The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-04-21
THE WAY TO SING TO ENGLISH
 SPEAKING PEOPLE IS IN ENGLISH

 x~ ULTURE in it's earlier stages seems always to have been in the possession of n exclusive class and this exclusive class seems always to have been ashamed Of the native. product. Dante is famous because he Wrote his wond6I IaI Svarkss in the Italian language which is fo say, in the daily language of the living men and women about him. Spensef gained fame in tue same way, by writing in the English language, instead of dead, or stil It. ed foreign language, affectedt by the best peo4 pIeg of his time.
 America. to-day, with respect tosits music: is in much the same state as Italy and England were in the time Of Spencer and Dante, with re- spect to literature
 Having developed little music of our own we through the limited number of persons of. musical training affect an undue admiration for music that is foreign and especially for song. in other languages than our
 The result is that tn really great singers this country, have not contributed their share to the musical education of the people. They have not done what they might have done nor even what they ought to have dones to create. interest In good music
 Most of the great singers who have occa- sionally come to Bridgeport have done precisely what the writers before Dante did what those before Spenser did. They have chosen to sing most of their songs in forei gn tongues, and the audience has expressed an en thusiasIn which it was far from feeling while seanty attendance has indicated the real lack of popular interest.
 How different is it with John Mccormack, the first really great singer who has deigned to sing in the English tongue.
 There are no cold audiences when McCer mack appears There are no empty houses whena his voice is heard. His audiences are not composed of d few exclusive persons devoted io an art that is not and never can De national. There come into the Mo Cprnack audiences all the really cultured men and svonlen of the com rnunity, who listen spell bound while great ar list sings great songs which they can under stand.
 Art is but a means of deIineating and ini- tating truth. It is aFIneans of conveying high thoughts from one mind to another. To convey such thoughts 1t is necessary that a medium of conveyance shall exist.
 So it happens, and must always remain true, that great literature in the French tongue, will not be great literat1re to him who does not understand French. Nor can great songs be sung to those who understand only the English language So that they will understand, save in English.
 John Mccormack is entitled to this fair need of praise. He has done for song in Amer ica what Dante did for literature in Italy and what Spenser did for literature in England He has done and is doing more to make America 5 nation cultured in music than anybody has done before him.
 That this should be 50 is the more to his credit. for his training was purely classical and he vas submitted 10 that rigorous culture which has made every great singer in America before his time, So far as the art Of song was concerned foreigner
 McCornlack's Italian is perfect in pronun- eiaii0n, and before alldience of cultured Ital- ians he would be as much an artist as he Is be fore audience of American singing iii the tongue which AmerieaIls understand
 That community should know and love music is much to be desireds 1t is from tf1i standpoint that these few thoughts are uttered respecting Mir. McGornaek and his art.
 Jennie Lind gave the American people theiI 4rst impulse toward great music John Mo gormack is giving them second inspiration