One of the great troubles in America is the irrepressible ambition of
both teachers and pupils. Europe is also not untinged with this.
Teachers want to show results. Some teachers, I am told, start in with
songs at the first or second lesson, with the sad knowledge that if they
do not do this they may lose the pupil to some teacher who will peddle
out songs. After four or five months I was given an operatic aria; and,
of course, I sang it. A year of scales, exercises and solfeggios would
have been far more time-saving. The pupils have too much to say about
their education in this way. The teacher should be competent and then
decide all such questions. American girls do not want this. They expect
to step from vocal ignorance to a repertoire over night. When you study
voice, you should study not for two years, but realize you will never
stop studying, if you wish to keep your voice. Like any others, without
exercise, the singing muscles grow weak and inefficient. There are so
many, many things to learn.
Of course, my whole training was that of the opera singer, and I was
schooled principally in the Wagnerian roles. With the coming of the war
the prejudice against the greatest anti-imperialist (with the possible
exception of Beethoven) which music ever has known--the immortal
Wagner--became so strong that not until now has the demand for his
operas become so great that they are being resumed with wonderful
success. Therefore, with the exception of a few Italian and French
roles, my operatic repertoire went begging.
It was necessary for me to enter the concert field, as the management of
the opera company with which I had contracts secured such engagements
for me. It was like starting life anew. There is very little opportunity
to show one's individuality in opera. One must play the role. Therefore
I had to learn a repertoire of songs, every one of which required
different treatment and different individuality. With eighteen members
on the program, the singer has a musical, mental and vocal task which
devolves entirely upon herself without the aid of chorus, co-singers,
orchestra, costumes, scenery and the glamour of the footlights. It was
with the greatest delight that I could fulfill the demands of the
concert platform. American musical taste is very exacting. The audiences
use their imagination all the time, and like romantic songs with an
atmospheric background, which accounts for my great success with songs
of such type as Lieurance's _By the Waters of Minnetonka_. One of the
greatest tasks I ever have had is that of singing my roles in many
different languages. I learned some of them first in Swedish, then in
Italian, then in French, then in German, then in English; as I am
obliged to re-learn my Wagnerian roles now.
The road to success in voice study, like the road to success in
everything else, has one compass which should be a consistent guide, and
that is common sense. Avoid extremes; hold fast to your ideals; have
faith in your possibilities, and work! work!! work!!!
[Illustration: CHARLES DALMORES IN MASSENET'S HERODIADE.
(C) Mishkin.]