"How did you start upon an operatic career?" the singer was asked.
Just here Mr. Homer entered and joined in the conference.
"I do not desire to go into my life-history, as that would take too
long. In a few words, this is how it happened--years ago.
"We were living in Boston; I had a church position, so we were each busy
with our musical work. My voice was said to be 'glorious,' but it was a
cumbersome, unwieldy organ. I could only sing up to F; there were so
many things I wanted to do with my voice that seemed impossible, that I
realized I needed more training. I could have remained where I was; the
church people were quite satisfied, and I sang in concert whenever
opportunity offered. But something within urged me on. We decided to
take a year off and spend it in study abroad. Paris was then the Mecca
for singers and to Paris we went. I plunged at once into absorbing
study; daily lessons in voice training and repertoire; languages, and
French diction, several times a week, and soon acting was added, for
every one said my voice was for the theater. I had no idea, when I
started out, that I should go into opera. I had always loved to sing, as
far back as I can remember. My father was a Presbyterian clergyman, and
when we needed new hymn books for church or Sunday School, they used to
come to our house. I would get hold of every hymn book I could find and
learn the music. So I was always singing; but an operatic career never
entered my thought, until the prospect seemed to unfold before me, as a
result of my arduous study in Paris. Of course I began to learn
important arias from the operas. Every contralto aspires to sing the
grand air from the last act of _Le Prophete;_ you know it of course. I
told my teacher I could never do it, as it demanded higher tones than I
had acquired, going up to C. He assured me it would be perfectly easy in
a little while, if I would spend a few moments daily on those high
notes. His prediction was correct, for in a few months I had no trouble
with the top notes.
"I studied stage deportment and acting from one of the greatest singing
actors of the French stage, Paul Lherie. What an artist he was! So
subtle, so penetrating, so comprehensive. The principles he taught are a
constant help to me now, and his remarks often come back to me as I
study a new rôle.
"As I say, I studied this line of work, not knowing what would grow out
of it; I did it on faith, hoping that it might prove useful."
"It seems to me," remarked the composer, "that young singers would do
well to make a study of acting, along with languages and piano. Then, if
the voice developed and an operatic career opened to them, they would be
so much better prepared; they would have made a start in the right
direction; there would not be so much to learn all at once, later on."
"If the girl could only be sure she was destined for a stage career,"
said Mme. Homer, thoughtfully, "she might do many things from the start
that she doesn't think of doing before she knows.
"To go on with my Paris story. I kept faithfully at work for a year,
preparing myself for I knew not just what; I could not guess what was in
store. Then I got my first opera engagement, quite unexpectedly. I was
singing for some professional friends in a large _saale_. I noticed a
man standing with his back to me, looking out of one of the long
windows. When I finished, he came forward and offered me an engagement
at Vichy, for the summer season. The name Vichy only suggested to my
mind a kind of beverage. Now I learned the town had a flourishing Opera
House, and I was expected to sing eight rôles. Thus my stage career
began."