my accompanist, Frank La Forge, and study them in that
way. It was to such methods as this that Marchesi attributed the
wonderful longevity of the voices of her best-known pupils. When they
followed the advice of the dear old maestra their voices lasted a long,
long time. Her vocal exercises were little more than scales sung very
slowly, single, sustained tones repeated time and again until her
critical ear was entirely satisfied, and then arpeggios. After that came
more complicated technical drills to prepare the pupil for the fioriture
work demanded in the more florid operas. At the base of all, however,
were the simplest kind of exercises. Through her discriminating sense of
tone quality, her great persistence and her boundless enthusiasm, she
used these simple vocal materials with a wizardry that produced great
_prime donne_.

THE PRECIOUS HEAD VOICE

Marchesi laid great stress upon the use of the head voice. This she
illustrated to all her pupils herself, at the same time not hesitating
to insist that it was impossible for a male teacher to teach the head
voice properly. (Marchesi herself carried out her theories by refusing
to teach any male applicants.) She never let any pupil sing above F on
the top line of the treble staff in anything but the head voice. They
rarely ever touched their highest notes with full voice. The upper part
of the voice was conserved with infinite care to avoid early breakdowns.
Even when the pupils sang the top notes they did it with the feeling
that there was still something in reserve. In my operatic work at
present I feel this to be of greatest importance. The singer who
exhausts herself upon the top notes is neither artistic nor effective.

THE AMERICAN GIRL'S CHANCES IN OPERA

The American girl who fancies that she has less chances in opera than
her sisters of the European countries is silly. Look at the lists of
artists at the Metropolitan, for instance. The list includes twice as
many artists of American nationality as of any other nation. This is in
no sense the result of pandering to the patriotism of the American
public. It is simply a matter of supply and demand. New Yorkers demand
the best opera in the world and expect the best voices in the world.
The management would accept fine artists with fine voices from China or
Africa or the North Pole if they were forthcoming. A diamond is a
diamond no matter where it comes from. The management virtually ransacks
the musical