Under this head the singer spoke at length of the difficulty some
singers encounter when they endeavor to portray character, or
differentiate emotions. There is endless scope in this line, to exercise
intelligence and imagination.
"Some singers," continued the artist, "seem incapable of characterizing
a rôle or song. They can do what I call 'flat work,' but cannot
individualize a rôle. A singer may have a beautiful voice yet not be
temperamental; he may have no gift for acting, nor be able to do
character work.
"At the present moment I am preparing several new rôles, three of them
are of old men. It rests with me to externalize these three in such a
way that they shall all be different, yet consistent with the characters
as I understand them. Each make-up must be distinctive, and my work is
to portray the parts as I see and feel them. I must get into the skin of
each character, so to say, then act as I conceive that particular person
would behave under like circumstances. Many singers cannot act, and most
actors cannot sing. When the two are combined we have a singing actor,
or an actor-singer. Once there was a popular belief that it was not
necessary for the singer to know much about acting--if he only had a
voice and could sing. The present is changing all that. Many of us
realize how very much study is required to perfect this side of our art.
"In this connection I am reminded of my London début. I was to make it
with the Royal English Opera Company. They heard me three times before
deciding to take me on. With this formality over, rehearsals began. I
soon found that my ideas of how my rôle--an important one--was to be
acted, did not always coincide with the views of the stage director, and
there were ructions. The manager saw how things were going, and advised
me to accept seemingly the ideas of the stage director during
rehearsals, but to study acting with the highest authorities and then
work out the conception after my own ideas. Accordingly, I spent an hour
daily, before the morning rehearsal, with one of the finest actors of
comedy to be found in London. Later in the day, after rehearsal, I spent
another hour with a great tragic actor. Thus I worked in both lines, as
my part was a mixture of the tragic and the comic. I put in several
weeks of very hard work in this way, and felt I had gained greatly. Of
course this was entirely on the histrionic side, but it gives an idea of
the preparation one needs.
"When the day of the dress rehearsal arrived, I appeared on the scene in
full regalia, clean shaven (I had been wearing a beard until then), and
performed my rôle as I had conceived it, regardless of the peculiar
ideas of the stage director. At the first performance I made a hit, and
a little later was engaged for grand opera at Covent Garden, where I
remained for ten years.