eighteen years old: is she beyond salvation? I endeavor to build her
voice up again, gradually, by gentle practice. She succeeds very well in
it, and after six lessons her natural docility arouses hope. The
head-tones again make their appearance, and the practice of _solfeggio_
brings out once more the stifled voice which had been forced back into
the throat by senseless exertions; a better attack begins to be
developed, and the chest-register returns to its natural limits. She now
declared, with her mother's approval, that she really would continue to
study in this way, but she could not give up the performance of her
effective and spirited conception of the "Erlkönig." She came a few
times more: I could perceive that the good structure was tottering.
After a few months, she had entirely sacrificed her voice to this single
"Erlkönig." In such tender years, one such idol is sufficient. What a
price for an "Erlkönig"! The old, experienced singing-teacher, Miksch,
of Dresden (with the exception of Rossini, the last famous champion of
the old school), has often warned me that radical amendment is seldom
possible with such over-strained and broken voices, which already are
obliged to struggle with enfeebled muscles, even although youth may
excite great and decided hopes. There is also another difficulty: that
one of these strong, over-strained voices must hereafter be used with
much less strength, if we wish to cultivate a correct tone; and it is
impossible to tell whether the chest-tones, when they are restored to
their true limit, will ever come out again as powerful and at the same
time as beautiful. Let no musician, however talented and cultivated he
may be, ever adopt the teaching of singing, unless he can combine with
firmness of character great patience, perseverance, and
disinterestedness; otherwise, he will experience very little pleasure
and very little gratitude. Even if the "Erlkönig" does not stand in the
way, every voice presents new and peculiar difficulties.