great evil is, that with very few exceptions, such as the celebrated
Frenchman, Roger, they disregard, or at any rate did disregard for a
considerable period, the falsetto register, singing everything, however
high, in chest voice. I am afraid it cannot be said even that they have
been beguiled into this serious mistake by the imperceptible rise of
pitch just mentioned, but the truth is that they have committed this
fatal blunder knowingly and wilfully, because they saw that it would
pay. In support of this statement I will quote a few lines from the
publication called "The Opera and the Art of Singing," by
Glogg-ner-Castelli:

"In the field of singing a new man arose, who, in spite of great
personal attributes, worked destructively for the future, and whose
influence upon the later manner of singing is seldom truly
recognized. I mean the singer Duprez. Hissed off at first in Paris,
he turned to Italy, where he stayed several years, and then
returned to the French capital. When he came to use his magnificent
vocal resources, as he did in the Fourth Act of _Tell_, where he
brought out the high C in the chest voice with all the might of his
colossal organ, it was all over with the fame of all his
predecessors. Nourrit, till then the favourite of the Parisians, a
distinguished tenor singer, recognized the rival's power. His day
was over, and in despair over his lost and irrecoverable glory, he
flung himself from an upper window upon the pavement, and so made
an end of his life. Duprez may justly be considered one of the
greatest dramatic singers of our time, and the main features of his
method soon spread themselves all over Europe. After hearing of
Duprez, and how the chest register could be cultivated even into
the highest regions of the voice, the public were no longer
contented with the use of the falsetto. Soon it became impossible
to be engaged as an "heroic tenor" without at least possessing the
high B[b] in the chest tone. The singers found it a more thankful
task to humour the taste of the public than to pay extra regard to
the intentions of the composer; for often Meyerbeer himself
indicates, by a _pp_, his design that the falsetto and not the
chest tone should be employed. That every tenor singer, whether
such high pressure suited his natural compass or not, strove to
screw his v