The training of the girl designed to become a great prima donna is one
of the most complex problems imaginable. You ask me to consider the case
of an imaginary daughter designed for the career in order to make my
opinions seem more pertinent. Very well. If my daughter were studying
for grand opera, and if she were a very little girl, I should first
watch her very carefully to see whether she manifested any
uncontrollable desire or ambition to become a great singer. Without such
a desire she will never become great. Usually this ambition becomes
evident at a very early age. Then I should realize that the mere desire
to become a great singer is only an infinitesimal part of the actual
requirements.
She must have, first of all, fine health, abundant vitality and an
artistic temperament. She must show signs of being industrious. She
should have the patience to wait until real results can be accomplished.
In fact, there are so many attributes that it is difficult to enumerate
them all. But they are all worth considering seriously. Why? Simply
because, if they are not considered, she may be obliged to spend years
of labor for which she will receive no return except the most bitter
disappointment conceivable. Of the thousands of girls who study to
become prima donnas only a very few can succeed, from the nature of
things. The others either abandon their ambitions or assume lesser roles
from little parts down to the chorus.
You will notice that I have said but little about her voice. During her
childhood there is very little means of judging of the voice. Some
girls' voices that seem very promising when they are children turn out
in a most disappointing manner. So you see I would be obliged to
consider the other qualifications before I even thought of the voice. Of
course, if the child showed no inclination for music or did not have the
ability to "hold a tune," I should assume that she was one of those
frequent freaks of nature which no amount of musical training can save.
Above all things I should not attempt to force her to take up a career
against her own natural inclinations or gifts. The designing mother who
desires to have her own ambitions realized in her daughter is the bane
of every impresario. With a will power worthy of a Bismarck she maps out
a career for the young lady and then attempts to force the child through
what she believes to be the proper channels leading to operatic success.
She realizes that great singers achieve fame and wealth and she longs to
taste of these. It is this, rather than any particular love for her
child, that prompts her to fight all obstacles. No amount of advice or
persuasion can make her believe that her child cannot become another
Tetrazzini, or Garden, or Schumann-Heink, if only the impresario will
give her a chance. In nine cases out of ten Fate and Nature have a
conspiracy to keep the particular young lady in the role of a
stenographer or a dressmaker; and in the battle with Fate and Nature
even the most ambitious mother must be defeated.