A good _Elsa_ or _Bruennhilde_ will get an engagement
ten times sooner than a good _Lucia_; and young vocalists whose voices
have not sufficient volume and power to cope with German dramatic
music, will do well to devote their attention to the better class of
French operas, for which there is a growing demand, as the French
style has always been much more like the German than like the Italian,
owing to the great attention paid by French composers, especially
since the days of Gluck, to vigorous declamation and distinct
enunciation. Wagner especially recommends the works of the older
French schools as a preparation for his own more difficult operas.
Director Stanton, of the Metropolitan Opera House, in New York, is
obliged every summer to make a trip to Germany and look about for
dramatic singers wherewith to replenish his casts. As a number of
American singers have already won fame here and abroad, the time no
doubt will come when he will be able to find the dramatic singers he
needs at home, and when opera in English will have supplanted foreign
opera, so far as the language is concerned.
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