become _blase_. If you have the right spirit
+every musical event you attend will spur you on.
+
+You may say that it is expensive to hear great singers, and that you can
+only attend recitals and the opera occasionally. If this is really the
+case you still have a means of hearing singers which you should not
+neglect. I refer to the reproducing machines which have grown to be of
+such importance in vocal education. Phonograph records are nothing short
+of marvelous, and my earnestness in this cause is shown by the fact that
+I have long advocated their employment in the public schools, and have
+placed the matter before the educational authorities of New York. I
+earnestly urge the music teachers of this country, who are working for
+the real musical development of our children, to take this matter up in
+all seriousness. I can assure them that their efforts will bring them
+rich dividends in increased interest in musical work of their pupils,
+and the forming of a musical public. But nothing but the classics of
+song must be used. The time for the scorning of "high-brow" songs is
+past, and music must help this country to rid itself of the vogue of the
+"low-brow" and the "tough." Let singers strive to become educated
+ornaments of their lofty profession.
+
+9. _Personal Magnetism._--One of the most essential. The subject of
+"personal magnetism" is ridiculed by some, of course, but rarely laughed
+at by the artist who has experienced the astonishing phenomena in the
+opera house or the concert room. Like electricity it is intangible,
+indefinable, indescribable, but makes its existence known by
+manifestations that are almost uncanny. If personal magnetism does not
+exist, how then can we account for the fact that one pianist can sit
+down to the instrument and play a certain piece, and that another
+pianist could play the same piece with the same technical effect but
+losing entirely the charm and attractiveness with which the first
+pianist imbued the composition? Personal magnetism does not depend upon
+personal beauty nor erudition nor even upon perfect health. Henry Irving
+and Sarah Bernhardt were certainly not beautiful, but they held the
+world of the theater in the palm of their hand. Some artists have really
+been in the last stages of severe illness but have, nevertheless,
+possessed the divine electric spark to inspire hundreds, as did the
+hectic Chopin when he made his last famous visit to England and
+Scotland.
+
+Personal magnetism is not a kind of hypnotic influence to be found
+solely in the concert hall or the theater. Most artists possess it to a
+certain degree. Without this subtle and mysterious force, success with
+the public never comes.
+
+10. _Idealism._--Ideals are the flowers of youth. Only too often they
+are not tenderly cared for, and the result is that many who have been on
+the right track are turned in the direction of failure by materialism.
+It is absolutely essential for the young singer to have high ideals.
+Direct your efforts to the best in whatever branch of vocal art you
+determine to undertake. Do not for a moment let mediocrity or the
+substitution of artificial methods enter your vision. Holding to your
+ideal will mean costly sacrifices to you; but all sacrifices are worth
+while if one can realize one's ideal. The ideal is only another term for
+Heaven to me. If we could all attain to the ideal, we would all be in a
+kind of earthly Paradise. It has always seemed to me that when our Lord
+said "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand," he meant that it is at hand for
+us to possess now; that is the _ideal_ in life.
+
+[Illustration: DAME CLARA BUTT.]
+
+
+
+
+DAME CLARA BUTT
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Dame Butt was born at Southwick, Sussex, February 1, 1873. Her first
+lessons were with D. W. Rootham in Bristol.
+
+In 1889 she won a scholarship at the Royal College of music where the
+teacher was J. H. Blower. Later she studied for short periods with Bouhy
+in Paris and Etelka Gerster in Berlin. Her debut was made as Ursula in
+Sullivan's setting of the Longfellow poem, _Golden Legend_. Her success
+was immediate and very great. She became in demand at all of the great
+English musical festivals and also sang before enormous audiences for
+years in the great English cities. In 1900 she married the noted English
+baritone R. Kennerly Rumford and together they have made many tours,
+including a tour of the world, appearing everywhere with continued
+success. Her voice is one of rich, full contralto quality with such
+individual characteristics that great English composers have written
+special works to reveal these great natural gifts. Dame Butt received
+her distinction of "Dame" from King George in 1920. Her happy family
+life with her children has won her endless admirers among musical people
+everywhere.
+
+
+
+
+SUCCESS IN CONCERT SINGING
+
+DAME CLARA BUTT
+
+HEALTH AND SINGING
+
+
+It must be obvious to all aspiring vocal students that splendid good
+health is well nigh indispensable to the singer. There have been
+singers, of course, who have had physical afflictions that have made
+their public appearances extremely painful, but they have succeeded in
+spite of these unfortunate drawbacks. In fact, if the young singer is
+ambitious and has that wonderful gift of directing her efforts in the
+way most likely to bring fortunate results, even physical weakness may
+be overcome. By this I mean that the singer will work out some plan for
+bringing her physical condition to the standard that fine singing
+demands. I believe most emphatically that the right spirit will conquer
+obstacles that often seem impassable. One might safely say that
+nine-tenths of the successes in all branches of artistic work are due to
+the inextinguishable fire that burns in the heart and mind of the art
+worker and incites him to pass through any ordeal in order to deliver
+his message to the world.
+
+
+MISDIRECTED EFFORT
+
+The cruel part of it all is that many aspire to become great singers who
+can never possibly have their hopes realized. Natural selection rather
+than destiny seems to govern this matter. The ugly caterpillar seems
+like an unpromising candidate for the brilliant career of the butterfly,
+and it oftentimes happens that students who seem unpromising to some
+have just the qualities which, with the right time, instruction and
+experience, will entitle them to great success. It is the little ant who
+hopes to grow iridescent wings, and who travels through conservatory
+after conservatory, hoping to find the magic chrysalis that will do
+this, who is to be pitied. Great success must depend upon special gifts,
+intellectual as well as vocal. Oh, if we only had some instinct, like
+that possessed by animals, that would enable us to determine accurately
+in advance the safest road for us to take, the road that will lead us to
+the best development of our real talents--not those we imagine we may
+have or those which the flattery of friends have grafted upon us! Mr.
+Rumford and I have witnessed so much very hard and very earnest work
+carried on by students who have no rational basis to hope for success as
+singers, that we have been placed in the uncomfortable position of
+advising young singers to seek some other life work.
+
+
+WHEN TO BEGIN
+
+The eternal question, "At what age shall I commence to study singing?"
+is always more or less amusing to the experienced singer. If the
+singer's spirit is in the child, nothing will stop his singing. He will
+sing from morning until night, and seems to be guided in most cases by
+an all-providing Nature that makes its untutored efforts the very best
+kind of practice. Unless the child is brought into contact with very bad
+music he is not likely to be injured. Children seem to be trying their
+best to prove the Darwinian theory by showing us that they can mimic
+quite as well as monkeys. The average child comes into the better part
+of his little store of wisdom through mimicry. Naturally if the little
+vocal student is taken to the vaudeville theatre, where every imaginable
+vocal law is smashed during a three-hour performance, and if the child
+observes that the smashing process is followed by the enthusiastic
+applause of the unthinking audience, it is only reasonable to suppose
+that the child will discover in this what he believes to be the most
+approved art of singing.
+
+It is evident then that the first thing which the parent of the musical
+child should consider is that of teaching him to appreciate what is
+looked upon as good and what is looked upon as bad. Although many
+singers with fine voices have appeared in vaudeville, the others must be
+regarded as "horrible" examples, and the child should know that they are
+such. On the other hand, it is quite evident that the more good singing
+that the child hears in the impressionable years of its youth the
+greater will be the effect upon the mind which is to direct the child's
+musical future. This is a branch of the vocalist's education which may
+begin long before the actual lessons. If it is carefully conducted the
+teacher should have far less difficulty in starting the child with the
+actual work. The only possible danger might be that the child's
+imitative faculty could lead it to extremes of pitch in imitating some
+singer. Even this is hardly more likely to injure it than the shouting
+and screaming which often accompanies the play of children.
+
+The actual time of starting must depend upon the individual. It is never
+too early for him to start in acquiring his musical knowledge.
+Everything he might learn of music itself, through the study of the
+piano or any other instrument would all become a part of his capital
+when he became a singer. Those singers are fortunate whose musical
+knowledge commenced with the cradle and whose first master was that
+greatest of all teachers, the mother. Speaking generally, it seems to be
+the impression of singing teachers that voice students should not
+commence the vocal side of their studies until they are from sixteen to
+seventeen years of age. In this connection, consider my own case. My
+first public appearance with orchestra was when I was fourteen. It was
+in Bristol, England, and among other things I sang _Ora Pro Nobis_ from
+Gounod's _Workers_.
+
+I was fortunate in having in my first teacher, D. W. Rootham, a man too
+thoroughly blessed with good British common sense to have any "tricks."
+He had no fantastic way of doing things, no proprietary methods, that
+none else in the world was supposed to possess. He listened for the
+beautiful in my voice and, as his sense of musical appreciation was
+highly cultivated, he could detect faults, explain them to me and show
+me how to overcome them by purely natural methods. The principal part of
+the process was to make me realize mentally just what was wrong and then
+what was the more artistic way of doing it.
+
+
+LETTING THE VOICE GROW
+
+After all, singing is singing, and I am convinced that my master's idea
+of just letting the voice grow with normal exercise and without excesses
+in any direction was the best way for me. It was certainly better than
+hours and hours of theory, interesting to the student of physiology, but
+often bewildering to the young vocalist. Real singing with real music is
+immeasurably better than ages of conjecture. It appears that some
+students spend years in learning how they are going to sing at some
+glorious day in the future, but it never seems to occur to them that in
+order to sing they must really use their voices. Of course, I do not
+mean to infer that the student must omit the necessary preparatory work.
+Solfeggios, for instance, and scales are extremely useful. Concone,
+tried and true, gives excellent material for all students. But why spend
+years in dreaming of theories regarding singing when everyone knows that
+the theory of singing has been the battleground for innumerable talented
+writers for centuries? Even now it is apparently impossible to reconcile
+all the vocal writers, except in so far as they all modestly admit that
+they have rediscovered the real old Italian school. Perhaps they have.
+But, admitting that an art teacher rediscovered the actual pigments
+used by Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt or Raphael, he would have no little
+task in creating a student who could duplicate _Mona Lisa_, _The Night
+Watch_ or the _Sistine Madonna_.
+
+After leaving Rootham, I won the four hundred guinea scholarship at the
+Royal College of Music and studied with Henry Blower. This I followed
+with a course with Bouhy in Paris and Etelka Gerster in Berlin. Mr.
+Rumford and I both concur in the opinion that it is necessary for the
+student who would sing in any foreign language to study in the country
+in which the language is spoken. In no other way can one get the real
+atmosphere. The preparatory work may be done in the home country, but if
+one fails to taste of the musical life of the country in which the songs
+came into being, there seems to be an indefinable absence of the right
+flavor. I believe in employing the native tongue for songs in recital
+work. It seems narrow to me to do otherwise. At the same time, I have
+always been a champion for songs written originally with English texts,
+and have sung innumerable times with programs made from English lyrics.
+
+
+PREPARING A REPERTOIRE
+
+The idea that concert and recital work is not as difficult as operatic
+work has been pretty well exploded by this time. In fact, it is very
+much more difficult to sing a simple song well in concert than it is to
+sing some of the elaborate Wagnerian recitatives in which the very
+complexities of the music make a convenient hiding place for the
+artist's vocal shortcomings. In concert everything is concentrated upon
+the singer. Convention has ever deprived him of the convenient gestures
+that give ease to the opera singer.
+
+The selection of useful material for concert purposes is immensely
+difficult. It must have artistic merit, it must have human interest, it
+must suit the singer, in most cases the piano must be used for
+accompaniment and the song must not be dependent upon an orchestral
+accompaniment for its value. It must not be too old, it must not be too
+far in advance of popular tastes. It is a bad plan to wander
+indiscriminately about among countless songs, never learning any really
+well. The student should begin to select numbers with great care,
+realizing that it is futile to try to do everything. Lord Bolingbroke,
+in his essay on the shortness of human life, shows how impossible it is
+for a man to read more than a mere fraction of a great library though he
+read regularly every day of his life. It is very much the same with
+music. The resources are so vast and time is so limited that there is no
+opportunity to learn everything. Far better is it for the vocalist to do
+a little well than to do much ineffectually.
+
+Good music well executed meets with very much the same appreciation
+everywhere. During our latest tour we gave almost the very same programs
+in America as those we have been giving upon the European Continent. The
+music-loving American public is likely to differ but slightly from that
+of the great music centers of the old world. Music has truly become a
+universal language.
+
+In developing a repertoire the student might look upon the musical
+public as though it were a huge circle filled with smaller circles, each
+little circle being a center of interest. One circle might insist upon
+old English songs, such as the delightful melodies of Arne, Carey,
+Monroe. Another circle might expect the arias of the old Italian
+masters, Carissimi, Jomelli, Sacchini or Scarlatti. Another circle would
+want to hear the German Lieder of such composers as Schumann, Schubert,
+Brahms, Franz and Wolf. Still another circle might go away disappointed
+if they could not hear something of the ultra modern writers, such as
+Strauss, Debussy or even that freak of musical cacophony, Schoenberg.
+However diverse may be the individual likings of these smaller circles,
+all of the members of your audience are united in liking music as a
+whole.
+
+The audience will demand variety in your repertoire but at the same time
+it will demand certain musical essentials which appeal to all. There is
+one circle in your audience that I have purposely reserved for separate
+discussion. That is the great circle of concert goers who are not
+skilled musicians, who are too frank, too candid, to adopt any of the
+cant of those social frauds who revel in Reger and Schoenberg, and just
+because it might stamp them as real connoisseurs, but who really can't
+recognize much difference between the _Liebestod_ of _Tristan und
+Isolde_ and _Rule Britannia_,--but the music lovers who are too honest
+to fail to state that they like the _Lost Chord_ or the lovely folk
+songs of your American composer, Stephen Foster. Mr. Plunkett Greene, in
+his work upon song interpretation, makes no room for the existence of
+songs of this kind. Indeed, he would cast them all into the discard.
+This seems to me a huge mistake. Surely we can not say that music is a
+monopoly of the few who have schooled their ears to enjoy outlandish
+disonances with delight. Music is perhaps the most universal of all the
+arts and with the gradual evolution of those who love it, a natural
+audience is provided for music of the more complicated sort. We learn to
+like our musical caviar with surprising rapidity. It was only yesterday
+that we were objecting to the delightful piano pieces of Debussy, who
+can generate an atmosphere with a single chord just as Murillo could
+inspire an emotion with a stroke of the brush.
+
+It is not safe to say that you do not like things in this way. I think
+that even Schoenberg is trying to be true to his muse. We must remember
+that Haydn, Beethoven, Wagner and Brahms passed through the fire of
+criticism in their day. The more breadth a singer puts into her work the
+more likely is she to reap success. Time only can produce the
+accomplished artist. The best is to find a joy in your work and think of
+nothing but large success. If you have the gift, triumph will be
+yours.
+
+[Illustration: GIUSEPPE CAMPANARI.
+
+(C) Dupont.]
+
+
+
+
+GIUSEPPE CAMPANARI
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+Giuseppe Campanari was born at Venice, Italy, Nov. 17th, 1858. His
+parents were not particularly musical but were very anxious for the boy
+to become a musician. At the age of nine he commenced to study the piano
+and later he entered the Conservatory of Milan, making his principal
+instrument the violoncello. Upon his graduation he secured a position in
+the 'cello section of the orchestra at "La Scala." Here for years he
+heard the greatest singers and the greatest operas, gaining a musical
+insight into the works through an understanding of the scores which has
+seldom if ever been possessed by a great opera singer. His first
+appearance as singer was at the Teatro dal Verme in Milan. Owing to
+voice strain he was obliged to give up singing and in the interim he
+took a position as a 'cellist in the Boston Symphony Orchestra,
+remaining with that organization some years. He then made appearances
+with the Emma Juch Opera Company, the Heinrichs Opera Company, and
+eventually at the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York, where he
+achieved his greatest triumphs as leading baritone. Mr. Campanari long
+since became an American citizen and has devoted his attention to
+teaching for years.
+
+His conference which follows is particularly interesting, as from the
+vocal standpoint he is almost entirely self taught.
+
+
+
+
+THE VALUE OF SELF-STUDY IN VOICE TRAINING
+
+GIUSEPPE CAMPANARI
+
+
+So much has been written upon the futility of applying one method to all
+cases in vocal instruction that it seems useless for me to say anything
+that would add to the volume of testimony against the custom of trying
+to teach all pupils in the same manner. No one man ever has had, has, or
+ever will have, a "method" superior to all others, for the very simple
+reason that the means one vocalist might employ to reach artistic
+success would be quite different from that which another singer, with an
+entirely different voice, different throat and different intellect,
+would be obliged to employ. One of the great laws of Nature is the law
+of variation; that is, no two children of any parents are ever exactly
+alike. Even in the case of twins there is often a great variation. The
+great English philosopher, Darwin, made much of this principle. It is
+one which all voice students and teachers should consider, for although
+there are, from the nature of things, many foundation principles which
+must remain the same in all cases, the differences in individual cases
+are sufficient to demand the greatest keenness of observation, the
+widest experience and an inexhaustible supply of patience upon the part
+of the teacher.
+
+Please understand, I am not decrying the use of books of exercises such
+as those of Concone, Marchesi, Regine, Panofka and others. Such books
+are necessary. I have used these and others in teaching, suiting the
+book to the individual case. The pupil needs material of this kind, and
+it should be chosen with the greatest care and consideration not only of
+the pupil's voice, but of his intellectual capacity and musical
+experience. These books should not be considered "methods." They are the
+common property of all teachers, and most teachers make use of them. My
+understanding of a "method" is a set of hard and fast rules, usually
+emanating from the mind of some one person who has the effrontery to
+pass them off upon an all too gullible public as the one road to a vocal
+Parnassus. Only the singer with years of experience can realize how
+ridiculous this course is and how large is the percentage of failure of
+the pupils of teachers whose sole claim to fame is that they teach
+the---- method. Proud as I am of the glorious past of vocal art in the
+country of my birth, I cannot help being amused and at the same time
+somewhat irritated when I think of the many palpable frauds that are
+classed under the head of the "Real Old Italian Method" by inexperienced
+teachers. We cannot depend upon the past in all cases to meet present
+conditions. The singers of the olden day in Italy were doubtless great,
+because they possessed naturally fine voices and used them in an
+unaffected, natural manner. In addition to this they were born speaking
+a tongue favorable to beautiful singing, led simple lives and had
+opportunities for hearing the great operas and the great singers
+unexcelled by those of any other European country. That they became
+great through the practice of any set of rules or methods is
+inconceivable. There were great teachers in olden Italy, very great
+teachers, and some of them made notes upon the means they employed, but
+I cannot believe that if these teachers were living to-day they would
+insist upon their ideas being applied to each and every individual case
+in the same identical manner.
+
+
+THE VALUE OF OPERA
+
+This leads us to the subject at hand. The students in Italy in the past
+have had advantages for self-study that were of greatest importance. On
+all sides good singing and great singing might be heard conveniently and
+economically. Opera was and is one of the great national amusements of
+Italy. Opera houses may be found in all of the larger cities and in most
+of the smaller ones. The prices of admission are, as a rule, very low.
+The result is that the boys in the street are often remarkably familiar
+with some of the best works. Indeed, it would not be extravagant to say
+that they were quite as familiar with these musical masterpieces as some
+of the residents of America are with the melodramatic doings of Jesse
+James or the "Queen of Chinatown." Thus it is that the average Italian
+boy with a fair education and quick powers of observation reaches his
+majority with a taste for singing trained by many opportunities to hear
+great singers. They have had the best vocal instruction in the world,
+providing, of course, they have exercised their powers of judgment. Thus
+it is that it happens that such a singer as Caruso, certainly one of the
+greatest tenors of all time, could be accidentally heard by a manager
+while singing and receive an offer for an engagement upon the spot.
+Caruso's present art, of course, is the result of much training that
+would fall under the head of "coaching," together with his splendid
+experience upon the operatic stage itself.
+
+I trust that I have not by this time given the reader of this page the
+impression that teachers are unnecessary. This is by no means the case.
+A good teacher is extremely desirable. If you have the good fortune to
+fall into the hands of a careful, experienced, intelligent teacher, much
+may be accomplished; but the teacher is by no means all that is
+required. The teacher should be judged by his pupils, and by nothing
+else. No matter what he may claim, it is invariably the results of his
+work (the pupil's) which must determine his value. Teachers come to me
+with wonderful theories and all imaginable kinds of methods. I always
+say to them: "Show me a good pupil who has been trained by your methods
+and I will say that you are a good teacher."
+
+Before our national elections I am asked, "Which one of the candidates
+do you believe will make the best President?" I always reply, "Wait four
+years and I will pass my opinion upon the ability of the candidate the
+people select." In other words, "the proof of the pudding is in the
+eating."
+
+
+SINGERS NOT BORN, BUT MADE
+
+We often hear the trite expression, "Singers are born, not made." This,
+to my mind, is by no means the case. One may be born with the talent and
+deep love for music, and one may be born with the physical
+qualifications which lead to the development of a beautiful voice, but
+the singer is something far more than this. Given a good voice and the
+love for his music, the singer's work is only begun. He is at the
+outstart of a road which is beset with all imaginable kinds of
+obstacles. In my own case I was extremely ambitious to be a singer.
+Night after night I played 'cello in the orchestra at La Scala, in
+Milan, always wishing and praying that I might some day be one of the
+actors in the wonderful world behind the footlights. I listened to the
+famous singers in the great opera house with the minutest attention,
+making mental notes of their manner of placing their voices--their
+method of interpretation, their stage business, and everything that I
+thought might be of any possible use to me in the career of the singer,
+which was dearest to my heart. I endeavored to employ all the common
+sense and good judgment I possessed to determine what was musically and
+vocally good or otherwise. I was fortunate in having the training of the
+musician, and also in having the invaluable advantage of becoming
+acquainted with the orchestral scores of the famous operas. Finally the
+long-awaited opportunity came and I made my debut at the Teatro dal
+Verme, in Milan. I had had no real vocal instruction in the commonly
+accepted sense of the term; but I had really had a kind of instruction
+that was of inestimable value.
+
+
+NOT GIVEN TO ALL TO STUDY SUCCESSFULLY WITHOUT A TEACHER
+
+Success brought with it its disadvantages. I foolishly strained my voice
+through overwork. But this did not discourage me. I realized that many
+of the greatest singers the world has ever known were among those who
+had met with disastrous failure at some time in their careers. I came to
+America and played the violoncello in the Boston Symphony Orchestra. All
+the time I was practicing with the greatest care and with the sole
+object of restoring my voice. Finally it came back better than ever and
+I sang for Maurice Grau, the impresario of the Metropolitan Opera House,
+in New York. He engaged me and I sang continuously at the Metropolitan
+for several years. Notwithstanding this varied experience, I will seek
+to learn, and to learn by practical example, not theory. The only opera
+school in the world is the opera house itself. No school ever "made" a
+great singer or a great artist. The most they have done has been to lay
+the foundation. The making of the artist comes later.
+
+In order to do without instruction one must be very peculiarly
+constituted. One must be possessed of the pedagogical faculty to a
+marked degree. One must have within oneself those qualities for
+observing and detecting the right means leading to an artistic end which
+every good teacher possesses. In other words, one must be both teacher
+and pupil. This is a rare combination, since the power to teach, to
+impart instruction, is one that is given to very few. It is far better
+to study alone or not at all than with a poor teacher. The teacher's
+responsibility, particularly in the case of vocal students, is very
+great. So very much depends upon it. A poor teacher can do incalculable
+damage. By poor teachers I refer particularly to those who are carried
+away by idiotic theories and quack methods. We learn to sing by singing
+and not by carrying bricks upon our chest or other idiotic antics.
+Consequently I say that it is better to go all through life with a
+natural or "green" voice than to undergo the vocal torture that is
+sometimes palmed off upon the public as voice teaching. At best, all the
+greatest living teacher can do is to put the artist upon the right track
+and this in itself is responsibility enough for one man or one woman to
+assume.
+
+
+SINGERS MAKE THEIR OWN METHODS
+
+As I have already said, most every singer makes a method unto himself.
+It is all the same in the end. The Chinese may, for instance, have one
+name for God, the Persians another, the Mohammedans another, and the
+people of Christian lands another. But the God principle and the worship
+principle are the same with all. It is very similar in singing. The
+means that apply to my own case may apparently be different from those
+of another, but we are all seeking to produce beautiful tones and
+interpret the meaning of the composer properly.
+
+One thing, however, the student should seek to possess above all things,
+and this is a thorough foundation training in music itself. This can not
+begin too early. In my own home we have always had music. My children
+have always heard singing and playing and consequently they become
+critical at a very early age.
+
+I can not help repeating my advice to students who hope to find a vocal
+education in books or by the even more ridiculous correspondence method.
+Books may set one's mental machinery in motion and incite one to observe
+singers more closely, but teach they can not and never can. The
+sound-reproducing machines are of assistance in helping the student to
+understand the breathing, phrasing, etc., but there is nothing really to
+take the place of the living singer who can illustrate with his voice
+the niceties of placing and _timbre_.
+
+My advice to the voice students of America is to hear great singers.
+Hear them as many times as possible and consider the money invested as
+well placed as any you might spend in vocal instruction. The golden
+magnet, as well as the opportunities in other ways offered artists in
+America, has attracted the greatest singers of our time to this country.
+It is no longer necessary to go abroad to listen to great singers. In
+no country of the world is opera given with more lavish expenditure of
+money than in America. The great singers are now by no means confining
+their efforts to the large Eastern cities. Many of them make regular
+tours of the country, and students in all parts of this land are offered
+splendid opportunities for self-help through the means of concerts and
+musical festivals. After all, the most important thing for any singer is
+the development of the critical sense. Blind imitation is, of course,
+bad, but how is the student to progress unless he has had an opportunity
+to hear the best singers of the day? In my youth I heard continually
+such artists as La Salle, Gayarre, Patti, De Reszke and others. How
+could I help profiting by such excellent experiences?
+
+
+GREAT VOICES ARE RARE
+
+One may be sure that in these days few, if any, great voices go
+undiscovered. A remarkable natural voice is so rare that some one is
+sure to notice it and bring it to the attention of musicians. The
+trouble is that so many people are so painfully deluded regarding their
+voices. I have had them come to me with voices that are obviously
+execrable and still remain unconvinced when I have told them what seemed
+to me the truth. This business of hearing would-be singers is an
+unprofitable and an uncomfortable one; and most artists try to avoid the
+ordeal, although they are always very glad to encourage real talent.
+Most young singers, however, have little more than the bare ambition to
+sing, coupled with what can only be described by the American term, "a
+swelled head." Someone has told them that they are wonderfully gifted,
+and persons of this kind are most always ready to swallow flattery
+indiscriminately. Almost everyone, apparently, wants to go into opera
+nowadays. To singers who have not any chance whatever I have only to say
+that the sooner this is discovered the better. Far better put your money
+in bank and let compound interest do what your voice can not.
+
+
+
+
+ENRICO CARUSO
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Enrico Caruso was born at Naples, February 25th, 1873. His fondness for
+music dates from his earliest childhood; and he spent much of his spare
+money in attending the opera at San Carlo and hearing the foremost
+singers of his time in many of the roles in which he appeared later on.
+His actual study, however, did not start until he was eighteen, when he
+came under the tuition of Guglielmo Vergine. In 1895 he made his debut
+at the Teatro Cimarosa in _Caserta_. His first appearances drew
+comparatively little attention to his work and his future greatness was
+hardly suspected by many of those who heard him. However, by dint of
+long application to his art he gained more and more recognition. In 1902
+he made his debut in London. The following year he came to New York,
+where the world's greatest singers had found an El Dorado for nearly a
+quarter of a century. There he was at once proclaimed the greatest of
+all tenors and from that time his success was undeviating. Indeed his
+voice was so wonderful and so individual that it is difficult to compare
+him with any of his great predecessors; Tamagno, Campanini, de Reszke
+and others. In Europe and in America he was welcomed with acclaim and
+the records of his voice are to be found in thousands of homes of music
+lovers who have never come in touch with him in any other way. Signor
+Caruso had a remarkable talent for drawing and for sculpture. His death,
+August 2d, 1921, ended the career of the greatest male singer of
+history.
+
+[Illustration: ENRICO CARUSO.]
+
+
+
+
+ITALY, THE HOME OF SONG
+
+ENRICO CARUSO
+
+
+OPERA AND THE PUBLIC IN ITALY
+
+Anyone who has traveled in Italy must have noticed the interest that is
+manifested at the opening of the opera season. This does not apply only
+to the people with means and advanced culture but also to what might be
+called the general public. In addition to the upper classes, the same
+class of people in America who would show the wildest enthusiasm over
+your popular sport, base-ball, would be similarly eager to attend the
+leading operatic performances in Italy. The opening of the opera is
+accompanied by an indescribable fervor. It is "in the air." The whole
+community seems to breathe opera. The children know the leading
+melodies, and often discuss the features of the performances as they
+hear their parents tell about them, just as the American small boy
+retails his father's opinions upon the political struggles of the day or
+upon the last ball game.
+
+It should not be thought that this does not mean a sacrifice to the
+masses, for opera is, in a sense, more expensive in Italy than in
+America; that is, it is more expensive by comparison in most parts of
+the country. It should be remembered that monetary values in Italy are
+entirely different from those in America. The average Italian of
+moderate means looks upon a lira as a coin far more valuable than its
+equivalent of twenty cents in United States currency. His income is
+likely to be limited, and he must spend it with care and wisdom. Again,
+in the great operatic centers, such as Milan, Naples or Rome, the prices
+are invariably adjusted to the importance of the production. In
+first-class productions the prices are often very high from the Italian
+standpoint. For instance, at La Scala in Milan, when an exceptionally
+fine performance is given with really great singers, the prices for
+orchestra chairs may run as high as thirty lira or six dollars a seat.
+Even to the wealthy Italian this amount seems the same as a much larger
+amount in America.
+
+To give opera in Italy with the same spectacular effects, the same casts
+composed almost exclusively of very renowned artists, the same _mise en
+scene_, etc., would require a price of admission really higher than in
+America. As a matter of fact, there is no place in the world where such
+a great number of performances, with so many world-renowned singers, are
+given as at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. There is no
+necessity for any one to make a special trip to Europe to hear excellent
+performances in these days. Of course such a trip would be interesting,
+as the performances given in many European centers are wonderfully fine,
+and they would be interesting to hear if only from the standpoint of
+comparing them with those given at the Metropolitan. However, the most
+eminent singers of the world come here constantly, and the performances
+are directed by the ablest men obtainable, and I am at loss to see why
+America should not be extremely proud of her operatic advantages. In
+addition to this the public manifests a most intelligent appreciation of
+the best in music. It is very agreeable to sing in America, as one is
+sure that when he does well the public will respond at once.
+
+
+ITALIAN, THE LANGUAGE OF MUSIC
+
+Perhaps the fact that in Italy the audiences may understand the
+performances better because of their knowledge of their native language
+may add to the pleasure of opera-going. This, however, is a question,
+except in the case of some of the more modern works. The older opera
+librettos left much to be desired from the dramatic and poetic
+standpoints. Italian after all is the language of music. In fact it is
+music in itself when properly spoken. Note that I say "when properly
+spoken." American girls go to Italy to study, and of course desire to
+acquire a knowledge of the language itself, for they have heard that it
+is beneficial in singing. They get a mere smattering, and do not make
+any attempt to secure a perfect accent. The result is about as funny as
+the efforts of the comedians who imitate German emigrants on the
+American stage.
+
+If you start the study of Italian, persist until you have really
+mastered the language. In doing this your ear will get such a drill and
+such a series of exercises as it has never had before. You will have to
+listen to the vowel sounds as you have never listened. This is
+necessary because in order to understand the grammar of the language you
+must hear the final vowel in each word and you must hear the consonants
+distinctly.
+
+There is another peculiar thing about Italian. If the student who has
+always studied and sung in English, German or French or Russian,
+attempts to sing in Italian, he is really turning a brilliant
+searchlight upon his own vocal ability. If he has any faults which have
+been concealed in his singing in his own language, they will be
+discovered at once the moment he commences to study in Italian. I do not
+know whether this is because the Italian of culture has a higher
+standard of diction in the enunciation of the vowel sounds, or whether
+the sounds themselves are so pure and smooth that they expose the
+deficiencies, but it is nevertheless the case. The American girl who
+studies Italian for six months and then hopes to sing in that language
+in a manner not likely to disturb the sense of the ridiculous is
+deceiving herself. It takes years to acquire fluency in a language.
+
+
+AUDIENCES THE SAME THE WORLD AROUND
+
+Audiences are as sensitive as individuals. Italy is known as "the home
+of the opera"; but I find that, as far as manifesting enthusiasm goes,
+the world is getting pretty much the same. If the public is pleased, it
+applauds no matter whether it be in Vienna, Paris, Rome, Buenos Aires,
+New York, or Oshkosh. An artist feels his bond with his audience very
+quickly. He knows whether his auditors are delighted, whether they are
+merely interested or whether they are indifferent a few seconds after he
+has been upon the stage. I can judge my own work at once by the attitude
+of the audience. No artist sings exactly alike on two successive nights.
+That would be impossible. Although every sincere artist tries to do his
+best at all times, there are, nevertheless, occasions when one sings
+better than at others. If I sing particularly well the audience is
+particularly enthusiastic; if I am not feeling well and my singing
+indicates it, the audience will let me know at once by not being quite
+so enthusiastic. It is a barometer which is almost unfailing. This is
+also an important thing for the young singer to consider. Audiences
+judge by real worth and not by reputation.
+
+Reputation may attract money to the box office, but once the people are
+inside the opera house the artist must really please them or suffer.
+Young singers should not be led to think that anything but real worth is
+of any lasting value. If the audience does not respond, do not blame the
+audience. It would respond if you could sing so beautifully that you
+could compel a response that you know should follow real artistic
+achievement. Don't blame your teacher or your lack of practice or
+anything or anybody but yourself. The verdict of the audience is better
+than the examination of a hundred so-called experts. There is something
+about an audience that makes it seem like a great human individual,
+whether in Naples or in San Francisco. If you touch the heart or please
+the sense of beauty, the appetite for lovely music--common to all
+mankind--the audience is yours, be it Italian, French, German or
+American.
+
+
+OPERATIC PREPARATION IN ITALY
+
+The American student with a really good voice and a really fine vocal
+and musical training, would have more opportunities for engagements in
+the smaller Italian opera houses, for the simple reason that there are
+more of these opera houses and more of these opera companies. Bear in
+mind, however, that opera in Italy depends to a large extent upon the
+standing of the artists engaged to put on the opera. In some cities of
+the smaller size the municipality makes an appropriation, which serves
+as a guarantee or subsidy. An impresario is informed what operas the
+community desires and what singers. He tries to comply with the demand.
+Often the city is very small and the demand very slightly indicated in
+real money. As a result the performances are comparatively mediocre. The
+American student sometimes fails to secure engagements with the big
+companies and tries to gain experience in these small companies.
+Sometimes he succeeds, but he should remember before undertaking this
+work that many native Italian singers with realty fine voices are
+looking for similar opportunities and that only a very few stand any
+chance of reaching really noteworthy success.
+
+
+OPERA WILL ALWAYS BE EXPENSIVE
+
+He should, of course, endeavor to seek engagements with the big
+companies if his voice and ability will warrant it. Where the most money
+is, there will be the salaried artists and the finest operatic
+spectacle. That is axiomatic. Opera is expensive and will always be
+expensive. The supply of unusual voices has always been limited and the
+services of their possessors have always commanded a high reward. This
+is based upon an economic law which applies to all things in life. The
+young singer should realize that, unless he can rise to the very top of
+his profession, he will be compelled to enlist in a veritable army of
+singers with little talent and less opportunity.
+
+One thing exists in Italy which is very greatly missed in America. Even
+in small companies in Italy a great deal of time is spent in rehearsals.
+In America rehearsals are tremendously expensive and sometimes first
+performances have suffered thereby. In fact, I doubt whether the public
+realizes what a very expensive thing opera is. The public has little
+opportunity to look behind the scenes. It sees only the finished
+performance, which runs smoothly only when a tremendous amount of
+mental, physical and financial oil has been poured upon the machinery. I
+often hear men say here in New York, "I had to pay fifty dollars for my
+seat to-night." That is absurd--the money is going to speculators
+instead of into the rightful channels. This money is simply lost as far
+as doing any service whatever to art is concerned. It does not go into
+the opera house treasury to make for better performances, but simply
+into the hands of some fellow who had been clever enough to deprive the
+public of its just opportunity to purchase seats. The public seems to
+have money enough to pay an outrageous amount for seats when necessary.
+Would it not be better to do away with the speculator at the door and
+pay say $10.00 for a seat that now costs $7.00? This would mean more
+rehearsals and better opera and no money donated to the undeserving
+horde at the portals of the temple.
+
+
+THE STUDENT'S PREPARATION
+
+I am told that many people in America have the impression that my vocal
+ability is kind of a "God-given" gift; that is, something that has come
+to me without effort. This is so very absurd that I can hardly believe
+that sensible people would give it a moment's credence. Every voice is
+in a sense the result of a development, and this is particularly so in
+my own case. The marble that comes from the quarries of Carrara may be
+very beautiful and white and flawless, but it does not shape itself into
+a work of art without the hand, the heart, and the intellect of the
+sculptor.
+
+Just to show how utterly ridiculous this popular opinion really is, let
+me cite the fact that at the age of fifteen everybody who heard me sing
+pronounced me a bass. When I went to Vergine I studied hard for four
+years. During the first three years the work was for the most part
+moulding and shaping the voice. Then I studied repertoire for one year
+and made my debut. Even with the experience I had had at that time it
+was unreasonable to expect great success at once. I kept working hard
+and worked for at least seven years more before any really mentionable
+success came to me. All the time I had one thing on my mind and that was
+never to let a day pass without seeing some improvement in my voice. The
+discouragements were frequent and bitter; but I kept on working and
+waiting until my long awaited opportunities came in London and in New
+York. The great thing is, not to stop. Do not think that, because these
+great cities gave me a flattering reception, my work ceased. Quite on
+the contrary, I kept on working and am working still. Every time I go
+upon the stage I am endeavoring to discover something that will make my
+art more worthy of public acceptance. Every act of each opera is a new
+lesson.
+
+
+DIFFERENT ROLES
+
+It is difficult to invest a role with individuality. I have no favorite
+roles. I have avoided this, because the moment one adopts a favorite
+role he becomes a specialist and ceases to be an artist. The artist does
+all roles equally well. I have had the unique experience of creating
+many roles in operas such as _Fedora_, _Adrienne_, _Germania_, _Girl of
+the Golden West_, _Maschera_. This is a splendid experience, as it
+always taxes the inventive faculties of the singing actor. This is
+particularly the case in the Italian opera of the newer composers, or
+rather the composers who have worked in Italy since the reformation of
+Wagner. Whatever may be said, the greatest influence in modern Italian
+opera is Wagner. Even the great Verdi was induced to change his methods
+in _Aida_, _Otello_, and _Falstaff_--all representing a much higher art
+than his earlier operas. However, Wagner did nothing to rob Italy of its
+natural gift of melody, even though he did institute a reform. He also
+did not influence such modern composers as Puccini, Mascagni, and
+Leoncavallo to the extent of marring their native originality and
+fertility.
+
+[Illustration: MME. JULIA CLAUSSEN.]
+
+
+
+
+MME. JULIA CLAUSSEN
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Mme. Julia Claussen was born at Stockholm, Sweden, the land of Jenny
+Lind and Nilsson. Her voice is a rich, flexible mezzo-soprano, with a
+range that has enabled her to assume some contralto roles with more
+success than the average so-called contralto. In her childhood she
+studied piano, but did not undertake the serious study of voice until
+she was eighteen, when she became a student at the Royal Academy of
+Music, under Professor Lejdstrom (studying harmony and theory under the
+famous Swedish composer Sjogren). Her debut was made at the Royal Opera,
+at the age of twenty-two, in _La Favorita_, singing the role in Swedish.
+Later she went to Berlin, where she was coached in German opera by
+Professor Friedrich at the Royal High School of Music. Her American
+debut was made in 1912, in Chicago, where she made an immediate success
+in such roles as _Ortrud_, _Brunnhilde_ and _Carmen_. She was then
+engaged at Covent Garden and later sang at the Champs Elysee Theatre,
+under Nikisch, in Paris. For two years she appeared at the Metropolitan.
+She has received the rare distinction of being awarded the Jenny Lind
+Medal from her own government and also of being admitted to the Royal
+Academy of Sweden, the youngest member ever elected to that august
+scientific and artistic body. She has also been decorated by King
+Gustavus V of Sweden with Literis et Artibus. In America she has made an
+immense success as a concert singer.
+
+
+
+
+MODERN ROADS TO VOCAL SUCCESS
+
+MME. JULIA CLAUSSEN
+
+
+WHY SWEDEN PRODUCES SO MANY SINGERS
+
+The question, "Why does Sweden produce so many singers?" is often asked
+me. First it is a matter of climate, then a matter of physique, and
+lastly, because the Swedish children do far more singing than any one
+finds in many other countries. The air in Sweden is very rarefied, clear
+and exhilarating. Owing to frugal living and abundant systematic
+exercise, the people become very robust. This is not a matter of one
+generation or so, but goes back for centuries. The Swedes are a strong,
+energetic, thorough race; and the same attributes of industry and
+precision which have made them famous in science are applied to the
+study of music.
+
+The Swedish child is made to understand that singing is a needful,
+serious part of his life. His musical training begins very early in the
+schools, with a definite scheme. All schools have competent, experienced
+teachers of singing. In my childhood another factor played a very
+important part. There was never the endless round of attractions, toys,
+parties, theatres and pastimes (to say nothing of the all-consuming
+movies). Life was more tranquil and therefore the pursuit of good music
+was far more enjoyable. American life moves at aeroplane speed. The poor
+little children hardly have time to breathe, let alone time to study
+music. Ragtime is the musical symptom of this American craving for speed
+and incessant excitement. In a blare and confusion of noises, like
+bedlam broken loose, what chance has a child to develop good taste? It
+is admittedly fascinating at times; but is without rhyme, reason or
+order. I never permit my children to pollute my piano with it. They may
+have it on the talking machine, but they must not be accomplices in
+making it.
+
+Of course, things have changed in Sweden, too; and American ragtime,
+always contagious, has now infected all Europe. This makes the music
+teacher's task in this day far more difficult than formerly. I hear my
+daughters practicing, and now and then they seem to be putting a dash of
+ragtime into Bach. If I stop them I find that "Bach is too slow, I don't
+like Bach!" This is almost like saying, "I don't like Rubens, Van Dyke
+or Millet; please, teacher, give me Mutt and Jeff or the Katzenjammer
+Kids!" American children need to be constantly taught to reverence the
+great creators of the land. Why, Jenny Lind is looked upon as a great
+national heroine in Sweden, much as one might regard George Washington
+in America. Before America can go about musical educational work
+properly, the teachers must inculcate this spirit, a proper appreciation
+of what is really beautiful, instead of a kind of wild, mob-like orgy of
+blare, bang, smash and shriek which so many have come to know as ragtime
+and jazz.
+
+
+SELF-CRITICISM
+
+If one should ask me what is the first consideration in becoming a
+success as a singer, I should say the ability to criticise one's self.
+In my own case I had a very competent musician as a teacher. He told me
+that my voice was naturally placed and did very little to help place it
+according to his own ideas. Perhaps that was well for me, because I knew
+myself what I was about. He used to say, "That sounds beautiful," but
+all the time I knew that it sounded terrible. It was then that I learned
+that my ear must be my best teacher. My teacher, for instance, told me
+that I would never be able to trill. This was very disheartening; but he
+really believed, according to his conservative knowledge, that I should
+never succeed in getting the necessary flexibility.
+
+By chance I happened to meet a celebrated Swedish singer, Mme. Oestberg,
+of the old school. I communicated to her the discouraging news that I
+could never hope to trill. "Nonsense, my dear," she said, "someone told
+me that too, but I determined that I was going to learn. I did not know
+how to go about it exactly, but I knew that with the proper patience and
+will-power I would succeed. Therefore I worked up to three o'clock one
+morning, and before I went to bed I was able to trill."
+
+I decided to take Mme. Oestberg's advice, and I practiced for several
+days until I knew that I could trill, and then I went back to my teacher
+and showed him what I could do. He had to admit it was a good trill,
+and he couldn't understand how I had so successfully disproved his
+theories by accomplishing it. It was then that I learned that the singer
+can do almost anything within the limits of the voice, if one will only
+work hard enough. Work is the great producer, and there is no substitute
+for it. Do not think that I am ungrateful to my teacher. He gave me a
+splendid musical drilling in all the standard solfeggios, in which he
+was most precise; and in later years I said to him, "I am not grateful
+to you for making my voice, but because you did not spoil it."
+
+After having sung a great deal and thought introspectively a great deal
+about the voice, one naturally begins to form a kind of philosophy
+regarding it. Of course, breathing exercises are the basis of all good
+singing methods, but it seems to me that singing teachers ask many of
+their pupils to do many queer impractical things in breathing, things
+that "don't work" when the singer is obliged to stand up before a big
+audience and make everyone hear without straining.
+
+If I were to teach a young girl right at this moment I would simply ask
+her to take a deep breath and note the expansion at the waist just above
+the diaphragm. Then I would ask her to say as many words as possible
+upon that breath, at the same time having the muscles adjacent to the
+diaphragm to support the breath; that is, to sustain it and not collapse
+or try to push it up. The trick is to get the most tone, not with the
+most breath but with the least breath, and especially the very least
+possible strain at the throat, which must be kept in a floating,
+gossamer-like condition all the time. I see girls, who have been to
+expensive teachers, doing all sorts of wonderful calisthenics with the
+diaphragm, things that God certainly did not intend us to do in learning
+to speak and to sing.
+
+Any attempt to draw in the front walls of the abdomen or the intercostal
+muscles during singing must put a kind of pneumatic pressure upon the
+breath stream, which is sure to constrict the throat. Therefore, in my
+own singing, I note the opposite effect. That is, there is rather a
+sensation of expansion instead of contraction during the process of
+expiration. This soon becomes very comfortable, relieves the throat of
+strain, relieves the tones of breathiness or all idea of forcing. There
+is none of the ugly heaving of the chest or shoulders; the body is in
+repose, and the singer has a firm grip upon the tone in the right way.
+The muscles of the front wall of the abdomen and the muscles between the
+lower ribs become very strong and equal to any strain, while the throat
+is free.
+
+In the emission of the actual tone itself I would advise the sensation
+of inhaling at first. The beginner should blow out the tone. Usually
+instead of having a lovely floating character, with the impression of
+control, the tone starts with being forced, and it always remains so.
+The singer oversings and has nothing in reserve. When I am singing I
+feel as though the farther away from the throat, the deeper down I can
+control the breath stream, the better and freer the tone becomes.
+Furthermore, I can sing the long, difficult Wagnerian roles, with their
+tremendous demands upon the vocal organs, without the least sensation of
+fatigue. Some singers, after such performances, are "all in." No wonder
+they lose their voices when they should be in their prime.
+
+For me the most difficult vowel is "ah." The throat then is most open
+and the breath stream most difficult to control properly. Therefore I
+make it a habit to begin my practice with "oo, oh, ah, ay, ee" in
+succession. I never start with sustained tones. This would give my
+throat time to stiffen. I employ quick, soft scales, always remembering
+the basic principle of breath control I have mentioned, and always as
+though inhaling. This is an example of what I mean. To avoid shrillness
+on the upper tone I take the highest note with oo and descend with oo.
+
+[Illustration: musical notation: Ex. 1]
+
+The same thought applied to an arpeggio would be:
+
+[Illustration: musical notation: Ex. 2]
+
+These I take within comfortable limits of my voice, always remembering
+that the least strain is a backward step. These exercises are taken
+through all possible keys. There can never be too much practice of a
+scale or arpeggio exercise. Many singers, I know, who wonder why they do
+not succeed, cannot do a good scale, the very first thing they should be
+able to do. Every one should be like perfect pearls on a thread.
+
+
+AMERICA'S FATAL AMBITION
+
+One of the great troubles in America is the irrepressible ambition of
+both teachers and pupils. Europe is also not untinged with this.
+Teachers want to show results. Some teachers, I am told, start in with
+songs at the first or second lesson, with the sad knowledge that if they
+do not do this they may lose the pupil to some teacher who will peddle
+out songs. After four or five months I was given an operatic aria; and,
+of course, I sang it. A year of scales, exercises and solfeggios would
+have been far more time-saving. The pupils have too much to say about
+their education in this way. The teacher should be competent and then
+decide all such questions. American girls do not want this. They expect
+to step from vocal ignorance to a repertoire over night. When you study
+voice, you should study not for two years, but realize you will never
+stop studying, if you wish to keep your voice. Like any others, without
+exercise, the singing muscles grow weak and inefficient. There are so
+many, many things to learn.
+
+Of course, my whole training was that of the opera singer, and I was
+schooled principally in the Wagnerian roles. With the coming of the war
+the prejudice against the greatest anti-imperialist (with the possible
+exception of Beethoven) which music ever has known--the immortal
+Wagner--became so strong that not until now has the demand for his
+operas become so great that they are being resumed with wonderful
+success. Therefore, with the exception of a few Italian and French
+roles, my operatic repertoire went begging.
+
+It was necessary for me to enter the concert field, as the management of
+the opera company with which I had contracts secured such engagements
+for me. It was like starting life anew. There is very little opportunity
+to show one's individuality in opera. One must play the role. Therefore
+I had to learn a repertoire of songs, every one of which required
+different treatment and different individuality. With eighteen members
+on the program, the singer has a musical, mental and vocal task which
+devolves entirely upon herself without the aid of chorus, co-singers,
+orchestra, costumes, scenery and the glamour of the footlights. It was
+with the greatest delight that I could fulfill the demands of the
+concert platform. American musical taste is very exacting. The audiences
+use their imagination all the time, and like romantic songs with an
+atmospheric background, which accounts for my great success with songs
+of such type as Lieurance's _By the Waters of Minnetonka_. One of the
+greatest tasks I ever have had is that of singing my roles in many
+different languages. I learned some of them first in Swedish, then in
+Italian, then in French, then in German, then in English; as I am
+obliged to re-learn my Wagnerian roles now.
+
+The road to success in voice study, like the road to success in
+everything else, has one compass which should be a consistent guide, and
+that is common sense. Avoid extremes; hold fast to your ideals; have
+faith in your possibilities, and work! work!! work!!!
+
+[Illustration: CHARLES DALMORES IN MASSENET'S HERODIADE.
+
+(C) Mishkin.]
+
+
+
+
+CHARLES DALMORES
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+M. Charles Dalmores was born at Nancy, France, December 31st, 1871. His
+musical education was received at the Nancy Conservatoire under
+Professor Dauphin, and it was his intention to become a specialist in
+French horn. He also played the 'cello. When he applied to the Paris
+Conservatoire he was refused admission to the singing course because "he
+was too good a musician to waste his time with singing." He became
+professor of French horn at the Lyons Conservatory; but his love for
+opera led him to study by himself until he made his debut at Rouen in
+1899. He then sang at the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels, Covent
+Garden, Bayreuth, New York, and Chicago, with ever-increasing success.
+Dalmores is a dramatic tenor, and his musicianship has enabled him to
+take extremely difficult roles of the modern type and achieve real
+artistic triumphs. He is one of the finest examples of the self-trained
+vocalist.
+
+
+
+
+SELF-HELP IN VOICE STUDY
+
+CHARLES DALMORES
+
+
+It is always a pleasure to talk upon self-help and not self-study,
+because I believe most implicitly in the former and very much doubt the
+efficacy of the latter in actual voice study. The voice, of all things,
+demands the assistance of a good teacher, although in the end the
+results all come from within and not from without. That is, the voice is
+an organ of expression; and what we make of it depends upon our own
+thought a thousand times more than what we take in from the outside.
+
+It is the teacher who stimulates the right kind of thinking who is the
+best teacher. The teacher who seeks to make his pupils parrots rarely
+meets with success. My whole career is an illustration of this, and when
+I think of the apparently insurmountable obstacles over which I have
+been compelled to climb I cannot help feeling that the relation of a few
+of my own experiences in the way of self-help could not fail to be
+beneficial.
+
+
+AT THE PARIS CONSERVATORY
+
+I was born at Nancy on the 31st of December, 1871. I gave evidences of
+having musical talent and my musical instruction commenced at the age of
+six years. I studied first at the Conservatory at Nancy, intending to
+make a specialty of the violin. Then I had the misfortune of breaking my
+arm. It was decided thereafter that I had better study the French horn.
+This I did with much success and attribute my control of the breath at
+this day very largely to my elementary struggles with that most
+difficult of instruments. At the age of fourteen I played the second
+horn at Nancy. Finally, I went, with a purse made up by some citizens of
+my home town, to enter the great Conservatory at Paris. There I studied
+very hard and succeeded in winning my goal in the way of receiving the
+first prize for playing the French horn.
+
+For a time I played under Colonne, and between the ages of seventeen and
+twenty-three in Paris I played with the Lamoureaux Orchestra. All this
+time I had my heart set upon becoming a singer and paid particular
+attention to all of the wonderful orchestral works we rehearsed. The
+very mention of the fact that I desired to become a singer was met with
+huge ridicule by my friends, who evidently thought that it was a form of
+fanaticism. For a time I studied the 'cello and managed to acquire a
+very creditable technic upon that instrument.
+
+
+A DISCOURAGING PROSPECT
+
+Notwithstanding the success I had with the two instruments, I was
+confronted with the fact that I had before me the life of a poor
+musician. My salary was low, and there were few, if any, opportunities
+to increase it outside of my regular work with the orchestra. I was
+told that I had great talent, but this never had the effect of swelling
+my pocketbook. In my military service I played in the band of an
+infantry regiment; and when I told my companions that I aspired to be a
+great singer some day they greeted my declaration with howls of
+laughter, and pointed out the fact that I was already along in years and
+had an established profession.
+
+At the sedate age of twenty-three I was surprised to find myself
+appointed Professor of French Horn at the Conservatory of Lyons. Lyons
+is the second city of France from the standpoint of population. It is a
+busy manufacturing center, but is rich in architectural, natural and
+historical interest; and the position had its advantages, although it
+was away from the great French center, Paris. The opera at Nancy was
+exceedingly good, and I had an opportunity to go often. Singing and the
+opera were my life. My father had been manager at Nancy and I had made
+my first acquaintance with the stage as one of the boys in _Carmen_.
+
+
+A TEST THAT FAILED
+
+I have omitted to say that at Paris I tried to enter the classes for
+singing. My voice was apparently liked, but I was refused admission upon
+the basis that I was too good a musician to waste my time in becoming an
+inferior singer. Goodness gracious! Where is musicianship needed more
+than in the case of the singer? This amused me, and I resolved to bide
+my time. I played in opera orchestras whenever I had a chance, and thus
+became acquainted with the famous roles. One eye was on the music and
+the other was on the stage. During the rests I dreamt of the time when I
+might become a singer like those over the footlights.
+
+Where there is a will there is usually a way. I taught solfeggio as well
+as French horn in the Lyons Conservatory. I devised all sorts of
+"home-made" exercises to improve my voice as I thought best. Some may
+have done me good, others probably were injurious. I listened to singers
+and tried to get points from them. Gradually I was unconsciously paving
+the way for the great opportunity of my life. It came in the form of an
+experienced teacher, Dauphin, who had been a basso for ten years at the
+leading theatre of Belgium, fourteen years in London, and later director
+at Geneva and Lyons. He also received the appointment of Professor at
+the Lyons Conservatory.
+
+
+A FAMOUS OPPORTUNITY
+
+One day Dauphin heard me singing and inquired who I was. Then he came in
+the room and said to me, "How much do you get here for teaching and
+playing?" I replied, proudly, "six thousand francs a year." He said,
+"You shall study with me and some day you shall earn as much as six
+thousand francs a month." Dauphin, bless his soul, was wrong. I now earn
+six thousand francs every night I sing instead of every month.
+
+I could hardly believe that the opportunity I had waited for so long had
+come. Dauphin had me come to his house and there he told me that my
+success in singing would depend quite as much upon my own industry as
+upon his instruction. Thus one professor in the conservatory taught
+another in the art he had long sought to master. Notwithstanding
+Dauphin's confidence in me, all of the other professors thought that I
+was doing a perfectly insane thing, and did all in their power to
+prevent me from going to what they thought was my ruin.
+
+
+DISCOURAGING ADVICE
+
+Nevertheless, I determined to show them that they were all mistaken.
+During the first winter I studied no less than six operas, at the same
+time taking various exercises to improve my voice. During the second
+winter I mastered one opera every month, and at the same time did all my
+regular work--studying in my spare hours. At the end of my course I
+passed the customary examination, receiving the least possible
+distinction from my colleagues who were still convinced that I was
+pursuing a course that would end in complete failure.
+
+This brought home the truth that if I was to get ahead at all I would
+have to depend entirely upon myself. The outlook was certainly not
+propitious. Nevertheless I studied by myself incessantly and disregarded
+the remarks of my pessimistic advisers. I sang in a church and also in a
+big synagogue to keep up my income. All the time I had to put up with
+the sarcasm of my colleagues who seemed to think, like many others, that
+the calling of the singer was one demanding little musicianship, and
+tried to make me see that in giving up the French horn and my
+conservatory professorship I would be abandoning a dignified career for
+that of a species of musician who at that time was not supposed to
+demand any special musical training. Could not a shoemaker or a
+blacksmith take a few lessons and become a great singer? I, however,
+determined to become a different kind of a singer. I believed that there
+was a place for the singer with a thorough musical training, and while I
+kept up my vocal work amid the rain of irony and derogatory remarks from
+my mistaken colleagues, I did not fail to keep up my interest in the
+deeper musical studies. I had a feeling that the more good music I knew
+the better would be my work in opera. I wish that all singers could see
+this. Many singers live in a little world all of their own. They know
+the music of the footlights, but there their experience ends. Every
+symphony I have played has been molded into my life experience in such a
+way that it cannot help being reflected in my work.
+
+
+A CRITICAL MOMENT
+
+Finally the time came for my debut in 1899. It was a most serious
+occasion for me; for the rest of my career as a singer depended upon it.
+It was in Rouen, and my fee was to be fifteen hundred francs a month. I
+thought that that would make me the richest man in the world. It was the
+custom of the town for the captain of the police to come before the
+audience at the end and inquire whether the audience approved of the
+artist's singing or whether their vocal efforts were unsatisfactory.
+This was to be determined by a public demonstration. When the captain
+held up the sign "Approved," I felt as though the greatest moment in my
+life had arrived. I had worked so long and so hard for success and had
+been obliged to laugh down so much scorn that you can imagine my
+feelings. Suddenly a great volume of applause came from the house and I
+knew in a second what my future should be.
+
+Then it was that I realized that I was only a little way along my
+journey. I wanted to be the foremost French tenor of my time. I knew
+that success in France alone, while gratifying, would be limited, so I
+set out to conquer new worlds. Wagner, up to that time, had never been
+sung by any French tenor, so I determined to master German and become a
+Wagner singer. This I did, and it fell to me to receive that most
+coveted of Wagnerian distinctions, "soloist at Beyreuth," the citadel of
+the highest in German operatic art. In after years I sang in all parts
+of Germany with as much success as in France. Later I went to London and
+then to America, where I sang for many seasons. It has been no small
+pleasure for me to return to Paris, where I once lived in penury, and to
+receive the highest fee ever paid to a French singer in the French
+capital.
+
+
+THE NEED FOR GREAT CARE
+
+I don't know what more I can say upon the subject of self-help for the
+singer. I have simply told my own story and have related some of the
+obstacles that I have overcome. I trust that no one who has not a voice
+really worth while will be misled by what I have had to say. The voice
+is one of the most intricate and wonderful of the human organs. Properly
+exercised and cared for, it may be developed to a remarkable degree; but
+there are cases, of course, where there is not enough voice at the start
+to warrant the aspirant making the sacrifices that I have made to reach
+my goal. This is a very serious matter and one which should be
+determined by responsible judges. At the same time, the singers may see
+how possible it is for even experienced musicians, like my colleagues in
+Lyons, to be mistaken. If I had depended upon them and not fought my own
+way out, I would probably be an obscure teacher in the same old city
+earning the munificent salary of one hundred dollars a month.
+
+
+FIGHTING YOUR OWN WAY
+
+The student who has to fight his own way has a much harder battle of it;
+but he has a satisfaction which certainly does not come to the one who
+has all his instruction fees and living expenses paid for him. He feels
+that he has earned his success; and, by the processes of exploration
+through which the self-help student must invariably pass, he becomes
+invested with a confidence and "I know" feeling which is a great asset
+to him. The main thing is for him to keep busy all the time. He has not
+a minute to spare upon dreaming. He has no one to carry his burden but
+himself; and the exercise of carrying it himself is the thing which will
+do most to make him strong and successful.
+
+The artists who leap into success are very rare. Hundreds who have held
+mediocre positions come to the front, while those who appear most
+favored stay in the background. Do not seek to gain eminence by any
+influence but that of real earnest work; and if you do not intend to
+work and to work hard, drop all of your aspirations for operatic
+laurels.
+
+[Illustration: ANDREAS DIPPEL.
+
+(C) Dupont.]
+
+
+
+
+ANDREAS DIPPEL
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Andreas Dippel was born at Cassel, 1866. His father was a manufacturer
+who had the boy educated at the local gymnasium, with the view to making
+him a banker. After five years in a banking house he decided to become a
+singer and studied with Mme. Zottmayr. Later he went to Berlin, Milan
+and Vienna, where he studied with Julius Hey, Alberto Leoni and Johann
+Ress. In 1887 he made his debut at Bremen, in _The Flying Dutchman_. He
+remained with that company until 1892. In the meantime, however, he had
+appeared at the Metropolitan in New York, with such success that he
+toured America as a concert singer with Anton Seidl, Arthur Nikisch, and
+Theodore Thomas. From 1893 to 1898 he was a member of the Imperial Court
+Opera at Vienna. In 1898 he returned to America to the Metropolitan. In
+1908 he was appointed administrative manager of the Metropolitan
+Company, later becoming the manager of the Philadelphia-Chicago Opera
+Company. Mr. Dippel is a fine dramatic tenor with the enormous
+repertoire of 150 works in four different languages. He is a fine actor
+and has been equally successful in New York, London, and Beyreuth. He
+also has a repertoire of 60 oratorios.
+
+
+
+
+IF MY DAUGHTER SHOULD STUDY FOR GRAND OPERA
+
+ANDREAS DIPPEL
+
+
+The training of the girl designed to become a great prima donna is one
+of the most complex problems imaginable. You ask me to consider the case
+of an imaginary daughter designed for the career in order to make my
+opinions seem more pertinent. Very well. If my daughter were studying
+for grand opera, and if she were a very little girl, I should first
+watch her very carefully to see whether she manifested any
+uncontrollable desire or ambition to become a great singer. Without such
+a desire she will never become great. Usually this ambition becomes
+evident at a very early age. Then I should realize that the mere desire
+to become a great singer is only an infinitesimal part of the actual
+requirements.
+
+She must have, first of all, fine health, abundant vitality and an
+artistic temperament. She must show signs of being industrious. She
+should have the patience to wait until real results can be accomplished.
+In fact, there are so many attributes that it is difficult to enumerate
+them all. But they are all worth considering seriously. Why? Simply
+because, if they are not considered, she may be obliged to spend years
+of labor for which she will receive no return except the most bitter
+disappointment conceivable. Of the thousands of girls who study to
+become prima donnas only a very few can succeed, from the nature of
+things. The others either abandon their ambitions or assume lesser roles
+from little parts down to the chorus.
+
+You will notice that I have said but little about her voice. During her
+childhood there is very little means of judging of the voice. Some
+girls' voices that seem very promising when they are children turn out
+in a most disappointing manner. So you see I would be obliged to
+consider the other qualifications before I even thought of the voice. Of
+course, if the child showed no inclination for music or did not have the
+ability to "hold a tune," I should assume that she was one of those
+frequent freaks of nature which no amount of musical training can save.
+
+Above all things I should not attempt to force her to take up a career
+against her own natural inclinations or gifts. The designing mother who
+desires to have her own ambitions realized in her daughter is the bane
+of every impresario. With a will power worthy of a Bismarck she maps out
+a career for the young lady and then attempts to force the child through
+what she believes to be the proper channels leading to operatic success.
+She realizes that great singers achieve fame and wealth and she longs to
+taste of these. It is this, rather than any particular love for her
+child, that prompts her to fight all obstacles. No amount of advice or
+persuasion can make her believe that her child cannot become another
+Tetrazzini, or Garden, or Schumann-Heink, if only the impresario will
+give her a chance. In nine cases out of ten Fate and Nature have a
+conspiracy to keep the particular young lady in the role of a
+stenographer or a dressmaker; and in the battle with Fate and Nature
+even the most ambitious mother must be defeated.
+
+
+HER VERY EARLY TRAINING
+
+Once determined that she stood a fair chance of success in the operatic
+field I should take the greatest possible care of her health, both
+physically and intellectually. Note that I lay particular stress upon
+her physical training. It is most important, as no one but the
+experienced singer can form any idea of what demands are made upon the
+endurance and strength of the opera singer.
+
+Her general education should be conducted upon the most approved lines.
+Anything which will develop and expand the mind will be useful to her in
+later life. The later operatic roles make far greater demands upon the
+mentality of the singer than those of other days. The singer is no
+longer a parrot with little or nothing to do but come before the
+footlights and sing a few beautiful tones to a few gesticulations. She
+is expected to act and to understand what she is acting. I would lay
+great stress upon history--the history of all nations--she should study
+the manners, the dress, the customs, the traditions, and the thought of
+different epochs. In order to be at home in _Pelleas and Melisande_, or
+_Tristan und Isolde_, or _La Boheme_ she must have acquainted her mind
+with the historical conditions of the time indicated by the composer and
+librettist.
+
+
+HER FIRST MUSICAL TRAINING
+
+Her first musical training should be musical. That is, she should be
+taught how to listen to beautiful music before she ever hears the word
+technic. She should be taught sight reading, and she ought to be able to
+read any melody as easily as she would read a book. The earlier this
+study is commenced with the really musical child, the better. Before it
+is of any real value to the singer her sight reading should become
+second nature. She should have lost all idea of the technic of the art
+and read with ease and naturalness. This is of immense assistance. Then
+she should study the piano thoroughly. The piano is the door to the
+music of the opera. The singer who is dependent upon some assistant to
+play over the piano scores is unfortunate. It is not really necessary
+for her to learn any of the other instruments; but she should be able to
+play readily and correctly. It will help her in learning scores, more
+than anything else. It will also open the door to much other beautiful
+music which will elevate her taste and ennoble her ideals.
+
+She should go to the opera as frequently as possible in order that she
+may become acquainted with the great roles intuitively. If she cannot
+attend the opera itself she can at least gain an idea of the great
+operatic music through the talking machines. The "repertory" of records
+is now very large, but of course does not include all of the music of
+all of the scenes.
+
+She should be taught the musical traditions of the different historical
+musical epochs and the different so-called music schools. First she
+should study musical history itself and then become acquainted with the
+music of the different periods. The study of the violin is also an
+advantage in training the ear to listen for correct intonation; but the
+violin is by no means absolutely necessary.
+
+
+LANGUAGES
+
+All educators recognize the fact that languages are attained best in
+childhood. The child's power of mimicry is so wonderful that it acquires
+a foreign language quite without any suggestion of accent, in a time
+which will always put their elders to shame. Foreign children, who come
+to America before the age of ten, speak both then-native tongue and
+English with equal fluency.
+
+The first new language to be taken up should be Italian. Properly
+spoken, there is no language so mellifluous as Italian. The beautiful
+quantitative value given to the vowels--the natural quest for euphony
+and the necessity for accurate pronunciation of the last syllable of a
+word in order to make the grammatical sense understandable--is a
+training for both the ear and the voice.
+
+Italy is the land of song; and most of the conductors give their
+directions in Italian. Not only the usual musical terms, but also the
+other directions are denoted in Italian by the orchestral conductors;
+and if the singer does not understand she must suffer accordingly.
+
+After the study of Italian I would recommend, in order, French and
+German. If my daughter were studying for opera, I should certainly leave
+nothing undone until she had mastered Italian, French, German and
+English. Although she would not have many opportunities to sing in
+English, under present operatic conditions, the English-speaking people
+in America, Great Britain, Canada, South Africa, and Australia are great
+patrons of musical art; and the artist must of course travel in some of
+these countries.
+
+
+THE STUDY OF THE VOICE ITSELF
+
+Her actual voice study should not commence before she is seventeen or
+eighteen years of age. In the hands of a very skilled and experienced
+teacher it might commence a little earlier; but it is better to wait
+until her health becomes more settled and her mature strength develops.
+At first the greatest care must be taken. The teacher has at best a
+delicate flower which a little neglect or a little over training may
+deform or even kill. I can not discuss methods, as that is not pertinent
+to this conference. There is no one absolutely right way; and many
+famous singers have traveled what seem quite different roads to reach
+the same end. However, it is a historic fact that few great singers have
+ever acquired voices which have had beautiful quality, perfect
+flexibility and reliability, who have not sung for some years in the old
+Italian style. Mind you, I am not referring to an old Italian school of
+singing here, but more to that class of music adopted by the old Italian
+composers--a style which permitted few vocal blemishes to go by
+unnoticed. Most of the great Wagnerian singers have been proficient in
+coloratura roles before they undertook the more complicated parts of the
+great master at Beyreuth.
+
+It is better to leave the study of repertoire until later years; that
+is, until the study of voice has been pursued for a sufficient time to
+insure regular progress in the study of repertoire. Personally, I am
+opposed to those methods which take the student directly to the study of
+repertoire without any previous vocal drill. The voice, to be valuable
+to the singer, must be able to stand the wear and tear of many seasons.
+It is often some years before the young singer is able to achieve real
+success and the profits come with the later years. A voice that is not
+carefully drilled and trained, so that the singer knows how to get the
+most out of it, with the least strain and the least expenditure of
+effort, will not stand the wear and tear of many years of opera life.
+
+After all, the study of repertoire is the easiest thing. Getting the
+voice properly trained is the difficult thing. In the study of
+repertoire the singer often makes the mistake of leaping right into the
+more difficult roles. She should start with the simpler roles; such as
+those of some of the lesser parts in the old Italian operas. Then, she
+may essay the leading roles of, let us say, _Traviata_, _Barber of
+Seville_, _Norma_, _Faust_, _Romeo and Juliet_, and _Carmen_.
+
+Instead of simple roles, she seems inclined to spend her time upon
+_Isolde_, _Mimi_, _Elsa_ or _Butterfly_. It has become so, that now,
+when a new singer comes to me and wants to sing _Tosca_ or some role
+that (sic) the so-called new or _verissimo_ Italian school, I almost
+invariably refuse to listen. I ask them to sing something from _Norma_
+or _Puritani_ or _Dinorah_ or _Lucia_ in which it is impossible for them
+to conceal their vocal faults. But no, they want to sing the big aria
+from the second act of _Madama Butterfly_, which is hardly to be called
+an aria at all but rather a collection of dramatic phrases. When they
+are done, I ask them to sing some of the opening phrases from the same
+role, and ere long they discover that they really have nothing which an
+impresario can purchase. They are without the voice and without the
+complete knowledge of the parts which they desire to sing.
+
+Then they discover that the impresario knows that the tell-tale pieces
+are the old arias from old Italian operas. They reveal the voice in its
+entirety. If the breath control is not right, it becomes evident at
+once. If the quality is not right, it becomes as plain as the features
+of the young lady's face. There is no dramatic--emotional--curtain under
+which to hide these shortcomings. Consequently, knowing what I do, I
+would insist upon my daughter having a thorough training in the old
+Italian arias.
+
+
+HER TRAINING IN ACTING
+
+Her training in acting would depend largely upon her natural talent.
+Some children are born actors--natural mimics. They act from their
+childhood right up to old age. They can learn more in five minutes than
+others can learn in years. Some seem to require little or no training in
+the art of acting. As a rule they become the most forceful acting
+singers. Others improve wonderfully under the direction of a clever
+teacher.
+
+The new school of opera demands higher histrionic ability from the
+singer. In fact, we have come to a time when opera is a real drama set
+to music which is largely recitative and which does not distract from
+the action of the drama. The librettos of other days were, to say the
+least, ridiculous. If the music had not had a marvelous hold upon the
+people they could not have remained in popular favor. To my mind it is
+an indication of the wonderful power of music that these operas retain
+their favor. There is something about the melodies which seems to
+preserve them for all time; and the public is just as anxious to hear
+them to-day as it was twenty-five and fifty years ago.
+
+Richard Wagner turned the tide of acting in opera by his music dramas.
+Gluck and von Weber had already made an effort in the right direction;
+but it remained for the mighty power of Wagner to accomplish the final
+work. Now we are witnessing the rise of a school of musical dramatic
+actors such as Garden, Maurel, Renaud, and others which promises to
+raise the public taste in this matter and which will add vastly to the
+pleasure of opera going, as it will make the illusion appear more real.
+
+This also imposes upon the impresario a new contingency which threatens
+to make opera more and more expensive. Costumes, scenery and all the
+settings nowadays must be both historically authentic and costly. The
+collection of wigs, robes, and armor, together with a few sets of
+scenery, often with the chairs and other furniture actually painted on
+the scenes, which a few years ago were thought adequate for the
+equipment of an opera company, have now given way to equipment more
+elaborate than that of a Belasco or a Henry Irving. Nothing is left
+undone to make the picture real and beautiful. In fact operatic
+productions, as now given in America, are as complete and luxurious as
+any performances given anywhere in the world.
+
+
+
+
+MME. EMMA EAMES
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Mme. Emma Eames was born at Shanghai, China. Her father, a graduate of
+Harvard Law School, had been a sea-captain and had been in business in
+the Chinese city. At the age of five she was brought back to the home of
+her parents at Bath, Maine. Her mother was an accomplished amateur
+singer who supervised her early musical training. At sixteen she went to
+Boston to study with Miss Munger. At nineteen she became a pupil of
+Marchesi in Paris and remained with the celebrated teacher for two
+years. At twenty-one she made her debut at the Grand Opera in Paris in
+_Romeo et Juliette_. Two years later she appeared at Covent Garden,
+London, with such success that she was immediately engaged for the
+Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Few singers ever gained such a
+strong hold upon the American and English public. Her voice is a fine
+flexible soprano, capable of doing _Marguerite_ or _Elisabeth_ equally
+well. Her husband, Emilio de Gogorza, with whom it is our privilege to
+present a conference later in this book, is one of the foremost
+baritones of our time.
+
+[Illustration: MME. EMMA EAMES.]
+
+
+
+
+HOW A GREAT MASTER COACHED OPERA SINGERS
+
+MME. EMMA EAMES
+
+GOUNOD AN IDEALIST
+
+
+One does not need to review the works of Charles Gounod to any great
+extent before discovering that above all things he was an idealist. His
+whole aspect of life and art was that of a man imbued with a sense of
+the beautiful and a longing to actualize some noble art purpose. He was
+of an age of idealists. Coming at the artificial period of the Second
+Empire, he was influenced by that artistic atmosphere, as were such
+masters of the brush as Jean August Ingres and Eugene Delacroix. This,
+however, was unconscious, and in no way affected his perfect sincerity
+in all he did.
+
+
+FIRST MEETING WITH GOUNOD
+
+I was taken to Gounod by my master, Mme. Mathilde Marchesi, who,
+perhaps, had some reason to regret her kindness in introducing me, since
+Gounod did not favor what he conceived as the Italian method of singing.
+He had a feeling that the Italian school, as he regarded it, was too
+obvious, and that French taste demanded more sincerity, more subtlety,
+better balance and a certain finesse which the purely vocal Italian
+style slightly obscured. Mme. Marchesi was very irate over Gounod's
+attitude, which she considered highly insulting; whereas, as a matter of
+fact, Gounod was doing the only thing that a man of his convictions
+could do, and that was to tell what he conceived as the truth.
+
+Gounod's study was a room which fitted his character perfectly. His very
+pronounced religious tendencies were marked by the stained glass windows
+which cast a delicate golden tint over the little piano he occasionally
+used when composing. On one side was a pipe organ upon which he was very
+fond of playing. In fact, the whole atmosphere was that of a chapel,
+which, together with the beautiful and dignified appearance of the
+master himself, made an impression that one could not forget. His great
+sincerity, his lofty aims, his wonderful earnestness, his dramatic
+intensity, were apparent at once. Many composers are hopelessly
+disappointing in their appearance, but when one saw Gounod, it was easy
+to realize whence come the beautiful musical colors which make _Romeo et
+Juliette_, _Faust_ and _The Redemption_ so rich and individual. His
+whole artistic character is revealed in a splendid word of advice he
+gave to me when I first went to him: "Anyone who is called to any form
+of musical expression must reveal himself only in the language that God
+has given him to speak with. Find this language yourself and try, above
+all things, to be sincere--never singing down to your public."
+
+Gounod had a wonderful power of compelling attention. While one was with
+him his personality was so great that it seemed to envelop you,
+obliterating everything else. This can be attributed not only to
+magnetism or hypnotism, but also to his own intense, all-burning
+interest in whatever he was engaged upon. Naturally the relationship of
+teacher and pupil is different from that of comradeship, but I was
+impressed that Gounod, even in moments of apparent repose, never seemed
+to lose that wonderful force which virtually consumed the entire
+attention of all those who were in his presence.
+
+He had remarkable gifts in painting word-pictures. His imagination was
+so vigorous that he could make one feel that which he saw in his mind's
+eye as actually present. I attribute this to the fact that he himself
+was possessed by the subject at hand and spoke from the fountains of his
+deepest conviction. First he made you see and then he made you express.
+He taught one that to convince others one must first be convinced.
+Indeed, he allowed a great variety of interpretations in order that one
+might interpret through one's own power of conception rather than
+through following blindly his own.
+
+During my lessons with Gounod he revealed not only his very pronounced
+histrionic ability, but also his charming talent as a singer. I had an
+accompanist who came with me to the lessons and when I was learning the
+various roles, Gounod always sang the duets with me. Although he was
+well along in years, he had a small tenor voice, exquisitely sweet and
+sympathetic. He sang with delightful ease and with invariably perfect
+diction, and perfect vision. If some of our critics of musical
+performances were more familiar with the niceties of pronunciation and
+accentuation of different foreign languages, many of our present-day
+singers would be called upon to suffer some very severe criticisms. I
+speak of this because Gounod was most insistent upon correct
+pronunciation and accent, so that the full meaning of the words might be
+conveyed to every member of the audience.
+
+
+A HEARING AT THE OPERA
+
+When I went to the opera for my hearing or _audition_, Gounod went with
+me and we sang the duets together. The director, M. Gailhard, refused my
+application, claiming that I was a debutante and could not expect an
+initial performance at the Grand Opera despite my ability and musical
+attainments. It may be interesting for aspiring vocal students to learn
+something of the various obstacles which still stand in the way of a
+singer, even after one has had a very thorough training and acquired
+proficiency which should compel a hearing. Alas! in opera, as in many
+other lines of human endeavor, there is a political background that is
+often black with intrigue and machinations. I was determined to fight my
+way on the merit of my art, and accordingly I was obliged to wait for
+nearly two years before I was able to make my debut. These were years
+filled with many exasperating circumstances.
+
+I went to Brussels after two years' study with Marchesi, having been
+promised my debut there. I was kept for months awaiting it and was
+finally prevented from making an appearance by one who, pretending to be
+my friend and to be doing all in her power to further my career, was in
+reality threatening the directors with instant breaking of her contract
+should I be allowed to appear. I had this on the authority of Mr.
+Gevaert, the then director of the Conservatoire and my firm friend. The
+artist was a great success and her word was law. It was on my return
+that I was taken to Gounod and I waited a year for a hearing.
+
+Gounod's opera, _Romeo et Juliette_, had been given at the Opera Comique
+many times but there was a demand for performances at the Grand Opera.
+Accordingly Gounod added a ballet, which fitted it for performance at
+the Opera. Apropos of this ballet, Gounod said to me, with no little
+touch of cynicism, "Now you shall see what kind of music a _Ga Ga_ can
+write" (Ga Ga is the French term for a very old man, that is, a man in
+his dotage). He was determined that I should be heard at the Grand Opera
+as Juliette, but even his influence could not prevent the director from
+signing an agreement with one he personally preferred, which required
+that she should have the honor of making her debut at the Grand Opera in
+the part. Then it was that I became aware that it was not only because I
+was a debutante that I had been denied. Gounod would not consent to this
+arrangement, insisting on her making her debut previously in _Faust_,
+and fortunate it was, since the singer in question never attained more
+than mediocre success. Gounod still demanded as a compromise that the
+first six performances of the opera should be given to Adelina Patti,
+and that they should send for me for the subsequent ones.
+
+In the meantime I was engaged at the Opera Comique. There Massenet
+looked with disfavor upon my debut before that of Sybil Sanderson.
+Massenet had brought fortunes to the Opera Comique through his immensely
+popular and theatrically effective operas. Consequently his word was
+law. I waited for some months and no suggestion of an opportunity for a
+performance presented itself. All the time I was engaged in extending my
+repertoire and becoming more and more indignant at the treatment I was
+receiving in not being allowed to sing the operas thus acquired. My
+year's contract had still three months to run when I received an offer
+from St. Petersburg. Shortly thereafter I received a note from M.
+Gailhard announcing that he wished to see me. I went and he informed me
+that Gounod was still insistent upon my appearance in the role of
+_Juliette_. I was irritated by the whole long train of aggravating
+circumstances, but said, "Give me the contract, I'll sign it." Then I
+went directly to the Opera Comique and asked to see the director. I was
+towering with indignation--indeed, I felt myself at least seven feet
+tall and perhaps quite as wide. I demanded my contract. To his "Mais,
+Mademoiselle--" I commanded, "Send for it." He brought the contract and
+tore it up in my presence, only to learn next morning to his probable
+chagrin that I was engaged and announced for an important role at the
+Grand Opera. The first performance of a debutante at the Grand Opera is
+a great ordeal, and it is easy to imagine that the strain upon a young
+singer might deprive her of her natural powers of expression. The
+outcome of mine was most fortuitous and with success behind me I found
+my road very different indeed. However, if I had not had a friend at
+court, in the splendid person of Charles Gounod, I might have been
+obliged to wait years longer, and perhaps never have had an opportunity
+to appear in Paris, where only a few foreigners in a generation get such
+a privilege. It is a great one, I consider, as there is no school of
+good taste and restraint like the French, which is also one where one
+may acquire the more intellectual qualities in one's work and a sense of
+proportion and line.
+
+
+GOUNOD AS A MODERNIST
+
+I have continually called attention to Gounod's idealism. There are some
+to-day who might find the works of Gounod artificial in comparison with
+the works of some very modern writers. To them I can only say that the
+works of the great master gave a great deal of joy to audiences fully as
+competent to judge of their artistic and aesthetic beauty as any of the
+present day. Indeed, their flavor is so delicate and sublimated that the
+subsequent attempts at interpreting them with more realistic methods
+only succeeds in destroying their charm.
+
+It may be difficult for some who are saturated with the ultra-modern
+tendencies in music to look upon Gounod as a modernist, but thus he was
+regarded by his own friends. One of my most amusing recollections of
+Gounod was his telling me--himself much amused thereby--of the first
+performance of _Faust_. His friends had attended in large numbers to
+assist at the expected "success," only to be witnesses of a huge
+failure. Gounod told me that the only numbers to have any success
+whatsoever were the "Soldiers' Chorus," and that of the old men in the
+second part of the first act. He said that all his friends avoided him
+and disappeared or went on the other side of the street. Some of the
+more intimate told him that he must change his manner of writing as it
+was so "unmelodious" and "advanced." This seems to me a most interesting
+recollection, in view of the "cubist" music of Stravinsky and Co. of
+to-day.
+
+In thinking of Gounod we must not forget his period and his public. We
+must realize that his operatic heroes and heroines must be approached
+from an altogether idealistic attitude--never a materialistic one. See
+the manner in which Gounod has taken Shakespeare's _Juliette_ and
+translated her into an atmosphere of poetry. Nevertheless he constantly
+intensifies his dramatic situations as the dramatic nature of the
+composition demands.
+
+His _Juliette_, though consistent with his idea of her throughout, is
+not the _Juliet_ of Shakespeare. As also his _Marguerite_ is that of
+Kaulbach and not the Gretchen of Goethe.
+
+Of course, a great deal depends upon the training and school of the
+artist interpreting the role. In my own interpretations I am governed by
+certain art principles which seem very vital indeed to me. The figure of
+the Mediaeval Princess _Elsa_ has to be represented with a restraint
+quite opposed to that of the panting savage _Aida_. Also, the
+palpitating, elemental _Tosca_ calls for another type of character
+painting than, for instance, the modest, gestureless, timid and womanly
+Japanese girl in Mascagni's _Iris_. These things are not taught in
+schools by teachers. They come only after the prolonged study which
+every conscientious artist must give to her roles. Gounod felt this very
+strongly and impressed it upon me. All music had a meaning to him--an
+inner meaning which the great mind invariably divines through a kind of
+artistic intuition difficult to define. I remember his playing to me the
+last act of _Don Giovanni_, which in his hands gained the grandeur and
+depth of Greek tragedy. He had in his hands the power to thrill one to
+the very utmost. Again he was keenly delighted with the most joyous
+passages in music. He was exceptionally fond of Mozart. _Le Nozze di
+Figaro_ was especially appreciated. He used to say, after accompanying
+himself in the aria of Cherubino the Page, from the 1st act, "Isn't that
+Spring? Isn't that youth? Isn't that the joy of life? How marvelously
+Mozart has crystallized this wonderful exuberant spirit in his music!"
+
+
+ONE REASON FOR GOUNOD'S EMINENCE
+
+One reason for Gounod's eminence lay in his great reverence for his art.
+He believed in the cultivation of reverence for one's art, as the
+religious devotee has reverence for his cult. To Gounod his art was a
+religion. To use a very expressive colloquialism, "He never felt himself
+above his job." Time and again we meet men and women who make it a habit
+to look down upon their work as though they were superior to it. They
+are continually apologizing to their friends and depreciating their
+occupation. Such people seem foreordained for failure. If one can not
+regard the work one is engaged upon with the greatest earnestness and
+respect--if one can not feel that the work is worthy of one's deepest
+_reverence_, one can accomplish little. I have seen so much of this with
+students and aspiring musicians that I feel that I would be missing a
+big opportunity if I did not emphasize this fine trait in Gounod's
+character. I know of one man in particular who has been going down and
+down every year largely because he has never considered anything he has
+had to do as worthy of his best efforts. He has always been "above his
+job." If you are dissatisfied with your work, seek out something that
+you think is really deserving of your labor, something commensurate with
+your idea of a serious dignified occupation in which you feel that you
+may do your best work. In most cases, however, it is not a matter of
+occupation but an attitude of mind--the difference between an earnest
+dignified worker and one who finds it more comfortable to evade work.
+This is true in music as in everything else. If you can make your
+musical work a cult as Gounod did, if you have talent--vision--ah! how
+few have vision, how few can really and truly see--if you have the
+understanding which comes through vision, there is no artistic height
+which you may not climb.
+
+One can not hope to give a portrait of Gounod in so short an interview.
+One can only point out a few of his most distinguishing features. One
+who enjoyed his magnificent friendship can only look upon it as a
+hallowed memory. After all, Gounod has written himself into his own
+music and it is to that we must go if we would know his real nature.
+
+
+
+
+MME. FLORENCE EASTON
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Mme. Florence Easton was born at Middleborough, Yorkshire, England, Oct.
+25, 1887. At a very early age she was taken to Toronto, Canada, by her
+parents, who were both accomplished singers. She was given a musical
+training in youth with the view of making her a concert pianist. Her
+teacher was J. A. D. Tripp, and at the age of eleven she appeared in
+concert. Her vocal talents were discovered and she was sent to the Royal
+Academy at London, England, where her teachers were Reddy and Mme. Agnes
+Larkom, a pupil of Garcia. She then went to Paris and studied under
+Eliot Haslam, an English teacher resident in the French metropolis. She
+then took small parts in the well-known English Opera organization, the
+Moody-Manners Company, acquiring a large repertoire in English. With her
+husband, Francis Maclennen, she came to America to take the leading
+roles in the Savage production of _Parsifal_, remaining to sing the next
+season in _Madama Butterfly_. The couple were then engaged to sing for
+six years at the Berlin Royal Opera and became wonderfully successful.
+After three years at Hamburg and two years with the Chicago Opera
+Company she was engaged for dramatic roles at the Metropolitan, and has
+become a great favorite.
+
+[Illustration: MME. FLORENCE EASTON.
+
+(C) Mishkin.]
+
+
+
+
+THE OPEN DOOR TO OPERA
+
+MME. FLORENCE EASTON
+
+
+What is the open door to opera in America? Is there an open door, and if
+not, how can one be made? Who may go through that door and what are the
+terms of admission? These are questions which thousands of young
+American opera aspirants are asking just now.
+
+The prospect of singing at a great opera house is so alluring and the
+reward in money is often so great that students center their attentions
+upon the grand prize and are willing to take a chance of winning, even
+though they know that only one in a very few may succeed and then often
+at bitter sacrifice.
+
+The question is a most interesting one to me, as I think that I know
+what the open door to opera in this country might be--what it may be if
+enough patriotic Americans could be found to cut through the hard walls
+of materialism, conventionalism and indifference. It lies through the
+small opera company--the only real and great school which the opera
+singer of the future can have.
+
+
+THE SCHOOL OF PRIME DONNE
+
+In European countries there are innumerable small companies capable of
+giving good opera which the people enjoy quite as thoroughly as the
+metropolitan audiences of the world enjoy the opera which commands the
+best singers of the times. For years these small opera companies have
+been the training schools of the great singers. Not to have gone through
+such a school was as damaging an admission as that of not having gone
+through a college would be to a college professor applying for a new
+position. Lilli Lehmann, Schumann-Heink, Ruffo, Campanini, Jenny Lind,
+Patti, all are graduates of these schools of practice.
+
+In America there seems to have existed for years a kind of prejudice,
+bred of ignorance, against all opera companies except those employing
+all-star casts in the biggest theatres in the biggest cities. This
+existed, despite the fact that these secondary opera companies often put
+on opera that was superior to the best that was to be heard in some
+Italian, German and French cities which possessed opera companies that
+stood very high in the estimation of Americans who had never heard them.
+It was once actually the case that the fact that a singer had once sung
+in a smaller opera company prevented her from aspiring to sing in a
+great opera company. America, however, has become very much better
+informed and much more independent in such matters, and our opera goers
+are beginning to resemble European audiences in that they let their ears
+and their common sense determine what is best rather than their
+prejudices and their conventions regarding reputation. It was actually
+the case at one time in America that a singer with a great reputation
+could command a large audience, whereas a singer of far greater ability
+and infinitely better voice might be shut out because she had once sung
+in an opera company not as pretentious as those in the big cities. This
+seemed very comic indeed to many European singers, who laughed in their
+coat sleeves over the real situation.
+
+In the first place, the small companies in many cities would provide
+more singers with opportunities for training and public appearances. The
+United States now has two or three major opera companies. Count up on
+your fingers the greatest number of singers who could be accommodated
+with parts: only once or twice in a decade does the young singer, at the
+age when the best formative work must be done, have a chance to attain
+the leading roles. If we had in America ten or twenty smaller opera
+companies of real merit, the chances would be greatly multiplied.
+
+The first thing that the singer has to fight is stage fright. No matter
+how well you may know a role in a studio, unless you are a very
+extraordinary person you are likely to take months in acquiring the
+stage freedom and ease in working before an audience. There is only one
+cure for stage fright, and that is to appear continually until it wears
+off. Many deserving singers have lost their great chances because they
+have depended upon what they have learned in the studio, only to find
+that when they went before a great and critical audience their ability
+was suddenly reduced to 10 per cent., if not to zero. Even after years
+of practice and experience in great European opera houses where I
+appeared repeatedly before royalty, the reputation of the Metropolitan
+Opera House in New York was so great that at the time I made my debut
+there I was so afflicted by stage fright that my voice was actually
+reduced to one-half of its force and my other abilities accordingly.
+This is the truth, and I am glad to have young singers know it as it
+emphasizes my point.
+
+Imagine what the effect would have been upon a young singer who had
+never before sung in public on the stage. Footlight paralysis is one of
+the most terrifying of all acute diseases and there is no cure for it
+but experience.
+
+
+THE BEST BEGINNING
+
+In the Moody Manners Company in England, the directors wisely understood
+this situation and prepared for it. All the singers scheduled to take
+leading roles (and they were for the most part very young singers, since
+when the singer became experienced enough she was immediately stolen by
+companies paying higher salaries) were expected to go for a certain time
+in the chorus (not to sing, just to walk off and on the stage) until
+familiar with the situation. Accordingly, my first appearance with the
+Moody Manners Company was when I walked out with the chorus. I have
+never heard of this being done deliberately by any other managers, but
+think how sensible it is!
+
+Again, it is far more advantageous for the young singer to appear in the
+smaller opera house at first, so that if any errors are made the opera
+goers will not be unforgiving. There is no tragedy greater than throwing
+a young girl into an operatic situation far greater than her experience
+and ability can meet, and then condemning her for years because she did
+not rise to the occasion. This has happened many times in recent years.
+Ambition is a beautiful thing; but when ambition induces one to walk
+upon a tight rope over Niagara, without having first learned to walk
+properly on earth, ambition should be restrained. I can recollect
+several singers who were widely heralded at their first performances by
+enthusiastic admirers, who are now no longer known. What has become of
+them? Is it not better to learn the profession of opera singing in its
+one great school, and learn it so thoroughly that one can advance in the
+profession, just as one may advance in every other profession? The
+singer in the small opera company who, night after night, says to
+herself, "To-morrow it must be better," is the one who will be the Lilli
+Lehmann, the Galli-Curci, or the Schumann-Heink of to-morrow; not the
+important person who insists upon postponing her debut until she can
+appear at the Metropolitan or at Covent Garden.
+
+Colonel Henry W. Savage did America an immense service, as did the Aborn
+Brothers and Fortune Gallo, in helping to create a popular taste for
+opera presented in a less pretentious form. America needs such companies
+and needs them badly, not merely to educate the public up to an
+appreciation of the fact that the finest operatic performances in the
+world are now being given at the Metropolitan Opera House, but to help
+provide us with well-schooled singers for the future.
+
+
+NECESSITY OF ROUTINE
+
+Nothing can take the place of routine in learning operas. Many, many
+opera singers I have known seem to be woefully lacking in it. In
+learning a new opera, I learn all the parts that have anything to do
+with the part I am expected to sing. In other words, I find it very
+inadvisable to depend upon cues. There are so many disturbing things
+constantly occurring on the stage to throw one off one's track. For
+instance, when I made my first appearance in Mascagni's _Lodoletta_ I
+was obliged to go on with only twenty-four hours' notice, without
+rehearsal, in an opera I had seen produced only once. I had studied the
+role only two weeks. While on the stage I was so entranced with the
+wonderful singing of Mr. Caruso that I forgot to come in at the right
+time. He said to me quickly _sotto voce_--
+
+    "_Canta! Canta! Canta!_"
+
+And my routine drill of the part enabled me to come in without letting
+the audience know of my error.
+
+The mere matter of getting the voice to go with the orchestra, as well
+as that of identifying cues heard in the unusual quality of the
+orchestral instruments (so different from the tone quality of the
+piano), is most confusing, and only routine can accustom one to being
+ready to meet all of these strange conditions.
+
+One is supposed to keep an eye on the conductor practically all of the
+time while singing. The best singers are those who never forget this,
+but do it so artfully that the audience never suspects. Many singers
+follow the conductor's baton so conspicuously that they give the
+appearance of monkeys on a string. This, of course, is highly ludicrous.
+I don't know of any way of overcoming it but experience. Yes, there is
+another great help, and that is musicianship. The conductor who knows
+that an artist is a musician in fact, is immensely relieved and always
+very appreciative. Singers should learn as much about the technical side
+of music as possible. Learning to play the violin or the piano, and
+learning to play it well is invaluable.
+
+
+WATCHING FOR OPPORTUNITIES
+
+The singer must be ever on the alert for opportunities to advance. This
+is largely a matter of preparation. If one is capable, the opportunities
+usually come. I wonder if I may relate a little incident which occurred
+to me in Germany long before the war. I had been singing in Berlin, when
+the impresario of the Royal Opera approached me and asked me if I could
+sing _Aida_ on a following Monday. I realized that if I admitted that I
+had never sung _Aida_ before, the thoroughgoing, matter-of-fact German
+Intendant would never even let me have a chance. Emmy Destinn was then
+the prima donna at the Royal Opera, and had been taken ill. The post was
+one of the operatic plums of all Europe. Before I knew it, I had said
+"Yes, I can sing _Aida_." It was a white lie, and once told, I had to
+live up to it. I had never sung _Aida_, and only knew part of it.
+Running home I worked all night long to learn the last act. Over and
+over the role hundreds and hundreds of times I went, until it seemed as
+though my eyes would drop out of my head. Monday night came, and thanks
+to my routine experience in smaller companies, I had learned _Aida_ so
+that I was perfectly confident of it. Imagine the strain, however, when
+I learned that the Kaiser and the court were to be present. At the end I
+was called before the Kaiser, who, after warmly complimenting me, gave
+me the greatly coveted post in his opera house. I do not believe that he
+ever found out that the little Toronto girl had actually fibbed her way
+into an opportunity.
+
+
+TALES OF STRAUSS
+
+Strauss was one of the leading conductors while I was at the Royal Opera
+and I sang under his baton many, many times. He was a real genius,--in
+that once his art work was completed, his interest immediately centered
+upon the next. Once while we were performing _Rosenkavalier_ he came
+behind the scenes and said:
+
+"Will this awfully _long_ opera never end? I want to go home." I said to
+him, "But Doctor, you composed it yourself," and he said, "Yes, but I
+never meant to conduct it."
+
+Let it be explained that Strauss was an inveterate player of the German
+card game, Scat, and would far rather seek a quiet corner with a few
+choice companions than go through one of his own works night after
+night. However, whenever the creative instinct was at work he let
+nothing impede it. I remember seeing him write upon his cuffs (no doubt
+some passing theme) during a performance of _Meistersinger_ he was
+conducting.
+
+
+THE SINGER'S GREATEST NEED
+
+The singer's greatest need, or his greatest asset if he has one, is an
+honest critic. My husband and I have made it a point never to miss
+hearing one another sing, no matter how many times we have heard each
+other sing in a role. Sometimes, after a big performance, it is very
+hard to have to be told about all the things that one did not do well,
+but that is the only way to improve. There are always many people to
+tell one the good things, but I feel that the biggest help that I have
+had through my career has been the help of my husband, because he has
+always told me the places where I could improve, so that every
+performance I had something new to think about. An artist never stands
+still. He either goes forward or backward and, of course, the only way
+to get to the top is by going forward.
+
+The difficulty in America is in giving the young singers a chance after
+their voices are placed. If only we could have a number of excellent
+stock opera companies, even though there had to be a few traveling stars
+after the manner of the old dramatic companies, where everybody had to
+start at the bottom and work his way up, because with a lovely voice,
+talent and perseverance anyone can get to the top if one has a chance to
+work. By "work" I mean singing as many new roles as possible and as
+often as possible and not starting at a big opera house singing perhaps
+two or three times during a season. Just think of it,--the singer at a
+small opera house has more chance to learn in two months than the
+beginner at a big opera house might have in five years. After all, the
+thing that is most valuable to a singer is time, as with time the voice
+will diminish in beauty. Getting to the top via the big opera house is
+the work of a lifetime, and the golden tones are gone before one really
+has an opportunity to do one's best work.
+
+[Illustration: GERALDINE FARRAR.]
+
+
+
+
+GERALDINE FARRAR
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Although one of the youngest of the noted American singers, none has
+achieved such an extensive international reputation as Miss Farrar. Born
+February 28, 1882, in Melrose, Mass., she was educated at the public
+schools in that city. At the school age she became the pupil of Mrs. J.
+H. Long, in Boston. After studying with several teachers, including Emma
+Thursby, in New York, and Trabadello, in Paris, she went to Lilli
+Lehmann in Berlin, and under this, the greatest of dramatic singers of
+her time, Miss Farrar received a most thorough and careful training in
+all the elements of her art. She made her debut as Marguerite in _Faust_
+at the Royal Opera in Berlin, October 15th, 1901. Later, after touring
+European cities with ever increasing successes, she was engaged at the
+Opera Comique and Grand Opera, Paris, and then at the Metropolitan Opera
+House in New York, where she has been the leading soprano for many
+seasons. The many enticing offers made for appearances in moving
+pictures led to a new phase of her career. In many pictures she has
+appeared with her husband, M. Lou Tellegen, one of the most
+distinguished actors of the French school, who at one time was the
+leading man for Sarah Bernhardt.
+
+The following conference is rich in advice to any young woman who
+desires to know what she must do in order to become a prima donna.
+
+
+
+
+WHAT MUST I GO THROUGH TO BECOME A PRIMA DONNA?
+
+MME. GERALDINE FARRAR
+
+
+What must I do to become a prima donna? Let us reverse the usual method
+of discussing the question and begin with the artist upon the stage in a
+great opera house like the Metropolitan in New York, on a gala night,
+every seat sold and hundreds standing. It is a modern opera with a
+"heavy" score. What is the first consideration of the singer?
+
+Primarily, an artist in grand opera must _sing_ in some fashion to
+insure the proper projection of her role across the large spaces of the
+all-too-large auditoriums. Those admirable requisites of clear diction,
+facial expression and emotional appeal will be sadly hampered unless the
+medium of sound carries their message. It is only from sad experience
+that one among many rises superior to some of the disadvantages of our
+modern opera repertoire. Gone are the days when the facile vocalist was
+supported by a small group of musicians intent upon a discreet
+accompaniment for the benefit of the singer's vocal exertions. Voices
+trained for the older repertoire were not at the mercy of an enlarged
+orchestra pit, wherein the over-zealous gentlemen now fight--_furioso ad
+libitum_--for the supremacy of operatic effects.
+
+An amiable musical observer once asked me why we all shouted so in
+opera. I replied by a question, asking if he had ever made an
+after-dinner speech. He acquiesced. I asked him how many times he rapped
+on the table for attention and silence. He admitted it was rather often.
+I asked him why. He said, so that he might be heard. He answered his own
+question by conceding that the carrying timbre of a voice cannot compete
+successfully against even banquet hall festivities unless properly
+focused out of a normal speaking tone. The difference between a small
+room and one seating several hundred is far greater than the average
+auditor realizes. If the mere rattling of silver and china will eclipse
+this vocal effort in speech I leave to your imagination what must
+transpire when the singer is called upon to dominate with one thread of
+song the tremendous onslaught of an orchestra and to rise triumphant
+above it in a theater so large that the faithful gatherers in the
+gallery tell me we all look like pigmies, and half the time are barely
+heard. Since the recesses where we must perform are so exaggerated
+everything must be in like proportion, hence we are very often too
+noisy, but how can it be otherwise if we are to influence the eager
+taxpayer in row X? After all, he has not come to hear us _whisper_, and
+his point of vantage is not so admirable as if he were sitting at a
+musical comedy in a small theater. For this condition the size of the
+theater and the instrumentation imposed by the composer are to be
+censured, and less blame placed upon the overburdened shoulders of the
+vocal competitor against these odds. Little shading in operatic tone
+color is possible unless an accompanying phrase permits it or the
+trumpeter swallows a pin!
+
+
+LUCIA OR ZAZA
+
+If your repertoire is _The Barber_, _Lucia_, _Somnambula_ and all such
+Italian dainties, well and good. Nothing need disturb the complete
+enjoyment of this lace-work. But if your auditors weep at _Butterfly_
+and _Zaza_ or thrill to _Pagliacci_, they demand you use a quite
+different technic, which comes to the point of my story.
+
+I believe it was Jean de Reszke who advocated the voice "in the mask"
+united to breath support from the diaphragm. From personal observation I
+should say our coloratura charmers lay small emphasis on that highly
+important factor and use their head voices with a freedom more or less
+God given. But the power and life-giving quality of this fundamental
+cannot be too highly estimated for us who must color our phrases to suit
+modern dramatics and evolve a carrying quality that will not only
+eliminate the difficulty of vocal demands, but at the same time insure
+immunity from harmful after-effects. This indispensable twin of the head
+voice is the dynamo which alone must endure all the necessary fatigue,
+leaving the actual voice phrases free to float unrestricted with no
+ignoble distortions or possible signs of distress. Alas! it is not easy
+to write of this, but the experience of years proves how vital a point
+is its saving grace and how, unfortunately, it remains an unknown factor
+to many.
+
+To note two of our finest examples of greatness in this marvelous
+profession, Lilli Lehmann and Jean de Reszke, neither of whom had
+phenomenal vocal gifts, I would point out their remarkable mental
+equipment, unceasing and passionate desire for perfection, paired with
+an unerring instinct for the noble and distinguished such as has not
+been found in other exponents of purely vocal virtuosity, with a few
+rare exceptions, as Melba and Galli-Curci, for instance, to mention two
+beautiful instruments of our generation.
+
+The singing art is not a casual inspiration and it should never be
+treated as such. The real artist will have an organized mental strategy
+just as minute and reliable as any intricate machinery, and will under
+all circumstances (save complete physical disability) be able to control
+and dominate her gifts to their fullest extent. This is not learned in a
+few years within the four walls of a studio, but is the result of a
+lifetime of painstaking care and devotion.
+
+There was a time when ambition and overwork so told upon me that
+mistakenly I allowed myself to minimize my vocal practice. How wrong
+that was I found out in short time and I have returned long since to my
+earlier precepts as taught me by Lilli Lehmann.
+
+
+KEEP THE VOICE STRONG AND FLEXIBLE
+
+In her book, _How to Sing_, there is much for the student to digest with
+profit, though possible reservations are advisable, dependent upon one's
+individual health and vocal resistance. Her strong conviction was, and
+is, that a voice requires daily and conscientious exercise to keep it
+strong and flexible. Having successfully mastered the older Italian
+roles as a young singer, her incursion into the later-day dramatic and
+classic repertoire in no wise became an excuse to let languish the
+fundamental idea of beautiful sound. How vitally important and admirably
+_bel canto_ sustained by the breath support has served her is readily
+understood when one remembers that she has outdistanced all the
+colleagues of her earlier career and now well over sixty, she is as
+indefatigable in her daily practice as we younger singers should be.
+
+This brief extract about Patti (again quoting Lilli Lehmann) will
+furnish an interesting comparison:
+
+In Adelina Patti everything was united--the splendid voice paired with
+great talent for singing, and the long oversight of her studies by her
+distinguished teacher, Strakosch. She never sang roles that did not suit
+her voice; in her earlier years she sang only arias and duets or single
+solos, never taking part in ensembles. She never sang even her limited
+repertory when she was indisposed. She never attended rehearsals, but
+came to the theater in the evening and sang triumphantly, without ever
+having seen the persons who sang or acted with her. She spared herself
+rehearsals, which, on the day of the performance or the day before,
+exhaust all singers because of the excitement of all kinds attending
+them, and which contribute neither to the freshness of the voice nor to
+the joy of the profession.
+
+Although she was a Spaniard by birth and an American by early adoption,
+she was, so to speak, the greatest Italian singer of my time. All was
+absolutely good, correct and flawless, the voice like a bell that you
+seemed to hear long after its singing had ceased. Yet she could give no
+explanation of her art, and answered all her colleagues' questions
+concerning it with "Ah, je n'en sais rien!" She possessed unconsciously,
+as a gift of nature, a union of all those qualities that other singers
+must attain and possess consciously. Her vocal organs stood in the most
+favorable relations to each other. Her talent and her remarkably trained
+ear maintained control over the beauty of her singing and her voice.
+Fortunate circumstances of her life preserved her from all injury. The
+purity and flawlessness of her tone, the beautiful equalization of her
+whole voice constituted the magic by which she held her listeners
+entranced. Moreover, she was beautiful and gracious in appearance. The
+accent of great dramatic power she did not possess, yet I ascribe this
+more to her intellectual indolence than to her lack of ability.
+
+But how few of us would ever make a career if we waited for such favors
+from Nature!
+
+
+LESSONS MUST BE ADEQUATE
+
+Bearing in mind the absolute necessity and real joy in vocal work, it
+confounds and amazes me that teachers of this art feel their duty has
+been accomplished when they donate twenty minutes or half an hour to a
+pupil! I do not honestly believe this is a fair exchange, and it is
+certainly not within reason to believe that within so short a time a
+pupil can actually benefit by the concentration and instruction so
+hastily conferred upon her. If this be very plain speaking, it is said
+with the object to benefit the pupil only, for it is, after all, _they_
+who must pay the ultimate in success or failure. An hour devoted to the
+minute needs of one pupil is not too much time to devote to so delicate
+a subject. An intelligent taskmaster will let his pupil demonstrate ten
+or fifteen minutes and during the same period of rest will discuss and
+awaken the pupil's interest from an intelligent point of view, that some
+degree of individuality may color even the drudgery of the classroom. A
+word of counsel from such a mistress of song as Lehmann or Sembrich is
+priceless, but the sums that pour into greedy pockets of vocal
+mechanics, not to say a harsher word, is a regretable proceeding. Too
+many mediocrities are making sounds. Too many of the same class are
+trying to instruct, but, as in politics, the real culprit is the people.
+As long as the public forbear an intelligent protest in this direction,
+just so long will the studios be crowded with pathetic seekers for fame.
+What employment these infatuated individuals enjoyed before the advent
+of grand opera and the movies became a possible exhaust pipe for their
+vanity is not clear, but they certainly should be discouraged. New York
+alone is crowded with aspirants for the stage, and their little bag of
+tricks is of very slender proportions. Let us do everything in our power
+to help the really worthy talent; but it is a mistaken charity, and not
+patriotic, to shove singers and composers so called, of American birth,
+upon a weary public which perceives nothing except the fact that they
+are of native birth and have no talent to warrant such assumption.
+
+I do not think the musical observers are doing the cause of art in this
+country a favor when columns are written about the inferior works of the
+non-gifted. An ambitious effort is all right in its way, but that is no
+reason to connect the ill-advised production with American hopes. On the
+contrary, it does us a bad turn. I shall still contend that the English
+language is not a pretty one for our vocal exploitations, and within my
+experience of the past ten years I have heard but one American work
+which I can sincerely say would have given me pleasure to create, that
+same being Mr. Henry Hadley's recently produced _Cleopatra's Night_. His
+score is rich and deserving of the highest praise.
+
+In closing I should like to quote again from Mme. Lehmann's book an
+exercise that would seem to fulfill a long-felt want:
+
+"The great scale is the most necessary exercise for all kinds of voices.
+It was taught me by my mother. She taught it to all her pupils and to
+us."
+
+Here is the scale as Lehmann taught it to me.
+
+[Illustration: musical notation: Breath Breath Breath Breath]
+
+It was sung upon all the principal vowels. It was extended stepwise
+through different keys over the entire range of the two octaves of the
+voice. It was not her advice to practice it too softly, but it was done
+with all the resonating organs well supported by the diaphragm, the tone
+in a very supple and elastic "watery" state. She would think nothing of
+devoting from forty minutes to sixty minutes a day to the slow practice
+of this exercise. Of course, she would treat what one might call a heavy
+brunette voice quite differently from a bright blonde voice. These terms
+of blonde and brunette, of course, have nothing to do with the
+complexion of the individual, but to the color of the voice.
+
+
+THE ONLY CURE
+
+Lehmann said of this scale: "It is the only cure for all injuries, and
+at the same time the most excellent means of fortification against all
+over-exertion. I sing it every day, often twice, even if I have to sing
+one of the heaviest roles in the evening. I can rely absolutely upon its
+assistance. I often take fifty minutes to go through it once, for I let
+no tone pass that is lacking in any degree in pitch, power, duration or
+in single vibration of the propagation form."
+
+Personally I supplement this great scale often with various florid
+legato phrases of arias selected from the older Italians or Mozart,
+whereby I can more easily achieve the vocal facility demanded by the
+tessitura of _Manon_ or _Faust_ and change to the darker-hued phrases
+demanded in _Carmen_ or _Butterfly_.
+
+But the open secret of all success is patient, never-ending,
+conscientious _work_, with a forceful emphasis on the _WORK_.
+
+[Illustration: JOHANNA GADSKI.]
+
+
+
+
+MME. JOHANNA GADSKI
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Mme. Gadski was born at Anclam, Prussia, June 15, 1872. Her studies in
+singing were principally with Mme. Schroeder-Chaloupha. When she was ten
+years old she sang successfully in concert at Stettin. Her operatic
+debut was made in Berlin, in 1889, in Weber's _Der Freischutz_. She then
+appeared in the opera houses of Bremen and Mayence. In 1894 Dr. Walter
+Damrosch organized his opera company in New York and engaged Mme. Gadski
+for leading roles. In 1898 she became high dramatic soprano with the
+Metropolitan Opera Company in New York, and the following year appeared
+at Covent Garden. She was constantly developing as a singer of Wagner
+roles, notably _Brunhilde_ and _Isolde_. Her repertoire included forty
+roles in all, and the demand for her appearance at festivals here and
+abroad became more and more insistent. She sang at the Metropolitan
+Opera House in New York until 1917, when the notoriety caused by the
+activities of her husband, Captain Hans Tauscher, American agent for
+large German weapon manufacturers, forced her to resign. Mme. Gadski
+made a close study of the Schumann Songs for years; and the following
+can not fail to be of artistic assistance to the singer.
+
+
+
+
+THE MASTER SONGS OF ROBERT SCHUMANN
+
+MME. JOHANNA GADSKI
+
+ROBERT SCHUMANN'S LYRIC GIFT
+
+
+One cannot delve very far into the works of Schumann without discovering
+that his gifts are peculiarly lyric. His melodic fecundity is all the
+more remarkable because of his strong originality. Even in many of his
+piano pieces, such as _Warum?_, _Traeumerei_ or the famous _Slumber
+Song_, the lyric character is evident. Beautiful melodies which seem to
+lend themselves to the peculiar requirements of vocal music crop up
+every now and then in all his works. This is by no means the case with
+many of the other great masters. In some of Beethoven's songs, for
+instance, one can never lose sight of the fact that they are
+instrumental pieces. It was Schumann's particular privilege to be gifted
+with the acute sense of proportion which enabled him to estimate just
+what kind of an accompaniment a melody should have. Naturally some of
+his songs stand out far above others; and in these the music lover and
+vocal student will notice that there is usually a beautiful artistic
+balance between the accompaniment and the melody.
+
+Another characteristic is the sense of propriety with which Schumann
+connected his melodies with the thought of the poems he employed. This
+is doubtless due to the extensive literary training he himself enjoyed.
+It was impossible for a man of Schumann's life experience to apply an
+inappropriate melody to any given poem. With some song writers, this is
+by no means the case. The music of one song would fit almost any other
+set of words having the same poetic metre. Schumann was continually
+seeking after a distinctive atmosphere, and this it is which gives many
+of his works their lasting charm.
+
+
+THE INTIMATE AND DELICATE CHARACTER OF SCHUMANN SONGS
+
+Most of the greater Schumann songs are of a deliciously ultimate and
+delicate character. By this no one should infer that they are weak or
+spineless. Schumann was a deep student of psychology and of human life.
+In the majority of cases he eschewed the melodramatic. It is true that
+we have at least one song, _The Two Grenadiers_, which is melodramatic
+in the extreme; but this, according to the greatest judges, is not
+Schumann at his best. It was the particular delight of Schumann to take
+some intense little poem and apply to it a musical setting crowded full
+of deep poetical meaning. Again, he liked to paint musical pastels such
+as _Im wunderschoenen Monat Mai_, _Fruehlingsnacht_ and _Der Nussbaum_.
+These songs are redolent with the fragrance of out-of-doors. There is
+not one jarring note. The indefinable beauty and inspiration of the
+fields and forests have been caught by the master and imprisoned forever
+in this wonderful music.
+
+_Im wunderschoenen Monat Mai_, which comes from the _Dichterliebe_ cycle,
+is indescribably delicate. It should be sung with great lightness and
+simplicity. Any effort toward a striving for effect would ruin this
+exquisite gem. _Fruehlingsnacht_ with its wonderful accompaniment, which
+Franz Liszt thought so remarkable that he combined the melody and the
+accompaniment, with but slight alterations, and made a piano piece of
+the whole--is a difficult song to sing properly. If the singer does not
+catch the effervescent character of the song as a whole, the effect is
+lost. Any "dragging" of the tones destroys the wonderful exuberance
+which Schumann strove to connote. The balance between the singer and the
+accompanist must be perfect, and woe be to the singer who tries to sing
+_Fruehlingsnacht_ with a lumbering accompanist.
+
+_Der Nussbaum_ is one of the most effective and "thankful" of all the
+Schumann songs. Experienced public singers almost invariably win popular
+appreciation with this song. It is probably my favorite of all the
+Schumann songs. Here again delicacy and simplicity reign supreme. In
+fact simplicity in interpretation is the great requirement of all the
+art songs. The amateur singer seems to be continually trying to secure
+"effect" with these songs and the only result of this is affectation. If
+amateurs could only realize how hard the really great masters tried to
+avoid results that were to be secured by the cheap methods of
+"affectation" and "show," they would make their singing more simple.
+Success in singing art songs comes through the ability of the artist to
+bring out the psychic, poetical and musical meaning of the song. There
+is no room for cheap vocal virtuosity. The great songs bear the sacred
+message of the best and finest in art. They represent the conscientious
+devotion of their composers to their loftiest ideals.
+
+I have mentioned three songs which are representative, but there are
+numberless other songs which reveal the intimate and personal character
+of Schumann's works. One popular mistake regarding these songs which is
+quite prevalent is that of thinking that they can only be sung in tiny
+rooms and never in large auditoriums. Time and again I have achieved
+some of the best results I have ever secured on the concert stage with
+delicate intimate works sung before audiences of thousands of people.
+The size of the auditorium has practically nothing to do with the song.
+The method of delivery is everything. If the song is properly and
+thoughtfully delivered, the audience, though it be one of thousands,
+will sit "quiet as mice" and listen reverently to the end. However, if
+one of these songs were to be sung in a flamboyant, bombastic manner, by
+some singer infected with the idea that in order to impress a multitude
+of people an exaggerated style is necessary, the results would be
+ruinous. If overdone, they are never appreciated. Art is art. Rembrandt
+in one of his master paintings exhibits just the right artistic balance.
+A copy of the same painting might become a mere daub, with a few twists
+of some bungling amateur's brush. Let the young singer remember that
+the results that are the most difficult to get in singing the art song
+are not those by which she may hope to make a sensational impression by
+means of show, but those which depend first and always upon sincerity,
+simplicity and a deep study of the real meaning of the masterpiece.
+
+
+THE LOVE INTEREST IN THE SCHUMANN SONGS
+
+Up to the time Schumann was thirty years of age (1840), his compositions
+were confined to works for the piano. These piano works include some of
+the very greatest and most inspired of his compositions for the
+instrument. In 1840 Schumann married Clara Wieck, daughter of his former
+pianoforte teacher. This marriage was accomplished only after the most
+severe opposition imaginable upon the part of the irate father-in-law,
+who was loath to see his daughter, whom he had trained to be one of the
+foremost pianists of her sex, marry an obscure composer. The effect of
+this opposition was to raise Schumann's affection to the condition of a
+kind of fanaticism. All this made a pronounced impression upon his art
+and seemed to make him long for expression through the medium of his
+love songs. He wrote to a friend at this time, "I am now writing nothing
+but songs great and small. I can hardly tell you how delightful it is to
+write for the voice, as compared with instrumental composition; and what
+a tumult and strife I feel within me as I sit down to it. I have brought
+forth quite new things in this line." In letters to his wife he is quite
+as impassioned over his song writing as the following quotations
+indicate: "Since yesterday morning, I have written twenty-seven pages of
+music (something new of which I can tell you nothing more than that I
+have laughed and wept for joy in composing them). When I composed them
+my soul was within yours. Without such a bride, indeed no one could
+write such music; once more I have composed so much that it seems almost
+uncanny. Alas! I cannot help it: I could sing myself to death like a
+nightingale."
+
+During the first year of his marriage Schumann wrote one hundred of the
+two hundred and forty-five songs that are attributed to him. In the
+published collections of his works, there are three songs attributed to
+Schumann which are known to be from the pen of his talented wife. As in
+his piano compositions Schumann avoided long pieces and preferred
+collections of comparatively short pieces, such as those in the
+_Carnaval_, _Kreisleriana_, _Papillons_, so in his early works for the
+voice Schumann chose to write short songs which were grouped in the form
+of cycles. Seven of these cycles are particularly well known. They are
+here given together with the best known songs from each group.
+
+        Cycle                            Songs
+
+    _Liederkreis_               {_Ich wandelte unter den Baeumen._
+                                {_Mit Myrthen und Rosen._
+
+                                {_Die Lotusblume._
+    _Myrthen_                   {_Lass mich ihm am Busen hangen._
+                                {_Du bist wie eine Blume._
+                                {_Der Nussbaum._
+
+    _Eichendorff Liederkreis_   {_Waldesgespraech._
+                                {_Fruehlingsnacht._
+
+                                {_Wanderlust._
+    _Kerner Cycle_              {_Frage._
+                                {_Stille Thraenen._
+
+                                {_O, Ring an meinem Finger._
+    _Frauenliebe und Leben_     {_Er, der Herrlichste von Allen._
+
+                                {_Ich grolle nicht._
+    _Dichterliebe_              {_Im wunderschoenen Mai._
+                                {_Ich hab' im Traum geweinet._
+
+                                {_Three of the songs in this_
+    _Liebesfruehling_            {_Cycle are attributed to_
+                                {_Clara Schumann._
+
+Critics seem to be agreed that Schumann's talent gradually deteriorated
+as his mental disease increased. Consequently, with but few exceptions
+his best song works are to be found among his early vocal compositions.
+I have tried repeatedly to bring forth some of the lesser known songs of
+Schumann and have time and again devoted long periods to their study,
+but apparently the public, by an unmistakable indication of lack of
+approval, will have none of them.
+
+Evidently, the songs by which Schumann is now best known are his best
+works from the standpoint of popular appreciation. Popular approval
+taken in the aggregate is a mighty determining factor. The survival of
+the fittest applies to songs as well as to other things in life. This is
+particularly so in the case of the four famous songs, _Die beiden
+Grenadiere_, _Widmung_, _Der Nussbaum_ and _Ich grolle nicht_, which
+never seem to diminish in popularity.
+
+
+SCHUMANN'S LOVE FOR THE ROMANTIC
+
+Schumann's fervid imagination readily led to a love for the romantic.
+His early fondness for the works of Jean Paul developed into a kind of
+life tendency, which resulted in winning him the title of the "Tone-Poet
+of Romanticism." Few of his songs, however, are really dramatic.
+_Waldesgespraech_, which Robert Franz called a pianoforte piece with a
+voice part added, is probably the best of Schumann's dramatic-romantic
+songs. I have always found that audiences are very partial to this song;
+and it may be sung by a female voice as well as the male voice. The _Two
+Grenadiers_ is strictly a man's song. _Ich grolle nicht_, while sung
+mostly by men, may, like the _Erl-King_ of Schubert, be sung quite as
+successfully by women singers possessing the qualities of depth and
+dramatic intensity.
+
+
+PECULIAR DIFFICULTIES IN INTERPRETING SCHUMANN SONGS
+
+I have already mentioned the necessity for simplicity in connection with
+the interpretation of the Schumann songs. I need not tell the readers of
+these pages that the proper interpretation of these songs requires a
+much more extensive and difficult kind of preparatory work than the more
+showy coloratura works which to the novice often seem vastly more
+difficult. The very simplicity of the Schubert and Schumann songs makes
+them more difficult to sing properly than the works of writers who
+adopted a somewhat more complicated style. The smallest vocal
+discrepancies become apparent at once and it is only by the most intense
+application and great attention to detail that it is possible for the
+singer to bring her art to a standard that will stand the test of these
+simple, but very difficult works. Too much coloratura singing is liable
+to rob the voice of its fullness and is not to be recommended as a
+preparation for the singer who would become a singer of the modern art
+songs. This does not mean that scales and arpeggios are to be avoided.
+In fact the flexibility and control demanded of the singers of art songs
+are quite as great as that required of the coloratura singer. The
+student must have her full quota of vocal exercises before she should
+think of attempting the Schumann Lieder.
+
+
+SCHUMANN'S POPULARITY IN AMERICA
+
+Americans seem to be particularly fond of Schumann. When artists are
+engaged for concert performances it is the custom in this country to
+present optional programs to the managers of the local concert
+enterprises. These managers represent all possible kinds of taste. It is
+the experience of most concert artists that the Schumann selections are
+almost invariably chosen. This is true of the West as well as of the
+South and East. One section of the program is without exception devoted
+to what they call classical songs and by this they mean the best songs
+rather than the songs whose chief claim is that they are from the old
+Italian schools of Carissimi, Scarlatti, etc. I make it a special point
+to present as many songs as possible with English words. The English
+language is not a difficult language in which to sing; and when the
+translation coincides with the original I can see no reason why American
+readers who may not be familiar with a foreign tongue should be denied
+the privilege of understanding what the song is about. If they do not
+understand, why sing words at all? Why not vocalize the melodies upon
+some vowel? Songs, however, were meant to combine poetry and music; and
+unless the audience has the benefit of understanding both, it has been
+defrauded of one of its chief delights.
+
+Some German poems, however, are almost untranslatable. It is for this
+reason that many of the works of Loewe, for instance, have never attained
+wide popularity. The legends which Loewe employed are often delightful,
+but the difficulties of translation are such that the original meaning
+is either marred or destroyed. The songs or ballads of Loewe, without the
+words, do not seem to grasp American audiences and singers find it a
+thankless task to try to force them upon the public.
+
+I have been so long in America that I feel it my duty to share in
+popularizing the works of the many talented American composers. I
+frequently place MacDowell's beautiful songs on my programs; and the
+works of many other American composers, including Mrs. H. H. A. Beach,
+Sidney Homer, Frank Le Forge and others make fine concert numbers. It
+has seemed to me that America has a large future in the field of lyric
+composition. American poets have long since won their place in the
+international Hall of Fame. The lyrical spirit which they have expressed
+verbally will surely be imbued in the music of American composers. The
+opportunity is already here. Americans demand the best the world can
+produce. It makes no difference what the nationality of the composer.
+However, Americans are first of all patriotic; and the composer who
+produces real lyric masterpieces is not likely to be asked to wait for
+fame and competence, as did Schubert and Schumann.
+
+[Illustration: MME. AMELITA GALLI-CURCI.
+
+(C) Victor Georg.]
+
+
+
+
+MME. AMELITA GALLI-CURCI
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Mme. Galli-Curci was born at Milan, November 18th, 1889, of a family
+distinguished in the arts and in the professions. She entered the Milan
+Conservatory, winning the first prize and diploma in piano playing in
+1903. For a time after her graduation she toured as a pianist and then
+resolved to become a singer. She is practically self-taught in the vocal
+art. Her debut was made in Rome at the Teatro Constanzi, in the role of
+_Gilda_ in _Rigoletto_. She was pronouncedly successful from the very
+start. During the next six years she sang principally in Italy, South
+America (Three Tours), and in Spain, her success increasing with every
+appearance. In 1916 she appeared at Chicago with the Chicago Opera
+Company, creating a furore. The exceptionally beautiful records of her
+interpretations created an immense demand to hear her in concert, and
+her successes everywhere have been historic. Not since Patti has there
+been a singer upon whom such wide-spread critical comment has been made
+in praise of her exquisite velvety quality of tone, vocal technic and
+interpretative intelligence. Hailed as "Patti's only successor," she has
+met with greater popular success in opera and concert than any of the
+singers of recent years. In 1921 she married the gifted American
+composer, Homer Samuels, who for many years had been the pianist upon
+her tours.
+
+
+
+
+TEACHING YOURSELF TO SING
+
+MME. AMELITA GALLI-CURCI
+
+
+Just what influence heredity may have upon the musical art and upon
+musicians has, of course, been a much discussed question. In my own
+case, I was fortunate in having a father who, although engaged in
+another vocation, was a fine amateur musician. My grandfather was a
+conductor and my grandmother was an opera singer of distinction in
+Italy. Like myself, she was a coloratura soprano, and I can recollect
+with joy her voice and her method of singing. Even at the age of
+seventy-five her voice was wonderfully well preserved, because she
+always sang with the greatest ease and with none of the forced throat
+restrictions which make the work of so many singers insufferable.
+
+My own musical education began at the age of five, when I commenced to
+play the piano. Meanwhile I sang around the house, and my grandmother
+used to say in good humor: "Keep it up, my dear; perhaps some day you
+may be a better singer than I am." My father, however, was more
+seriously interested in instrumental music, and desired that I should
+become a pianist. How fortunate for me! Otherwise, I should never have
+had that thorough musical drill which gave me an acquaintance with the
+art which I cannot believe could come in any other way. Mascagni was a
+very good friend of our family and took a great interest in my playing.
+He came to our house very frequently, and his advice and inspiration
+naturally meant much to a young, impressionable girl.
+
+
+GENERAL EDUCATION
+
+My general education was very carefully guarded by my father, who sent
+me to the best schools in Milan, one of which was under the management
+of Germans, and it was there that I acquired my acquaintance with the
+German language. I was then sent to the Conservatorio, and graduated
+with a gold medal as a pianist. This won me some distinction in Italy
+and enabled me to tour as a pianist. I did not pretend to play the big,
+exhaustive works, but my programs were made up of such pieces as the
+_Abeg_ of Schumann, studies by Scharwenka, impromptus of Chopin, the
+four scherzos of Chopin, the first ballade, the nocturnes (the fifth in
+the book was my favorite) and works of Bach. (Of course, I had been
+through the Wohltemperiertes Clavier.) In those days I was very frail,
+and I had aspired to develop my repertoire so that later I could include
+the great works for the piano requiring a more or less exhaustive
+technic of the bravura type.
+
+Once I went to hear Busoni, and after the concert, came to me like a
+revelation, "You can never be such a pianist as he. Your hand and your
+physical strength will not permit it." I went home in more or less
+sadness, knowing that despite the success I had had in my piano playing,
+my decision was a wise one. Figuratively, I closed the lid of my piano
+upon my career as a pianist and decided to learn how to sing. The memory
+of my grandmother's voice singing Bellini's _Qui la Voce_ was still
+ringing in my ears with the lovely purity of tone that she possessed.
+Mascagni called upon us at that time, and I asked him to hear me sing.
+He did so, and threw up his hands, saying, "Why in the world have you
+been wasting your time with piano playing when you have a natural voice
+like that? Such voices are born. Start to work at once to develop your
+voice." Meanwhile, of course, I had heard a great deal of singing and a
+great deal of so-called voice teaching. I went to two teachers in Milan,
+but was so dissatisfied with what I heard from them and from their
+pupils that I was determined that it would be necessary for me to
+develop my own voice. Please do not take this as an inference that all
+vocal teachers are bad or are dispensable. My own case was peculiar. I
+had been saturated with musical traditions since my babyhood. I had had,
+in addition, a very fine musical training. Of course, without this I
+could not have attempted to do what I did in the way of self-training.
+Nevertheless, it is my firm conviction that unless the student of
+singing has in his brain and in his soul those powers of judging for
+himself whether the quality of a tone, the intonation (pitch), the
+shading, the purity and the resonance are what they should be to insure
+the highest artistic results, it will be next to impossible for him to
+secure these. This is what is meant by the phrase--"singers are born and
+not made." The power of discrimination, the judgment, etc., must be
+inherent. No teacher can possibly give them to a pupil, except in an
+artificial way. That, possibly, is the reason why so many students sing
+like parrots: because they have the power of mimicry, but nothing comes
+from within. The fine teacher can, of course, take a fine sense of tonal
+values, etc., and, provided the student has a really good natural voice,
+lead him to reveal to himself the ways in which he can use his voice to
+the best advantage. Add to this a fine musical training, and we have a
+singer. But no teacher can give to a voice that velvety smoothness, that
+liquid fluency, that bell-like clarity which the ear of the educated
+musician expects, and which the public at large demands, unless the
+student has the power of determining for himself what is good and what
+is bad.
+
+
+FOUR YEARS OF HARD TRAINING
+
+It was no easy matter to give up the gratifying success which attended
+my pianistic appearances to begin a long term of self-study,
+self-development. Yet I realized that it would hardly be possible for me
+to accomplish what I desired in less than four years. Therefore, I
+worked daily for four years, drilling myself with the greatest care in
+scales, arpeggios and sustained tones. The colorature facility I seemed
+to possess naturally, to a certain extent; but I realized that only by
+hard and patient work would it be possible to have all my runs, trills,
+etc., so that they always would be smooth, articulate and free--that
+is, unrestricted--at any time. I studied the roles in which I aspired
+to appear, and attended the opera faithfully to hear fine singing, as
+well as bad singing.
+
+As the work went on it became more and more enjoyable. I felt that I was
+upon the right path, and that meant everything. If I had continued as a
+pianist I could never have been more than a mediocrity, and that I could
+not have tolerated.
+
+About this time came a crisis in my father's business; it became
+necessary for me to teach. Accordingly, I took a number of piano pupils
+and enjoyed that phase of my work very much indeed. I gave lessons for
+four years, and in my spare time worked with my voice, all by myself,
+with my friend, the piano. My guiding principles were:
+
+     _There must be as little consciousness of effort in the throat as
+     possible._
+
+     _There must always be the Joy of Singing._
+
+     _Success is based upon sensation, whether it feels right to me in
+     my mouth, in my throat, that I know, and nobody else can tell me._
+
+I remember that my grandmother, who sang _Una voce poco fa_ at
+seventy-five, always cautioned me to never force a single tone. I did
+not study exercises like those of Concone, Panofka, Bordogni, etc.,
+because they seemed to me a waste of time in my case. I did not require
+musical knowledge, but needed special drill. I knew where my weak spots
+were. What was the use of vocal studies which required me to do a lot
+of work and only occasionally touched those portions of my voice which
+needed special attention? Learning a repertoire was a great task in
+itself, and there was no time to waste upon anything I did not actually
+need. Because of the natural fluency I have mentioned, I devoted most of
+my time to slower exercises at first. What could be simpler than this?
+
+[Illustration: musical notation: Ex. 1]
+
+These, of course, were sung in the most convenient range in my voice.
+The more rapid exercises I took from C to F above the treble staff.
+
+[Illustration: musical notation: Ex. 2]
+
+Even to this day I sing up to high F every day, in order that I may be
+sure that I have the tones to E below in public work. Another exercise
+which I used very frequently was this, in the form of a trill. Great
+care was taken to have the intonation (pitch) absolutely accurate in the
+rapid passages, as well as in the slow passages.
+
+[Illustration: musical notation: Ex. 3]
+
+When I had reached a certain point, I determined that it might be
+possible for me to get an engagement. I was then twenty, and my dear
+mother was horrified at the idea of my going on the stage so young. She
+was afraid of evil influences. In my own mind I realized that evil was
+everywhere, in business, society, everywhere, and that if one was to
+keep out of dirt and come out dean, one must make one's art the object
+first of all. Art is so great, so all-consuming, that any one with a
+deep reverence for its beauties, its grandeur, can have but little time
+for the lower things of life. All that an artist calls for in his soul
+is to be permitted to work at his best in his art. Then, and then only,
+is he happiest. Because of my mother's opposition, and because I felt I
+was strong enough to resist the temptations which she knew I might
+encounter, I virtually eloped with a copy of _Rigoletto_ under my arm
+and made my way for the Teatro Constanzi, the leading Opera House of
+Rome.
+
+I might readily have secured letters from influential musical friends,
+such as Mascagni and others, but I determined that it would be best to
+secure an engagement upon my own merits, if I could, and then I would
+know whether or not I was really prepared to make my debut, or whether I
+had better study more. I went to the manager's office and, appealing to
+his business sense, told him that, as I was a young unknown singer, he
+could secure my services for little money, and begged for permission to
+sing for him. I knew he was beset by such requests, but he immediately
+gave me a hearing, and I was engaged for one performance of
+_Rigoletto_. The night of the debut came, and I was obliged to sing
+_Caro Nome_ again in response to a vociferous encore. This was followed
+by other successes, and I was engaged for two years for a South American
+tour, under the direction of my good friend and adviser, the great
+operatic director, Mugnone. In South America there was enthusiasm
+everywhere, but all the time I kept working constantly with my voice,
+striving to perfect details.
+
+At the end of the South American tour I desired to visit New York and
+find out what America was like. Because of the war Europe was
+operatically impossible (it was 1916), but I had not the slightest idea
+of singing in the United States just then. By merest accident I ran into
+an American friend (Mr. Thorner) on Broadway. He had heard me sing in
+Italy, and immediately took me to Maestro Campanini, who was looking
+then for a coloratura soprano to sing for only two performances in
+Chicago, as the remainder of his program was filled for the year. This
+was in the springtime, and it meant that I was to remain in New York
+until October and November. The opportunity seemed like an unusual
+accident of fate, and I resolved to stay, studying my own voice all the
+while to improve it more and more. October and the debut in _Rigoletto_
+came. The applause astounded me; it was electric, like a thunderstorm.
+No one was more astonished than I. Engagements and offers came from
+everywhere, but not enough, I hope, to ever induce me not to believe
+that in the vocal art one must continually strive for higher and higher
+goals. Laziness, indifference and lassitude which come with success are
+the ruin of Art and the artist. The normal healthy artist with the right
+ideals never reaches his Zenith. If he did, or if he thought he did, his
+career would come to a sudden end.
+
+[Illustration: MARY GARDEN.
+
+(C) Mishkin.]
+
+
+
+
+MARY GARDEN
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Mary Garden was born February 20th, 1877, in Aberdeen, Scotland. She
+came to America with her parents when she was eight years of age and was
+brought up in Chicopee, Massachusetts, Hartford, Connecticut, and
+Chicago, Illinois. She studied the violin when she was six and the piano
+when she was twelve. It was the ambition of her parents to make her an
+instrumental performer. She studied voice with Mrs. S. R. Duff, who in
+time took her to Paris and placed her under the instruction of
+Trabadello and Lucien Fugere. Her operatic debut was made in
+Charpentier's _Louise_ at the Opera Comique in 1900. Her success was
+immediate both as an actress and as a singer. She was chosen by Debussy
+and others for especially intricate roles. She created the role of
+_Melisande_; also, _Fiammette_ in Laroux's _La Reine Fiammette_. In 1907
+she made her American debut in _Thais_ at the Manhattan Opera House in
+New York City. Later she accepted leading roles with the
+Philadelphia-Chicago Opera Co. She is considered by many the finest
+singing actress living--her histrionic gifts being in every way equal to
+her vocal gifts. In 1921 she was made the manager of the Chicago Opera
+Company.
+
+
+
+
+THE KNOW HOW IN THE ART OF SINGING
+
+MARY GARDEN
+
+
+The modern opera singer cannot content herself merely with the "know
+how" of singing. That is, she must be able to know so much more than the
+mere elemental facts of voice production that it would take volumes to
+give an intimation of the real requirements.
+
+The girl who wants to sing in opera must have one thought and one
+thought only--"what will contribute to my musical, histrionic and
+artistic success?"
+
+Unless the "career" comes first there is not likely to be any "career."
+
+I wonder if the public ever realizes what this sacrifice means to an
+artiste--to a woman.
+
+Of course, there are great recompenses--the thrill that comes with
+artistic triumphs--the sensations that accompany achievement--who but
+the artist can know what this means--the joy of bringing to life some
+great masterpiece?
+
+Music manifests itself in children at a very early age. It is very rare
+indeed that it comes to the surface later in life. I was always musical.
+Only the media changed--one time it was violin, then piano, then voice.
+The dolls of my sisters only annoyed me because I could not tolerate
+dolls. They seemed a waste of time to me, and when they had paper
+dolls, I would go into the room when nobody was looking and cut the
+dolls' heads off. I have never been able to account for my delight in
+doing this.
+
+My father was musical. He wanted me to be a musician, but he had little
+thought at first of my being a singer. Accordingly, at eight I was
+possessed of a fiddle. This meant more to me than all the dolls in the
+world. Oh, how I loved that violin, which I could make speak just by
+drawing a bow over it! There was something worth while.
+
+I was only as big as a minute, and, of course, as soon as I could play
+the routine things of de Beriot, variations and the like, I was
+considered one of those abominable things, "an infant prodigy."
+
+I was brought out to play for friends and any musical person who could
+stand it. Then I gave a concert, and my father saw the finger of destiny
+pointing to my career as a great violinist.
+
+To me the finger of destiny pointed the other way; because I immediately
+sickened of the violin and dropped it forever. Yes, I could play now if
+I had to, but you probably wouldn't want to hear me.
+
+Ah, but I do play. I play every time I sing. The violin taught me the
+need for perfect intonation, fluency in execution, ever so many things.
+
+Then came the piano. Here was a new artistic toy. I worked very hard
+with it. My sister and I went back to Aberdeen for a season of private
+school, and I kept up my piano until I could play acceptably many of
+the best-known compositions, Grieg, Chopin, etc., being my favorites. I
+was never a very fine pianist, understand me, but the piano unlocked the
+doors to thousands of musical treasure houses--admitted me to musical
+literature through the main gate, and has been of invaluable aid to me
+in my career. See my fingers, how long and thin they are--of course, I
+was a capable pianist--long, supple fingers, combined with my musical
+experience gained in violin playing, made that certain.
+
+Then I dropped the piano. Dropped it at once. Its possibilities stood
+revealed before me, and they were not to be the limit of my ambitions.
+
+For the girl who hopes to be an operatic "star" there could be nothing
+better than a good drilling in violin or piano. The girl has no business
+to sing while she is yet a child--and she is that until she is sixteen
+or over. Better let her work hard getting a good general education and a
+good musical education. The voice will keep, and it will be sweeter and
+fresher if it is not overused in childhood.
+
+Once, with my heart set upon becoming a singer, my father fortunately
+took me to Mrs. Robinson Duff, of Chicago. To her, my mentor to this
+day, I owe much of my vocal success. I was very young and very
+emotional, with a long pigtail down my back. At first the work did not
+enrapture me, for I could not see the use of spending so much time upon
+breathing. Now I realize what it did for me.
+
+What should the girl starting singing avoid? First, let her avoid an
+incompetent teacher. There are teachers, for instance, who deliberately
+teach the "stroke of the glottis" (coup de glotte).
+
+What is the stroke of the glottis? The lips of the vocal cords in the
+larynx are pressed together so that the air becomes compressed behind
+them and instead of coming out in a steady, unimpeded stream, it causes
+a kind of explosion. Say the word "up" in the throat very forcibly and
+you will get the right idea.
+
+This is a most pernicious habit. Somehow, it crept into some phases of
+vocal teaching, and has remained. It leads to a constant irritation of
+the throat and ruin to the vocal organs.
+
+When I went to Paris, Mrs. Duff took me to many of the leading vocal
+teachers of the city, and said, "Now, Mary, I want you to use your own
+judgment in picking out a teacher, because if you don't like the teacher
+you will not succeed."
+
+Thus we went around from studio to studio. One asked me to do this--to
+hum--to make funny, unnatural noises, anything but sing. Finally,
+Trabadello, now retired to his country home, really asked me to sing in
+a normal, natural way, not as a freak. I said to myself, "This is the
+teacher for me." I could not have had a better one.
+
+Look out for teachers with freak methods--ten to one they are making you
+one of their experiments. There is nothing that any voice teacher has
+ever found superior to giving simple scales and exercises sung upon the
+syllables Lah (ah, as in harbor), Leh (eh, as in they), Lee (ee, as in
+me). With a good teacher to keep watch over the breathing and the
+quality, "what more can one have?"
+
+I have always believed in a great many scales and in a great deal of
+singing florid roles in Italian. Italian is inimitable for the singer.
+The dulcet, velvet-like character of the language gives something which
+nothing else can impart. It does not make any difference whether you
+purpose singing in French, German, English, Russian or Soudanese, you
+will gain much from exercising in Italian.
+
+Staccato practice is valuable. Here is an exercise which I take nearly
+every day of my life:
+
+[Illustration: musical notation]
+
+The staccato must be controlled from the diaphragm, however, and this
+comes only after a great deal of work.
+
+Three-quarters of an hour a day practice suffices me. I find it
+injurious to practice too long. But I study for hours. Such a role as
+_Aphrodite_ I take quietly and sing it over mentally time and time again
+without making a sound. I study the harmonies, the nuances, the
+phrasing, the breathing, so that when the time for singing it comes I
+know it and do not waste my voice by going over it time and again, as
+some singers do. In the end I find that I know it better for this kind
+of study.
+
+The study of acting has been a very personal matter with me. I have
+never been through any courses of study, such as that given in dramatic
+schools. This may do for some people, but it would have been impossible
+for me. There must be technic in all forms of art, but it has always
+seemed to me that acting was one of the arts in which the individual
+must make his own technic. I have seen many representatives of the
+schools of acting here and abroad. Sometimes their performances, based
+upon technical studies of the art, result in superb acting. Again, their
+work is altogether indifferent. Technic in acting is more likely to
+suppress than to inspire. If acting is not inspired, it is nothing. I
+study the human emotions that would naturally underlie the scene in
+which I am placed--then I think what one would be most likely to do
+under such conditions. When the actual time of appearance on the stage
+arrives, I forget all about this and make myself the person of the role.
+
+This is the Italian method rather than the French. There are, to my
+mind, no greater actors living than Duse and Zacchona, and they are both
+exponents of the natural method that I employ.
+
+Great acting has always impressed me wonderfully. I went from Paris to
+London repeatedly to see Beerbohm Tree in his best roles. Sir Herbert
+was not always uniformly fine, but he was a great actor and I learned
+much from watching him. Once I induced Debussy to make the trip to see
+him act. Debussy was delighted.
+
+Debussy! Ah, what a rare genius--my greatest friend in Art! Everything
+he wrote we went over together. He was a terribly exacting master. Few
+people in America realize what a transcendent pianist he was. The piano
+seemed to be thinking, feeling, vibrating while he was at the keyboard.
+Time and again we went over his principal works, note for note. Now and
+then he would stop and clasp his hands over his face in sudden silence,
+repeating, "It is all wrong--it is all wrong." But he was too good a
+teacher to let it go at that. He could tell me exactly what was wrong
+and how to remedy it. When I first sang for him, at the time when they
+were about to produce _Pelleas and Melisande_ at the Opera Comique, I
+thought that I had not pleased him. But I learned later that he had said
+to M. Carre, the director: "Don't look for anyone else." From that time
+he and his family became my close friends. The fatalistic side of our
+meeting seemed to interest him very much. "To think," he used to say,
+"that you were born in Aberdeen, Scotland, lived in America all those
+years and should come to Paris to create my _Melisande_!"
+
+As I have said, Debussy was a gorgeous pianist. He could play with the
+greatest delicacy and could play in the leonine fashion of Rubinstein.
+He was familiar with Beethoven, Bach, Handel and the classics, and was
+devoted to them. Wagner he could not abide. He called him a "griffe
+papier"--a scribbler. He thought that he had no importance in the world
+of music, and to mention Wagner to him was like waving a red flag
+before a bull.
+
+It is difficult to account for such an opinion. Wagner, to me, is the
+great tone colorist, the master of orchestral wealth and dramatic
+intensity. Sometimes I have been so Wagner-hungry that I have not known
+what to do. For years I went every year to Munich to see the wonderful
+performances at the Prinzregenten Theater.
+
+In closing let me say that it seems to me a great deal of the failure
+among young singers is that they are too impatient to acquire the "know
+how." They want to blossom out on the first night as great prima donnas,
+without any previous experience. How ridiculous this is! I worked for a
+whole year at the Opera Comique, at $100 a month, singing such a trying
+opera as _Louise_ two and three times a week. When they raised me to
+$175 a month I thought that I was rich, and when $400 a month came, my
+fortune had surely been made! All this time I was gaining precious
+experience. It could not have come to me in any other way. As I have
+said, the natural school--the natural school, like that of the
+Italians--stuffed as it is with glorious red blood instead of the white
+bones of technic in the misunderstood sense, was the only possible
+school for me. If our girls would only stop hoping to make a debut at
+$1,000 a night and get down to real hard work, the results would come
+much quicker and there would be fewer broken hearts.
+
+
+
+
+MME. ALMA GLUCK
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Mme. Alma Gluck was born at Jassy, Roumania. Her father played the
+violin, but was not a professional musician. At the age of six she was
+brought to America. She was taught the piano and sang naturally, but had
+no idea of becoming a singer. Her vocal training was not begun until she
+was twenty years of age. Her teacher, at that time, was Signor
+Buzzi-Peccia, with whom she remained for three years, going directly
+from his studio to the Metropolitan Opera House of New York. She
+remained there for three years, when the immense success of her concert
+work drew her away from opera. She then studied with Jean de Reszke, and
+later with Mme. Sembrich for four or five years. Since then she has
+appeared in all parts of the United States with unvarying success. Her
+records have been among the most popular of any ever issued. Together
+with her husband, Efrem Zimbalist, the distinguished violinist, she has
+appeared before immense audiences in joint recitals.
+
+[Illustration: MME. ALMA GLUCK.
+
+(C) Mishkin.]
+
+
+
+
+BUILDING A VOCAL REPERTOIRE
+
+ALMA GLUCK
+
+
+Many seem surprised when I tell them that my vocal training did not
+begin until I was twenty years of age. It seems to me that it is a very
+great mistake for any girl to begin the serious study of singing before
+that age, as the feminine voice, in most instances, is hardly settled
+until then. Vocal study before that time is likely to be injurious,
+though some survive it in the hands of very careful and understanding
+teachers.
+
+The first kind of a repertoire that the student should acquire is a
+repertoire of solfeggios. I am a great believer in the solfeggio. Using
+that for a basis, one is assured of acquiring facility and musical
+accuracy. The experienced listener can tell at once the voice that has
+had such training. Always remember that musicianship carries one much
+further than a good natural voice. The voice, even more than the hands,
+needs a kind of exhaustive technical drill. This is because in this
+training you are really building the instrument itself. In the piano,
+one has the instrument complete before he begins; but in the case of the
+voice, the instrument has to be developed and sometimes _made_ by study.
+When the pupil is practicing, tones grow in volume, richness and
+fluency.
+
+There are exercises by Bordogni, Concone, Vaccai, Lamperti, Marchesi,
+Panofka, Panserson and many others with which I am not familiar, which
+are marvelously beneficial when intelligently studied. These I sang on
+the syllable "Ah," and not with the customary syllable names. It has
+been said that the syllables Do, Re, Mi, Fa, etc., aid one in reading.
+To my mind, they are often confusing.
+
+
+GO TO THE CLASSICS
+
+After a thorough drilling in solfeggios and technical exercises, I would
+have the student work on the operatic arias of Bellini, Rossini,
+Donizetti, Verdi, and others. These men knew how to write for the human
+voice! Their arias are so vocal that the voice develops under them and
+the student gains vocal assurance. They were written before modern
+philosophy entered into music--when music was intended for the ear
+rather than for the mind. I cannot lay too much stress on the importance
+of using these arias. They are a tonic for the voice, and bring back the
+elasticity which the more subdued singing of songs taxes.
+
+When one is painting pictures through words, and trying to create
+atmosphere in songs, so much repression is brought into play that the
+voice must have a safety-valve, and that one finds in the bravura arias.
+Here one sings for about fifty bars, "The sky is clouded for me," "I
+have been betrayed," or "Joy abounds"--the words being simply a vehicle
+for the ever-moving melody.
+
+When hearing an artist like John McCormack sing a popular ballad it all
+seems so easy, but in reality songs of that type are the very hardest to
+sing and must have back of them years of hard training or they fall to
+banality. They are far more difficult than the limpid operatic arias,
+and are actually dangerous for the insufficiently trained voice.
+
+
+THE LYRIC SONG REPERTOIRE
+
+Then when the student has her voice under complete control, it is safe
+to take up the lyric repertoire of Mendelssohn, Old English Songs, etc.
+How simple and charming they are! The works of the lighter French
+composers, Hahn, Massenet, Chaminade, Gounod, and others. Then Handel,
+Haydn, Mozart, Loewe, Schubert, Schumann and Brahms. Later the student
+will continue with Strauss, Wolf, Reger, Rimsky-Korsakoff, Mousorgsky,
+Borodin and Rachmaninoff. Then the modern French composers, Ravel,
+Debussy, Georges, Koechlin, Hue, Chausson, and others. I leave French for
+the last because it is, in many ways, more difficult for an
+English-speaking person to sing. It is so full of complex and trying
+vowels that it requires the utmost subtlety to overcome these
+difficulties and still retain clarity in diction. For that reason the
+student should have the advice of a native French coach.
+
+When one has traveled this long road, then he is qualified to sing
+English songs and ballads.
+
+
+AMERICAN SONGS
+
+In this country we are rich in the quantity of songs rather than in the
+quality. The singer has to go through hundreds of compositions before he
+finds one that really says something. Commercialism overwhelms our
+composers. They approach their work with the question, "Will this go?"
+The spirit in which a work is conceived is that in which it will be
+executed. Inspired by the purse rather than the soul, the mercenary side
+fairly screams in many of the works put out by every-day American
+publishers. This does not mean that a song should be queer or ugly to be
+novel or immortal. It means that the sincerity of the art worker must
+permeate it as naturally as the green leaves break through the dead
+branches in springtime. Of the vast number of new American composers,
+there are hardly more than a dozen who seem to approach their work in
+the proper spirit of artistic reverence.
+
+
+ART FOR ART'S SAKE, A FARCE
+
+Nothing annoys me quite so much as the hysterical hypocrites who are
+forever prating about "art for art's sake." What nonsense! The student
+who deceives himself into thinking that he is giving his life like an
+ascetic in the spirit of sacrifice for art is the victim of a deplorable
+species of egotism. Art for art's sake is just as iniquitous an attitude
+in its way as art for money's sake. The real artist has no idea that he
+is sacrificing himself for art. He does what he does for one reason and
+one reason only--he can't help doing it. Just as the bird sings or the
+butterfly soars, because it is his natural characteristic, so the artist
+works.
+
+Time and again a student will send me an urgent appeal to hear her,
+saying she is poor and wants my advice as to whether it is worth while
+to continue her studies. I invariably refuse such requests, saying that
+if the student could give up her work on my advice she had better give
+it up without it. One does not study for a goal. One sings because one
+can't help it! The "goal" nine times out of ten is a mere accident.
+
+Art for art's sake is the mask of studio idlers. The task of acquiring a
+repertoire in these days, when the vocal literature is so immense, is so
+overwhelming, that the student with sense will devote all his energies
+to work, and not imagine himself a martyr to art.
+
+
+
+
+EMILIO DE GOGORZA
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Emilio Edoardo de Gogorza was born in Brooklyn, New York, May 29th,
+1874, of Spanish parents. His boyhood was spent in Spain, France and
+England. In the last named country he became a boy soprano and sang with
+much success. Part of his education was received at Oxford. He returned
+to America, where his vocal teachers were C. Moderati and E. Agramonte.
+His debut was made in 1897 in a concert with Mme. Marcella Sembrich. His
+rich fluent baritone voice made him a great favorite at musical
+festivals in America. He has sung with nearly all of the leading
+American orchestras. The peculiar quality of his voice is especially
+adapted to record making and his records have been immensely popular. He
+married Emma Eames, July 13th, 1911.
+
+[Illustration: EMILIO DE GOGORZA.
+
+(C) Dupont]
+
+
+
+
+OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUNG CONCERT SINGERS
+
+EMILIO DE GOGORZA
+
+
+There has never been a time or a country presenting more inviting
+opportunities to the concert and the oratorio singer than the America of
+to-day. As a corollary to this statement there is the obvious fact that
+the American public, taken as a whole, is now the most discriminating
+public to be found anywhere in the world. Every concert is adequately
+reviewed by able writers; and singers are continually on their mettle.
+It therefore follows that while there are opportunities for concert and
+oratorio singers, there is no room for the inefficient, the talentless,
+brainless aspirants who imagine that a great vocal career awaits them
+simply because they have a few good tones and a pleasing stage presence.
+
+This is the age of the brain. In singing, the voice is only a detail. It
+is the mentality, the artistic feeling, the skill in interpretation that
+counts. Some of the greatest artists are vocally inferior to singers of
+lesser reputation. Why? Because they read, because they study, because
+they broaden their intellects and extend their culture until their
+appreciation of the beautiful is so comprehensive that every degree of
+human emotion may be effectively portrayed. In a word they become
+artists. Take the case of Victor Maurel, for instance. If he were ninety
+years old and had only the shred of a voice but still retained his
+artistic grasp, I would rather hear him than any living singer. I have
+learned more from hearing him sing than from any other singer. Verdi
+chose him to sing in _Otello_ against the advice of several friends,
+saying: "He has more brain than any five singers I know."
+
+Some people imagine that when an artist is embarked upon his
+professional work study ceases. It is a great mistake. No one works
+harder than I do to broaden my culture and interpretative skill. I am
+constantly studying and trust that I may never cease. The greater the
+artist the more incessant the study. It is one of the secrets of large
+success.
+
+
+SPECIAL STUDY REQUIRED FOR CONCERT SINGING
+
+People imagine that the opera requires a higher kind of vocal
+preparation than the concert or oratorio stage. This is also a great
+misconception. The operatic singers who have been successful as concert
+singers at once admit that concert singing is much more difficult.
+Comparatively few opera singers succeed as concert singers. Why? Because
+in opera the voice needs to be concentrated and more or less uniform. An
+opera house is really two buildings, the auditorium and the stage. The
+stage with its tall scene-loft is frequently as large from the
+standpoint of cubic feet as the auditorium. Sometimes it is larger. To
+fill these two immense buildings the voice must be strong and
+continually concentrated, _dans le Masque_. The delicate little effects
+that the concert singer is obliged to produce would not be heard over
+the footlights. In order to retain interest without the assistance of
+scenery and action the concert singer's interpretative work must be
+marked by an attention to details that the opera singer rarely
+considers. The voice, therefore, requires a different treatment. It must
+be so finely trained that it becomes susceptible to the most delicate
+change of thought in the singer's mind. This demands a really enormous
+amount of work.
+
+The successful concert singer must also have an endurance that enables
+her to undergo strains that the opera singer rarely knows. The grand
+opera singer in the great opera houses of the world rarely sings more
+than two or three times a week. The concert singer is often obliged to
+sing every night for weeks. They must learn how to relax and save the
+voice at all times, otherwise they will lose elasticity and sweetness.
+
+A young woman vocal student, with talent, a good natural voice,
+intelligence, industry, sufficient practice time, a high school
+education, and a knowledge of the rudiments of music, might complete a
+course of study leading to a successful concert debut in three years.
+More frequently four or five years may be required. With a bungling
+teacher she may spend six or seven. The cost of her instruction, with a
+good teacher in a great metropolis, will be more per year than if she
+went to almost any one of the leading universities admitting women. She
+will have to work harder than if she took a regular college course.
+Progress depends upon the individual. One girl will accomplish more in
+two years than another will accomplish in five years. Again, the rate of
+progress depends upon personal development. Sometimes a course of study
+with a good teacher will awaken a latent energy and mental condition
+that will enable the student to make great strides.
+
+My most important work has been done by self-study with the assistance
+and advice of many singers and teachers who have been my friends. No
+pupil who depends entirely upon a teacher will succeed. She must work
+out her own salvation. It is the private thought, incessant effort and
+individual attitude that lead to success.
+
+
+STUDY IN YOUR HOME COUNTRY
+
+I honestly believe that the young vocal student can do far better by
+studying in America than by studying abroad. European residence and
+travel are very desirable, but the study may be done to better advantage
+right here in our own country. Americans want the best and they get it.
+In Europe they have no conception whatever of the extent of musical
+culture in America. It is a continual source of amazement to me. In the
+West and Northwest I find audiences just as intelligent and as
+appreciative as in Boston. There is the greatest imaginable catholicity
+of taste. Just at present the tendency is away from the old German
+classics and is leading to the modern works of French, German and
+American composers. Still I find that I can sing a song like Schumann's
+"Widmung" in Western cities that only a few years ago were mere
+collections of frontier huts and shacks, and discover that the genius of
+Schumann is just as potent there as in New York City. I have recently
+been all over Europe, and I have seen no such condition anywhere as that
+I have just described. It is especially gratifying to note in America a
+tremendous demand for the best vocal works of the American composers.
+
+The young concert singer must have a very comprehensive repertoire.
+Every new work properly mastered is an asset. In oratorio she should
+first of all learn those works that are most in demand, like the
+_Messiah_, the _Elijah_, the _Creation_ and the _Redemption_. Then
+attention may be given to the modern works and works more rarely
+performed, like those of Elgar, Perosi and others. After the young
+singer has proven her worth with the public she may expect an income of
+from $10,000.00 to $15,000.00 a year. That is what our first-class
+singers have received for high-class concert work. Some European prima
+donnas like Schumann-Heink and others have commanded much higher
+figures.
+
+You ask me what influence the sound reproducing machines have had upon
+the demand for good vocal music in America. They have unquestionably
+increased the demand very greatly. They have even been known to make
+reputations for singers entirely without any other road to publicity.
+Take the case of Madame Michaelowa, a Russian prima donna who has never
+visited America. Thousands of records of her voice have been sold in
+America, and now the demand for her appearance in this country has been
+so great that she has been offered huge sums for an American tour. I
+believe that if used intelligently the sound reproducing machine may
+become a great help to the teacher and student. It is used in many of
+the great opera houses of the world as an aid in determining the
+engagement of new singers who cannot be personally heard. Some of the
+records of my own voice have been so excellent that they seem positively
+uncanny to me when I hear them reproduced.
+
+I have no patent exercises to offer to singing students. There are a
+thousand ways of learning to breathe properly and they all lead to one
+end. Breathing may best be studied when it is made coincident with the
+requirements of singing. I have no fantastic technical studies to offer.
+My daily work simply consists of scales, arpeggios and the simplest kind
+of exercises, the simpler the better. I always make it a point to
+commence practicing very softly, slowly and surely. I never sing notes
+outside my most comfortable range at the start. Taking notes too high or
+too low is an extremely bad plan at first. Many young students make this
+fault. They also sing much too loud. The voice should be exercised for
+some considerable time on soft exercises before loud notes are even
+attempted. It is precisely the same as with physical exercises. The
+athlete who exerts himself to his fullest extent at first is working
+toward ultimate exhaustion. I have known students who sang "at the top
+of their lungs" and called it practice. The next day they grew hoarse
+and wondered why the hoarseness came.
+
+
+NEVER SING WHEN TIRED
+
+Never sing when out of sorts, tired or when the throat is sore. It is
+all very well to try to throw such a condition off as if it were a state
+of mind. My advice is, DON'T. I have known singers to try to sing off a
+sore throat and secure as a result a loss of voice for several days.
+
+Our American climate is very bad for singers. The dust of our
+manufacturing cities gets in the throat and irritates it badly. The
+noise is very nerve racking, and I have a theory that the electricity in
+the air is injurious.
+
+As I have said, the chances in the concert and operatic field are
+unlimited for those who deserve to be there. Don't be misled. Thousands
+of people are trying to become concert and oratorio singers who have not
+talent, temperament, magnetism, the right kind of intelligence nor the
+true musical feeling. It is pitiful to watch them. They are often
+deluded by teachers who are biased by pecuniary necessity. It is safe to
+say that at the end of a year's good instruction the teacher may safely
+tell what the pupil's chances are. Some teachers are brutally frank.
+Their opinions are worth those of a thousand teachers who consider their
+own interests first. Secure the opinions of as many artists as possible
+before you determine upon a professional career. The artist is not
+biased. He does not want you for a pupil and has nothing to gain in
+praising you. If he gives you an unfavorable report, thank him, because
+he is probably thinking of your best interests.
+
+As I have said, progress depends upon the individual. One man can go
+into a steel foundry and learn more in two years than another can in
+five. If you do not become conscious of audible results at the end of
+one or two years' study do some serious thinking. You are either on the
+wrong track or you have not the natural qualifications which lead to
+success on the concert and oratorio stage.
+
+[Illustration: MME. FRIEDA HEMPEL.
+
+(C) Mitzi]
+
+
+
+
+FRIEDA HEMPEL
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Frieda Hempel was born at Leipzig, June 26, 1885. She studied piano for
+a considerable time at the Leipzig Conservatory and the Stern
+Conservatory. Later she studied singing with Mme. Nicklass Kempner, to
+whom she is indebted for her entire vocal education up to the time of
+her debut in opera. Her first appearance was in the _Merry Wives of
+Windsor_, at the Royal Opera in Berlin. After many very successful
+appearances in leading European Opera Houses she was engaged for the
+Metropolitan Opera House in New York where she immediately became very
+popular in stellar roles. Her repertoire runs from the _Marriage of
+Figaro_ to _Die Meistersinger_. Her voice is a clear, pure, sweet
+soprano; and, like Mme. Sembrich and Mme. Galli-Curci, she clearly shows
+the value of her instrumental training in the accuracy, precision and
+clarity of her coloratura work. She has made many successful concert
+tours of the United States. In addition to being a brilliant singer she
+is an excellent actress. She is now an American citizen and the wife of
+an American business man.
+
+
+
+
+THOROUGHNESS IN VOCAL PREPARATION
+
+MME. FRIEDA HEMPEL
+
+WHY SOME SUCCEED AND SOME FAIL
+
+
+In every thousand girls who aspire to Grand Opera probably not more than
+one ever succeeds. This is by no means because of lack of good voices.
+There are great numbers of good voices; although many girls who want to
+be opera singers either deceive themselves or are deceived by others
+(often charlatan teachers) into believing that they have fine natural
+voices when they have not. There is nothing more glorious than a
+beautiful human voice--a voice strong, resonant, if necessary, but
+velvety and luscious if needs be. There are many girls with really
+beautiful natural voices who have lost their chances in Grand Opera
+largely because they have either not had the personal persistence
+necessary to carry them to the point where their services are in demand
+by the public or they have had the misfortune not to have the right kind
+of a vocal or musical drill master--a really good teacher.
+
+Teachers in these days waste a fearful amount of time in what they
+consider to be their methods. They tell you to sing in the back, or on
+the side or through the mask or what not, instead of getting right down
+to the real work. My teacher in Berlin, at the Conservatory, insisted
+first of all upon having me sing tones and scales--mostly long sustained
+tones--for at least one entire year. These were sung very softly, very
+evenly, until I could employ every tone in my voice with sureness and
+certainty. I don't see how it could possibly have been accomplished in
+less time. Try that on the American girl and she will think that she is
+being cheated out of something. Why should she wait a whole year with
+silly tones when she knows that she can sing a great aria with only a
+little more difficulty?
+
+The basis of all fine singing, whether in the opera house or on the
+concert stage, is a good legato. My teacher (Nicklass Kempner) was very
+insistent upon this. In working with such studies as those of Concone,
+Bordogni, Luetgen, Marchesi or Garcia--the best part of the attention of
+the teacher was given to the simple yet difficult matter of a beautiful
+legato. After one has been through a mass of such material, the matter
+of legato singing becomes more or less automatic. The tendency to slide
+from one tone to another is done away with. The connection between one
+tone and another in good legato is so clean, so free from blurs that
+there is nothing to compare it with. One tone takes the place of another
+just as though one coin or disk were placed directly on top of another
+without any of the edges showing. The change is instantaneous and
+imperceptible. If one were to gradually slide one coin over another coin
+you would have a graphic illustration of what most people think is
+legato. The result is that they sound like steam sirens, never quite
+definitely upon any tone of the scale.
+
+
+A GOOD LEGATO
+
+A good legato can only be acquired after an enormous amount of thorough
+training. The tendency to be careless is human. Habits of carefulness
+come only after much drill. The object of the student and the teacher
+should be to make a singer--not to acquire a scanty repertoire of a few
+arias. Very few of the operas I now sing were learned in my student
+days. That was not the object of my teacher. The object was to prepare
+me to take up anything from _Martha_ to _Rosenkavalier_ and know how to
+study it myself in the quickest and most thorough manner. Woe be to the
+pupil of the teacher who spends most of the time in teaching songs,
+arias, etc., before the pupil is really ready to study such things.
+
+
+GOOD FOUNDATIONS
+
+Everything is in a good foundation. If you expect a building to last
+only a few weeks you might put up a foundation in a day or so--but if
+you watch the builders of the great edifices here in American cities you
+will find that more time is often spent upon the foundation than upon
+the building itself. They dig right down to the bed rock and pile on so
+much stone, concrete and steel that even great earthquakes are often
+withstood.
+
+
+A LARGE REPERTOIRE
+
+With such a thorough foundation as I had it has not been difficult to
+acquire a repertoire of some seventy-five operas. That is, by learning
+one at a time and working continually over a number of years the operas
+come easily. In learning a new work I first read the work through as a
+whole several times to get the character well fixed in my mind. Then I
+play the music through several times until I am very familiar with it.
+Then I learn the voice part, never studying it as a voice part by
+itself, but always in relation to the orchestra and the other roles.
+Finally, I learn the interpretation--the dramatic presentation. One gets
+so little help from the orchestra in modern works that many rehearsals
+are necessary. In some passages it is just like walking in a dark night.
+Only a true ear and thorough training can serve to keep one on the key
+or anywhere near the key. It is therefore highly necessary that vocal
+students should have a good musical training in addition to the vocal
+training. In most European conservatories the study of piano and harmony
+are compulsory for all vocal students. Not to have had this musical
+training that the study of the piano brings about, not to have had a
+good course in theory or in training for sight-singing (ear training) is
+to leave out important pillars in a thorough musical foundation.
+
+
+MORE OPERA FOR AMERICA
+
+It would be a great gratification for all who are interested in opera to
+see more fine opera houses erected in America with more opportunities
+for the people. The performances at the Metropolitan are exceedingly
+fine, but only a comparatively few people can possibly hear them and
+there is little opportunity for the performance of a wide variety of
+operas. The opera singer naturally gets tired of singing a few roles
+over and over again. The American people should develop a taste for more
+and more different operas. There is such a wonderful field that it
+should not be confined to the performance of a very few works that
+happen to be in fashion. This is not at all the case in Europe--there
+the repertoires are very much more extensive--more interesting for the
+public and the artists alike.
+
+
+STRONG EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF OPERA
+
+Opera has always seemed to me a very necessary thing in the State. It
+has a strong educational value in that it develops the musical taste of
+the public as well as teaching lessons in history and the humanities in
+a very forceful manner. Children should be taken to opera as a regular
+part of their education. Opera makes a wonderful impression upon the
+child's imagination--the romance, the color, the music, the action are
+rarely forgotten. Many of the operas are beautiful big fairy stories and
+the little folks glory in them. Parents who desire to develop the taste
+of their children and at the same time stimulate their minds along
+broader lines can do no better than to take them to opera. Little towns
+in Europe often have fine opera houses, while many American cities
+several times their size have to put up with moving picture theatre
+houses. Why does not some enthusiastic American leader take up a
+campaign for more opera in America? With the taste of the public
+educated through countless talking machine records, it should not prove
+a bad business venture if it is gone about in a sensible manner.
+
+
+
+
+DAME NELLIE MELBA
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Dame Nellie Melba (stage name for Mrs. Nellie Porter Armstrong, nee
+Mitchell) is described in Grove's Dictionary as "the first singer of
+British birth to attain such an exalted position upon the lyric stage as
+well as upon the concert platform." Dame Melba was born at Burnley near
+Melbourne, May 19, 1861, of Scotch ancestry. She sang at the Town Hall
+at Richmond when she was six years of age. She studied piano, harmony,
+composition and violin very thoroughly. At one time she was considered
+the finest amateur pianist in Melbourne. She also played the church
+organ in the local church with much success. In 1882 she married Captain
+Charles Armstrong, son of Sir Andrew Armstrong, Baronet (of Kings
+County, Ireland). In 1886 she sang at Queens Hall in London. After
+studying with Mme. Marchesi for twelve months she made her debut as
+Gilda (_Rigoletto_) at the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels. Her
+success was instantaneous. Her London debut was made in _Lucia_ in 1888.
+One year later she made her Parisian debut in Thomas' _Hamlet_. In 1894
+she created the role of Nedda in _I Pagliacci_. Petrograd "went wild"
+over her in 1892. In 1892 she repeated her successes and in 1893 she
+began her long series of American triumphs. The fact that her voice,
+like that of Patti, has remained astonishingly fresh and silvery despite
+the enormous amount of singing she has done attests better than anything
+else to the excellence of her method of singing. In the following
+conference she gives the secret of preserving the voice.
+
+[Illustration: DAME NELLIE MELBA.]
+
+
+
+
+COMMON SENSE IN TRAINING AND PRESERVING THE VOICE
+
+DAME NELLIE MELBA
+
+HOW CAN A GOOD VOICE BE DETECTED?
+
+
+The young singer's first anxiety is usually to learn whether her voice
+is sufficiently good to make it worth while to go through the enormous
+work of preparing herself for the operatic stage. How is she to
+determine this? Surely not upon the advice of her immediate friends, nor
+upon that of those to whom she would naturally turn for spiritual
+advice, medical advice or legal advice. But this is usually just what
+she does. Because of the honored positions held by her rector, her
+physician, or her family lawyer, their services are all brought to bear
+upon her, and after an examination of her musical ability their
+unskilled opinion is given a weight it obviously does not deserve. The
+only one to judge is a skilled musician, with good artistic taste and
+some experience in voice matters. It is sometimes difficult to approach
+a singing teacher for this advice, as even the most honest could not
+fail to be somewhat influenced where there is a prospect of a pupil. I
+do not mean to malign the thousands of worthy teachers, but such a
+position is a delicate one, and the pupil should avoid consulting with
+any adviser except one who is absolutely disinterested.
+
+In any event the mere possession of a voice that is sweet and strong by
+no means indicates that the owner has the additional equipment which the
+singer must possess. Musical intelligence is quite as great an asset as
+the possession of a fine voice. By musical intelligence I mean something
+quite different from general intelligence. People seem to expect that
+the young person who desires to become a fine pianist or a fine
+violinist, or a fine composer, should possess certain musical talents.
+That is, they should experience a certain quickness in grasping musical
+problems and executing them. The singer, however, by some peculiar
+popular ruling seems to be exempted from this. No greater mistake could
+possibly be made. Very few people are musically gifted. When one of
+these people happens to possess a good voice, great industry, a love for
+vocal art, physical strength, patience, good sense, good taste and
+abundant faith in her possibilities, the chances of making a good singer
+are excellent. I lay great stress upon great determination and good
+health. I am often obliged to sing one night, then travel a thousand
+miles to sing the next night. Notwithstanding such journeys, the singer
+is expected to be in prime condition, look nice, and please a veritable
+multitude of comparative strangers all expecting wonderful things from
+her. Do you wonder that I lay stress upon good health?
+
+The youthful training of the singer should be confined quite strictly to
+that of obtaining a good general and musical education. That is, the
+vocal training may be safely postponed until the singer is seventeen or
+eighteen years of age. Of course there have been cases of famous singers
+who have sung during their childhood, but they are exceptions to all
+rules. The study of singing demands the direction of an intelligent,
+well-ordered mind. It is by no means wholly a matter of imitation. In
+fact, without some cultivation of the taste, that is, the sense of
+discriminating between what is good and bad, one may imitate with
+disastrous results.
+
+
+WHAT WORK SHOULD THE GIRL UNDER EIGHTEEN DO?
+
+I remember well an incident in my own youth. I once went to a concert
+and heard a much lauded singer render an aria that was in turn
+vociferously applauded by the audience. This singer possessed a most
+wonderful tremolo. Every tone went up and down like the teeth of a saw.
+It was impossible for her to sing a pure even tone without wobbling up
+and down. But the untrained audience, hungry to applaud anything
+musical, had cheered the singer despite the tremolo. Consequently I went
+home and after a few minutes' work I found that it was possible for me
+to produce a very wonderful tremolo. I went proudly to my teacher and
+gave an exhibition of my new acquirement. "Who on earth have you been
+listening to?" exclaimed my teacher. I confessed and was admonished not
+to imitate.
+
+The voice in childhood is a very delicate organ despite the wear and
+tear which children give it by unnecessary howling and screaming. More
+than this, the child-mind is so susceptible to impressions and these
+impressions become so firmly fixed that the best vocal training for the
+child should be that of taking the little one to hear great singers. All
+that the juvenile mind hears is not lost, although much will be
+forgotten. However, the better part will be unconsciously stowed away in
+the subconscious mind, to burst forth later in beautiful song through no
+different process than that by which the little birds store away the
+song of the older birds. Dealers in singing birds place them in rooms
+with older and highly developed singing birds to train them. This is not
+exactly a process of imitation, but rather one of subconscious
+assimilation. The bird develops his own song later on, but has the
+advantage of the stored-up impressions of the trained birds.
+
+
+A GENERAL MUSICAL TRAINING
+
+I have known many singers to fail dismally because they were simply
+singers. The idea that all the singer needs to know is how to produce
+tones resonantly and sweetly, how to run scales, make gestures and smile
+prettily is a perfectly ridiculous one. Success, particularly operatic
+success, depends upon a knowledge of a great many things. The general
+education of the singer should be as well rounded as possible. Nothing
+the singer ever learns in the public schools, or the high schools, is
+ever lost. History and languages are most important. I studied Italian
+and French in my childhood and this knowledge was of immense help to me
+in my later work. When I first went to Paris I had to acquire a
+colloquial knowledge of the language, but in all cases I found that the
+drill in French verbs I had gone through virtually saved me years of
+work. The French pronunciation is extremely difficult to acquire and
+some are obliged to reside in France for years before a fluent
+pronunciation can be counted on.
+
+I cannot speak too emphatically upon the necessity for a thorough
+musical education. A smattering is only an aggravation. Fortunately, my
+parents saw to it that I was taught the piano, the organ, the violin and
+thoroughbass. At first it was thought that I would become a professional
+pianist; and many were good enough to declare that I was the finest
+amateur pianist in Melbourne. My Scotch-Presbyterian parents would have
+been horrified if they had had any idea that they were helping me to a
+career that was in any way related to the footlights. Fortunately, my
+splendid father, who is now eighty-five years old, has long since
+recovered from his prejudices and is the proudest of all over my
+achievements. But I can not be too grateful to him for his great
+interest in seeing that my early musical training was comprehensive.
+Aside from giving me a more musicianly insight into my work, it has
+proved an immense convenience. I can play any score through. I learn all
+my operas myself. This enables me to form my own conception, that is, to
+create it, instead of being unconsciously influenced by the tempos and
+expression of some other individual. The times that I have depended upon
+a _repititeur_ have been so few that I can hardly remember them. So
+there, little girl, when you get on your mother's long train and sing
+to an imaginary audience of thousands, you will do better to run to the
+keyboard and practice scales or study your etudes.
+
+
+THE FIRST VOCAL PRACTICE
+
+The first vocal practice should be very simple. There should be nothing
+in the way of an exercise that would encourage forcing of any kind. In
+fact the young singer should always avoid doing anything beyond the
+normal. Remember that a sick body means a sick voice. Again, don't
+forget your daily outdoor exercise. Horseback riding, golf and tennis
+are my favorites. An hour's walk on a lovely country road is as good for
+a singer as an hour's practice. I mean that.
+
+In avoiding strain the pupil must above all things learn to sing the
+upper notes without effort or rather strain. While it is desirable that
+a pupil should practice all her notes every day, she should begin with
+the lower notes, then take the middle notes and then the so-called upper
+notes or head notes which are generally described as beginning with the
+F sharp on the top line of the treble staff. This line may be regarded
+as a danger line for singers young and old. It is imperative that when
+the soprano sings her head notes, beginning with F sharp and upward,
+they shall proceed very softly and entirely without strain as they
+ascend. I can not emphasize this too strongly.
+
+
+PRESERVING THE VOICE
+
+Let me give you one of my greatest secrets. Like all secrets, it is
+perfectly simple and entirely rational. _Never give the public all you
+have._ That is, the singer owes it to herself never to go beyond the
+boundaries of her vocal possibilities. The singer who sings to the
+utmost every time is like the athlete who exhausts himself to the state
+of collapse. This is the only way in which I can account for what the
+critics term "the remarkable preservation" of my own voice. I have been
+singing for years in all parts of the musical world, growing richer in
+musical and human experience and yet my voice to-day feels as fresh and
+as dear as when I was in my teens. I have never strained, I have never
+continued roles that proved unsuited to me, I have never sung when I
+have not been in good voice.
+
+This leads to another very important point. I have often had students
+ask me how they can determine whether their teachers are giving them the
+kind of method or instruction they should have. I have always replied,
+"If you feel tired after a lesson, if your throat is strained after a
+little singing, if you feel exhausted, your teacher is on the wrong
+track, no matter what he labels his method or how wonderful his
+credentials are."
+
+Isn't that very simple? I have known young girls to go on practicing
+until they couldn't speak. Let them go to a physician and have the
+doctor show them by means of a laryngoscope just how tender and
+delicate their vocal organs are. I call them my "little bits of
+cotton"; they seem so frail and so tiny. Do you wonder that I guard them
+carefully? This practice consists of the simplest imaginable
+exercises--sustained scales, chromatic scales and trills. It is not so
+much _what_ one practices, but _how_ one practices.
+
+
+IS THE ART OF SINGING DYING OUT?
+
+We continually hear critics complain that the art of singing is dying.
+It is easy enough to be a pessimist, and I do not want to class myself
+with the pessimists; but I can safely say that, unless more attention is
+paid to the real art of singing, there must be a decadence in a short
+time. By this I mean that the voice seems to demand a kind of exercise
+leading to flexibility and fluent tone production that is not found in
+the ultra-dramatic music of any of the modern composers. Young singers
+begin with good voices and, after an altogether inadequate term of
+preparation, they essay the works of Strauss and Wagner. In two years
+the first sign of a breakup occurs. Their voices become rough,--the
+velvet vanishes and note after note "breaks" disagreeably. The music of
+the older Italian composers, from Scarlatti or Carissimi to Donizetti
+and Bellini, despite the absurd libretti of their operas, demanded first
+of all dulcet tones and limpid fluency. The singers who turned their
+noses up at the florid arabesques of old Italy for the more rugged
+pageantry of modern Germany are destined to suffer the consequences. Let
+us have the masterpieces of the heroic Teutons, by all means, but let
+them be sung by vocalists trained as vocalists and not merely by actors
+who have only taken a few steps in vocal art.
+
+The main point of all operatic work must be observed if opera is to
+continue successfully. Delibes chose me to sing a performance of his
+_Lakme_ at Brussels. It was to be my debut in French. I had not then
+mastered the French pronunciation so that I could sing acceptably at the
+Paris Grand Opera, the scene of my later triumphs. Consequently I was
+permitted to sing in Brussels. There the directors objected to my
+pronunciation, calling it "abominable." Delibes replied, "_Qu'elle
+chante en chinois, si elle veut, mais qu'elle chante mon opera_" ("Even
+if she sang in Chinese, I would be glad to have her sing my opera").
+
+I am asked what has been my greatest incentive. I can think of nothing
+greater than opposition. The early opposition from my family made me
+more and more determined to prove to them that I would be successful. If
+I heard some singer who sang successfully the roles I essayed, then I
+would immediately make up my mind to excel that singer. This is a human
+trait I know; but I always profited by it. Never be afraid of
+competition or opposition. The more you overcome, the greater will be
+your ultimate triumph.
+
+
+
+
+MME. BERNICE DE PASQUALI
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Mme. Bernice de Pasquali, who succeeded Marcella Sembrich as coloratura
+soprano at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, is not an
+Italian, as her name suggests, but an American. She was born in Boston
+and is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Practically
+all of her musical training was received in New York City where she
+became a pupil of Oscar Saenger. Her successes, however, are not limited
+to America as she has appeared in Mexico, Cuba, South Africa and Europe,
+in many places receiving great ovations. Her voice is a clear, high,
+flexible soprano, equally fine for concert or opera. Her husband, Signor
+Pasquali, made a lifetime study of the principles of the "Bel Canto"
+school of singing, and the following conference is the result of long
+experiment and study in the esthetic, philosophical and physiological
+factors in the most significant of the so-called methods of voice
+training.
+
+[Illustration: MME. BERNICE DE PASQUALI.]
+
+
+
+
+SECRETS OF BEL CANTO
+
+MME. BERNICE DE PASQUALI
+
+CENTURIES OF EXPERIMENTAL EXPERIENCE
+
+
+In no land is song so much a part of the daily life of the individual as
+in Italy. The Italian peasant literally wakes up singing and goes to bed
+singing. Naturally a kind of respect, honor and even reverence attaches
+to the art of beautiful voice production in the land of Scarlatti,
+Palestrina and Verdi, that one does not find in other countries. When
+the Italian singing teachers looked for a word to describe their vocal
+methods they very naturally selected the most appropriate, "Bel Canto,"
+which means nothing more or less than "Beautiful Singing."
+
+Probably no words have been more abused in music teaching than "bel
+canto," and probably no words have a more direct meaning or a wider
+significance. What then is "good singing" as the Italians understand it?
+Principally the production of a perfectly controlled and exquisitely
+beautiful tone. Simple as this may seem and simple as it really is, the
+laws underlying the best way of teaching how to secure a beautiful tone
+are the evolution of empirical experiences coming down through the
+centuries.
+
+It is a significant fact that practically all of the great singers in
+Wagner roles have first been trained in what is so loosely termed "bel
+canto" methods. Lilli Lehmann, Schumann-Heink, Nordica and others were
+capable of singing fine coloratura passages before they undertook the
+works of the great master of Beyreuth.
+
+
+THE SECRET OF CONSERVING THE VOICE
+
+In the mass of traditions, suggestions and advice which go to make the
+"bel canto" style, probably nothing is so important to American students
+as that which pertains to conserving the voice. Whether our girls are
+inordinately fond of display or whether they are unable to control their
+vocal organs I do not know, but one is continually treated to instances
+of the most ludicrous prodigality of voice. The whole idea of these
+young singers seems to be to make a "hit" by shouting or even
+screeching. There can be no milder terms for the straining of the tones
+so frequently heard. This prodigality has only one result--loss of
+voice.
+
+The great Rubini once wrote to his friend, the tenor Duprez, "You lost
+your voice because you always sang with your capital. I have kept mine
+because I have used only the interest." This historical epigram ought to
+be hung in all the vocal studios of America. Our American voices are too
+beautiful, too rare to be wasted, practically thrown away by expending
+the capital before it has been able to earn any interest.
+
+Moreover, the thing which has the most telling effect upon any audience
+is the beauty of tone quality. People will stop at any time to listen
+to the wonderful call of the nightingale. In some parts of Europe it is
+the custom to make parties to go at nights to the woods to hear that
+wonderful singer of the forests. Did you ever hear of any one forming a
+party for the express purpose of listening to the crowing of a rooster?
+One is a treat to the ear, the other is a shock. When our young singers
+learn that people do not attend concerts to have their ears shocked but
+to have them delighted with beautiful sound, they will be nearer the
+right idea in voice culture.
+
+The student's first effort, then, should be to preserve the voice. From
+the very first lesson he must strive to learn how to make the most with
+little.
+
+How is the student to know when he is straining the voice? This is
+simple enough to ascertain. At the very instant that the slightest
+constriction or effort is noticed strain is very likely to be present.
+Much of this depends upon administering exactly the right amount of
+breath to the vocal cords at the moment of singing. Too much breath or
+too little breath is bad. The student finds by patient experiment under
+the direction of the experienced teacher just how much breath to use.
+All sorts of devices are employed to test the breath, but it is probable
+that the best devices of all are those which all singers use as the
+ultimate test, the ear and the feeling of delightful relaxation
+surrounding the vocal organs during the process of singing.
+
+
+COURAGE IN SINGING
+
+Much of the student's early work is marred by fear. He fears to do this
+and he fears to do that, until he feels himself walled in by a set of
+rules that make his singing stilted. From the very start the singer,
+particularly the one who aspires to become an operatic singer, should
+endeavor to discard fear entirely. Think that if you fail in your
+efforts, thousands of singers have failed in a similar manner in their
+student days. Success in singing is at the end of a tall ladder, the
+rungs of which are repeated failures. We climb up over our failures to
+success. Learn to fear nothing, the public least of all. If the singer
+gives the audience the least suspicion that she is in fear of their
+verdict, the audience will detect it at once and the verdict will be
+bad. Also do not fear the criticism of jealous rivals.
+
+Affirm success. Say to yourself, "I will surely succeed if I persevere."
+In this way you will acquire those habits of tranquillity which are so
+essential for the singer to possess.
+
+
+THE REASON FOR THE LACK OF WELL-TRAINED VOICES
+
+There are abundant opportunities just now for finely trained singers. In
+fact there is a real dearth of "well-equipped" voices. Managers are
+scouring the world for singers with ability as well as the natural
+voice. Why does this dearth exist? Simply because the trend of modern
+musical work is far too rapid. Results are expected in an impossible
+space of time. The pupil and the maestro work for a few months and, lo
+and behold! a prima donna! Can any one who knows anything about the art
+of singing fail to realize how absurd this is? More voices are ruined by
+this haste than by anything else. It is like expecting the child to do
+the feats of the athlete without the athlete's training. There are
+singers in opera now who have barely passed the, what might be called,
+rudimentary stage.
+
+With the decline of the older operas, singers evidently came to the
+conclusion that it was not necessary to study for the perfection of
+tone-quality, evenness of execution and vocal agility. The modern
+writers did not write such fioratura passages, then why should it be
+necessary for the student to bother himself with years of study upon
+exercises and vocalises designed to prepare him for the operas of
+Bellini, Rossini, Spontini, Donizetti, Scarlatti, Carissimi or other
+masters of the florid school? What a fatuous reasoning. Are we to
+obliterate the lessons of history which indicate that voices trained in
+such a school as that of Patti, Jenny Lind, Sembrich, Lehmann, Malibran,
+Rubini and others, have phenomenal endurance, and are able to retain
+their freshness long after other voices have faded? No, if we would have
+the wonderful vitality and longevity of the voices of the past we must
+employ the methods of the past.
+
+
+THE DELICATE NATURE OF THE HUMAN VOICE
+
+Of all instruments the human voice is by far the most delicate and the
+most fragile. The wonder is that it will stand as much "punishment" as
+is constantly given to it. Some novices seem to treat it with as little
+respect as though it were made out of brass like a tuba or a trombone.
+The voice is subject to physical and psychical influences. Every singer
+knows how acutely all human emotions are reflected in the voice; at the
+same time all physical ailments are immediately active upon the voice of
+the singer.
+
+There is a certain freshness or "edge" which may be worn off the voice
+by ordinary conversation on the day of the concert or the opera. Some
+singers find it necessary to preserve the voice by refraining from all
+unnecessary talking prior to singing. Long-continued practice is also
+very bad. An hour is quite sufficient on the day of the concert. During
+the first years of study, half an hour a day is often enough practice.
+More practice should only be done under special conditions and with the
+direction of a thoroughly competent teacher.
+
+Singing in the open air, when particles of dust are blowing about, is
+particularly bad. The throat seems to become irritated at once. In my
+mind tobacco smoke is also extremely injurious to the voice,
+notwithstanding the fact that some singers apparently resist its effects
+for years. I once suffered severely from the effects of being in a room
+filled with tobacco smoke and was unable to sing for at least two
+months. I also think that it is a bad plan to sing immediately after
+eating. The peristaltic action of the stomach during the process of
+digestion is a very pronounced function and anything which might tend to
+disturb it might affect the general health.
+
+The singer must lead an exceedingly regular life, but the exaggerated
+privations and excessive care which some singers take are quite
+unnecessary. The main thing is to determine what is a normal life and
+then to live as close to this as possible. If you find that some article
+of diet disagrees with you, remember to avoid that food; for an upset
+stomach usually results in complete demoralization of the entire vocal
+system.
+
+
+SOME PRACTICE SUGGESTIONS
+
+No matter how great the artist, daily practice, if even not more than
+forty minutes a day, is absolutely necessary. There is a deep
+philosophical and physiological principle underlying this and it applies
+particularly to the vocal student. Each minute spent in intelligent
+practice makes the voice better and the task easier. The power to do
+comes with doing. Part of each day's practice should be devoted to
+singing the scale softly and slowly with perfect intonation. Every tone
+should be heard with the greatest possible acuteness. The ears should
+analyze the tone quality with the same scrutiny with which a botanist
+would examine the petals of a newly discovered specimen. As the singer
+does this he will notice that his sense of tone color will develop; and
+this is a very vital part of every successful singer's equipment. He
+will become aware of beauties as well as defects in his voice which may
+never have been even suspected if he will only listen "microscopically"
+enough.
+
+Much of the singer's progress depends upon the mental model he keeps
+before him. The singer who constantly hears the best of singing
+naturally progresses faster than one surrounded by inferior singing.
+This does not recommend that the student should imitate blindly but that
+he should hear as much fine singing as possible. Those who have not the
+means to attend concerts and the opera may gain immensely from hearing
+fine records. Little Adelina Patti, playing as a child on the stage of
+the old Academy of Music in New York, was really attending the finest
+kind of a conservatory unawares.
+
+The old Italian teachers and writers upon voice, knowing the florid
+style in which their pupils would be expected to sing, did not have much
+to do with fanciful exercises. They gave their lives to the quest of the
+"bel canto"; and many of them had difficulty in convincing their pupils
+that the simplest exercises were often the hardest. Take for instance
+this invaluable scale exercise sung with the marks of expression
+carefully observed.
+
+This exercise is one of the most difficult to sing properly.
+Nevertheless, some student will rush on to florid exercises before he
+can master this exercise. To sing it right it must be regarded with
+almost devotional reverence. Indeed, it may well be practiced
+diligently for years. Every tone is a problem, a problem which must be
+solved in the brain and in the body of the singer and not in the mind of
+any teacher. The student must hold up every tone for comparison with his
+ideal tone. Every note must ring sweet and clear, pure and free. Every
+tone must be even more susceptible to the emotions than the expression
+upon the most mobile face. Every tone must be made the means of
+conveying some human emotion. Some singers practice their exercises in
+such a perfunctory manner that they get as a result voices so stiff and
+hard that they sound as though they came from metallic instruments which
+could only be altered in a factory instead of from throats lined with a
+velvet-like membrane.
+
+[Illustration: musical notation: Sing with great attention to
+intonation.]
+
+Flexibility, mobility and susceptibility to expression are quite as
+important as mere sweetness. After the above exercise has been mastered
+the pupil may pass to the chromatic scale (scala semitonata sostenuto);
+and this scale should be sung in the same slow sustained manner as the
+foregoing illustration.
+
+
+
+
+MME. MARCELLA SEMBRICH
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Mme. Marcella Sembrich (Praxede Marcelline Kochanska) was born in
+Wisnewczyk, Galicia, February 15, 1858. Sembrich was her mother's name.
+Her father was a music teacher and she tells with pleasure how she
+watched her father make a little violin for her to practice upon. At the
+age of seven she was taken to Wilhelm Stengel at Lemberg for further
+instruction. Later she went to study with the famous pedagogue, Julius
+Epstein, at Vienna, who was amazed by the child's prodigious talent as a
+pianist and as a violinist. He asked, "Is there anything else she can
+do?" "Yes," replied Stengel, "I think she can sing." Sing she did; and
+Epstein was not long in determining that she should follow the career of
+the singer. Her other teachers were Victor Rokitansky, Richard Lewy and
+G. B. Lamperti and a few months with the elder Francesco Lamperti. Her
+debut was made in Athens in 1877, in _I Puritani_. Thereafter she toured
+all of the European art centers with invariable success. Her first
+American appearance was in 1883. She came again in 1898 and for years
+sang with immense success in all parts of America. America has since
+become her home, where she has devoted much time to teaching.
+
+[Illustration: MME. MARCELLA SEMBRICH.
+
+(C) Dupont.]
+
+
+
+
+HOW FORTUNES ARE WASTED IN VOCAL EDUCATION
+
+MME. MARCELLA SEMBRICH
+
+EVERY ONE WHO CAN SHOULD LEARN TO SING
+
+
+Few accomplishments are more delight-giving than that of being able to
+sing. I would most enthusiastically advise anyone possessing a fair
+voice to have it trained by some reliable singing teacher. European
+peoples appreciate the great privilege of being able to sing for their
+own amusement, and the pleasure they get from their singing societies is
+inspiring.
+
+If Americans took more time for the development of accomplishments of
+this kind their journey through life would be far more enjoyable and
+perhaps more profitable. I believe that all should understand the art of
+singing, if only to become amateurs.
+
+That music makes the soul more beautiful I have not the least doubt.
+Because some musicians have led questionable lives does not prove the
+contrary. What might these men have been had they not been under the
+benign influence of music?
+
+One has only to watch people who are under the magic spell of beautiful
+music to understand what a power it has for the good. I believe that
+good vocal music should be a part of all progressive educational work.
+The more music we have, the more beautiful this world will be, the more
+kindly people will feel toward each other and the more life will be
+worth living.
+
+
+WRONG TO ENCOURAGE VOICELESS ASPIRANTS
+
+But when I say that everyone who possesses a voice should learn to sing
+I do not by any means wish to convey the idea that anyone who desires
+may become a great singer. That is a privilege that is given to but a
+very few fortunate people. So many things go together to make a great
+singer that the one who gives advice should be very circumspect in
+encouraging young people to undertake a professional career--especially
+an operatic career. Giving advice under any conditions is often
+thankless.
+
+I have been appealed to by hundreds of girls who have wanted me to hear
+them sing. I have always told them what seemed to me the truth, but I
+have been so dismayed at the manner in which this has been received that
+I hesitate greatly before hearing aspiring singers.
+
+It is the same way with the teachers. I know that some teachers are
+blamed for taking voiceless pupils, but the pupils are more often to
+blame than the teacher. I have known pupils who have been discouraged by
+several good teachers to persist until they finally found a teacher who
+would take them.
+
+Most teachers are conscientious--often too conscientious for their
+pocketbooks. If a representative teacher or a prominent singer advises
+you not to attempt a public career you should thank him, as he is
+doubtless trying to save you from years of miserable failure. It is a
+very serious matter for the pupil, and one that should be given almost
+sacred consideration by those who have the pupil's welfare at heart.
+
+Wise, indeed, is the young singer who can so estimate her talents that
+she will start along the right path. There are many positions which are
+desirable and laudable which can be ably filled by competent singers. If
+you have limitations which will prevent your ever reaching that
+"will-o'-the-wisp" known as "fame," do not waste money trying to achieve
+what is obviously out of your reach.
+
+If you can fill the position of soloist in a small choir creditably, do
+so and be contented. Don't aspire for operatic heights if you are
+hopelessly shackled by a lack of natural qualifications.
+
+It is a serious error to start vocal instruction too early. I do not
+believe that the girl's musical education should commence earlier than
+at the age of sixteen. It is true that in the cases of some very healthy
+girls no very great damage may be done, but it is a risk I certainly
+would not advise.
+
+Much money and time are wasted upon voice training of girls under the
+age of sixteen. If the girl is destined for a great career she will have
+the comprehension, the grasp, the insight that will lead her to learn
+very rapidly. Some people can take in the whole meaning of a picture at
+a glance; others are obliged to regard the picture for hours to see the
+same points of artistic interest. Quick comprehension is a great asset,
+and the girl who is of the right sort will lose nothing by waiting until
+she reaches the above age.
+
+
+PIANO OR VIOLIN STUDY ADVISABLE FOR ALL SINGERS
+
+Ambition, faithfulness to ideals and energy are the only hopes left open
+to the singer who is not gifted with a wonderfully beautiful natural
+voice. It is true that some singers of great intelligence and great
+energy have been able to achieve wide fame with natural voices that
+under other conditions would only attract local notice. These singers
+deserve great credit for their efforts.
+
+While the training of the voice may be deferred to the age of sixteen,
+the early years should by no means be wasted. The general education of
+the child, the fortification of the health and the study of music
+through the medium of some instrument are most important. The young girl
+who commences voice study with the ability to play either the violin or
+the piano has an enormous advantage over the young girl who has had no
+musical training.
+
+I found the piano training of my youth of greatest value, and through
+the study of the violin I learned certain secrets that I later applied
+to respiration and phrasing. Although my voice was naturally flexible, I
+have no doubt that the study of these instruments assisted in intonation
+and execution in a manner that I cannot over-estimate.
+
+A beautiful voice is not so great a gift, unless its possessor knows
+how to employ it to advantage. The musical training that one receives
+from the study of an instrument is of greatest value. Consequently, I
+advise parents who hope to make their children singers to give them the
+advantage of a thorough musical training in either violin study or the
+piano. Much wasted money and many blasted ambitions can be spared by
+such a course.
+
+
+A GOOD GENERAL EDUCATION OF VAST IMPORTANCE
+
+The singer whose general education has been neglected is in a most
+unfortunate plight. And by general education I do not mean only those
+academic studies that people learn in schools. The imagination must be
+stimulated, the heartfelt love for the poetical must be cultivated, and
+above all things the love for nature and mankind must be developed.
+
+I can take the greatest joy in a walk through a great forest. It is an
+education to me to be with nature. Unfortunately, only too many
+Americans go rushing through life neglecting those things which make
+life worth living.
+
+
+MUSICAL ADVANCE IN AMERICA
+
+There has been a most marvelous advance in this respect, however, in
+America. Not only in nature love but in art it has been my pleasure to
+watch a wonderful growth. When I first came here in 1883 things were
+entirely different in many respects. Now the great operatic novelties of
+Europe are presented here in magnificent style, and often before they
+are heard in many European capitals.
+
+In this respect America to-day ranks with the best in the world. Will
+you not kindly permit me to digress for a moment and say to the music
+lovers of America that I appreciate in the deepest manner the great
+kindnesses that have been shown to me everywhere? For this reason, I
+know that my criticisms, if they may be called such, will be received as
+they are intended.
+
+The singer should make a serious study of languages. French, German,
+English and Italian are the most necessary ones. I include English as I
+am convinced that it is only a matter of a short time when a school of
+opera written by English-speaking composers will arise. The great
+educational and musical advance in America is an indication of this.
+
+As for voice exercises, I have always been of the opinion that it is
+better to leave that matter entirely to the discretion of the teacher.
+There can be no universal voice exercise that will apply to all cases.
+Again, it is more a matter of how the exercise is sung than the exercise
+itself.
+
+The simplest exercise can become valuable in the hands of the great
+teacher. I have no faith in the teachers who make each and every pupil
+go through one and the same set of exercises in the same way. The voice
+teacher is like the physician. He must originate and prescribe certain
+remedies to suit certain cases. Much money is wasted by trying to do
+without a good teacher. If the pupil really has a great voice and the
+requisite talent, it is economical to take her to the best teacher
+obtainable.
+
+American women have wonderful voices. Moreover, they have great energy,
+talent and temperament. Their accomplishments in the operatic world are
+matters of present musical history. With such splendid effort and such
+generosity, it is easy to prophesy a great future for musical America.
+This is the land of great accomplishments.
+
+With time Americans will give more attention to the cultivation of
+details in art, they will acquire more repose perhaps, and then the
+tremendous energy which has done so much to make the country what it is
+will be a great factor in establishing a school of music in the new
+world which will rank with the greatest of all times.
+
+
+
+
+MME. ERNESTINE SCHUMANN-HEINK
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Mme. Ernestine Schumann-Heink (nee Roessler) was born near the city of
+Prague, July 15, 1861. She relates that her father was a Czech and her
+mother was of Italian extraction. She was educated in Ursuline Convent
+and studied singing with Mme. Marietta von Leclair in Graz. Her first
+appearance was at the age of 15, when she is reported to have taken a
+solo part in a performance of the Beethoven Ninth Symphony, at an
+important concert in Graz. Her operatic debut was made at the Royal
+Opera, Dresden, in _Trovatore_. There she studied under Krebs and Franz
+Wuellner. It is impossible to detail Mme. Schumann-Heink's operatic
+successes here, since her numerous appearances at the leading operatic
+houses of the world have been followed by such triumphs that she is
+admittedly the greatest contralto soloist of her time. At Bayreuth,
+Covent Garden, and at the Metropolitan her appearances have drawn
+multitudes. In concert she proved one of the greatest of all singers of
+art songs. In 1905 she became an American citizen, her enthusiasm for
+this country leading her to name one of her sons George Washington.
+During the great war (in which four of her sons served with the American
+colors) she toured incessantly from camp to camp, giving her services
+for the entertainment of the soldiers and winning countless admirers in
+this way. Her glorious voice extends from D on the third line of the
+bass clef to C on the second leger line above the treble clef.
+
+[Illustration: MME. ERNESTINE SCHUMANN-HEINK.]
+
+
+
+
+KEEPING THE VOICE IN PRIME CONDITION
+
+MME. ERNESTINE SCHUMANN-HEINK
+
+THE ARTIST'S RESPONSIBILITY
+
+
+Would you have me give the secret of my success at the very outstart? It
+is very simple and centers around this subject of the artist's
+responsibility to the audience. My secret is absolute devotion to the
+audience. I love my audiences. They are all my friends. I feel a bond
+with them the moment I step before them. Whether I am singing in blase
+New York or before an audience of farmer folk in some Western
+Chautauqua, my attitude toward my audience is quite the same. I take the
+same care and thought with every audience. This even extends to my
+dress. The singer, who wears an elaborate gown before a Metropolitan
+audience and wears some worn-out old rag of a thing when singing at some
+rural festival, shows that she has not the proper respect in her mind.
+Respect is everything.
+
+Therefore it is necessary for me to have my voice in the best of
+condition every day of the year. It is my duty to my audience. The woman
+who comes to a country Chautauqua and brings her baby with her and
+perchance nurses the little one during the concert gets a great deal
+closer to my heart than the stiff-backed aristocrat who has just left a
+Pekingese spaniel outside of the opera house door in a $6000.00
+limousine. That little country woman expects to hear the singer at her
+best. Therefore, I practice just as carefully on the day of the
+Chautauqua concert as I would if I were to sing _Ortrud_ the same night
+at the Metropolitan in New York.
+
+American audiences are becoming more and more discriminating. Likewise
+they are more and more responsive. As an American citizen, I am devoted
+to all the ideals of the new world. They have accepted me in the most
+whole-souled manner and I am grateful to the land of my adoption.
+
+
+THE ADVANTAGE OF AN EARLY TRAINING
+
+Whether or not the voice keeps in prime condition to-day depends largely
+upon the early training of the singer. If that training is a good one, a
+sound one, a sensible one, the voice will, with regular practice, keep
+in good condition for a remarkably long time. The trouble is that the
+average student is too impatient in these days to take time for a
+sufficient training. The voice at the outstart must be trained lightly
+and carefully. There must not be the least strain. I believe that at the
+beginning two lessons a week should be sufficient. The lessons should
+not be longer than one-half an hour and the home practice should not
+exceed at the start fifty minutes a day. Even then the practice should
+be divided into two periods. The young singer should practice _mezza
+voce_, which simply means nothing more or less than "half voice." Never
+practice with full voice unless singing under the direction of a
+well-schooled teacher with years of practical singing experience.
+
+It is easy enough to shout. Some of the singers in modern opera seem to
+employ a kind of megaphone method. They stand stock still on the stage
+and bawl out the phrases as though they were announcing trains in a
+railroad terminal. Such singers disappear in a few years. Their voices
+seem torn to shreds. The reason is that they have not given sufficient
+attention to _bel canto_ in their early training. They seem to forget
+that voice must first of all be beautiful. _Bel canto_,--beautiful
+singing,--not the singing of meaningless Italian phrases, as so many
+insist, but the glorious _bel canto_ which Bach, Haydn and Mozart
+demand,--a _bel canto_ that cultivates the musical taste, disciplines
+the voice and trains the singer technically to do great things. Please
+understand that I am not disparaging the good and beautiful in Italian
+masterpieces. The musician will know what I mean. The singer can gain
+little, however, from music that intellectually and vocally is better
+suited to a parrot than a human being.
+
+Some of the older singers made _bel canto_ such an art that people came
+to hear them for their voices alone, and not for their intellectual or
+emotional interpretations of a role. Perhaps you never heard Patti in
+her prime. Ah! Patti--the wonderful Adelina with the glorious golden
+voice. It was she who made me ambitious to study breathing until it
+became an art. To hear her as she trippingly left the stage in Verdi's
+_Traviata_ singing runs with ease and finish that other singers slur or
+stumble over,--ah! that was an art!
+
+[Illustration: musical notation: Ex. 1
+
+    il mio pen sier, il mio pen-sier___
+
+    il mio pen-sier.
+]
+
+Volumes have been written on breathing and volumes more could be
+written. This is not the place to discuss the singer's great fundamental
+need. Need I say more than that I practice deep breathing every day of
+my life?
+
+
+THE AGE FOR STARTING
+
+It is my opinion that no girl who wishes to keep her voice in the prime
+of condition all the time in after years should start to study much
+earlier than seventeen or eighteen years of age. In the case of a man I
+do not believe that he should start until he is past twenty or even
+twenty-two. I know that this is contrary to what many singers think, but
+the period of mutation in both sexes is a much slower process than most
+teachers realize, and I have given this matter a great deal of serious
+thought.
+
+
+LET EVERYBODY SING!
+
+Can I digress long enough to say that I think that everybody should
+sing? That is, they should learn to sing under a good singing
+instructor. This does not mean that they should look forward toward a
+professional career. God forbid! There are enough half-baked singers in
+the world now who are striving to become professionals. But the public
+should know that singing is the healthiest kind of exercise imaginable.
+When one sings properly one exercises nearly all of the important
+muscles of the torso. The circulation of the blood is improved, the
+digestion bettered, the heart promoted to healthy action--in fact,
+everything is bettered. Singers as a rule are notoriously healthy and
+often very long lived. The new movement for community singing in the
+open air is a magnificent one. Let everybody sing!
+
+A great singing teacher with a reputation as big as Napoleon's or George
+Washington's is not needed. There are thousands and thousands of unknown
+teachers who are most excellent. Often the advice or the instruction is
+very much the same. What difference does it make whether I buy Castile
+soap in a huge Broadway store or a little country store, if the soap is
+the same? Many people hesitate to study because they can not study with
+a great teacher. Nonsense! Pick out some sensible, well-drilled teacher
+and then use your own good judgment to guide yourself. Remember that
+Schumann-Heink did not study with a world-famed teacher. Whoever hears
+of Marietta von Leclair in these days? Yet I do not think that I could
+have done any more with my voice if I had had every famous teacher from
+Niccolo Antonio Porpora down to the present day. The individual singer
+must have ideals, and then leave nothing undone to attain those ideals.
+One of my ideals was to be able to sing pianissimo with the kind of
+resonance that makes it carry up to the farthest gallery. That is one of
+the most difficult things I had to learn, and I attained it only after
+years of faithful practice.
+
+
+THE SINGER'S DAILY ROUTINE
+
+To keep the voice in prime condition the singer's first consideration is
+physical and mental health. If the body or the mind is over-taxed
+singing becomes an impossibility. It is amazing what the healthy body
+and the busy mind can really stand. I take but three weeks' vacation
+during the year and find that I am a great deal better for it. Long
+terms of enforced indolence do not mean rest. The real artist is
+happiest when at work, and I want to work. Fortunately I am never at
+loss for opportunity. The ambitious vocal student can benefit as much by
+studying a good book on hygiene or the conservation of the health as
+from a book on the art of singing.
+
+First of all comes diet. Americans as a rule eat far too much. Why do
+some of the good churchgoing people raise such an incessant row about
+over-drinking when they constantly injure themselves quite as much by
+over-eating? What difference does it make whether you ruin your stomach,
+liver or kidneys by too much alcohol or too much roast beef? One vice is
+as bad as another. The singer must live upon a light diet. A heavy diet
+is by no means necessary to keep up a robust physique. I am rarely ill,
+am exceedingly strong in every way, and yet eat very little indeed. I
+find that my voice is in the best of condition when I eat very
+moderately. My digestion is a serious matter with me, and I take every
+precaution to see that it is not congested in any way. This is most
+important to the singer. Here is an average menu for my days when I am
+on tour:
+
+             _BREAKFAST
+    Two or more glasses of Cold Water
+          (not ice water)
+             Ham and Eggs
+               Coffee
+               Toast._
+
+           _MID-DAY DINNER
+                Soup
+           Some Meat Order
+             A Vegetable
+           Plenty of Salad
+               Fruit._
+
+              _SUPPER
+             A Sandwich
+               Fruit._
+
+Such a menu I find ample for the heaviest kind of professional work. If
+I eat more, my work may deteriorate, and I know it.
+
+Fresh air, sunshine, sufficient rest and daily baths in tepid water
+night and morning are a part of my regular routine. I lay special
+stress upon the baths. Nothing invigorates the singer as much as this.
+Avoid very cold baths, but see to it that you have a good reaction after
+each bath. There is nothing like such a routine as this to avoid colds.
+If you have a cold try the same remedies to try to get rid of it. To me,
+one day at Atlantic City is better for a cold than all the medicine I
+can take. I call Atlantic City my cold doctor. Of course, there are many
+other shore resorts that may be just as helpful, but when I can do so I
+always make a bee line for Atlantic City the moment I feel a serious
+cold on the way.
+
+Sensible singers know now that they must avoid alcohol, even in limited
+quantities, if they desire to be in the prime of condition and keep the
+voice for a long, long time. Champagne particularly is poison to the
+singer just before singing. It seems to irritate the throat and make
+good vocal work impossible. I am sorry for the singer who feels that
+some spur like champagne or a cup of strong coffee is desirable before
+going upon the stage.
+
+It amuses me to hear girls say, "I would give anything to be a great
+singer"; and then go and lace themselves until they look like Jersey
+mosquitoes. The breath is the motive power of the voice. Without it
+under intelligent control nothing can be accomplished. One might as well
+try to run an automobile without gasoline as sing without breath. How
+can a girl breathe when she has squeezed her lungs to one-half their
+normal size?
+
+
+PREPARATION FOR HEAVY ROLES
+
+The voice can never be kept in prime condition if it is obliged to carry
+a load that it has not been prepared to carry. Most voices that wear out
+are voices that have been overburdened. Either the singer does not know
+how to sing or the role is too heavy. I think that I may be forgiven for
+pointing out that I have repeatedly sung the heaviest and most exacting
+roles in opera. My voice would have been shattered years ago if I had
+not prepared myself for these roles and sung them properly. A man may be
+able to carry a load of fifty pounds for miles if he carries it on his
+back, but he will not be able to carry it a quarter of a mile if he
+holds it out at arm's length from the body, with one arm. Does this not
+make the point clear?
+
+Some roles demand maturity. It is suicidal for the young singer to
+attempt them. The composer and the conductor naturally think only of the
+effect at the performance. The singer's welfare with them is a secondary
+consideration. I have sung under the great composers and conductors,
+from Richard Wagner to Richard Strauss. Some of the Strauss roles are
+even more strenuous than those of Wagner. They call for great energy as
+well as great vocal ability. Young singers essay these heavy roles and
+the voices go to pieces. Why not wait a little while? Why not be
+patient?
+
+The singer is haunted by the delusion that success can only come to her
+if she sings great roles. If she can not ape Melba in _Traviata_, Emma
+Eames as Elizabeth in _Tannhaeuser_ or Geraldine Farrar in _Butterfly_,
+she pouts and refuses to do anything. Offer her a small part and she
+sneers at it. Ha! Ha! All my earliest successes were made in the
+smallest kinds of parts. I realized that I had only a little to do and
+only very little time to do it in. Consequently, I gave myself heart and
+soul to that part. It must be done so artistically, so intelligently, so
+beautifully that it would command success. Imagine the roles of Erda and
+Norna, and Marie in _Flying Dutchman_. They are so small that they can
+hardly be seen. Yet these roles were my first door to success and fame.
+Wagner did not think of them as little things. He was a real master and
+knew that in every art-work a small part is just as important as a great
+part. It is a part of a beautiful whole. Don't turn up your nose at
+little things. Take every opportunity, and treat it as though it were
+the greatest thing in your life. It pays.
+
+Everything that amounts to anything in my entire career has come through
+struggle. At first a horrible struggle with poverty. No girl student in
+a hall bedroom to-day (and my heart goes out to them now) endures more
+than I went through. It was work, work, work, from morning to night,
+with domestic cares and worries enough all the time to drive a woman
+mad. Keep up your spirits, girls. If you have the right kind of fight in
+you, success will surely come. Never think of discouragement, no matter
+what happens. Keep working every day and always hoping. It will come
+out all right if you have the gift and the perseverance. Compulsion is
+the greatest element in the vocalist's success. Poverty has a knout in
+its hand driving you on. Well, let it,--and remember that under that
+knout you will travel twice as fast as the rich girl possibly can with
+her fifty-horse-power automobile. Keep true to the best. _Muss_--"I
+MUST," "I will," the mere necessity is a help not a hindrance, if you
+have the right stuff in you. Learn to depend upon yourself, and know
+that when you have something that the public wants it will not be slow
+in running after you. Don't ask for help. I never had any help. Tell
+that to the aspiring geese who think that I have some magic power
+whereby I can help a mediocre singer to success by the mere twist of the
+hand.
+
+
+DAILY EXERCISES OF A PRIMA DONNA
+
+[Illustration: musical notation]
+
+Daily vocal exercises are the daily bread of the singer. They should be
+practiced just as regularly as one sits down to the table to eat, or as
+one washes one's teeth or as one bathes. As a rule the average
+professional singer does not resort to complicated exercises and great
+care is taken to avoid strain. It is perfectly easy for me, a contralto,
+to sing C in alt but do you suppose I sing it in my daily exercises? It
+is one of the extreme notes in my range and it might be a strain.
+Consequently I avoid it. I also sing most of my exercises _mezza voce_.
+
+There should always be periods of intermission between practice. I often
+go about my routine work while on tour, walking up and down the room,
+packing my trunk, etc., and practicing gently at the same time. I enjoy
+it and it makes my work lighter.
+
+Of course I take great pains to practice carefully. My exercises are for
+the most part simple scales, arpeggios or trills. For instance, I will
+start with the following:
+
+[Illustration: musical notation]
+
+This I sing in middle voice and very softly. Thereby I do not become
+tired and I don't bother the neighborhood. If I sang this in the big,
+full lower tones and sang loud, my voice would be fatigued rather than
+benefited and the neighbors would hate me. This I continue up to _D_ or
+_E_ flat.
+
+[Illustration: musical notation]
+
+Above this I invariably use what is termed the head tone. Female singers
+should always begin the head tone on this degree of the staff and not on
+_F_ and _F#_, as is sometimes recommended.
+
+I always use the Italian vowel _ah_ in my exercises. It seems best to
+me. I know that _oo_ and _ue_ are recommended for contraltos, but I
+have long had the firm conviction that one should first perfect the
+natural vocal color through securing good tones by means of the most
+open vowel. After this is done the voice may be further colored by the
+judicious employment of other vowels. Sopranos, for instance, can help
+their head tones by singing _ee_ (Italian _i_).
+
+I know nothing better for acquiring a flexible tone than to sing trills
+like the following:
+
+[Illustration: musical notation]
+
+and at the same time preserve a gentle, smiling expression. Smile
+naturally, as though you were genuinely amused at something,--smile
+until your upper teeth are uncovered. Then, try these exercises with the
+vowel _ah_. Don't be afraid of getting a trivial, colorless tone. It is
+easy enough to make the tone sombre by willing it so, when the occasion
+demands. You will be amazed what this smiling, genial, _liebenswuerdig_
+expression will do to relieve stiffness and help you in placing your
+voice right. The old Italians knew about it and advocated it strongly.
+There is nothing like it to keep the voice youthful, fresh and in the
+prime of condition.
+
+
+THE SINGER MUST RELAX
+
+Probably more voices are ruined by strain than through any other cause.
+The singer must relax all the time. This does not mean flabbiness. It
+does not mean that the singer should collapse before singing. Relaxation
+in the singer's sense is a delicious condition of buoyancy, of
+lightness, of freedom, of ease and entire lack of tightening in any
+part. When I relax I feel as though every atom in my body were floating
+in space. There is not one single little nerve on tension. The singer
+must be particularly careful when approaching a climax in a great work
+of art. Then the tendency to tighten up is at its greatest. This must be
+anticipated.
+
+Take such a case as the following passage from the famous aria from
+Saint-Saens' _Samson et Delila_, "_Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix_." The
+climax is obviously on the words "Ah!--verse moi." The climax is the
+note marked by a star (_f_ on the top line).
+
+[Illustration: musical notation:
+
+Reponds a ma ten-dres-se, Re-ponds a ma ten-dress-s!
+
+Ah!--ver-se-moi--ver-se-moi.. l-i-vres-se!]
+
+When I am singing the last notes of the previous phrase to the word
+"tendresse," anyone who has observed me closely will notice that I
+instinctively let my shoulders drop,--that the facial muscles become
+relaxed as when one is about to smile or about to yawn. I am then
+relaxing to meet the great melodic climax and meet it in such a manner
+that I will have abundant reserve force after it has been sung. When one
+has to sing before an audience of five or six thousand people such a
+climax is immensely important and it requires great balance to meet it
+and triumph in it.
+
+
+
+
+ANTONIO SCOTTI
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Antonio Scotti was born at Naples, Jan. 25, 1866, and did much of his
+vocal study there with Mme. Trifari Paganini. His debut was made at the
+Teatro Reale, in the Island of Malta, in 1889. The opera was _Martha_.
+After touring the Italian opera houses he spent seven seasons in South
+America at a time when the interest in grand opera on that continent was
+developing tremendously. He then toured Spain and Russia with great
+success and made his debut at Covent Garden, London, in 1899. His
+success was so great that he was immediately engaged for the
+Metropolitan in New York, where he has sung every season since that
+time. His most successful roles have been in _La Tosca_, _La Boheme_, _I
+Pagliacci_, _Carmen_, _Falstaff_, _L'Oracolo_ and _Otello_. His voice is
+a rich and powerful baritone. He is considered one of the finest actors
+among the grand opera singers. During recent years he has toured with an
+opera company of his own, making many successful appearances in some of
+the smaller as well as the larger American cities.
+
+[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF ANTONIO SCOTTI IN THE COSTUME OF HIS MOST
+FAMOUS ROLE, SCARPIA, IN "LA TOSCA," BY PUCCINI.]
+
+
+
+
+ITALIAN OPERA IN AMERICA
+
+ANTONIO SCOTTI
+
+
+So closely identified is Italy with all that pertains to opera, that the
+question of the future of Italian opera in America is one that interests
+me immensely. It has been my privilege to devote a number of the best
+years of my life to singing in Italian opera in this wonderful country,
+and one cannot help noticing, first of all, the almost indescribable
+advance that America has made along all lines. It is so marvelous that
+those who reside continually in this country do not stop to consider it.
+Musicians of Europe who have never visited America can form no
+conception of it, and when they once have had an opportunity to observe
+musical conditions in America, the great opera houses, the music
+schools, the theatres and the bustling, hustling activity, together with
+the extraordinary casts of world-famous operatic stars presented in our
+leading cities, they are amazed in the extreme.
+
+It is very gratifying for me to realize that the operatic compositions
+of my countrymen must play a very important part in the operatic future
+of America. It has always seemed to me that there is far more variety in
+the works of the modern Italian composers than in those of other
+nations. Almost all of the later German operas bear the unmistakable
+stamp of Wagner. Those which do not, show decided Italian influences.
+The operas of Mozart are largely founded on Italian models, although
+they show a marvelous genius peculiar to the great master who created
+them.
+
+
+OPERATIC TENDENCIES
+
+The Italian opera of the future will without doubt follow the lead of
+Verdi, that is, the later works of Verdi. To me _Falstaff_ seems the
+most remarkable of all Italian operas. The public is not well enough
+acquainted with this work to demand it with the same force that they
+demand some of the more popular works of Verdi. Verdi was always
+melodious. His compositions are a beautiful lace-work of melodies. It
+has seemed to me that some of the Italian operatic composers who have
+been strongly influenced by Wagner have made the mistake of supposing
+that Wagner was not a master of melody. Consequently they have
+sacrificed their Italian birthright of melody for all kinds of
+cacophony. Wagner was really wonderfully melodious. Some of his melodies
+are among the most beautiful ever conceived. I do not refer only to the
+melodies such as "Oh, Thou Sublime Evening Star" of _Tannhaeuser_ or the
+"Bridal March" of _Lohengrin_, but also to the inexhaustible fund of
+melodies that one may find in most every one of his astonishing works.
+True, these melodies are different in type from most melodies of Italian
+origin, but they are none the less melodies, and beautiful ones. Verdi's
+later operas contain such melodies and he is the model which the young
+composers of Italy will doubtless follow. Puccini, Mascagni,
+Leoncavallo, and others, have written works rich in melody and yet not
+wanting in dramatic charm, orchestral accompaniment and musicianly
+treatment.
+
+
+OPERA THE NATURAL GENIUS OF ITALY'S COMPOSERS
+
+When the Italian student leaves the conservatory, in ninety-nine cases
+out of a hundred his ambitions are solely along the line of operatic
+composition. This seems his natural bent or mould. Of course he has
+written small fugues and perhaps even symphonies, but in the majority of
+instances these have been mere academic exercises. I regret that this is
+the case, and heartily wish that we had more Bossis, Martuccis and
+Sgambattis, but, again, would it not be a great mistake to try to make a
+symphonist out of an operatic composer? In the case of Perosi I often
+regret that he is a priest and therefore cannot write for the theatre,
+because I earnestly believe that notwithstanding his success as a
+composer of religious music, his natural bent is for the theatre or the
+opera.
+
+
+THE COMPOSERS OF TO-DAY
+
+Of the great Italian opera composers of to-day, I feel that Puccini is,
+perhaps, the greatest because he has a deeper and more intimate
+appreciation of theatrical values. Every note that Puccini writes smells
+of the paint and canvas behind the proscenium arch. He seems to know
+just what kind of music will go best with a certain series of words in
+order to bring out the dramatic meaning. This is in no sense a
+depreciation of the fine things that Mascagni, Leoncavallo and others
+have done. It is simply my personal estimate of Puccini's worth as an
+operatic composer. Personally, I like _Madama Butterfly_ better than any
+other Italian opera written in recent years. Aside from _Falstaff_, my
+own best role is probably in _La Tosca_. The two most popular Italian
+operas of to-day are without doubt _Aida_ and _Madama Butterfly_. That
+is, these operas draw the greatest audiences at present. It is
+gratifying to note a very much unified and catholic taste throughout the
+entire country. That is to say, in Chicago, San Francisco, Boston and
+Philadelphia one finds the public taste very similar. This indicates
+that the great musical advance in recent years in America has not been
+confined to one or two eastern cities.
+
+
+THE INFLUENCE OF THE STAR SYSTEM
+
+It is often regretable that the reputation of the singer draws bigger
+audiences in America than the work to be performed. American people go
+to hear some particular singer and not to hear the work of the composer.
+In other countries this is not so invariably the rule. It is a condition
+that may be overcome in time in America. It often happens that
+remarkably good performances are missed by the public who are only drawn
+to the opera house when some great operatic celebrity sings.
+
+The intrinsic beauties of the opera itself should have much to do with
+controlling its presentation. In all cases at present the Italian opera
+seems in preponderance, but this cannot be said to be a result of the
+engagement of casts composed exclusively of Italian singers. In our
+American opera houses many singers of many different nationalities are
+engaged in singing in Italian opera. Personally, I am opposed to operas
+being sung in any tongue but that in which the opera was originally
+written. If I am not mistaken, the Covent Garden Opera House and the
+Metropolitan Opera House are the only two opera houses in the world
+where this system is followed. No one can realize what I mean until he
+has heard a Wagner opera presented in French, a tongue that seems
+absolutely unfitted for the music of Wagner.
+
+
+THE POSSIBLE INFLUENCE OF STRAUSS AND DEBUSSY
+
+I do not feel that either Strauss or Debussy will have an influence upon
+the music of the coming Italian composers similar to that which the
+music of Wagner had upon Verdi and his followers. Personally, I admire
+them very much, but they seem unvocal, and Italy is nothing if not
+vocal. To me _Pelleas and Melisande_ would be quite as interesting if it
+were acted in pantomime with the orchestral accompaniment. The voice
+parts, to my way of thinking, could almost be dispensed with. The piece
+is a beautiful dream, and the story so evident that it could almost be
+played as an "opera without words." But vocal it certainly is not, and
+the opportunities of the singer are decidedly limited. Strauss, also,
+does not even treat the voice with the scant consideration bestowed upon
+it in some of the extreme passages of the Wagner operas. Occasionally
+the singer has an opportunity, but it cannot be denied that to the actor
+and the orchestra falls the lion's share of the work.
+
+
+OPERATIC CENTERS IN ITALY
+
+Americans seem to think that the only really great operatic center of
+Italy is Milan. This is doubtless due to the celebrity of the famous
+opera house, La Scala, and to the fact that the great publishing house
+of Ricordi is located there, but it is by no means indicative of the
+true condition. The fact is that the appreciation of opera is often
+greater outside of Milan than in the city. In Naples, Rome and Florence
+opera is given on a grand scale, and many other Italian cities possess
+fine theaters and fine operatic companies. The San Carlos Company, at
+Naples, is usually exceptionally good, and the opera house itself is a
+most excellent one. The greatest musical industry centers around Milan
+owing, as we have said, to the publishing interests in that city. If an
+Italian composer wants to produce one of his works he usually makes
+arrangements with his publisher. This, of course, brings him at once to
+Milan in most cases.
+
+
+MORE NEW OPERAS SHOULD BE PRODUCED
+
+It is, of course, difficult to gain an audience for a new work, but this
+is largely the fault of the public. The managers are usually willing
+and glad to bring out novelties if the public can be found to appreciate
+them. _Madama Butterfly_ is a novelty, but it leaped into immediate and
+enormous appreciation. Would that we could find a number like it!
+_Madama Butterfly's_ success has been largely due to the fact that the
+work bears the direct evidences of inspiration. I was with Puccini in
+London when he saw for the first time John Luther Long's story,
+dramatized by a Belasco, produced in the form of a one-act play. He had
+a number of librettos under consideration at that time, but he cast them
+all aside at once. I never knew Puccini to be more excited. The story of
+the little Japanese piece was on his mind all the time. He could not
+seem to get away from it. It was in this white heat of inspiration that
+the piece was moulded. Operas do not come out of the "nowhere." They are
+born of the artistic enthusiasm and intellectual exuberance of the
+trained composer.
+
+
+AMERICA'S MUSICAL FUTURE
+
+One of the marvelous conditions of music in this country is that the
+opera, the concert, the oratorio and the recital all seem to meet with
+equal appreciation. The fact that most students of music in this land
+play the piano has opened the avenues leading to an appreciation of
+orchestral scores. In the case of opera the condition was quite
+different. The appreciation of operatic music demands the voice of the
+trained artist and this could not be brought to the home until the
+sound reproducing machine had been perfected. The great increase in the
+interest in opera in recent years is doubtless due to the fact that
+thousands and thousands of those instruments are in use in as many homes
+and music studios. It is far past the "toy" stage, and is a genuine
+factor in the art development and musical education of America. At first
+the sound reproducing machine met with tremendous opposition owing to
+the fact that bad instruments and poorer records had prejudiced the
+public, but now they have reached a condition whereby the voice is
+reflected with astonishing veracity. The improvements I have observed
+during the past years have seemed altogether wonderful to me. The
+thought that half a century hence the voices of our great singers of
+to-day may be heard in the homes of all countries of the globe gives a
+sense of satisfaction to the singer, since it gives a permanence to his
+art which was inconceivable twenty-five years ago.
+
+[Illustration: HENRI SCOTT.]
+
+
+
+
+HENRI SCOTT
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Henri Scott was born at Coatesville, Pa., April 8, 1876. He was intended
+for a business career but became interested in music, at first in an
+amateur way, in Philadelphia. Encouraged by local successes he went to
+study voice with Oscar Saenger, remaining with him for upward of eleven
+years. He was fortunate in making appearances with the "Philadelphia
+Operatic Society," a remarkable amateur organization giving performances
+of grand opera on a large scale. With this organization he made his
+first stage appearances as Ramphis in _Aida_, in 1897. He had his
+passage booked for Europe, where he was assured many fine appearances,
+when he accidentally met Oscar Hammerstein, who engaged him for five
+years. Under this manager he made his professional debut as Ramphis at
+the Manhattan Opera House in New York, in 1909. Hammerstein, a year
+thereafter, terminated his New York performances by selling out to the
+Metropolitan Opera Company. Mr. Scott then went to Rome, where he made
+his first appearance in _Faust_, with great success. He was immediately
+engaged for the Chicago Opera Company where, during three years, he sang
+some thirty-five different roles. In 1911 he was engaged as a leading
+basso by the Metropolitan, where he remained for many seasons. He has
+sung on tour with the Thomas Orchestra, with Caruso and at many famous
+festivals. He has appeared with success in over one hundred cities in
+the United States and Canada. In response to many offers he went into
+vaudeville, where he has sung to hundreds of thousands of Americans,
+with immense success. Mr. Scott is therefore in a position to speak of
+this new and interesting phase of bringing musical masterpieces to "the
+masses."
+
+
+
+
+THE SINGER'S LARGER MUSICAL PUBLIC
+
+HENRI SCOTT
+
+
+Like every American, I resent the epithet, "the masses," because I have
+always considered myself a part of that mysterious unbounded
+organization of people to which all democratic Americans feel that they
+belong. One who is not a member of the masses in America is perforce a
+"snob" and a "prig." Possibly one of the reasons why our republic has
+survived so many years is that all true Americans are aristocratic, not
+in the attitude of "I am as good as everyone," but yet human enough to
+feel deep in their hearts, "Any good citizen is as good as I."
+
+
+WHY GRAND OPERA IS EXPENSIVE
+
+Music in America should be the property of everybody. The talking
+machines come near making it that, if one may judge from the sounds that
+come from half the homes at night. But the people want to hear the best
+music from living performers "in the flesh." At the same time,
+comparatively, very few can pay from two to twenty dollars a seat to
+hear great opera and great singers. The reason why grand opera costs so
+much is that the really fine voices, with trained operatic experience,
+are very, very few; and, since only a few performances are given a year,
+the price must be high. It is simply the law of supply and demand.
+
+There are, in America, two large grand opera companies and half a dozen
+traveling ones, some of them very excellent. There are probably twenty
+large symphony orchestras and at least one hundred oratorio societies of
+size. To say that these bodies and others purveying good music, reach
+more than five million auditors a year would possibly be a generous
+figure. But five million is not one-twentieth of the population of
+America. What about the nineteen-twentieths?
+
+On the other hand, there are in America between two and three thousand
+good vaudeville and moving picture houses where the best music in some
+form is heard not once or twice a week for a short season, but several
+times each day. Some of the moving picture houses have orchestras of
+thirty-five to eighty men, selected from musicians of the finest
+ability, many of whom have played in some of the greatest orchestras of
+the world. These orchestras and the talking machines are doing more to
+bring good music to the public than all the larger organizations, if we
+consider the subject from a standpoint of numbers.
+
+
+A REVOLUTION IN TASTE
+
+The whole character of the entertainments in moving picture and
+vaudeville theaters has been revolutionized. The buildings are veritable
+temples of art. The class of the entertainment is constantly improving
+in response to a demand which the business instincts of the managers
+cannot fail to recognize. The situation is simply this: The American
+people, with their wonderful thirst for self-betterment, which has
+brought about the prodigious success of the educational papers, the
+schools and the Chautauquas, like to have the beautiful things in art
+served to them with inspiriting amusement. We, as a people, have been
+becoming more and more refined in our tastes. We want better and better
+things, not merely in music, but in everything. In my boyhood there were
+thousands of families in fair circumstances who would endure having the
+most awful chromos upon their walls. These have for the most part
+entirely disappeared except in the homes of the newest aliens. It is
+true that much of our music is pretty raw in the popular field; but even
+in this it is getting better slowly and surely.
+
+If in recent years there has been a revolution in the popular taste for
+vaudeville, B. F. Keith was the "Washington" of that revolution. He
+understood the human demand for clean entertainment, with plenty of
+healthy fun and an artistic background. He knew the public call for the
+best music and instilled his convictions in his able followers. Mr.
+Keith's attitude was responsible for the signs which one formerly saw in
+the dressing rooms of good vaudeville theaters, which read:
+
+    +--------------------------------------------------+
+    |Profanity of any kind, objectionable or suggestive|
+    |remarks, are forbidden in this theater.           |
+    |Offenders are liable to have the curtain rung     |
+    |down upon them during such an act.                |
+    +--------------------------------------------------+
+
+Fortunately these signs have now disappeared, as the actors have been so
+disciplined that they know that a coarse remark would injure them with
+the management.
+
+Vaudeville is on a far higher basis than much so-called comic opera.
+Some acts are paid exceedingly large sums. Sarah Bernhardt received
+$7000.00 a week; Calve, Bispham, Kocian, Carolina White and Marguerite
+Sylvia, accordingly.
+
+Dorothy Jordan, Bessie Abbott, Rosa Ponselle, Orville Harold and the
+recent Indian sensation at the Metropolitan, Chief Caupolican, actually
+had their beginnings in vaudeville. In other words, vaudeville was the
+stepping-stone to grand opera.
+
+
+SINGING FOR MILLIONS
+
+Success in this new field depends upon personality as well as art. It
+also develops personality. It is no place for a "stick." The singer must
+at all times be in human touch with the audience. The lofty individuals
+who are thinking far more about themselves than about the songs they are
+singing have no place here. The task is infinitely more difficult than
+grand opera. It is far more difficult than recital or oratorio singing.
+There can be no sham, no pose. The songs must please or the audience
+will let one know it in a second.
+
+The wear and tear upon the voice is much less than in opera. During the
+week I sing in all three and one-half hours (not counting rehearsals).
+When I am singing Mephistopheles in _Faust_ I am in a theater at least
+six hours--the make-up alone requires at least one and one-half hours.
+Then time is demanded for rehearsals with the company and with various
+coaches.
+
+
+THE ART OF "PUTTING IT OVER"
+
+Thus the vaudeville singer who is genuinely interested in the progress
+of his art has ample time to study new songs and new roles. In the
+jargon of vaudeville, everything is based upon whether the singer is
+able "to put the number over." This is a far more serious matter than
+one thinks. The audience is made up of the great public--the common
+people, God bless them. There is not the select gathering of musically
+cultured people that one finds in Carnegie Hall or the Auditorium.
+Therefore, in singing music that is admittedly a musical masterpiece,
+one must select only those works which may be interpreted with a broad
+human appeal. One is far closer to his fellow-man in vaudeville than in
+grand opera, because the emotions of the auditors are more responsive.
+It is intensely gratifying to know that these people want real art. My
+greatest success has been in Lieurance's Indian songs and in excerpts
+from grand opera. Upon one occasion my number was followed by that of a
+very popular comedienne whose performance was known to be of the
+farcical, rip-roaring type which vaudeville audiences were supposed to
+like above all things. It was my pleasure to be recalled, even after the
+curtain had ascended upon her performance, and to be compelled to give
+another song as an encore. The preference of the vaudeville audience
+for really good music has been indicated to me time and again. But it is
+not merely the good music that draws: the music must be interpreted
+properly. Much excellent music is ruined in vaudeville by ridiculous
+renditions.
+
+
+HOW TO GET AN ENGAGEMENT
+
+Singers have asked me time and again how to get an engagement. The first
+thing is to be sure that you have something to sell that is really worth
+while. Think of how many people are willing to pay to hear you sing! The
+more that they are willing to pay, the more valuable you are to the
+managers who buy your services. Therefore reputation, of course, is an
+important point to the manager. An unknown singer can not hope to get
+the same fee as the celebrated singer no matter how fine the voice or
+the art. Mr. E. Falber and Mr. Martin Beck, who have been responsible
+for a great many of the engagements of great artists in vaudeville and
+who are great believers in fine music in vaudeville, have, through their
+high position in business, helped hundreds. But they can not help anyone
+who has nothing to sell.
+
+The home office of the big vaudeville exchange is at Forty-seventh and
+Broadway, N.Y., and it is one of the busiest places in the great city.
+Even at that, it has always been a mystery to me just how the thousands
+of numbers are arranged so that there will be as little loss as possible
+for the performers; for it must be remembered that the vaudeville
+artists buy their own stage clothes and scenery, attend to their
+transportation and pay all their own expenses; unless they can afford
+the luxury of a personal manager who knows how to do these things just a
+little better.
+
+The singer looking for an engagement must in some way do something to
+gain some kind of recognition. Perhaps it may come from the fact that
+the manager of the local theater in her town has heard her sing, or some
+well-known singer is interested in her and is willing to write a letter
+of introduction to someone influential in headquarters. With the
+enormous demands made upon the time of the "powers that be," it is
+hardly fair to expect them to hear anyone and everyone. With such a
+letter or such an introduction, arrange for an audition at the
+headquarters in New York. Remember all the time that if you have
+anything really worth while to sell the managers are just as anxious to
+hear you as you are to be heard. There is no occasion for nervousness.
+
+
+EXCELLENT CONDITIONS
+
+Sometimes the managers are badly mistaken. It is common gossip that a
+very celebrated opera singer sought a vaudeville engagement and was
+turned down because of the lack of the musical experience of the
+manager, and because she was unknown. If he wanted her to-day his figure
+would have to be several thousand dollars a week.
+
+The average vaudeville theater in America is far better for the singer,
+in many ways, than many of the opera houses. In fact the vaudeville
+theaters are new; while the opera houses are old, and often sadly run
+down and out of date. Possibly the finest vaudeville theater in America
+is in Providence, R. I., and was built by E. F. Albee. It is palatial in
+every aspect, built as strong and substantial as a fort, and yet as
+elegant as a mansion. It is much easier to sing in these modern theaters
+made of stone and concrete than in many of the old-fashioned opera
+houses. Indeed, some of the vaudeville audiences often hear a singer at
+far better advantage than in the opera house.
+
+The singer who realizes the wonderful artistic opportunities provided in
+reaching such immense numbers of people, who will understand that he
+must sing up to the larger humanity rather than thinking that he must
+sing down to a mob, who will work to do better vocal and interpretative
+thinking at every successive performance, will lose nothing by singing
+in vaudeville and may gain an army of friends and admirers he could not
+otherwise possibly acquire.
+
+
+
+
+EMMA THURSBY
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Emma Thursby was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., and studied singing with
+Julius Meyers, Achille Errani, Mme. Rudersdorf, Lamperti (elder), San
+Giovanni and finally with Maurice Strakosch. She began her career as a
+church singer in New York and throngs went to different New York
+churches to hear her exquisitely mellow and beautiful voice. For many
+years she was the soprano of the famous Plymouth Church when Henry Ward
+Beecher was the pastor. Her voice became so famous that she went on a
+tour with Maurice Strakosch for seven years, in Europe and America,
+everywhere meeting with sensational success. Later she toured with the
+Gilmore Band and with the Thomas Orchestra. She became as popular in
+London and in Paris as in New York. Her fame became so great that she
+finally made a tour of the world, appearing with great success even in
+China and Japan.
+
+[Illustration: EMMA THURSBY.]
+
+
+
+
+SINGING IN CONCERT AND WHAT IT MEANS
+
+EMMA THURSBY
+
+
+Although conditions have changed very greatly since I was last regularly
+engaged in making concert tours, the change has been rather one of
+advantage to young singers than one to their disadvantage. The enormous
+advance in musical taste can only be expressed by the word "startling."
+For while we have apparently a vast amount of worthless music being
+continually inoculated into our unsuspecting public, we have,
+nevertheless, a corresponding cultivation of the love for good music
+which contributes much to the support of the concert singer of the
+present day.
+
+The old time lyceum has almost disappeared, but the high-class song
+recital has taken its place and recitals that would have been barely
+possible years ago are now frequently given with greatest financial and
+artistic success. Schumann, Franz, Strauss, Grieg and MacDowell have
+conquered the field formerly held by the vapid and meaningless
+compositions of brainless composers who wrote solely to amuse or to
+appeal to morbid sentimentality.
+
+The conditions of travel, also, have been greatly improved. It is now
+possible to go about in railroad cars and stop at hotels, and at the
+same time experience very little inconvenience and discomfort. This
+makes the career of the concert artist a far more desirable one than in
+former years. Uninviting hotels, frigid cars, poorly prepared meals and
+the lack of privacy were scarcely the best things to stimulate a high
+degree of musical inspiration.
+
+
+HEALTH
+
+Nevertheless, the girl who would be successful in concert must either
+possess or acquire good health as her first and all-essential asset.
+Notwithstanding the marvelous improvement in traveling facilities and
+accommodations, the nervous strain of public performance is not
+lessened, and it not infrequently happens that these very facilities
+enable the avaricious manager to crowd in more concerts and recitals
+than in former years, with the consequent strain upon the vitality of
+the singer.
+
+Of course, the singer must also possess the foundation for a good
+natural voice, a sense of hearing capable of being trained to the
+keenest perception of pitch, quality, rhythm and metre, an attractive
+personality, a bright mind, a good general education and an artistic
+temperament--a very extraordinary list, I grant you, but we must
+remember that the public pays out its money to hear extraordinary people
+and the would-be singer who does not possess qualifications of this
+description had better sincerely solicit the advice of some experienced,
+unbiased teacher or singer before putting forth upon the musical seas in
+a bark which must meet with certain destruction in weathering the first
+storm. The teacher who consciously advises a singer to undertake a
+public career and at the same time knows that such a career would very
+likely be a failure is beneath the recognition of any honest man or
+woman.
+
+
+THE SINGER'S EARLY TRAINING
+
+The education of the singer should not commence too early, if we mean by
+education the training of the voice. If you discover that a child has a
+very remarkable voice, "ear" and musical intelligence you had better let
+the voice alone and give your attention to the general musical education
+of the child along the lines of that received by Madame Sembrich, who is
+a fine violinist and pianist. So few are the teachers who know anything
+whatever about the child-voice, or who can treat it with any degree of
+safety, that it is far better to leave it alone than to tamper with it.
+Encourage the child to sing softly, sweetly and naturally, much as in
+free fluent conversation, telling him to form the habit of speaking his
+tones forward "on the lips" rather than in the throat. If you have among
+your acquaintances some musician or singer of indisputable ability and
+impeccable honor who can give you disinterested advice have the child go
+to this friend now and then to ascertain whether any bad and unnatural
+habits are being formed. Of course we have the famous cases of Patti and
+others, who seem to have sung from infancy. I have no recollection of
+the time when I first commenced to sing. I have always sung and gloried
+in my singing.
+
+See to it that your musical child has a good general education. This
+does not necessarily mean a college or university training. In fact, the
+amount of music study a singer has to accomplish in these days makes the
+higher academic training apparently impossible. However, with the great
+musical advance there has come a demand for higher and better ordered
+intellectual work among singers. This condition is becoming more and
+more imperative every day. At the same time you must remember also that
+nothing should be undertaken that might in any way be liable to
+undermine or impair the child's health.
+
+
+WHEN TO BEGIN TRAINING
+
+The time to begin training depends upon the maturity of the voice and
+the individual, considered together with the physical condition of the
+pupil. Some girls are ready to start voice work at sixteen, while others
+are not really in condition until a somewhat older age. Here again comes
+the necessity for the teacher of judgment and experience. A teacher who
+might in any way be influenced by the necessity for securing a pupil or
+a fee should be avoided as one avoids the shyster lawyer. Starting vocal
+instruction too early has been the precipice over which many a promising
+career has been dashed to early oblivion.
+
+In choosing a teacher I hardly know what to say, in these days of myriad
+methods and endless claims. The greatest teachers I have known have
+been men and women of great simplicity and directness. The perpetrator
+of the complicated system is normally the creator of vocal failures. The
+secret of singing is at once a marvelous mystery and again an open
+secret to those who have realized its simplicity. It cannot be
+altogether written, nor can it be imparted by words alone. Imitation
+undoubtedly plays an important part, but it is not everything. The
+teacher must be one who has actually realized the great truths which
+underlie the best, simplest and most natural methods of securing results
+and who must possess the wonderful power of exactly communicating these
+principles to the pupil. A good teacher is far rarer than a good singer.
+Singers are often poor teachers, as they destroy the individuality of
+the pupil by demanding arbitrary imitation. A teacher can only be judged
+by results, and the pupil should never permit herself to be deluded by
+advertisements and claims a teacher is unable to substantiate with
+successful pupils.
+
+
+HABITS OF SPEECH, POISE AND THINKING
+
+One of the deep foundation piers of all educational effort is the
+inculcation of habits. The most successful voice teacher is the one who
+is most happy in developing habits of correct singing. These habits must
+be watched with the persistence, perseverance and affectionate care of
+the scientist. The teacher must realize that the single lapse or
+violation of a habit may mean the ruin of weeks or months of hard work.
+
+One of the most necessary habits a teacher should form is that of
+speaking with ease, naturalness and vocal charm. Many of our American
+girls speak with indescribable harshness, slovenliness and shrillness.
+This is a severe tax upon the sensibilities of a musical person and I
+know of countless people who suffer acute annoyance from this source.
+Vowels are emitted with a nasal twang or a throaty growl that seem at
+times most unpardonable noises when coming from a pretty face.
+Consonants are juggled and mangled until the words are very difficult to
+comprehend. Our girls are improving in this respect, but there is still
+cause for grievous complaint among voice teachers, who find in this one
+of their most formidable obstacles.
+
+Another common natural fault, which is particularly offensive to me, is
+that of an objectionable bodily poise. I have found throughout my entire
+career that bodily poise in concert work is of paramount importance, but
+I seem to have great difficulty in sufficiently impressing this great
+truth upon young ladies who would be singers. The noted Parisian
+teacher, Sbriglia, is said to require one entire year to build up and
+fortify the chest. I have always felt that the best poise is that in
+which the shoulders are held well back, although not in a stiff or
+strained position, the upper part of the body leaning forward gently and
+naturally and the whole frame balanced by a sense of relaxation and
+ease. In this position the natural equilibrium is not taxed, and a
+peculiar sensation of non-constraint seems to be noticeable,
+particularly over the entire area of the front of the torso. This
+position suggests ease and an absence of that military rigidity which is
+so fatal to all good vocal effort. It also permits of a freer movement
+of the abdominal walls, as well as the intercostal muscles, and is thus
+conducive to the most natural breathing. Too much anatomical explanation
+is liable to confuse the young singer, and if the matter of breathing
+can be assisted by poise, just so much is gained.
+
+Another important habit that the teacher should see to at the start is
+that of correct thinking. Most vocal beginners are poor thinkers and
+fail to realize the vast importance of the mind in all voice work.
+Unless the teacher has the power of inspiring the pupil to a realization
+of the great fact that nothing is accomplished in the throat that has
+not been previously performed in the mind, the path will be a difficult
+one. During the process of singing the throat and the auxiliary vocal
+process of breathing are really a part of the brain, or, more
+specifically, the mind or soul. The body is never more than an
+instrument. Without the performer it is as voiceless as the piano of
+Richard Wagner standing in all its solitary silence at Wahnfried--a mute
+monument of the marvelous thoughts which once rang from its vibrating
+wires to all parts of the civilized world. We really sing with that
+which leaves the body after death. It is in the cultivation of this
+mystery of mysteries, the soul, that most singers fail. The mental ideal
+is, after all, that which makes the singer. Patti possessed this ideal
+as a child, and with it the wonderful bodily qualifications which made
+her immortal. But it requires work to overcome vocal deficiencies, and
+Patti as a child was known to have been a ceaseless worker and thinker,
+always trying to bring her little body up to the high aesthetic
+appreciation of the best artistic interpretation of a given passage.
+
+
+MAURICE STRAKOSCH'S TEN VOCAL COMMANDMENTS
+
+It was from Maurice Strakosch that I learned of the methods pursued by
+Patti in her daily work, and although Strakosch was not a teacher in the
+commercial sense of the word, as he had comparatively few pupils, he was
+nevertheless a very fine musician, and there is no doubt that Patti owed
+a great deal to his careful and insistent regime and instruction.
+Although our relation was that of impresario and artist, I cannot be
+grateful enough to him for the advice and instruction I received from
+him. The technical exercises he employed were exceedingly simple and he
+gave more attention to how they were sung than to the exercises
+themselves. I know of no more effective set of exercises than
+Strakosch's ten daily exercises. They were sung to the different vowels,
+principally to the vowel "ah," as in "father." Notwithstanding their
+great simplicity Strakosch gave the greatest possible attention and time
+to them. Patti used these exercises, which he called his "Ten
+Commandments for the Singer," daily, and there can be little doubt that
+the extraordinary preservation of her voice is the result of these
+simple means. I have used them for years with exceptional results in
+all cases. However, if the singer has any idea that the mere practice of
+these exercises to the different vowel sounds will inevitably bring
+success she is greatly mistaken. These exercises are only valuable when
+used with vowels correctly and naturally "placed," and that means, in
+some cases, years of the most careful and painstaking work.
+
+     Following are the famous "Ten Vocal Commandments," as used by
+     Adelina Patti and several great singers in their daily work. Note
+     their simplicity and gradual increase in difficulty. They are to be
+     transposed at the teacher's discretion to suit the range of the
+     voice and are to be used with the different vowels.
+
+[Illustration: I, musical notation]
+
+[Illustration: II, musical notation]
+
+[Illustration: III, musical notation]
+
+[Illustration: IV, musical notation]
+
+[Illustration: V, musical notation]
+
+[Illustration: VI, musical notation]
+
+[Illustration: VII, musical notation]
+
+[Illustration: VIII, musical notation]
+
+[Illustration: IX, musical notation]
+
+[Illustration: X, musical notation]
+
+The concert singer of the present day must have linguistic attainments
+far greater than those in demand some years ago. She is required to sing
+in English, French, German, Italian and some singers are now attempting
+the interpretation of songs in Slavic and other tongues. Not only do we
+have to consider arias and passages from the great oratorios and operas
+as a part of the present-day repertoire, but the song of the "Lied" type
+has come to have a valuable significance in all concert work. Many songs
+intended for the chamber and the salon are now included in programs of
+concerts and recitals given in our largest auditoriums. Only a very few
+numbers are in themselves songs written for the concert hall. Most of
+the numbers now sung at song concerts are really transplanted from
+either the stage or the chamber. This makes the position of the concert
+singer an extremely difficult one. Without the dramatic accessories of
+the opera house or the intimacy of the home circle, she is expected to
+achieve results varying from the cry of the Valkyries, in _Die Walkuere_,
+to the frail fragrance of Franz' _Es hat die Rose sich beklagt_. I do
+not wonder that Mme. Schumann-Heink and others have declared that there
+is nothing more difficult or exhausting than concert singing. The
+enormous fees paid to great concert singers are not surprising when we
+consider how very few must be the people who can ever hope to attain
+great heights in this work.
+
+[Illustration: REINALD WERRENRATH.
+
+(C) Mishkin.]
+
+
+
+
+REINALD WERRENRATH
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Reinald Werrenrath was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., August 7, 1883. His
+father, George Werrenrath, was a distinguished singer, and his mother
+(nee Aretta Camp) is the daughter of Henry Camp, who was for many years
+musical director of Plymouth Church during the ministry there of Henry
+Ward Beecher. George Werrenrath was a Dane, with an unusually rich tenor
+voice, trained by the best teachers of his time in Germany, Italy,
+France and England. During his engagement as leading tenor in the Royal
+Opera House in Wiesbaden, he left Germany by the advice of Adelina
+Patti, eventually going to England with Maurice Strakosch, who was then
+his coach. In London Werrenrath had a fine career, and there was formed
+a warm and ultimate friendship with Charles Gounod, with whom he studied
+and toured in concerts through England and Belgium. George Werrenrath
+came to New York in 1876, by the influence of Mme. Antoinette Sterling
+and of the well-known Dane, General C. T. Christensen. He immediately
+became well known by his appearance with the Theodore Thomas Orchestra,
+as well as by his engagement at Plymouth Church, where he was soloist
+for seven years. He was probably the first artist to give song-recitals
+in the United States, while his performances in opera are still
+cherished in the memories of those people who can look back on some of
+the fine representations given under the baton of Adolph Neuendorf, at
+the old Academy of Music, which made the way for the later work at the
+Metropolitan Opera House. His interpretation of _Lohengrin_ was adjudged
+most wonderfully poetical.
+
+Reinald Werrenrath studied first with his father. At the Boys' High
+School and at New York University he was leader of musical affairs
+throughout the eight years spent in those schools. He studied violin
+with Carl Venth for four years, and had as his vocal teachers Dr. Carl
+Dufft, Frank King Clark, Dr. Arthur Mees, Percy Rector Stephens and
+Victor Maurel, giving especial credit for his voice training to years of
+study with Mr. Stephens whose vocal teaching ideas he sketches in part
+in the following. He has appeared with immense success in concert and
+oratorio in all parts of the United States. His talking machine records
+have been in great demand for years, and his voice is known to thousands
+who have never seen him. His operatic debut was in _Pagliacci_, as
+_Silvio_, in the Metropolitan Opera House, February 19, 1919, where he
+later had specially fine success as _Valentine_ in _Faust_ and as the
+_Toreador_ in _Carmen_.
+
+
+
+
+NEW ASPECTS OF THE ART OF SINGING IN AMERICA
+
+REINALD WERRENRATH
+
+
+Every now and then someone asks me whether America is really becoming
+musical. All I can say is that a year ago I, with my accompanist,
+traveled over 61,000 miles, touching every part of this country and,
+during that eight months, singing almost nightly when the transit
+facilities would permit, found everywhere the very greatest enthusiasm
+for the very best music. Of course, Americans want some numbers on the
+program with the so-called "human" element; but at the same time they
+court the best in vocal art and seem never to get enough of it. All of
+my instruction has been received in America. All of my teachers, with
+the exception of my father and Victor Maurel, were born in America; so I
+may be called very much of an American product.
+
+Just why Americans should ever have been obsessed with the idea that it
+was impossible to teach voice successfully on this side of the Atlantic
+is hard to tell. I have a suspicion that many like the adventure of
+foreign travel far more than the labor of study. Probably ninety-five
+per cent. of the pupils who went over did so for the fascinating
+experience of living in a European environment rather than for the
+downright purpose of coming back great artists. Therefore, we should
+not blame the European teachers altogether for the countless failures
+that have floated back to us almost on every tide. I have recently heard
+a report that many of the highest-priced and most efficient voice
+teachers in Italy are Americans who have Italianized their names.
+Certainly the most successful voice teachers in Berlin were George
+Ferguson and Frank King Clark, who was at the top of the list also in
+Paris when he was there.
+
+The American singer should remember in these days that, first of all, he
+must sing in America and in the English language more than in any other.
+I am not one of those who decry singing in foreign languages. Certain
+songs, it is true, cannot be translated so that their meaning can be
+completely understood in English; yet, if the reader will think for a
+moment, how is the American auditor to understand a single thought of a
+poem in a language of which he knows nothing?
+
+The Italian is a glorious language for the singer, and with it English
+cannot be compared, with its thirty-one vowel sounds and its many
+coughing, sputtering consonants. Training in Italian solfeggios is very
+fine for creating a free, flowing style. Many of the Italian teachers
+were obsessed with the idea of the big tone. The audiences fired back
+volleys of "Bravos!" and "Da Capos" when the tenor took off his plumed
+hat, stood on his toes and howled a high C. That was part of his stock
+in trade. Naturally, he forced his voice, and most of the men singers
+quit at the age of fifty. I hope to be in my prime at that time, as my
+voice seems to grow better each year. Battistini, who was born in 1857,
+is an exception. His voice, I am told, is remarkably preserved.
+
+
+CLIMATIC CONDITIONS A SERIOUS HANDICAP
+
+Climatic conditions in many parts of America prove a serious handicap to
+the singer. At the same time, according to the law of the survival of
+the fittest, American singers must take care of themselves much better
+than the Italians, for instance. The salubrious, balmy climate of most
+of Italy is ideal for the throat. On our Eastern seaboard I find that
+fifty per cent. of my audiences in winter seem to have colds and
+bronchitis. The singer who is obliged to tour must, of course, take
+every possible precaution against catching cold; and that means becoming
+infected from exposure to colds when the system is run down. I attempt
+to avoid colds by securing plenty of outdoor exercise. I always walk to
+my hotel and to the station when I have time; and I walk as much as I
+can during the day. When I am not singing I immediately start to
+play--to fish, swim or hunt in the woods if I can make an opportunity.
+
+
+OPERATIC STUDY
+
+In one respect Europe is unquestionably superior to America for the
+vocal student. The student who wants to sing in opera will find in
+Europe ten opportunities for gaining experience to one here. While we
+have a few more opera companies than twenty-five years ago, it is still
+a great task to secure even an opening. Americans, outside of the great
+cities, do not seem to be especially inclined toward opera. They will
+accept a little of it when it is given to them by a superb company like
+the Metropolitan. In New York we find a public more cosmopolitan than in
+any other city of the world, with the possible exception of London. In
+immediate ancestry it is more European than American, and naturally
+opera becomes a great public demand. Seats sell at fabulous prices and
+the houses are crowded. Next comes opera at popular prices; and we have
+one or two very good companies giving that with success. Then there is
+the opera in America's other cosmopolitan center, Chicago, where many
+world-famed artists appear. After that, opera in America is hardly worth
+mentioning. What chance has the student? Only one who for years has been
+uniformed in a black dress suit and backed into the curve of the grand
+piano in a recital hall can know what it means to get out on the
+operatic stage, in those fantastic clothes, walk around, act, sing and
+at the same time watch the conductor with his ninety men. Only he can
+know what the difference between singing in concert and on the operatic
+stage really is. Yet old opera singers who enter the recital field
+invariably say that it is far harder to get up alone in a large hall and
+become the whole performance, aided and abetted only by an able
+accompanist, than it is to sing in opera.
+
+The recital has the effect of preserving the fineness of many operatic
+voices. Modern opera has ruined dozens of fine vocal organs because of
+the tremendous strain made upon them and the tendency to neglect vocal
+art for dramatic impression.
+
+If there were more of the better _singing_ in opera, such as one hears
+from Mr. Caruso, there would be less comment upon opera as a bastard
+art. Operatic work is very exhilarating. The difference between concert
+and opera for the singer is that between oatmeal porridge and an old
+vintage champagne. There is no time at the Metropolitan for raw singers.
+The works in the repertoire must be known so well in the singing and the
+acting that they may be put on perfectly with the least possible
+rehearsals. Therefore, the singer has no time for routine. The lack of a
+foreign name will keep no American singer out of the Metropolitan; but
+the lack of the ability to save the company hundreds of dollars through
+needless waits at rehearsals will.
+
+
+NATURAL METHODS OF SINGING
+
+Certainly no country in recent years has produced so many "corking" good
+singers as America. Our voices are fresh, virile, pure and rich; when
+the teaching is right. Our singers are for the most part finely educated
+and know how to interpret the texts intelligently. Mr. W. J. Henderson,
+the eminent New York critic, in his "Art of Singing," gave the following
+definition, which my former teacher, the late Dr. Carl Dufft, endorsed
+very highly: "Singing is the expression of a text by means of tones made
+by the human voice." More and more the truth of this comes to me.
+Singing is not merely vocalizing but always a means of communication in
+which the artist must convey the message of the two great minds of the
+poet and the composer to his fellow man. In this the voice must be as
+natural as possible, as human as possible, and not merely a sugary tone.
+The German, the Frenchman, the Englishman and the American strive first
+for an intelligent interpretation of the text. The Italian thinks of
+tone first and the text afterward, except in the modern Italian school
+of realistic singing. For this one must consider the voice normally and
+sensibly.
+
+I owe my treatment of my voice largely to Mr. Stephens, with whom I have
+studied for the last eight years, taking a lesson every day I am in New
+York. This is advisable, I believe, because no matter how well one may
+think one sings, another trained mind with other ears may detect defects
+that might lead to serious difficulties later. His methods are difficult
+to describe; but a few main principles may be very interesting to
+vocalists.
+
+My daily work in practice is commenced by stretching exercises, in which
+I aim to free the muscles covering the upper part of the abdomen and the
+intercostal muscles at the side and back--all by stretching upward and
+writhing around, as it were, so that there cannot possibly be any
+constriction. Then, with my elbows bent and my fists over my head, I
+stretch the muscles over my shoulders and shoulder blades. Finally, I
+rotate my head upward and around, so that the muscles of the neck are
+freed and become very easy and flexible. While I am finishing with the
+last exercise I begin speaking in a fairly moderate tone such vowel
+combinations as "OH-AH," "OH-AH," "EE-AY," "EE-AY," "EE-AY-EE-AY-EE-AY,"
+etc. While doing this I walk about the room so that there will not be
+any suggestion of stiltedness or vocal or muscular interference. At
+first this is done without the addition of any attempted nasal
+resonance. Gradually nasal resonance is introduced with different spoken
+vowels, while at the same time every effort is made to preserve ease and
+flexibility of the entire body. Then, when it seems as though the right
+vocal quality is coming, pitch is introduced at the most convenient
+range and exercises with pitch are taken through the range of the voice.
+The whole idea is to make the tones as natural and free and pure as
+possible with the least effort. I am opposed to the old idea of tone
+placing, in which the pupil toed a mark, set the throat at some
+prescribed angle, adjusted the tongue in some approved design, and then,
+gripped like the unfortunate victim in the old-fashioned photographer's
+irons, attempted to sing a sustained tone or a rapid scale. What was the
+result--consciousness and stiltedness and, as a rule, a tired throat and
+a ruined singer. These ideas may seem revolutionary to many. They are
+only a few of Mr. Stephens' very numerous devices; but for many years
+they have been of more benefit than anything else in keeping me vocally
+fit.
+
+We in the New World should be on the outlook for advance along all
+lines. Our American composers have held far too close to European ideals
+and done too little real thinking for themselves. Our vocal teachers
+and, for that matter, teachers in all branches of musical art in America
+have been most progressive in devising new ways and better methods.
+There will never be an American method of singing because we are too
+wise not to realize that every pupil needs different and special
+treatment. What is fine for one might be injurious to the next one.
+
+[Illustration: EVAN WILLIAMS.]
+
+
+
+
+EVAN WILLIAMS
+
+BIOGRAPHICAL
+
+
+Evan Williams, as his name suggests, was of Welsh ancestry, although
+born in Trumbull County, Ohio, Sept. 7, 1867. As a boy his singing
+attracted the attention of his friends and neighbors. When a young man
+he went to Mme. Louise von Fielitsen, in Cleveland, and studied under
+her for four years. At the end of this time it became necessary for him
+to earn money immediately, as he had married at the age of twenty.
+Accordingly he went with the "Primrose and West" minstrels for one
+season. Everywhere he appeared his voice attracted enthusiastic
+attention. This aroused his ambition and in 1894 he went to New York
+where he was engaged at All Angels Church at a yearly salary of
+$1000.00. Six months later the Marble Collegiate Church took him over at
+$1500.00 which was shortly raised to $2000.00. In 1896 he appeared at
+the Worcester Festival with great success and then went to New York to
+study with James Sauvage for three years.
+
+Notwithstanding his long terms of instruction with teachers of high
+reputation, Mr. Williams felt that he had still much to learn, as he
+would find himself singing finely one night and so badly on the next
+that he would resolve never to sing again. Accordingly he studied with
+Meehan for three years more. Then he retired from the concert stage for
+three years in order to improve himself. Deciding to appear in public
+again he went to London where he sang for three years with popular
+success. However, he was still dissatisfied with his voice. Mr.
+Williams' personal narrative tells how he got his voice back. His death,
+May 24, 1918, prevented him from carrying out his project to become a
+teacher and thus introduce his discoveries. The following, therefore,
+becomes of interesting historical significance.
+
+
+
+
+HOW I REGAINED A LOST VOICE
+
+EVAN WILLIAMS
+
+
+There is nothing so disquieting to the singer as the feeling that his
+voice, upon which his artistic hopes, to say nothing of his livelihood,
+depend, is not a reliable organ, but a fickle thing which to-day may be
+in splendid condition but to-morrow may be gone. Time and again I have
+been driven to the verge of desperation by my own voice. While I am
+grateful to all of my excellent teachers for the many valuable things
+they taught me, I had a strong feeling that there was something which I
+must know and which only I myself could find out for myself. After a
+very wide experience here and in England I found myself with so little
+confidence in my ability to produce uniformly excellent results when on
+the concert stage, that I retired to Akron, Ohio, resolving to spend the
+rest of my life in teaching. There I remained for four years, thinking
+out the great problem that confronted me. It is only during the last
+year that I have become convinced that I have solved it. My musical work
+has made me well-to-do and I want now to give my ideas to the world so
+that others may profit if they find them valuable. I have nothing to
+sell--but I trust that I can put into words, without inventing a new and
+bewildering nomenclature, something that will prove of practical
+assistance to young singers as it has been to me.
+
+
+AN INDISPUTABLE RECORD
+
+In 1908 I left Akron and resolved to try to reinstate myself in New York
+as a singer. I also made talking machine records, only to find that
+seldom could I make a record at the first attempt that was up to the
+very high standard maintained by the company in the case of all records
+placed upon the market for sale. This meant a great waste of my time and
+the company's material and services. It naturally set me thinking. If I
+could do it one time--why couldn't I do it all the time? There was no
+contradicting the talking machine record. The machine records the
+slightest blemish as well as the most perfect tone. There was no getting
+away from the fact that sometimes my singing was far from what I wished
+it to be.
+
+The strange thing about it all was that my singing did not seem to
+depend upon the physical condition or feeling of my throat. Some days
+when my throat felt at its very best the records would come back in a
+way that I was ashamed of. It is a strange feeling to hear one's own
+voice from the talking machine. It sounds quite differently from the
+impression one gets while singing. I began to ponder, why were some of
+my records poor and others good?
+
+After deep thought for a very long period of time, I commenced to make
+certain postulates which I believe I have since proved (to my own
+satisfaction at least) to be reasonable and true. They not only
+resulted in an improvement in my voice, but they enabled me to do at
+command what I had previously been able to do only occasionally. They
+are:
+
+    I. Tone creates its own support.
+
+    II. Much of the time spent in elaborate breathing
+    exercises (while excellent for the health and valuable
+    to the singer, in a way) do not produce the
+    results that are expected.
+
+    III. The singer's first studies should be with his brain
+    and ear, rather than through an attempt at
+    muscular control of the breathing muscles.
+
+    IV. Vocal resonance can be developed through a
+    proper understanding of tone color (vocal timbre),
+    so that uniformly excellent production of tones
+    will result.
+
+
+TONE CREATES ITS OWN SUPPORT
+
+The first two postulates can be discussed as one. Tone creates its own
+support. How does a bird learn to sing? How does the animal learn to
+cry? How does the lion learn to roar? Or the donkey learn to bray? By
+practicing breathing exercises? Most certainly not. I have known many,
+many singers with splendid voices who have never heard of breathing
+exercises. Go out into the Welsh mining districts and listen to the
+voices. They learn to breathe by learning how to sing, and by singing.
+These men have lungs that the average vocal student would give a fortune
+to possess. By singing correctly they acquire all the lung control that
+any vocal composition could demand.
+
+As a matter of fact, one does not need such a huge amount of breath to
+sing. The average singer uses entirely too much. A goose has lungs ten
+times as large as a nightingale but that doesn't make the goose's song
+lovely to listen to. I have known men with lungs big enough to work a
+blast furnace who yet had little bits of voices, so small that they were
+ridiculous. It would be better for most vocal students to emit the
+breath for five seconds before attacking the tone. One of the reasons
+for much vocal forcing is too much breath. Maybe I haven't thought about
+these things! I have spent hours in silence making up my mind. It is my
+firm conviction that the average person (entirely without instruction in
+breathing of a special kind) has enough breath to sing any phrase one
+might be called upon to sing. I think, without question, that teachers
+and singers have all been working their heads off to develop strength in
+the wrong direction. Mind you--this is not a sermon against breathing. I
+believe in plenty of breathing exercises for the sake of one's health.
+
+
+A GOOD POSITION
+
+Singers study breathing as though they were trying to learn how to push
+out the voice or pull it out by suction. By standing in a sensible
+position with the chest high (but not forced up) the lung capacity of
+the average individual is quite surprising. A good position can be
+secured through the old Delsarte exercise which is as follows:
+
+    I. Stand on the balls of your feet, heels just touching
+    the floor.
+
+    II. Hold your arms at your side in a relaxed condition.
+
+    III. Move your arms forward until they form an
+    angle of forty-five degrees with the body. Press
+    the palms down until the chest is up comfortably.
+
+    IV. Now let your arms drop back without letting
+    your chest fall. Feel a sense of ease and freedom
+    over the whole body. Breathe naturally and
+    deeply.
+
+In other words, to "poise" the breath, stand erect, at attention. Most
+people when called to this "attention" posture stiffen themselves so
+that they are in a position of resistance. When I say _attention_,--I
+mean the position in which you have alertness but at the same time
+complete freedom,--when you can freely smile, sigh, scowl and
+sneer,--the attention that will permit expansion of the chest with every
+change of mood. Then, open the mouth without inhaling. Let the breath
+out for five seconds, close the mouth and inhale through the nostrils. I
+keep the fact that I breathe into the lungs through the nostrils before
+me all the time. Again open the mouth without allowing the air to pass
+in. Practice this until a comfortable stretch is felt in the flesh of
+the face, the top of the head, the back, the chest and the abdomen. If
+you stretch violently you will not experience this feeling.
+
+
+SENSATIONS
+
+I fully realize that much of what I have said will not be in accord with
+what is preached, practiced and taught by many vocal teachers and I
+cannot attempt to reply to any critics. I merely know what sensations
+and experiences I have had after a lifetime of practical work in a
+profession which has brought me a fortune. Furthermore I know that
+anything anyone might say on the subject of the human voice would be at
+variance with the opinions of others. There is probably no subject in
+human ken in which there is such a marked difference of opinion. I can
+merely try to describe my own sensations and vocal experiences. In
+trying to represent the course of the sensation I experience in
+producing a good tone, I have employed the following illustration.
+Imagine two pieces of whip cord. Tie the ends together. Place the knot
+immediately under the upper lip directly beneath the center bone of the
+nose, run the strings straight back for an inch, then up over the cheek
+bones, then down around the uvula, thence down the large cords inside
+the neck. At a point in the center between the shoulders the cords would
+split in order to let one set go down the back and the other toward the
+chest, meeting again under the arm-pits, thence down the short ribs,
+thence down and joining in another knot slightly back of the pelvic
+bone. Laugh, if you will, but this is actually the sensation I have
+repeatedly felt in producing what the talking machine has shown to be a
+good tone. Remember that there were plenty to laugh at Columbus,
+Gallileo and even Darius Green of the Flying Machine.
+
+Stand in "attention" as directed, with the body responsive and the mind
+sensitive to physical impressions. When opening the mouth without taking
+in air a slight stretch will be experienced along the whole track I have
+described. The poise felt in this position is what permitted Bob
+Fitzsimmons to strike a deadly blow with a two-inch stroke. It is the
+responsive poise with which I sing both loud and soft tones.
+Furthermore, I do not believe in an absolutely relaxed lower jaw as
+though it had been broken. Who could sing with a broken jaw?--and a
+broken jaw would represent ideal relaxation. The jaw should be slightly
+stretched but never strained. I think that the word relaxation, as used
+by most teachers and as understood by most students, is responsible for
+more ruined voices than all other terms used in vocal teaching. I have
+talked this matter over with numberless great singers who are constantly
+before the public, and their very singing is the best contradiction of
+this. When you hold your hand out freely before you what is it that
+keeps it from falling at your side? That same condition controls the
+jaw. Find it: it is not relaxation. If you would be a perfect singer
+find the juggler who is balancing a feather. Imagine yourself poised on
+the top of that feather, and sing without falling off.
+
+
+CONTRASTING TIMBRES THAT LEAD TO A BEAUTIFUL TONE WHEN COMBINED
+
+We shall now seek to illustrate two contrasting qualities of tones,
+between which lies that quality which I sought for so long. The desired
+quality is not a compromise, but seems to be located half way between
+two extremes, and may best be brought to the attention of the reader by
+describing the extremes.
+
+The first is a dark quality of tone. To get this, place the tips of the
+second fingers on the sides of the voice box (Adam's apple) and make a
+dark almost breathy sound, using "u" as in the word hum. Do this without
+any signs of strain. Allow the sound to float up into the mouth and
+nose. To many there will also be a sensation as though the sound were
+also floating down into the lungs (into both lungs). Do not make any
+conscious effort to force the sound or place it in any particular
+location. The sound will do it of its own accord if you do not strain.
+While the sound is being made, there will be a slight upward pulling of
+the voice box, a slight tugging at the voice box. This, of course,
+occurs automatically, and there should be no attempt to control it or
+promote it. It is nature at work. The tongue, while making this sound,
+should be limp, with the tip resting on the lower front teeth. All along
+it is necessary to caution the singer not to strive to do artificial
+things. Therefore do not poke or stick the tip of your tongue against
+the front teeth. If your tongue is not strained it will rest there
+naturally. Work at this exercise until you can fill the mouth and nose
+(and also seemingly the chest) with a rich, smooth, well-controlled,
+well-modulated dark sound and do it easily,--with slight effort. Do not
+try to hold the sound in the throat.
+
+The second sound we shall experiment with is the extreme antithesis of
+the first sound. Its resonance is high and it is bright in every sense.
+Place the fingers on the joints just in front and above holes in the
+ears. Open the mouth without inhaling and make the sound of "e" as in
+when. As the dark sound described before cannot be made too dark this
+sound cannot be made too strident. It is the extreme from the rumble of
+the drum to the piercing rasp of the file. I have called it the animal
+sound, and in calling it strident, please do not infer that the nose, or
+any part of the mouth or soft palate, should be pinched to make it
+nasal, in the restricted sense of that term. When I sing this tone it is
+accompanied with a sensation as though the tone were being reflected
+downward from the voice box over to each side of the chest just in front
+of the arm-pits and then downward into the abdomen. Here the great
+danger arises that the unskilled student will try to produce this
+sensation, whereas the fact of the matter is that the sensation is the
+accompaniment of the properly produced tone and cannot be made
+artificially. Don't work for the sensation, work for the tone that
+produces such a sensation. At the same time the tone has a sensation of
+upward reflection, as though it arose at the back of the voice box and
+separated there, passed up behind the jaws to the points where your
+fingers are resting, entering the mouth from above, as it were from a
+point just between the hard and soft palates, and becoming one sound in
+the mouth.
+
+The uvula and part of the soft palate should be associated with the dark
+sound. The hard palate and part of the soft palate should be associated
+with the strident tone.
+
+
+THE TONGUE POSITION
+
+In making the strident sound the tongue should rest in the same position
+as for the dark sound. The dark tone never changes and is the basic
+sound which gives fullness, foundation, depth to the ultimate tone.
+Without it all voices are thin and unsubstantial. The nearer the singer
+gets to this the nearer he approaches the great vibrating base upon
+which the world is founded.
+
+Remember that the dark tone never changes. It is the background, the
+canvas upon which the singer paints his infinite moods by means of
+different vowels, emotions, and the tone colors which are derived in
+numberless modifications from the strident tone. Another simile may
+bring the subject nearer to the reader student. Imagine the dark tone
+and all the sensations in different parts of the body as a kind of
+atmosphere or gas which requires to be set on fire by the electric spark
+of the strident tone. The dark tone is all necessary, but it is useless
+unless it is properly electrified by the strident tone.
+
+
+A PRACTICAL STEP
+
+How shall we utilize what we have learned, so that the student may
+convince himself that herein ties the truth which, properly understood
+and sensibly applied, will lead to a means of improving his tone. If the
+foregoing has been carefully read and understood, the following exercise
+to get the tone which results from a combination of the dark and the
+strident is simple.
+
+    I. Stand erect as directed.
+
+    II. Open the mouth _without inhaling_.
+
+    III. Produce the dark tone ("u" as in hum).
+
+    IV. Close the mouth and allow the air to pass in and
+    out of the nostrils for a few seconds.
+
+    V. Open the mouth without inhaling.
+
+    VI. Make the strident sound ("e" as in when).
+
+    VII. Close the mouth and let the air pass in and out
+    of nostrils a few seconds.
+
+    VIII. Open the mouth without inhaling.
+
+    IX. Sing the vowel "Ah" as in _father_ in such a manner
+    that it is a combination of the dark tone and
+    the strident tone.
+
+    X. Do this in such a way that all of the breathy
+    disagreeable features of the dark tone disappear
+    but its foundation features remain to give it fullness
+    and roundness, while all of the disagreeable
+    features of the strident tone disappear although
+    its color-giving, light-giving, life-giving characteristics
+    are retained to give the combination-tone
+    richness and sweetness. A beautiful result
+    is inevitable, if the principle is properly understood.
+    I have tried this with many people who
+    have sung but little before in their lives and who
+    were not conscious of having interesting voices.
+    Without a long course of vocal lessons or anything
+    of the sort they have been able to produce
+    in a short time--a very few minutes--a tone
+    that would be admired by any critic.
+
+
+A COMFORTABLE PITCH
+
+It is to be assumed that the student will, in these experiments, take
+the pitch in his voice which is most comfortable. Having mastered the
+combination tone on "Ah" at any pitch, it will be easy to try other
+pitches and other vowels. "Ah" is the natural vowel, but having secured
+the "know how" through a correct production of "Ah" the same results may
+be attained with any other vowel produced in a similar way. "E" as in
+_see_ has of course more of the strident quality, the high, bright
+quality and "OO" as in moon more of the dark, but even these extreme
+tones may be so placed that they become enriched through the employment
+of resonance of all those parts of the mouth, nose and body which may be
+brought naturally to reinforce them.
+
+
+"PING"
+
+I have never met a singer who was not looking for "ping" or what is
+called brightness. Most voices are hopelessly dead, and therefore lack
+sweetness. The voices are filled with night--black hollow gloomy night
+or else they are as strident as the caterwauling of a Tom Cat. The happy
+mean between the extremes is the area in which the singer's greatest
+results are attained.
+
+Think of your tone, always. The breath will then take care of itself. If
+the tone has a tremulo, or sounds stuffy or sounds weak, you have not
+apportioned the right amount of breath to it, but you are not going to
+gain this information by thinking of the breath but by thinking of the
+tone.
+
+
+LET YOUR OWN EARS CONVINCE YOU
+
+Now, that is all there is to it. I am not striving to found a method or
+anything of the sort; but I have seen students waste years on what is
+called "voice placing" and not come to anything like the same result
+that will come after the accomplishment of this simple matter. Try it
+out with your own voice. You will see in a short time what it will do.
+Your own ears will convince you, to say nothing of the ears of your
+friends. All I know is that after I discovered this, it was possible for
+me to employ it and make records with so small a percentage of discard
+that I have been surprised.
+
+It remains for the intelligent teachers to apply such knowledge to a
+systematic vocal course of exercises, studies and songs, which will help
+the pupil to progress most rapidly. Don't think that I am pretending to
+tell all that there is to vocal culture in an hour. It is a great and
+important study upon which I have spent a lifetime. However, as I said
+before, I have nothing to sell and I am only too happy to give this
+information which has cost me so many hours of thought to crystallize.
+
+
+Typographical errors corrected by the transcriber of this etext:
+
+Talmadge=>Talmage
+
+Artious=>Artibus
+
+citadal=>citadel
+
+Wohltemperites=>Wohltemperiertes
+
+liebenswurdig=>liebenswuerdig
+
+Delibes=>Delibes
+
+Words not changed: unforgetable, skilful, Beyreuth, marvelous
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Great Singers on the Art of Singing, by
+James Francis Cooke
+
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