It was from Maurice Strakosch that I learned of the methods pursued by
Patti in her daily work, and although Strakosch was not a teacher in the
commercial sense of the word, as he had comparatively few pupils, he was
nevertheless a very fine musician, and there is no doubt that Patti owed
a great deal to his careful and insistent regime and instruction.
Although our relation was that of impresario and artist, I cannot be
grateful enough to him for the advice and instruction I received from
him. The technical exercises he employed were exceedingly simple and he
gave more attention to how they were sung than to the exercises
themselves. I know of no more effective set of exercises than
Strakosch's ten daily exercises. They were sung to the different vowels,
principally to the vowel "ah," as in "father." Notwithstanding their
great simplicity Strakosch gave the greatest possible attention and time
to them. Patti used these exercises, which he called his "Ten
Commandments for the Singer," daily, and there can be little doubt that
the extraordinary preservation of her voice is the result of these
simple means. I have used them for years with exceptional results in
all cases. However, if the singer has any idea that the mere practice of
these exercises to the different vowel sounds will inevitably bring
success she is greatly mistaken. These exercises are only valuable when
used with vowels correctly and naturally "placed," and that means, in
some cases, years of the most careful and painstaking work.
Following are the famous "Ten Vocal Commandments," as used by
Adelina Patti and several great singers in their daily work. Note
their simplicity and gradual increase in difficulty. They are to be
transposed at the teacher's discretion to suit the range of the
voice and are to be used with the different vowels.
[Illustration: I, musical notation]
[Illustration: II, musical notation]
[Illustration: III, musical notation]
[Illustration: IV, musical notation]
[Illustration: V, musical notation]
[Illustration: VI, musical notation]
[Illustration: VII, musical notation]
[Illustration: VIII, musical notation]
[Illustration: IX, musical notation]
[Illustration: X, musical notation]
The concert singer of the present day must have linguistic attainments
far greater than those in demand some years ago. She is required to sing
in English, French, German, Italian and some singers are now attempting
the interpretation of songs in Slavic and other tongues. Not only do we
have to consider arias and passages from the great oratorios and operas
as a part of the present-day repertoire, but the song of the "Lied" type
has come to have a valuable significance in all concert work. Many songs
intended for the chamber and the salon are now included in programs of
concerts and recitals given in our largest auditoriums. Only a very few
numbers are in themselves songs written for the concert hall. Most of
the numbers now sung at song concerts are really transplanted from
either the stage or the chamber. This makes the position of the concert
singer an extremely difficult one. Without the dramatic accessories of
the opera house or the intimacy of the home circle, she is expected to
achieve results varying from the cry of the Valkyries, in _Die Walkuere_,
to the frail fragrance of Franz' _Es hat die Rose sich beklagt_. I do
not wonder that Mme. Schumann-Heink and others have declared that there
is nothing more difficult or exhausting than concert singing. The
enormous fees paid to great concert singers are not surprising when we
consider how very few must be the people who can ever hope to attain
great heights in this work.
[Illustration: REINALD WERRENRATH.
(C) Mishkin.]