Omaha daily bee., 1902-11-09
Music

Is Il not strange that almost every book
which contains a story concerning a singer
shows that the singer was a discovery
The average fiction puts a premium upon
the wonderful"
A glowing romance is built around a
voice which someone accidentally dis
covered.
A mass of impossible results are wrought
out Of pure Imagination to make a hero or
heroine out Of a central figure, which
hgure represents the fact that, one bright
autumn evening, as he strolled past a
meadow fragrant with the perfumes Of
wild flowers. the great one" heard a
voice, and such a voice-and so on, ad
nauseam. And this voice electrified thou
sands, etc, but can you find it's owners
name in the library Of musical literature?
That such literature is harmful Is beyond
question. inasmuch as it places a fictitious
value upon an exception and ignores, or
worse than that, ~disparages. sub-con-
sciously, the worker who makes the voice
what it ought to be.
Any good vocal teacher will tell you
that the voices which are discovered
are an exception in the fields Of success,
while the singer with brains, indomitable
will. energy, patience and perseverance
wins out in the conquest, even IL at first
the voice was but ordinary.
In the reading of such books as. 1 have
described many a young disciple has been
discouraged because he or she was not
born with a wonderful voice.
Time and space would not permit of my
going into details Of the prominent sing
ers OF today. Sufice 1t to say that Nordica,
Sembrich, Calve, Schumann, Heink, Jean
de Reszke and many other great ones Of
earth have not won their ways to fame
by being discovered in a meadow, a con-
vent, a cell or a byway.
Their heritage has been a disposition to
overcome obstacles, to dig deep, plant
we'll and weed out. Their harvest has
been the result of hard work. careful saw
ing and continuous watching lest the weeds
Of faultiness should spring UP and choke
the art germ.
We should be thankful for such ex-
amples and take them as examples, and
remember that hard work, sacrifice, en-
thusiasm, thirst for knowledge, ambition,
self-control and development of the inner
voice, all these things lead to the voice
Of the soul, the voice that thrills, that
comforts, that inspires and the weary old
world wants that-and pays for 1t.
/ plead for a new fiction. A fiction that
will resemble truth, which, we all know, is
far stranger than fiction. / plead for the
novel which will emphasize or idealize the
gospel Of work.
When the great teacher who came from
Nazareth spoke on achievement He did not
say, Come unto Me-, all We that are gen.
fuses, all We that have the gifts, all ye
that have been discovered all We that
have been recommended to Me on account
of your ability" No! mol 1t was: Come
unto Me. all we that labor and are heavy
laden-and I will give you rest" ,si ...
He did not disparage the labor nor the
burden, neither did He say that the burden
should be cast aside as worthless. mol
He simply said rest" Therein was a
blessing invoked upon labor and toll and
work. a special invitation was Issued by
the Master. not to stop work. but to rest.
The gospel of work is being preached
now more than ever, since the lectures or
dissertations OF the beginning OF the CEN
turtles.
The old scriptural statement. by their
fruits We shall know them" has been an
incentive for the we'll known couplet which
we used to hear so often back in our old
homes and which ran thus:
Satan inds some mischief still
For idle hands to do.
And today we can scarcely pick up a
magazine or a book worth reading which
does not impress the point of working n
working j~oyfully.
He who works for Joy, finds Joy in his
work.
It is all a case Of mental attitude. Try
it and see II the proposition is not de-
monstrable.
The trouble is that we all feel that we
could do so much better were we in an
others place. But we fail to realize that
we have, very largely, IL not altogether
land l think the latter, the making of our
own Joy or sorrow. 1t depends largely on
the viewpoint.
Let us all work with Joy at that to which
we are now assigned. and ere long we will
be working at that which we Joy in.
To revert to the original subject, / sup
pose that no one is more frequently cited
as an absolute discovery than Jenny
Lind. 1t would seem that here was a case
of absolute genius for singing without the
necessary work.
Let me quote from one OF her biograph-
ers: When she was presented to the man
ager of the Court theater, Stockholm. Count
Pucke, he said: what shall we do with
such an ugly creatures? See what feet she
has! And then her face! She will never
be presentable. Certainly we can't take
such a scarecrow."
This was certainly a 'crusher" for a
young girls hopes. but we read on and
find hat later she "lost her voice."
And. in this connection. the biographer
says: ITO become a singer in grand opera
had been the great aspiration Of her heart.
Her voice gone, she was soon forgotten by
the tickle public, who had looked on this
young girl as a chrysalis soon to burst
into the glory OF a fuller life. II showed
the r~esolute stun which nature had put
into this young girl. that. in spite Of this
crushing DOWNFALL OF her ambition, she con-
tinued her instruments and theoretical
studies with unremitting zeal for nearly