"Would you be pleased," I asked, "if later on your voice should develop
into a dramatic soprano?"
Mme. Galli-Curci thought an instant.
"No," she said, "I think I would rather keep the voice I have. I
heartily admire the dramatic voice and the rôles it can sing. Raisa's
voice is for me the most beautiful I know. But after all I think, for
myself, I prefer the lyric and coloratura parts, they are so beautiful.
The old Italian composers knew well how to write for the voice. Their
music has beauty, it has melody, and melodic beauty will always make its
appeal. And the older Italian music is built up not only of melody and
fioriture, but is also dramatic. For these qualities can combine, and
do so in the last act of _Traviata_, which is so full of deep feeling
and pathos.