The sun., 1903-10-18

A. -
"Then there are the teachers. A sing
ing teacher takes small voice. and oc-
casionally it happens that by the time he
or she has finished with it there is no voice
Y at all, but they fatter, fatter, fatter.
AT length they advise trial before me.
Where il a trial. It Is ii trial for me, too.
/. and Mr.. Conried waved his hands.
4 -Of the ffty-one applicants, how many
Ndid you find with voices?
n -Of the fifty-one there were three whom
III have granted a second hearing. That
means that I will send them to the head
of the opera school. Nine. Yaeger. who is a
/ better Judge of the final quality than l."
! do they weep and carry on when you
ftell them that there is no career for them?"
.Of course, They are heartbroken.
Then say to them:
My dears, do not believe that I know
anything, Please to think that I am
fool. Then you will feel better and so will
I. You need not take my word-you can
elsewhere
"The usual fault Of the voices? In nine
cases out of ten when they are tried the
girls simply howl, scream, always sing
forte, never piano. I soy to them some
times, 1T is not necessary for you to sing
so loud and then they are nearly always
off the key, usually little below it.
"Only the other day heard a young girl
sing who had very pretty parlor voice-as
I considered. Still she was 30 young and
her voice and her personality 40 sweet that
I gave her n second trial and the head OF
the opera school informs me that there is
great possibility there. that the voice will
grow stronger and fuller as long as the
quality is all right.
Il wish they would not sing 40 loud. y
and the directing manager held his hands
to his ears at the mere remembrance.
ia it quite necessary. Mr.. Conried. that
the chorus should be so-well so unyoung?'
There was a gesture Of despair. followed
by a conversation through the No. 3 tele
phone with man who wanted to know
something about nails or whether there
was bad drauglit in the second balcony.
Then Herr Conried answered:
"Oh. I know l understand. The New
York public demand a chorus as young and
charming as a 'Florodora' sextet. They
don't seem to think that it is slightly diff
feren..
DO yo,iknow what il means to lie a mem
ber Of Metropolitan chorus-under my
managene Tnis was asked quite
ferociously-"Tt means that a singer must
have a repertoire OF fifty operas Think of
that fifty operas Does a woman acquire
that when she is young3 Nonsense By
the time she is fitted to be a valuable singer
in the chorus she must have left behind her
the bloom of youth"
Mr.. Conriei admitted at this stage OF the
interview that the New Yorker, as a man.
demands the impossible. not only in Metro
politan chorus work. but elsewhere; that is,
the unlned face OF 10 and the lined soul Of
wcll-e1perience
Show me some more Of the notes you
have made on the list.
Sec. Here is one Small voice, pretty
I figure, nice eyes Another,-Too loud, of
the key, badly taught, Another-'Too
large, voice too small
DO you generally discourage the would
be prima donnas who come to your"
Discourage? No. l try to tell them the
tr,Ith--that is all. I do not think that
should be doing right If did not.
If think there is any promise say so:
if not, sav 30, too. Why should seek to
discourage talent? It is to my advantage
to find it.
"A fine looking woman came TO me the
other day to have her voice tried. She
had absolutely no repertoire and wanted TO
sing Wagner roles.
-Itold her the truth-that by the time she
acquired the fifty or sixty operas demand
for my work. she would be too old. OF
COURSE, she resented It,"