March 15, 1923
60	MUSICAL COURIER
FRANTZ PROSGHOWSKY SAYS GALLI-CURCIS
ARE BORN—NOT MADE BY TEACHERS
“Cornerstone in Art of Singing Is Simplicity and Naturalness,” He Says
FRANTZ PROSCHOWSKY
Metropolitan Museum Concert
On Saturday evening, March 10, the Metropolitan Museum of Art harbored another record-breaking audience, the occasion being the second concert of the March series given by David Mannes and his excellent orchestra of selected musicians.
The program contained the overture to Der Freischütz, Weber; two movements from Symphony No. 8 in F major, Beethoven; March from Leonore Symphony, Raff; two Wagner numbers—Prize Song from Die Meistersinger, and Bacchanale from Tannhäuser; Overture to The Bartered Bride, Sm tana; Carmen Suite, Bizet; theme and variations from String Quartet in G major, Haydn, and 1812 overture by Tschaikowsky.
Mr. Mannes, Who is widely known in New York and throughout the country as a musician of high ideals, conducted all these works with sincerity and intelligence.
Many Events at the Cornish School
The Cornish School at Seattle has been seeing a great deal of activity during the last few weeks, the regular studies being supplemented as usual by public activities on the part of both pupils and faculty.
On February 5, Jacques Jou-Jerville, director of the vocal department, presented his opera class in costume scenes from several well known operas. Beginning February 7 there were five performances of C. Hadden Chambers’ play, Passers-By, presented by Moroni Olson and his dramatic students.
January events included two recitals by Edouard Potjes, head of the piano department. The Belgian pianist, on January 20, played a program which included numbers by Beethoven, Irene Fuerison, Debussy, Tausig and Liszt, and on January 27 the program was made up of numbers requested by his audience of the previous week. The enthusiastic reception accorded Mr. Potjes on his last recital is evidenced by the fact that, of an audience numbering nearly two hundred people at his first recital, eighty-six handed in marked programs to the ushers, the eleven numbers receiving the largest quota of votes representing the second program.
and robs the voice of its freedom. We neither sing forward, backward, upward nor downward. The voice is a result of adjustment of the inner vocal organs, of which the larynx with the vocal chords is the whole important factor. The refusing to acknowledge these facts in our art of singing is nothing but. stupidity. The foundation must be based upon logic and naturalness.
The sense of hearing is for the singer the same as the eye to the painter. The singer must learn to hear; his hearing is his judgment, and without it there is no growth nor confidence. We must learn to hear with perfect discrimination : Cause and effect—coinciding with nature’s laws in regard to singing. All physical organs work in perfect automatic unison in obedience to the mind.
The greatest art is to know nature and develop it as a natural art, not an artificial art. Also diction is a most frequently misunderstood chapter; too much consonants, and not enough vowels is fatal; maximum vowels on either side of the consonants make them stand out by contrast and produce the finest cantalena possible—an	important
factor in the art of beautiful singing.”
“What do you mean by saying 'Breath support causes forcing?’”
“I mean the term is misleading. The term is rarely understood by teachers and more rarely by students. A tone is a result of breath converted into tone through vibration of the vocal chords. This function is absolutely automatic and is guided through hearing and sensing. Consequently it is the tone that controls the breath and not vice versa. A perfectly produced tone requires hardly any breath, at least no more than we inhale instinctively if we leave our organs under mental control or mental obedience.
Every test of lung capacity and lung power trained separately from singing, and then applied to the voice is a burden and discomfort to the singer as well as the listener. The majority of our singers have lost track of how their own voices really sound. They accustom themselves to be satisfied with an inferior art that does not enable them to produce perfect vowels throughout their range.
Any singer who has not a pianissimo, crescendo and diminuendo might as well first as last confess imperfect and incomplete technic. The cornerstone in the art of singing is simplicity and naturalness; those possessing it have the key to the great art of beautiful singing. I analyze it as ‘minimum effort and maximum result.’ I say the all important part in the art of singing is the learning to hear, and this seems to be the most neglected. I rarely ever hear a student who can hear or discern a pure vowel. How can we sing and make our listeners comfortable if we do not even know how to make the language comprehensible ? This is impossible where vowels instead of being pure are compromised. I grant that inferior technic refuses to produce pure vowels, but this only proves that the perfect art is misunderstood. The art of singing is unison of hearing and feeling. The hearing dictates and controls the producing organs; we sense these and the more perfect they perform, the more comfort we experience and the more confidence we develop. The resonance of the voice is the result of the vibrations; the bone structure of the head is responsible for the resonance and the result obtained is dependent upon the movable organs being used correctly. The theories of directing tones into certain resonating cavities in the head are all nonsense and imagination. The truest saying is the old Italian one: ‘Open the throat and the head resonance is obtained.’
“Numerous statements can of course be made, but as space does not permit a more lengthy discussion, let me finish with this one very important remark: ‘The modern art of singing has separated itself from common sense in a most discouraging way.’ ”
Rene Devries.
A representative of the Musical Courier in Chicago called recently at the studio of Frantz Proschowsky, in the Fine Arts Building, in order to find out if the rumor concerning his leaving the city were true.
“Naturally, I expect some inquiry in regard to my leaving Ch.cago for New York with Madame Galli-Curci, and perhaps it would be better for me to make some statements on this point myself and thus prevent the usual misrepresentations of friends as well as enemies. In the fall of 1919, we met, on our way to America from Copenhagen, Joseph Lhevinne and family, and from the first we started a solid friendship. In the autumn of 1921, Mr. and Mrs. Lhevinne, after a fine program at Orchestra Hall, introduced me to Mr. Samuels, Mme. Galli-Curci’s husband and a former pupil of Mr. and Mrs. Lhevinne. Later, in conversation with Mr. Samuels, I mentioned that I had a manuscript on ‘Singing’ for publication and asked if he would care to read it and pass an opinion. He accepted and a few weeks later I received a lovely recommendation of my book.
“About a year later, Mme. Galli-Curci called me into consultation and this privilege has been a great joy, as our ideas in regard to the true art of singing coincided so wonderfully that our association for eight weeks became a daily joy, and naturally many interesting moments were had by all of us. I dare say that Mme. Galli-Curci is perhaps the most marvelous example of perfection in singing of our day—a rare, God-given voice, superb musicianship, coupled with grace and ultra-refinement in taste and phrasing, then a perfect knowledge of Italian, Spanish, French, English and German. We must not forget Mme. Galli-Curci possesses, also, the rarest of all gifts, singing talent, untiring ability to work and an overpowering amount of self criticism. Where all these factors go into the scale we are not surprised to find Mme. Galli-Curci recognized as the world’s greatest singer. How often do we hear who is or who are or who were her teachers? And I have the privilege to state—no one. Her debut was made without a teacher, on her own intellect; her progress and growth also were made on her own resources, and let it be understood once and for all, that teachers do not make Galli-Curcis. They are born. Furthermore, Mme. Galli-Curci is a naturalist.”
“What do you mean by a ‘naturalist?’”
“Well, comparatively speaking, in painting a cubist displays insane ideas, and similar insane ideas exist also in the art of singing. A naturalist, in the art of singing, is one who, first of all, aims to keep the natural qualities and beauties and freedom of the voice unimpaired. This we should think would be the usual way, but it is not. Nine voices out of a hundred are distorted, robbed of their musical qualities and thus rendered valueless.”
“Can you give any reason for this unfortunate condition?”
“Yes, I think I can. The error most frequently found among students and teachers, in my opinion, is the frequently used term ‘breath support,’ which is perhaps the most misleading term used. Next, ‘forward tone placing’ or ‘forward singing.’ The words ‘breath support’ lead to forcing the breath against the larynx, compelling it to resist unnecessary pressure, thus robbing the voice of balance. Forward tone placing gets the mind on something that does not exist and consequently disturbs the mind
WOLDEMAR SCHNEE (of Berlin)
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Another April Recital for Dicie Howell
Dicie Howell has added other recital appearances to her April concerts, having recently signed a contract for Scranton, Pa., April 5. She will also be heard on April 24 in Toledo, Ohio, with the Eurydice Club, under the direction of Mrs. Otto Sand, at the Auditorium.
Claussen Booked for Columbus Festival
Julia Claussen, the mezzo soprano of the Metropolitan Opera Company, will sing Delilah in Samson and Delilah at the Columbus, Ohio, Music Festival, on April 24.
Artists In Concert and Recital^ Booked
STRICTLY ON COMMISSION BASIS
Appointment by Letter Only
Address: ED. N. BRUEL	Care of Musical Courier
MADAME VALERI.
“In examining a student’a voice ׳ and finding it at fault, I always suggest to .him to consult There is no voice defect that can escape'her notice and that cannot be corrected by her ability, tremolo included, when bad training has not gone so far as to cause looseness in the vocal chords.”
381 WEST END AVE., Entrance on 78tb St.
BONCI
CLAIR EUGENIA SMITH ^