In her book, _How to Sing_, there is much for the student to digest with
profit, though possible reservations are advisable, dependent upon one's
individual health and vocal resistance. Her strong conviction was, and
is, that a voice requires daily and conscientious exercise to keep it
strong and flexible. Having successfully mastered the older Italian
roles as a young singer, her incursion into the later-day dramatic and
classic repertoire in no wise became an excuse to let languish the
fundamental idea of beautiful sound. How vitally important and admirably
_bel canto_ sustained by the breath support has served her is readily
understood when one remembers that she has outdistanced all the
colleagues of her earlier career and now well over sixty, she is as
indefatigable in her daily practice as we younger singers should be.
This brief extract about Patti (again quoting Lilli Lehmann) will
furnish an interesting comparison:
In Adelina Patti everything was united--the splendid voice paired with
great talent for singing, and the long oversight of her studies by her
distinguished teacher, Strakosch. She never sang roles that did not suit
her voice; in her earlier years she sang only arias and duets or single
solos, never taking part in ensembles. She never sang even her limited
repertory when she was indisposed. She never attended rehearsals, but
came to the theater in the evening and sang triumphantly, without ever
having seen the persons who sang or acted with her. She spared herself
rehearsals, which, on the day of the performance or the day before,
exhaust all singers because of the excitement of all kinds attending
them, and which contribute neither to the freshness of the voice nor to
the joy of the profession.
Although she was a Spaniard by birth and an American by early adoption,
she was, so to speak, the greatest Italian singer of my time. All was
absolutely good, correct and flawless, the voice like a bell that you
seemed to hear long after its singing had ceased. Yet she could give no
explanation of her art, and answered all her colleagues' questions
concerning it with "Ah, je n'en sais rien!" She possessed unconsciously,
as a gift of nature, a union of all those qualities that other singers
must attain and possess consciously. Her vocal organs stood in the most
favorable relations to each other. Her talent and her remarkably trained
ear maintained control over the beauty of her singing and her voice.
Fortunate circumstances of her life preserved her from all injury. The
purity and flawlessness of her tone, the beautiful equalization of her
whole voice constituted the magic by which she held her listeners
entranced. Moreover, she was beautiful and gracious in appearance. The
accent of great dramatic power she did not possess, yet I ascribe this
more to her intellectual indolence than to her lack of ability.
But how few of us would ever make a career if we waited for such favors
from Nature!