Perhaps the fact that in Italy the audiences may understand the
performances better because of their knowledge of their native language
may add to the pleasure of opera-going. This, however, is a question,
except in the case of some of the more modern works. The older opera
librettos left much to be desired from the dramatic and poetic
standpoints. Italian after all is the language of music. In fact it is
music in itself when properly spoken. Note that I say "when properly
spoken." American girls go to Italy to study, and of course desire to
acquire a knowledge of the language itself, for they have heard that it
is beneficial in singing. They get a mere smattering, and do not make
any attempt to secure a perfect accent. The result is about as funny as
the efforts of the comedians who imitate German emigrants on the
American stage.
If you start the study of Italian, persist until you have really
mastered the language. In doing this your ear will get such a drill and
such a series of exercises as it has never had before. You will have to
listen to the vowel sounds as you have never listened. This is
necessary because in order to understand the grammar of the language you
must hear the final vowel in each word and you must hear the consonants
distinctly.
There is another peculiar thing about Italian. If the student who has
always studied and sung in English, German or French or Russian,
attempts to sing in Italian, he is really turning a brilliant
searchlight upon his own vocal ability. If he has any faults which have
been concealed in his singing in his own language, they will be
discovered at once the moment he commences to study in Italian. I do not
know whether this is because the Italian of culture has a higher
standard of diction in the enunciation of the vowel sounds, or whether
the sounds themselves are so pure and smooth that they expose the
deficiencies, but it is nevertheless the case. The American girl who
studies Italian for six months and then hopes to sing in that language
in a manner not likely to disturb the sense of the ridiculous is
deceiving herself. It takes years to acquire fluency in a language.