ubious one, in my opinion. The nightingale's voice is very sweet, no
doubt, but it is no better than a flute. A bird cannot pronounce words
and sing at the same time. The human voice alone can do that--can
alone combine poetry and music, uniting the advantage of both in one
effect.

On the other hand, have you ever heard anyone compare the voices of
Lehmann, Materna, Sucher, or Malten to a bird's voice? Of course not;
and the reason is obvious. The point of view is different. Although
Lilli Lehmann's voice is almost as mellow in timbre as Patti's, and
much richer and warmer, we never think of it as a bird-like or vague
instrumental tone, but as a medium for the expression of definite
dramatic emotion. And herein lies the chief difference between the
Italian and the German schools. _An Italian adores singing for its own
sake, a German as a means of definite emotional expression._

Now, whether we look at nations or at individuals, we always find
that simple beauty of tone and agility of execution in artistic
singing are appreciated sooner than emotional expression and dramatic
characterization. Hence it is that the Italian school came before the
German school. Even in Germany, a few generations ago, the Italian
school was so predominant that German composers of the first
rank--Gluck, Weber, and Beethoven--found it difficult to assert their
influence against it. In Vienna, during the season of 1823, the
Rossini furore was so great that none but Rossini's operas were sung;
and in Germany almost everyone of the three dozen big and little
potentates supported his own Italian operatic company. To-day you look
in vain through Germany or Austria for a single Italian company. The
few Italian operas that have remained on the repertory are sung in
German translations by German singers, and all of these operas
together hardly have as many performances in a year as a single one of
Wagner's.

Here is a revolution in taste which may well excite our astonishment,
and arouse our curiosity as to how it was brought about. It was
brought about by the courage and perseverance of a few composers who,
instead of stooping down to the crude taste of the _fioriture_-loving
public, elevated that taste until it was able to appreciate the poetic
and dramatic side of music; and it was brought about with the
assistance of German singers, notwithstanding the great disadvantages,
climatic and linguistic, under which these labor in comparison with
I