Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-05-29
MUSIC IN MILAN.
Liverpool and London Papers en- Musical
CharIatanlsm In Milan.
Liverpool NALL

Liverpool NALL
Cherubino, the excellent critic of
Figaro, indorses with emphasis the re-
marks upon the Milanese mania,
which We quoted last week from the
New York Herald. The matter is
n Of real interest TO Liverpool in
view Of the number Of vOcalists who
are produced by this town, and many
Of whom look forward to a course Of
instruction at the Italian city as a
necessary part of their curriculum.
We quote at length, therefore, Cheru-
bina's remarks, and hope they will, in
conjunction with those published in
our columns last week, give pause"
to those who may be contemplating a
step involving serious risks, and pro-
ductiye, at the best, of no advantage
that cannot be obtained at home. Our
contemporary says
To send a girl TO Italy is not only
possible moral ruin, bat certain loss
Of time and money. In Milan, which
the %detractorS of our country tell us is
the great art center, there are more
than four hundred young men and
women who have paid, under ridicu.
lous Misrepresentation, large sums of
money to one or the other Of the cele-
brated Italian singing masters, and
who are now chiefly employed in cool
ing their heels round the square of
the Domo, waiting in vain for the en-.
gagements which never come. OF the
two leading teachers of singing in this
Milan, one is an uneducated peasant
Of nearly eighty, who speaks very bad
Italian, and whose sagacious theory is
that the breath comes not from the
lungs, but from the bones. while the
other is also an ~octogenarian, who
gives his lessons in bed, who is
visited by short spasms at irregu-
lar intervals, and whose theory
is that the breath comes not
from the bones, but from the lungs.
Your young lady student who goes to
Milan car take her selection between
these two old gentlemen, can brave
the social decentralization Of Milanese
artistic society and the extraordinary
changes of a Lombardian climate, and,
when she emerges from the two years
Of tuition at an extravagant price, she
will lit is well to speak plainly be
compelled to pay the impressario for
her debut and to pay the critics for
their laudatory notices. Both evils
are so unanimously admitted that it is
useless to ventilate the question.
There is no Italian impressario who
will give an artist a gratuitous debut,
and there are but few italian critics
who will praise an artist without
being paid in hard cash for it. And
when the first appearance is past and
the laudatOry notices are gained, what
is the use of them? Did | choose to
collect them my desk would be filled
in a month by laudatory notices Of
artists whose names are unknown and
are never likely to be known here.
The Milanese mania is, in fact,
purely moonshine. The success.
full artist depends upon her natural
gifts, which can be cultivated by the
art Of masters in London or any Other
capital better than they can in Milan
After all, the proof of the pudding il
In the eating, and a rapid glanc,
through the lists of the great artist
of modern times will soon d%issipat,
the idea that at Milan alone is true ar
found. Nine Patti was educated il
Philadelphia, Nine Nilsson in Paris
Mile Titiens in Vienna, Nine Ire
belli in Paris, Mime Albani in Amer
lea, Nine Edith Wynne, Nine Pate
and innumerable Others in England
Mr.. Sanity in Italy (agood many year,
ago, by Signor Novara, now dead)
Nine Gerster in Vienna, and so on
The fact is hal Italy is for averag,
vocalists a simple fraud, while phe
nomenal vocalists will get better in
struction in England than they cal
obtain in any other country in the
world, simply because we car better
afford to pay for it.