ned French, German and
English, not only a little smattering of each, but how to write and
speak them."

"You certainly have mastered English remarkably well," I could not help
remarking, for she was speaking with great fluency, and with hardly any
accent. This seemed to please her, for she gave me one of those flashing
smiles.

COLORATURA AND DRAMATIC

"Would you be pleased," I asked, "if later on your voice should develop
into a dramatic soprano?"

Mme. Galli-Curci thought an instant.

"No," she said, "I think I would rather keep the voice I have. I
heartily admire the dramatic voice and the roles it can sing. Raisa's
voice is for me the most beautiful I know. But after all I think, for
myself, I prefer the lyric and coloratura parts, they are so beautiful.
The old Italian composers knew well how to write for the voice. Their
music has beauty, it has melody, and melodic beauty will always make its
appeal. And the older Italian music is built up not only of melody and
fioriture, but is also dramatic. For these qualities can combine, and
do so in the last act of _Traviata_, which is so full of deep feeling
and pathos.

BREATH CONTROL

"Perhaps, in Vocal Mastery, the greatest factor of all is the breathing.
To control the breath is what each student is striving to learn, what
every singer endeavors to perfect, what every artist should master. It
is an almost endless study and an individual one, because each organism
and mentality is different. Here, as in everything else, perfect ease
and naturalness are to be maintained, if the divine song which is the
singer's concept of beauty, is to be 'floated on the breath,' and its
merest whisper heard to the farthest corner of the gallery.

THE MATTER IN A NUTSHELL

"To sum up then, the three requirements of vocal mastery are: a,
Management of the Larynx; b, Relaxation of the Diaphragm; c, Control of
the Breath. To these might be added a fourth; Mixed Vowels.

"But when all these are mastered, what then? Ah, so much more it can
never be put into words. It is self-expression through the medium of
tone, for tone must always be a vital part of the singer's
individuality, colored by feeling and emotion. Tone is the outlet, the
expression of all one has felt, suffered and enjoyed. To perfect one's
own instrument, one's medium of expression, must always be the singer's
joy and satisfaction."

"And you will surely rest when the arduous season is over?"

"Yes, I wi