If your repertoire is _The Barber_, _Lucia_, _Somnambula_ and all such
Italian dainties, well and good. Nothing need disturb the complete
enjoyment of this lace-work. But if your auditors weep at _Butterfly_
and _Zaza_ or thrill to _Pagliacci_, they demand you use a quite
different technic, which comes to the point of my story.
I believe it was Jean de Reszke who advocated the voice "in the mask"
united to breath support from the diaphragm. From personal observation I
should say our coloratura charmers lay small emphasis on that highly
important factor and use their head voices with a freedom more or less
God given. But the power and life-giving quality of this fundamental
cannot be too highly estimated for us who must color our phrases to suit
modern dramatics and evolve a carrying quality that will not only
eliminate the difficulty of vocal demands, but at the same time insure
immunity from harmful after-effects. This indispensable twin of the head
voice is the dynamo which alone must endure all the necessary fatigue,
leaving the actual voice phrases free to float unrestricted with no
ignoble distortions or possible signs of distress. Alas! it is not easy
to write of this, but the experience of years proves how vital a point
is its saving grace and how, unfortunately, it remains an unknown factor
to many.
To note two of our finest examples of greatness in this marvelous
profession, Lilli Lehmann and Jean de Reszke, neither of whom had
phenomenal vocal gifts, I would point out their remarkable mental
equipment, unceasing and passionate desire for perfection, paired with
an unerring instinct for the noble and distinguished such as has not
been found in other exponents of purely vocal virtuosity, with a few
rare exceptions, as Melba and Galli-Curci, for instance, to mention two
beautiful instruments of our generation.
The singing art is not a casual inspiration and it should never be
treated as such. The real artist will have an organized mental strategy
just as minute and reliable as any intricate machinery, and will under
all circumstances (save complete physical disability) be able to control
and dominate her gifts to their fullest extent. This is not learned in a
few years within the four walls of a studio, but is the result of a
lifetime of painstaking care and devotion.
There was a time when ambition and overwork so told upon me that
mistakenly I allowed myself to minimize my vocal practice. How wrong
that was I found out in short time and I have returned long since to my
earlier precepts as taught me by Lilli Lehmann.