The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-04


comedy and weII-gloved little hands
have slapped him cordially. the sweet lips
murmur with soft humility:
"Of course | don't catch every word.
He speaks SO fast. you know.
And / don't understand Jenny's French
when she sings.
Nor I; only enough to get the sense, you
Perhaps they get all the sense there is.
AGAINST SOCIETY.
We talked of this type of delightful even
ings in the alleged artistic atmosphere Of
Paris, where her girls are asked to sing
offhand. as you would ask another girl to
play a waltz. Nine. Marchesi is against the
whole life vehemently.
Il never allow IT. she reiterated. Il will
not have my girls frittering away their
evenings in society. / will not have them
running off to matinees, down to the Rue
Cambon drinking tea and injuring them
selves with buttered mullins, fiuttering
away their afternoons in carriages and rae
ing through tie shops. I say / will not have
II, out now can | stop it? Every girl should
nave chaperone to keep her.
ana VINO Will keep the chaperone? l
asked with an attempt at wit.
EXactly said Nine. MarcheSi serious
~. Some of them are giddier than the girls
themselves. have seen some strange chap
erones; Another thing you must say do
not allow my girls to ride bicycles. They
always talk when riding, and the air comes
into their wide-open mouths too rapidly.
IL is dangerous for the voice, the cold air
IN spring and autumn, the hot air in sum-
mer They come back hoarse every time.
Then, for what you have said of singing in
the salons, forbid it absolutely. My girls
must not sing for every one who asks
them. l only let them sing when / have
CHOSEN a song for them; when they have
properly rehearsed it; When l know that
they VIII have right accompanfst. 1t is
suicidal Let q girl sing badly once, and
90 you think it is forgotten? This singing
on demand has spoiled more of your Amer
lcan glTls than any one would dream of.
me girls get habituated to these easy tri-
umphS She makes a new estimate of her
powers, not based on what her teachers
tell her. She grows petulant of criticism
behind her back and does not it,"
she must be very circumspect and duti-
She must, if she desires to be an artistic"
Then" ] asked, ITO conclude will you
please give me the ideal routine of an ideal
I will do nothing of the kind Nine
Marchesi answered, for it is impossible.
Each girl must work according to her
needs, You may say ! do not have them
practice singing more than one hour daily,
nfteen minutes at a time. Besides, they
nave three lessons weekly. So much for the
voice. For the rest of the day / wish that
they should study with their heads. There
is the piano, the theory of music, the his
tory OF the opera, literature. romance,
poetry and all of the artistic things that
touch on the career that they have set be-
fore them. The voice is one thing. Tech
nque is another. But it is culture that must
crown the perfect artist"
1t was time to go. Already from behind
the doors of the adjoining salon came the
rustling of silk petticoats and the subdued
murmur of young voices. l rose to go: and
then Nine Marchesi did a gracious thing.
she stepped to the doors and opened them
on five as pretty girls as you could wish to
see. 1t was a class. rs there an American
girl here?' she asked. One of the fair
creatures rose demurely. Come to me, my
dear, said madame. She advanced.
Madame protected her with one arm round
and a nice girl How many languages do
you speak; my dear? French. Italian and a
little German? There, you see! And do you
know who Norma was? OF course you do!
And many other things besides! She knows
solfege She knows the piano."
The girl blushed, for madame spoke Of her
as a phenomenon.