not have to spend
much time on scales and exercises; they pretty well go of themselves";
and she smiled sweetly.

"You say," she continued, "the debutante--the young singer--does not
know--in America--how much she needs the foreign languages. But she
should learn them. She should study French, Italian and Spanish, and
know how to speak them. Because, if she should travel to those
countries, she must make herself understood, and she must be able to
sing in those languages, too.

"Besides the languages, it is very good for her to study piano also;
she need not know it so well as if she would be a pianist, but she
should know it a little; yet it is better to know more of the piano--it
will make her a better musician."

THE COLORATURA VOICE

"You love the coloratura music, do you not, Madame?"

"Ah, yes, I love the coloratura,--it suits me; I have always studied for
that--I know all the old Italian operas. For the coloratura music you
must make the voice sound high and sweet--like a bird--singing and
soaring. You think my voice sounds something like Patti's? Maybe. She
said so herself. Ah, Patti was my dear friend--my very dear friend--I
loved her dearly. She only sang the coloratura music, though she loved
Wagner and dramatic music. Not long before she died she said to me:
'Luisa, always keep to the coloratura music, and the beautiful _bel
canto_ singing; do nothing to strain your voice; preserve its velvety
quality.' Patti's voice went to C sharp, in later years; mine has
several tones higher. In the great aria in Lucia, she used to substitute
a trill at the end instead of the top notes; but she said to
me--'Luisa, _you_ can sing the high notes!'"

"Then the breathing, Madame, what would you say of that?"

"Ah, the breathing, that is very important indeed. You must breathe from
here, you know--what you call it--from the diaphragm, and from both
sides; it is like a bellows, going in and out," and she touched the
portions referred to. "One does not sing from the chest,--that would
make queer, harsh tones." She sang a few tones just to show how harsh
they would be.

"You have shown such wonderful breath control in the way you sustain
high tones, beginning them softly, swelling then diminishing them."

"Ah, yes, the coloratura voice must always be able to do those things,"
was the answer.

"Should you ever care to become a dramatic singer?" she was asked.

Tetrazzini grew thoughtful; "No, I do not think so," s