THE OLD ITALIAN SCHOOL OF SINGING.


The Shibboleth, or trade cry, of the average modern vocal teacher is "The
Old Italian School of Singing." How much of value there is in this may be
surmised when we stop to consider that of the many who claim to teach the
true Old Italian method no two of them teach at all alike, unless they
happen to be pupils of the same master.

A system, a method, or a theory is not true simply because it is old. It
may be old and true; it may be old and false. It may be new and false; or,
what is more important, it may be new and yet true; age alone cannot stamp
it with the mark of truthfulness.

The truth is, we know but little of the Old Italian School of Singing. We
do know, however, that the old Italians were an emotional and impulsive
people. Their style of singing was the flexible, florid, coloratura style.
This demanded freedom of action and emotional expression, which more
largely than anything else accounts for their success.

The old Italians knew little or nothing of the science of voice as we know
it to-day. They did know, however, the great fundamental principles of
singing, which are freedom of form and action, spontaneity and naturalness.
They studied Nature, and learned of her. Their style of singing, it is
true, would be considered superficial at the present day, but it is
generally conceded that they did make a few great singers. If the
principles of the old school had not been changed or lost, if they had been
retained and developed up to the present day, what a wonderful legacy the
vocal profession might have inherited in this age, the beginning of the