Success brought with it its disadvantages. I foolishly strained my voice
through overwork. But this did not discourage me. I realized that many
of the greatest singers the world has ever known were among those who
had met with disastrous failure at some time in their careers. I came to
America and played the violoncello in the Boston Symphony Orchestra. All
the time I was practicing with the greatest care and with the sole
object of restoring my voice. Finally it came back better than ever and
I sang for Maurice Grau, the impresario of the Metropolitan Opera House,
in New York. He engaged me and I sang continuously at the Metropolitan
for several years. Notwithstanding this varied experience, I will seek
to learn, and to learn by practical example, not theory. The only opera
school in the world is the opera house itself. No school ever "made" a
great singer or a great artist. The most they have done has been to lay
the foundation. The making of the artist comes later.
In order to do without instruction one must be very peculiarly
constituted. One must be possessed of the pedagogical faculty to a
marked degree. One must have within oneself those qualities for
observing and detecting the right means leading to an artistic end which
every good teacher possesses. In other words, one must be both teacher
and pupil. This is a rare combination, since the power to teach, to
impart instruction, is one that is given to very few. It is far better
to study alone or not at all than with a poor teacher. The teacher's
responsibility, particularly in the case of vocal students, is very
great. So very much depends upon it. A poor teacher can do incalculable
damage. By poor teachers I refer particularly to those who are carried
away by idiotic theories and quack methods. We learn to sing by singing
and not by carrying bricks upon our chest or other idiotic antics.
Consequently I say that it is better to go all through life with a
natural or "green" voice than to undergo the vocal torture that is
sometimes palmed off upon the public as voice teaching. At best, all the
greatest living teacher can do is to put the artist upon the right track
and this in itself is responsibility enough for one man or one woman to
assume.