nce the people are
inside the opera house the artist must really please them or suffer.
Young singers should not be led to think that anything but real worth is
of any lasting value. If the audience does not respond, do not blame the
audience. It would respond if you could sing so beautifully that you
could compel a response that you know should follow real artistic
achievement. Don't blame your teacher or your lack of practice or
anything or anybody but yourself. The verdict of the audience is better
than the examination of a hundred so-called experts. There is something
about an audience that makes it seem like a great human individual,
whether in Naples or in San Francisco. If you touch the heart or please
the sense of beauty, the appetite for lovely music--common to all
mankind--the audience is yours, be it Italian, French, German or
American.

OPERATIC PREPARATION IN ITALY

The American student with a really good voice and a really fine vocal
and musical training, would have more opportunities for engagements in
the smaller Italian opera houses, for the simple reason that there are
more of these opera houses and more of these opera companies. Bear in
mind, however, that opera in Italy depends to a large extent upon the
standing of the artists engaged to put on the opera. In some cities of
the smaller size the municipality makes an appropriation, which serves
as a guarantee or subsidy. An impresario is informed what operas the
community desires and what singers. He tries to comply with the demand.
Often the city is very small and the demand very slightly indicated in
real money. As a result the performances are comparatively mediocre. The
American student sometimes fails to secure engagements with the big
companies and tries to gain experience in these small companies.
Sometimes he succeeds, but he should remember before undertaking this
work that many native Italian singers with realty fine voices are
looking for similar opportunities and that only a very few stand any
chance of reaching really noteworthy success.

OPERA WILL ALWAYS BE EXPENSIVE

He should, of course, endeavor to seek engagements with the big
companies if his voice and ability will warrant it. Where the most money
is, there will be the salaried artists and the finest operatic
spectacle. That is axiomatic. Opera is expensive and will always be
expensive. The supply of unusual voices has always been limited and the
services of their possesso