Asked if he considered appreciation for music had advanced during his
residence in America, his answer was emphatically in the affirmative.
"The other evening I attended a reception of representative American
society, among whom were many frequenters of the Metropolitan. Many of
them spoke to me of the opera _Marouf_. I was surprised, for this modern
French opera belongs to the new idiom, and is difficult to understand.
'Do you really like the music of _Marouf_?' I asked. 'Oh, yes indeed,'
every one said. It is one of my longest parts, but not one of my special
favorites.
"In the summer! Ah, I go back to my beloved Italy almost as soon as the
Metropolitan season closes. I could sing in Buenos Aires, as the season
there follows the one here. But I prefer to rest the whole time until I
return. I feel the singer needs a period of rest each year. To show you
how necessary it is for the singer to do daily work on the voice, I
almost feel I cannot sing at all during the summer, as I do no
practicing, and without vocalizes one cannot keep in trim. If I am asked
to sing during vacation, I generally refuse. I tell them I cannot sing,
for I do not practice. It takes me a little while after I return, to get
the vocal apparatus in shape again.
"Thus it means constant study, eternal vigilance to attain the goal,
then to hold what you have attained and advance beyond it if possible."