At the same
time, she has shown more and more anxiety to win laurels as a dramatic
singer. But here the vocal style which she has exclusively cultivated
has proved an insuperable obstacle. Although free from the smaller
vices of the Italian school, she could not overcome the great and
fatal shortcoming of that school--the maltreatment of the poetic text.
She could not find the proper accents required in operas where the
words of the text are as important as the melody itself; and she has
failed therefore to give satisfaction even in such works as "Faust"
and "Aida," which are intermediate between the old-fashioned opera and
the music-drama proper. I have been often surprised to hear how
Patti, so conscientious in other respects, slights her texts,
obliterating consonants and altering vowels after the fashion of the
Italian school. Having neglected to master the more vigorous vowels
and expressive consonants, she cannot assert her art in dramatic
works. Her voice, in short, is _merely an instrument_. "Bird-like" is
an epithet commonly applied to it by admirers. Is this a compliment? A
dubious one, in my opinion.
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