To ask such a natural born singer how she studies and works, is like
asking the fish swimming about in the ocean, to tell you where is the
sea! She could not tell you how she does it. Singing is as the breath of
life to Tetrazzini--as natural as the air she breathes. Realizing this,
I began at the other end.
"What message have you, Madame, for the young singer, who desires to
make a career?"
"Ah, yes, the débutante. Tell her she must practice much--very much--"
and Madame spread out her hands to indicate it was a large subject; "she
must practice several hours every day. I had to practice very much when
I began my study--when I was sixteen; but now I do not have to spend
much time on scales and exercises; they pretty well go of themselves";
and she smiled sweetly.
"You say," she continued, "the débutante--the young singer--does not
know--in America--how much she needs the foreign languages. But she
should learn them. She should study French, Italian and Spanish, and
know how to speak them. Because, if she should travel to those
countries, she must make herself understood, and she must be able to
sing in those languages, too.
"Besides the languages, it is very good for her to study piano also;
she need not know it so well as if she would be a pianist, but she
should know it a little; yet it is better to know more of the piano--it
will make her a better musician."