I have
found the French pupils the most difficult to control in regard to the
nasal quality of tone production. They use the nasal cavities
universally in their speech and I never was quite satisfied in my mind
about the tone quality. Being of the Bel Canto school, aiming for pure
melody and the best tone to be produced by the human voice, I was
never satisfied with the result and yet I have heard French artists
who were splendid singers. But the tone was always too high in
placement for my full appreciation. The American voices were
satisfactory almost without exception. Instability was the great
fault; they have not enough earnest concentration in their work and
soon discontinue or change to other teachers and many of them who
started out with a full determination to be singers have done nothing
for themselves. Several of my pupils were negroes and while I found
rare voices among them they were never in a financial position to do
much for themselves. One of these had a rich contralto voice of the
finest touch and was a fine pianist. Another had a still more
beautiful voice but, unfortunately, her husband was not musical and
she sang little after her marriage. This is a real tragedy.
I have often wondered why are we given these gifts and yet denied the
opportunity to develop them. I find the rarest voices among the poor
and middle classes. In relating to me many of the episodes of his
travels around the world, my son told me of the children, eight, nine
and ten years old, of Italy playing on the street corners the arias of
the operas on their violins with skillful and artistic fervor to the
astonishment of the travelers who visit their ports.
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