ren and at the same time stimulate their minds along
broader lines can do no better than to take them to opera. Little towns
in Europe often have fine opera houses, while many American cities
several times their size have to put up with moving picture theatre
houses. Why does not some enthusiastic American leader take up a
campaign for more opera in America? With the taste of the public
educated through countless talking machine records, it should not prove
a bad business venture if it is gone about in a sensible manner.

DAME NELLIE MELBA

BIOGRAPHICAL

Dame Nellie Melba (stage name for Mrs. Nellie Porter Armstrong, nee
Mitchell) is described in Grove's Dictionary as "the first singer of
British birth to attain such an exalted position upon the lyric stage as
well as upon the concert platform." Dame Melba was born at Burnley near
Melbourne, May 19, 1861, of Scotch ancestry. She sang at the Town Hall
at Richmond when she was six years of age. She studied piano, harmony,
composition and violin very thoroughly. At one time she was considered
the finest amateur pianist in Melbourne. She also played the church
organ in the local church with much success. In 1882 she married Captain
Charles Armstrong, son of Sir Andrew Armstrong, Baronet (of Kings
County, Ireland). In 1886 she sang at Queens Hall in London. After
studying with Mme. Marchesi for twelve months she made her debut as
Gilda (_Rigoletto_) at the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels. Her
success was instantaneous. Her London debut was made in _Lucia_ in 1888.
One year later she made her Parisian debut in Thomas' _Hamlet_. In 1894
she created the role of Nedda in _I Pagliacci_. Petrograd "went wild"
over her in 1892. In 1892 she repeated her successes and in 1893 she
began her long series of American triumphs. The fact that her voice,
like that of Patti, has remained astonishingly fresh and silvery despite
the enormous amount of singing she has done attests better than anything
else to the excellence of her method of singing. In the following
conference she gives the secret of preserving the voice.

[Illustration: DAME NELLIE MELBA.]

COMMON SENSE IN TRAINING AND PRESERVING THE VOICE

DAME NELLIE MELBA

HOW CAN A GOOD VOICE BE DETECTED?

The young singer's first anxiety is usually to learn whether her voice
is sufficiently good to make it worth while to go through the enormous
work of preparing herself for the operatic stage. How is she to
det