The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-06-27

self does not imply that you are to question the correctness of views ad- vanced by those Of experience, but that you should find out how they reach such conclusions and their reasons for doing so. To think for ourselves in every direction and in every detail of our daily lives helps naturally and as well in the advancement of our art--for after all our art Is the result Of everything that we have learned. Genius is willing to lay the foundation to her structure unobseryed."
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 The being in a foreign country, such as Italy. so picturesque and full of color, awakens the imagination strong ly. Music Is there an old sweet story learned unconsciously through hum dreds of years, until 1t is instinctive rather than acquired. How quickly the audiences in those little opera houses will tell you whether you have anything in you or not! They are not infallible. but If they do not receive a young singer with some degree of rec ognition 1t Is time for that singer to undergo rigorous self-questioning as to what the matter was and then set about reetifying t to the best of her ability.
 Tn early iifs. when We would have every season June, the months that come before the wished for time seem long ones. but without their passage June would never be.
 Every young primma donna longs some day to sing Brunnhllde, but before she can do that she must have sung her Violetta, her Leonore and the lighter of the old Italian roles. When that is done the Aida. the Elsa and the rest come in their order. Gradually, with the growth of strength. physique, routine and experience, she reaches a height where Brunnhilde and Isolde stand among the in,mortals Here again 1t is the same maxim: Make haste slowly"--to do each thing that we un- dertake so welll that it becomes a part of us before we go on to the next Nowadays, when an opera singer is called upon to sing in three or four languages. the study of those lam and cannot be begun too early. It proves a source of surprise to those whose opinion is asked by young sing CTS, that so many of them, even in the delivery of familiar, time worn aria, not know what is Is about. Without full knowledge of the mean ing of each word and of the situation in which an aria Is placed the singer destroys its prime element. It is ina- possible to make others feel that which you do not feel yourself. How can we feel that which is sealed to us in mean HE Aba tS 1ub Ol the QucSttOu.
 This leads again to an important matter and a critical one-excess of feeling. The moment that one loses command of ones self, in that moment Is lost also the command of one's audi ence. Between genuine feeling and the loss of self control there Is as distinct a difference as between sentiment and sentimentality. painter in depicting scene on canvas must work with en- thusiasm, imagination, fervor and am pie technique. The moment, however, that he loses the quality of self com mand, he loses as we'll the control of 4 his subject and a blur and tumble is the result. With the singer conditions are identical
 By parodox, which is as we'll an unalterable law, the singer must be side, which means a highly developed nervous organization, and yet she must have her nerves under absolute control.
 It Is scarcely necessary to repeat here anything so well recognized as the fact that a singer must lead the most ab- stemious of lives enjoying pleasures always in moderation. but never In ex- cess Another truism, and yet one that IS not always recognized by the lay man, is the fact that no singer can safely give way to display of temper Tor nothing Is more injurious to the voice Much has been said and written or the giving way by singers to fits or III temper A long series of nag Slng worries and nervous strain to whlcn the singer is so frequently sub Jected may result in an occasional out burst, put the singer who give way 10 such outbreaks habitually Is not nkely to sing very long.
 In the day when the good old Ital- ian operas made iD the comniete ren- eFtory of the most ambitions nrinaet donna the lines were easy ones com pared to the present. A knowledge of literature, of life, through close oh servation-and always so fruiIsuI a study development through travel and knowledge of the methods of older and more experienced artists whose performances cannot he foo frequently witnessed, are helms jn tbe cultivation of this higher mental eouIn- ment. Through studies in this direc- ton and through ones own natural thought, there grows an ability to portray the complex emotions attri- buted to the great personages of the music drama.
 For this, and for much more, we have Wagner to thank, a composer whose music all are ambitious to sing, but whose music must only be ap- preached after long and faithful serv- ice to that field which leads the equipment safely up to it-the old Italian opera.
 There Is one point that frequently