Vocal Work Abroad (1891)
Dear Editor Voice Magazine: Eight years ago, preparing for a course of study abroad, my great objective point was Italy; circumstances intervening, five years went by before my face was turned Europe-ward, and then not to Italy. Why? The then rapid decline of Italian opera, the new Wagner craze, the superiority of German music generally, and some minor causes, sent me to Dresden, for there was the happy combination of an Italian-method teacher, and the finest opera in German. Time has proven that my selection was wise.
With the maestro, G.B. Lamperti, son of the celebrated Francesco, of Milan, my studies were begun, and from the first lesson to the present time, I have had no reason to regret it. He is one of the last truly great teachers who believe before playing upon an instrument, it should be put in order. Each tone is first built up, until the voice is a beautiful, complete whole. This is no easy matter, requiring patience on both sides, and confidence on the part of the pupil; but the average American student of moderate talent seeks a so-called “quick method,” being discouraged if in a year he be not a fine concert singer, or able to make a church or opera engagement! If as Sim Reeves is reported to have said to an ambitious mother, it takes seven years to make a shoemaker, what can you expect to do in a few months with an instrument hidden in a dark corner of the body, neither able to be seen nor handled? Dear Editor, it is time this ignorance regarding the voice be dispelled. An average mother will give her daughter eight to ten years of piano-instruction; but request her to give three years of voice-cultivation, and she wonders what it is for. It takes years to train the other muscles to their proper uses, why not the delicate throat-muscles?
Lamperti is censured for being slow and “old-timey.” Thanks to him, I am happy to say he is, if slow consists in demanding at least three years to perfect a singer. A more careful, painstaking, conscientious, capable teacher I cannot imagine; but the modern idea, which wants everything done by touching an electric button, had better pass him by. He laments the decline of the art of singing, saying it is impossible with the present prevailing ideas to produce the artists of 100 years ago.
Lamperti’s price is 100 m. (about $25) a month, for two half-hour lessons a week, which is less than Henschel, Rangedder or Shakespeare, in London, or Marchesi, in Paris. The latter is growing very passée, and I am told, has a temper simply unbearable. Students are now giving preference to La Grange or Artôt in the city.
The question of where to go and to whom, puzzles many. Shun Italy. The older Lamperti is almost eighty, and gives few lessons; Vannuccini in Florence knows nothing of voice-building; and Vannini has not reputation enough, even if he has a good method. A lady recently returned from Florence states that she was not able to find one good teacher there, and Milan was equally destitute. This dearth of teachers is not the only bad side of Italy; the opera is deplorable, music generally being very clap-trap, while the climate, with poor heating arrangements, offers another objection. I should advise Paris, London, or Dresden. Dresden is full of American pupils, it being far ahead of Berlin in vocal advantages. The Conservatory is especially good, principal among the teachers being Fraulein Orgeni, pupil of the older Lamperti. She is very popular and does fine work. The opera house is the third finest in Europe, and the opera excellent. The “divine Malten” stands at the very head of the great dramatic sopranos, and Scheidemantel ranks as one of the finest baritones in Europe. Opera is cheap, costing from twelve cents to $1.25, and is a fixed price. The fourth gallery is the great American resort; seats cost from .25 to .50, and the music sounding better here than in any other part of the house, it is always crowded with students, and tourists who do not care to make a toilet required for the parquet or first gallery. Hats are never worn in either concert or opera, and one is compelled to give up coat and umbrella for a small fee.
Living is expensive, four marks (about $1) being the very least for which one can find eatable and sleepable board. A piano student can tuck himself away in some cheaper place; but a vocalist needs, above all things, a sunny room and good table. London is much more expensive while the fog and other disagreeable features of the climate are a great drawback but that is the place for English ballad and oratorio.
Shun the “German method” teacher. He generally has a bundle of Italian exercises in his hand (either Borgdogni, Marchesi, or Lamperti), a German heart beating in his bosom, and a German vowel sticking in his throat! He is not the man for a bright student who wishes to improve, beautify, and, best of all, preserve his voice. I reasoned in this manner: The method which developed a Jenny Lind, a Sontag, a Patti, and, in fact, all the great singers, was good enough for me: why seek further? The Germans, as a class, are opposed to the vocal trill or cadenza, saying it is souless and foolish; yet they spend hours in acquiring a trill upon piano or violin, and applaud a Sarasate or Careno vociferously for something fine in that line. There is no talk of frivolity then, I notice, and lack of soul enters not into the conversation! I am afraid (tell it not in Gath!), I am afraid they are not consistent.
I would advise my American friends who contemplate a course of study abroad, not to come for only one year. They will be disappointed, as in that time only a beginning can be made. The sad and unhappy girls who return half-finished after a twelve-month here are legion.
Dresden is soon to lose its American composer, Mr. C. Whitney Coombs, with whose songs your readers are, not doubt, familiar. After an absence of 13 years, he will return to his native land in April; and, while his friends are sorry to see him depart, yet America needs just such broad musicians. His speciality is church music and directing, but his is familiar with all branches of musical knowledge.
—Elbe, Dresden, Germany.
“Vocal Work Abroad,” Werner’s Voice Magazine, June, 1891, p 154-155.
Tell it not in Gath?
When is the last time you heard that phrase? And did you click on the link to find its source?
Other notable things in this article include the idea of the voice being an instrument that must be cultivated slowly, the haste of the new electric button, and G. B. Lamperti’s hourly fee; which, when adjusted for inflation, was about $200 an hour. (When we do the math, we find that it cost around $800 a month, or $9600 a year, to study with G. B Lamperti.)
The writer also mentions the German throat which was to be avoided. Why? It’s guttural—as is the English language—the whole point of bel canto training being the acquisition of the Italian throat that results in having no throat at all. You know that phrase, right?
The Italian Singer Has No Throat.
I agree with this writer: why seek further? But that’s not where we are today. There are a kaleidoscope of methods, many of which involve technology.
Me?
I believe, like Anna Schoen-Rene (who taught in Berlin when it become the center of singing in Europe after Dresden) that the ear is the final arbiter: the only technology which can tell if a tone is beautiful or not.
Curiously, Schoen-Rene noted that scientific explanations could only be grasped by those already trained in the principles of their art. She meant, of course, that the teacher had to know how to impart the Italian throat to the student, along with the technique, method, and psychology involved. Knowing about it isn’t enough. Analyzing it from recordings of long dead singers isn’t enough. Digging through the bowels of a library to find record of it isn’t enough either. Both teacher and student have to be able to do it to understand it.
And therein lies the rub.
To obtain real training you need find a teacher with an ear as well have an ear yourself: one unencumbered by the confusion that can occur with mixed-dominance, the lack of right ear laterality, and psycho-emotional issues that rob one of full audio-vocal control.
