although it may be possible for you, after using up our talent as
quickly as possible, to look around for others, with whom you can do the
same. First learn to understand singing, or, rather, first learn to
sing, as your predecessors have done, and as Italian composers still do,
and then we will talk with you again."

* * * * *

"What a pedantic outcry about German want of adaptability for singing!
Pray where is there the most singing?" It is, I agree, in Germany. "Is
not singing taught in the public schools? And consider, too, the
innumerable singing clubs, singing societies, and singing institutions!"

That is just the misfortune which requires a thorough investigation. How
many promising voices do these institutions annually follow to the
grave? Who is it who sing in the schools? Boys and girls from thirteen
to fifteen years old. But boys ought not to be allowed to sing while the
voice is changing; and girls, also from physical reasons, ought not to
sing at all at that age. And what kind of instructors teach singing
here? Our epistolary and over-wise age overwhelms our superintendents
and corporations with innumerable petitions and proposals; but no true
friend of humanity, of music, and of singing, has yet been found to
enlighten these authorities, and to prove to them that the most
beautiful voices and finest talents are killed in the germ by these
unsuitable so-called singing-lessons, especially in the public schools.
Girls' voices may be carefully awakened, and skilfully practised, and
made flexible and musical; but they should be used only in _mezzo-voce_,
and only until the period of their development, or up to the thirteenth
year, or a few months sooner or later. This ought also to be done with
great experience, delicacy, practical knowledge and circumspection. But