The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1907-05-16
Genius is willing to lay the founda-
ton of her structure unobserved."

Genius is willing to lay the founda-
ton of her structure unobserved."
The being in a foreign country,
such as Italy, so picturesque and full
of color, awakens the imagination
strongly. Music is there an old sweet
story learned unconsciously through
hundreds of years, until it is in
stinctlve 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 de-
gree of recognition it Is time for that
singer to undergo rigorous self-ques-
tioning as to what the matter was.
and then set about rectifying it to tie
best of her ability.
In early life, when we would have
every season June, the months that
come before the wishedfor time seem
long ones, but without their passage
June would never be.
Every young prlma donna longs
some day to sing Brunnhilde, but be-
fore 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. Gradu-
ally. with the growth of strength,
physique, routine and experience, she
reaches height where Brunnhilde and
Isolde stand among the immortals.
Here again 1t is the same maxim:
make haste slowy"-to do each thing
that we undertake so well that 1t be-
comes a part of us before we so on to
the next.
Nowadays, when an opera singer Is
called upon to sing in three or four
languages. the study of those lam
guages becomes of great Importance
and cannot be begun too early. 1t
proves source of surprise to those
whose opinion Is asked by young sing
ers, that so many Of them, even in the
delivery of a familiar. time-worn aria,
do not know what 1t is about. With
out a full knowledge of the meaning
of each word and of the situation in
which an aria is placed the singer
destroys its prime element. 1t is
impossible to make others feel that
which you do not feel yourself. How
can we feel that which is sealed to us
in meaning? 1t Is out of the ques-
ton.
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 mo-
ment is lost also the command of ones
audience. Between genuine feeling
and the loss of self-control there is
as distinct a difference as between SEN
timent and sentimentality. A painter
in depicting a scene on canvas must
work with enthusiasm, Imagination,
fervor and ample technique. The mo-
ment, however, that he loses the quail
ity of self-command, he loses as well
the control Of his subject and a blur
and tumble is the result. With the
singer conditions are identical.
By paradox, which is as well an
unalterable law, the singer must be pc
culiarly responsive on the emotional
side, which means highly developed
nervous organization, and yet she
must have her nerves under absolute
control.
1t is scarcely necessary to repeat
here anything so well recognized az
the fact that a singer must lead the
most abstemious of lives, enjoying
pleasures always in moderation, but
never in excess. Another truism, and
yet one that is not always recognized
by the layman, is the fact that no
singer can safely give way to dis
play of temper, for nothing is more
injurious to the voice. Much has
been said and written of the giving
way by singers to fits of i'll temper.
A long series of nagging worries and
nervous strain to which the singer is
so frequently subjected may result in
an occasional outburst, but the singer
who gives way to such outbreaks hab-
itually is not likely to sing very
| long.
In the days when the good old Ital-
ian operas made up the complete rep
ertory of the most ambitious prima
donna the lines were easy ones COM
pared to the present. A knowledge or
literature, of life, through close obserV-
ation-and always 50 fruitful a study
development through travel and
knowledge of the I1ethods of older and
more experienced artists, whose per-
formances cannot be too frequently
witnessed, are helps in the cultivation
of this higher mental equipment.
Through studies in this direction and
through ones own natural thought,
there grows an ability to portray the
complex emotions attributed 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 equip
ment safely up to 1.-THE old Italian
opera.