But until that happy epoch
arrives every aspirant to operatic honors cannot be too strongly urged
to begin his or her studies by learning the French and German
languages. Almost all the greatest singers of the century have been
able not only to sing but to speak in several languages. Above all
things, students of song should learn to speak their own language. Mr.
H.C. Deacon remarks that "no nation in the civilized world speaks its
language so abominably as the English.... Familiar conversation is
carried on in inarticulate smudges of sound which are allowed to pass
current for something, as worn-out shillings are accepted as
representatives of twelvepence.... When English people begin to study
singing, they are astonished to find that they have never learned to
speak."
Mr. Deacon's strictures do not apply in all their force to Americans,
for the average American speaks English more distinctly than the
average Englishman; yet there is room for vast improvement in the
enunciation of our singers. Now, the great value of the German style
to English students lies in this, that it emphasizes above all things
the importance of correct and distinct speech in song.
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