The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-05-02
TO Be
MUSIC CENTER
ALEssANDRO BONCI MAKES PRE-
DICTioN WHICH INCLUDES
FREE GRAND OPERA.
WE HAVE COMPOSERS
AMERICAN SINGERS ARE ALREADY
AMONG THE LEADERS AND ARE
SO RECOGNIZED IN THE
OLD COUNTRY.

Free grand opera, under the SUI
pervision of municipal authorities, Is
one Of the predictions that Alessandro
Bonci. the silver-voiced tenor who
will be made a public institution, but
May festival next week, makes for
musical future Of the United States.
He does not specify the date upon
which he expects that grand opera
will be made. a publicin stitution, but
he does feel sure that this happy
elimination is the logical outcome of
the great love for music and grand
opera that the American people are
manifesting today.
THE United States" says Mr.. Bon
CT, us the musical center OF thp flu
country in the world at the present
time OF grand opera Yet 1t was not
so very long ago that the public
here did not distinguish between the
good and bad in grand opera. 1t
used to be possible for singer to
blum the public and the critics here
IL ne had a great European reputa-
ton. but that day has passed.
TO succeed in grand opera in New
York. and. in fact. anywhere in this
country now, the artist must, as
Americans say. deliver the goods
Mere reputation must be lived up to,
sustained in every respect. or disas-
ter results. This lis because the pub
lie has been musically educated The
audiences at the Metropolitan now
are as discriminating and az compe-
tent to judge of the merits of a singer
as any in the whole world.
Great Musical Future.
Il am confident that the United
States Is TO have a great musical flu
ture. Within a few years will come
the singing of grand opera In Eng
lish. largely by American singers. and
then will follow grand opera by Amer
lean composers"
where will we get the compose 90
was asked,
You already have Victor Herbert,
Walter Damrosch and Reginald De-
koven. II Mcdowell had lived he
would have composed grand opera
worthy OF this great nation, and 9TH
ers Will arise. am sure AS for sing
ers, the American soprant are rapidly
taking the lead in Europe. There are
more good grand opera voices among
the women of the United States than
among those of any other people
And there are male voices here also
of splendid operate material, but
ShiAEi tAdA men are SO Keen on puEl-
ness and money-making they are not
content to give the time necessary
TO proper preparation for opera sing
ing"
How many years should a singer
study to qualify himself for the Met
ropolitan?"
Training In Haste.
"Ah. OF course. that depends large
~ on tho singers individual ability to
learn quickly. but at the minimum.
should say that five years study and
training are necessary. The great
mistake that opera singers of the
present are making Is too hasty prep
aration. Two or three years is not
enough. In the old days everyone
studied much longer There was
Mario. who studied nearly ten years
and Tamagno almost as long. before
he essayed grand opera
Il am the only tenor singing today
who studied so long as they did un-
der the old school. / studied six years
al Pesaro before I attempted to sing
in public, and then l did three years
church work before l went on the
grand opera stage. First of all, ii Is
necessary to place the voice properly
and create a solid foundation for
grand opera singing.
hN Stoos dHG iAdrAstAlk Dt re-
pertoire takes three or four years,
but this should not be attempted I'M
til the vocal foundation has been
built and the voice is capable of
standing the strain and the wear and
tear OF operate singing. There are
hundreds of beautiful voices which
fail after few years of use simply
because the necessary preliminary Gull
ture has not been given"
Then you do not think that the
singers OF this generation can COM
pare with those of twenty years ago ?"
Singing Has Detcriorated.
No. singing as an art has de-
Perforated because of lack of care and
patience In study and voice culture
There are no dramatic tenors today
who can sing the repertoire of Ia
magno. Many of the beautiful operas
or Donizetti. Rossini and the old
Italian masters have passed out of
vogue. and are seldom heard, because
there are no singers capable OF sing
Ing them. i decided years ago to con-
fine myself strictly to the lyric roles,
and i mastered every lyric opera in
Mario's repertoire. but l am the only
artist of the old school left
One of my first engagements was
at the Opera House in st. Petersburg,
where l sang with ,Tamagno and
Mazzini had then studied ten years,
but l was still working hard over my
repertoire"
DO you think that the climate of
New York Is trying for the voice?''
The climate Is all right If you
take care Of yourself and make a
practice of regular daily outdoor ex-
ereise. walk three or four miles
every morning and keep In good ply
steal condition. 1t is absolutely neces-
sary here. In Europe one does not
need to be so strenuous"