"Manon" of Massenet, with "Boheme" and "Butterfly"
and perhaps "Louise." "Lohengrin" and "Tannhaeuser" were sometimes given,
but the big Wagner dramas, the classics of Mozart, Weber and Gluck, and
the moderns like Debussy, Dukas, Strauss, Humperdinck, seemed
neglected. Over all there hung a general lack of method, musical
thoroughness and discipline. I must confess that I judge largely by
hear-say, as the only provincial French opera house of which I have any
personal knowledge is that of Nancy. So it may be that I do "The
Provinces" an injustice. Of course, both Monte Carlo and Nice offer many
novelties. But then Monte Carlo is not a provincial French opera at all.

On the other hand, the stories I heard of the great operatic machinery
of Germany began to attract me irresistibly. The organized system of
opera, the great chain of opera houses, the discipline of their rigid
schooling, the concentration and deep musical sincerity of their
musicians, the simplicity of German life, all seemed to offer what I was
looking for. The dramatic quality of my voice would have more scope in
their more varied repertoire, while surely in their hundred-odd opera
houses I might find a place to work out my ideas in peace.

Every one thought me crazy. My teachers tried their hardest to dissuade
me, promising me a great career in France. But I felt a call to Germany
where I hoped to find the right conditions for my own development which
seemed lacking in France. The great barrier was the language--the
difficulty of singing in it, to say nothing of learning it, for I did
not know one word. Jean de Reszke said to me later, speaking of German
as a language for singing: "_Avec cette langue, vous n'arriverez
jamais._" (With that language, you will never succeed.) However, I have
said that I had a good deal of courage in those days, and I determined
to go to Berlin to try my luck.

Not that I was tired of Paris. It is still my favourite city offering a
wonderful opportunity for broadening culture to those who can get into
touch with its art life. I owe it a great debt for deepening my artistic
perception, and developing that sense of true proportion which keeps one
from exaggeration on the one hand and pedantry on the other. But I
should not recommend Paris as the best school for the ordinary American
student of singing, who has no opportunity to penetrate into real French
life. There is no lack of sincerity in the real French institutions, the