Omaha daily bee., 1909-05-30

was tried to the quitting point he never
quit: and today David Bisham is ar
idol of the American musical public
throughout the length and breadth of this
very long and very broad land.
The golden bowl of Caruso is, we are
told, temporarily Broken" but the 'sil-
yer bowl' of Bonci Is still embossed. -
Yet. a few years ago, Bonci was unknown
as compared to Caruso. (Of course the lat
ter fact still holds good in unmusical cir
cles and unmusical places.)
Let the less gifted pupil take to heart
the historical and established fact that
the phenomenal voices, the wonderful
voices do not, as a rule, hold out. The
comet Is a brilliant member of the solar
system, but 1t does not last long.
Inc writer has known and observed for
many years that the unusually beautiful
voice with a minus quantity of brain. has
never finally won out in a comparison
with the minus quantity of voice and An
abundant supply of brain.
nature often does queer things. but she
is generally bound by the law of Compensa-
thon. OFTEN the person with a good rich
voice is notably deficient in brain mower
And again, frequently when one meets n
person gifted with the exceptional voice
and a good intelligence combined. there 40
the great tendency to reject criticism and
to invite flattery; result-obliyion: II ma y
be postponed oblivion, but Oblivion never
theless, sure, stern and certain. The I,ax,
OF Compensation.
Just as often, however, one sees the ner-
son with the small amount of vocal pift
earnestly DESTROYS to do what can be done
acquire not only an art and a power Of
singing, but also gain a great deal in nat
ural beauty of voice.
The eastern part of this country was
visited this season by a very famous
singer, DR.. Wuellner, and he was adver-
tised. in some places as The singer with
out a voice" That, of course, was not
true, but 1t goes to show that the voice
itself did not supreme attention.
However, this man, this artist of tones,
created a greater sensation in the musical
circles of the east than any singer who
has been heard here for years. If he comes
back next season, go and hear him, if you
can. You will be repaid.
.
But to return to the thought of the pu-
pills recital. Suppose one could choose the
finest voice of his class of students, and
then suppose it were possible that each
student should be able to sing with that
voice, or, in other words, to play upon
that same instrument, then you would
have a pupils recital which would be a
delight, and in which you could form good
and possibly correct judgment. But with
this one foundation missing, IL seems that
it ought to appear reasonable to the or
binary reader that a pupils recital of
students of singing is an entirely different
affair from a recital of pianforte students.
To be sure, someone may dispute this,
and state that pupils who nave not natu-
rally good voices should not be encouraged
to take up singing.
That sounds plausible. A medical friend
spoke along this line in a discussion Of the
subject some weeks ago. but the answer
given to him vas the same as the state
ment made now, that if such a course had
been adopted some of the best singers of
the world would have been mute and in
glorious" Some of the best singers of to-
day would be unknown. Some of the singers
OF Omaha who give much pleasure and
enjoyment, would have been silent forever.
Here again lies a vast difference. The
instrument at the pianoforte recital is the
same. whether played upon by a boy OF
10. or a young woman of 2S.
But the voice? All, that is another thing.
Tina instrument is being built. The first
year. pupil shows an instrument which
will be tremendously improved upon and
perfected. when that pupil is a third or
fourth year" pupil. At a vocal recital
each performer plays upon m instrument
which is being created" At a piano re-
cital each performer plays upon a finished
and perfect instrument.
These are the principal reasons why the
present writer. writing from the standpoint
Of a voice teacher, abandoned the pupils
recital idea.
He has acted on the assumption (Which
was also stated last week 10 him by one
OF the leading piano teachers OF Omaha
that if a person sings we'll and sings any
where in public or s~emi-public, people will
find out who his teacher is, and thereby
the teacher will not lose anything by his
a~bstention from the public recital.
But there are other viewpoints, and
those will be perhaps taken up later; SUI
flee II now 10 say that the writer IS not
bound by a fixed prejudice in the matter,
but believes that pupils should nave some
experience in public or semi-publie work.