"I feel the greatest thing about a song is the words. They inspired the
music, they were the cause of its being. I cannot imagine, when once
words have been joined to music, how other words can be put to the same
music, without destroying the whole idea. The words must be made plain
to the audience. Every syllable should be intelligible, and understood
by the listener. I feel diction is so absolutely essential. How can a
singer expect the audience will take an interest in what she is doing,
if they have no idea what it is all about? And this applies not only to
English songs but to those in French as well. In an audience there will
be many who understand French. Shall the singer imagine she can
pronounce a foreign tongue in any old way, and it will go--in these
days? No, she must be equally careful about all diction and see that it
is as nearly perfect as she can make it; that it is so correct that
anybody can understand every word. When she can do this, she has gone a
long way toward carrying her audience with her when she sings.
"When the diction is satisfactory, there is yet something much deeper;
it is the giving out of one's best thought, one's best self, which
must animate the song and carry it home to the listener. It touches
the heart, because it comes from one's very inmost being. I am a
creature of mood. I cannot sing unless I feel like it. I must be
inspired in order to give an interpretation that shall be worth
anything.