ations I frequently repeat myself, it is done not
unintentionally, but deliberately, because of the difficulty of the
subject, as well as of the superficiality and negligence of so many
singers who, after once hastily glancing through such a treatise,--if
they consider it worth their while at all to inform themselves on the
subject,--think they have done enough with it.

One must read continually, study constantly by one's self, to gain
even a faint idea of the difficulty of the art of singing, of managing
the voice, and even of one's own organs and mistakes, which are one's
second self. The phenomenon of the voice is an elaborate complication
of manifold functions which are united in an extremely limited space,
to produce a single tone; functions which can only be heard, scarcely
felt--indeed, should be felt as little as possible. Thus, in spite of
ourselves, we can only come back again to the point from which we
started, as in an eddy, repeating the explanations of the single
functions, and relating them to each other.

Since in singing we sense none of the various activities of the
cartilage, muscles, ligaments, and tendons that belong to the vocal
apparatus, feel them only in their cooeperation, and can judge of the
correctness of their workings only through the ear, it would be absurd
to think of them while singing. We are compelled, in spite of
scientific knowledge, to direct our attention while practising, to the
sensations of the voice, which are the only ones we can become aware
of,--sensations which are confined to the very palpable functions of
the organs of breathing, the position of the larynx, of the tongue,
and of the palate, and finally, to the sensation of the resonance of
the head cavities. The perfect tone results from the combined
operations of all these functions, the sensations of which I undertake
to explain, and the control of which the ear alone can undertake.

This is the reason why it is so important to learn to hear one's self,
and to sing in such a way that one can always so hear.

Even in the greatest stress of emotion the power of self-control must
never be lost; you must never allow yourself to sing in a slovenly,
that is, in a heedless, way, or to exceed your powers, or even to
reach their extreme limit. That would be synonymous with roughness,
which should be excluded from every art, especially in the art of
song. The listener must gain a pleasing impression from every tone,
every e