grand opera roles at twenty-one. Jean Baptiste Faure took up the study of the voice at thirteen, and at twenty-two created the part of Mephistopheles in Faust.

These men and women, whose names stand out as brilliant stars in the firmament of music, studied and sang before and in their early teens, and these are the voices that have been everlasting.

Within the past six or eight years some beautiful singers have appeared in the grand opera—one tenor who claims to have studied less than six months before he appeared in grand opera, and a soprano, making the same claim, and this study is supposed to have taken place after they were out of their teens. It will be of interest to wait and watch these voices to see if they will withstand the wear of twenty-five years' service, and still be beautiful, or like the fire-fly, radiate their beautiful light but for a moment and then disappear.

SINGING LESSONS AS A HEALTH CULTURE.

I SHOULD like to take up the study of voice culture, but am not very strong."

That is the very reason you should take up singing. I have seen anæmic girls take up the study of voice culture, and at the end of one year's study develop perfect breathing, a fine full chest, rosy lips, warm hands, an elegant digestion, and a good disposition.

There is no tonic for the nerves equal to voice culture. At one of the large sanitariums where eight hundred and five patients were suffering from tuberculosis, there was but one who had been a singer. The nasal breathing prevents adenoids from developing. The deep respiration oxygenates the blood and gives us power to resist diseases. We stand and walk better. We derive unusual pleasure for ourselves, with the power to entertain others. As the study is unlimited, our interest cannot fail to increase with each year. It fills our lives as nothing else can do.

"Though everything else may appear shallow and repulsive, even the smallest task in music is so absorbing and carries us so far away from town, country and earth, and all earthly things that it is truly a blessed gift of God."—Mendelsohn.

It is a fact that more people become patients through "boredom" than through fever. It is the monotony of the daily routine and lack of interest which is the root of most of the "illness" and "nerves" of our present day young women.

Try the study of voice culture as an interesting and permanent remedy.

The cause of "musical indigestion" is the attending of concerts where one is compelled to listen to singing or playing, which is poorly executed or too far beyond one to be properly understood.

ADVICE TO PARENTS.

PARENTS should encourage their children who are taking up the study of voice culture, as home encouragement is necessary to children. I know that parents are inclined to think that when they pay for the music lessons, nothing further should be expected of them. But this is positively a wrong idea.

Do not make the great mistake of forcing your children too soon upon the public. Many excellent young voices have been ruined in this manner. A child eleven years of age was brought to my studio. She had ear, voice and talent, but was almost "sung out." She had a bad break in her voice, and performed the most unusual contortions in taking a tone, produced by pushing the throat. The mother assured me that everybody thought she sang "just grand." She was to sing at an entertainment in a month, and they thought a few lessons in voice culture would be of great value. It took an hour of my valuable time to convince them that she must not sing at present, as it was positively necessary to overcome the break in her voice, keep her from singing too much, and cure her audible breathing. They finally arranged for her instruction, but made semi-monthly trips during three months to ascertain if she was ready to sing in public, and left with the remark that "they knew of many teachers who would be glad to have her sing for them as an advertisement." Even the child was disappointed, as undoubtedly she heard nothing but this at home.

Parents should be sensible enough to remember that their little girl cannot finish school in three months, that their son cannot go through college in three months, and that they cannot learn to play the piano in three months.

"That she is young and people will not expect much" is not an excuse. The public judge by what they see and hear and not by what she may be able to accomplish if she is given time. How often we have heard father say, "Johnny, go and play a piece for the company." Poor Johnny would rather take a licking. He knows he is not ready to play for company, but father says, "Here I have been paying for Johnny's piano lessons and Mary's singing lessons for nearly three months, and I haven't heard a song or piece yet. If they are not learning anything, they had better quit taking lessons." And poor Johnny and Mary inflict on the company what might be expected after only three months of training.

Parents, select a reputable teacher—the highest priced is often the cheapest in the end. When you know that they are under perfect instruction, leave it to the teacher as to when they should play or sing in public, and you will find that just as soon as they are able, the teacher will be as anxious and pleased as yourself to have them appear.

"IS IT NECESSARY TO GO ABROAD TO STUDY?"

THIS, of course, depends entirely upon your ambition. There are very few American singers who have reached positions on the grand opera stage without having previously studied abroad.

It is well in any case to get your preliminary training at home. For tone placing and singing you can do equally as well in this country as abroad, as we have excellent teachers here from all parts of the globe.

I would advise the boy or girl who has a good home and lives in a community where it is possible to get proper instruction to take their first two or three years of work in this country. Take up the study of languages and if your progress warrants your making a life work of music, then I would suggest that you go to Europe in order to get the broadening and the finishing touches that are necessary in order to become an artist.

VICTOR MAUREL

The noted baritone for whom Verdi composed Otello and Falstaff, thinks that Americans are as much entitled to hear their language at the Opera Houses as the German, French and Italians. To further this project he will include opera in English during his present Grand Opera season in New York City. Mr. Maurel also believes strongly in giving young American artists of real promise, an occasion to make their début in this country and under favorable artistic patronage and he is going to give them a chance to do so.

For your German songs and operas you should go to Germany. For the Italian operas to Italy, where it is possible for you to live in the atmosphere of the opera and hear the language every day. The same also applies to the French, who, of all people insist emphatically on perfect diction.

You can, of course, take up and to some extent learn the languages here, but you are liable to meet with the same disappointment as a young lady from the west who studied French in school for several years and thought herself proficient in that language. She went to Paris to study music and it was fully six months before she was able to either understand or to be understood in common, every-day conversation.

I am in favor of the class