The Washington times., 1901-07-28
Mi.ceIinncous Roorsx.

Ten Singing Lessons by Mathilt
Marchesi, Is a book whose title page
index enough to its value. Madame Ma
! chesi, as the teacher of Melba, Gerste
! Nevada, and other prima donnas,
| known of all the musical world. and it r,
mains only to say that in her writing ST
I, is as clear and practical as in her teaci
ing. The book contains an Introduction b
W. j. Henderson. and another introdu,
tory note by Melba.
| To the student of music, the book need
| no recommendation and no comment; bl
to those not familiar with musical tech
nique, paragraph from Mr. Henderson
| Introduction may be of value as shown
the general nature OF Madame Marchesi'
training. He says:
THE world is, sadly overcrowded
with so-called teachers of singing,
who, to speak the simple truth, are no
more than quacks. The way to sing
today is the way that Porpora taught
Caffarelli. il is the way in which all
the wonderful male sopranists of his
time sang. 1t is the way in which
their successors. the astonishingIy
fne singers of the latter half of the
eighteenth and the first half of the
nineteenth century sang, for Agujari
and Mara, and Mrs. Ellington. and
Grisi, and Persiani. and their contem-
poldllts were dil opponents oil the old
italian manner of singing. upon which
Nine. Marchesi POUNDS her faith and her
practice. There is no other right
method of singing, for this one is
built on nature. Here the casual OBJ
server will naturally ask why, If to
sing rightly is to sing naturally, it is
necessary to give so much study to the
mastery of the technics. The answer
Is stereotyped but true, that few of
US use our organs of tone and enuncia-
ton in our daily conversation accord
ing to the laws of nature, and when
We attempt to sing we wander still
further from the path; for in singing
We are called upon to employ a much
wider range of tone than we use in
ordinary speech, and we are forced to
enunciate words throughout this
range. Added to that is the essential
requirement OF making the tone beau
tiful instead of permitting 1t to be-
come shout or a scream
Il am quite aware that the cry of
him who bemoans the departure of for
mer days, because he thinks they were
better than ours. is Invariably discred-
tied, especially by those who are too
young TO have known those earlier
times. 1 am aware. 400, that the de-
mands of enlightened theatregoers in
this dawn of the twentieth century are
more severe than they were fifty years
ago; for today the occupant of a stall,
sold at guinea, asks not only an
ABUNDANT voice and a mastery of the
musical phrase, but also dramatic tenn
permanent and exceptional gifts of in
terpretation With these he expects to
nnd the woman singer at least passa-
bly, good-looking,, graceful in bearing
well gowned, and generally attractive
Inc rat, ill-dressed. phlegmatic prima
donna of the early sixties. who had a
good voice and pure trill, is no lon
ger tolerated.
But owing TO the popular delusions
nd 40. vta& T.
singing (which is not singing. but
screaming. and shouting) too many
opera-goers have learned to admire a
new sort OF prima donna. a person who
has a robust voice and an exceedingly
robustious style, who rushes energeti-
cally from one side of the stage to the
other, who pants and puffs from the
violence of her exertions. but who pro-
1ects passionate temperament into the
atmosphere much as fire-engiae
squirts water from hose This sort
OF prlma donna is typical in GERMANY
where she is worshipped with an ado
ration quite blind to the fact that she
knows no more about the laws of sing
Ing than bullfinch does of the rules
OF mathematics. Performers of this
kind get much applause wherever they
go: Tor If one but makes noise enough
with his voice. he can for brief, while
strut upon the stage and command the
braVos of the ignorant in any CITY in
the world. The influence and example
OF these screaming dramatic singers
works incalculable harm to the cause
OF good singing. Their influence vi
uates public taste; their example turns
Young singers aside from the true
path.
The downfall of this false goddess
is certain when she attempts to set
herself up for alteration in the temple
OF pure song. AS long as she has the
factitious aids of action and scenery
ana the interest of dramatic story
Oh
place in the public esteem till her out
rageous treatment of her voice robs
II OF Its last vestige of musical quail
lty, and she can produce only sounds
intolerable to sensitive ears But let
her in the heyday of her career essay
recital of songs. and She is undone.
for the one thing she cannot do is to
stand still and simply sing She has
never learned how to do that"
This sort of criticism is rather savage.
but 1t is needed Anyone familiar with
the conditions of the operatic stage. to
say nothing of comic opera and the mu-
steal burlesque, which has been offered
ad nauseam to the public of late, can see
that some radical reforms are needed in
the way OF singing and dramatic meth
DDS. Much Of the singing and acting now
popular deserves that name about as
much as a peacocks scream and strut
(New York: Harper & Bros. sl5O)
A little book called Last Confessions
Of Marie Bashkirtseff9 has appeared. nm
rarently for the purpose of selling itself
on the merits of the Confessions" There
Is nothing particularly new in It except
some portraits. Robert F'leury. De Mau
passant, and others are pictured. and some
Of the young artists correspondence with
De Maupassant is quoted. There is also a
''foreword" by Jeanette L. Glider. The
quotations from the letters are full of
That intense self-consciousness which
several years ago caused a heartless par
odist to refer to the author of the Diary
as Marie Bask-in-herself," and the name
Is perhaps as opposite as anything that
has been said of her. French and Rus
sian natures seem TO be possessed OF
much the same power of self-absorption
and posing. mingled with nadNve sim
Dlicity. but although It may be natural
10 them. 1t is not a very good pose for
he American. and by the time people
in general had read the DIARY they
realized that they did not know how to
thoroughly with q person who
'elt in that way. Possibly It is just as
we'll. (Ncw York: Frederick A. Stokes
Col
European Travel for Women" by Mary
Jones. is Q sensible and useful
little book, iE<ended to be of service to
women travelling alone In Europe. For
hat matter. 1t will also be valuable to
parties. or TO families. in fact. to any
inexperienced traveller. The author seems
o have forgotten nothing which such
,erson would be likely to want to know.
NheE one Is about to start for Europe the
lumber of half-forgotten suggestions and
ITS of good advice which one has heard
Il one time and another. and which come